Lesson 7b & begin 3:9-18 Lesson 8a
Romans 3:1-8 · JD McCulley · May 6, 2018
Romans (2018-21), No. 16
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926199591638

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We are finishing up lesson 7. We're going to look at question number 7. Lesson 7, question 7. We'll do 7 and 8. Let's see if we can't wrap up this last portion. So we've been looking at Romans chapter 3, verses 1 through 8. Let's read question 7. If the truth of God has been displayed more marvelously on account of my sinning, why then should I be judged as a sinner?

Has not the evil I have done resulted after all in good? Yes, and further, why not do evil that good may come?" So that's the question. If God is glorified even through my sinning, if He turns what I mean for evil into that which is good, What's the big deal? Right? Does that make sense? Yeah, if it's going to turn into good anyway, I mean, what's the big deal?

What do you think? Have you ever thought that? Secretly? Outwardly? It's kind of a bold place to be. I mean, there's definitely those that... Maybe you don't, as the upstanding Christian and Holly Hills citizen that you are, you probably would never think of it in such outward terms. But maybe you think of it as, maybe you entertain the idea of, I mean, I'm going to confess.

It's going to be okay. The world's not going to fall apart, so I'm just going to kind of not worry about it. You know, God's going to be glorified for my sin anyway, so good. And I got First John one night. I'm safe. Yeah, but we miss out on fellowship. We do. We do.

Now this is spoken to unbelieving attitudes, right? And Paul was being accused of this way of thinking. The situation is different from an unbeliever perspective, but just to kind of try to bring it home, the fact of sin is no different for that which is committed by the unbeliever and committed by the believer, in the sense that sin in whatever degree, in whatever circumstance can have no semblance of excuse or shadow of justification. It's not justifiable in and of committing it so that God might get glory out of it.

So the point is, yes, our sins as believers are covered and we do have 1 John 1.9. Do we sin so that grace may abound? May it never be. And the reason is not because God cannot make what is sinful into what glorifies Him. That's not the situation. The situation, or the issue, is sin in and of itself.

Sin is what? How do we define sin? Missing the mark. Okay, missing the mark. And what does sin bring? Death. And what does death mean? Separation. So, at every single point in time, that sin is committed by the unbeliever or the believer, it leads to a form of separation. For us as believers, it leads to separation and fellowship. And we miss, like you mentioned, we miss the opportunities to walk in faith, in fellowship with our God. And so, God triumphs over sin. That does not at all excuse sin from existing, and or being committed by the believer or the unbeliever.

So, just because God brings forth a greater blessing, that's no credit to sin in and of itself. It's always God's working. That's how He is. That's how He works. But it does not give credit to sin. And that's what these guys were essentially accusing Paul of is that, well, hey, sin is the is the actor, right? It's the one that's bringing all of this goodness about, so why not abound in it? If it's the causation, it's easier to do that.

You know what I mean? So, I haven't met someone that has outwardly said that. But I think the attitudes of folks' hearts could very easily fall in line with that. If you were to tell me, as an unbeliever, that, hey, God's going to get glory from whatever it is that you're doing anyway. He will turn what you are doing into what is positive for His righteousness and His perfect plan. They might be like, sounds good. Why not?

But Paul does address this in Romans 3, 1-8, and he uses a very emphatic statement, you know, may it never be, that sin is to never receive credit. And that's what that way of thinking does, is it gives sin credit. Does that make sense? Is that what he's saying, isn't that the definition of lawlessness, rather than sin itself? The definition of lawlessness? Well, I think that I wouldn't know if it were sin without the law. The law brings about a greater desire to sin. I think I would put lawlessness as the chapter two. All of chapter 2, the barbarian, the common sinner as we refer to them, these are the covert and overt sinners.

They have the law and they have added to the law, right? And then there are those that are saying of Paul, hey, you're telling us here about sin and if God gets the glory from the sin, then why not do more of it? They're not thinking that way. They're accusing Paul of thinking that way. And he's saying, may it never be. Right? credit sin never. I mean, that's never what I want to be communicating. Rather, because of who God is, he gets glory from whatever it is that occurs because of how he works and through his perfect plan, but sin is to never receive the credit.

Question number eight. What risk does one take if he dares to defend sin against God? I think we kind of wrapped up some of the answer to this question in the previous one, but what do you think? What's the risk if you dare to defend your sin against God? If you keep on doing it, there's such a thing as the sin unto death. Okay, and is this a believer or an unbeliever? It's a believer. When do unbelievers attempt to defend their sin against God? Well, primarily... Well, what's the risk if you do? Do you think that... So, maybe that comes across... So, two ways. One is...

I mean, we've all talked to our believers, and one of the things that we attempt to do when we talk to to unbelievers is to convict them of the sin that they're committing. And that's the sin of unbelief, right? Not their sins, but the sin of unbelief, right? What do they say? Oh, thank you, upstanding citizen of Holly Hills Bible Church, for enlightening me to my sin. I'm now going to change my mind and be a believer. Has it happened? Not in that way, probably. Maybe they do come to know the Lord. We've prayed and seen people come to know the Lord, even in our time together. We've all probably witnessed that. But they defend their sin. Right? They defend their sin. That's what they're doing. That's the state they're in. So what's the risk of doing that? If they continue this to the last heartbeat, then they miss heaven.

Yeah, absolutely. And for the believer, what Cheryl was saying is maybe that, you know, if you just continue just bucking up against God, you'll say, okay, buddy, you're coming home, because you won't be saved, but you're not, you know, listening to me. And that's pretty harsh, but I think that's happened to some people. I think you're right. We've seen in Romans 1 the hardening of the heart, right?

The fact that as one exchanges the truth for a lie, the truth of the Creator for the lie of the creature, the four-footed animals. Do you remember that whole sequence? I refer to it as the great exchange in the sense that I know of the Creator, and I have taken those truths of His divine nature and eternal power, and I've shoved them down into a box, like the jack-in-the-box. And as an unbeliever, I'm holding that truth down, I'm suppressing that truth in unrighteousness. And that is the place that I exist. I, as an unbeliever, am suppressing the truth of unrighteousness.

And as I go through time, continuing to hold that, it keeps popping up and convicting me, but I get really good at holding that thing down. And it's a hardening of the heart, and it leads to sin. It leads to greater sin. We see that progression of sin in Romans 1, 18 and following, and where it gets us to at the end of the chapter.

In that way of thinking, I recognize my need. I may not fully understand the gospel, but I know that I am not standing correctly between myself and my Creator. But what I do is, in order to satisfy my need of faith, I place my faith outside of the realm of God and His eternal nature, eternal power and divine attributes, and I turn to something created. And I began to worship something created.

It may be me, I may be the center of my whole world, or I may choose to place it in some kind of a demonic way of thinking. one of the verses we'll look at a little bit later, I may choose idols. And those idols can come in many different forms and shapes, and can come by many different names. We've got how many isms out there? Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. etc. I'm just picking out a couple of Eastern ones.

Nonetheless, I'm now worshiping something created. And when I stand before God and defend my sin, what do I stand on? He'll say, you knew me, and you traded the truth for a lie, and you began to worship X. And that X falls into creation. It's not like me, who is your creator. And so, you're right.

The risk is eternal separation, spiritually and physically. The risk of Of that final scenario, it happens at what judgment? What do we call it? The Great White Throne. That's right. Now, as believers, do we have that same risk? No. What is our judgment? Loss of reward. And it's at the judgment seat of Christ. So we're, just so I'm clear, And most of us know this, but we do not attend the Great White Throne Judgment that the unbelievers do. We attend the Judgment Seat of Christ. And we risk, by defending our sin against God, as believers, we risk losing reward. It's an awards ceremony, and we risk losing.

But the Jews and those that were accusing Paul in Romans 3, 1-8 were really trying to back Paul into that corner of saying, hey, you're saying that evil results in good. You're just giving the right to all of barbarians, all pagans, all Gentiles to go do what they want to do so that your God that you're talking about can be glorified.

So that doing evil, that good may come, truth is, it does not change the character of the evil. Nor does it take away the guilt from whom commits it. So Paul is not saying, hey, it's all just going to work out in the end. He's saying, no. Evil still has a character. And there is guilt associated with that and God does not sweep it under the rug and get satisfied with it and just like throw a party anyway.

He judges it and there is wrath that is specific to sin. Now the sin has been done with. God already dealt with our sin through Christ on the cross. But whatever we do in this life Apart from Christ, that's where we lose the rewards. If we're doing it and not letting Him do it, then that's... Sin, I don't think, is so much the issue. Loss of opportunity. But sin still has a character, doesn't it? And there's no guilt for a believer. That's not a term that you see applied to those that are walking with the Lord. You don't become guilty of anything.

Why? Because the moment you believed, God stood before you, so to speak, as a sinful human being, and as a believer, He took that gavel. at that judge's table, like this. And he slammed it down. And what was the words that he spoke of when he referred to you and your standing before him? What did he say? It is finished. That's what Christ said. You're right. It is done.

Christ was the sacrifice, the substitute that made it possible for God to stand before you. And as that substitute, he said, you're justified. and it came down as hard as it could ever come down, and as permanently as it ever could come down for you, once and forever. So there's no guilt. There is simply justification. You have been justified. Now, have you been given more than justification?

Absolutely. That's the identification truths, right? And all the other reconciliation, etc. There's a lot that happens at that moment of judgment. But the judgment for the believer is done once that gavel hits the metaphorical pedestal and you're declared justified.

And now, from that point forward, you're seen as a child of God. And you are only able to do and glorify the Lord as you are allowing Christ to do the living through you. And so it's no longer your deeds. You were justified and now you're not told to go do anything. Actually, you're walking into the things that God has prepared beforehand for you and it's all Christ doing the living through you.

The sin of the unbeliever is unfortunately stacking up and stacking up and is weighing over them and will be ultimately before them as they attempt to defend themselves at the great white throne but nonetheless their sin there is no excuse for the character of sin which we've defined missing the mark, missing God's righteous and holy mark but more importantly they rejected his son and that that's the ultimate loss is rejecting the offer of salvation through his son. So Paul was not communicating these things and he had to make that known in Romans 3 in order to clear up those that were accusing him of basically saying, hey, God sweeps evil under the rug. Any questions about the end of lesson 7? We're going to jump into 8. So let's read chapter 3 verses 9 through 18. What then?

Are we better than they? Not at all, for we have already charged that both Jew and Greeks are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become useless. There is none who does good, there is not even one.

Their throat is an open grave. With their tongues they keep deceiving. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Well, that's a statement of What? What is that? How do you sum that up? I mean, if you're going to look to the scripture for a summing up of man's sinfulness and state before God, you're going to look at Romans 3, verses 9-18, which is a quote from where? large portion of it. Psalm. It's out of the book of Psalms. There's actually one other we'll take a look at, but this is one of those passages in scripture that's repeated by Paul from the book of Psalms that is a summing up of all guilt. That's what this is. You could almost put a little bracket around that portion of scripture and say, the summing up of guilt. of all mankind, and it applies to Jews and Gentiles, no matter who they are, this is how they behave.

So, this is difficult, and I'm not trying to say this in such a way that we don't show compassion and all the other attitudes that we need to unbelievers, but this is where they are. This is how they function. This is what we talk about with their tongues, they keep deceiving. That's the way that we were as unbelievers. That's the way that we think.

So, in terms of there being any favor for the Jews, Paul is attempting to make it very, very clear that no one No man, no matter his race, his status, his ethnicity, his background, nothing gives them favor to God because of who or what they are without Him.

Let's look at Isaiah 59. Turn to Isaiah 59. Dust off the Old Testament a little bit. Someone read Isaiah 59, 1-8 please. Isaiah 59, 1-8. They know the Lord's hand is not so short that it cannot see, nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. for your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken falsehood and your tongue mutters wickedness. How far? Verse 8. And no one righteously and no one pleads honestly. No one, I'm sorry, sues righteously and no one pleads honestly. They trust in confusion and speak lies. They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.

They hatch adders' eggs and weep the spiders' web. He who eats of their eggs dies, and from that which is crushed a snake breaks forth. Their webs will not become clothing, nor will they cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and an act of violence is in their hands. Their feet plunge to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood.

There's also thoughts of iniquity. That's good. The last verse there, verse 8, they do not know the way of peace and there is no justice in their tracks and they've made their paths crooked and whoever treads on them does not know peace. So not only are they conceiving of mischief and pursuing all the things, falsehoods and iniquities and so forth, but there's never peace. They're never at peace. And that's the state.

And not only do we see it in the book of Psalms and then repeat it in the book of Romans, but we go back to the prophet Isaiah and recognize that he too was communicating the separation that unbelievers existed in in relationship to God. And so, the first question, what is the conclusion of Paul's argument from 1.18 to here? What do we see from Chapter 1, verse 18, all the way through to chapter 3, verse 18. We looked at the three categories of mankind.

We did. And he didn't find any who were not, who had gone, they were all godless. That's right. They were all creatures that were without excuse. I forgot to read this. This is from the last question of the previous lesson, but I think it still applies.

So it says, Now if God paid no attention to the claim of the Jew to be exempt from judgment because he was a Jew, neither will he pay any attention to the claim of the Baptist, or Presbyterian, or Episcopalian, or Methodist, as such. For all men are alike guilty, common sinners. What avails before a holy God the special religious names sinners may call themselves? this book of Romans will do you and me no good if we apply it to the Jews or Mormons only." So everyone has their name, right? Everyone has where they came from. Everybody has their backgrounds. Those names and those backgrounds, whether it be Jew or Episcopalian, mean nothing in relationship to God without His Son, right?

And that's where Paul is building. We haven't talked about Lord Jesus yet. We've established all the way this summing up of guilt and I think the term that we need to most understand is in verse 9 and it says, all are under sin. I think it's even more in the Not even one. There is no loophole, no classification, no anything that gets you out of it. There is not one.

And you know, I think as believers, who have maybe been through Romans before, this is not new, right? We know this. We know this pretty well. Thing is, unbelievers don't know this, in this way. They don't understand So, one of the things that unbelievers deal with is, your God is a God of partiality. He's a God of the white people, or this group of men. He's an American God. Do you understand what I'm saying? Although Christianity has doesn't, from a biblical standpoint, doesn't even recognize the United States of America, didn't exist, right?

And these were all different races of men, made up of over 1,500 year span, 66 different books, 40 plus authors, like the Siddents. our making. We happen to love it, and it happens to be something that our founding fathers had originally intended us to stick with. But the thing is that sinful man cannot sit and accuse the God of the scripture as showing partiality to anyone. So we may know that already, but there are those that think of God as a partial God.

Like, He doesn't care about me. Or he would never approve of my kind. Right? There are people that, and maybe they don't even say it based on that. Maybe they just say, yeah, I have herpes. God just doesn't have time for me. I'm too far gone. I'm of a special type of sin that God has no interest in.

Have you heard somebody say that? I've heard that. Well, some people don't even believe there's God. Well, that's true. That's true. But in their rejection of it, they would say, well, yeah, I mean, he's the God of the Jews, or he's the God of, well, he was the God of the Jews. They rejected him.

It also goes back to Romans 1, where at the same sort of there's no one, there's no one without excuse. Everybody knows there's a God. They suppress that. Yeah, everyone knows Right. So there's no excuse, even though they may say what they say, they're suppressing the truth of unrighteousness, right? They're holding down the conviction that they have, that God created in them. But what we're getting to in this portion of the scripture is this concept of all are under sin. So question number two, it does say, what does it mean to be under sin? What do you think, Aim? Under sin. When you think of it, do you think of the word bondage? You guys think of bondage? Bound to something? Absolutely. Yeah. You're bound to it. What do you think it means? To be under, beyond just the bondage side, but what else? All are under sin.

Every part of them is. controlled by it, like the verses we just read or so, it talks about man's mind, his heart, his will, like from head to foot, the tongue, probably down the feet. Well, not every part, right? There's some parts that are okay. I don't know.

Everything is controlled and dominated under bondage. It's the general state. It's the way things are. It's literally a quarantine. So a quarantine, when you have disease-stricken people, you quarantine them off from the rest of everyone else so that they don't spread the virus, right? That's what sin is like. You're quarantined by it. You're in bondage to it. It controls every portion of your being. not withholding anything. The entire race has fallen from good into a state of pure and total evil. Pure is not a good word, but total evil. So let's look at verses 3, 10-18. and start to break down some of the portions of what is being said here. So, verse 10, there is none righteous, not even one.

Who? Can someone tell me what righteousness is? So we make sure we know what there's none of. I think holy is a word that relates to... It does relate. What do you think it means, you three? What does righteous mean? Holy? Nice, yes. What does holy mean? Righteous. What does righteous mean? What did she say? What's in the word righteous?

Right. God is always right. And he's not right according to anyone else. He is right. He is the definition of what is right. Anything that is right outside of God is because it's right because of God. His character, his nature is righteousness. So why is that important? If God weren't righteous, what kind of God would he be?

Just like us. Okay, just like us. Maybe a little better. Or like a Zeus. Or what's another Greek God? Artemis. Yeah, these guys. Hercules. So those guys were pretty powerful and they were right most of the time until they fought with one another and one guy lost. Right?

God is perfectly right all the time. Everything that He says is truth. If God weren't righteous, He would be, as you mentioned Joanne, like us. And that means that He could never judge perfectly. That means that you could buy Him, potentially sweep some stuff under the rug, and get off. Get a pass for a day. Because God's not perfect, so if God's not perfect, then there's no ultimate need to understand Him as having judged me perfectly and righteously. I mean, I can get away with stuff, right?

Righteousness is very important. Our entire belief system breaks down if God is not righteous. And holy is a counterpart to death. It speaks of His standing. He is holy. He is righteous. He is above and there is none like. He is one of a kind. Based on our understanding of righteousness, verse 10 says, there is none righteous, not even one. So, without God, imparting His righteousness to us, there is no way for us to have righteousness ever. What about Adam and Eve? They were innocent. Isn't that the same thing as righteous? No. Why? Are you talking about Adam and Eve? Yeah. No, Adam didn't have any sin. There was no sin then. Right. When he was created.

So were they... They were innocent. But weren't they the only other two humans besides all believers after the fact that were righteous? What do you think? You said they were innocent. Then they sinned. Right. And through the sacrificial system then they were probably determined righteous. They're an Old Testament believer, so they're not like the church. Right. No, that's all true. Well, they did something wrong. Right. So, they weren't originally right. So they couldn't be righteous. Because they had the ability to do something wrong, and they made that choice. I think you were right, initially.

They're innocent. They were in a state of innocence. And you were right as well. They were in a state of innocence, right? They didn't have a knowledge of good and evil. Because they hadn't done what? And that sin was eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So not having that knowledge of good and evil did not give them a righteous state. It gave them an innocent state. They only knew good. They only knew God's righteousness and they could only learn of God's righteousness as they walked with Him. But they were not in a state of having known good and evil. I couldn't know what is right because I don't know what's wrong.

Right? Right? So, you know, this idea of religions or philosophies or sciences somehow us getting a state of righteousness, somehow getting to a state of like, we're pretty good people, right? I mean, you know, you can meditate yourself into a righteous state. Or you can be righteous.

That's old school. Like, surfer talk. Yeah, I used to surf. You see me surfing? Oh my gosh, I'd scream. I'm scared to death of sharks. There's a song that I heard the other day on the country radio. Trouble, huh? It's by Luke Bryan. It's a newer song. He says, I believe most people are good. That's a reoccurring lyric. I believe most people are good. And most mamas qualify for sainthood. That's the next line. So in two lines we've got a statement about most people standing and Moms all get to go to sainthood. Have you guys ever heard that song? Back in the Back! It's a messed up song, to a degree.

I mean, aren't most people good? I don't have any terrorists on my block, I don't think. Are terrorists the only ones that can be bad? I believe most people are good. Verse 10, there's none righteous, not even one. So, I mean, is it okay to see the good in people? What about that kind of thinking? Human good? I mean, are we the kind that are out there, you know, raising our hands and fists above folks and speaking wrath and fury and fire on all unbelievers?

Is that how we go about communicating there's none righteous, not even one? Should we run around with big signs that say this? No. No? So that's not where we are. We know that because of the rest of scripture. However, it doesn't change the fact that this is true and you can't simply Find yourself in a place where you're willing to think of people as generally being good. Now, can you find the good in people? That was my question. You said, what, human good? There is no good outside of God. He is the standard of good, which is a better term, right. He is righteous. So, you may find things about people that don't bother you, but that doesn't make them right.

They are in bondage to sin, just like we were. Their sin nature is 100% active. They are not able to produce anything good. Let's make sure that we recognize, we throw good, like that's a good thing or a bad thing, we throw that around without considering the scripture.

Like, that was a really good steak. You don't think about biblically whether or not that snake was righteous. Do you know what I mean? So we use the term good and bad from a way of evaluating life. And I'm not suggesting that we don't do that. I'm only suggesting that from a spiritual, from an ultimate truth, from a biblical perspective, there is a right and there is a wrong.

And our way of speaking about a stake should not translate to the way we speak about people and behavior. It's not the same kinds of things. There's none righteous, not even one. So, verse 11, we move on and we build the case beyond the fact that they're not righteous. What does it say? Verse 11. There's none who understands. What does understands mean? There's none who seek after God. That's the next one. It amplifies it to say no one intelligently discerns or comprehends. No one seeks out God.

What if I told you... Is that my first spell? Yeah. What if I said, made a statement, humanity by nature understands nothing of God? What would you say? That's true. But what about, what about chapter 1? Creation. What about Romans 1 where it says that they know his divine attributes and eternal being? The latter part seeks after it. We wouldn't say that God leaves any human being totally devoid of any knowledge of himself. It's out there in creation. So here is where, and I think you hit on it slightly there.

Knowing, being aware that something is true can be the case without understanding. the full implications of what that is. So, understanding God's divine power and eternal nature. does not even begin to fully unpack who God is. So, the unbeliever may know certain things, in this case those two things, they know that, and that's enough to convict them of their sin and to convict them from a judgment perspective of having rejected their knowledge of who God is as their creator. So, it definitely is a powerful amount of information, but understanding it and making sense of who God is That intelligence is completely and totally corrupted by sin.

Right? It just gets corrupted. The knowledge is there. The possibility of understanding is there only with the mind of Christ. But you don't have that as an unbeliever. You have the mind of Aden. Wake up, buddy. Just kidding. But before you were a believer, that was all you had. It was your own simple human mind. The way that you process anything of the scripture is corrupted by sin. Right?

There is none who understands. In the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom knew not God. It's amazing. All of the books that have been written and from an unbeliever's standpoint, and just millions and millions of books of knowledge. They don't understand God. Some people will call us heretics for thinking that. I'm sure Isaiah got accused of that. I'm sure Paul did too.

There's none who seeks for God. What does that mean? They're not looking for Him. They're not righteous, they don't understand, and they don't have any concern. They're not looking. I don't really care, to be honest with you. It's not even I don't really care, it's I don't care. I just don't have any concern for knowing God whatsoever.

Now, that state exists on the top of suppression of truth. And that's what we have to remember. You can't run into Romans 3 without having read Romans 1. They're suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, and by doing that, they're having to hold that truth of God down, and based on that, they're in a state of none being righteous, and they don't understand anything beyond having an awareness of who God is by way of their creator, and they're not even going to look for God, no matter what. Like, I have no interest whatsoever in seeking for this guy.

I'll find a God of my own making. I like that. As long as I can put the pizza toppings on the way I like it, I'll have that kind of God. But I've got to order it my way. He's got to be like I want him to be. They have no wish to be accountable to a higher being. Nope. That's why I always think of the evolutionists who said, you can't let God get a foot in the door. Alright. Totally.

I'm going to read this last little portion and then we'll close up. You say, how can this be possible in view of pagan lands filled with temples and worshippers thronging them? God's answer is, the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.

So 1 Corinthians 10.20 can give you a glimpse into, men can be very religious. You say, well, there's none who seeks God. You've got to be kidding me. Look at the temples. Look at how, look at how Look at how the Buddhists spend so much time in peaceful states. Look at the Pope. Look at all this religion. Look at the Mormons. They set themselves up two by two all over the world. That's commitment. Sacrifice to demons.

That's what 1 Corinthians 10.20 tells us. Worshiping the wrong God. religiously committed to the wrong God.

I think that goes to this verse, no one understands, so they're going off, so they'll seek their own religion, their own everything, so they don't understand. Which all these verses are, leading up, this is the crescendo, I think, coming to the I mean, the best thing to happen to us is crucifixion, because this is who we are. This is all leading up to that. But this also, no one understands and no one seeks. That, again, just really emphasizes the importance of God's Word and the Holy Spirit. Without that, there is no way we understand, there is no way we seek. Without His Word and the Holy Spirit. And just the importance of that.

Yeah, we've mentioned that this is the basis, that Romans is the 101 to all the identification truths that we've talked about all the time here. So we've got to get Romans in our mind, solid, because we've got to know where we came from in order to understand who we are. It's part of it. And we need to understand that for others as well as we teach and communicate the scripture. That's what Romans does for us. So let's try.

Father, we do thank you for the wonderful privileges to serve and to be just a child of a righteous God. We thank you that not only are you righteous, perfectly holy, and you will execute your judgment of your righteousness throughout eternity, but you're loving and you're gracious and you're patient and long-suffering for us and for those that have not come to know you. And so, again, we think of Bill being one of those that has an opportunity to understand and know you. While in a state that we talk about in Romans chapter 3, not understanding, not seeking. With your Holy Spirit convicting and shedding light on who you are, he has an opportunity to believe. So we just pray that all of us would be aware of those around us that need the knowledge of your Son and that we might be the light and be the ambassador that you've called us to be and be aware of those opportunities. We thank you for your love and for your grace. It's your name we pray. Amen.