Romans 3:1-20, What’s the Advantage?, Dr. John Carpenter

Romans chapter 3 verses 1 to 20 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 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 as it is written. None is righteous No, not one no one understands no one seeks for God all have turned aside together they have become worthless

No one does good Not even one Their throat is an open grave

They use their tongues to deceive the venom of asp is under their lips Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness

Their feet are swift to shed blood and their paths are ruined and misery and the way of peace

They have not known there is no fear of God before their eyes 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 For by works of the law

No human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin

May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word Do you have an advantage

I mean, did you come from a good family Gave you all the advantages that it could good parents who cared about you and gave you what whatever they could even if they weren't

Wealthy maybe not material things, but at least good values, you know work ethic taught you faithfulness and integrity

And hard work qualities that would help you make the most of yourself That's a great advantage.

It's probably better than getting a lot of money. Maybe you got a good education Or were born with a high

IQ or just a pleasant personality and that right balance of hormones

And you've laid well with others and so we're easily liked that's an advantage. You have an advantage, especially if you work in sales

Maybe your family was rich Can be an advantage Lately there's been a lot of talk about privilege another word for advantage

You have privilege and people are saying that some people are inherently Privileged and they need to at least

Be aware of those privileges to check your privilege. They're told now I suppose it's fine to be aware of your advantages and what they are

But to suggest that all people of a certain race which is often what they do are privileged It's really ridiculous of my four grandparents three were very poor a couple of them had to pick cotton

Now sure one of my grandparents my paternal grandmother. Well, she was not rich herself She was descended from a family that had been very wealthy back before the

Civil War. They had owned a large plantation in Georgia While a lot of those material advantages were lost in the war.

I can still see the advantages, you know Like two or three generate three generations, I guess later that she inherited

She was able to go to college in the 1930s during the Depression was very unusual for a girl at that time

She became a prominent leader of her town She was named West Memphis, Arkansas woman of the year

She was advantaged and when she died in 2011 The advantages that she inherited all the way back from that plantation in Georgia Judging all the way back that far those advantages bought us those windows

Well in contrast to the advantage are the the disadvantaged we have some of disadvantaged children in our

Jim jr In Jim programs now, they may have no father at home or if they do he's not a very good one

Their mother may be inattentive Once I found a Jim jr Kid a 13 year old boy named

Damien has spent his time running loose in Yanceyville Had no father around the mother spent was spending her time in these internet casinos

Which were legal back then the the only picture she had of her son was a proof of a you know

Those photo photographs they take at school. She had not taken one picture Of her son, he got so little attention at home another relative offered to take him in but the mother refused

Apparently wanting to check she got from the government for having him as a dependent He liked going to church including to our

Jim jr program and to school probably because It was somewhere where at least someone was paying him some attention, but his grades were poor likely because he got so little structure and encouragement now understand that intelligence and Academic performance can be improved and be greatly improved with the right environment the right nurturing even someone with a

Disadvantaged IQ a low natural capacity can perform at an average or even above average level if he gets the right nurture someone with a low

IQ can function at about possibly up to 20 IQ points higher than their normal level if they had the

Advantages of good training and attention and nurturing at home particularly but that boy was disadvantaged

A one -day wandering around Yancey Ville with some friends, you know, just looking for something to do I guess looking for some excitement the friends dare him to go they went to the town reservoir

They dared him to jump in to the reservoir. He did But he couldn't swim and so he drowned his body

Lay in a casket right here When I preached his funeral sermon

Some people today speak of advantages and privileges of a bad thing. I think Damien wishes he had some advantages

Some people talk about well if we have a quality now what they're calling often equity Then no one should have any advantages over anyone else, but that's really that's just envy

That's not equality. You just envy that someone else has something you don't We all want

Advantages there's nothing really necessarily wrong with having them advantages put us in a better position in the restaurant business

Location is a important advantage. You want to be in a spot where people will stop by and buy your food

Advantages are so popular that the name advantage is a favorite of all kinds of products there's an advantage breakfast cereal and advantage bus and advantage flea poison for pets an

Advantage rental car company an advantage database server a brand of paper and at least two rock bands everyone

Wants an advantage That's true, too When it comes to God to especially when it comes to God People want something to put them in a superior position an advantage

With God to put it us in his favor at the end of Romans 2 Paul talks about what they thought

Gave them an advantage with God that is these people with their nation their ancestry For them circumcision maybe for us church membership baptism

Christian parents morality, they think those things give them an advantage a

Privileged status with God, but then at the end of chapter 2 Paul says if you have the advantage

That is you have the heritage you have the mark of the Covenant yet still you live no

Differently you live as if you don't have it you break God's Word Then you might as well Be from a heathen nation

Have no mark of the Covenant not have his word then your circumcision is uncircumcision for us

Maybe if you're if you're baptized and you live like you're unbaptized You're not as if you're a non -christian then your your baptism is unbaptism

You have no advantage But that idea would be one of the most Offensive things that you could say to some religious people's particularly the kind of religious people

Paul was dealing with often You know all their hopes have been set on these Advantages these things that they have been told that put them in a superior position with God these privileges

Their ancestry their Covenant the marks of it But they thought that by being religious or being born to the right nation

This was these were privileges that put them in God's favor and in chapter 2

Paul has taken a sledgehammer To those hopes he's destroyed them and said if your life and your heart are not for God you have

No advantage. He's been telling religious people this for years Going around particularly these synagogues and telling them you're not advantaged

And he's heard some of their heckling back at him He's heard the same objections over and over some trying to reason with them some just being smarter lucky some just being angry some insulting and very quickly in Condensed fashion he deals with four common objections and Then he comes by the end of this section to his conclusion to the conclusion of this section of the book of Romans He starts from chapter 1 verse 18 until now chapter 3 verse 20 and this comes in two parts first equality and then

Depravity first equality. He says in verse 9 that we are all Equal as all kinds of people

Jews Greeks all ethnic groups No one has any advantage and now if that's so the first objection and in these first like nine verses

Some of these statements are statements that he's heard and he is He is repeating them if we if we were editing this today

We probably put them in quotation marks. Some said this and he he he repeats them for us

So we know what the critics are saying some are saying within that's true What you've been arguing so far

Paul digger in chapter 2 then what advantage has the Jew? you know, we thought

We're born in the right ethnic group. We have the right ancestors God made a promise to Abraham made a promise to our ancestors that puts us right with him.

That's privilege. It's an advantage We have this we have this covenant and He says it doesn't put you an advantage

And he answers though in a way it is an advantage. It doesn't make you closer to God just because you have this mark

Just because you're circumcised or for us, but you're baptized just because you're an Israelite Because you have the ancestors or for us because you're a church member

It doesn't give that kind of advantage not a privilege with God. He'll accept you But that thing well, what are you talking about?

If it doesn't do that? What good does it do? Well, it is an advantage because it gives you access

To the Word of God what he calls here first the oracles of God Oracle means these revelations

God has revealed himself in his word and so that we're not left in first to Israel So they were not left these people

Israelites. They weren't left to just the revelation of God that's in nature God reveals remember in chapter 1 God's reveal himself in nature.

You look at the stars. You can see there's a creator But those people who are left that's all they have just the revelation in nature.

What do they always do they go after idols? they throw themselves into into all kinds of Passions and lust and it's

God has not left Israel up to that He's given them his oracles his revelation of himself in his word

So there was an advantage to being a Jew because they were the first to get God's Word They got the words of God before other nations did and that's an enormous advantage

Why are the Jewish people today is my speculation? Why are Jewish people today? Well, they're often so successful, you know

They're only like 2 % of the u .s. Population There's so many of our doctors and lawyers and scholars leading professors win

Nobel Prizes and that kind of stuff or in the media I mean way out of proportion to their size in the population.

Why? And now any Semitic people any Jewish people will say well

It's a conspiracy some kind of cabal in which they're they're helping each other and rigging the system for themselves

No, I don't believe that I believe it's because their culture has been shaped by the Word of God for thousands of years

So they've been taught the values that the Word of God holds up is to be cherished and that gives the principles the

Word of God gives principles for success in this life and Psalm 119 which had been in the past three weeks psalm 119 drills into us the the advantages of having

God's Word Because it is it is good for us good for us in this life and more importantly scripture

Makes us Paul says in another letter first Timothy. I think why is for salvation? Now later in this very letter in Romans chapter 10.

He'll say Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the the Word of Christ So through hearing

God's Word we get faith and through faith we can get grace and so we can be saved

So having the Word of God either in print in your hand or in your hearing at church

That's a great advantage It's just a much in every way. It's a tremendous advantage.

It can mean the difference between life and death Heaven and hell And can make them give you an advantage in this life make you successful.

This is why We should bring our children to church So they can hear the

Word of God It puts them in an advantage The problem many people will sacrifice a lot to give their children advantages of all kinds.

They'll they'll pay Hard -earned money to put them on give them tutoring pay tutors to come and teach their child extra after school

Could put them through in Singapore. At least they call it enrichment music lessons learn instruments martial arts

Wushu or taekwondo? training sports Abacus maybe private schools and Lucas.

It is maybe think it's better You're paying more money. You know that but you figure this is worth it gives them an advantage

I want my children to have these advantages and so you sacrifice for it So then if it's such an advantage here much in every way having the

Word of God is a great advantage Then why would you not give your children the advantage of hearing

God's Word? Why would you not do that? What doesn't make any sense if you want to give your children the greatest advantages then bring them to church

But just having the word in church membership without believing it and without heeding it without living any differently

You know, that's no advantage That's a disadvantage Here the here the

Jew who thought just because he was a Jew It just descended from Abraham and was circumcised.

He didn't eat pork. He didn't work on the Sabbath that he was excused by God or For us maybe the church member who's been baptized.

Here's the word So they just give some money, but then doesn't really trust the Lord That's no advantage

He has more responsibility Just hearing without doing makes you more guilty

But having the word can be if you'll take advantage of it. Well, that can be a great advantage The second objection in verse 3

Echoing something that he's probably heard many times He's heard this objections over and over someone says back him you said here circumcision the mark of the

Covenant with God That's no advantage if we don't live like We're in a covenant with God the mark of the

Covenant doesn't make any difference There's not a privilege if you don't live like you're in a covenant of God, then aren't you saying that our unfaithfulness?

Aren't you saying Paul? This is the skeptic talking. Aren't you saying that our? unfaithfulness makes

God unfaithful You know can our faithlessness that our Breaking the

Covenant are not keeping the Covenant destroy God's faithfulness So that he doesn't keep the

Covenant either he breaks the word just like we break our word and they're saying

You know since we know that that is absurd Since we know that God cannot be unfaithful.

We know that what you say Paul is untrue That way they reasoned

We still had an advantage with God. We have them locked up no matter how we live. He's gotta do good for us

He's promised we have this advantage no matter how we live and Paul says very abruptly no way

Absolutely, not This term translated over and over again By no means here in the

ESV King James version was God forbid Greek word just means Absolutely, not no way no exceptions.

That's totally wrong. Just a way of slamming slamming the fist down on the table can't be

And even if everyone in the world it was unfaithful if everyone didn't keep their their word their commitment to God Even if they're all complete liars

Still God will be faithful His faithfulness doesn't depend on us.

He cannot deny himself as he says elsewhere He will always keep his covenant Promises and then he quotes from Psalm 51 as we read we sang a little bit from when

King David It was repenting for his lack of faithfulness David says

God You are justified You are shown to be right here in verse in verse 4 that you may be justified

Shown to be correct. You're right When I have it been Even though I've been unfaithful

God you're fateful to yourself. No one will be able to judge God and say that he didn't keep his word

Now the third objection in verse 5 is that the gospel makes God unjust now the scoffers were saying

If what you're saying is true Paul Can he's he's telling us what he's been hearing back from to him what you're saying is true

All particularly in chapter 2 then then God is benefiting from our sin God has advantage from my sinning if my unrighteousness my sin is

Going to demonstrate God's righteousness When he inflicts wrath, he shows his wrath of me

He judges me my sin is used as an opportunity to show God's rightness his holiness.

Well, then that makes God unjust God's using my sin for his advantage

He's using my sin like lying he's just lying his example here he's using it to show off To show he's holy that he's pure to make himself look good and Then he's condemning me for that That's not fair The skeptics say that now to that Paul says at the end of verse 5

He's speaking and that's speaking in a human way This is the way that people Assuming that they are the center of the universe

Humanistic philosophy they think we can judge God based on our standards

We have the philosophy we have the criteria we can stand in judgment over God If I did that if I did what

Paul you say God is doing Then I would be wrong. And so if God does it Then God is wrong.

That's using ourselves is the criteria by which to judge God C .s. Lewis said that this was putting a

God in the dock famous book the the dock Being the British term for where the defendant stands in the courtroom, right?

the person accused and a in a trial is in the British court is brought in and that's the place where he stands or sits it's called the dock and these people are putting

God on trial and They're there so they're standing back and thinking they can judge him In other words people think that they have a right to put

God to check him by their standards Then we can be the prosecutor we can ask

God the tough questions and Then be the judge coming to a verdict deciding whether we think

God whether we think you are guilty or innocent by our standards

As though we can do that Now Paul's response to that in verse 6 is again the same term no way

I Cannot be absolutely not God. He says is the judge. He's not the defendant He's not gonna play like the defendant.

He's gonna let you come into his courtroom and put him on trial He just won't play along You know

If you if any criminal that went into a court today with any judge Started to try to put the judge on trial the judges wouldn't hear of it.

You're in contempt of court haul the guy away And that's what God does. I'm not gonna even entertain it God makes the rules

He comes to the verdict His word is law He judges the world at the end of our six

The fourth quick objection starting verse 7 is that if God is glorified because of my sin

That is for example, I lie I'm unfaithful to my word But then my sin

Makes God look more gracious because he forgives it or it brings him more glory because he judges it

He looks good in contrast to me Then some people say back then ha ha

God why not then do more evil when I fly more when I do more immorality When I become one of those people in chapter 1 who just throw themselves into what he called dishonorable passions

Into outright immorality, why not? I mean Skeptics saying these scoffers are saying your gospel says that we are saved by grace without works and that glorifies

God Which is the ultimate good making God look good. So then why not just an indulgence in of all kinds

Lie all I want so that either God will save us and Make himself look even more gracious.

Look at all the sin he forgave Or God will condemn us and He'll be glorified

Either way, this is the skeptic talking it Paul's paraphrasing either way Paul Your gospel is promoting sin

Paul's response to that is Kurt It is slander This caricature of the gospel making the gospel look as if it promoted immorality

He says a slander That is the person who is presenting the gospel like this the scoffer who is trying to deride it

Maliciously lying about it to hurt it Saying it makes people more sinful Here, he doesn't argue with it.

You know argue really with it at all He'll deal with this idea more later in chapter 6, but here he just condemns it

To people who say the gospel is is like this it promotes sin

He says their condemnation is just Anyone who says that the gospel makes

God look better By encouraging our bad behavior by making us worse

That our salvation is totally disconnected from our morality. Anyone says that is condemned

This is a slander of the gospel now. Yes, as he said in chapter 2 Morality does not achieve salvation but morality

Always comes from it Just because we say that your morality doesn't give you an advantage with God Doesn't mean that you can then say well then never mind never mind about self -control

Trying to not fall into these sins. I'll just throw myself right into them Because it doesn't affect my salvation anyone who says that he says no their condemnation is just morality does not achieve salvation

But always comes from it to sever that connection to say that you can have

Jesus as your Savior But not as your Lord. He could be your Savior from the guilt of sin, but don't worry about it

The power of sin you can fall for that all you want. Anyone who says that is saying a hellish lie

Paul says that people who teach such a gospel are slandering the gospel and They deserve to be condemned

Now there have been over the last century Particularly, it's probably always been this in church history But particularly in America over the last century those who present the gospel as if you can be saved by grace

Without any change in your life. You just kind of repeat this prayer You say you believe it's played these these few facts about Jesus you say you believe it and you're told you're saved

They'll say that's free grace the right books about it And since grace is absolutely free Then you don't have to worry how you live and you can have the greatest advantage with God and yet be no different at all

No discipleship and Paul says here really curtly Their condemnation is

Just so what's the advantage? What's the advantage of having the mark of the

Covenant of being one of God's people then in verse 9 is? not So that we can indulge whatever sin we want we can live self -seeking lives like the rest of the world and then we can think

At the end. Well, I have my ticket to heaven We can be a that we can be unfaithful and yet God will keep his end of the bargain if that's the way we feel

We have no advantage because we have no grace Well, that's a that's a stunning thought

For people who have bought in to this selling of Advantages now for so much of modern

Christianity It has been turned into a selling of advantages with God during Reformation They were selling indulgences

You literally pay money get this indulgence that says you get so much time off a purgatory For your sins or for some favorite relative of yours

We've been we've done the same thing over the last 200 years you do this and that and you get

Disassurance that you have an advantage with God you say the right prayer you come forward you get baptized sign up for church membership you then get we're told an

Advantage you have God taken care of the Paul says it doesn't work like that Everyone is under sin in verse 9 all are under sin

We have no advantage that we as a church can just offer you and we kind of sell like goods in a store we have only the gospel and God has the grace

What's the advantage Well, there isn't any We keep looking for some way to put ourselves in a good position by putting a restaurant in the right place

Some will get baptized or join the church or give money for the advantage, but it doesn't work And it doesn't matter what ethnic group or what family you come from he concludes in verse 9 that we are all

Equal everyone Jews Greeks Romans Caucasians Americans Africans Chinese everyone

Everywhere is equal no advantages. Check your privilege.

He says You have none We've all been equal and We're all equal in a horrible

Disadvantaged way, we're all Under sin, so there is a quality and Then there's depravity

And starting in verse 9 we're all equally depraved now That doesn't mean we're as bad to each other or as bad in behavior as we can be we can be worse in our behavior

It can be better or worse and how destructive you are, but it does mean that we are as Disadvantaged with God as we can possibly be that we are all

Equally at heart in our natural condition left to ourselves without God's grace

We're all as godless as we can be and that's the worst disadvantage of all

To be depraved is what is meant by being under sin Under Sin in verse 9 and that means that we are under his control under his power

We're slaves of sin as Jesus said everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin if left to ourselves

So we do its bidding Because we're under it And we don't really have any choice then to send left to ourselves until Christ comes and sets us free first now

It's not an outward compulsion as though we're puppets doing things. We'd rather not do I really don't want to sin

But God is making me sin is making me Outside me. No, it's not like that.

Not an outward compulsion It's an inward corruption Giving us the wrong desires

So we want to sin And so we are under his condemnation in fact, even if we don't outwardly do the sin we still want to do it and So condemned for it

We've inherited the guilt of sin and so will inherit its punishment unless someone else Who has no disadvantages of his own?

Takes that punishment for us from here verses 9 to 20. He declares this equal

Disadvantageous Equality is depravity stringing together Seven quotes mostly from the

Psalms one from Proverbs one for Isaiah But mostly the rest of them from Psalms and Paul shows us the one he's been saying

I want he's been arguing all the way from the middle of chapter 1 chapter 1 verse 18 until now comes from The Word of God what we call the

Old Testament all are under sin And so none are in verse 10. None are righteous

Not one person in his natural condition other than Christ himself who is who is right with God not one this is a very different picture of sin and Our relationship with God whether we're alienated from God, it's just assumed by the world today you know today most people assume that they have some advantages with God as long as they're not really a horrible just Atrocious kind of person.

We have some advantages. I mean look at me compared to these other people They're not so bad

Maybe this is maybe there's a hell most some people think maybe there's a hell for the for the likes of Adolf Hitler Yeah, okay

Hitler deserves hell mass murderers Deserve hell Extremely vicious brutal people.

Maybe they deserve it. Well, not for me not for most of us and The result of that it's very common thinking in our culture today.

The result of that is that most people don't think they really need Jesus They don't need a Savior. Oh, they may they may like him.

He gives good advice. He's a good example He's a hero, but he didn't really need him To be right with God.

That's the way they think the fact that most they're mostly decent They think they're in the average range kind of like IQs.

They're in the average range That's enough of advantage with God to get by But the gospel of God that Paul here is is laying out for us

It begins very differently getting a chapter 1 verse 18. Remember the anger of God is being revealed against all ungodliness

That's hearts that are not for God and turned aside to idols instead. God's anger is crashing down Equally on all because all are equally depraved because no one not even one

Is right with God? No one understands Because everyone has made that horrible exchange

He talked about trading away the gold of knowledge of God that everyone has they traded away for the gravel of their own self -seeking

No one seeks for God in verse 11 Not even the religious

No one seeks for God No one without grace is as a seeker of God now people find it incredible if you tell them that we believe

That other religions don't lead to God Other religions don't exist to seek

God that's not their purpose no matter what they say they exist to avoid

God Make people feel good about avoiding God now some churches even today today design their worship services to appeal to what they call seekers

But without God's grace There are no seekers All have turned aside

The moral and the immoral for some it's obvious for some it's less obvious, but they've all turned aside

The religious have turned aside the materialist have turned aside Jesus is the way the truth in the life and no one comes to the father, but by him, but we've all turned away

From that way We all turn another way To our depending on our morality thinking we have a privilege our religion

Are just the hope? You know the hey, I'm I'm better than you know Hitler So I have an advantage together in verse 12

We've become worthless together means all of us worthless it's unprofitable If you add up our spiritual value

It makes a deficit. We're in debt It's a debt we can't pay

I'm profitable means it's it's in the red. We're in the red with God. We're bankrupt But surely something you know,

I'm the exception. Okay, maybe others not me. I've been good. I've been religious I've been privileged.

I've checked my privilege and I have some To that attitude comes the sledgehammer in verse 12

No one does good Something well, maybe generally better. I'm the exception.

No one does good not even one no exceptions There's no exceptions among us sinners none with an advantage over others.

Oh sure. Some may be better neighbors Some may be better citizens or friends or family members or spouses or whatever

So maybe better than in the way they relate to us than others But Paul told us in chapter 2 verse 8 that even day when they're better to us they're self -seeking and so at heart they are godless and Being godless being ungodly then they are not

Good part of our problem is what we think of is good We so often measure whether someone is good by whether they're good to us

But they do us favors and a flat tire on the side of the road you stop to help us He's good help me.

That's a value of good by the way What kind of people think that what you do to them is the measure of what is good?

People who think they're God So they're godless We had indulgent teachers

I was good kind boss it is good kind of me The kind of neighbor give you just shut off his back

We say they're good that God measures good by how their hearts are toward him and He finds that all

Are self -seeking and they're not seeking him No one does good

Not even one Then he describes what we're like and verse 13 says the throat of sinners is an it's an open grave

That is death is there Death comes from our words

Whether our words are sweet flattering or They're bitter and cursing and insults.

It doesn't matter Death and life are in the power of the tongue proverb says and for the sinner all our words whether profane or sanctimonious

Are self -serving They bring death Tell people what they want to hear because we think we can get from them what we want

As we seeking only ourselves People are natural liars Even if they speak the truth, they only do it for the advantage.

They could get from it from saying the words So they aren't really saying it because it's true

But because it suits their purposes because it serves them They use what comes out of their mouths like a snake uses venom to kill

Destroy to devour for themselves They'll be slow to respond to God, but they'll be quick to destroy anyone who gets in their way

They're constantly focused on what is to their advantage No matter the debris of ruin and misery that they leave behind and so everyone being that way equally depraved makes for a tumultuous world filled with wars and crimes and Cheating and betrayals and divorces and self -seeking men using women and self -seeking women abandoning their children disadvantaged children destroying themselves and last and worst in verse 18

There is no fear of God before their eyes They're not afraid of God's judgment

And they're not even aware that it will come for them And that's what he began with you remember all the way back at the section in Romans in chapter 1 verse 18

The root of the problem of godlessness this horrible exchange Carried more for the gravel of our own lust and the goal of knowing

God It becomes from no fear of God. No reverence for God. No, no godliness and It ends with this self -seeking people

Assuming that they are okay with God They have the privilege they have an advantage after all they're decent people they're born to the right ancestors so they don't fear him they're empty of reverence and They're not knowing and they're not sensing that they have no advantage with God that they are if they are in danger of condemnation

They don't care Because they have no heart that takes that seriously That's just a bizarre thought to them that they would take hell and condemnation and judgment seriously that never enters their mind

Those who are in danger of condemnation Fear God the least those who have no condemnation because For those who are in Christ, there is no condemnation

Fear it and God the most Those who are in danger of condemnation

Fear at the least and those who have no condemnation fear at the most.

So what's the advantage? What's the advantage of having the word well, it doesn't save us just knowing it just mentally agreeing with it

What's the advantage? Much in every way we hear it finally

After all our self -serving flattery we hear What we're really like We think we have an advantage

We come to his work with an event with that delusion that we're privileged because we're we're better than Hitler Better than some serial killer better than maybe than average or at least we're in the average range but we hear now from the

Old Testament repeated again for us here in Romans that No, we're not better We're not right with God We haven't even really been seeking him

Even with our religion We haven't really been seeking him left to ourselves. Anyway, we've turned aside from the way and Not even one of us

Not even us Have done what God the judge Calls good the advantage

Though there is an advantage and that advantage is that we see finally

That our works will not make us right in God's sight. We get that we get the advantage verse 20 of knowledge of sin

Knowledge of our sin of our depravity. And so we see that our lives contrasted to the gym of God's law like a jeweler puts diamonds on the backdrop of black felt

You know behold the stark difference Because the law is the commands from God on what to do and what not to do

That law isn't there to tell us how to be saved but to show us

That we're not They're not a job description God's law is not a job description or even a doctor's prescription, you know do this and You'll get right

No, it's a diagnosis It's like an EKG readout shows us so but it's flatline

You're dead Your heart is desperately sick You're dead in your sin

So what's the advantage? Oh, it's great. Finally God's sledgehammer has come crashing down on our pride so finally our our mouths our boasting has

Stopped finally, we know that we are sinners that everything about us

Everything that we've inherited or what we've done. It gives us no advantage check your privilege

It's empty and that knowledge That's a great advantage

Finally we're free of the lie That we can inherit or earn some superior position with God finally the delusion of Privilege that could have destroyed us