Last week I learned that we failed to get these
three by five cards to all of you. And I wanted
to make sure that all of you had the opportunity
to memorize the verses before we said them together.
So have you gotten them this morning coming in?
Did you get them? Did you wave them at me so
I could know? Oh yes, there they are. Kind of
helps the air conditioning too, doesn't it? All
right, thank you. Now Romans 5 verses 3 and 4
will be the verses for next week. For those of
you that memorize it today, you've got a whole
week to review. We will sew together Romans 5
verses 3 and 4 next week as part of our worship
together. Now would you open the Bible please
to the Book of Romans and the third chapter.
We are today concluding The third, the first
section of the book of Romans, as we have outlined
it, chapters one through three, generally speaking,
deal with the first subject, and that is the
subject of sin, the righteousness which is needed
by man to get to heaven. And we need that righteousness
because of our sin in the sight of God. This
section exposes the desperate condition of mankind,
apart from God. Whether man be a degenerate,
immoral pagan, idolater, or whether he be a cultured,
civilized, refined moralist, or if he be a sincere,
Religious zealot, all men have the same need,
and that is the need for salvation. All men need
the Savior. The Jew or Gentile, all men need
the Savior. For all have sinned and stand before
God on equal footing, having the same essential
need. to be forgiven of sins and to receive God's
righteousness, by which he may then be saved
and enter heaven. Each person, Jew or Gentile,
will be judged according to the light that he
has had in this world. The Jew will be judged
according to the law, because he's had the law.
The Gentile, it says, will be judged apart from
the law, but judged he will be. All men will
stand before God and give account for the works
of their lives. We'll further learn that Jewish
rituals did not give the Jews standing with God,
that is, the rituals in themselves. God was looking
for something inward. He was looking for faith
to give those outward rituals and ceremonies
meaning. For example, in chapter 2, verse 28,
He says, a man is not a Jew if he is only one
outwardly. Nor is circumcision merely outward
and physical. Nor a man is a Jew if he is one
inwardly. And circumcision is circumcision of
the heart, by the spirit, not by the written
code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but
from God. Obviously, for Paul to make statements
like that, there were going to be questions that
were to be created in the minds, especially of
the Jews. And that's where he picks it up in
chapter 3 verse 1, and we'll read verses 1 through
20. What advantage then is there in being a Jew?
For what value is there in circumcision? Much
in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted
with the very words of God. What if some did
not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify
God's faithfulness? Not at all. Let God be true
and every man a liar, as it is written, so that
you may be proved right in your words and prevail
in your judging. But if our unrighteousness brings
out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall
we say? That God is unjust and bringing his wrath
on us? I'm using a human argument. Certainly
not. If that were so, how could God judge the
world? Someone might argue, if my falsehood enhances
God's truthfulness and so increases his glory,
why am I still condemned as a sinner? Why not
say, as we are being slanderously reported as
saying, and as some claim that we say, let us
do evil that good may result? The third condemnation
is deserved. What shall we conclude then? Are
we any better? Not at all. We have already made
the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all
under sin as it is written. There is no one righteous,
not even one. There is no one who understands.
No one who seeks God. All have turned away. They
have together become worthless. There is no one
who does good, not even one. Their throats are
open graves. Their tongues practice deceit. The
poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths
are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet
are swift to shed blood. Will and misery mark
their ways, and the way of peace they do not
know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Now, we know that whatever the law says, it says
to those who are under the law, so that every
mouth may be silenced and the whole world held
accountable to God. Therefore, no one will be
declared righteous in his sight by observing
the law. Rather, through the law, we become conscious
of sin. As the writer of this epistle, Paul,
the apostle of God, concludes his remarks, charging
the guilt of all mankind before a holy God. He
places himself in five roles, it would seem,
and approaches this theme of man's symptoms from
the perspective of each of those roles. First
he sees himself, it would seem, as a debater.
He argues with his objectors. Those who would
object with what he has been saying would be
primarily the Jews. The apostle seems to visualize
a Jewish opponent and enters into a debate with
him regarding what he has said about Jewishness
and circumcision. Perhaps he is recounting here
some of his own thinking prior to his conversion.
There seem to be four questions that this debate
circles around. First, if physical circumcision
gives no standing with God, as Paul said earlier,
if Jewishness is inward and spiritual and not
outward, what advantage then is there in being
a descendant of Jacob? What is the advantage
of being a Jew? Is there any? His immediate answer
to that question is yes. There are many advantages
to being Jewish. He lists only one, however.
He might have talked about the mighty deliverance
out of Egypt or the way that God had provided
for his people. Those were advantages which the
Jews had had. He might have talked about how
God had appointed such a great king as David.
There are many advantages he might have pointed
out, but the apostle picks out the chief advantage
which the Jews had, and that was they were entrusted
with the very words of God. In other words, the
Old Testament scriptures. You see, God revealed
himself in only one book. There were many religious
writings even in that day, but the true God had
revealed himself in none of them except one book,
and that was the Scripture of the Old Testament
Jew, the words of God, the Logia of God as it
says here. But a privilege in the Jew had to
have the revelation of God, and whenever there
is privilege, there is responsibility. The Jew
had both. He seems to include here as well the
idea that those Old Testament scriptures include
many promises for the Jewish people, promises
which were unfulfilled to that day and which,
by the way, are still unfulfilled today. There
are some people who have spiritualized those
promises and say, oh, well, those are just now
spiritual truths that are applied to the Church.
We reject that. We believe that when God made
a promise to Israel, He made it to Israel, and
that He will fulfill His promise to that old
covenant people. The promises given to Israel
in the Old Testament, in terms of real estate,
victories, etc., may have some kind of a spiritual
application to the Church. That is, we may learn
from them the principles given to us in the New
Testament. But those promises are given to Israel
and will be fulfilled to that people. So it seems
that Paul is saying here, look, what advantages
have the Jews had? They've had the Old Testament
scriptures. When no one else in the world knew
who the true God was, the Jews did. God chose
to reveal himself to them. Not only so, God has
in that book, the Bible, given many promises.
to the physical descendants of Jacob, which are
yet to be fulfilled, so there is a great advantage
to being Jewish. The second question is, well
if some though failed to fulfill the trust that
was given to them, and of course that's true,
that great privilege which the Jews had, carried
with it responsibility, and the Jews failed in
that responsibility. So the second question seems
to be, in verses 3 and 4, if some failed, then,
through unbelief, to fulfill that trust given
to them, will that nullify God's faithfulness
in carrying out his word? Has God been finished
with Israel? But we've already suggested that's
not true. In fact, the apostle says not at all.
That could never be so. God's promises, you see,
do not rest upon men's faithfulness, but upon
God's faithfulness. I'm glad for that, aren't
you? The promises that God gives to us today
rest upon His trustworthiness, not upon ours.
Likewise, even though the nation of Israel historically
failed God and was judged, God is not faced with
that people. He will still fulfill His promises
to them. Their unfaithfulness has not nullified
the promises of God. He goes on to suggest to
you that in fact when man fails, as Israel did,
all it really does is to magnify God's faithfulness.
Because the contrast between man's faithlessness
and God's faithfulness is only that much greater
and more clear. He quotes from David in Psalm
51. Though David's sin, which he confesses in
Psalm 51, that sin of adultery and of lying about
it and of murder to try to cover it up, that
sin could never in itself be said to be good.
Nonetheless, God used it to glorify his truth.
You see, as it says here, it proved God's words.
So even man's faithfulness, faithlessness, and
man's failure works to the glory of God. That
brings up question number three in verses five
and six. If man's failure, or specifically Israel's
failure in the context, commends God's righteousness,
then how can God righteously condemn man? Do
you see his point? If man's failure only causes
God to be glorified more because of his excellencies,
then how can God judge man? That's unfair. The
apostle answers by saying, in essence, such a
thought is fallacious. If God can't judge Israel
because of her failure, how can he judge the
world in general? If he didn't judge, sinners
and those who failed, then one would have to
conclude that even the most wicked has brought
glory to God and could never be judged. For example,
Hitler. By using this perverted argument that
man's failure glorifies God, therefore God can't
judge man, one would have to say that Hitler
brought much glory to God and therefore could
not be judged because of his great sins. You
see how perverted that kind of an argument is?
And yet, in fact, God does use man's sin to prove
his own righteousness and his glory. God does
not, however, excuse man for his sin and his
failure. And finally, in verses seven and eight,
as Paul continues his debate, he takes the argument
to the point of absurdity. He said, if this third
question were true, that God could not judge
man, and that man's evil only glorified God,
then why shouldn't we do what we're reported
of saying and teaching? Do evil that good may
result. He says those who say that kind of thing
have condemnation coming and it's deserved. Basically
what he's saying there, the end would justify
the means in that case. Do evil so that God may
be glorified. The end would justify the means.
That is the argument of this day, isn't it? The
means don't count. The end is what counts. Well,
there is falsehood in that. The apostle says
those who have that kind of an idea are condemned
and their condemnation is deserved. He rebuffs
that idea. And so you see he enters into a debate
here with an opponent that he visualizes to try
to answer some of the Jewish attacks upon his
teaching. And then in verses 9 through 12, he
sees himself in the role of a judge. And as a
judge, he examines the evidence that is before
him. Essentially, he says, all mankind, Jews
and Gentiles alike, are under sin. That's the
charge. What is the evidence to undergird that
charge? Well, he gives it to us in these verses.
And he quotes from the Old Testament. This is
God's valuation of mankind. Verse 10. There is
no one righteous, not even one. The first piece
of evidence from God's word about man is that
none is righteous. That is, none has inherent
righteousness. He does not possess more virtue
in himself. Ah, someone says. What about Adam?
Adam was righteous. No. Adam was sinless and
innocent. But he did not have righteousness.
until God justified him through his faith. God
saved him and gave him righteousness through
the shedding of the blood of that innocent animal.
But until he sinned, Adam was only innocent.
There is none righteous, no not one, except those
that God justifies or declares to be righteous
through their faith in Christ. The second piece
of evidence is verse 11. There is no one who
understands. In other words, among all of men,
there is no mind that is not darkened when it
comes to spiritual things. The man writes many
books on religion. Obviously he is a religious
creature and has that need of worshipping something.
All of his writing, all of his philosophizing
is mere speculation. It is blind groping. There's
no one who understands within himself God. God
has to reveal himself, in other words. And then
he says, no one seeks God. You say, but man is
a religious creature. Doesn't that mean that
he seeks God? No. It means that he has an emptiness
inside. He has a religious need, but he does
not seek God. He seeks to fill that need, but
he does not respond to the light of God that's
available to him, not even the pagan. What does
the pagan do? He makes an idol. He doesn't turn
to the true God. He creates an idol with his
own hands and bows down and worships it. There
is none that seeks God. God is not exactly concealing
himself in the world either. Even Adam did not
seek God after he sinned. Have you ever thought
about that? Instead of immediately coming to
God and confessing his disobedience, what did
Adam do? When he hid himself. Men have been doing
that ever since. None seeks God. Fourthly, he
says, all have turned away. The idea is here
that all have detoured from the right road. All
have gone out of the way. This is of course the
reference to Isaiah 53 where the prophet said,
all we like sheep have what? Gone astray. We've
turned everyone to his own way. And finally he
says, all have become worthless. Excuse me, not
finally, fifthly. All have become worthless in
verse 12. Does that mean that man has no worth
in the sight of God? No, that's not the thought
here. Man does have great worth to God and that's
why he gave his son for man. But the word worthless
here means rotten. All have become overripe.
It's the word for fruit that is spoiled. Something
that has gone bad irrevocably. Something that
has become useless. And that's what he says about
man. And now finally, he says in verse 12, there
is no one who does good, not even one. He began
by talking about character, inherent righteousness,
no one has that. He concludes this section by
talking about acts, the actions of the life,
and he says there is no one who does good. And
so as a judge now, the apostle views men. He
examines the evidence from God's Word, and his
conclusion is that the charge is correct. Jew
and Gentiles alike are all under sin. And folks
who say that we are under sin, what that means
is that we are indentured to sin. We are obligated
to sin. We are in bondage to sin. we are by our
natural birth, and we prove that by the way that
we live. Man is a sinner, and the examination
of the evidence from God's Word proves that to
be so. There's a third role now the apostle sees
himself in, and that is as a physician. He diagnoses
his patient, and his patient is essentially the
human family. And he says about them, their throats
are open graves. When you go to the doctor for
a physical exam, what's the first thing that
he checks? Normally it's your throat, isn't it?
He says, open your mouth, and then he sticks
that piece of lumber in there and begins to hold
your tongue down, and he looks at your throat
because there is so much about our health that
can be revealed in the way that our throat looks.
And that's where the apostle begins. He says
their throats are open graves. Have you ever
been around an open grave? I never have. I never
want to be. I have been around bodies of animals
that were in the process of decaying and have
smelled that stench. But those who have smelled
human flesh decaying say that there is no comparison.
I remember reading about one preacher who was
called in the middle of the night to accompany
the police to the scene of a murder. The body
of a little girl had been found. She had been
murdered several days before that. He said that
he never got over the smell. of that little girl's
body as it was decaying. On one occasion, I do
recall going to a funeral home where a friend
of mine was working. He took me down to the crematorium.
That's one of the most joyous evenings. It was
a great experience to tour a funeral home. They
took me down to the crematorium, and there was
a body that they were going to cremate the next
day. And that's the closest I've ever come to
what he's talking about here, because that body
had not been embalmed. It is a very putrid idea,
isn't it? That's what the Apostle's trying to
communicate to us. As he, the physician, examines
us and looks at our throat, it reminds him of
death, of decay, of moral stench. of putridness
in the nostrils of God. An ugly picture, but
that's man. Mel Trotter, who founded a great
mission in the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan,
now with the Lord a number of years, said, if
we could see ourselves as God sees us, we could
not even stand ourselves. He continues the physical
examination of the sinner here, and he goes to
the tongue. The doctor tells a lot by looking
at the tongue too, doesn't he? The color of it,
and so on. And he says about the tongue of the
sinner that it practices deceit. The verb here
indicates that it was a habit of life, lying,
deceiving, covering up, being less than honest.
As he continues in the area of the mouth, he
says the poison of vipers is on their lips. Normally
the fangs of a snake, a poisonous snake, are
folded against the upper jaw. When the mouth
opens, those fangs drop down. And when the snake
bites, Pressure is exerted so that a sack of
poison at the base of the fangs releases that
venom and flows through the hollow fang into
the victim. What the apostle is picturing here
is that human beings are like poisonous snakes.
They have fangs dripping with venom. Have you
ever seen a snake? milked of its venom. They
do that at some zoos and they do it sometimes
for medical purposes. I remember going to a zoo
one time and seeing a rattlesnake behind glass.
I can assure you behind glass. And the snake
apparently was tired of the visitors and as I
looked in, it yawned. And as it yawned, it opened
its mouth and those fangs dropped down. and two
little drops of golden venom right there in the
end of its fangs. I backed away from the glass
in a hurry. He says here that we are like that,
that the poison of vipers is in our mouths. Think
of the pain caused by the human mouth, the organ
of speech that we have. Think of the scars upon
lives. because of the tongue and the lips. There
was a great demonstration yesterday in New York
regarding nuclear bombs. There have been vastly
more people scarred by the human tongue than
by nuclear bombs. Scarred in more treacherous,
life -harming ways. What we really need in this
country is a great march to protest the use of
the human tongue. He goes on to describe man
as having a mouth that is filled with cursing
and bitterness. I don't have to prove that to
you. All you have to do is stand down in the
street corner sometime. I think it was from McGee
who said there was a man who argued with him
about this. So McGee said, well, let's go out
on the street corner. The first guy that comes
along, you hit him in the mouth and wait and
see what he says. And you'll find out what his
mouth is filled with. Well, I'm not sure that's
the best way to find out. All you have to do
is just stand there and listen. What do people
talk like where you work? In the school where
you go? The mouths are filled with cursing, with
blasphemy. with bitterness and anger and jealousy.
And he concludes the physical exam by saying
in verse 15 here, their feet are swift to shed
blood. In other words, mankind is prone to murder.
Murder is a crime that is increasing in this
country in an alarming way. Man's feet are swift
to shed blood. That has been true ever since
the sons of Adam and Eve. If you're angry, if
you want ultimate revenge, sometimes if you want
15 cents in change, you murder somebody to get
it. What is then the diagnosis of the physician?
Well, we can say this. The disease is terminal.
The disease that he sees here, which infects
man, is the disease of sin, and it leads to eternal
separation from God, to spiritual death. The
apostle then seems to take upon himself the role
of a historian. And as a historian, he reviews
the record of mankind. He says, ruin and misery
mark their ways. If you were to sum up human
history, Those two words would probably summarize
it better than any others. Distress and desolation,
ruin and misery. How contrasting this is to the
lie of evolution which says man is getting better
and better. That the record is on the upswing.
In fact, the Bible says the record is progressing
downhill. As he looks over the record, he further
says, the way of peace they do not know. Do we
need to talk about that today? As we think of
the Falklands? As we think of the Middle East?
As we think of Afghanistan? Do we need to think
about Cambodia or Kampuchea? Do we need to think
about the terrorism in the world? The way of
peace They have not known. And there's a reason
for that. In fact, did you know that James, in
chapter four, verse one of his book, gives us
the secret to why there's war in the world? If
anybody asks you, why is there so much war, turn
to that passage, it'll tell you. James four,
one. It's because of the lusts within the heart
of man. War is not caused by poverty or economic
injustice. It's really not caused by political
differences, war is caused by selfishness. Whether
war be within the home, husband and wife, or
parents and children, or if it be on the international
scale, war is here because of selfishness. And
he concludes as a historian by saying regarding
the record of mankind, there is no fear of God
before their eyes. This of course could be said
to be the root of all the former. Man lives as
though God did not exist. He defies God and deifies
himself. There is no reverence, there is no respect
for God in the eyes of man. That's the conclusion
then of the historian. The record shows that
man is going downhill and away from God. that
he's miserable and without peace. He has no reverence
for God. Finally, the apostle in verses 19 and
20 sees himself as a prosecutor. He saw himself
as a debater. He saw himself as a judge. He saw
himself as a physician, as a historian. And now
finally as a prosecutor. And as the prosecutor,
he concludes his case. And he seems to return
here to his primary focus in this chapter, that
is to the Jews. He talks to those who are under
the law. And yet he certainly does not leave
out the Gentiles because they're in view here
as well. He talks about the whole world. A prosecutor
is interested in the law. That's his job. He
is the one who is supposed to see that those
who disobey the law are convicted in court and
punished for their crime. That's why they call
him a prosecutor. And so the apostle looks at
the law of God, God's moral standards, and this
is what he says. Whatever the law says, it says
to those who are under the law, so that every
mouth may be silenced and the whole world held
accountable to God. What does the law say? Well,
it says, first of all, that every tongue is silenced
before God. In other words, there is not one
tongue of an individual who can stand before
God and give some excuse for a sin. Secondly,
it says that the whole world is held accountable
to God, not just the Jews, who are under the
law in a specific sense, but the whole world,
Jew and Gentile alike, held accountable to God
for the light that he has known. And then what
does the law do? Well, certainly it doesn't save.
He says in verse 20, no one will be declared
righteous in his sight by observing the law.
I wish this morning that the followers of Herbert
W. Armstrong would read this, or the followers
of Seventh -day Adventism, or the Jehovah's Witnesses.
or the various groups that in some way include
the law as a part of salvation. For it says here
that no one will be justified or declared righteous
in the sight of God by observing the law, even
if he could. No one is justified by the law.
The law was not given to save man. I think it
was Vern McGee again who said that trying to
be saved by the works of the law and doing good
is like being in an airplane that's going down
and grabbing, instead of a parachute, a sack
of cement. You see, the law will do nothing but
take you to condemnation. That's its purpose.
That's what he says. Through the law, we become
conscious of sin. Whether it be in this dispensation
or in some other, God has never saved anyone
by the law. He saves only by grace. He has never
saved anyone by works. He saves only by faith.
The law was given so that in trespassing it,
man would see his sinfulness and his guilt before
God and would cry out for mercy. And so what
is the conclusion of the prosecutor? Essentially
it is this. The defendant, you and me, The defendant
is guilty according to God's law and he's worthy
of God's wrath. These are difficult verses. They
fly in the face of religion in our day. They
run counter to the concept that in every day
and every way I'm getting better and better.
which is the basic philosophy of liberal theology.
It runs counter to the direction of humanism,
which says that man is essentially good. God
says that man is sinful, hopelessly lost, and
in need of a Savior. Now we who have trusted
Jesus Christ and who are Christians can understand
these verses. I hope that we have no sense of
self -righteousness about us. For as we look
at these verses, that for the grace of God we
would all still be living like this. God in His
grace has saved us from sin. And He is cleansing
us. He is sanctifying us. Preparing us for heaven.
He is making us new people so we don't live sin
-centered lives. like the rest of mankind. We
have no reason for self -righteousness. We may
glory only in the righteousness of God and rejoice
in the fact that we've been saved by God's grace.
And for anyone here who is today still outside
of Christ and therefore what the Bible calls
a sinner, as you look at these verses, I trust
that you do not read them casually. They describe
every sinner to some degree, and it shows here
God's just condemnation upon all sinners. What
these verses do is show us how badly each of
us needs the Savior. Griffith Thomas, a man who's
been with God now in heaven for a number of decades,
has written a very fine commentary on Romans.
I'd like to conclude this message by reading
a few of his sentences. Please exercise the discipline
of listening as I read them. A reference to the
context of these passages will show that the
apostle does not mean to charge every individual
Jew and Gentile with these sins any more than
he does in chapter 1, verses 18 to 32, all the
Gentiles, or in chapter 2, all the Jews. The
reference is, of course, to classes and tendencies
of sin, whether among Jews or Gentiles. The Jewish
boast of superiority having been already removed,
the way was made open for individuals to apply
the truth to their own consciences. From time
to time we meet with people full of moral excellences,
like the rich young ruler, and we are tempted
to think that such words as are here used by
the Apostle would be utter mockery. But we must
never forget that no charm of attitude towards
men can ever take the place of thorough righteousness
towards God. It is only too possible for a man's
behavior to be admirable everywhere except at
home, where his coldness and indifference are
grief and shame. In the same way, Our best behavior
towards man cannot set aside our attitude of
self -righteousness and indifference towards
God. When we look within our own hearts, we see
the possibilities of evil. Just as when we read
the story of the rich young ruler, we come at
last to the point where that good person was
not good. His unwillingness to surrender to Christ,
thereby showing an unregenerated heart in spite
of all of his excellences. And then Mr. Thomas,
Dr. Thomas comes to the heart of his paragraph
in this final sentence. We are condemned in the
sight of God for what we are rather than for
what we do. What are we? We are sinners. And
what we do is sin. And what we need above everything
else is forgiveness. and the gift of God's righteousness
that will put us in a right relationship with
himself. That's what Romans is all about. Having
talked about sin thoroughly in these first three
chapters, the apostle will now move on to talk
about how God provided righteousness for us through
Jesus Christ. I hope that you'll be here to study
that, but you need not wait until then to receive
that righteousness and to trust the Savior. If
today where you sit, you feel convicted of sin,
and you sense within the need for this righteousness
of God that we've talked about. You can have
that righteousness simply by opening your heart
and trusting the Savior, by inviting Him into
your life. Jesus said, I stand at the door and
knock. If any man will open the door, I will
come into him and will sup with him and he with
me. Will you let Him into your life today? Do
you hear Him knocking? Will you open the door?
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we view the record
of man's lost condition, the sinfulness of man
in Your sight, all of us are humbled. And we
confess that what you have written here is true.
It is accurate. All of us fit into these verses.
By your grace, however, many of us have already
trusted Christ. And we've experienced your cleansing
and your forgiveness. You're making us new creatures
in Christ. Thank you for that. I pray for that
friend who is here today outside of Christ, still
in sin, still under condemnation. May there be
faith today that will save that one. May he today
open the door wide and receive Christ in his
life. We pray it in Jesus' name and for his sake
as well as for the sake of the sinner. Amen.