ROMANS 3 GODS WORD REVEALS THE PROBLEM AND SOLUTION2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Romans 3 Gods Word Reveals The Problem And Solution

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015.

We are here this evening in Romans chapter 3, and we're going to be looking at the entirety of Romans chapter 3, working our way and continuing understanding the gospel as Paul the Apostle explains it. I want to start out our time together this evening, though, reading verses 1 through 8 here of Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3 verse 1 says, "'What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?'

much in every way, chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not. Indeed, let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written, that you may be justified in your words and may overcome when you are judged. But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say?

Verse 1.

As we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say, their condemnation is just.

Here as we begin in Romans chapter 3, we're jumping right into the tail end of the Apostle Paul's argument that he began in Romans chapter 1. And so I'm going to back up for just a moment to bring us up to speed. In Romans chapter 1, Paul declared that the wrath of God is currently, presently being revealed against all ungodliness.

And as he was explaining that, he said, you know, creation is sufficient. It reveals enough about God for everyone to be guilty and to be deserving of the wrath of God because everybody knows that there is a God because of the things that have been created. He went on in Romans chapter 1 to talk about some of the sinfulness that mankind has experienced

gone into and the things that we have practiced as a result of our rebellion against God and illustrating that we deserve the wrath of God.

Then as he went on into Romans chapter 2, he spent some time talking about the good and moral people, those who would look at all the evil things that Paul mentions in Romans chapter 1 and would think, yeah, they do deserve judgment. But, you know, I'm a good person. I don't need to be judged. There's no need for the wrath of God. You know, I'm mostly good. I'm a moral person. And Paul then went on to explain, no,

Good and moral people are also guilty. They're guilty because they have the conscience that God has given to them. God's spoken to them and given them this conscience as a guide that they know right from wrong. And yet, even though they have this conscience, they don't follow it perfectly. They don't always do what they know is right. They don't always follow

Keep from doing what they know is wrong. And so good and moral people are guilty and deserving of the wrath of God, just like those who are absolutely wicked. And then he also went on into chapter two of Romans talking about the Jews. And he made the case that the Jews are guilty.

He made the case that the Jews are guilty because although they have the law, they do not keep it. And the Jewish people were convinced that they were not in danger of the wrath of God. And Paul is making sure to point out that they are in danger so that they know that they are guilty. Now, that continues now into Romans chapter 3. And I titled the message this evening, God's Word Reveals the Problem and the Solution.

For the past two chapters, Paul's been talking about the problem. He's been building the case that we are deserving of the wrath of God, whether we are wicked, whether we are good and moral, whether we are religious, whatever camp we might put ourselves in to think, well, we're not deserving of the wrath of God. Paul has been making the case, this is the problem. We all deserve God's judgment.

And now in chapter 3, he's going to begin to introduce the solution. The solution for the problem of the judgment that we deserve. How is that resolved? And of course, now Paul is beginning to share the gospel message. And he's going to elaborate on these things in the next few chapters. And so chapter 3 is kind of like a bridge. Building the bridge from the problem of sin and judgment...

unto the solution of righteousness by faith that he will go into great detail explaining in chapters 4 and following.

And so we're going to finish up his argument about the judgment that is deserved in the first part of chapter 3 and then begin his introduction into the gospel message at the end of chapter 3. So for the first part, verses 1 through 8, point number 1 this evening, he says, Now,

Verse 1 says, what advantage then has the Jew or what is the profit of circumcision? Here in chapter 3 verse 1, Paul is anticipating some of their questions. And in these first eight verses, he's going to be asking and answering questions, anticipating some of the arguments that might be brought against the things that he is saying.

And he finished up chapter 2 with something that would have been difficult for the Jewish people to accept. In chapter 2 of Romans, verse 28, he says, he is not a Jew who is one outwardly.

nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God."

And so Paul, and we finished up looking at the importance of the heart last week, and that God is looking at the heart. And for the Jews who would just count on their Judaism or their heritage, their biology, their nationality, Paul says, you don't understand. That's not real Judaism just because you come from that line of people, just because you're a descendant of Abraham. That's not enough.

Just because you've, you know, participated in this religion, he says real Judaism is about the heart. It's circumcision of the heart. It's the cutting away of our sinful flesh. And it's not about pleasing men or pleasing ourselves, but it's about pleasing God. And so with Paul making this point, then the natural response for the Jew would be, well, if that's the case...

If circumcision isn't that big of a deal, if real Judaism is about the heart, well, what advantage has the Jew? And what's the profit of circumcision? Why is this benefit? And why would God give this instruction and choose this people? Well, he answers the question in verse 2. He says, "...much in every way, chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God."

And so Paul says to the Jews, you have many advantages. But the advantages that Paul is sharing about here are not the advantages that they thought they had. Here's the advantage that the Jews thought they had. They thought, I'm a Jew. That means I'm automatically saved.

I don't have to worry about salvation. I don't have to worry about keeping the law. I don't have to worry about breaking the law. I don't have to worry about anything because I'm Jewish. I'm a descendant of Abraham. That means I'm automatically in. Automatically, I get to go to heaven. That was the advantage that they thought. And so when Paul challenges that, then they're like, okay, well, what's the advantage of being a Jew then? And Paul says, well, there's many advantages, but here's the primary one.

You, as the Jewish people, you were entrusted with the word of God. You have the oracles of God or the scriptures of God. You got to hear from God. You got to have this experience.

of this revelation from God. And so there's a great advantage there, having been entrusted with the word of God, having been entrusted with more revelation of God and from God than the surrounding nations.

And so they had this great advantage. Now, as we consider these things for ourselves this evening, of course, we also can consider that we share this advantage with the Jewish people now. We have the word of God.

And not only that, but we have even to a greater degree the full revelation, not just the Old Testament, which they had, but now we have the completion of that with the Gospels and the ministry of Jesus Christ and the book of Acts and the letters to the churches that fills out and finishes up the revelation of God in His Word. And so we have this same advantage here.

So what we need to know, along with the Jewish people, is that this advantage comes with more accountability.

Because we have the scriptures, because we have access to the word of God, access to his revelation to us, we're accountable for that. The Jews thought, well, hey, we have the scriptures. We're God's chosen people. So we don't have to pay attention to the scriptures. We can just do whatever we want because we're Jews. And Paul's saying no.

You're Jews. You have the scriptures. That means more than anybody else, you're accountable to those scriptures. And you're accountable to walk in those things. To whom much is given, the scripture says, much is required. And so the Jews have a special place in God's plan. They always have and they always will. But that does not change their need for a savior.

You and I, we are blessed to live in an incredible nation. We've had amazing blessings, but that doesn't change our need for a Savior. We've had incredible blessings with the Word of God given to us, but we still need a Savior. You're here at church on a Wednesday evening, but that doesn't change your need for a Savior. Now, going on in the next few verses, Paul is going to ask and answer a few more questions.

Again, he's anticipating some arguments that would come against, and perhaps, you know, Paul would be able to do this pretty easily because he was opposed to the things of God, to the things of Jesus at one time very strongly. And so he's anticipating and perhaps thinking about, what would I say to these things that I'm sharing with the Romans?

We don't know every detail about what Paul's thoughts are here, but we'll do our best to understand as we work our way through. Verse 3, he says, Verse 4,

He asked the question, what if some did not believe? What impact does that have on the things that Paul is saying? Again, the Jews are God's people. So what if some of the Jews do not believe? Well, it's not just a hypothetical. It's actually a legitimate question. Many of the Jews did not believe when Jesus was there. And to this day, many of the Jews do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

So does that mean then that God is not faithful? Well, he answers the question in verse 4 and he says, certainly not. Of course not. God's word will be fulfilled and God's promises to the Jewish people will be fulfilled even if his people are not faithful. He's still going to be faithful. God is still going to be true. His judgments will be blameless. And in the end,

Nobody will be able to say that God is unfair or unfaithful. It says, it may overcome when you are judged. That's a quote from Psalm chapter 51. It's David saying that at the end...

When we see what God sees, we will all stand in agreement. He will be blameless. He will be justified. There won't be any accusation that we could bring against God to say, God, you're unfaithful or you're unfair in your dealings with us. Well, then in verse 5, he says, but if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath?

I speak as a man. Now, Paul here is presenting a human argument. He says, if my sin makes God look better, well, I think that means that God shouldn't judge me because I'm doing a really good job making him look better. And so if God judges me for me making him look better, I think that's wrong. Isn't God unjust for punishing me when my sin proves that he is righteous? Now, Paul goes on in verse 6 to answer this and say, certainly not.

God would not be a fair judge if he showed partiality and said, you know, you sinned in a particular way that allowed people to see my glory and trust in me, and it demonstrated my righteousness. And so, you know, I'm going to go easy on you in the judgment. I'm not going to judge you for everything you did. The Jewish people, that's what they were thinking. We're Jews. We should be judged differently, right?

We should be judged differently because we're God's special people. And so God should treat us specially and not judge us for the things that we have done. And it's very easy for us to have a similar mentality. Again, we're Americans or we go to church or we said the sinner's prayer or we did this or we did that. And because of that, then God shouldn't judge me for my sin. It's not appropriate. I have some special treatment because of what I have done or who I am. Verse 7.

Paul continues the human argument. If I lie and it causes people to trust God, to turn to His truth, it causes people to trust in God and look to His glory. If I lie and people trust God, well then why should I be judged? So if I make up some story and

that causes you to turn and believe in God, I don't think I should be judged for that lie. That's the human argument. Because look what happened. I got you to turn to believe in God, but I did it through a lie. And Paul is saying, God's going to deal with that sinfulness. He's going to deal with that behavior.

The end result of that argument is found in verse 8. Paul says, Paul says,

Paul says that's slander. We're not saying that that's not the truth. He says those who say that their condemnation is just. But the mentality sometimes is there. The end justifies the means. You know, I can do whatever I want to get this result, and then I shouldn't be accountable for whatever I had to do to get that accomplished.

And so he goes through this series of challenges and things that people might have brought up against Paul as he is saying these things. And he answers them so that we know, look, the word of God is our advantage. It gives to us extra accountability. And so that doesn't mean we can just live however we want or do whatever we want or just disregard the scriptures as long as we have good motivations or a good end result.

These are things that go through the minds of the Jewish people, but also go through our minds as well. Thomas Constable, the commentator, says, Self-righteous people still raise these objections, and he walks through them. Some people assume that because God has blessed them, he will not condemn them.

Hey, look, God's blessed me. I got a better job. I got a better car. You know, I have this going on. I have that going on. And so, hey, God's not going to deal with my sin. I don't need to repent of it because, look, I'm blessed. Some people believe the character of God prohibits his condemning them.

You know, God is love and he doesn't like to judge people. And so I don't really think I need to worry about my sinful behavior because, you know, God is good and he's loving and he's not going to actually bring judgment. And, you know, probably there's no such thing as hell. And we come up with all these kinds of things and it's completely wrong. Some think that even though they have sinned, God will be merciful and not condemn them.

You know, I'm just going to trust in God's mercy, and I'm pretty sure he's not going to bring judgment against me. And finally, he says, some feel that since everything we do glorifies God in some way, God would be unjust to condemn them. Look, God, you were able to use my sin to bring you glory. And so it's not fair for you to get glory, but then for me to still be judged, is what some would say. And these are things that

May enter our minds, and I pray that you would allow the word of God to rebuke those things and not entertain them. Your advantage, just like the Jewish people, is that you have God's word. And that means that you are accountable to it. You don't get special escape from judgment. In fact, you have a higher accountability to it because you know more. You have greater revelation than those who do not have the word of God.

And so you have this advantage along with the Jews, but it comes with greater accountability. Well, going on in verses 9 through 20, Paul will go on to say that God's word declares that you are guilty. Now, here again, this is the final segment of this argument that he's been presenting from chapter 1, that you and I, that every person is guilty before God and deserving of judgment.

In verse 9, he says, Paul says, He's saying we because he's Jewish. So are we Jews better than the Gentiles? No.

And he says, no, not at all. We have an advantage in that we have the word of God, but it also brings that accountability and we have to be obedient to what God has revealed in his word. But the end result is still the same. He says, we've previously charged, we've already been making this case, both Jews and Greeks, both Jews and Gentiles, they're all under sin. The Jews misunderstood their advantage.

And they thought they were better. They thought they were better than everybody else. That's why they divided the world in two categories. There's Jews and then there's Gentiles. That's everybody else. You want to be Greek, you want to be Roman, you want to be Babylonian, you want to be whatever, that's Gentile. But the Jews were God's chosen people. And they are God's chosen people. But not to the extent or not in the way that they were perceiving it or thinking about it.

They were thinking that we don't have to worry about sin. We don't have to worry about judgment. But Paul says, look, we've previously charged both Jews and Greeks. They are all under sin. Sin is a universal problem for Jews, for Gentiles, for the very religious, for the mildly religious, for those who go occasionally, for those who are of whatever nationality or whatever background. We all have this sin problem.

And that puts us in the place of deserving God's judgment. That's the argument that Paul's been making for the past couple chapters. Now, he's going to go on in these next few verses to quote from a variety of passages to prove his point. He's primarily speaking to the Jews at this point. And so he says, let me point you back to your scriptures, your Bible, to show you that this is the truth. And so he's going to quote from...

various psalms and also a passage from Isaiah. And I like the way that Warren Wiersbe describes this. He says, this is an x-ray study of the lost sinner from head to toe, as there's the various references to the different parts of the body. And again, pointing out the sinfulness of them all. So in verses 10 through 12, Paul is quoting from Psalm chapter 14, verses 1 through 3.

Romans chapter 3 verse 10, Paul says, So he quotes here Psalm chapter 14 verses 1 through 3. It's a Psalm of David verse

Now you might notice there's some slight variation between Psalm 14 and this portion here in Romans chapter 3. That's often the case whenever the Old Testament is quoted in the New Testament. And that's typically because the New Testament writers are quoting from the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. And so they were using the Greek version of the scriptures. And so there was some wording differences that, you know, were slightly there.

But the point here that he's making is, first of all, there's none righteous. There's none righteous. It's not that nobody can do anything right at all, but nobody does right always. There is none righteous. So he points the Jews back to their scriptures and says, here's what David said. Here's what the Holy Spirit wrote through David. There is none who are righteous.

You think that you as a Jew are righteous because you're a Jew, even if you practice sin and disregard God's word. But your own scriptures tell you that there is none who are righteous. Not only that, but he says there's none who seek God. There's nobody who on their own just decides, you know, I want to get to know God. I want to hear from God. I want to follow after God. I want to be more like God. I want to obey God.

The only way that that ever happens is at God's prompting. We respond as God calls out to us, but there's nobody who just seeks God on their own. We are too self-centered and self-consumed for that. So there's none righteous, there's none who seek God, and he goes on to say there's none who do good. Now again, he's not saying that it's impossible for a person to do something good, but

Everybody has the capacity to do good things. But the point and the problem is that nobody always does good. Nobody consistently does what is good. Nobody is always doing the things that are right. We all have areas. We might think of them as big or small as we try to compare them to other people around us, but that's really not the point. We all have areas.

big gaps in our goodness and we fall short. We don't live up to that measure of being righteous or being good. Well, then he goes on to verse 13 and he quotes two different Psalms here in verse 13. He says,

So there's two Psalms that he's quoting from, Psalm chapter 5 verse 9 and Psalm 140 verse 3. And he talks here about their words. He talks about their throat, their tongues, their lips, and the poison that is there, he says, the deceit that is there.

And so he says, as he's, again, making the case for the Jewish people to understand, you are guilty just like everybody else. He says, first of all, you don't always do what's right. You don't always do what's good. And you don't always say the right words. Your words don't measure up to a righteous person or to that of someone who is good.

James also tells us something similar in James chapter 3 verse 2. James says, This gives us a little bit of insight about the difficulty and the importance of the words that we say. James says, If you're able to

To not stumble in your tongue in the words that you say, you're perfect. So the point is, none of us are perfect because we all stumble with our words. We all say the wrong things. And the reason why we say the wrong things is because the source of

of our words is our heart. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 12 verse 34, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. It's our heart that is the problem, that is not good, that is not right. And it is demonstrated by the words that we say. This thought continues in verse 14. It says, "...whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness."

And this is a quotation from Psalm chapter 10, verse 7. So the mouth is a problem. The lips, the tongue are problems. They reveal the depravity of our hearts. Your mouth is full of cursing and bitterness because, well, your heart is full of cursing and bitterness, Paul is declaring.

Then he goes on in verses 15 through 17 to quote from Isaiah chapter 59, verse 7 and 8. He says in verse 15, Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known.

And so here's where Wiersbe is talking about from head to toe. You know, you've got the mouth he's talking about. Now he's talking about their feet being swift to shed blood. And so from top to bottom, he's saying, you guys are sinful. And as we read these things, of course, we can understand from top to bottom, you and I are sinful. Paul says, you don't treat people right.

You harm them. You bring misery to them. There's no peace. You bring division and conflict between people. And so you are sinful and deserving of judgment. And then also here in verse 18, he quotes from Psalm 36, 1. He says, There's no fear of God. There's no concern about what God says. There's no concern about the holiness of God. There's no concern about

about God's judgment. And so Paul is making the case here. He's laying it out for them so that they could see that they are guilty just like all those Gentiles that they despise.

All those Gentiles that they thought, yeah, God will judge them for their sin, but he won't judge us because we're Jews. And Paul says, you guys got to understand, you're guilty of the same judgment. You don't do what's right. You don't do what's good. You don't seek after God. Your mouths are full of all kinds of wickedness and your feet are quick to run into trouble and to do what is wrong.

And so Paul uses these scriptures again. And the point number two is that God's word declares that you are guilty. He uses these scriptures to declare you are guilty. You are deserving of God's judgment. Now in verse 19 and 20, he wraps up this point that he started back in Romans chapter one. Verse 19 says this.

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. He says, whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law. Now the Jewish people were very proud. We have the law. So Paul says, okay, so you know, you have these things written to you.

And these things are not written to you so that you can be real proud of yourself. These things are written to you so that every mouth may be stopped. That every mouth will not have an answer anymore. No more excuses. No more reasons. No more explaining away why we do what we do and why it's okay even though it's wrong. He says every mouth will be stopped. And then he says, and all the world may be guilty before God. The law is

brings us to this recognition so that we have nothing more to say, no more excuses, and we stand there guilty before God. You and I are guilty. You and I deserve the judgment of God, as does every human being that has ever existed except for Jesus Christ. I like what Warren Wiersbe points out about this. He says, do you want to argue about this?

then your mouth has not yet been stopped. God cannot save you until you say guilty and shut your mouth. When you say guilty, when you acknowledge I'm guilty and shut your mouth, then God is able to work. But until then, we're arguing, we're explaining, we're justifying, we're trying to explain why we don't deserve God's judgment and we haven't acknowledged our sinful condition.

In verse 20, he finishes by saying, therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Paul says, by doing the law, by keeping the word of God, the scriptures, no one is going to be justified that way. No one is going to stand before God right, proud of who they are, victorious and successful.

Nobody is able to keep the scriptures in that way. Nobody's able to follow the law in that way. And so we see the point of the law at the end of verse 20. He says, by the law is the knowledge of sin. And this is an important point. Sometimes we get confused about this. The point of the law is so that we know that we need a savior. The point of the law is to know that we are guilty of

It's not so that we then become legalistic and try to keep the law and approach God on the basis of how good we are. It's not so that we can try to do a lot of good works to be pleasing to God. The whole point of the law is so that we know about sin, so that we know that we sin, so that we know that we are guilty. That's the point. That's what the law was designed for.

And so as we finish up this thought from the Apostle Paul that he's been working on since Romans chapter 1, we must come to the conclusion, I am guilty. You are guilty. We don't always do what is good and right. We stumble in our words. We don't treat people right. We don't fear God.

We can look around and compare ourselves to others and think, well, maybe I'm not as bad as that person. But that doesn't excuse us. We are guilty. And remember, it started out, Paul saying, the wrath of God is being revealed against all ungodliness. And so we stand here guilty, deserving the wrath of God, deserving the judgment of God. That's our condition. It's not a good condition. It's not where we should be or want to be.

It's not somewhere that we would wish anybody to be, to be there standing guilty before God, deserving his wrath and judgment. But Paul spreads this out across these three chapters to make this point so that it's abundantly clear because it's important. We need to come to the conclusion. We need to understand, I am guilty and there's no way that I can fix that. I can't keep the law to fix that.

my guiltiness, my deserving of judgment. I can't. That's not even what the law is for. It's not designed to fix my sinful condition. It's designed to help me see and to know my sinful condition. But this is still early in the book of Romans. We're only in chapter 3. If this were the end of the story, the end of the book, that would be quite depressing. We're guilty. We deserve God's judgment.

But then notice the next two verses in verse 21. He says, but now. And so now he's going to change the subject. Now that we understand the background, now that we understand the condition that we are in, the judgment that we deserve, now he's able to introduce the solution. We understand the problem much better. We get the picture. We're guilty. How do we fix it?

How do we resolve that? What's the solution to this problem so that we do not experience the wrath and judgment of God? And so that brings us now to point number three in verses 21 through 26. God's word reveals righteousness by faith. Not righteousness by keeping the law, but righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ. Verse 21 says this.

So now is the contrast. But now, instead of being in this place of deserving judgment and the law revealing your sinfulness, he says, now there's a different righteousness that's revealed. The problem has been fully presented. All humanity is guilty.

We are unrighteous without any hope of becoming righteous through anything that we can provide. And so God has provided an alternate righteousness. Here's another way to be righteous. You'll never be righteous by keeping the law. You'll never be righteous by keeping laws or rules or regulations or going to church or following a system or doing good deeds. You'll never be righteous that way. But there's another way to be righteous.

He says it's a righteousness of God apart from the law. It's not by doing the law, but it's something separate from the law that is revealed. But this righteousness of God is not new information. He says it's witnessed by the law and the prophets. So the righteousness of God is not by keeping the law, but the law reveals that there is another righteousness of God.

The law records the other way to become righteous. And then later on, the prophets declared that there would be another way to become righteous, a new covenant that God had promised. And so there's another righteousness. It's not a righteousness by us doing good things or keeping the law perfectly.

It's a righteousness that comes from another way. But it's not some new, brand new invention of Paul. It's a righteousness that has been revealed and witnessed and testified to by the Old Testament, foretold by God's messengers. What is this righteousness? Verse 22. He says,

So what is this righteousness of God that is attainable, that we can have? He says it's righteousness that's provided through faith in Jesus. You are unrighteous, and so the wrath of God is being revealed, and you deserve God's judgment. But there's a way for you to become righteous, and it's through faith in Jesus. This righteousness by faith

is something that Paul is going to be describing in great detail in chapter 4 and using Abraham as an example and saying, look, God's plan has always been for righteousness to be received by faith. But for now, as we look at this, the emphasis is on the fact that this is the only way to be righteous. You've got two options for being righteous. You can be righteous by keeping the law, by being perfect without sin.

But that's not a good option because none of us are perfect. We all sin. We can't keep the law. The other option for becoming righteous is by faith in Jesus Christ. He says, this is for all who believe, those who believe in Jesus. And then notice what he says, for there is no difference. He's been talking to the Jews about their situation in comparison to the Gentiles and

And now he's making the point, whether you're Jew or Gentile, there is no difference. The only way to be righteous is by faith in Jesus Christ. We're all in the same position of being guilty. And so we all are in the same position of needing this savior, this righteousness provided to us by faith. Verse 23, he says, "'For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.'"

We all have the same sinful condition. We all fall short of the glory of God. Everyone, without exception, Jew or Gentile, American, Italian, European, male, female, even sweet little Aunt Ruth. Yes, she has fallen short of the glory of God. And so we deserve judgment unless we receive this righteousness of God through faith in Jesus. Verse 24 says,

being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So we fall short, we've all sinned, we all deserve judgment, but we can be justified freely by his grace through redemption that is in Christ Jesus. There's a lot of words in there, and we're going to come back, I think, next week and camp out on this passage a little bit longer. But the word justified, it's often described as

When I'm justified, it's just as if I'd never sinned. That's the idea behind justified, that God relates to you as if you had never sinned, not even one time. That's the righteousness of God that you receive by faith. And he says this is freely given by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So it's freely given, but it wasn't free. That word redemption, it means to purchase back.

And Jesus, when he died upon the cross, he purchased this righteousness that is being offered to you. He purchased the opportunity for you to be justified with his own blood, with his own life. He gave of himself to purchase, to redeem you. And so we are justified freely by his grace, his goodness towards us because of the price that he paid upon the cross. Then verse 25 says,

whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. And so he says, Jesus purchased us and that God set him forth as a propitiation. That means to appease wrath. Remember, the wrath of God is being revealed.

We are deserving of the wrath of God and the judgment of God. And Jesus is the propitiation, which means he has received the wrath of God instead of us, instead of me. The wrath that's being revealed against all ungodliness and all the wrath that we talked about being treasured up and stored up, saved there in the vault, all of that wrath has been

poured out upon Jesus. He's our propitiation so that the wrath of God is appeased. It's satisfied. It's fulfilled. Jesus received the wrath that I deserve. He says that God in his forbearance had passed over the sins that were previously committed. God was very patient. He held off bringing judgment. He held off until this righteousness of God would be revealed. Verse 26 says,

So Paul is outlining the gospel message here. You're guilty, I'm guilty. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. But God offers to us the standing of righteousness, that he will deal with us as if we had never sinned, if we will believe in Jesus.

And by faith in Jesus, we receive the righteousness of God because he received the penalty that we deserve. And Paul explains here in verse 26, this results in God being still just, but also the justifier of the one who has faith. This resolves all the issues.

In this way of God providing salvation by faith in Jesus, God remains just. For God to just say, you know, you're really sinful. You've fallen short, but who cares? It's not that big of a deal. I'll let you into heaven anyways. That would not be just. That would not be right. Sin must be paid for. It must be dealt with. And it's not right for crimes to go without penalty.

for sin to go without punishment. And so in this way, God remains just because the penalty is given. The wrath was poured out, but it was given to Jesus instead of us. And so this way, God remains just. There's no partiality. He deals with us all the same based upon our relationship to Jesus Christ, our faith in Jesus Christ. But also here, God gets to justify us

He can wipe the slate clean. And again, if he just wiped the slate clean and said, Harvey, everything's forgiven. Don't even worry about it. It wouldn't be just. It wouldn't be fair. And so if he maintained his fairness, then Harvey couldn't be clean. But if he made Harvey clean, then he wouldn't be fair unless there was a savior, unless Jesus, who is God, became man, died upon the cross for us. And now this way,

He gets to continue to be just, and he also gets to justify, to wipe the slate clean and deal with us as if we had never sinned. God's word reveals righteousness by faith. This is a big deal. The law and the prophets testify of this righteousness by faith that God would bring, this new covenant. And there was a need for another righteousness because we cannot keep the law. And so you cannot use the scriptures to become righteous, right?

but you can use the scriptures to learn about the one who can make you righteous by faith, believing in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Well, the final point here in chapter 3, verses 27 through 31, is that God's word establishes justification by faith. In verse 27, he says, where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.

He says, so where is boasting? What do I have that I can boast about? What have I done that I can boast about? And Paul says, nothing. Now, if salvation were by works, were by keeping the law, well, then I could boast. And I could tell you, look how great I am at keeping the law. And I'm pretty amazing. And you should all be pretty impressed. But because salvation is not by works, not by keeping the law, it's by faith, there is no room for boasting.

What can you boast about? Jesus died upon the cross for us. That's what we can boast about. We can boast about what he has done, but we have nothing of ourselves to boast about. Verse 28, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. We are justified by faith, justified. We are given this status, this position where God deals with us as if we had never sinned

He gives us that by faith, not by works. He says it's apart from the deeds of the law. It's not by doing good things. It's not by attending church. It's not by being real faithful and reading the Bible. It's not by watching, you know, carefully what you say and that you don't swear too much. He gives us justification by faith. Verse 29, he says, or is he the God of the Jews only?

Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. And so he's making the point here, Jew and Gentile, we are justified the same way. We all need to be justified because otherwise we experience the wrath of God and judgment of God. And so in this need to be justified, he says there's only one way to be justified.

Whether we're Jew or Gentile, we have the same approach to God. It's by faith. By faith, we have this right standing with God. Verse 31. Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not. On the contrary, we establish the law. So again, he's anticipating some of the arguments here. So if we can't approach God by keeping the law, that's not going to work. Well,

Do we just void the law then? Just get rid of it? We don't need it? And Paul says, no way. Instead, we establish the law. The law is essential. The law is necessary. We establish the law because, well, two things. Number one, the law brings the knowledge of sin. It reveals to us we can't keep it. We need to be justified. We need to have a savior. Secondly, the law reveals the one who can justify us.

It reveals Jesus Christ. Justification by faith is not an idea that requires us to disregard God's word. We don't dismiss it or put it aside. No, we establish it. And it establishes the way for us to be justified by faith in Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 5, verse 17, "'Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.'"

I didn't come to throw it away. I came to fulfill those things to make sure that the word of God is completed. And so justification is by faith. We have all of this revealed to us in the word of God. And so you have great advantage in that you have God's word. You have revelation from God. You have God's words to you.

But you need to understand that means then that God declares that you are guilty. It doesn't mean that you can just do whatever you want and live however you want because you have God's word. No, it means that you are guilty and that you deserve God's judgment and you're accountable to the things that are found in the word of God. But God has provided the solution in that righteousness is given by faith in Jesus Christ.

And justification is given by faith in Jesus Christ. This is what the word of God reveals to us.

And so this is the bridge that Paul is building between the argument, the understanding of our need of a Savior because we're guilty, and then the provision for a Savior that's found in the next couple chapters. We'll get to see more clearly. Paul's going to take his time to expound the gospel message to reveal to us what it means that righteousness and justification are by faith and to prove that

that this is the reality, that we receive God's goodness, his grace towards us, and he offers us right standing with him. Not because of what we've done, not because of how good we are or what nationality we are, but because we believe in Jesus Christ. It's an amazing gospel message. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your great goodness to us in offering us this opportunity today

to have right standing before you. Lord, although we deserve your judgment, you offer to us a way of salvation. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to not disregard that, to not think that we do not need your salvation. Lord, I pray that you would help us to hold fast to you, to believe in you, and to receive by faith the righteousness, the justification that you offer to us.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. The worship team's gonna come up and close us in a couple songs. And as they do...

I want to encourage you, as we often do or usually do on Wednesday evenings, to use this time, number one, to seek the Lord and to spend time with Him. But then also, I want to give you the opportunity to minister to one another during these songs as well. And so, as we have seen the value of the Word of God and how it reveals such great things to us, God also wants to minister in a similar way through us to one another. And so, we...

can have the opportunity to minister to one another by the working of the Holy Spirit. And maybe the Holy Spirit is going to be stirring up within you a word of wisdom, a word of knowledge, or some special thing that he wants to do and bring through you to somebody else. And I want to encourage you, anytime during these last two songs, you can go and minister to one another those things and respond as God is prompting your heart.

Maybe there's a scripture that's on your heart. There's some verses that you've been meditating on and have been meaningful to you or perhaps you sense that the Lord wants you to share those with somebody else. Then I would encourage you to do that as well or maybe you just want to spend some time in prayer and you can go and pray for somebody or you can go and ask them to pray for you.

But we want to take this time to worship the Lord and rejoice in His work towards us, His goodness towards us, and providing us righteousness by faith, but then also continue to celebrate that by encouraging and building up one another that we would continue to walk in this righteousness that He has provided. So let's worship the Lord together and minister to one another as the Holy Spirit leads.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.