Well, should we wait for them to all get out, or should I just start talking? Just, it's up to me. Oh, thanks, Scott. I was curious what to do. Well, hopefully you had a chance to grab a sheet. They're in the back there if you didn't get one, but we're gonna work through this passage. On the surface, as you just kinda read through it, doesn't seem that complicated, doesn't seem that difficult, and yet when I started to dig into it, I was both intimidated but also comforted by the fact that I guess every commentary I looked at said this is probably the hardest paragraph in Romans. And I was like, oh, that's why it feels so hard. So we're going to jump into it, verses 1 to 8 in chapter 3, just to kind of give you the flow of what we're talking about. Jews are sinful. That's what we're talking about. The sinfulness of the Jews, Paul has already talked about the sinfulness of the Gentiles in chapter one, starting in verse 18. And then he transitions in chapter two to the fact that the Jews have no excuse. They might seem more righteous and they might think that they are more righteous, but they in fact are not more righteous. And he's still kind of in that flow of thought. And then in chapter three, verse nine, he's gonna go back to not just the Gentiles, but now the Jews and the Gentiles alike. He's going to make kind of a final argument and quote a lot of Old Testament scriptures and say, we're all really bad people. Okay, so hope you feel good about yourself tonight. That's where we're going. No, just kidding. So starting in chapter three, verse one, let me back up to, let me read verses 25 down through the first paragraph there. So chapter two verse 25, for circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart by the spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man, but from God. Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their unfaithfulness, I'm sorry, does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means. Let God be true, though everyone were a liar, as it is written, that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? I speak in a human way by no means. For then how could God judge the world? But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come, as some people slanderously charge us with saying, their condemnation is just. All right, we'll take it one paragraph at a time, one section at a time. In this first section, verses one to eight, Paul is still addressing the Jews, kind of this, in this congregation, there were both Gentiles and there were Jews who had believed in the Messiah. And so in the congregation, as Paul is laying out his gospel for the church at Rome and for all of us, he wants to talk to the Jew who is trusted in Jesus and the Gentile who is trusted in Jesus. Because especially in this first century, as the apostles are preaching the gospel and as the gospel is going out, there is a lot of controversy. A lot of controversy. among the Jews primarily, but a lot of controversy about how does this relationship between the Jews and the Gentiles play out? What is the relationship of the Gentiles who are coming to faith in Jesus? Jesus, after all, is a Jewish rabbi. He was an Israelite. He was a faithful Jewish man. And so the Jews claimed him, the Jews that believed in him, claimed him as their own. And some of them, and Paul talks about these people a lot in other parts of scripture, like in Galatians, In the book of Acts, they're brought up, the Judaizers. These are Jewish people who got saved, who came to faith in Jesus, and yet they didn't leave off all of their Judaism, they didn't leave off all their legalism. And so they brought a bunch of baggage into the Christian faith. Where are they at in terms of do they really believe? It's hard to know, and probably it would be impossible for us to just lump them all into the same category. They claim Jesus as their Messiah, they claim to believe in the grace of God coming through the gospel, through Jesus, and yet they're telling the Gentiles they need to be circumcised, and they're telling the Gentiles they need to obey certain dietary laws based on the Old Testament code, and so they're trying to make Gentiles become Jewish. Because in their minds, the New Covenant belongs to the Jews, and so if you want to participate in this New Covenant, you've got to become one of us. And Paul, and lots of other places, says, no, they don't. No, they get to receive the benefits of the New Covenant because they're in Christ, period. They don't have to become Jewish. They don't have to get circumcised. They don't have to obey your food laws. They don't have to obey the Sabbath law. All those things are Old Testament codes bound to perish with time, as he says in Colossians. So that's a little bit of what's going on here in this paragraph. He's addressing, hypothetically, this crowd of Jews that he's never met. but I'm sure he's anticipating in the city of Rome, there has to be some of these people there, some of these objectors, some of these people, these Jews who were in the church, who believe in Jesus, and yet are trying to make the Gentiles become Jews. That's what I think is going on here, and so Paul is going to address them. So he asks the question after going through chapter 2 and declaring the Jews are just as sinful, just as much under God's judgment and wrath as the Gentiles, even though they have lots of advantages, even though they have lots of privileges in chapter 2. So then he says this, then what advantage has the Jew? You could imagine someone protesting, well, what about us as Jews? We're God's chosen people. I mean, all of the Old Testament is written about us. God chose us, God chose Abraham, we're Abraham's descendants. He gave us circumcision, he gave us the law, he gave us all these promises and wonderful things, and so they're objecting a little bit, like, wait a second, you can't say that we're just as bad as the Gentiles. Clearly, God has given us some advantages. And so, hypothetically, they say, then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? And Paul, even though he's just, in a sense, undone circumcision in the previous paragraph, he says, much in every way. Okay? It is an advantage in this century, the first century, it was an advantage to be a Jew. Why? Because he says, to begin with, which by the way, this is the only thing he's gonna say, so it's almost like he started a list and didn't finish it. He got distracted, I don't know. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. They were entrusted with the words of God. And here, generically, we could say this is all of the Old Testament, but I think more specifically what Paul is talking about here is he's identifying those specific promises laced throughout the Old Testament that identify and point to and promise a coming Savior. The Gentiles were clueless as to this. They had no idea that God was going to send a savior into the world. But the Jews knew, or at least they should have known, because they had the advantage of God's written word. They had the advantage of God's expressed will written down in the pages of the Old Testament. And so they had these oracles, they had these promises, they had these things that they were longing for, that the Messiah would come. So for them, they had advantages. Paul's acknowledging that. What if some were unfaithful? I think this is why he doesn't get back to his list. He says, first off, they had the oracles of God. But then he says, but what if some weren't faithful to those oracles? which obviously they weren't, right? Jesus comes on the scene in his lifetime, and by and large, the Jews rejected him. Certainly there were some, there were lots of people in the crowds that were interested in him, they were enamored by him, they loved free food and miracles, who wouldn't? But when it came down to it, when the political leaders, when the people's in power had to make decision about Jesus, they decided to crucify him. So the Jews who had the oracles of God did not use those oracles to move towards the Messiah. In fact, when he came, they rejected him. So Paul asks the question, what if some were unfaithful? And it wasn't just that generation, right? We could talk about the wilderness generation or any generation in between the days of Jesus and the days of the wilderness. In every generation, most of the people in Israel probably weren't really believers. There's always a remnant. God says that to Elijah when Elijah's kind of sulking and feeling sorry for himself. God says, don't cry. Eat some bread. Don't worry, I've got a remnant. I always have a remnant. 7,000 that haven't bowed the knee to Baal in his day. So what if some were unfaithful? Paul protests this kind of imaginary protest. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? They were the chosen people. God blessed them, gave them immense advantages by giving them the law, giving them specifically the oracles of God, those promises that pointed towards the Messiah, and they were unfaithful with those. So is God's promise now nullified? Is it void? Is it a throwaway? It didn't work? What's the obvious answer? No. If you are unfamiliar with what the answer is, just keep reading. By no means, he answers himself. He brings up a protest and says, by no means, very strong language, of course not. The unfaithfulness of man could never nullify the faithfulness of God. Even though God attached himself by a covenant with the people of Israel, even though he chose them and called them to himself and gave them his promises, their unfaithfulness does not nullify the faithfulness of God. This is an important argument. He goes on, let God be true, though everyone were a liar, as it is written, that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. God is just all the time, and he is just. totally within his rights to judge the Gentiles, which everyone agrees with, chapter one. The Jews are like a hearty amen, of course they need to be judged. But now that Paul is pointing his finger at their chest and saying you also need to be judged, you also are worthy of judgment because your own works prove that you can't keep the law. So even though you have the law, you can't keep the law, you've been unfaithful to God, and so you also are in need of judgment. And here's where it gets a little bit tricky, because Paul is, It's hard to tell what's exactly happening. Is he bringing up potential protests, things that he's heard in previous arguments with people at the synagogues, which he's had lots of them. He's been in lots of different synagogues where he's tried to explain the gospel and tell the Jews about the Messiah, and they begin to protest, and they begin to argue with Paul, and all the time they run him out of town, and sometimes they try to kill him. It's a normal day for Paul. So he's heard a lot of protests, he's heard a lot of arguments against this gospel of grace. And I think what Paul is doing here is he's bringing up some of those arguments, the most common arguments he hears from the Jews when they're confronted with the gospel. And one of them is this. If you're saying we're so sinful and we need a savior and we need to repent just like the Gentiles do, and we have the oracles of God, we have the sign of circumcision, we have the promises, we have all these things, we're descendants of Abraham, we're God's chosen people, then how is God justified, how is God righteous by judging us when he's given us all these good things? Notice what he says here in verse five. But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? I speak in a human way. By no means. Let me stop there and back up. Probably, as Paul is going throughout the known world and preaching the gospel, and he starts with the Jews, as he always does, he goes into the synagogue, he begins with the scriptures, he explains the scriptures, points to the Messiah, and some of them listen, some of them come and join Paul and they believe Paul. Most of them do not. They reject him and they run him out of town, or at least out of the synagogue. And they maybe say this, you're saying that our sin shows God to be more holy. And you're saying that our sin shows that we need grace just as much as the Gentiles do, which makes God more great and more elevated. But if that's the case, then wouldn't our sinfulness actually bring God more glory? And if that's true, then wouldn't it be good that we're more sinful? Does that make sense? I know that maybe sounds silly. You chuckled. But I think they're really saying something like that. In fact, let me just, I wrote out a, an argument that came to my mind. So as I think about scripture, and I think about this argument, and how they may have used this type of argument on what Paul was saying, here's what I came up with. So you're saying the world needs a Savior, okay, we can agree with that. And you're saying that Jesus had to die to be our Savior, okay, we can, for the sake of argument, we can agree with you on that. And you're saying that the Jews, with the help of the Romans, killed Jesus. Okay, that's historical, we can agree with that. Then what you're saying is that those who killed Jesus should be commended. What would you say? Did they do a good thing by killing the savior of the world? I mean, if they hadn't done that, we wouldn't be saved. You see the ridiculousness of that argument? Here's why it breaks down, because they're only arguing from a human perspective. They're only arguing from man's logical reasoning, and they're forgetting one important thing, God. He says, I speak in a human way. He's just using man's simple reasoning. which the Bible tells us, don't lean on your own understanding, which is what we're prone to do, our own fallible reasoning and logic. not taking into consideration the sovereignty of God and that he is above all things. So that he can be sovereign in heaven and he can send his perfect son into our world and this perfect son who is not deserving of death in any way can actually die at the hands of criminals, at the hands of sinners and murderers and God can use it for the greatest possible good in human history. He can take the greatest sinful act in human history and turn it around for the most good in human history. That does not make man really special. That makes God amazing, right? You can use this same logic in your own life. You can say, you know, I'm not trying to use a specific example here, I'm just being hypothetical. You could say, you know what, I, in my younger years, I was living it up and I was doing whatever and stupid stuff and I married this lady and then we both, you know, got saved later in life and so we're obviously, it was God's will, it was a good thing that we were living it up and we were sinning and we were doing all those bad things because look what it got us. Or the woman that says, I know I shouldn't have married this non-Christian man. I'm a Christian woman and I married this non-Christian man. I knew I shouldn't have done that because the Bible says not to do that. But then the guy got saved and so see? It was a good decision. No, it was still a bad decision. It's just that God was super gracious. It doesn't always work like that. It's a similar thing to when Jacob, oh, nope. What's his name? I just had a, I'm having currently a moment. No, that's what I would say next. The one that goes down into Joseph, oh my goodness. Joseph says to his brothers, what you intended for evil, God, what? meant it for good, he intended it for good. So God, I don't know how this works, God intended it. They did it, they're culpable for their actions and yet God in his sovereignty intended for them to do that. He allowed them and even intended them to do that because he wanted Joseph down in Egypt so that he could raise him up to second in command so that his brothers and his dad and the rest of his family could come down and be protected. That's a sovereign God. I don't know how to make sense of that. I just have to say, God, you alone are sovereign. So his brothers are still culpable for their sin. They're not to be commended. It's not like, oh, high five, you guys sold me into slavery. You wanted me dead, yay, look what happened. Joseph has the wisdom in his later years to recognize there's a sovereign God in heaven. And if it wasn't for him, I'd be super upset at you. But I can see how God used this. And I can see how God intended this for not only my good, but for all of our good. So I rejoice in him. As Paul is going and preaching the gospel and as Gentiles are getting saved and Jews are struggling to, wait a second, you can't just come into the fold without becoming a Jew. We're losing our identity, we're losing our, what's going on? Paul says, all they need to bring to the table is their sin and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. and he still says that. And so they accuse him of saying essentially, well, so you're saying it's better to be more sinful. Let's again, let's think through this logic. When you hear someone share a testimony, And their testimony is, man, I was down and out. I used all my days to just pursue my own fleshly appetites and desires. I was a total horrible person, da, da, da, da, da. They go on and on. And then they say, but I met Christ, and Christ changed my life. And we go, man, that is so amazing. And we give glory to God, right? Our hearts leap within us, and we say, Lord, you are so good. In fact, a number of people, probably some of you, have said to me over the years, I don't really have a testimony, right? You've grown up in the church, you weren't a drug dealer, and you didn't murder a bunch of people, all you did was just trust in Jesus, so I don't really have a testimony. and you feel ashamed that you weren't a murderer and you weren't a drug dealer and you didn't, you know, beat little children. Like, why is that? Testimonies have nothing to do with us. They have everything to do with God who rescues sinners. Whether they're church sinners, that are relatively quiet in their sin and relatively, you know, peaceful towards others, whether they're really heinous in their sin, God should be glorified for rescuing sinners. Make sense? Any questions, thoughts? You guys want to see who's the most sinner here? Biggest sinner? I think I have an idea as I look around. Paul already won. He said he was the chief of sinners. But I think what Paul meant was every one of us should feel that way. Whether you're a Pharisee of Pharisees like Paul, whether you're A drunkard, down and out, no good, dirty, rotten, scoundrel. We're all the chief of sinners. In our own heart, from our own perspective, when we look at God's grace, we should say, I don't deserve any of this. All right. It's supposed to be a Bible lesson. Who brought these? Tammy. Sinner. All right. Yep. Paul is saying here that God, here's the argument that he's, well let me back up to verse five. It's hard to just jump in because all of these questions are like, it's like where is he going here? That's why it's hard to unpeel this. But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say, that God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? I speak in a human way. By no means, for then how could God judge the world? Which everyone agrees should happen. But if through my lie, God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner? Why am I still being condemned as a sinner? You see their logic? They're trusting in their own efforts, they're trusting in their own understanding, and they're failing to recognize that God is the one who is sovereign over it all. Let me back up because, well let me just go a little bit farther and we'll finish this paragraph and then in verse eight, and why not do evil that good may come? As some people slanderously charge us with saying. Does Paul even give them a benefit of doubt? He just says their condemnation is just. I'm not even gonna take the time to refute that argument. There are people that are going around in the wake of Paul's ministry and teaching other people what Paul is saying is that if you sin more that God's grace will cover it and so really you need to sin all the more so that grace will abound. Paul says their condemnation is just. Not only do they not know what they're talking about, they're actually just talking nonsense. I want to go back, though, because as we think about the Jews and we think about the Gentiles, what Paul is doing in Romans 1 and 2 is he's laying out the sinfulness and the condemnation of the Gentiles, and then in chapter 2, the sinfulness and the condemnation of the Jews. This is foreshadowed earlier, much earlier, in fact, in the law, the law being Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And I won't take you there, but maybe just jot it down. In Genesis chapter 6, we see in Genesis 3 the fall of mankind, and it's just a steady decline. It's like a plunging off the cliff of depravity. By the time we get to Genesis chapter 6, God says, I saw that the evil intents of man were, let me just read it now. Messed it up. I don't like to do that. Genesis 6, I saw that the intentions of man's heart were continually evil all the time. Something to that effect. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Mankind. That would include Abraham's forefathers. Later in the law, later in the book, God is going to take from this whole lot of humanity, this sinful bunch of humanity, God is going to take one, and he's going to choose him for himself, he and Sarai, and they're gonna have a child, and through that line is going to come the chosen people, the people of Israel, and so you might be tempted to think, like the Jews were tempted to think, that yeah, the whole lot of humanity is sinful, but Abraham and his descendants, they're no longer sinful. or not nearly as sinful. But when you come to the end of the law, in Deuteronomy 31 and 32, Deuteronomy 31, 16, turn there, I'm gonna read a large portion of scripture. Deuteronomy 31, Moses is about to die. Deuteronomy 31, 14, God says to Moses, you're gonna die. And the Lord said to Moses, behold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourself in the tent of meeting, that I may commission him. And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting, and the Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent. Verse 16, and the Lord said to Moses, Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering. They're not even in the promised land and God is already telling Moses what they're going to do. He must be a good guesser. and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them, then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured, and many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done because they have turned to other gods. Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel. For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, They will turn to other gods and serve them and despise me and break my covenant. And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness. For it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring. For I know, God says, what they are inclined to do even today before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give. Why in the world does God say all of that to Moses? Any ideas? Lest we be inclined to think that God made a promise to these people, that he made a covenant with these people, and that they were going to go in and they were going to live out their end of the bargain, and that when they don't, if they were unfaithful, that somehow God didn't know about it, and so somehow God is culpable, and somehow God's faithfulness is nullified by the fact that they broke their end of the covenant. And what I think Paul is doing in Romans is saying, is God's faithfulness nullified because of their unfaithfulness? Absolutely not. In fact, God knew what they were going to do. In fact, it magnifies and glorifies God even more that he loved them and put his sign on them and gave them his promises when he knew exactly what they were going to do with it. And then read this song that he's going to sing to them and teach them. I won't read the whole, I really want to. Just do it? All right, let's do it. I'm just gonna read it, just follow along. I might stop and comment a couple times. Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. He calls heaven and earth as witness against his people, because heaven and earth will not pass away. until God determines that they will pass away. May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb, for I will proclaim the name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our God. The rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice, a God of faithfulness and without iniquity. That's what they were accusing God of being based on Paul's arguments in Romans 3. They were accusing God of being unjust and unfaithful. just and upright is he, they have dealt corruptly with him. They are no longer his children because they are blemished. They are a crooked and twisted generation, which is what Peter says in Acts chapter two, save yourself from this crooked and perverse generation. Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father who created you, who made you and established you? Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations. Ask your father and he will show you, your elders and they will tell you. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance and when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob, his allotted heritage. He found him in a desert land and in the howling waste of the wilderness. He encircled him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters it over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions. The Lord alone guided him. No foreign god was with him. He made him ride on the high places of the land, and he ate the produce of the field. And he suckled with him honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock. curds from the herd and milk from the flock and with fat of lambs, rams of Bashan and goats with the very finest of the wheat. And you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape." That is just to say this. God took you in and took care of you. He blessed you. He benefited you. He raised you up. He cared intimately for you. But Jeshurun, which is another name for Jacob, which is another name for Israel. But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. You grew fat, stout, and sleek. Then he forsook God, who made him, and scoffed at the rock of his salvation. They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods. With abominations, they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to the new gods that had come recently. whom your fathers had never dreaded. You were unmindful of the rock that bore you and you forgot the God who gave you birth. The Lord saw it and spurned them because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. And he said, I will hide my face from them. This is what he predicted already before he taught them the song, remember? I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness. God knew they were faithless before he chose them. They have made me jealous with what is no God. They have provoked me to anger with their idols, so I will make them jealous with those who are no people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. By the way, who's that? Paul picks up on this verse later and says this is the Gentiles coming to faith in Jesus. Paul is saying God is using the Gentiles coming to faith to provoke the Jews to jealousy. And so he wants to magnify his role as the apostle to the Gentiles in order to provoke the Jews to jealousy and make them want to study more. For a fire is kindled by my anger and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains. And I will heap disasters upon them. Upon who? Upon the people of Israel. We're still in that time, by the way. I will spend my arrows on them. They will be wasted with hunger and devoured by plague and poisonous pestilence. I will send the teeth of beasts against them with the venom of things that crawl in the dust. Outdoors the sword shall bereave and indoors terror for young men and women alike, the nursing child with the many of gray hairs. I would have said, I will cut them to pieces. I will wipe them from human memory. This is what God is saying. I was so fed up with them, I was going to get rid of them completely. But, verse 27, had I not feared provocation by the enemy, lest their adversaries should misunderstand, lest they should say, our hand is triumphant. It was not the Lord who did all this. So God's saying he's gonna use the Gentiles to punish the Jews because of their unfaithfulness, and he's gonna wipe them out almost to complete annihilation, but he wouldn't allow that to happen because then the Gentiles would say, their God isn't real, their God isn't faithful. Look, there's no more Jews. So God lets them get wiped down almost to nothing, and then, for they are a nation Void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them. If they were wise, they would understand this. They would discern their latter end. How could one have chased a thousand, and two have put ten thousand to flight, unless their rock had sold them, and the Lord had given them up? For their rock is not as our rock. Our enemies are by themselves, for their vine comes from the vine of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah. He's talking about the Gentiles here. Their grapes are grapes of poison. Their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of asps. It's a poisonous snake. Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up in my treasuries? Vengeance is mine in recompense for the time when their foot shall slip. What Paul's saying in Romans 1, the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness of men because of their wickedness. For the day of their calamity is at hand and their doom comes swiftly. For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants when he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining bond or free. This is a future day of salvation for Israel, which Paul is going to talk about more in Romans 9, 10, and 11. Then he will say, where are their gods? The rock in which they took refuge, mocking the Gentile gods. who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offering. Let them rise up and help you. Let them be your protection. See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no God beside me. I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand, for I lift up my hand to heaven and swear As I live forever, if I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and will repay those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood and my sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives from the long-haired heads of the enemy. Rejoice with him, O heavens. Bow down to him, all gods, for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries. He repays those who hate him and cleanses his people's land. God knows what he's doing. God knew long before any of this ever came to pass. God knew long before anything was ever created. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And before he created anything, he knew the end from the beginning. And so when something comes to pass, when sinners act in sinful ways and God uses those sinful actions and turns them around for good, the sinner doesn't get the glory, God gets the glory. When he gives Israel his precious promises and Israel makes a mockery of how they ought to live and they are faithless, it doesn't nullify God's faithfulness because he already called his shot. He already said this is what they're gonna do and this is what I'm gonna do in response. He is faithful, he's doing literally what he said he would do. In Israel, who was taken from the lot of humanity back in chapter six of Genesis, who were utterly wicked and just as sinful as everyone else, were all in the same boat. In fact, verse nine, what then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. Do we have more advantages? Yes, we do. We have the oracles of God. Are we better off? No. Morally speaking, did those oracles benefit us? No. No, they didn't. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written. None is righteous, no, not one. No one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Any exceptions? Not even one. I mean, I don't know how else he can say it more strongly. He is saying the sin problem is pervasive. It is spread across all humanity. I know your kids are pretty special to you, and I know they're pretty wonderful, but they are sinners. They're born godless. They don't know God, they don't love God. And it doesn't mean that every kid is as bad as they could be, it doesn't mean that every adult is as bad as they could be, but every human being is infected with the same fatal disease of sin. Everyone, no one does good, no one does what's right. And then he goes from there, verse 13, their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Why does he talk so much about the tongue and the mouth? James says that if you can control your tongue, you're a perfect man. The tongue is like this small rudder that steers a giant ship. The tongue is like a small spark that sets a whole forest on fire. With our tongues, we both praise God and curse man who are made in God's image. Jesus said it's out of the mouth, out of the heart that comes all kinds of evil and wickedness. Verse 15, their feet are swift to shed blood, and their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Yeah, but I'm a pretty good person. What would you say to your neighbor that says, I'm a pretty decent person? What would Paul say to your neighbor? I don't really care what you would say. Yeah, how do we deal with this in our society? Because this is not what most people think. Most people have adopted the mentality, the kind of the whatever, psychological understanding of man and that we are pretty much good people, we just do bad things sometimes. What would Paul say? Nope. Uh-uh. No one is good. No, not one. Well, yeah, but I mean, I love my kids. Probably for selfish reasons. Paul is not arguing here that every single thing that every human does is as sinful as it could be. I think we can love our children and love our families and work hard and provide for people and do those things. Not everyone is out murdering people. However, the sin problem that affects and infects all of humanity is pervasive in its depth as well. That it has infiltrated every fiber of our being. It's not that we are like 50% sinful and 50% righteous. It's not that we are 95% sinful and 5% righteous. It is that we are 100% defiled. You know, like when you go and pick an apple and you want to eat it and you notice there's like maybe a wormhole on this side, but the rest of the apple's pretty good. I have had times where I'm like, whatever, I'll just cut that off and eat the apple, right? That's not the kind of apple we are. We're the kind of apple that is lying on the ground, rotting into the ground where you would, you could even pick it up because it would just turn to mush. You don't pick those apples up and eat them. That's not the kind of apple we are. We are that kind of apple. That's what I'm trying to say. How do you, how do you like that? What do you think about that? Is that hard to hear? Why is it hard for some people to hear, most people? Because we want to be good. Why do we want to be good? What's that? It's what society expects. And that's how we want to think of ourselves, right? We want to think of ourselves like we're God. That happened back in Genesis 3. For God knows that in the day that you eat of it, you will be like God, knowing good from evil. Meaning, you will become the judge of what is good and what is evil. And mankind has been infected with that problem ever since, where we say, we will determine what is good and what is evil. And I am pretty good, and if God doesn't like that, then well, I mean, they're not gonna say he's evil, but you know what I'm getting at. We are like God now. Satan told us this in the garden. And now we think we can judge the difference between good and evil. And we want to feel better about ourselves. We want to think more highly of ourselves because after all, we're basically God. It's a scary, scary mindset. I don't think, just practically here, I don't think you need to run out tomorrow and blast your neighbors with, sinner! I don't think you need to put a big sign in your yard that says, all of you are going to hell. I don't think we need to shout at people, tell them that God hates them and that they're sinners and they're condemned to hell. But at the same time, we need to find a way to speak this truth in a helpful, winsome, effective way. We can't disregard this truth. This is what most people in our generation do. They start with the gospel after Romans 3. They just cut off Romans 1, 2, and 3, and they start with God's gift and God's grace, and they just forget about the sin part, and they just wanna say, God just wants to make you happy. Of course he does, I'm God. Why wouldn't, I mean, everyone should think that way. We have to be able to tell people that they are in need of grace. which means we have to tell people that they're sinful and that they're condemned and that they are under the wrath of God. Guess what? They didn't like it in the first century and they really don't like it in the 21st century. And they will say all kinds of evil against you like they did to Paul in the first century. Does that mean you're doing it wrong? No. Jesus says, consider it pure joy, my brothers. Actually, I'm quoting James. Jesus says, blessed are you when people persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you because of me, because of my name. Let me read it, I've messed it up already. I wish I had the whole Bible memorized. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you and the apostles who were before you. All right, let me finish off these last couple verses. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. The Gentiles, those sinners, their sin is obvious. It's exposed for the whole world to see. They even face some of the wrath of God now in the consequences of their actions. But for those under the law, the religious folk, the ones that aren't like the world, but are just as sinful as the world, the law speaks to them and it says that you're gonna be judged and held accountable based on this law which you cannot keep, so you're just as condemned as everyone else. The whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. God didn't give the Israelites the law so that they could work their way to heaven. God gave the Israelites the law and the covenants and all the things that he gave them to show that Messiah was coming that would save the world from sin. All right, any questions, any thoughts? I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Okay, let me pray. Father, thank you again for this bad news. Thank you that it is true and right. And thank you, Lord, that you have graciously opened up our eyes to see it and receive it and accept it as true. That we're no longer living in delusion, we're no longer living in self-deception, thinking that we are pretty good people just in need of a little bit of help. It's only by your grace that we recognize our great need for you. And so thank you for giving us eyes to see and ears to hear. Thank you that these words are not offensive, but they are actually comforting to us. And I pray for our neighbors and our family members and our friends and random strangers that we come in contact with, Lord, that you would give us wisdom and that you would give us courage to open up our mouth and to speak these things in an effective, winsome, helpful way. The world desperately needs to know that they are in need of a Savior. And then the good news is so wonderful that you have indeed sent your son into our world. that he alone lived a perfect life, that he alone bore up under the law of God and that he, through his death and resurrection, offers to us his righteousness and offers to take our sinfulness. What wonderful news. We thank you, Lord, that you are able to work even through our sinful behaviors and actions and attitudes to bring about good. It's not because of us, but it's in spite of us. And in the end, you will receive all the glory. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.