Sunday Sermon: God Demands Righteousness (Romans 3:1-10)

You're listening to the preaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes, pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on this podcast we feature teaching through a New Testament book, an Old Testament book on Thursday and our Q &A on Friday.

Each Sunday we are pleased to present our sermon series. Here is Pastor Gabe.

Romans 3 and the Anticipated Objections to the Gospel

Well good morning.

Good morning. As we continue our series in Romans and just a reminder to you, if you've missed anything in the series thus far, you can always go back to the sermon archive that we've got on our website providencecasagrande .org or .com, .org.

I do this every time. I can't remember if it's .org or .com. One of them will get you right to our website. So if you click on the sermons tab and it's got everything that we've done over, well since November now when we started this particular series, the way that we have things timed out, we get to what Paul presents as the gospel message in the middle part of chapter three right on Easter Sunday.

So that's by the providence of God that we would happen to land on that passage exactly.

Then.

But we get right into chapter three today. So if you would open your Bible please to Romans three, we're looking at verses one through nine. Now, if you are using the English standard version, which I'll be reading from this morning, you'll notice that right at verse nine, there's a section break.

That's an editor's notation. That's not something that Paul put right there. I'm going to break it right here and go into a new section. Somebody kind of took it upon themselves to decide, well, we're going to start a new section right here.

But verse nine really goes with the portion that we're looking at today. There's not a break there. It is part of the argument that Paul is presenting here at the start of chapter three. So ignore the section break, again, if you're using the ESV, and we'll see these objections that Paul raises and then answers here at the start of Romans three.

So in honor of the word of the King, would you please stand and let's read Romans three. I'll be reading aloud verses one through nine. Hear the word of the Lord. Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?

Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means. Let God be true, though everyone were a liar.

For as it is written, that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous?

To inflict wrath on us? I speak in a human way. By no means. For then how could God judge the world? But if through my lie, God's truth abounds to His glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?

And why not do evil that good may come? As some people slanderously charge us with saying, their condemnation is just.

What then?

Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin. You may be seated as we pray. Heavenly Father, as we come to our passage today and we hear once again of our sin and need for a Savior, I pray this is more than just a reminder of gospel truth that we may have heard in the past.

But these are things that draw our attention all the more to You. That we may give God the glory that You deserve. For You alone are worthy of our worship. And that knowing that we are sinners in need of a Savior and that through Jesus Christ, His righteousness has been given to us, that we go from this place today living in that righteousness.

Or if there is someone here who under the conviction of Your Word realizes their sin and that they need a Savior to forgive them of their sin and make them right with God, that conviction may work in their hearts toward a knowledge of the truth by the power of Your Spirit within them.

If there is any of us that have any sinful way in us that needs to be convicted and brought to the surface that we may confess and be forgiven, then I pray just as David declares here in this particular section that You may be justified in Your words and prevail when You are judged, we may recognize our sin and the need for the forgiveness that only You give in Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is in His name that we pray and all God's people said, Amen. Now, the most famous story of David is, of course, his takedown of the giant Goliath. If you were to ask any man on the street, Hey, what do you know about King David in.

The Bible?

They would probably say, Oh yeah, well, isn't he the guy that as a shepherd boy, he knocked out a giant with a stone and a sling. But the second most famous story, unfortunately, is probably his committing adultery with Bathsheba.

He slept with another man's wife, a man who was fighting for him against the Ammonites. She became pregnant. And then to cover it up, David had Uriah, her husband killed in battle. He was confronted and exposed by Nathan, the prophet.

And as a consequence, David and Bathsheba lost the baby that she became pregnant with and peace departed from the house of David. When David's sin was before him, he said in agony, I have sinned against Yahweh.

But immediately Nathan said to him, Yahweh has also put away your sin. You shall not die. Psalm 51 is the Psalm of repentance and confession that David wrote after being convicted over.

His sin.

In verse four, he said against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. It is that line from that Psalm that Paul quotes here in the passage that we are looking at today.

David knew that God's law was right. And in breaking it, David was wrong. David's sin deserved whatever God said he deserved. Whatever sentence God declared against him for his sin, whether God should decide to kill David, or as we know, God took the life of David's son, it would be no blemish upon the righteousness of God.

But that God's righteousness would be upheld so that we would confess that we are sinners, but he is holy. And today as we get into Romans chapter three, after Paul has spent chapters one and two bringing the Gentiles and the Jews into condemnation, this is leading up to his summarizing statement in verse 23, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Here in these first nine verses of chapter three, Paul responds to five anticipated objections. He anticipates an argument against what he just said, and then he responds to the argument. So now if you will look again at your text with me, we'll count them together.

We'll look at these five arguments. The first objection has to do with God's covenant with Israel. Verse one, then what advantage has the Jew or what is the value of circumcision? And then he answers the objection in verse two, much in every way to begin with the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

The second objection has to do with God's faithfulness. Look at verse three. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? And then he responds to the objection in verse four, by no means let God be true, though everyone were a liar, as it is written in the words of David, that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged.

The third objection has to do with God's justice. Verse five, is God unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? And then, of course, he responds in verse six, by no means, for then how could God judge the world?

The fourth objection really goes with the previous objection, but Paul argues with himself to make a point about the authenticity of the gospel that he preaches. He presents his objection in verse seven.

If through my lie, the truth of God abounded to his glory, why am I also being condemned as a sinner? And then he responds to that objection in verse eight. And then the fifth objection summarizes the previous eight verses and then sets up the next argument.

He says in verse nine, what then? Are we Jews any better off? Not at all, for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin. Now, Paul's objective here in this section is to show that God is just and God demands righteousness.

But as he says in verse nine, and then demonstrates in verses 10 through 20, which we'll get to next week, neither the Jew nor the Greek have achieved righteousness. All have sinned and need a Savior.

And Jesus Christ is that Savior who saves us from the wrath of God and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. In Him we are justified and declared righteous in His sight. And as I've said to you many times in weeks past, the very thing that God demands is the thing He gives.

He demands righteousness and through Christ He gives righteousness. So today in our study of Romans 3, 1 through 9, we read this again to understand once again, God's demand of righteousness and that He gives what He also demands.

We have been given the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ, our Savior. So let's come back once again to verses one through two, where Paul says, then what advantage has the Jew or what is the value of circumcision?

And the answer, much in every way. Remember, he's anticipating an objection against the gospel that he preaches and then he's responding to it by giving the answer. Now, some of you might be familiar with the preacher Vody Bokom and that he has a book entitled Expository Apologetics.

In this book, he describes expository apologetics this way,.

Quote,.

In its simplest form, apologetics is knowing what we believe and why we believe it, and being able to communicate that to others effectively. Expository apologetics is merely the application of the principles of biblical exposition to the art and science of apologetics, unquote.

So if you've ever listened to a sermon from Brother Vody, you've probably heard him put this into practice. It's like an art form in the way that he preaches. He might say something like, I know what you're thinking.

And then he'll tell you exactly what it is you're thinking. And you're sitting there going, yeah, you're right. I was thinking that. How did you know that? And then he expresses a common objection to the proposition that he just made, and he will proceed to answer that objection.

Dr. Bokom says in his book, quote, This process did not originate with me. I am doing nothing more than imitating Paul's common practice in Romans. I had gravitated to it because of my own background and experience, and it has become second nature.

However, what I am doing in my sermons is definitely not new, unquote. And so here, Paul is presenting that practice exactly. He is anticipating what his hearers are going to say. Then what advantage is there in being a Jew, and what advantage is there to circumcision?

What would prompt this objection that Paul is responding to? Well, let's remember what we just read. Last week, we heard from Romans 2 .25 that circumcision is of value if you practice the law. But if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.

In other words, it's as if the Jew had never even been circumcised in the first place. And you can apply this concept to any law. Sexual purity and marital faithfulness are of value if you practice the law.

But if you commit adultery, or you lust for a woman that you are not married to, a man you are not married to, it's as if you'd never been keeping the law at all, and now you are under the penalty of the law.

Of course, Paul is specifically addressing the Jew here because that was the nature of the argument that he was presenting in chapter 2. So in chapter 2, verse 26, he goes on to say that if an uncircumcised man, meaning a Gentile, observes the righteous requirement of the law, will his uncircumcision not be counted as circumcision?

Now, this Gentile has God's favor, though he was not born in the line of Abraham. In verse 27, he says, In fact, will he not become your judge? Then in verses 28 to 29, he says,. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward and physical.

But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from men, but from God. In other words, anyone can be a Jew if in the heart they have been cut off from the world and the desires of their flesh, and they've been united with the Spirit of God.

They have become the people of God. And so with that in mind, we have this anticipated objection at the start of chapter 3. If anyone can be of the chosen people of God, if someday Gentiles who have been united with God and Spirit will judge the ethnic descendants of Abraham, then what advantage has there in being a Jew?

A Jew in this position might be saying, Listen, Paul, we were called out from every nation on this earth. God did not call Egypt. He called Israel. He chose Israel where he would place his name. He chose Jerusalem in Judah for his temple to be built, and that's where he tabernacles with his people.

He gave us his law, Paul.

Moses said the law of God would be the envy of every nation on earth. We read in Deuteronomy 4, 6 -8 that the peoples would hear all these statutes, and they would say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

For what great nation is there that has a God so near to it as Yahweh our God whenever we call on him? Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which has been set before us?

But now you're telling me that anyone can keep the law? And if they do, they become God's people, and they become our judges? If that can be anyone, then what value is there in being a Jew? Oh, and let's not forget, God gave Abraham the sign of circumcision.

In Genesis 17 -11, God said, It shall be the sign of the covenant between me and you. But here you are saying that anyone can be called circumcised who was never actually circumcised. Then what is the value of circumcision?

And Paul answers matter-of-factly, Great in every respect. First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. That should be a statement that just blows your hair back.

Wow.

The God of the universe who created all things gave his law, his word, first to this people. They were given all the books of the Old Testament, the law, the wisdom books, the prophets. They were given the divine revelation of the creator himself in how he was going to redeem sinful man and reconcile us to himself.

All of that was entrusted to the Jews. Tell me that's not a privilege. As Matthew Henry noted, The law could not save from sin, yet it gave the Jews advantages for obtaining salvation. Their stated ordinances, education in the knowledge of the true God and his service, and many favors shown to the children of Abraham, all were means of grace and doubtless were made useful to the conversion of many, but especially the scriptures were committed to them.

Enjoyment of God's word and ordinances is the chief happiness of a people.". And my friends, there's a ready application for us right there. Do we not enjoy God's word and ordinances today as Christians?

And are they not the chief happiness for us as a people? We delight to gather together this morning to sing the praises of God, to hear his word preached, and then to partake at this table with the elements that he presented to his own disciples, breaking bread, saying, this is my body, which is for you, giving them the cup, this is my blood, which is the covenant for the forgiveness of sins.

What a privilege that we've received these things. We see in the preaching of his word, our sin and need for a savior, and we know that savior is Jesus Christ. We understand that Christ has died for us, that he has redeemed us, and even that he has given us his righteousness.

We know that by faith in him, we are forgiven and have fellowship with God himself. We know through Christ what our meaning and purpose is in this world. There is a hopeful expectation of our future. There is direction on how we are to live.

There is comfort for us in our sorrow. There is a solution to death. And there are many other ways that we could say that we are privileged to have this book that we read. Even though God chose the descendants of Abraham to entrust these things, though they were the first one chosen by God to believe, not all of them believed.

So look at the next objection that comes up in verse 3. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? And with the exception of a remnant, we could say that the whole Jewish nation rejected the gospel and did not believe that Jesus is the Christ.

Whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3 .18. This is the people whom God chose from every nation on earth and would he now destroy most of them?

Do these hearts which God hardened therefore demonstrate that God was not really faithful to them? And Paul answers that objection in verse 4. By no means. Rather, in fulfillment of his word, let God be true and every man a liar.

Now the interesting thing here is that the anticipated objection is talking specifically about the Jews, but Paul's response to the objection could be applied to every single person. Let God be true though everyone were a liar.

Every man on earth could be wrong and that would not change God. He is still true though every one of us is a liar. And my friends, until the day that Christ returns and separates the sheep from the goats, there will always be people who are unbelievers.

That is the default disposition of sinful man. On this side of eternity, we as Christians are never promised to be the majority rule. Now I know John Knox has said, a man with God is always in the majority.

And of course I believe that's true, but that's not what I'm referring to. Numerically, we are not the dominant class. Jesus said this way is the narrow road and that few will find it. Broad is the way that leads to destruction and many will find that way because that's the easy way.

Matthew 7, 13 to 14. It is always necessary for us to keep this in mind. Whenever we see another group of people in doubt, another group in unbelief, another group in skepticism, another group scoffing, on and on it will go until Jesus comes.

We better go right on believing, holding fast to Christ, no matter how unpopular it may be. In March, a couple of years ago, Christianity Today ran an article with this headline,.

Quote,.

Evangelicals are the most beloved US faith group among evangelicals and among the worst rated by everybody else, unquote.

Oh, really?

I'm totally shocked. It's not like Jesus didn't tell us that that would absolutely be the case. Now, by no means should we act like jerks for Jesus. Paul told Timothy that the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, correcting opponents with gentleness.

That's what we read last year in 2 Timothy 2 .25. Peter said, in your hearts set apart Christ as holy, always ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within you, but doing this with gentleness and respect.

1 Peter 3 .15. So we absolutely must be kind in our dealings with an unbelieving world. We were once just like them. Children of wrath like the rest of mankind is said in Ephesians 2 .3. Someone spoke the gospel to us and we came to faith in Jesus and we were saved.

Maybe it was your parents that shared the gospel with you. Maybe it was another family member. Maybe it was a complete stranger. I remember the story of A .W. Tozer who was walking home one time and he passed by a street preacher, a guy that's just out there on the sidewalk saying, repent or perish, turn or burn.

The judgment of God is coming. Repent and turn to Jesus Christ.

And you will live.

And as Tozer was walking the rest of the way home, he meditated on the words of that street preacher and came to realize his sin and he got home and he went up to his attic room and he got down on his knees and he confessed his sin to God and asked that Christ would be a Savior.

Someone shared the gospel with us and that's how we came out of the world and into Christ. And so it must be our desire as well that we would see others come to the knowledge of God through the preaching of His Word.

At the same time, we cannot be surprised when they hate us. Peter said in 1 Peter 4, 4 that the world would hate us just because we don't join them in their perversity. Even if every person in the world was a liar, God in His Word would still be telling the truth.

And that's what Paul is saying here in verse 4. Let God be true, but everyone a liar. About this, Charles Spurgeon said, If God says one thing and every man in the world says another, God is true and all men are false.

Spurgeon went on to say, The general consensus of opinion is nothing to a Christian. He believes God's word and he thinks more of that than of the universal opinion of men. Now this phrase, everyone a liar, this is not hyperbole.

Everyone is a liar. We have all told lies. How many of you have told lies? Yeah, those who are not raising your hands,.

You're liars.

By our nature, we are sinful people. Your children know how to lie. You don't have to teach them that. My dad is here this morning. He punished me for lying when I was a kid. And I am a grown example of how guiding me in the precepts of God led to a conviction over my sin and repentance and a desire to serve my Savior in the truth.

We are born liars. We are born again in the truth. We are disciplined when we lie. We teach our children to love the truth so that they will be conformed to the image of Christ and they won't be liars anymore.

And so we must all be. What is the significance of understanding that every man is a liar? Well, Paul references here Psalm 51 .4 where he says, as it is written that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged.

This was written by David when his sin was exposed to him. He trembled in fear before God and he recognized that he was wrong and God is always right. If God is always right, if he is justified in his words, then no one's unbelief abolishes the faithfulness of God.

Every man is unjust, but God is always just. And no one can judge God. His justice always prevails. Now this next objection that we have here. Is a little tricky. In verse 5, Paul says,. But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say?

That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? I speak in a human way. By saying, I am speaking in a human way, Paul is making sure that his readers recognize that he is not expressing his own mind. These are not his objections.

He is representing the language of an adversary. So basically, the anticipated objection is this. If my unrighteousness serves to demonstrate God's righteousness, then how can God judge me? My sin brings him more glory.

And is that not good? So how can God inflict wrath that would make him unrighteous?

Wouldn't it?

And in verse 6, Paul says, By no means. For then, how could God judge the world? You know, these objections are a lot more common than you think they are. You may not hear them expressed in exactly the way that we're reading them here, but I hear them all the time.

Not long ago, I had a conversation with a universalist whose name was Brian. And in case you're not familiar with this belief, I've talked about it before. A universalist believes that every single person is going to get to heaven.

They may believe it in different stages, but ultimately, they've come to this conclusion that everybody's going to go to heaven. As I've heard R .C. Sproul say, the most common belief about justification is not justification by faith plus works.

The most common belief about justification is justification by death. Most people believe we're just automatically going to be justified and go to heaven when we die. I made the comment that universalism is a heresy that is worse than atheism.

An atheist believes there's no eternal consequences. No matter how evil you are, you will not have to face any consequences for your actions. God does not exist. There's nothing on the other side. So logically, you can live however you want and it doesn't matter.

Universalism is worse. Because no matter how evil you are, not only will you not face consequences for your actions after you die, you will be richly rewarded. So live your worst life now. And no matter how miserable you are, no matter how miserable you make it for everyone else, we're all going to end up in paradise together.

That is a damnable lie. Jesus said in Matthew 25, 46 that those who did not do the will of the Father will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. And when I said this to Brian, he laughed at me.

He said, you think a 100 victorious God is heresy, but the God that fails 80 of the time is the truth? In Brian's mind, if even one person goes to hell, God has failed. Does that not sound exactly like the adversary that Paul is responding to here in Romans 3?

God is the one who created all things. He's the one who made me the way I am. Proverbs 21, 1 says that the king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of Yahweh, and he turns it wherever he pleases.

Later in Romans 9, 18, we read, he has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and he hardens whom he will harden. So who is God to direct my heart in such a way and then judge me for it? You know, if there's anyone in scripture that could have made this argument, it's Judas.

It was prophesied that Judas would betray Christ. David prophesied a thousand years before it happened. Psalm 41, 9, even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.

In Zechariah 11, 12, it was prophesied that Judas would betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, and then in the very next verse, it was prophesied that he would throw that silver on the floor of the house of Yahweh.

So of course we know that Jesus prophesied that Judas would even betray him.

He said it months.

Before it even happened. If Judas had not betrayed Jesus, God would have lied and his word would be wrong. So how could God find fault in Judas if it was foreordained that this was going to happen? Judas could have said, I did exactly what you set me up to do.

I did according to your will. How is that my fault? How could I be judged for my sin when my sin resulted in the greatest good that has ever been done for mankind? The death of the Son of God is an atoning sacrifice for sins.

That sounds like a pretty compelling argument,.

Doesn't it?

How would we respond to Judas? Does he have a case that God is unrighteous for pouring out his wrath on this son of perdition, as Scripture calls him? One pastor said the following. The answer to Judas might go something like this.

Yes, God used your evil, but it was still your evil. There was no good or pure motive in your heart at all. It is no credit to you that God brought good out of your evil. You still stand guilty before God.

To paraphrase Genesis 50, 20, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good that many would be saved. Now, Paul is going to come back to this again. Brother Allen, unfortunately, really set me up in Sunday school,.

Leaving an open-ended question.

And saying,.

Gabe's going to answer that in the sermon. Well, no, I'm not. I'm not going to answer what he had mentioned in Sunday school. Paul is actually opening up something here he's going to come back to later, and thankfully, Allen also covered that by saying, we'll come back to it again in Romans 9, 10, and 11.

And you'll see this happen throughout Romans, where Paul will make an objection, he'll hit it real quick, gets on another subject, and then comes back to the thing that he had proposed in the first place.

So there are several places where as we come to those things in Romans, you could stick a pin in it, and we'll get back to that argument later. So I mentioned in Romans 9, and he's going to flesh this concept out more later there.

But in the meantime, we get to these staccato objections and answers. The response in verse 6 is that God is not unjust, for otherwise, how will God judge the world?

Now remember,.

This series of objections is with regard to the Jews. Verse 1 again, then what advantage has the Jew? Verse 3, if some did not believe, does their unbelief, or the unbelief of the Jews, abolish the faithfulness of God?

So where Paul says in verse 6, for otherwise, how would God judge the world? This is in reference to the Gentiles. So if it's unjust for God to judge the Jews, then it's unjust for God to judge the world.

Because the world is just behaving according to the curse that God put the world under. So if the adversary raising these objections is correct, then God can judge no one. And surely as Paul is raising that point, the Jews that are sitting there going, oh, well, yeah, that's a good point.

I mean, we want the world to be judged. So if he can't judge me, then he can't judge them. As Paul will demonstrate later in Romans 3, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And if we are to be justified, my friends, our justification is given to us as a gift by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith.

There is a day that is coming a day that is fixed by the Father's authority, according to Acts 1 and 17, on which He will judge the world in righteousness. And the only way to escape the judgment on that day is to have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

That is the whole reason why Paul is having this back and forth with himself so that you will know that God is just and that God demands righteousness. And the only way to be found righteous on that day is to put your faith in Jesus who clothes you in His righteousness.

I remember one of the most mind-blowing things that my dad ever taught me when I was a kid was that God loves you with the same love and affection that He has for His own Son. I remember as a child that just blowing my mind.

How could that be?

That God loves me with the same affection that He has for His own Son? Paul is going to say exactly that when we get to Romans 8. But how is it that God loves me with the same affection that He has for Jesus?

It's because I'm clothed in the same righteousness of Jesus so that when He looks at me, He doesn't see the sinner that is deserving of His wrath and judgment. He looks at me and He sees,.

Christ, which I don't deserve,.

But I've been given by His grace. It is the greatest thing in the universe that we can attain, my friends.

Christ, not the wealth and the prestige.

Or the great and most popular opinion of man.

Christ, the greatest gift,.

The greatest treasure that we could ever possess. And so as Paul goes on here in the fourth objection, he responds to an argument about the authenticity of the gospel. Look at verse 7. But if through my lie, God's truth abounds to His glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?

So here's basically what he's saying. If my opponents want to accuse me of preaching a message that means you can sin all you want and that just abounds to God's glory, then why am I still being judged by them as a sinner?

Why would I even need Christ? Why would I preach Christ? Just sin and God is glorified. Of course, Paul has never preached such a thing, nor would he ever. He's making his opponents look foolish for accusing him of preaching something that he never preached.

In verse 8, he says, and why not do evil that good may come as some people slanderously charge us with saying? So this is what Paul's opponents were saying about him. They were claiming slanderously that Paul was teaching, you can sin all you want because God is just gonna make more good come out of your sin.