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The Roman Road: Sin and Justification 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to stand on the word. Thanks for joining me this morning as we get on to the Roman road as we read chapter 3 of the book of Romans. Verse 23, for all have sinned and fall short of0:22 the glory of God. The Roman Empire had this vast system of roads. In fact, historians say that at the height of the Roman Empire, there were 250000 miles of0:33 roads. Now this was primarily to move the military around, but these roads were well constructed. In fact, many of them lasted hundreds and thousands of years. So borrowing from the well known0:45 term Roman road, the book of Romans provides a well constructed enduring road to sharing the gospel. And verse 23 of chapter 3 is what I would call the0:57 on ramp, the sinfulness of man. There are 3 divisions to this chapter. First, establishing that the Jews and the gentiles are both guilty of sin before god,1:09 he answers the question, what advantage is there to being a Jew? Paul, he addresses that before returning to the guilt and the corruption of all mankind. Then Paul lays out the means1:21 of justification for all, everybody, Jew, Gentile, the justification before god, which is faith in Jesus Christ alone. He is the propitiation for our sin.1:33 Alright. Beginning verse 1, chapter 3, what advantage then has the Jew or what is the prophet of circumcision? Much in every way. Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of1:44 God. Now a couple of, significant, I believe, observation, observations in these 2 verse verses. While all human beings stand condemned in their1:56 sin before god and need a savior, the Jewish people have and will play a central role in god's plan for the world. The church, right, hear me on this2:08 because this is, something growing in the evangelical world. The church has not replaced the Jewish nation. In Romans chapter 11, we're gonna get to this later, Paul writes about how the Gentiles were2:20 grafted into the promises of god. God. In chapter 9, he writes that the Gentiles being children of Abraham, because they are children of the promise. Right? There there2:31 there's more to come. The scripture makes very clear. There's more to come for the Jewish people. And by god's grace, we as non Jews have been adopted into the family through the redemptive work of2:43 Jesus Christ. And notice what was entrusted to them. Alright? Notice what was entrusted to Jewish people, the oracles or the word of God. Now this speaks to the divine authoritative character of the2:55 scripture. Verse 3. For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Will the fact that so many did not believe and obey God3:07 in the word that they carried forth undermine and make void the faithfulness of God communicated in his word? Look at verse 4. Certainly not. Certainly not. Indeed, let god be3:19 true and every man a liar as it is written that you may be justified in your words and may overcome when you are judged. God's word. Alright. God's word3:30 shall be accomplished, and his purpose is carried out whether man believes them or not. Whether man aligns with them or denies them, god's word will be fulfilled.3:43 Verse 5. But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of god, what shall we say? Is god unjust who inflicts wrath? I speak as a man. Now3:56 what do you think Paul is doing here? Well, I I think Paul's playing the devil's advocate as he provides this narrative. So if the sin of Israel provided the backdrop to show god's grace to the4:08 gentiles through Jesus Christ, then we've actually helped God out. So he shouldn't be angry and judge us. Right? Certainly not. Verse 6, for then how will God judge the world?4:20 God's standard is universal, and it applies to all. Now while the the the Jews are God's chosen people, we've seen how he has carried the threat of redemption through4:32 the narrative of the Jewish people. They still need a savior just as we do. For if the truth of God is increased through my lie to his glory, why am I also still judged as a4:44 sinner? And why not say let us do evil that good may come as we are slanderously reported as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.4:56 Now it would appear that the opponent the opponents of Paul took another approach here cheapening the grace of god and accusing Paul of this, that if our sinfulness only magnifies the righteousness of5:08 God, then, hey, sin on. Paul says, no. Wrong again. So Paul now moves to the second part of this chapter, and that is the condemnation of all mankind, everybody, Jew and5:19 Gentile. Verse 3. What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. The Jews5:32 were better off because they had the oracles of God to teach and live by them, but they did not yield to them. So they were in the same spiritual position, alienated and condemned5:44 before God. Verse 10. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not 1. None. From square 1, Paul makes clear we don't start off5:56 morally good and then turn bad because of our environment or some childhood experience that, you know, our parents didn't treat us right. And I look. I'm not minimizing that. I know that we are we are a, a a a a6:07 sum total of the experiences that we have, but that does not deal with the underlying issue. We are all born in sin. And we we all have the same spiritual condition. We are separated from god. We are6:19 unrighteous from the start. Now I can be, magnified by the experiences that we have, but we can overcome them, by the way. God can heal us, those experiences. And I know6:31 many, many people I've counseled that have had traumatic experiences. And this is part of the I know I'm getting off here, but that's a part of the, this identity issue that6:43 we have today with people sexually because there's so much sexual abuse, and then people are are responding to that trauma. But here's news. We are new creations6:55 in Christ. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Does it mean that those things, are no longer issues? It means that they don't define us7:07 because we our identity is in Christ, and he will help us overcome those things, but we have to take them to him. Alright? Let me move on. Verse 11, there is none who understands.7:19 There is none who seeks after god. See, fallen man does not have the understanding. Alright? Absent of the holy spirit and the grace of god to seek after god, we don't even know. We're blind. And that's why we see7:31 I see this so clearly now. The spiritual blindness that has, really is prevalent. It's everywhere. But in in Washington, especially when it comes to certain7:42 policies, there's just a blindness. Verse 12, they have all turned aside. They have come together. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good. No.7:54 Not 1. Notice now that Paul moves into the means by which we display our unprofitability and the sinful nature, and it's it's from head to toe. Sin is a whole of being undertaking.8:06 Alright? Sin consumes all of us from head to toe. Verse 13, their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues, they have practiced deceit. The poison of asp is under their lips, whose mouth is full8:18 of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. They live lead misery and destruction in their wake. Verse 17. And the way of peace, they have not8:30 known. They don't know what peace is. You know, ponder this for just a moment. We all know, good people, but good is not good enough. God is calling8:42 us to be righteous before him, meaning our sins are covered by the sacrifice of Jesus who is, as we will see in just a moment, the propitiation for our sin. He is the only way to the father. And we8:54 hear a lot of political talk about, peace. I mean, we've heard it even this week. Peace. Peace. Peace. Unity over this. Unity over that. I'm I'm gonna tell you right now. It's not gonna happen. It it it it's an elusive9:06 promise designed to exert more control in most cases. Now that said, I do think that we can have a managed9:27 morally aligned strength that keeps evil in check. Now not not just strength, but it has to be strength based upon a moral foundation. And that means we've gotta move back to a biblical9:39 standard if we wanna see a element of peace in our society, both as a country and and and in the world. And here's the bottom line, the origin of it all. Look. Verse 18. There is no fear of god before9:51 their eyes. Now let me just go back very quickly to verse 11 because I I wanna show you something. There is none who understand. There is none who seek after god. So what's the beginning of wisdom and knowledge?10:03 The fear of god. When the fear or reverence for god is missing, we we see what happens. Paul lays it out here. There's there man becomes worthless, doing nothing good10:15 of value. The stench of death is in their words. I mean, if you hear people's conversation, I mean, just the10:27 our vocabulary, even as a society, is is so coarse. And and it starts at the top all the way down. You know, William Wilberforce, 1 of those things not only to end slavery, but was10:39 the improvement of manners. And a large part of that was the speech that we we spoke not with curse words, and and that's so prevalent today. The stench of death was in their words. Their tongues10:51 are used for deceit. Everything they said was a lie. The lips are poison. I mean, they're stinging. They're going after attacking, destroying, and they were swift to shed innocent blood. I mean,11:03 that reads like today's headlines. Verse 19. 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. Therefore,11:15 by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Notice that last verse. The law of God11:27 has not and will not justify anyone before God, Jew or Gentile. The law simply reveals our sin and the fact that we need11:39 a savior because we'll never measure up to the law. The law is a tutor that brings us to Christ. Paul now moves into the third portion of this chapter, our hope. Alright? He he lays all this out, but he doesn't leave us11:51 hopeless. Justification by faith. Verse 21. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in12:03 Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe, for there is no difference. Now we've now seen it, Paul says. What the prophets and the law told us was coming has come12:15 to pass in Jesus, not just for the Jews, but for all mankind. Verse 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god. We all need it. We all need the grace of12:26 god. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom god set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness12:38 because in his forbearance, god had passed over the sins that were previously committed. So what does that mean? That god, through Jesus Christ, became the atonement, the12:50 sacrifice for the sins of man, past, present, and future by faith. 20 verse 26, to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he13:02 might be just and the justifier of the 1 who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No.13:14 But by the law of faith. So he says, therefore, there can be no boasting. No 1 has earned this standing before god. It wasn't the law. It wasn't works. It's all because of Jesus, and he's available to everyone13:25 because everyone needs it. But we obtain it by faith. Verse 28. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law, or is he the God13:37 of the Jews only? Is is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes. The Gentiles also. Since there is 1 God who will justify the circumcised by13:49 faith and the uncircumcised through faith, do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not. On the contrary, we establish14:01 Father, we thank you for your word, and, lord, we thank you for the grace that you've given us. I I thank you, father, that the law makes very clear that we're all sinners, Jew, Gentile. We're all we're14:13 we we all need a savior, and you have provided that savior. And so I pray, father, today that if there are any that are on this, call or on this video that have14:25 not experienced that saving faith in Jesus Christ, that the forgiveness of sins, that that the transformation of their life, that old things have passed away, behold, all things become new, that their14:36 identity is found in Jesus Christ. Lord, today, they might do that. Lord, we've all sinned. We all fall short of the glory of God. But by your grace, through faith, we can all14:48 come into relationship with you through Jesus Christ, and we thank you for that. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning. Again, let me remind you coming up this weekend, Friday and15:00 Saturday, the pray boat stand summit at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. If you're in the area, I invite you to come and be a part of it. If not, you can still participate. We got some great, speakers and15:11 panels to educate the body of Christ. But you have to have the Stand Firm app. So go to the Stand Firm app and, get the Stand Firm app, and you'll be able to see it there. Alright. Until next time. Keep15:23 standing on the word.15:28 Today's study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day,15:40 you can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 The Roman Road: Sin and Justification
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