Condemnation Because of Unbelief

Okay, we're in Romans chapter 3. In Romans chapter 3, Paul is going to make this great summation with respect to the entire world. And as we've been looking in Romans chapter 1 and 2, we have seen the condemnation of the Gentiles and we've seen the condemnation of the Jews. And in Romans 3, there's going to be condemnation of the entire world. Starting at verse 1, he says this, what advantage then has the Jew, or what profit is there of circumcision?

And then in verse 2, he says, much in every way, chiefly because unto them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? God forbid. Yea, let God be God, or God be true, every man a liar, as it is written, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. we're going to look at the first four verses this morning.

But notice in verses 1-4 and even 5-8, Paul is asking all of these questions. The question is, why is he asking all these questions? So as we look at this, The first question he asks is, what advantage has the Jew, or what profit is there of circumcision? So the question is, why? Why is he asking these questions? Not only these two questions here in verse 1, but there's all of these questions now through verse 8.

So as we look at the two questions, the first one is then what advantage, and the word advantage, if you look at the word, it really means superiority, something that's over and above. What superiority has the Jew? But it's understood, superiority over the Gentile. There's an understanding that there's an advantage or superiority that the Jew has over the Gentile.

And then the next question is, what profit or benefit, as it is in the American standard, is there of circumcision? In the text, the word circumcision is preceded by the definite article, the. So it's talking about the circumcision. And when it's talking about the circumcision, it's something more definite. And I think it's speaking of the ones that are identified by circumcision, that is, the right of circumcision, talking about the totality of the people that are identified by circumcision.

So it makes a distinction between this circumcision, the Jew, and the uncircumcision, the Gentile. And scripture does it. Somebody look quickly over at Ephesians 2.11 and read it? Somebody volunteer to do that? Therefore, remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision, which is performed in the flesh by human hands. Okay. So you see where the distinction is made between the Gentile, which is the uncircumcision, and you, the Jew, which is circumcision. All right.

So the question is, Was there an advantage to the Jew? Was there a profit? Did the Jew profit in being a Jew? Was there something special about the Jew that wasn't special about the Gentile? Okay, so there's just a few. in terms of the advantage that the Jew had.

And Paul's answer is, is much. And then there's a little preposition there, which is katah, And Kata is a preposition of a standard. It defines a standard according to some standard. And the standard that it's listed is every way. So what it's saying is that whatever path you take, everywhere you look at, the Jew has an advantage or a profit. So figuratively, in what we would say, no matter how you look at it, the Jew had an advantage and it was a profit to the Jew. So the point is this.

Paul is asking the question because he anticipates the Jew's concern that he just erased any distinction between the Jew and the Gentile. Because what went on before, in chapter 2, it would appear that he's come down on the Gentile, he's come down on the Jew, and if you look at chapter 2, there doesn't appear to be any advantage whatsoever, any profit in being a Jew. So let's look at that in terms of a summary. So the question is, what did Paul previously say about the Jew and the Gentile that may appear that there is no advantage or profit of the Jew. So let's take a look at what he says about the Gentile. And the Gentile, he, in verses, going back to chapter 1, verses 18-32, talking about those Gentiles who were immoral.

And it was just blatantly obvious that they were immoral. And the text tells us that they knew God, they knew Him experientially, but they glorified Him not as God. They didn't give Him the glory that He rightly deserves, and they were vain or empty in their imaginations or in their reasonings. Their foolish heart was darkened, darkened by sin, and they worshipped the Creator, of the creature, as opposed to worshipping God.

Do we find that today? Where men are worshipping the creation, as opposed to worshipping the Creator? I mean, take the whole environmental movement, you know? We tend to worship, this man tends to worship this earth, as opposed to the one who created it. Okay, not that we don't have a responsibility, but I think it swings too much in one direction.

But in that passage it says that they were filled with all unrighteousness and they had total pleasure in their sins. Not only did they have total pleasure in performing and taking part of these sins, but they had pleasure in those that were doing the same They took pleasure in those that were doing the same thing. And what were they doing? Well, they were worshipping the creature, whether it be four-footed beast, whether it be man, but they were worshipping creatures. They were wrapped up in homosexuality and fornication and wickedness and murder, deceit, malice. They're haters of God. So Paul concludes that section and says there's a result to all of that, and the result is God's judgment and condemnation. So they're going to be judged and condemned.

Then he goes on and he talks about the ones who are moral, the ones who sit back and just kind of say, you know, I'm glad I'm not like those guys. I'm glad I'm not a homosexual. I'm glad I don't do any murder, deceit. And boy, they look down at these people. But God says, you know what? You do the very same thing. You may do it in a different way. But you do the very same thing.

And so this person, the immoral person, does all this judging. But, they in turn reject the riches of God, they reject His goodness, they reject His patience, because God is also drawing them to Christ. But they reject that. And they suppress, they hold down the truth. Their hearts are hardened, they're stubborn. They have an unrepentant heart. There's no way that they're going to change their mind and turn around. Turn around from who they are, what they're doing, and turn to Christ. So the result here is the same. They're going to experience God's judgment and condemnation. So then, also in chapter 2, Paul talks about the Jew. And first he talks about the Jew who's walking, who's doing the talking, right? He's talking about his profession. I'm a Jew.

I have a special relationship to God. I'm part of the, you know, God has given us the covenants, and God has given us the law, and they rest upon the law. Do they know God's will? They know God's will because they have His word. They approve of the things of the law. Now, this is all profession, and they're supposedly a guide to the blind. That's how God chose them to be a guide to the blind and a light to the world. But they were just professing to do that.

So that if you look at their walk, and Paul goes through their walk, then in verses 21 through 24, and he says, hey, why are you stealing? Why are you committing adultery? Why are you robbing? pagan temples. Why do you dishonor God? And because your walk is not according to your talk, and the Gentiles see your walk, then God is being blasphemed by all the Gentiles around you.

So Paul comes and And he goes one step further, and he talks about their ritual, or their rite, and that they have a badge. And the Jew was very proud of the badge that he wore. And the badge that he wore was circumcision. He was of the circumcision, and had a special covenant relationship to God. But in verse 29 of chapter 2, It says, you know, circumcision only profits, the only profit in circumcision is if one keeps the law.

Question, how many can keep the law? Can anybody keep the law? There are none that are righteous, no not one. If someone could keep the law, then righteousness in life would come by the law. But there isn't one person that could keep every jot and tittle of the law. No person can ever keep the law. Bar one. Who's that? The Lord Jesus Christ. I could get you to wake up. You want some coffee?

So there's a result here, and the result is the same, judgment and condemnation. Turn over, turn back, to Romans chapter 1, and look at verse 16. And as you look at this chart, concerning the Gentile and the Jew, Look what Paul says up front when we talked about all of the blessings up in the initial verses in chapter 1.

He says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, to who first? To the Jew first and to the Greek or the Gentile. He says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. And here's the question, do these people have to end up in God's judgment and condemnation? There's no reason why this has to occur, right? Because there's the gospel, and it's the power of God unto salvation. to the Jew first and then also to the Gentile.

So then in verse 17 he says, For in it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. So in the gospel there is the righteousness of God and if the immoral person or the moral person or the religious person, the Jew, has the gospel and believes in the gospel, then the question is, what's the gospel in the narrow sense? Okay, so in 1 Corinthians 15, the gospel is very simple. That Jesus Christ died, right, for the sins of the world. That he was buried and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Believing in that, then one has God's righteousness and doesn't have to go through the judgment and the condemnation.

So in verse 18 in chapter 1, he says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness, who hold down the truth in unrighteousness, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. So, notice that the wrath of God is revealed against all unrighteousness. All of this is unrighteousness. And God's wrath and judgment is revealed.

And all of these people are, if you will, holding or suppressing the truth. They've got the truth, but they're suppressing it. And because of what's in their heart. And in chapter 3, Paul is going to go further into their heart. This is blatantly obvious, isn't it? These sins are just blatantly obvious in terms of homosexuality, fornication, murder, deceit. That's obvious. Paul, in chapter 3, is going to go more into the subtlety of the sin nature. And what you see here is the sin nature in its full glory. But that's visible. Most of this is visible. But what you don't see is the invisible part of the sin nature, which is very, very subtle. And Paul is going to address that in chapter 3. So turn back to chapter 3. So why is he asking the questions? So one could reach this conclusion.

And the conclusion is that there appears to be absolutely no advantage or profit of a Jew with regard to a Gentile. Right? If you look at this chart, and you've looked at the Gentile, whether it be an immoral or moral Gentile, and you look at the Jew, and you look at the result, and it's the same in every case, God's judgment and condemnation, you would walk away from this saying, hey, there's no profit, there's no advantage in being a Jew. Right? Right? No. Okay.

So, as you go through this, Paul is like a prosecuting attorney, by the way. Most of you may know this. Back in the days when law schools were law schools and Harvard was a law school, etc., that every law student had to read the Book of Romans and outline the Book of Romans because this is the most logical presentation of a case that there is. There is no other presentation of a case that is so logical in the Book of Romans. Now, and now today, I don't think you can carry this into a college.

I mean, it's so bad. But Paul is like a prosecuting attorney, and he's just shown whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, you're in the same boat. And what he's saying is that The Jews' religion doesn't make any difference. The religion isn't going to save a person. It's not going to make that person right with God.

But what Paul does do is that he emphatically demonstrates the consistency of God's character. So for unbelieving Jews, they'll be judged and condemned just just like the Gentiles, shows his righteousness. But yet, on the other hand, God's promises to the believing Jews are going to be fulfilled, showing God's faithfulness. And Paul always comes at the reader with God's character.

And that's what he's going to be talking about in chapter 3. Paul anticipates some of the arguments that the Jew will think about in his heart. Does anybody remember what Jeremiah says about the heart? Jeremiah chapter 17. The heart is what? Deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

And there's a question that goes with it. Who can know it? Who can know it? There's only one person that can do it. Only God knows the heart. And so God knows the heart of these Jews and what they're going to be thinking about in terms of the fact that God is going to judge them and condemn them. So they don't want to take responsibility for their sinfulness. So they're going to pass the blame. And guess where they're going to pass the blame? They're going to pass the blame back to God.

Very much like Adam. Adam, where art thou? You used to walk in the cool of the day with me. Where are you? Did you eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Well, it was because of that woman that you gave me. Right? So what does Adam do? He blames God. He puts the blame back on God for the woman that you gave me. There's the subtlety of the sin nature. And God knows that subtlety of the sin nature. Don't we do the same thing today? I can tell you some experiences with Wendy where we do this. No, it's not me, it's you. No, it's not me, it's you.

But there's a sin nature in this full operation. So, Paul anticipates. these questions that they're going to come back with. And really, Paul puts them in a question form, but really what they are is that they're an attack on God. That the Jew is going to blame God for the situation that he's in. And he's going to attack God's character.

So the first question, and the questioning in the verses 1 and 2, they're questioning God's immutability. Immutable means that one cannot change, and they're going to say that, yeah, God, you're changing your mind. The second line of questioning is they're going to question God's faithfulness, that He's not faithful. And the third And that's in verses 3 and 4. And the third questioning is going to be questioning God's righteousness and justice in verses 5 and 6. And then the fourth, which is in verse 7 and 8, they're going to be questioning God's veracity or truthfulness. So let's take a look at the first one in terms of questioning God's immutability. or the fact that he cannot change. And it goes something like this, in the sin nature, the subtlety of the sin nature goes like this.

Why is God treating us the same as the Gentiles? Why is he doing that? Because you saw in the chart, there was no difference. Why is he treating us the same? Don't we Jews have a special covenant relationship with God? Hasn't he given us the promises? And as a result, don't we have an advantage and a profit over the Gentiles? And it goes on, and they say, well, we thought God was immutable. We thought he could never change. Did he change his mind about us?

So, therein lies the question. Here comes the answer. Does the Jew have an advantage or profit? Paul says, much in every way. There are numerous and varied advantages to the believing Jew. And there's the key to the believing Jew. Paul lists just one here in verse 2, and what is the one advantage in verse 2? Okay, that the Jew was entrusted with the oracles of God. And so if you look at that, that he committed or entrusted to them the oracles of God.

And the word entrusted is the verb pistuo, so that it's the same word that is used for believe. So, what must I do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Pistuo. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. So, it's to place one's one's confidence or trust in something or someone. Did you see that? It's a fact, it's aristence, and that God personally put in trust to them, His oracles, His very word, or his utterances is another translation of that word, oracles, and it's the passive voice.

God did it. He made the choice. He did it. It's a fact that he entrusted the Jew with his very work. So they were entrusted to faithfully record and preserve that word down through the ages. So, as you look at it, this privilege was not given to any other people in the world. The Jew had this advantage.

Now, it goes on, Scripture goes on to list other advantages of the Jew, and we're going to see this later on when we get to Romans chapter 9, but I'll just put them up here. as an indication in terms of, when Paul says in Romans 9, he asks the question, who are the Israelites? Who are the Jews? It says, to whom pertains the adoption, they were placed as sons, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises. Some of the things that Bill just mentioned, who are the fathers, and of whom concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is overall God-blessed forever.

So, look at the list of advantages and profits that God has given to the Jew. Not only that, but in addition, He chose the Jew The Jew is God's chosen people, and as part of His eternal purpose, which is fourfold, to declare His glory, to reveal His glory, to share His glory, to Revelation to look at what's God's eternal purpose. You can sum it up in this way. And with respect to the Jew in God's eternal purpose to declare his glory, God declared his glory on Mount Sinai.

Remember what happened on Mount Sinai when Moses went up to receive the law? What did Mount Sinai look like? What was happening that every Jew could see and look up at Mount Sinai? What did they see? Thunder and clouds and lightning and light and Mount Sinai was manifested. the very glory of God. And they were not to come near that mount. They couldn't touch it unless they died.

It was so holy. God declared His glory through the cross. Think about the cross of Christ. I think the maximum manifestation of of God's glory is in the cross. It is in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. There is no greater manifestation of God's glory than in the cross. God manifests His glory in creation. The heavens declare the glory of God. That's a declaration of God's glory in looking at the heavens. But the heavens and the earth and the stars and all the planets are nothing compared to the glory that was demonstrated at the cross.

Because as you look at creation, what aspects of God's glory can be understood? As you look at creation, You look at the stars, you look at the entire universe, you look at this earth, you look at the creation on this earth. What aspects of God's glory can be understood? Remember Romans chapter 1 verse 18, 19, 20, when it talks about the creation, that in terms of God's glory is manifested, that what we see in creation is the deity of God, we know that there's a God, Why don't you read verse 19 while you're there, Carol?

Because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident within them. Okay, keep going. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood through that which was made. So there are two attributes of God that can be clearly understood through creation, through that which is made, His eternal power and His Godhead. That's all. But look at the cross. Think about the cross. Tell me what aspects of God's glory can be seen at the cross, that is manifested at the cross. Okay, and what attributes of God are seen through that?

Or understood through that? His love. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so His love, okay? His mercy and His grace, for by grace are you saved through faith, and not that of yourselves. I mean, it's the gift of God, so His grace, alright? His righteousness is demonstrated, so we understand His righteousness, okay?

His justice, the fact that He's absolutely fair, and he's just. What else? When you think of the cross, his death, burial, and resurrection, think about the resurrection. What attributes of God's essence are seen in the resurrection or can be understood in the resurrection? His holiness, okay. Alright. His power. His omnipotence.

There is no greater power demonstrated by God than raising Jesus Christ from the dead in the resurrection. And remember that Jesus Christ is the only one that has been resurrected truly resurrected. Everybody else has been raised from the dead. They've been restored back to life, only to die again. But the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, He was raised into newness of life. A newness, a new kind of life. Never to die again. Never ever to die again. So He's the only one that has ever been truly resurrected.

Because then scripture says, then we, are next and is coming. So as you look at the cross, you see how God has declared His glory. And in looking at the Jew in terms of God's eternal purpose, to reveal His glory. We just saw in verse 2 in chapter 3 that He gave them the oracles of God through His Word. So He's revealed Himself, He's revealed His glory through the Word. Then He's shared His glory with them, He's shared His righteousness with them. We can go back to Abraham, right? Go back to Abraham and see how God has shared His glory with them. and that is his righteousness. Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him as righteousness.

And then the last is to be glorified. And as a result of what God has done to the Jew and has chosen the Jew as his people, the only response, if one responds by faith, The only response you could ever have is to glorify God. In your life, in my life, our only response as we walk by faith is to glorify God.

Because we have done nothing, He's done everything. He's given us everything. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. There is nothing that we have done. Faith is not a work. All we've done is respond by faith, and rested and trusted, and put our confidence in what He's done. And the only response can be is to glorify Him. There can be no other response.

Now, this is all at once, but I just want you to see the distinction or the advantage of a prophet of a Jew. And so here are the Gentiles, you go back to creation and Adam, and then God chooses Abraham, one man, and he gives them a promise of a land, a seed, and a blessing, and a people, and the people is the Jew, or the nation Israel, and as we saw in Romans 9, verses 3 and 4, he gave them the covenants, the promises, and in chapter 3, verse 2, the word of God, he's given them the law, the fathers and the prophets, and he's given them the Lord Jesus Christ. So here is how the Jew has been blessed. Here is how God is going to be using the Jew or has used the Jew in this eternal purpose. And those covenants and those promises that he made to the Jew, many of them have not been fulfilled yet, but they will be fulfilled in this millennial kingdom, which is yet to come. And not only that, but they're everlasting promises. They'll go into eternity. So the Jew has been selected to glorify God on earth, where we, the church, are to glorify God in the heavenly city in the eternity future. So, is there an advantage to the Jew? Is there a profit to the Jew? You betcha.

So, here's God's answer to them questioning His immutability. God says in Malachi 3.6, for I'm the Lord, I change not. I'm immutable. I cannot change. Every promise, every covenant that I've made, I'm going to keep.

And in Hebrews 13.8, where it says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and the reason is because He's immutable, He cannot change. In Hebrews chapter 6.17, wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability, the unchangeableness of His counsel, God cannot change. So the point, God chose the Jew and gave him an advantage over a Gentile for all eternity. And we'll have to wait until that turns upside down, right side up. And there's a distinction between the Jew and Gentile with respect to God's purpose.

Now, what does, somebody turned to Galatians 3.28 and volunteered to read it.

Galatians 3.28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Notice what it says, that there is neither male nor female, Jew or Greek, bond or slave, male or female, Jew or Gentile, that there's no distinction. Well, hold it. We just got through showing that there is a distinction between Jew and Gentile, right? And Paul says that there is no distinction.

So how do we resolve that? Pardon me? Is it the verse before that? Okay. For all of you who were baptized into Christ? Okay. And then 28? Alright. So if you're not a believer, then the distinction would be there maybe? Okay. So, the thing is, so what Paul is saying, what we need to understand, is that Paul is showing that there is the distinction between Jew and Gentile, except the one big exception is I don't have my chart. In the church, there is no distinction. Remember the chart. Gentile, Jew, Church. In the church, there is no distinction. The church is called out once. They are called out from Jew and Gentile. And when one believes, as they've read, that they're baptized into Christ, there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile in the Church.

But there is a distinction, right? Paul makes the distinction between Jew and Gentile. Yes, is that absolutely true? Good. Okay. So, So the point is this, there is no moral distinction between Jew and Gentile, and we saw that from the chart, whether you're moral, immoral, or a professing Jew, there's no moral distinction between Jew and Gentile. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Both Jew and Gentile, whether you're Jew or Gentile, you're born with a sin nature. And we're all in the same boat.

And the other point that Paul is making here in terms of questioning God's immutability, the fact that he can't change, is that nothing or no one will ever thwart or ever prevent God's eternal purpose or promises to the Jew from being fulfilled. Nothing. And even though 99% of the Jew is unbelieving.

He is going to keep his promise to the believing Jew. And God says there is always going to be a remnant. There will always be a remnant. So, the bottom line is that God is going to keep his word which he entrusted to the Jew, to the unbelieving Jew, judgment and condemnation. That's what he promised. To the believing Jew, blessing and eternal life. That's what he promised.

As we look at verse 3, here's the question. What if some did not believe and were without faith? Some Jews did not believe and were without faith. There's their lack of faith and their faith nullify and make ineffective and void the faithfulness of God and His fidelity to His Word." Reading from the Amplified.

You see the argument there? So here's what the Jew says. Here's the sin nature. Look at it in its full glory. I'm a Jew. And the Jew is in a covenant relationship with God in which he made promises to us. God made promises to us as a Jew. If God is going to refrain in fulfilling his promises to me as a Jew and instead judge and condemn me for my unbelief, then isn't God being unfair or unfaithful? Do you see the subtlety of the sin nature?

And we've got to close. God's answer. His answer in verse 4, it says, by no means, may it never be so. In fact, the way it's worded in the Greek is that that's an impossibility. It's an impossibility. that God would be unfaithful. And it says, so let God be found true, though every human being is false and a liar, as it is written.

Then he quotes from Psalm 51. This is what David says, that you, you God, may be justified and shown to be upright in what you say, you God say, and prevail when you, God, are judged by sinful men. And this is what's happening here, is that God is being judged by sinful men, that he's unfaithful. And David, who understood sin and repented and turned around, and he says in Psalm 51, he says, all sin is against God. And he says, I've sinned.

Yeah, I've murdered. I've murdered Uriah. I have committed adultery. I have slept with Bathsheba. And Lord, I'm a sinner. And I deserve to be condemned. But I trust you, and I believe in you, and I know that You are going to send a Savior for me. And I believe that. And I trust in that. And of course, David was saved. OK.

The rest, you'll have to read your notes. We'll end here. Bob is going to pick up in verses 5 through 8 next week. Are there any pressing questions that that came up, anything that doesn't seem to fit in what we said this morning? Let's close. Father, we again are just so thankful for this time together and thanking you, Father, for your Word and thanking you that we can learn about your character through the study of your Word. And we thank you as we looked at your Word this morning that you are immutable, that you will never ever change. you are faithful, and faithful in every aspect in our life. And so, each of us who are going through some difficult circumstance in life, that we can rest, Father, in you, and knowing that what you say is to be true, that in every circumstance that you're working together for the good, to each of us that love you and we thank you for it in Christ's name.