What we have been looking at over the last few Sundays has not been the easiest part of Paul’s letter to chew through.  In part because it just is.  What Paul writes is deep - meaning hard to wrap our minds around.  And - in part - what Paul has written has some pretty sobering implications for our lives.  Most of us tend to resist those implications.

I would like to remind everyone that these are God’s words through Paul - not mine.  Let’s not shoot the messenger because of the message.  What Paul is writing is hitting all of us.  I get to chew through this for 6 days of preparation.  Which means that God has had a running start at chewing on me.  I am not exempt by any means.  We are all in this together.  This is not easy.

It is helpful to keep in mind the big picture of where Paul is going with all his writing about sin and our being judged by God.

Paul’s letter to the Romans is written to the church in… Rome.  Rome being the center of everything western - philosophy - economics - politics - culture - science - religion.  Everything that’s anything.  So, what relevancy does the gospel of Jesus - a man crucified in Judea - what relevancy does the gospel have in the great enlightenment of Rome?

A question that many people ask today.  We’ve obviously progressed beyond our need for primitive religions like Christianity.  Probably a good thing too.  We don’t need those religions anymore considering all the evil that’s been done in the world by those nasty religions. 

Paul’s point - going back to chapter 1 - is that we together - us and Paul -  have this incredible privilege and opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus - crucified to death and resurrected - ascended into heaven and returning - the gospel which is the answer to the deepest need that all of us have - which is to be made right in our relationship with God.  To actually be at peace - in our hearts - a peace that only comes from God when we are right in our relationship with Him.

The big picture - that we’ve been chewing through from 1:18 - the section of Paul’s letter that we’re coming to the end of this morning - is Paul responding to objections.  He’s killing red herrings.  Dealing with objections and questions about the relevancy of the gospel.  People saying, “No its not.”  Paul saying, “Yes it is.”

While he’s writing this letter to the Romans Paul is in Corinth on his third missionary journey.  Its not hard to imagine that in all of Paul’s travels - being the “push it to the limit” kind of evangelist and theologian that Paul is - that Paul has heard pretty much every objection and red herring argument or excuse that a person might come up with to avoid having to deal with the personal implications of the gospel.

Think with me about Paul’s answers.

Question:  “What about the guy in deepest darkest Africa that’s never heard of the gospel?  How can I believe in a just and loving God that would send that person to Hell?”

Paul declares that God has revealed enough about Himself in His creation to invite that person to respond to Him - to seek Him - and that God will be found by Him.

“Well, what about the mess this world is in?  How can I believe in a God who’s suppose to be all powerful but is impotent to do something about all the evil in the world?”

Paul states that its man who’s turned against God.  Man who suppresses the truth about God.  Man who has become foolish seeking to follow our own wisdom.  Man who invents evil and encourages depravity.  All of which is an exercise of man’s God given free will.

In a sense:  Don’t blame the landlord because the tenets are tearing up the place.

Someone may object:  “How can I believe in the God of the Bible?  Look at all the killing and horrible stuff that’s been done in the name of religion.  Look it how Christians act.  Why would I want to be a part of any of that?”

Paul tells us that God has initiated a relationship with us - with His covenant people the Jews - and also with the Gentiles - a restored relationship with Him that He God establishes through His Son Jesus Christ.

Paul says that while God has initiated a relationship we - mankind - we’ve turned it into a religion.  God is interested in our hearts - the core of who we are - circumcision of the heart - obeying the Law - capital “L” - living rightly with Him from the heart.  And we’re focused on rituals and rites and regulations - oh my.

In a sense:  Don’t blame the manufacturer if the users are abusing the product.

Someone says, “Well, I’m a good person.  I guess I’ll just take my chances that the good Lord will see fit to let me into heaven when I meet Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates.”

Paul reminds us that long before we ever meet Saint Peter each of us is going to stand before the Holy God as our judge and everything about our lives is going to be laid out in living Technicolor and weighed against the standard of God’s righteousness.  If all of who we are and all of what we’ve done doesn’t tip the scale in our favor God will be more than justified in sending us into eternity apart from Him - into everlasting punishment.

Writing to the Romans Paul is knocking down those objections - systematically working to show all of us the crucial relevance of the gospel for our lives.  The greatness of our salvation and life in Jesus.

If you are not there yet - would you join me at Romans 3:1.  Verses 1 to 8 can be summarized as The Benefits of Being Jewish.  Let me read through these verses for us and as we go through we’ll look at Paul’s main points.

Verse 1: Then what advantage has the Jew?  Or what is the value of circumcision?

In other words:  Paul just proved that we’re all toast.   So if being one of God’s covenant people doesn’t make us righteous what’s the point of being one of God’s covenant people?

Verse 2:  Much in every way.  To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

God’s covenant doesn’t exempt the Jews from judgment.  But it is a unique privilege.  They’ve received more truth than any other people group on the planet.  God gave them the Scriptures.  Shared the Scriptures with us through them.  Through them we all have heard about God’s grace.

Verse 3:  What if some were unfaithful?  Does their unfaithfulness nullify the faithfulness of God?  By no means!  Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”

If God’s people failed to live up to their end of the covenant agreement - failing at living as God’s people and truth bearers to the world - does that mean that God can’t accomplish what He set out to do?  Answer:  No - of course not. God will keep His promises.  God is faithful regardless of our epic failure.

Verse 5:  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?

In other words:  If God knew we were going to fail - meaning not living up to the covenant - keeping the law - small “l” - Old Testament law -  if God knew we were going to fail it means He set us up.  So how can God be justified in judging us?  But, the point of the Old Testament law was never about justifying God’s wrath.  The point of the Old Testament law is about pointing out our sin as part of God’s plan to redeem us.

Verse 7:  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.

Don’t you just love that?  If God’s purposes are accomplished through our sinning then we ought to do more of it.  Brethren and sistren, let us therefore glorify God through our more abundant sinning.  Someone say, “Amen!”

Are we together on where Paul is going here?

After everything that Paul has written about objections and our standing before God we can hear the Jews objecting:  “Wait a minute, you mean there isn’t any benefit to being a Jew?”  Or a Christian?

All these years - decades of going to Sunday School and helping at AWANA and staying awake through sermons and baking casseroles and reading my Bible and praying and serving and… are you saying I could have slept in on Sunday morning and spent more time carousing around getting drunk and gambling away my tithe check - watching the Raiders get creamed - and it would have amounted to the same thing?

Well, not exactly.

In this massively confused world there is a huge benefit to knowing the truth.  There is an astounding joy in being known by God and to knowing Him.  We have an awesome privilege as sharers of His gospel.  But, like the Jews, we need to be careful to remember that all that is by God’s grace - not our merit.  Given by grace according to God’s purposes.

The culture and religion of the Jews focused on pride in good behavior - continually working to earn God’s favor - on personal accomplishment - acceptance by the sliding standards of people.  Paul’s point - is that if they - if we - are working at a religion and not learning to rest in our relationship given to us by God - there is no eternal benefit for us.

It would be easy to think of ourselves as end users of what we get here on Sunday morning and to say to ourselves, “I know all this.”  But that isn’t the whole picture.  Remember Paul is writing to believers like us who might have been tempted to say the same thing - who also - with us - have a partnership in living and sharing the gospel with others.

If we’re tempted to say to ourselves, “I don’t have a problem with this.  I get this.”  we need to be careful.  Be careful that we’re not falling into the same trap that Paul is warning the Jews about - thinking they were doing just great in their relationship with God and not really hearing God speaking to their heart.

We need to be careful.  Even if this is “review” we need to know this because we are not end users.  God will bring someone to us who doesn’t know this and we will need to be able to rightly handle the word of God and lovingly explain the eternal precariousness of their situation to them and what God has done for them.

Let’s go on - verses 9 to 20 focus on The Knowledge of Sin - as if we need any help with this - knowing more about sin.  Let me read through these for us and point out a few lowlights along the way.

Verse 9:  What then?  Are we Jews any better off? 

Paul begins back in 3:1:  “What advantage has the Jew?  Much in every way.”  As God’s chosen people by access to God’s promises - Advantage?  Yes!  Verse 9:  “Are the Jews any better off?”  “No, not at all.”  No, because the playing field is still level.

For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,  When it comes to sin the Jew and the pagan are no different.

Coming to verse 10 Paul begins a “Charaz.”  Which in Hebrew means “stringing pearls.”  Which was a teaching technique the Rabbis used - stringing together valuable pearls of Scripture to emphasize a valuable point.  Paul here is using quotation after quotation from the Hebrew Bible - some of which are on your Message Notes.  What’s here is Paul’s summary of what he’s been driving at and what is one of the most valuable passages in Scripture.

Verse 10:  as it is written:  None is righteous, no, not one;   In Greek “none” means… none.  “No, not one” has the idea of all of them as a whole and all the individuals that make up that whole.  A dozen eggs - meaning the whole dozen and every individual egg that’s a part of that dozen.  There are no exceptions.

Verse 11:  no one understands; no one seeks for God.   

Life is a... mystery.  The idea in Greek is something like endlessly trying to put a jigsaw puzzle together.  But no one really knows what the picture is suppose to look like.  No one understands.  God knows.  But no one seeks Him.

Verse 12:  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.  

“Turned aside” means “to bend away” from God.  We’re bent - at the heart level.  And all our efforts at trying to straighten ourselves out - individually and as humanity - thousands of years of trying at this - all our efforts come up empty.  There isn’t anyone who’s getting anywhere - accomplishing any good - at actually solving our core problem.

Verse 13:  Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.  The venom of asps is under their lips.      

Apart from God - at the core of what humanity churns out - is death.  We may sugar coat it or splenda it - deceiving ourselves - making it seem like something it isn’t.  But man’s philosophy and religion and culture - whatever - is death.  We need to remember that the next time we turn on something electronic to soak in the culture of our world. 

Verse 14:  Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.    

Which isn’t about using a lot of four letter words.  Curses are the pronouncements people make against other people.  The horrible things we wish on others.  Imagine a society where everybody is angry at someone else for something and nobody trusts anybody.  Hard to picture that.  Right?

Verse 15:  Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.    

How many of you have read Lord of the Flies?  Its a story about what?  British school boys shipwrecked on a small island.  They begin well with a kind of society - food, shelter, safety for all - even a signal fire.  After a while what happens?  Savage.  Even killing off the weak boys.  A small minority maintains civilization.  The thin veil between savage and civil.

The difference is... hope.  Hope of rescue.  Amazing the difference in our lives that hope makes.

God gives us hope.  Knowing God - in the midst of where we live our lives - we have hope.  Without God we have no hope.  Without hope - left to ourselves - our history is littered with bloodshed and ruin and misery and anything but peace.

Verse 18:  There is no fear of God before their eyes.  Look in the eyes - the window to the soul - look in the eyes and you get nothing.  Its just not there.

Notice the pattern of Paul’s Charaz - string of pearls.

Verses 10 to 12 focus more on sin and its effects on mankind in general.  Verses 13 to 18 become more personal.  Notice Paul’s use of body parts - throat - tongue - lips - mouth - feet - eyes.  Paul focused on the personal nature of sin.  All of which is what theologians call the Depravity of Man.

Let’s be careful.  Depravity doesn’t mean that we are as bad as we can possibly be.  People can accomplish good things - and often do.  Depravity has to do with the vertical - our relationship up - with God.  It has been said that:  We are not as bad as we can possibly be but we are as bad off as we can possibly be.  Which is Paul’s point - as a race - as individuals.

Verse 19:  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 the knowledge of sin.

Bottom Line:  Paul silencing the objections - from everyone.  Even the most religious among us.  We are all accountable.  We know we’re sinners.  We know we’re toast - worthy of condemnation. 

Which brings us - finally and thankfully to verses 21 to 31.  Welcome to The Gift of God’s Grace.  Turn to the person next to you and tell them that:  “Welcome to the gift of God’s grace.”

Verse 21:  “But now.”  Highlight those words in your Bible or on your tablet.  If you’re using a borrowed Bible highlight them anyway.  Someone will need to see it later.  Grab the Bible of the person next to you and highlight it for them.

“But now” is a huge seismic shift in Paul’s letter.  A major contrast with everything that has come before.  Hallelujah!  Would you read verses 21 to 26 with me.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.  For there is no distinction:  For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.  This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

There’s a ton of really important teaching in those verses that we could spend months unpacking.  Relax.  We’re going to focus on just Six Realities About True Righteousness.  Grab these six and we’ve got Paul’s point about God’s righteousness and grace.

Reality Number One:  True righteousness cannot be obtained through obedience to the law - small “l” - meaning doing the Old Testament law.  “True righteousness has been manifested apart from the law.”

Paul’s bottom line - we’re all already terminally infected with sin.  The law is a great way to live - like eating healthy.  Good idea.  But, if we’ve already got cancer eating healthy only goes so far.

Second Reality:  True righteousness is not something new.  The Law and the Prophets have been “bearing witness to it” - describing it and demonstrating it and calling God’s people to it - speaking of its relationship to God’s redemptive work in history.  Righteousness and a relationship with Him is something God actually wants us to “get.”

Third Reality about true righteousness:  True righteousness doesn’t come from us.  Its “God’s righteousness.”  “God is the one who passes over our former sins.”  Its not like someplace within us a switch gets turned on and suddenly we’re righteous.  True righteousness comes solely through faith in Jesus Christ.

Fourth:  Humanity and God do not measure righteousness by the same standard.  We measure righteousness against each other like we’re in some kind of competition trying to delude ourselves into thinking we’re better off than we really are.  God measures righteousness by Himself.

Paul writes - great AWANA verse:  “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  The glory of God is the testimony of Who He is - the absolute standard of His righteousness.  God Who is without sin.  Who is Holy.  Who is other than His creation.

We have no clue what that means except that all that describes God and not us.  Paul writes that we all fall short of the glory of God.

Some of you have been wondering what that Snicker’s Bar is doing up there.  We need three volunteers.  Object - without touching the string - by jumping as high as you can - grab the Snicker’s Bar.

Appreciate you all being such good sports - helping us to see what Paul is writing.  We get the point.  Right?  We all fall short.  The Snicker’s Bar is about 25 feet up there.  God is… way up there someplace.  God’s righteousness.  Our righteousness.  No comparison.   

Fifth point about true righteousness:  True righteousness - the righteousness of God can only be received as a gift from God.

Verse 24:  We “are justified by his grace as a gift.”

If I take this down and give it to Chris.  That’s a gift.  Of grace.  Unmerited favor.  He didn’t earn it or deserve it.  I just chose to give it to him.  All he needed to do was receive it.  Which is what we do by faith - accepting what God has already done for us in Jesus.

Paul writes that we are “justified by his grace as a gift.”  That term “justified” is important for us to make sure we’re on the same page about.

Justified deals with the legal status of a defendant before the court.  A legal standing that determines our future.  If we’re “just” we won’t receive punishment.  If we’re “unjust” we will receive punishment.  It is hugely important to be able to establish our innocence before the court.

Paul’s point - of course - is what?  No one stands innocent before our Creator and Judge.  All of us fall short - way short - unimaginably short of God’s standard of righteousness.  Meaning, we must be justified by some other means.

True account shared by Chuck Swindoll:

On June 9, 2000, a deaf couple stood before Judge Donald McDonough in a Fairfax, Virginia, court and offered no rebuttal to their landlord’s complaint that they were behind on the rent.  Their recent marriage unfortunately resulted in the loss of disability benefits, most of which kept a leased roof over their heads.  Now they were $250 behind and had no hope of making up the deficit.

Judge McDonough couldn’t disagree.  The landlord was due the rent, the couple was indeed guilty of nonpayment, and justice could not be set aside.  Nevertheless, the judge’s compassion would not allow him to drop the gavel.  Not just yet.  Once the attorney for the plaintiff had closed the case, the judge suddenly left the courtroom.  A few moments later, he returned from his chambers with $250 in cash, handed it to the landlord’s attorney, and said, “Consider it paid.”  With a transfer of funds from the just to the unjust, the debt was paid and the case dismissed.  The law had been satisfied.  The defendants were then “just” or “righteous” in the eyes of the court. (1)

That’s Jesus - that’s God - by grace - coming down from way up there - to take on what is humanity and die in our place - taking our penalty - the judgment and wrath that should have been ours for all the sin Paul has been describing - taking our place so that we might be made righteous - justified - just as if we’d never sinned.

Let’s go on.  Read with me starting at verse 27:  Then what becomes of our boasting?  It is excluded.  By what kind of law?  By a law of works?  No, but by the law of faith.  For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.  Or is God the God of Jews only?  Is he not the God of Gentiles also?  Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.  Do we then overthrow the law by this faith?  By no means!  On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Victor Hugo writes in Les Misérables, “Everything terrestrial is subject to sin.  Sin is like gravitational force.” (2) 

No matter how high we jump - maybe we haven’t even off the ground - often we feel like we’re sinking.  Jew, Gentile, every day of our lives every one of us is getting pulled down by our sin.  And yet God…  God is gracious.

Just like we’re all together in sin - God offers to each of us - not based on our merit - God offers to each of us a righteous relationship with Him.

There’s no place for boasting in that.  No bragging about all that we’re doing for God.  Only an invitation to respond by faith to what He offers to us in Jesus.

_________________________

1. Charles R. Swindoll, Insights on Romans - Zondervan, 2010

2. Victor Hugo, Les Misérables, Part 1, Book 1, Chapter 4

General reference for this message:  Charles R. Swindoll, Insights on Romans - Zondervan, 2010