Amen. Let's turn to the Forms and Prayers, page 202, for our confessional reading. Page 202 in the Smaller Forms in Prayers book. Lord's Day 1 is the introduction. Lord's Day 2 begins Part 1 on man's misery, our misery in our sin, our need of God. Lord's Day 2 Question answers 3, 4, 5. I'll read the question. Let's together say the answers. Question 3 on page 202. How do you come to know your misery? The law of God tells me. What does God's law require of us? Christ teaches us this in summary in Matthew 22 verse 37 to 40. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the greatest and first commandment and a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. Can you live up to all this perfectly? No. I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbor." It's the confession we hold in common. Let us turn to the very Word of God, Romans chapter 3. Now there is a specific question and answer, a long answer to a specific question in verses 9 to 20. And that will be our focus, that will be our text. But it is very much related to what comes before and after. So for some context, and we'll look a little bit at the verses before and the verses after. So we'll read Romans chapter 3, verses 1 Romans chapter 3 is found on page 1196 in the Bibles under the seats. Again, we are looking especially at that question in verse 9 and the answer which goes through verse 20, but we're also thinking a little bit about the surrounding verses. We're reading from verse 1 to verse 26. Let us hear the very word of 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 faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means. Let God be true, though every one 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. What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. 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. 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. Their feet are swift to shed blood. in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." 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. For by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight. since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. And so far the reading of the holy word of God. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, in Romans 3 verse 9 the apostle asks a question about the standing of all people before God. And the very nature of the question is clarified as the answer is given, even especially in verse 19 and 20, at the end of the answer. Can anyone stand before God without being held accountable? That's the language of verse 19, rephrasing the question. Can anyone stand before God? Can anyone say that they are not accountable to Him? Does anyone in that context, spelled out in especially verses 19 and 20, does anyone in that context have any advantage? Using the language of verse 20 and again rephrasing the question as the answer is given, can anyone on the strength of their own works See the reference to the works of the law at the start of verse 20. Can anyone on the strengths of their own works claim any advantage? And the answer, brothers and sisters, all through the end of verse 9 all the way down to verse 20, the answer is no. No. No. No. No. No. No. No, no, no. It is a tenfold no. So if you read in the ESV and you count up all the times that the text says no, or not, or none, or no one, you'd say, wait, there's 12. There's not even 10. There's more than that. Well, that's true. That's because twice in the Greek there's an adverb for emphasis. And the ESV rightly translates it by by adding another no in two places. It's a tenfold no. It's a twelvefold no. The answer is no. Standing before God, can anyone claim any advantage because of their works? Verse 20. Can anyone say they are not accountable? Verse 19. No. No one. And so, brothers and sisters, with so much no language, the ten-fold no or the twelve-fold no of our text, we use that language in our theme, in our sermon points tonight. Our theme is this. No man has any self-justification before God. And our points are, first, circumcision does not save, and second, Finger pointing does not save. And third, knowing does not save. We begin with circumcision. Circumcision does not save. And here, brothers and sisters, the word circumcision comes from the context that leads into verse 9. And the Apostle Paul, after his introduction and his words about the power of the gospel in chapter 1 verses 1 to 17, Then he spends time at the end of chapter 1 and through the middle of chapter 2. Specifically, he speaks first to the Gentiles. He says, Gentiles have no excuse, even if they've never heard the name of God. They have no excuse, because God's glory is displayed in the heavens itself. And then he specifically addresses the Jews. And he says, Jews have no righteousness or righteous standing. And then he works through some of the details of what that means in the end of chapter 2 and into chapter 3. And that's when he starts to speak about circumcision. And well, what is this? Is circumcision any advantage? And this and that. And that's all the context that leads immediately into chapter 3, verse 9. But now he's putting everyone together. He's not specifically addressing Gentiles anymore. He's not specifically talking about Jews anymore. He's saying, Jews are guilty. Gentiles are guilty. It doesn't matter what your ethnicity is. It doesn't matter what spiritual sign you have or have not received. Circumcision, baptism, when you were born, when you were an adult, whenever. It doesn't matter what you have been given or who you are. I'm talking about everybody. And everybody, when it comes to standing before God, When it comes to the question of is there any righteousness in their works, we're all in the same place because no one has any advantage from their own strength. Again, verse 19, every mouth is stopped before God. And it's one of the places in Romans that we have courtroom language in the courtroom. If you're held to account and your sins are showed before you, can you say anything? Every mouth is stopped. Remember, God can read our very hearts and minds. And verse 20, by works of the law, no human being will be justified. No human being. That's language which relates even especially to our human nature. Remember question answer five, can you live up to all this perfectly? No, I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbor. And when the Greek, when it's translated human being in verse 20, no human being will be justified. The Greek word there is actually sarx. It's often translated flesh and it's a Greek word that often emphasizes our sinful flesh, our sinful human nature. In other words, Romans chapter 3 verse 20 is a very good supporting text for a confessional language in question answer 5. Our flesh, our human nature, has no inherent goodness. Verse 20 could be translated something like this. There is no justification before God for any human flesh. Now, brothers and sisters, a parallel text with the same Greek word, where it is translated flesh, is Galatians chapter 5. If you turn over to Galatians 5, verses 16 and 18, we see this contrast between the works of the flesh Flesh, the Greek word, again the same, it's sarx, or human nature, and how this is contrasted with those who are changed by the Spirit. Galatians chapter 5, verses 16 to 18, But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." This is a parallel text. The Apostle is making similar points. The difference is that in Galatians 5, he's focused on the flesh that needs to be renewed by the Spirit. Our sinful flesh must be renewed by the Holy Spirit. In Romans chapter 3, he's focused on how human flesh is not justified. We need the justification of Jesus Christ. And this right here, brothers and sisters, is the first time where we're going to look ahead to verses 21 to 26. Because verses 9 to 20, It's one big question with an answer. It all goes together. That is our main focus. But after that tenfold no, the apostle does not stop. He gets to the yes. He gets to the justification. He gets to the righteousness. Where is the righteousness? It's the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Romans 3, verse 9 to 20. says no, a tenfold no. Verse 21, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested. Verse 22, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. And verse 24, and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Galatians 5. Our human flesh we must turn away from and be renewed by the Holy Spirit. Romans chapter 3. We cannot be justified in our human flesh. My human nature is this. I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbor. But where do we go? Where do we go from that no? We go to the yes of Jesus Christ. That is where we get to the righteousness and the life. Well, we must point ahead to Jesus Christ to see the yes, but let's see some of the ways that the Apostle takes away any pointing at others excuses that we might have. Finger pointing does not save. The Apostle, he further proves his point and that he's not saying anything new by giving a whole series of quotations from scripture. He quotes from six different texts. He quotes from five different Psalms and also from Isaiah chapter 59. And brothers and sisters, I'll mention this a couple of times here in our sermon. There are many who do not like the fact that the Apostle Paul so clearly says, we are all sinners. And so there are different ways that people try to refocus the text, try to say that it's not addressed to everybody or this or that. And one of the things that might be done is they might take some of the Psalms that are quoted from briefly And they say, well, look, if we go to that psalm, we see that it's a psalm about being persecuted and about the words of the wicked people that come against us. And so you see, we need to read everything in context. But it's really, there are so many problems with going there. And one of the first problems with going there is the Apostle takes some one-liners from some Psalms that do have that as the original context, but he begins with a lengthy quotation from Psalm 14. And he comes to the end with a lengthy quotation from Isaiah 59. And Psalm 14 is clearly about everybody. You can't go to Psalm 14 and say, oh, look, that Psalm's just about those people. And Isaiah chapter 59 is clearly about the wickedness within God's own covenant people. And so even by the very text that the Apostle Paul is quoting, he's saying, I'm not leaving any room for somebody to say, oh, well, aren't we just talking about the wicked people out there? No. Remember Psalm 14. Remember the prophet Isaiah speaking about sins within God's covenant people. These are texts which remind us of the universal problem of human sin. It's one of the ways the Apostle says you can't just go around finger pointing. The other way the Apostle does this is that when he is taking some of these one-liners from some other texts, what is he focusing on? He's not speaking about just evil voices that come against us. He's speaking about, and he picks, common sin areas. Notice this. In verses 13 and 14, the Apostle basically takes one line from three different Psalms. And they're united together because they're all about what? What is verse 13 and 14 about? It's all about the tongue. Well, why would the Apostle Paul take us here for a proof of the universal sinfulness of mankind. Brothers and sisters, it's because the sin of the tongue is a very common place where sins start. Apostle is saying, you can't go finger pointing. Remember that we all sin with our tongue. There was a Christian book published in the 1950s And the title of the book was, Did I Say That? And it was kind of this dark background. And then the title was in these plain white letters. And so you could read it very easily. Did I Say That? But then in the background, you could kind of read all these words that were in the background of the title. And they were darker font, they were harder to read, they were behind the title, did I say that? But they were all words about what? They were all words about how we use our tongue. They were all words about things that the pastor was gonna talk about in the book, about how we all struggle with our tongue. And so what were some of the words on the background of that title page? If you started looking carefully and you're like, wait, what are all those words in the background? You find words like this, lying, nagging, quarreling, complaining, vulgarity, profanity, boasting, gossip. Brothers and sisters, the particular sin that the Apostle mentions is the sin of the tongue. Because we all sin with our tongue. It should not take that much self-reflection to say, yes, Lord, I have not used my tongue, that little tongue, that little member that boasts of great things, the way that I should. We cannot go around finger-pointing. We have all sinned against God. And then at the end, the Apostle gives one more one-liner. Again, he quotes mostly from Psalm 14 and Isaiah 59, but he has some of these one-liners sprinkled in between. And then at the very end, verse 18, he quotes from Psalm 36. And what is the Apostle doing here? Well, now he's taking us to the very heart level. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Fear of God, this speaks to our very heart's attitude. This speaks to the way that we think about God in our very mindset, the way that our heart is set. Who can say they have truly loved the Lord with all your heart? with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. No one can say this. We cannot point fingers at others. It has always been true that the scripture speaks to the universal sinfulness of mankind ever since we get past the first two chapters. and ever since that fall into sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve. God requires absolute perfection, but our tongue and our heart are not perfectly obedient. They are not. This leads us into our third point, brothers and sisters. Knowing does not save. Circumcision doesn't do it. Pointing our fingers around at others doesn't do it. And also, knowing. Knowing by itself does not do it. Verse 19. 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 then see especially this at the end of verse 20. Since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Now how is the apostle using the word law here? It's a word. It can be used in many different ways. Well, he's just quoted from the Psalms and the Prophets. He's speaking about the whole Word of God. Knowledge of the Word of God, including the laws of God, what we should do, what we should not do. Just knowing itself is not going to get us anywhere. Knowing only gives us what? Since through the law, All of the scriptures, everything that we could read from the Word of God and know from the Word of God comes knowledge of sin. Not salvation from sin. Knowledge of sin. Just knowing will not do it. How do you come to know your misery? The Law of God tells me. Brothers and sisters, this fact that the Law should show us our sinfulness And it does if we come before the Word of God with any honesty. This is sometimes called the first use of the law in the sense of it's a first step. It's an important step of the repentance of sin is what? I need to know that I'm a sinner. And when we come to the Word of God with any honesty, this is plain. Through the law comes knowledge of sin. But what do we need? We need not only knowledge, we need to not just know, we need faith. And here is the second time that we're going to move from that question with the big answer and the big tenfold no, where we need to move again to the yes of the following verses. What is emphasized repeatedly in verses 21 to 26? we have repeated emphasis on faith. That's how knowledge is being used in verse 20. Mere knowledge in verse 20 is being contrasted with the fact that we need faith. We need true knowledge. We must move from the know, which tells us something important. It tells us our misery. It should move us to repentance, but it's not enough by itself. We then must move from there to faith. Faith in Jesus Christ. There is the yes. There is the salvation. Mere knowledge is not enough. And here, brothers and sisters, I'll also say one more thing about The fact that this is a text which is twisted. There's different ways this is attempted. The apostle is clearly addressing specific groups in the previous sections. And so, well, maybe he's just addressing this specific group again. He's not really talking to everybody. And even some phrases are pulled out from there. In recent decades, the phrase works of the law is one. It has tried to be redefined to be some very specific thing about some Jewish groups. And there's all these ways that even in this text, which brothers and sisters, the text is giving us this plain, repeated, tenfold no. But the problem problem with any way that we might try to miss the no of the text is that we're not going to see the beauty of the yes as Romans 3 continues. Another thing to say, brothers and sisters, is yes, all of God's law is useful for teaching, correcting, training, and righteousness. But it is true that many texts in scripture are first written to different audiences. And that sometimes makes application a little bit more difficult. But brothers and sisters, instead of trying to turn this text around, let's come to a text like this and see. This is one of the places in scripture where we don't even have to move from, okay, how does it speak to the first people and now how does it speak to me? This text is speaking to every single person who has ever lived. It is speaking directly to you and to me. We need to hear the no. The tenfold no. We cannot, no one can, on our own strength, stand before God. And let us never try to jump hoops around it, because then we're missing the fundamental human problem that we all share. We stand at risk if we jump over the no of missing the yes. The Apostle Paul, in another place, in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, speaks about the promises of God and says, all the promises of God are yes and amen in Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, the no is so plain, and it is speaking. directly to every single person who has ever lived. But Romans 3 does not end in verse 20. After the no, after we would see that no, and by the Holy Spirit be moved then to the repentance of our sin, then there is the yes of life through faith in Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us pray.