WWUTT 1192 The Way of Peace They Have Not Known? (Romans 3:15-17)

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Peace has become tokenized in our culture. You see peace signs, there's even a peace hand gesture.

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But a person doesn't really know the way of peace unless they know peace with God when we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Thank you for subscribing and if this is ministered to you please let others know about our program. Here once again is

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you Becky. We come back to our study of Romans chapter 3 verses 10 through 20.

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I'll pick up where we left off yesterday but starting here by reading through this section again.

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The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, as it is written none is righteous.

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No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God.

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All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good.

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Not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive.

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The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.

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Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery.

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And the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

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Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

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For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

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Now one of the things that I mentioned yesterday is that as Paul is laying out here his doctrine for the depravity of man, he's citing the

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Old Testament to demonstrate that this is not a new teaching. This is not a teaching that came about with the teaching of Jesus Christ.

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It has been in God's word from of old. Remember back to verse 9 where it says we have already charged that all

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Jews and Greeks are under sin. This is the argument that he's been laying down since Romans 1 .18.

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And consider once again the audience whom he is speaking to. This is the church in Rome which is made up of a pretty sizable group of Jews and Gentiles together.

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It was started by those Jewish converts who heard the gospel at Pentecost and was preached by the apostles in the days following that.

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When they came back to Rome they started a church. There were Gentile converts. Then the Jews were kicked out of Rome by Emperor Claudius and the

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Gentiles that were there in the church continued to proselytize. More got added to their number. The church got larger.

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When Nero became emperor and allowed the Jews to come back, the Jews realized their church looked a lot different than it was when they left.

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Previously the Jews were the ones that were kind of teaching everything. Because remember, what were the scriptures that the early church had?

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It was the Old Testament, the law and the prophets. The Jews were the ones who were teaching that when the Gentiles first became converts.

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But when the Jews got expelled, the Gentiles were left to be the ones to teach the Old Testament scriptures.

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So the Jews come back and now there is some disagreement over how they're supposed to understand and teach these things.

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So a lot of what Paul says here in this letter will directly address Jews and Gentiles.

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Now he makes the point later on in chapter 3 that there is no distinction. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

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But prior to writing this letter, they had not had an apostle come to them and teach to them. So there was some disagreement over how they were supposed to understand these

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Old Testament scriptures. Paul goes back to the Old Testament when he's laying out again his doctrine of the depravity of man because this is what they had.

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This is what they were teaching from. They were teaching from the Old Testament. Paul is saying this is not a new teaching that came from Christ.

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This was even in the Old Testament that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Jews don't receive any greater honor.

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Gentiles don't receive any greater honor because the Jews had the law and disobeyed the law. It is everyone who is under sin.

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Jew and Gentile. Jews and Greeks. Both are under sin. As it is written, none is righteous, no not one.

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But once again, the reason why Paul calls upon these Old Testament scriptures as he's laying out this doctrine is because these are the scriptures they had.

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This is what they taught from. And you will see that come up over and over again over the course of his letter to the

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Romans that they would know he is not drawing upon anything new.

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But the Old Testament had spoken of these things only later to be revealed through Jesus Christ.

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As we'll read in verse 21 when we get to this section next week. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.

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So what he's quoting here, what he's citing is he's laying out these

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Old Testament scriptures in verses 10 through 18 is he is showing how the

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Old Testament, the law and the prophets bear witness to the fact that all have sinned.

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Jew or Greek, all are under sin. Now this section has been broken up into three parts and we looked at the first part last week, which was verses 10 through 12 and this revealing the sinful condition of man.

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We are sinful from the core, from the very heart. All of the sin that we do is because we were first sinful of heart.

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Then we start looking at kind of the outward signs of the wickedness that exists within.

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And that's what we examined yesterday. Verses 13 and 14 from the heart of a wicked person will come perverse speech.

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Those who speak lies, their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive the venom of asps is under their lips.

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Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. So first of all, the sinful condition, second of all sinful speech.

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And then what we look at here today in part three is the sinful action versus 15 through 17.

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Their feet are swift to shed blood in their paths are ruin and misery and the way of peace they have not known.

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Now each one of these sections drew upon a particular place in scripture.

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The only one that was more random than the others was part two that we looked at yesterday because Paul drew upon Psalm five,

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Psalm 140 and Psalm 10. The first section that was versus 10 through 12, he was using exclusively

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Psalm 14 and Psalm 53, which are very, very similar to one another. None is righteous.

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No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. That all came from Psalm 14 and we had a little bit more of a mix in part two.

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But this section that we look at today, the third section, which is versus 15 through 17, this is all drawn from Isaiah 59.

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Let me read for you starting in verse one. This is Isaiah 59 starting in verse one.

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Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save or his ear dull that it cannot hear.

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But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your

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God and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear for your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity.

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Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue mutters wickedness.

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No one enters suit justly. No one goes to law honestly. They rely on empty pleas.

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They speak lies. They conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

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They hatch adders eggs, which are snakes. They weave the spiders web.

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He who eats their eggs dies and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.

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Their webs will not serve as clothing. Men will not cover themselves with what they make.

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Their works are works of iniquity and deeds of violence are in their hands.

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Their feet run to evil and they are swift to shed innocent blood.

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Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, desolation and destruction are their highways the way of peace.

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They do not know and there is no justice in their paths. They have made their roads crooked.

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No one who treads on them knows peace. Did you find the words there that sounded similar to what we've been reading here in this section in Romans chapter three?

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In fact, there was even a reference to snakes to vipers just like we have here in this section.

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You have the words that they speak is nothing but wickedness muttering lies.

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They conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. So you see the same pattern of wickedness demonstrated here in Isaiah 59 as we read about in Romans three.

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It's the wickedness of heart that produces evil speech that produces wicked actions.

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Now the purpose of what is being written about here in Isaiah 59. What's the point of this?

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Well of course this is regarding a judgment that is coming upon Israel because of their sinfulness against God and in their sinfulness it's also being demonstrated this is the heart of mankind to be wicked and do unjustly.

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But this chapter also points toward a savior that is to come. So let me start reading here in verse 14.

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I'm going to skip down Isaiah 59 verse 14. Justice is turned back and righteousness stands far away for truth has stumbled in the public squares and uprightness cannot enter.

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Truth is lacking and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

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The Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no one to intercede.

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Then his own arm brought him salvation and his righteousness upheld him.

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He put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.

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According to their deeds so will he repay wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies.

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To the coastlands he will render repayment so they shall fear the name of the

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Lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun for he will come like a rushing stream which the wind of the

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Lord drives. Now here verse 20. And a redeemer will come to Zion to those in Jacob who turn from transgression declares the

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Lord. So this is about judgment that is going to come upon mankind for their wickedness but it's also pointing to the giving of a

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Savior who of course is Jesus Christ the Lord. So that's the context of that passage and as Paul is quoting from it here in Isaiah 59 he has that in mind for that's where he is going to point out that Jesus is the fulfillment of that promised

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Messiah who was going to come. The Messiah who would not only deliver the ones who love justice but he would also render judgment against those who hate justice.

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So those who do wickedness are going to be judged by the same man who delivers those who love righteousness.

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That's Jesus Christ. When he returns he is going to deliver us who loved him, who feared

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God in his name, who worshiped the Lord Jesus Christ we will be saved. And Jesus will also be the one who is going to pour out wrath and judgment on those who hated

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God, who continued in rebellion, who would not repent and did not turn back. Those wicked persons described here according to Isaiah 59 which

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Paul cites in Romans chapter 3 verse 15 again their feet are swift to shed blood.

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So they go places that will cause destruction. They're going to go to those places where I can find sin.

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It's not merely enough for the wicked person to remain where they are and deal wickedly.

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They have to go find mischief as Isaiah had pointed out here in Isaiah 59. So they're going to the places where they can find rebellion, sin, wickedness, evil, anything that I can commit against God.

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So the evil that exists within the heart of man again manifests itself through the words that we speak and then is even going to be demonstrated in the actions of wicked persons.

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So their feet are swift to shed blood. They go to the place where they shed blood and recognize in Isaiah 59 that when they're shedding blood like there's a victim here.

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So somebody is suffering at the hands of wicked persons and that's the way it always is with sin.

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You cannot sin alone on an island. Sin is always going to have massive ramifications.

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Of course, when you sin you are going to have to face the consequences for your sin. But it's also afflicting and harming other people.

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Now we as Christians should know this. It's what the scripture says. In Titus chapter 3 it says before we came to Christ we were hated by others and hating one another.

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So there's just this constant contempt for life in general from the heart of a wicked person.

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But these evil persons they try to say to us who love goodness and love godliness.

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They try to say to us, look, butt out. It's none of your business what I do with myself, with my body, with my rights, with my life.

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It's none of your business. So don't tell me how to live. Of course when they do that they're actually telling us how to live.

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Don't tell me how to live. Don't tell me what to do. They're telling us what to do. Let me do what

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I want to do. I'm not harming anybody. I'm not afflicting anybody. But we know that's not true.

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It's not possible for a person to sin alone by themselves.

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Not causing harm to anybody else. You look at the pro -abortion movement and who is it that they're killing?

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The babies, of course. Swift to shed blood. They love sexual immorality and there's always more than one partner there.

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So you're bringing sinfulness not only upon your own body but somebody else's body.

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And then the consequence of that sin is that now the person is pregnant out of wedlock.

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Well they don't want a child. That's not what I had sex for. I wasn't trying to start a family. I was just trying to enjoy my libido a little bit.

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So I don't want to have to bear the responsibility for raising up this life.

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So they go to an abortion clinic and they have an abortion. They have the child killed.

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There is blood that is shed for the sin that was committed. They sin against their own body when they had sex outside of marriage.

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They cause somebody else to sin when they became a partner in that act.

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And now there's another life that's involved in this as well. The life that resulted from the sexual encounter.

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Now there must be a sacrifice made for our sin. And that sacrifice is a child.

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And they go to the abortion clinic and have their baby murdered. All this sin that is affecting many many people.

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Now you have an abortion doctor who's even a murderer in that process. The mother that's committed murder.

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The father that is passively committed murder. He may not have been active in holding the forceps.

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But maybe he paid the bill. Maybe he drove the woman there to the abortion clinic. It's just sin begetting sin begetting sin.

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And even when the whole LGBTQ movement was going on, of course that movement still exists. But when they were pushing for the legalization of same sex marriage in the

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United States of America. They were trying to tell anybody. They were trying to tell everybody. This isn't going to harm anyone.

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Just let us do what we want to do. But of course we know that isn't true. They were destroying themselves.

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They were destroying one another. And now they're attempting to destroy the family and the rest of America along with it. So there is no such thing as living or sinning alone on an island.

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Your sin is always going to affect somebody else. The father that is unfaithful to his wife ends up harming not just his wife, but also his children, which harms an entire community, which harms families on both sides.

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There's all kinds of harm that results from sin. It is always going to be affecting a multitude of people.

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Wherever a person goes to rebel against God and live for their own flesh and their own passions, they are shedding blood wherever it is that they go.

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Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery.

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They leave a wake of bodies behind them just to get what it is that they want.

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Just because they wanted a little bit of pleasure for a little bit of time. Totally fleeting. It never truly satisfies.

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And then they got to go somewhere else to try to find the satisfaction that they were getting before, but no longer satisfies.

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Like trying to find new sin. Paul had even talked about this back in chapter 1 where he said they are inventors of evil.

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I'm not getting the pleasure that I was getting out of this before, so I need to go find another sin to get pleasure out of.

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And it's just more and more wickedness. And in their paths are ruin and misery. In verse 17.

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And the way of peace they have not known. They don't have peace with other people and they most certainly do not have peace with God.

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Perhaps recently you had seen a video that I had done. This was about a month ago or so where I went through the lyrics of John Lennon's song

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Imagine, which is one of the most hypocritical songs ever written.

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When he says things like imagine no possessions and yet this guy was worth over 500 million dollars when he died.

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Even owned his own island. But there's also a line in that song where he says imagine all the people living life in peace.

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But John Lennon himself did not live in peace. He was a violent man, was abusive to his women and to his wife and he was abusive of his child physically and verbally.

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So this man wants you to live life in peace but don't you dare tell him that he needs to be peaceful with the people that were in his life.

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So even these these persons who are secular humanists who reject

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God and reject religion and reject any kind of morality they believe in relative morality.

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These persons do not really know peace. Though they might hold up two fingers and say hey peace man or they might wear peace signs around their neck.

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They don't know peace. They know division with one another. Nothing but hostility toward each other and most especially hostility toward God.

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And that's really where we most need peace. We need peace with God.

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When we have peace with God we also have peace with one another. So true peace only comes from God.

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But the peace that we get from God Paul describes in Philippians 4 as a peace that surpasses all understanding.

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The reason why it's that great a peace is because where previously we were enemies of God and we were under the wrath of God by faith in Jesus Christ we are now friends of God.

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So we have peace with God. And just everything that comes with that. How that was accomplished through Christ's death on the cross.

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His resurrection from the grave. How we are able to attain this simply by faith in our

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Lord Jesus Christ. All of these things are divinely mysterious. They are practically beyond comprehension.

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So that is why Paul describes this as a peace that surpasses all understanding.

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And yet it is guarding our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. The peace that we need the most is peace with God.

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God's judgment is coming against us because of our sinfulness and we need a

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Savior to save us from the judgment that is to come. Just as Isaiah talked about in Isaiah chapter 59.

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That Savior has come and he is Jesus Christ the Lord. So turn from your sin and worship him and you shall live.

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And now when you have the peace of God in your heart you have peace with one another.

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The only true unity we can ever attain is the unity that is found in Christ Jesus the

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Lord. And we have all been gathered to God through Christ as now part of his body, his bride, the church and we are worshiping

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Jesus awaiting the day that he will return to judge the living and the dead but also to deliver his own into his eternal kingdom.

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And there we will be away from the blood, the ruin, the misery and the constant conflict that is going on in this fallen world.

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The only true peace we can ever have is peace with our Lord Jesus Christ. So turn from your sin, believe in Jesus and know peace.

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Let us pray. Heavenly Father we love our Lord Jesus Christ and we have come into this love because you first loved us.

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And so I pray that in this love that's been demonstrated through the cross of Christ that we would have that same kind of compassion toward one another in the body of Christ.

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We would also have compassion to those who are still walking in their sin, in misery, shedding blood, causing ruin and destruction to themselves and the people around them.

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They desperately need saved before the judgment of God falls upon them. And so may we be courageous with the gospel of Christ and share that with those who do not believe so that they would turn from their sin and live and know the way of peace and peace everlasting.

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Thank you for your gift and your grace to us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. You can find a complete list of videos, books, devotionals and other resources online at www .utt