[0:00] Please open your Bibles to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. We'll be looking at verses 9 through 26.
[0:13] It's a big chunk of scripture. I understand that the mind can only take in what the rear end can handle. So, it's a lot of scripture to go through in a brief period of time, but I pray that God uses it for his glory.
[0:28] I just want to start off by saying I appreciate the Billy Joe just asking me to come bring the word to y'all. I really do feel at home just the warmth that I've been shown just in the brief time I've been here.
[0:46] I'm going to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. The title of my sermon this morning is How to Be Right with God, or another title could be used as How to Have Peace with God.
[0:59] This might, if you are, say this is a refresher. We should preach the gospel to ourselves every single day and be thankful of Christ that he saved us. If you don't mind standing for the reading of the word, I'll start in verse 9.
[1:13] In verse 9 it says, What then? Are we better than they? Not at all.
[1:24] For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous. No, not one. There is no one who understands.
[1:36] There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside and they have all come unprofitable. There is none who does good. No, not one. Their throat is an open tomb.
[1:47] With their tongues they practice deceit. The poison of vipers is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift as shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways.
[2:01] And the way of peace they have not known. And there is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and the world may become guilty before God.
[2:15] Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. Verse 21. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
[2:29] Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe, for there is no difference. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified or being made right freely by his grace, the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as appreciation by his blood, through faith in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ.
[3:06] Let's pray. Lord, we come to you today humbly to open your word, just thankful that we can congregate together in the house of God, and just open your word, and just thankful for the gospel, Lord.
[3:18] Lord, thank you for coming down and dying for sinners such as I. In my prayer, amen. You may be seated. So since we're starting in Romans chapter 3, I thought I might give a little context of the first two chapters and then kind of get into the text that we just read.
[3:40] The author, as many of us know of Romans, is Paul. It says in the very first verse, Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, called to be a apostle to the gospel of God.
[3:55] Paul was not the founder of this church, but he longed to visit this church in his day. Paul did eventually make it to the church of Rome, but not the way that he imagined.
[4:07] He made it as a prisoner after being falsely accused of some Jews at that time. He went through shipwreck and turmoil and finally made it to Rome as a prisoner, as I just said.
[4:19] His primary purpose in writing this letter was to teach the truths of the gospel and to encourage them and to also be encouraged by them.
[4:31] He says in chapter 1, verse 11, For I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift that you may be established. And in verse 12, that is that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith, both you and me.
[4:48] So the thesis statement of this book is found in the first chapter as well. In verse 17, it says, For in it, and the it being the gospel of Christ, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written.
[5:04] And this is the thesis statement of Romans. The just shall live by faith. Paul in the first couple of chapters is explaining in chapter 1, verse 18, that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
[5:24] He first explains that without Christ, that the Gentile, which is you and me, unless there is a Jew in here, but you and me are Gentiles. That without Christ, even though they weren't given the law, written law, they were a law to themselves.
[5:43] In chapter 2, verses 14, it says, For in Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law. These, although not having the law, are a law to themselves.
[5:55] Even though not given the written law of God, they are responsible because they have given the two Cs. God has given us creation to see his, even the Godhead can be seen in creation.
[6:06] And he's also given us conscience. It's not something that has evolved over time. God gave you a conscience to know right and wrong, and that is enough to keep Gentiles, even though not having the written law, they are accountable to obey the things that are given.
[6:22] He then goes on to the Jew and explains that without Christ, even the Jew is no better than that pagan Gentile. And that would be a slap in the face of the Jew because they exalted themselves over the Gentile because they have the law.
[6:38] And he condemns them by saying, unless you are a Jew inwardly, unless you have circumcision of the heart, they boasted in the outward circumcision being in the covenant of Abraham, but they weren't circumcised of the heart.
[6:51] They didn't remove the flesh and sin. He explains that the Jew is guilty of the very sin the Gentile is guilty of. So now we come to our text in verse 9.
[7:03] It says, What then? Are we better than they? A good Bible student would ask a couple questions. You know, who is the we? Who is the we in this verse?
[7:15] We've studied Gentiles, we've studied Jews, but now Paul is referring to the Christians that he wrote this letter to. A definition of these Christians, John MacArthur gives us, Christians do not have a superior nature to those Paul has shown already to stand under God's condemnation.
[7:37] So Christians, we are just like these Gentiles and Jews that he is just condemned by their actions. It says that all are under sin.
[7:49] And it says, Chapter 3 is showing that all these men stand under God's condemnation. We're sinners in the face of God. We stand under his wrath.
[8:02] And one might ask the question, Well, what are we guilty of? Guilty of what? And that's what Paul explains in these next verses. But Paul is explaining that we, outside of Christ, without Christ, we are guilty of sinning and we are guilty of rebelling against a holy God.
[8:22] We are guilty of these same sins. We are guilty, verse 23, of falling short of the glory of God. The definition of sin is, in fact, to fall short of.
[8:35] We are guilty of falling short of the standard that God has set. And that standard is absolute perfection. Absolute perfection.
[8:47] And that standard can be found in one person, and that person is Jesus Christ. In verse 9, it says, For we have previously charged, which, charge is a legal term.
[9:02] This whole chapter has the essence of a courtroom. It says, Both Jews and Greeks that are all under sin.
[9:13] Let's take a look at the word under sin. John MacArthur gives another definition of this word. It means to completely enslave to and dominated by sin.
[9:25] Galatians 3.22 says, But the scripture has confined all under sin. Romans chapter 6, he uses the same language in verse 17.
[9:37] Though you were slaves of sin, yet you obey from the heart that form of doctrine which you have been delivered. That infers that before Christ, we are slaves to sin.
[9:51] In verse 20 of chapter 6, For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Verse 22, have now been set free from sin.
[10:03] Ephesians chapter 2, 1 through 3, it talks about how we were dead in our trespasses and sins, that we walked according to the lust of our flesh. James chapter 1, 14 through 15, says, But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
[10:21] Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin and sin, when he is full grown, brings forth death. And not only are we slaves unwillingly, we are, before Christ, we are slaves willingly.
[10:37] We want to sin. It says it is the desire of our heart to sin. That means we can't blame Christ or God for our enslavement.
[10:47] When Eve ate the fruit, the blame game started. she blamed the serpent. Right? And then when Adam came, he blamed the woman. And not only did he blame the woman, he blamed God for his sin.
[11:00] He said, The woman you gave me made me sin. And this is the truth that R.C. Sproul talked about that has made the gospel so incredible.
[11:15] It's, I want you to think about this. It says, We are not a sinner because we sin. You sin because you are a sinner.
[11:27] Because I'm a sinner. It is who, before Christ, it was who I was. It is who we are. All the sins described for Jews and Gentiles, that was me.
[11:38] That was you. Before Christ. We've exchanged the truth for the lie. the first point I wanted to, I forgot to say my first point, it was that we are under sin.
[11:54] In chapter 2, I mean chapter 3, verses 10 through 18, it's my second point, which is the evidence that all are under sin. The evidence.
[12:05] So these are the defending arguments that Paul in the courtroom bring against mankind. Ultimately, it's what God brings before mankind that all are sinners. And the first one is found in verse 10.
[12:18] There is none righteous, no, not one. Paul wants you to understand that no man is righteous. No, not even one.
[12:31] A question that might arise is, well, you know, you don't know all the good I have done in my life. You know, I've devoted my life to all these good, good things.
[12:42] does this not make me righteous before God? John MacArthur addresses this very issue. You'll hear me say John MacArthur a lot. That's one of my main theologians and pastors that I go to.
[12:57] He makes a statement on this very question. He says, even the vilest person may occasionally do something that is commendable. Right? We see that in politics, especially, you know, a lot of, are not followers of Christ, but they do commendable things.
[13:14] But the apostle is not speaking of specific acts or even general patterns of behavior, but of man's inner character. End quote.
[13:26] And also on that same note is, when we think about the good acts that we do, we often compare ourselves to other fallen sinners. So, for example, you know, you might compare yourself to a co-worker.
[13:39] Well, I'm a better co-worker than they are. You know, I do, you know, I show up on time, I stay after work, I do all these things. Well, I'm a better person than them. Then, another example that I thought when I was studying this is, I played basketball and golf in high school for Cascade.
[13:56] You know, you have a good game or you have a good round of golf and you kind of think to yourself, well, you know, I'm a pretty good golfer. I've had a good round. And then you go watch the Masters.
[14:07] And you would see the caliber of golf they would play on the course. And then you come back and compare it to yourself and you're like, my game is, is, is not near that level.
[14:20] On a much greater note, that is your axe to God. You're, we compare our axe to other fallen believers when in essence we should compare our axe to a holy, perfect God.
[14:33] And we fall short of that. The second one is that no one understands. No one understands.
[14:45] Psalms 4, 14, 2, the Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. Verse 3, they have all turned aside and they've all become corrupt.
[14:58] The Greek word for understand is to put together or to comprehend. Brother Jonathan Sims, my pastor at Sheville Mills in his commentary, states, there's a lot of things that fallen man doesn't understand but three primary things he brings out.
[15:13] They don't have a right understanding of God. They don't have a right understanding of salvation. And they definitely don't have an understanding of their fallen condition. He goes on to say that none understand God nor his will for our lives.
[15:27] It is impossible to have a proper concept of God until we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit but are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.
[15:51] The great Saint Augustine of Hippo back in the 300s said this, you cannot love something you don't understand. You cannot love something you don't understand.
[16:03] I love my wife. If I didn't understand anything about her I would not be able to love her. And that same truth goes with God. How do we, without understanding you can't have love.
[16:14] And that same truth goes with our relationship to Christ. In the same verse it says, there is none who seeks after God. None who seeks after God.
[16:26] Seek can be translated search out, investigate, or even crave after. A question that many bring when we look at this is, you know, what about the other religions in the world?
[16:37] Aren't they seeking after God? And the short answer is no, they are running away from him. They are running away. Look at Romans 1.19.
[16:49] If you would mind turning there. Or starting in verse 18, chapter 1. It says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
[17:09] They suppress it. They push it down. They push it out of their mind. Because what may be known to God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them.
[17:19] This does not contradict the understand because this is speaking of general revelation. You have general revelation which is in creation and you have special revelation is what the preaching of the word of God is what we're doing right now.
[17:33] It says in verse 20, it says, for since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so they were without excuse.
[17:49] Verse 21, because although they knew God they did not glorify him as God nor were thankful but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. Profession to be wise they became fools and changed the glory of God of the incorruptible into an image made like corruptible man.
[18:08] They turn away from God. They suppress the truth. This reminds me of in Exodus chapter 32 when the Israelites were waiting on Moses to come down with the law of God they become anxious.
[18:24] So in chapter 32 you've already had the part of the Red Sea you've had the Israelites being delivered from the Egyptians. You've had the mightiest army in the world with water collapsed on them and they saw all these things that God had done for them and what did they do?
[18:42] In chapter 32 they told Aaron come let us make gods that shall go before us. They exchanged the truth for the law. This is astonishing.
[18:54] They would rather worship a golden calf that was made by their hands than the God the very God who delivered them right before their eyes before Egypt and this is what ultimately it boils down to with fallen man.
[19:10] They wanted a God they could relate to because it made them feel comfortable. In the next one verse 12 they have all turned aside and they have become unprofitable.
[19:23] Turn aside can be translated to lean in the wrong direction to stay away from or to avoid. Isaiah 53 6 All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way.
[19:40] The prince of preachers Charles Spurgeon said in his commentary in the Psalms like stubborn heifers they have sturdily refused to receive the yoke. Like errant sheep they have found a gap and left the right field.
[19:54] The life of unregenerate humanity is in direct defiance of the law of God. End quote. And we see this when we look at the Pharisees. They had God in the flesh in front of them performing miracles.
[20:11] In John chapter 11 one of our associate pastors was going through that on Wednesday nights. We just went through Lazarus. Lazarus was in the grave four days. Christ came raised him from the dead telling him to come out take your clothes off and go home.
[20:26] And yet the Pharisees didn't rejoice. The next verses said they went away and sought how to kill him. They had turned aside to their own way and become unprofitable.
[20:42] Unprofitable. Psalms 14 it says they have altogether become corrupt. The Hebrew word used in the Psalms was used to describe milk that had gone sour making it unfit to drink.
[20:54] become unprofitable. Then we see in verse 13 I'll get to the good news when we turn the page. I just need to set up the context of the gospel.
[21:07] Without the bad news we can't put in context the gospel of Jesus Christ. It says their throat is an open tomb.
[21:19] So in verses 10 11 and 12 you have the character of fallen man. In verse 13 and 14 you have the conversation of fallen man.
[21:34] Tombs and caskets are meant to be shut. One reason is obviously to show respect. Another reason is very practical to keep the stench out. To keep the stench inside.
[21:47] If a tomb was open then everybody would be able to smell that stench coming out. Even this morning on the way here there's chicken barns that are all over Highway 64 between Lewisburg and Shelbyville.
[22:02] And when you smell that you have you know what it is. You don't really have to go up to the barn and oh that's a chicken barn. You just know by the smell. You know exactly where it came from.
[22:15] In light of mouth and nothing but deceit cursing crude jokes bitterness unthankfulness come out I know that they are their heart is dead.
[22:30] They prove their character by what they say. Jesus Christ said it this way out of the heart the mouth speaks. Your mouth your tongue is the mouthpiece of your heart.
[22:42] And that's what Paul is getting to that. In verse and then we go down to the poison of vipers is under their lips. Psalms 114 3 says they sharpen their tongues like a serpent.
[22:58] The poison of asp is under their tongue. This speaks of a viper or Egyptian cobra which is venomous. In verse 13 it says deceit and then you come down and you have snake.
[23:13] I kind of want to take some liberty here thinking when Paul penned this epistle I want to say him being a study of the word of God I would have to say his mind was going to the garden to the first deception of Satan.
[23:28] In the garden Satan in the form of a serpent deceived Eve not necessarily by his actions but by his words. His worms seemed harmless but in the end bit and it was deadly had deadly consequences.
[23:44] And on a side more like Satan himself than when we use our mouth for deceit or to break somebody down instead of edifying to be seasonable salt to produce life.
[23:56] Then we go to their conduct an unrighteous man conduct it says their feet are swift to shed blood in Isaiah 59 it says their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed innocent blood their thoughts are thoughts of innigcity wasting and destruction are in their paths one commentator I love how he puts this he puts the feet in the fallen way the feet as the emblem of walking symbolize the whole conduct the feet symbolize their whole conduct they are swift to do evil we see this language in the Psalms it says if sinners entice you do not consent to them come with us let us wind wait for blood sorry Proverbs lurk secretly for the innocent without cause in verse 16 of chapter 1 for they run to evil and they make haste to shed blood the unrighteous are swift to harm others with their words and with their conduct verse 17 in the way of peace they have not known
[25:09] Paul is not talking about an inner sense of peace but he is talking about an absence of peace with God without Christ we cannot have peace with God we are friends of the world that means we are an enemy with God without Christ we are separated from God Romans 5 10 says for when we were enemies we were reconciled to God unrighteous man is an enemy with God and there is no peace with God an unrighteous!
[25:40] man without Christ verse 18 you have all these arguments building up and now Paul is slammed he said this is the summary of why men act the way they do without Christ verse 18 there is no fear of God before their eyes John MacArthur in his commentary says man's true spiritual condition is nowhere clearly seen in the absence of submission to and reverence to God Proverbs 117 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction the unrighteous man is a fool that's Bible language is a fool Ecclesiastes 12 13 says let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his commandments for this is man's all the underlying root of the unrighteous man's character conversation and conduct stem from this truth they do not fear
[26:47] God now some might be asking the question why are we going on and on about how we are sinners we cannot know what good news is until we have experienced the bad news in other words bad news brings into context good news without the bad news that we are a sinner without hope this next section of scripture would not have the same magnitude on the reader on that note let's turn our eyes to verses 21 through 26 I want to handle a couple of truths of Christ it says but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed being witnessed by the law and the prophets verse 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and all who believe right we know the standard we need absolute perfection to be acceptable in
[27:53] God's sight we need that and! Paul gives it to us he says the righteousness of God apart from law is revealed this is how is revealed man's the third point is man's salvation found in Christ it says in order to be righteous or right with God you must believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ but the John says in his commentary believers is not a mere mental assent to some facts about historical Jesus scholars!
[28:27] in his finished work end quote and it doesn't say it says even the righteous God through faith in Jesus Christ we don't have faith to have faith for faith sake we have an object of our faith and that object is found in Christ so what do we believe to be saved 1 Corinthians 15 4 that Christ died for those very sins that you committed according to the scriptures that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures that he was seen by Cephas which is Peter and then by the twelve Jesus Christ God in human flesh 100% God 100% man the mystery of the incarnation of Jesus Christ came down was born of a virgin lived a sinless life his life mattered the sinless life was on your behalf he had to live that sinless life because we're sinners he physically died on the cross bearing our shame and our sins he rose and is alive!
[29:38] today and sitting at the right hand of God this is the Christ that you put your faith in the Christ of the Bible this is the Jesus Christ that you believe in not the American Christ we want to butter up the Bible Jesus Christ and his work on the cross keep going in verses it says 24 being justified or being made right freely by his grace to the redemption that is in Christ Jesus I want to focus on the worst the redemption of Jesus Christ in verse 9 we talked about how we are under sin before Christ we are slaves to sin it is master over us this word redeemed comes from that same context redeemed means paying the necessary ransom to obtain the prisoner's release Jesus paid that ransom for us he paid that cost
[30:42] Acts 20 verse 28 the church of God was purchased with his blood 1 Peter 1 18 through 19 knowing that you were redeemed with corruptible things like silver not redeemed but with corruptible things like silver or gold for your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers but you were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Corinthians 6 20 says for you were bought with a price and that price was Christ's life it says glorify God in your body and your spirit Christ died to buy you and me off the slave block of sin he redeemed us and it goes down it says in verse 25 God set forth as a propitiation by his blood propitiation is a fancy word for satisfaction appeasement
[31:47] Christ's death satisfied the offended holiness and wrath of God those who believe in him when Jesus Christ died on the cross he became the mercy seat his blood became the full and final payment for the sins of mankind we just learned that we're hopeless we just learned that we're all sinners under God's wrath but Christ paid for your sin he paid it he was a an appeasement he satisfied that debt that we owed and it says later on it says his forbearance God passed over the sins that were previously committed passed over does not infer a that he didn't care that he just you know put it under the rug it means forbearance God hates sin and requires a payment for it chapter 6 verse 23 says for the wages we all get paid wages for the wages of sin is death sin requires a payment which is death this speaks of his forbearance and patience that he waited until the coming of
[33:04] Jesus Christ the propitiation for him to bear that very sin as soon as Adam and Eve fell as soon as mankind fell mankind could have been obliterated God could have said done but in Genesis 3 15 we have the gospel it says and I will put enmity between you in the previous verse it speaks of Satan and his seed and the woman and between your seed and her seed capital S he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel as soon as man fell we were punished woman and child birth man in the sweat of his brow to work but before that punishment Christ gave us the promise of a redeemer the seed of the woman the seed of the virgin Mary in verse 26 to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier the one who has faith in Christ
[34:09] John MacArthur says again through the incarnation sinless life and substitutionary death of Christ the wisdom of God's plan to allow him to punish Christ in the place of sinners thereby justifying those who are guilty without compromising his justice so we have many attributes of God that we can study wrath love mercy immutability all those things so how can God be just and accept a sinner which is the sinner is a curse sin cannot exist in God's presence we have a redeemer we have Christ as our substitute Hebrews 10 12 14 says but this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever this man Christ sat down and sitting down is the position of something that's done you have a hard day at work you come home and you sit down because your work is done that's what
[35:15] Christ is doing he's sitting down at the right hand of God the work is done by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are being sanctified so what is the result of the whole matter we've studied a pretty good chunk of scripture what could have been 10 20 sermons and we put it in one man outside of Christ is unrighteous and hopeless one truth that I didn't get in was you know God requires righteousness he requires it but thanks be to God that we don't serve a God that just leaves us there what God requires God supplied what God required God supplied thank the
[36:18] Lord that he did we are all under wrath without Christ and unable to save ourselves because we are Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 dead in our trespasses and sin but God placed all the sin of those who believe in Christ upon him Christ as he was dying on the cross God took the righteousness of Jesus Christ and placed it on us so that we would trust in the work Christ did on the cross this is the miracle of salvation God counts us just as righteous and holy as his son it's a miracle so what is our response to this our response is what Christ preached repent repent repent of the sin that you know you're guilty of and turn to Christ it is that simple
[37:18] I know there's truths that we could dive our whole life into but ultimately the gospel is repent and turn to Christ that's the gospel repent and turn back that your sins may be blotted out Romans 10 10 through 13 with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made into salvation that same very mouth that we speak all our deceit God can use to bring salvation for the scripture says whosoever believes on him Jesus Christ will not be put to shame if you run to Christ today if you run and beg for salvation he's not going to cast you out he's going to welcome you in with open arms because his son paid your debt for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord overall is rich to all who call upon him for whosoever calls on the name of the
[38:26] Lord will not maybe but will be saved let's pray Lord just thank you for this wondrous truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ thank you that like I said earlier that what you required is us to be completely perfect and just to stand before you and not be cast out that you supplied the redeemer and the one that we can be found perfect in is Jesus Christ and Lord for those who don't know Christ as their Lord and Savior I just pray that you will just open their eyes and their heart and see how simple it is just to cry out to God to look upon the Lord and you will be saved that you won't cast them out that you will be their Lord and their Savior and that you will be our master!
[39:26] in your name I pray Amen