After Darkness, Light (Part 1)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

God's Omniscience, Human Sin, and the Need for Righteousness

I'm quite confident that people love the idea that God knows everything. God's omniscient. But I'm not so sure they like it that He's immutably omniscient. It would be one thing to think, well, God knows everything, but those secret things that I've done, maybe He wasn't omniscient at that time.

The things that you've done, our thought, skeletons that are in each of your closets and mine, maybe God wasn't on the throne at that particular moment. Maybe He wasn't omniscient then. But the thing is, He knows everything.

He's never learned anything. He knows every person, and on judgment day, knowing the skeletons we have in our closets and the sins we have committed, who will stand? God is holy, and God is immutably holy.

He's always holy. So how do we, sinful people, stand before a thrice holy God? How do we get rid of our own sins? How much work do we have to do to somehow make atonement? Let's turn our Bibles to Romans chapter 3 and find out that even though we were sinful, God's grace is greater.

Romans chapter 3, chapter by chapter through the book of Romans, we're a little faster in Romans than we were in 1 Corinthians, 16 weeks, 16 chapters. Maybe my all-time favorite chapter, but I want to reserve that maybe for in two weeks because I think Romans 5 might be my favorite.

But here we come to the centerpiece of Christianity, both the bad news and the good news, and if the bad news isn't that bad, the good news isn't, well, that good. F .F. Bruce said, there's no telling what may happen when people begin to study the book of Romans.

There's no telling what may happen. It's been my prayer that if there are people here today who do not have their sins forgiven, who think they're hiding underneath their baptism, they're being good, they're religiosity, done more good than bad, that I want God to expose you to your need of righteousness and then God would grant you the righteousness found in Christ Jesus alone.

And if you're a Christian today, my prayer has been for you that you'd be strengthened. You know, Romans 16 says Christians get strengthened with the gospel. The gospel is a something. Well, we already know all that.

Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead, and we moved past it. No, the gospel is what strengthens Christians, and I don't know if you have big trials in your life, but if you have big trials, you need a big view of God, don't you?

If you have small trials, okay, a little kind of pet God might work, but if you have a large trial and if you don't have one now, there would be one coming soon, there will be one. You need a big view of God.

What's happened in Romans so far? Chapter one, two, and most of three, it's all about men and women having no righteousness before God, have nothing to offer God except sin and a lot of it. And what Paul is trying to do is to say, until you realize your problem, you don't seek a remedy.

You don't go to the doctor when you're feeling well, and the great physician, you think you're yourself, I have no need of him until you realize that whether I'm a Gentile, chapter one, I need righteousness, or if I'm a chosen person of God, that is to say, chosen nation of God, person, a Jew, you need righteousness as well.

No Objection Against God Holds Water

Chapter three, our outline for today, let me give you three no's, N-O, three no's that I want to try to, by the word's power, weld to your mind, fuse to your mind, attach to your mind so you don't forget your sin, and then the savior of that sin.

Three no's, it'll be beneficial for you to understand the book of Romans, chapter three. Weld number one, no objection against God holds water, that is to say, all objections that man gives to God about life and death, heaven and hell, God's truth, are all smokescreens.

Specifically, let's look at Romans, chapter three, one through eight, Paul is continuing to talk to the Jewish person, and he does it by a very lively style. How do you write in such a way to engage the audience and have the audience kind of sit on your shoulder, listening to you?

And so he's writing primarily to Gentiles, and so how do you get Gentiles to be engaged when Paul's addressing Jews? He uses this kind of dialogue, it's actually called a diatribe, you'll see lots of questions, lots of answers, and Paul is anticipating Jewish objections, and then he's annihilating those objections.

You can just think for a second, if you're Jewish and you say to yourself, huh, I've been circumcised, that was Romans, chapter two, I'm in the nation of God, I've been chosen by God, out of all the nations, God has chosen us, and people hide behind their nationality.

People hide behind other things too, don't they? They hide behind religious stuff. I hope no one here hides behind their religiosity and says, you know, on judgment day when I stand before God, I'll hide under my baptism.

I was a member, my parents attended the church, I went to Awana, I got that award at Awana, and we cloak ourselves with religiosity, and Paul wants to expose that. Verse one, then what advantage has the Jew?

Or what is the value of circumcision? See these rhetorical questions? What advantage do I have for being a Jew? If you just annihilated my Jewishness as a means to please God in chapter two, then what advantage has the Jew?

Paul, you're undervaluing our heritage. Now, there's a good heritage as a nation we're chosen, but each individual Jew has to stand before God on his or her own merits, and we know those merits are sinful, so they need righteousness found from God.

What advantage has the Jew? Specifically, you know, all those people that run around and worship trees and stuff, those Gentiles and those really bad people in chapter one, you mean we're no better than they are?

There's no distinction, Paul, you're smudging and blurring the lines between Jews and Gentiles. How could you? What's the benefit of circumcision? Verse two, much in every way, great. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

The Jews were the ones who received the Bible, definite article, the Old Testament, the channel for the truth of God. When God speaks, he spoke through one nation, the Jews. That's an advantage. And now, just when you start to question God, it's like when people say, okay God, if you're all powerful and all good, why is there suffering in the world?

Somehow bringing God to the bar of justice, to the dock in the courtroom. That kind of perverted thinking is seen here as Paul unravels the Jewish questioner. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?

God chose the Jews. Now the Jews are being unfaithful. So I guess God chooses people and then they're unfaithful. God really didn't choose rightly, did he? He didn't follow up on his promise. He didn't follow up all the way to the end.

How come the Jewish people have failed from their high spot and still we insist that God's faithful? You're running into bad ground when you start questioning God like that. The people are saying, you know what?

God made a promise to the Jews and I'm included whether I believe or not. Have to be careful when you talk like that. What does Paul say? This is the toughest connotation of impossibility found in the Bible.

By no means. No way. Romans 3, verse 4, by no means. You can't talk like that. You're going to say God's unfaithful because some Jewish people don't believe? By no means. Anybody here has the King James Version?

It says what? God forbid. Let God be true. Do you notice in your text? Let God be true though everyone were a liar. And then Paul to the Jews quotes Psalm 51. As it is written. As it stands written. I want you to think properly, Paul says to the Jewish people.

Away with such a thought. Why? That you, God, may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. Verse 5, you can see how this logic keeps going. The Jewish interlocutor says, but if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what should we say?

Oh, I know what we'll do. Let's cut ourselves so we can show everyone how great our body heals itself. You know, the body is a wonderful thing and it can heal itself. Let's just make a lot of lacerations on our bodies so we can go around and say, look how our body heals itself.

What they're doing here is not that, but it's similar logic. Let's see. God judges sin. Let's sin a lot so God shows his judgment of sin. That'll work. God likes to show his judgment. We like to sin. Match made in heaven.

God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us. By the way, this shouldn't even be talked like. You shouldn't even talk like this. I speak in a human way because it's not a divine way. It's a fallen way. It's a sinful way.

You ought not to talk that way. I'll sin a lot so God judges and God's put on display for his judgment. That's the wrong way to talk. That's how a human talks. I'll be unfaithful so God shows his faithfulness.

Man argues that way. Speaking in human terms. Verse 6, he says the same thing again. By no means. Banish the thought, God forbid, for then how could God judge the world? The Jews knew that God would judge the world one day.

And they knew that judgment would be just judgment. So how can God be a just judge if he's not a just judge to the Jews? He justly judges the world but not the Jews. Paul says no way. How would he be fit to judge the world?

Chapter 3, verse 7, it says in Romans 3. But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory. See, the same kind of logic. Why am I still being condemned as a sinner? Hey, I lie a lot. God truthfully judges.

Helps out God to show himself. This is ridiculous thinking. This is wrong thinking. Do evil so good might come. It's wrong thinking. And why not, verse 8, do evil that good may come? Paul cuts to the chase and listen to how firm he is.

As some people slanderously charge us with saying. No explanation. Their condemnation is just. You want to sin freely so God can show himself? That's absurd. And Paul with a machete just cuts it down.

Their condemnation is just. Hack that thing down. He doesn't even stoop to answer that false accusation. Number 2. Well, number 2 to help you understand Romans 3. The first one is no objection can hold water before God.

No One Keeps All of God's Law

Number 2 found in Romans 3, verses 9 through 20. No one keeps all of God's law. No one keeps all of God's law. Not Jew. Not Gentile. Not you. Not me. Still it's dark here. It's foreboding. It's terrifying.

We're not going to get really any good news until verse 21. Verse 9. See the questions again? What then? Are we Jews any better off? No. Not at all. Individually, no. You're not any better. Because you need a righteousness from outside yourself.

For we have already charged that. All. Charged is a legal word. It's a cork word. We're already charged. I charge you of sin. Both Jews and Greeks are under sin. Under sin means dominated by sin. Like a straitjacket is put on you.

You can't get out of it. You're under someone's control. You can't get out. Jews and Gentiles are under sin. Pagans. Religious people. People who worship their ancestors. And Baptists. Both are sinful.

How many people are sinners? Everyone. How many people are righteous? No one. They're under sin. Now if you're a Jew, here's what you should do right now. You know what, Paul? That's all fine and dandy.

You're an apostle. But show me the Bible. Why don't you prove it to me from the Bible? And you know exactly? That is what Paul does. Verses 10 through 18. If you look at your Bible, you should see a lot of capitals.

Maybe if you use NAS. If you use ESV, you should see it set apart somehow. These are all quotes from the Old Testament. Paul is going to say, Okay, Jew. You want me to show you that you're personally sinful even though there are national promises for Israel.

And this doesn't just go for the Jews. This goes for all of us. This is your resume. I know a lot about you and you know a lot about me. Romans chapter 3, verses 10 through 18. All kinds of quotes from the Old Testament.

And it's very fascinating. Lots of people run around today. I'm glad for their evangelistic zeal. They say the way to evangelize is to use the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. You know what?

Paul does use the law. But he doesn't use the Ten Commandments. He doesn't use the Decalogue. He doesn't use anything from the Pentateuch. He uses things from the prophets and from the Psalms. He uses the law.

This is God's standard reflecting His holy nature. But he never uses the Ten Commandments. Well, if you want to use the Ten Commandments, I guess you can. But Paul doesn't here. Jesus uses some of the Ten Commandments.

But I find it fascinating here. He uses everything practically but the Ten Commandments. The law shows God's standard. Whether that's found in the Old Testament or New Testament. Whether that's found in wisdom books, the Psalms, or the Pentateuch.

Verse 10. Okay, Jew, you want proof? As it stands written and always is written. That's the tense there in Romans 3. None is righteous. That's the whole point. We need to look to a Savior because we have no righteousness.

None is righteous. No, not one. Quoting from Psalm 14. Some maybe think from Ecclesiastes. No one is righteous. Friends, you ought to believe in the doctrine of total depravity. Utter inability. Spiritual corruptness.

I like wholly depraved better than totally. We're not as bad as we could be. But every one of our faculties, our mind, our soul, our will, emotions. The fall has totally affected us. Wholly affected us.

We can't commend ourselves to God. Because there's not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and never sins. A Russian poet said something that helps me understand depravity better. He said this.

I don't know what the heart of a bad man is like. But I do know what the heart of a good man is like. And it's terrible. Adam's fall. We sinned all. He goes on. No one understands. Again, quoting the Old Testament.

Psalm 14, Psalm 53. No one seeks for God. The word understand is a fascinating one. Nobody can figure out how to put the puzzle together to figure out how to save themselves. You have a big puzzle on the table.

Probably now you play puzzles on your iPad as far as I know. Move that piece over there for the kids. How do you figure out the puzzle of getting rid of your sins? It would be one thing if you say, I made a resolution.

I'll never sin again in the future. But there's hell to pay for the sins you've already committed. How do I unsolve this puzzle? It's like the finger puzzle where you try to pull yourself out. You can't get out.

That's what it means. No one can understand. You see the text? No one seeks for God. Friends, listen very carefully. False religions aren't trying to find God. They're trying to run from God. They're trying to escape God.

They're trying to figure out a way that they can live with a conscience and seek creation. And say, you know what, I can't live like this so I need to have smoke and bells and whistles and things to do and religious things.

It's an escape. Because no one seeks after God. No wonder Jesus says in John 6, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. People say, well I'm going to take a comparative religion class.

You might just call it this instead. This would be more truthful. I'm going to take a religious fugitive class. Because all these religions have one thing in common. How do we flee from the wrath of God?

How do we flee from the idea of God? Remember when Adam sinned? Adam, where are you? Genesis 3. Why did he say that? Because after you sin and you realize you're sinful and you know how holy God is, you don't seek after Him.

You want to run from Him. Where are you? And then religion is what? Just one more illustration of fig leaves. Trying to cover sin. That's why it's so brilliant and so wonderful. So great of God when you read Ben and Luke 19 of Jesus.

The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. That's why seeker sensitive services are a big farce. Because people aren't seeking God, only God seeks. That's why in Ezekiel 34 speaking of God says, Behold, He's the Great Shepherd.

I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. Our resume is the same as the Jews here in verse 12. All have turned aside. Romans 3. All have been so blinded by sin. They've turned aside. It's used of a camel getting off the caravan path, getting stuck down in some sand dune.

It's used of an arm that's been dislocated. It's been used of a soldier who says, I'm not going to follow you, I'm AWOL. Every person, do you know it? Not one. Not even one. All have turned aside. And then you ask me, do I believe in ecumenical ventures?

The answer is yes. Verse 12. Together they have all become worthless. No one does good. Yeah, but maybe Mother Teresa. Not even one. Maybe Billy Graham. Not even one. Together they have become worthless.

That word worthless just means people have deliberately become what the Arabics have called sour milk. That's the word there. Useless. Unprofitable. It's good for nothing. And if you know someone's heart by what comes out of their mouth, verse 13 says, their throat is an open grave.

Now just imagine yourself in the Middle East, and it's 110 degrees, and you put a dead body in a tomb. You seal it for the respect of the body, but you also seal it so the noxious gases don't come out.

And you can tell people are sinful for lots of reasons, but one of the main reasons is because out of their mouths come putrid fumes revealing their heart. Howe said, emitting the noisome exhalations of a putrid heart.

And it's not just once in a while, sadly, these airborne pathogens just keep coming out. The text in the Greek is an imperfect tense. With their tongues, they keep on deceiving over and over and over and over, and like a cobra that's got a piece, a thing under it that has a container bag full of poison, so too do we.

Verse 14, their mouth is full of curses. That isn't four-letter words. That's the opposite of a blessing. I saw someone yesterday said, God bless you. What comes out of the mouth of sinful people? God curse you.

And, you know, our society is full of this today, bitterness. The word for bitter in Greek is just what it sounds like. Just take a lemon when you get home, and don't even feel it. Just bite into it as hard as you can, and then watch your face.

And it's picria. That's what comes out of our mouths. Our lifestyle, verse 15, their feet are swift to shed blood. As one commentator said, at least animals, when they kill, they eat what they kill. We just like to kill.

And in their paths are, verse 16, ruin and misery. The picture of Dorian Gray with Oscar Wilde, finally sin is seen. Where man goes, sin follows, because man is sinful. Verse 17, in the way of peace they have not known.

I read this week that in the last 4 ,000 years of human history, there have been but 286 years of peace, despite more than 8 ,000 peace treaties. No wonder, because Isaiah says, there's no peace for the...

Well, those are all effects. You want to know what the cause is? Verse 18, here's the root cause of why people sin. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Psalm 36. Why does Paul go to these great lengths to talk like this?

We see the answer in verse 19. Now, we know that whatever the law says, he's speaking about all the Old Testament there, the things that he just quoted, says it speaks to those who are under the law, what the purpose?

So that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. So that every mouth may be closed. When you evangelize, that is your goal. So the person on the other end says, I'm guilty.

I have no defense. What's true of my life? True in the Bible. What the Bible says, I am. I have no excuse. I'm not going to say it's a Twinkie defense. I spanked when I was a kid. There could be a thousand excuses people use now.

It's true. Everything that you say there, God, is true of me.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible-teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.