If you're turning your Bibles now to Romans chapter three, as we continue our series through this epistle, we've finally made it to chapter three. And maybe not quite so much this week and next, but the following week, we deal with kind of the climax of this whole section that deals with our problem. And much of chapter 1 verse 18 through chapter 3 verse 20 is a passage that really does not make us feel good. It's really not good for our self-esteem. Some of you know how I feel about that movement. Romans chapter three, I'm going to read verses one through 20, though the focus this morning will just be on verses one through four. This is the word of our 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 works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his holy word. There is, of course, in today's culture a lot of talk of privilege. Everybody's got privilege except me. That's really what the argument boils down to. Now, the difficulty, of course, is that there is some element of truth to the idea of privilege, but it's extended it to so many different directions that it almost loses any meaning. But for Christians, are there things that we have privileges that others do not? Well, yes and no. Paul is arguing on the question of privilege. We've been here in this portion of Romans, and as I mentioned before, reading our text before us, that we're in a section that really doesn't do all that much to make you feel good about yourself, and that's the whole point. The whole point of this extended section is to remind us that we are all sinners, we are under the wrath of God, and there is no hope apart from his grace. Paul sets all of this up right after reminding us of the fact that he's not ashamed of the gospel. Because it's the power of God for the salvation of sinners. In the gospel, we find the power of God for the salvation of sinners. And we're in this lengthy section to remind us we're sinners. Now Paul in chapter two in particular really focused on the benefits that the Jews had. But unfortunately some of those benefits Paul dealt with ahead of time, if you will. Because the Jews had this natural tendency to think that simply because they were descendants of Abraham, simply because they had the law of God, simply because they had circumcision and they were God's chosen and special people, that's all they needed. What Paul had set forth at the argument is not our status as human beings per se, but rather the standard of judgment that God judges all men by is simply his word, his law. The mere possession of the Bible does not grant you eternal life. The mere fact that a person was a Jew by birth, naturally, and then circumcised to mark him off as a Jew, in and of itself guaranteed no one eternal life. And we've seen how we can apply that principle even into the church. Not that we're Jews, but the fact that as Christians, we are now a part of a body outwardly. We are God's children. We are his chosen people, his royal priesthood. As Peter brings out in 1 Peter 2, he's referring to the church. but simply being outwardly a part of the church is no guarantee of eternal life. Just like, as Paul said, being a Jew was a matter of the heart, being circumcised was a matter of the heart, so being a true Christian was a matter of the heart, internals, true faith, a desire to live in obedience to Jesus Christ. None of us, especially in our reformed circles, ought to assume that simply because we've read all kinds of great theological works, therefore we must have eternal life. There are plenty of people in heaven that have never read Calvin. There are plenty of people in heaven that have never read the Westminster Standards. So the question then for us is a question that Paul anticipates, and really he anticipates it through a good portion of this first portion of chapter three. Well then what's the point? Why do all these things? If having the law is of no advantage, then what difference does it make? If being circumcised as a Jew is no advantage, then what's the point? Well, Paul anticipates that, and that's where we come to in chapter 3, really the first eight verses, but we're going to break this up into two weeks. looking at verses 1-4 to show that the advantages are real, but nonetheless, all of it depends upon God. So really what I hope to show out of verses 1-4 this morning is simply this, that external blessings which God's people possess find their true value in God's unwavering faithfulness. External blessing, excuse me, external blessings which God's people possess find their true value in God's unwavering faithfulness. We're gonna look at this under two headings. First of all, real advantages. And then secondly, divine faithfulness. Real advantages and divine faithfulness. So let's look, first of all, at real advantages. Look again at verse one. Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Then what? Or what then? In the Greek, it's what then? That's the actual order. It doesn't really matter. This is actually an expression that is used by Paul often in Romans. It really deals with Paul trying to answer objections before they can even be made. We see this especially in Romans chapter nine. We see it in other places as well. What then? The passage before us anticipates an objection of sorts, or a concern at the very least, putting it mildly. So Paul asks this question to further his argument. This is his way of doing things, especially in this epistle. And so that anticipated concern, that anticipated objection is simply this. Well, what advantage has the Jew? In other words, what's the point of being a Jew? If possessing the law and having circumcision are not in and of themselves sufficient for us to have eternal life, then why bother? And see, you may think, well, this applies to Jews, so I've got nothing here to learn. The fact of the matter is, we as Christians will often have the same kind of attitude. And do you know how often we do this by marking it off with a simple question? Is this essential to salvation? Or is this a secondary matter? You realize when we say that, we're making the same kind of argument the Jews anticipated. Well, what advantage is there? What's the point? Why be circumcised? Why possess the law? Why even read the law? It's a secondary matter. You see, Paul just got done, and we can understand this. Paul just got done speaking of the need for the inward, not merely the external, not merely that which is outward. You see, we have this tendency to mishear, and so what he does is get more focused. We have this tendency to mishear and think that those things don't matter at all. The question, of course, is for Christians, for things like, well, does joining a church matter if our salvation is based in Christ alone? I see all of us are kind of pausing at that. We have this natural tendency. Well, let's be careful here. Let's word it this way and be careful because, you know, which church are we supposed to join? How soon? And all these other questions related to it. But the fact that our salvation, our hope of eternal life, rests upon Christ alone does not mean the other things are therefore unimportant. They just don't make the essence of what is required for salvation. After all, what's the second greatest commandment? Love your neighbor as yourself. Does that get you into heaven? You better say no. But nonetheless, though the act of loving our neighbor, even if we were to do it perfectly, is not the basis of our salvation, it is nonetheless important. We need to do it. And that's the kind of thing that Paul is going to be bringing out here. What advantage is there of being a Jew? And he gets more focused. What advantage, what value, what profit is there in being circumcised? Now by this time, Paul had already probably written a couple of epistles, most notably Galatians. Galatians was probably his first, or very early on, one of his epistles. Much of his argument in Galatians concerns circumcision. That's part of the issue. He deals with it also in Colossians, so that came later. This was a big issue. It became a big issue with the First Jerusalem Council in Acts chapter 15. But the focus is, what's the place of the law in the life of a Gentile? There's a sense in which Paul's arguing this here. What advantage is there? And Paul answers with a simple statement, much in every way. And if you want to put it wouldn't-ly, much according to everything. Now, Paul is going to discuss these advantages further in chapter 9, particularly in verses 4 and 5. We've got some time before we get there. but he only gives one real tangible thing here. Notice, much in every way to begin with. Or you might say, to use our language a bit more, first of all, and then he just gives one thing. It's kind of a disappointment. It's like you start going through, you look through the text of scripture, where's the rest of it? Well, he comes to it, as I mentioned, chapter 9, verses 4 and 5. But the thing that he brings out here is of utmost importance. Much in every way, here is the thing. First and foremost, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. Now the word here that's translated as oracles, and it's a fine translation, nothing wrong with it, but it's related to logos, word. What we see in John 1, in the beginning was the word. Stephen uses our word here that's translated as oracles to refer to the whole of the Mosaic law given at Sinai. The author of Hebrews uses it in reference to Christianity. So the oracles of God really deals with the totality of God's word. It's not merely the commandments, but it also includes prophecy, promises, and in particular, covenant promises. No other nation was given such privilege. That is true. No other nation. If you turn, and I've referenced this before, but if you turn to Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 8, Moses, in his lengthy sermon, if you will, to the people of Israel before they enter the promised land, These are what Moses is saying illustrative of what the other nations look upon Israel as having. And notice verse eight. And what great nation is there that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? Moses seemed to think there's some great advantage. Turn also to Psalm 147. Psalm 147 verses 19 and 20. He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation. They do not know his rules. And how does it end? Praise the Lord. Look what God has done. He's given us His oracles. No other nation. These were entrusted to the Jews. But we need to understand, though the oracles, the Word of God was entrusted to the Jews of old, they were to be accepted and obeyed in faith. You see, privileges and advantages imply duty. In fact, it strongly implies it. Did Israel live up to it? Were they faithful? You see, that's really the question. And of course, we know if we have even a tiny bit of biblical history and biblical knowledge, we know they weren't. despite their advantages, because those advantages did not guarantee eternal life. Those privileges, as I mentioned, strongly imply duty. You see, we speak of being citizens of our country, for those of us that are citizens of the United States. We have certain advantages and privileges as a result of that, but we also have certain duties. Boys and girls, you have certain privileges in living in your parents' home, in your family's home, but that also carries with it responsibilities and duties. Parents, you have the privilege of living in a place with a roof over your head, but that also means you have responsibilities and duties. You have the privilege of having kids. The Lord has blessed you with children, but you have the duty to raise them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. You see, there's no escaping the responsibilities that come even with privilege. For the Jew, they had their unique privileges. But for the church, so do we. We are a church, we're an assembly of God's people. We are an outward manifestation of the people of God and that carries great privilege, but it also carries responsibility and duty. It means that we as an assembly, we as a body, have the responsibility to worship God and give him glory and to love one another. It's just the beginning. Oh, but that's such a burden. No, you've been set free for these things. So what advantage is there for the believer compared to the unbeliever? Much in every way, you have the word of God, you have the church, you have baptism as a sign and seal of God's covenant faithfulness to his people. And on and on it goes, numerous privileges. But they also carry responsibility. And was Israel faithful? That was a question I asked just a moment ago. And we know that the answer was no. And this brings us to our second point, divine faithfulness. Look at verse three. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? Paul anticipates another objection, though it's a logical objection given what Paul's emphasis has been. What if some were unfaithful? Now it is interesting to note that the anticipated objection understands things. What if some were unfaithful? There's any number of ways we can try to interpret that. I think a lot of times when people say, well, what if some were unfaithful? If we're going to be honest here, a lot of us, if we were to ask that question, what if they were unfaithful? That's some. It's not me. It can't possibly be me. The point here is that Israel was unfaithful. They were. There's no escaping it. Being unfaithful is a sad situation given the fact that they had the oracles of God in which they were entrusted. In fact, what a contrast. They've been entrusted. They had as their trust the oracles of God and they were unfaithful with it. They were unfaithful. Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? The emphasis here is not so much on a lack of faith, though that's involved, and it's included, especially since one cannot truly be faithful apart from true faith. That is true. The emphasis, rather, is that Paul is demonstrating for us Israel's unfaithfulness toward the covenant obligations. Does this then nullify God's faithfulness? And Paul says, no, it doesn't. A quick note about that word, nullify. Does it nullify? It's actually a somewhat rare word. In secular Greek writings, it means to leave or cause to be idle. In the Septuagint, it seems to mean to destroy. Now, though it's a pretty rare word throughout much of Greek literature as we have it, Paul uses it some 25 times. So it's not that rare for him. And here it may and probably does mean render powerless. Does our or does the Jews' faithlessness render powerless the faithfulness of God? And his answer is, by no means. An emphatic rejection. Now the King James Version, for the sake of forcing, seeing the force of this rejection, uses God forbid. That's not actually what it says, but that's kind of the idea behind it. The answer might be in our terms, of course not. That's absurd. That's what Paul is getting at. Their faithlessness in no way nullifies or renders idle God's faithfulness. What do we understand about God's faithfulness? You see, this is where it's important to understand these things. The book of Psalms in particular frequently connects faithfulness to God's steadfast love, that chesed love. It also shows using language the sheer volume of God's faithfulness and the eternally enduring quality of his faithfulness. Much of the Psalms bears this out. And so you think about how often the Psalms say his steadfast love endures forever. And also how often faithfulness is connected to steadfast love. That means his faithfulness endures to all generations. The sheer volume of it and the eternally enduring quality of it. And Paul emphasizes it even further. Let God be true, though everyone were a liar. Now it's easy to look at this and you see true and liar as something that is factually accurate versus something that is completely opposite of being factually accurate. We've had our fill of lying this past couple of months. But true here actually has more to do with reliability. It has more to do with the idea of being sure and certain. That's the idea, trustworthy. Faithfulness in God is not merely the promise of blessing. That's the thing we need to understand because now we come to it. And Paul's gonna expand upon this. He's already expanded upon this aspect earlier in this portion of Romans, and he's gonna expand upon it again, especially as we get to this extra portion of Old Testament citations. God's faithfulness does not simply or only deal with promises of grace. And this is where we begin to squirm. His faithfulness also deals with threats of judgment for disobedience. You see, he is faithful to himself as well. And this is where it gets uncomfortable. Very much so. He is faithful to his threats of judgment against sin. By way of example, turn to Nehemiah chapter nine. There in Nehemiah chapter 9, particularly verses 32 and 33, we hear these words. Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardships seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully, and we have acted wickedly." Notice that what Nehemiah is saying there, what is being preached to the people, is that even in judging his people for their wickedness and sin, God is even faithful in that. But it still does not nullify his faithfulness. And despite all of that, you read that passage in Nehemiah and you see how his steadfast love is brought to the forefront again. But despite ourselves, despite ourselves, our God remains faithful to himself, he remains just, but he also provides a means of grace while at the same time staying just and pure. Paul will talk about this also later in chapter three. This is the tension in which the Christian lives. We recognize and realize that God is faithful in his judgment, but he's also faithful in his covenant-keeping promises. This is the tension in which we live. Let God be true, though every man a liar. That's an accurate understanding as it's brought out by the ESV. Let God be true and every man a liar. We should understand that as though every man a liar. It doesn't matter. Each and every one of us can lie all the time, every day, every moment. God will always be true, reliable, sure, and trustworthy. Their unfaithfulness does not in any way do away with, nullify, set aside God's faithfulness. And Paul then gives us some scriptural support. And he gets it from a somewhat odd place. As it is written, that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. Now those of you that have a footnote there, you can see that the reference comes from Psalm 51. Psalm 51, a Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came and confronted him because of his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and subsequently murdering her husband, Uriah the Hittite. And through it all, David comes to the conclusion that the consequences of his sin are right and sure and faithful. And this is the beauty of it all. God showed David grace, despite you want to talk about a man who had privilege. He was even told by Nathan, all you had to do was ask. And yet he sinned wickedly. and the chastisement that was brought upon David, David recognizes as just and true and righteous. There, his unfaithfulness did not in any way negate God's faithfulness. The fact that David, even facing the chastisement of God, could continue to utter those words, was also a demonstration of God's faithfulness. As we look through the Old Testament, what's the penalty for adultery and murder? It's death. Earlier we sang from Psalm 32, to paraphrase, blessed is the man whose transgressions are not imputed to him. This is God's grace, and you think about this. Despite our unfaithfulness, we're in a passage that overall talks about our problem, but we keep getting these glimmers of hope. Even here, Israel's unfaithful, but God remains faithful. Even as He deals with the effects of sin, He manages remarkably to maintain His holiness, maintain His justice, and at the same time save a people to Himself. You see, this is the marvel of the gospel. And as we get beyond chapter three, verse 21, we'll see this in full detail. But in order to understand the beauty of such a thing that God has done, we have to understand what it is we deserve instead. Because we have been unfaithful. We have been unfaithful. That's the issue. That's the problem we all face. despite our external blessing, despite some of us having been a part of a reformed church and even the Orthodox Presbyterian Church for decades, having read Machen, having read all the greats, none of those things, none of those privileges gives you the right to eternal life. but they are nonetheless advantages. And see, that's the flip side. And if we are to take something else away from this, it's not just the fact that God is faithful. It's also the reality that the privileges we have as Reformed Christians are real privileges. The privileges all Christians have are real privileges. We should not just say, well, because we've been faithless, Therefore, those privileges don't matter. They do matter. They're important. And if I can put it this way, it's something that we ought to take a right kind of advantage of. They're privileges that we ought to enjoy, that we ought to embrace, because they are privileges that do remind us of God's faithfulness to save sinners like us. All of this, of course, fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It's about to get ugly again in chapter 3. In the next Lord's Day, Lord willing, we'll look at verses 5 through 8. But after that, verses 9 through 20, it's kind of like this whole section began. We get an explanation. The whole section, beginning at chapter one, verse 18, the wrath of God has been revealed against all unrighteousness. Why? This latter portion, this portion of chapter three that we're about to come to explains it. There's no one who does good, no not one. They've all together become worthless. But the gospel of Jesus Christ saves. And that's where we're heading. And so by way of reminder, as you share the gospel with the lost, don't hide the reality of what we deserve. Now, of course, you can do it the wrong way. I get that. Many times, arrogant Christians will come in and say, you deserve to go to hell. And while that may be true, that's not a helpful way to say it. It's better to remind them, I'm a sinner that deserves to go to hell. But thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ, I have salvation in spite of what I deserve. Put it on yourself. You deserve nothing. I know that's hard to hear, isn't it? I deserve nothing. But he gives us so much. Why? Because he's faithful. And his faithfulness endures. His faithfulness is sure and true and reliable and trustworthy. We're about to partake of the Lord's Supper. This is a reminder that God is faithful. We partake in part because God in his grace knows that we struggle remembering that he is faithful. This supper is a reminder to you that God is faithful, that the promises found in Christ are yes and amen, and you can rest assured and He will carry you through to the end. We partake not because we're strong. but because we're weak. We partake because God is strong and he is able to save to the uttermost. You see, as we partake, this is not just a privilege that we outwardly enjoy. It is a privilege that we inwardly ought to have as our focus the person and work of Jesus Christ. Christ crucified, died for sinners like you and me. That's the privilege to which all these other things point. you have a privilege to be here this morning. That should point you to Christ. Does it? Do all your privileges lead you to Christ, recognizing that you deserve none of them but have them because of Christ? trust in him, rest in him, be assured that God is faithful to the end. Amen. Let's pray. Our great God and Father in heaven, we do rejoice in what your word teaches us. We rejoice that Jesus Christ demonstrates your faithfulness. He is the ultimate fulfillment of your faithfulness. Despite our faithlessness, Lord, we do pray that we would have a right attitude toward the privileges that we have in Christ Jesus our Lord, that we would use them appropriately, that we would recognize that these privileges in and of themselves do not grant us eternal life. That comes from Christ alone. Nevertheless, Lord, help us to use the privileges we have. May we revel in them. May we rejoice in them. May we use the means of grace that you have given us so that we would grow in Christ. We pray all this in his name, amen.