Sermon 9

Bad News / Good News

Romans 3:1-24

Romans 3 has some good news and some bad news. The good news comes at the end of the chapter (vs. 21-31). The bad news is in the middle of the chapter (vs. 9-20). But before Paul gets to either the good news or the bad news, he must first clarify his teaching. In the first eight verses of Romans 3, Paul anticipates objections and accusations that might coming at him and answers them.

Accusation #1 - Paul Is Anti-Semitic, vs. 1-4. When Paul became a Christian, did he become anti-Jewish? That was the accusation, see Acts 21:21, 27-28. But that was not at all what Paul believed and taught. He was himself Jewish and had a genuine burden for Jews to be saved, see Romans 9:1-4a; 10:1. But what Paul did teach was that being Jewish alone, being a descendent of Abraham, being circumcised as part of God's covenant relationship with Israel would get no one to heaven. Paul has just stated that at the end of Romans 2. In 3:1-4, however, he acknowledges that there are a great privileges to being Jewish. Chiefly, the Jews were privileged because to them were entrusted the very words of God, vs. 1-2. God's revelation of holy scripture came through the nation of Israel. The Bible is a Jewish book! The Bible has many promises from God that pertain directly to Israel. And so, in verses 3-4, Paul states that Israel's unbelief does not negate God's promises. Paul was not anti-Jewish and neither should we be. Historically, terrible atrocities have been committed against Jews, often in the name of Christ. I have a book which is the personal testimony of a Jew's conversion to Christ. He says that the first time he ever heard the name Jesus Christ, it was when his family was being persecuted in Poland, forced to flee and being called Jesus Christ killers. God promised to bless those who bless the nation of Israel and that should be us. We should not hate Jews.

Accusation #2 - Paul Is Antinomian, vs. 5-8. Some were actually saying, "People will notice how good God is when they see how bad we are. Is it fair for God to punish us, when we are actually helping Him? Let us do evil that good may come!" In verse 8, Paul reports that it had been slanderously reported by some and affirmed by others that this was his teaching. Antinomianism is the erroneous view that eternal salvation by grace through faith alone, without any mixture of works is a license to live in sin. It is the argument that you can be saved and live like the devil. There were some, perhaps, who were teaching that error, but not Paul. Those who did, says Paul, deserve all the judgment that they receive.

Man's Problem: No Righteousness, 3:9-20.

The Jews, then, do possess unique and unfulfilled promises to look forward to as a nation. These promises, however, should not in any way give the false hope of special privilege so far as their standing before the judgment bar of God is concerned. Concerning the matter of personal righteousness before God the Jew is just as lost, just as condemned as the Gentile.

To summarize and emphasize the condemnation of both Jew and Gentile, Paul draws together a series of quotations, primarily from the Psalms, all of which prove his contention that no man can win God’s approval by means of his own righteousness. Verses 10-12 give a general overview of man’s depravity, stressing that God’s condemnation of men is universal. Thus, the repetition of the expression, "no not one." (Read 3:10-12).

The force of these verses is that man can never be pronounced righteous in the eyes of God. He does not seek God; he is incapable of knowing God, and he does not do good.

All of this is viewed from the divine perspective. This is not to say that a man never does any thing good and kind for his fellow-man. Paul is not saying that men have no good thoughts. He is saying that man has nothing to commend himself to God. Man is incapable of doing anything to please God and to earn His approval.

There are many who are outwardly religious and considered pious and devout, but they are not truly seeking God. They are creating a god of their own making. They worship the creature rather than the Creator (1:18ff). There are those who strive to keep God’s commandments, but none have managed to keep them at every point, and are thus guilty of failing at all points (James 2:10). The epitome of sinfulness is trying to be like God, without God (Isaiah 14:14).

Verses 13-18 move from the general to the specific, describing the depravity of man as it is evidenced by the various members of his anatomy. From head to toe, from the inside out, man is characterized by sin. (Read Romans 3:13-18).

The corruption of our hearts has contaminated our tongues. Our speech gives us away; it reveals our sinful hearts. With our mouths we spread poison and with our feet we run to do evil. Destruction and misery is the work of our hands. We know not the ways of peace. Centuries of war have made this clear. Mankind is in bad shape. But man individually is also in no condition to stand before a righteous and holy God and claim a righteousness worthy of eternal life.

The Jews had distorted the purpose of the Law. It was never intended to commend a man before God, but to condemn him. Like the blood-alcohol test is designed to prove men are drunk, so the Law is designed to prove men are sinners, under the wrath of God. The Law provided a standard of righteousness, not that men could ever attain such human righteousness, but to demonstrate they are incapable of doing so and must find a source of righteousness outside themselves. That is the point of all of the sacrifices of the Old Testament. When the Law revealed a man’s sin, God provided a way of sacrifice so that a man would not need to bear the condemnation of God. The Law was never given to save a man, but to show man that he needed a Savior, verse 20.

God's Provision: Righteousness, Romans 3:21-24.

With the first word in verse 21, there is a sigh of relief. Here, at last in the epistle is some good news. Surely this is the case, for what a relief it is to know that God has provided a solution for man’s dilemma of sin.

The dilemma of man is such that he is incapable of releasing himself from the shackles of sin. He must be saved by someone other than himself and by someone who does not suffer from the same problem. A drowning man cannot save himself. Neither can one drowning man rescue another. What man cannot do (provide a righteousness acceptable to God), God has done in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the good news for which we have waited.

The source of righteousness is God. It is the righteousness of God, vs. 21,22. This righteousness is that which is provided by God and not produced by the efforts of men. It is the righteousness of God.

This righteousness, though not produced by the Law, was promised by it. From verse 21, we can see that in one sense this righteousness of God is related to the Law and in another it is totally distinct. It is related in that it was predicted in the law and prophets. But this righteousness of God which Paul writes about is completely independent from the Law in that it cannot be attained by men and their futile efforts to satisfy the requirements of the Law. So the righteousness of God comes not from Law-keeping, as the Jews erroneously supposed.

So how does one acquire the righteousness of God? It is free (v. 24). It is by grace (v. 24) - meaning that it is a gift. It is through "faith in Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe" (v. 22).

The bad news is that you are a sinner whether you are a rank heathen or a religious Hebrew. The bad news is that God is not going to overlook your sins. The bad news is that you are condemned under the wrath of God and doomed to the eternal lack of fire. The bad news is that there is nothing that you can do to save yourself. That's the bad news.

But the good news is that what you cannot provide for yourself, God has provided for you. He offers His righteousness to you freely as a gift through Jesus Christ. You must only receive that gift through faith in Christ.

Will your receive the gift of eternal life by confessing that you are a helpless sinner and by receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior?

Will you do that now, today?