I'm really grateful for the opportunity to be with y'all and speaking to y'all this afternoon. This is completely unrelated, but it's been on my heart today as we've been worshiping. Brother Robert has a saying at work when I'm having a rough day, and he says, days are hard and then you die. And it hit me today as we were singing number 281, It Is Well With My Soul, that aren't we thankful that that is not our story, that life is hard and then you die. That is not the end for us. So I've been really blessed by the song service and our worship together. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Romans 3. In our passage today, we're going to be looking at verses 1-8. Romans 3, verses 1-8. What advantage hath the Jew, or what profit is there of the circumcision? Much in every way, chiefly because unto them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid! Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? I speak as a man. God forbid! For then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto His glory, why am I yet also judged a sinner? And not rather, as we be slanderously reported, and some affirm we say, let us do evil that good may come, whose damnation is just." So if you remember the last couple times we've been going through Romans, we've been looking at... Paul's been pronouncing judgment on mankind. First, in Romans chapter 1, he pronounces the judgment upon the godless Gentile world that does not do the things of God. And in Romans 2, he begins with pronouncing judgment upon the moralists, those that think that they're okay in the way that they do things. They're not as bad as the people in chapter 1, but he still says they are condemned in what they call moral activities. And then later in Romans 2, You can actually see the term where it's in verse 17, where it says, you call yourself Jew. And the message that we looked at or went over with that is, you know, the religious person, the person that has a form of religion, but it's not the true thing. And that they are also condemned just as the people in chapter one. And Paul, in this passage, is really honing in on the Jews. And I thought of it this morning, it kind of hit me on the way in, that this is almost like a courtroom setting. You have Paul as the attorney for God, and he's bringing this judgment or pronouncements of judgment upon humanity. It's a case against humanity. And I could just picture it. This is not in the text, but I can kind of picture it in my head. If it was a church service, Paul would say, the godless world is condemned. And there would be a loud, Amen. He says, those that think they're morally right, they're condemned. Amen. And then he gets to, you call yourself a Jew. And they go, objection, your honor. Wait just a second here. It's kind of a comical way to think about it, but that's kind of what's going on here. And Paul is going to now speak to them, and these are some objections that they're bringing to him about God's judgment. So the title of our message is, The Objections of the Self-Righteous. The Objections of the Self-Righteous. And really, in our initial reading, you can get an idea of just how blinded these men are that are bringing these questions before Paul, that they're really questioning God and His judgments of humanity as a whole. And we'll get into that. So there's four arguments that they have here in Paul. The format of it is there's an argument and an answer, an argument and an answer, all the way through, through verse eight. So the first argument that we're gonna see here is in verse one. What advantage hath the Jew, or what profit is there in the circumcision? And what they're asking is, what was the point of all of it? If we are on an equal footing with the Gentiles, as you've been saying, we're equally condemned under sin, we were supposed to be special. You know, they had grown up thinking, we're the chosen people of God, there's nothing, you know, we're okay. And Paul is saying, no, you're not okay if you're not in Christ. And so their question, at least the first question, seems to be a natural question, is what was the point of us doing all of this if we're now on the same playing field and the same footing? And of course, we see Paul's answer. Much in every way, they had many advantages. To get an idea of the things that they had been taught and learned their whole life, turn with me to Deuteronomy 33. Again, just trying to get an idea of what they had been living in and reading and believing. Deuteronomy 33. And we're going to begin reading in verse 27. And I apologize, I just started my timer, so if we go a little long. I just started my timer. Verse 27 of Deuteronomy 33. The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath and underneath are the everlasting arms, and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone, and the fountain of Jacob shall be upon the land of corn and wine. Also his heaven shall drop down due. Happy art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee. O people saved by their Lord, the shield of thy help, who is the sword of thy excellency. And thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places. So again, in the mind of a Jewish person, they were well acquainted with the Old Testament. and they had constantly been reading on being the chosen people of God, being set apart by God. And now they're missing the point of what their benefit really was. And Paul, the first thing he mentions here is in verse two, when he says, much in every way chiefly that unto them were committed the oracles of God. So they had a great advantage that they were given the Word of God, the promises of God. They were given the prophecies that the Messiah would come. You know, if we're taking a driving test and I'm allowed to study for it and you're not, who's going to do better on the driving test? Probably me, if I'm getting a study for it. I know a few of the answers. I know the parameters of the driving test. It's not going to be new to me to hop in a vehicle and wonder, how do I put this thing in drive? Well, that's the same way for the Jewish believers here. They did have an advantage. They had the Word of God. They knew the Word of God front to back. It was a great advantage to them to have that because they knew of God. It wasn't a knowing of God, but it was a knowing of God. And to be trusted as the stewards and the sole caretakers of the Word of God, not only to care for it, but to have free access to read it. There are people throughout human history that have died to have this book. You read of John Wycliffe and some of those, I think it's John, I apologize, Wycliffe, some of the men in the early Reformation that had the Bible printed into the native language of the people, and they were martyred for it. It's a great advantage to have this. And so in looking at it, we can also say, it would be the same advantage for us today. Keep this in your minds of, we have a great advantage having free access to this. What advantage hath an American over a Middle Eastern person? Much in every way, we have free, unbridled access to the word of God. We have so much access, we have 150 different translations. It feels like, it may not actually be that number, but it feels like it. So we have free and unbridled access to the Word of God. Paul also does give a few extra advantages that they had in chapter 9. So turn with me to Romans 9. Romans 9. We're going to begin reading in verse 4. Romans 9 verse 4. So we see a couple other advantages that there completely missing here, that they were the adopted people of God, that they were brought, you know, God chose them to be aside from the world, that He could give them His presence. You know, He dwelled in the tabernacle. You know, that's a great honor and a privilege that He was there in their presence. They were also given the commandment, so they had the law of God. They knew the law of God and what He required of us. They were also given the Levitical law, so they knew they had a greater picture, or should have had a greater picture, of how unworthy we are and how we cannot do it in and of ourselves. Charles Spurgeon has a quote that the law is simply a mirror. You cannot wash yourself in the mirror. You can simply see how filthy you are. You have to go somewhere else to wash. And that was the law. They should have, you know, they had that right in front of their face. And so what Paul is teaching here that as we'll get to later on in Romans chapter three, but the idea that there is none good, it should have been right in front of their face because they had the law to say, I can't do this. This is so far, I can't attain it. So they were given the law, the law of God, the commandments and the Levitical law. They were given the ability to serve God. So they were the arm of God here on earth as far as service. That, again, an incredible benefit there. And they were also given the promises of God, the temporal, the spiritual, and most importantly, pertaining to the coming of the Messiah. The Jews had no excuse to miss Christ as the Messiah. They had all of the prophecies, all of the foretellings that were really so clear that it was just right there in front of them. So they had the prophecies and the promises of the Messiah. And not only that, but they were the very lineage from which Christ would come. Again, many blessings there, or they had great advantages. And a lot of these, we can say, We can relate because we have similar advantages. We have the law of God here. We have the presence of God in our assembly. Brother David Davis mentions regularly that God walks through the middle of the candlestick, and I fully believe that in our services here. So we have a great advantage, just like they did. And Paul is not allowing them to continue with this pity party and says, you had every advantage. You had a great advantage. So what advantage hath the Jew much in every way? Argument number two, and we're going to see this beginning in verse three. It would help if I'm back in Romans chapter three. So verse 3, it says, For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? And so the question really, if we're to put it into English terms, is God right to judge those that do not believe? Is that going to make Him unfaithful? Since Israel were the people of promise, If God is to judge them, wouldn't that make Him unfaithful? Now, again, that's a bold question. It kind of makes you quiver to even speak it. And Paul's answer is in verse 4 where he says, To me, I enjoyed the NASB translation of this a little bit better, where it says, may it never be. May it never be. Don't even speak that. So God did not lie to the Israelites. And he says that, says, let God be true, but every man a liar. So there is no lie in God. God did not bamboozle the Israelites. God gave them the prophecies of the Messiah. He gave them the law to show we need more and then sent the Messiah to them, to them first. And they rejected him. So the lie, rather than being on God, is on them. Every man is a liar. Or throughout this passage, lies also can kind of be synonymous with every man is a sinner. If there's any fault or any sin on anyone's part in this argument, God is true. Man is the liar. They are the ones that are at fault here, not God. And Paul then quotes Psalm 51.4, where he says, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. In Psalm 51.4, that is the confession of David to God after the sin of Bathsheba. And what David is saying in that passage is, God, I'm confessing this to you. and you are going to be right and just in your judgments, and you are going to overcome. When this is called into question, there will be no question of who the fault falls on. It will not be you. You have overcome this. And that's the way that we should look at it, right? It's not, well, God, how dare you save this person and not this person? We don't have any right to question it. because God is going to be just in His judgments of mankind. The passage says, I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. It's not of us to choose. If it was, heaven would be empty, quite frankly. So, God, if there's any fault or any lie, it's not going to go on God, it's going to go on us. That is argument number two, what if some did not believe? Argument number three, and we see this beginning in verse five. But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? I speak as a man. Now Paul is putting that I speak as a man. Several commentators I've read It's almost like don't even attribute this kind of a saying to me. I'm speaking as someone else. It's almost like the kid when they go and tattle on another kid. It's so-and-so said this. It was them. It was them that said it. It's kind of what Paul is saying is don't even associate I'm speaking as someone else. And you can also translate it is not God unrighteous. So they're questioning that, or they're putting forward the idea that God is unrighteous to take vengeance. And what is the reason for that? Well, the reason for it is if our unrighteousness, if God's righteousness is manifest in forgiveness of our unrighteousness, then wouldn't God be unrighteous to take vengeance on us because we're proclaiming His righteousness. Paul again answers that in verse 6 with, may it never be. May it never be. For how shall God judge the world? Again, they're just so far off of the point. And honestly, this argument, we hear that there's nothing new under the sun, there's many people that will still argue similar things to this even today. I remember an argument or a discussion that I got in one time with a fellow that was actually a pastor, and his statement was, well, if there's a person in South America that never hears the gospel, are you saying God's gonna send them to hell? Well, if they don't believe on Christ, then yes. He said, well, the God I believe in wouldn't do that. Well, the God you believe in may not, but it's not the God of the Bible. You know, the God of the Bible says that through Christ, Christ is the only way. It is the straight and narrow way. It's not this coexist bumper sticker that you see to where, well, we're all serving the same God in different ways. Wrong. You are in Christ or you are out of Christ, as Brother Steve spoke on Wednesdays, the same principle. You are in Jesus Christ, or you are not. You are a blood-bought child of God, destined to live with Him for eternity, or you will spend eternity in hell. And God is not going to be found at fault for His judgment in that. He's not. And the real question that we ought to ask is, instead of pointing fingers and saying, well, God, why don't you save this, that, and the other? We should really think and say, God, why'd you save me? I'm not any better than anybody else out there. Why me? But that's where the pride comes in. That's where this question breeds from is I'm not that bad. And so if I'm not that bad, then I can say, well, God was right to save me. You know, you got a good soldier in this one. Now, let me help you out with this selection process. That's not the way it works. And Paul says, may it never be. God is going to be right in His judgment of the world. He's going to be just on His judgment of the world. Another passage that kind of sums this up as well is back in Romans 9. And this time we'll be in verse 15. Romans 9-15. "'For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.'" Again, I kind of partially quoted that earlier, but I wanted to get the full thing in there because, friends, that is so powerful. It is not of us. You can run as hard as you want to. You can do all of the religious and spiritual things as Paul breaks down in Romans 2. You can be a moral person. You can be a degenerate. You can be a religious person. And outside of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, it means nothing. It means nothing. It is worthless. As we've read before, it is as filthy rags. It does you no good. It does nothing for you. So, back in Romans 3, continuing, so we'll be on argument number 4 now. So we had argument number 3, if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, is God unrighteous who take its vengeance? Argument number 4, and this is a lengthier argument, and it starts in verse 7. For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto His glory, why yet am I also judged a sinner? And not rather, as we be slanderously reported, and some affirm we say, let us do evil that good may come, whose damnation is just." So this is kind of a repackaging of the previous argument, just putting a little bit of a different spin on it. Okay, so if the truth of God or the righteousness of God hath more abounded, so it's abounding, through my lie or my sinfulness, then why am I still being judged a sinner? Aren't I doing God a favor? That's what they're saying. Am I not doing God a favor with my sinfulness because His truth is being more magnified through forgiving me much? That is a prideful, faulty argument. This is skipping ahead, Paul doesn't even grant them a God forbid on this one. He says their damnation is just. If you're thinking this way, you're off in the weeds. So, friends, God will accomplish His eternal purpose, and He may accomplish His eternal purpose through your sin, but it does not excuse your sin. He may use sinful man to accomplish His purposes, and He has before, but that does not excuse sinful man from judgment when he dies or at the end times. It's not going to happen. He may bless in spite of your sin, but it will not be a blessing on your sin. And again, you just think about how conceited and blind a man that would even ask this would be. And he takes it a step further and says, and why not do evil so that good may come? So why don't we just do all of the evil and more good will come? God's truth will more abound, more and more abound, even though we're sending up a storm. And again, Paul's answer to that is, their damnation is just. God's grace is not your safety blanket to live however you want to live. There is forgiveness in sin, but if you're wanting to live a sinful, wretched lifestyle, then at some point you have to look into your own heart and think, Do I, like Brother Robert preached this morning about the fourth man, do I even love the Lord to begin with? Or am I, as Brother Hassell-Wallace said, am I playing house for God here? Is the truth really in me or am I just faking it because it'll help my reputation or it'll, my grandmother goes to this church, all of those things. And those are, again, these sound like crazy far out there arguments, but friends, these arguments are still here today. They're just put in a little bit better package. You know, if you ever, I don't know if y'all have ever had a conversation like this, but if you ever try to talk to anybody about a sin issue in their life and they'll say, well, I'm under grace. Well, that may be true, but under grace means repent. You know, that this logic of, well, I'm under grace. I can do whatever I want. If I show up to church on Sunday morning, I can do whatever I want and I'm under grace. So everything is OK. And, you know, God's graciousness just abounds. Paul's answer to that is their damnation is just. It's it's not going to fly it. You know, there is a lie and it's not on God's part. It's on your part. Search your heart. you know, search your heart. And that's typically where, you know, where we war is in our hearts. But again, the audacity to say something like that out loud is outlandish. So Paul also addresses this same idea a little bit further in Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6. verses one through two, and this is a well-known passage. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid, or may it never be. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Brothers and sisters, we are dead to sin. We're dead to sin and alive in Christ. Why would we go back? I believe it was Brother Robert that preached that same effect this morning. Why would we go back? It's almost like the prodigal son. We're all familiar with that parable. He's living in the pig pen and he goes back to his father. He wouldn't clean himself up and go back to the pig pen. It makes no sense, but yet that's what we do when we when we're going back to the sin of the old flesh. We're dead to that. We have the ability to fight it and to say, no, you will not have dominion over me. I am free in Christ. We don't have to be enslaved to that anymore. So, those are the four arguments. And if you missed any of those, You may not want my outline, it's kind of in jumbled Caleb thoughts, but you're welcome to have it. So what do we do with a passage like this? Well, number one, and this is kind of alluded to it earlier, we are thankful for the great privilege of having God's Word and we don't neglect such a blessing. Paul could have listed any number of things in verse one But what's the one thing he mentioned? He mentions the rest of them in chapter 9. But in this case, when he's arguing, he mentions one thing. The Word of God. You have this. Because this is what you need. This is the God-breathed revelation of God Himself. Isn't it amazing that we can know God? We can know what He likes, what He hates. We can know about His Son. all right here. And that is the greatest advantage that Paul said that the Israelites had, is you had this. And so we have free access to it here as well. How are we going to neglect such a great blessing or privilege? We have this right in front of us. Don't take this for granted, brothers and sisters. This is, again, God revealed in His Word, and it's been preserved to get to us. How are we going to let that sit on the mantle? So, we're thankful for the privilege of having God's Word. Number two, we resist the self-righteous attitude that dwelled within these people here, and strive toward Christian humility. Truth be told, I've been planning this message for about a month. I got sick, and Louis kind of beat me to the Christian humility punch. But that is what we strive toward. Where all of this is stemming from is a pride issue in the heart of these Jewish men. It doesn't say if they were in the church or if Paul encountered them in the synagogue, but they had a major pride issue How can I be judged a sinner? I'm not that bad. Everyone else is, but not me. I do okay. People like me. All of that is garbage. It doesn't mean anything. And brothers and sisters, that same attitude that took root in these men here can also take root in us if we don't constantly reevaluate and reprogram our heart to have a humble, Christ-like attitude. And this is a great passage to read to get that perspective. Because later on in Romans 3, he's going to say, there are none good, no, not one. There's none that seek after God. There's none that are righteous. If you ever want to have a reality check where you came from and where your heart is naturally pointed to by nature. It's a good place to go to have that reality check of, oh, I'm not that good. I am a wretch. God, why me? Rather than, God, you're lucky to have this good soldier. And we laugh, and that's a polluted attitude, but that's what That's what an unchecked pride and ego gets to is, I'm not that bad. And God, I'm going to help you with this election process. You should save him or save her, or he's saved or she's saved. And it's not up to us. We have no power over it. We can't even save ourselves. We're so filthy and dirty in and of ourselves. We need Jesus just to make it for ourselves. Much less to tell God you should pick so-and-so and so-and-so. but an unchecked pride and ego, that's where we arrive, in the same place that these people were, questioning God's judgment. So we resist the self-righteous attitude and strive toward Christian humility. And thirdly, we thank God for His great mercy toward us. I think of the passage, and such were some of you, were, past tense. We've been made dead to the flesh and alive to Christ. That this same attitude that we used to be in the old man, we could not fight it. It would just run free. We've been made dead to this. We can now fight this. And we can strive to follow after Christ as Brother Robert preached this morning. Be a disciple of Christ. Run back to Him daily. and say, God, I need you today. I need your righteousness today, because a day without it, you know, he who offends in one point is guilty of the whole law. We need him daily. I think I heard this in a sermon one time, but we we we sin probably a thousand times before we even get to church on Sunday. We're guilty. in and of ourselves. But in Christ, there is now no condemnation. Now, right now in the present, there is no or none, none at all condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. So we realize that and we thank God for his great blessing of giving his son on the cross for our sins. that we're not stuck in this spot trying to fight this pride that we cannot overcome in and of ourselves, and we're overtaken with this prideful attitude. But we can strive to be humble servants of Christ and serve Him well. And serve Him well. So let's pray in closing. Our gracious Heavenly Father, I just thank You for all Your many blessings to us. Father, I thank You for Your son Jesus, who died on the cross to save a wretched man like me from his sin. Father, I just praise You. I thank You for this body of believers, just the shot in the arm that they are every single week. And Father, I pray that You would help us to continue to grow Pray that You would lead us. Help us to be more humble and more Christ-like, Father. Help us to defeat pride in our life, that this attitude that we read about in Romans 3 not be one that would be spoken of any of us here, but that we would be clothed in humility. We pray all these things in Christ our Savior's name. Amen.