Untitled Sermon

Review

Last week in our study of Romans, we learned that the Jewish people would not be excused from God’s judgment due to their Jewish heritage.

Having access to the commandments would not save them.

Boasting in the one true God would not save them.

Knowing God’s will would not save them.

Agreeing with God on what is right and wrong would not save them.

Overall, being born a Jew would not save them.

Why would being born a Jew not guarantee salvation if they are God’s chosen people?

It is because being truly Jewish is not a matter of one's parents but of the Spirit; it is a condition of the heart, not of lineage.

We applied this truth by seeing that being a Christian isn’t based upon:

Our parents being Christian.

Our baptism.

Our good works.

Going down the aisle to pray a prayer or raising our hand during Church camp.

Being a Christian, like being a Jew, is a matter of the heart.

The only way we can become a Christian, according to Romans 10, is by confessing with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing that God raised Christ from the dead.

When we repent and believe, God gives a new heart. That is what makes us a Christian.

The Advantage

Romans 3:1–2 ESV

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.

Paul brings us to this truth by starting us with two questions. (You will find that Paul loves his questions)

The questions are meant to head off any accusations that Jewish people might have

The questions are:

What advantage is there to being a Jew?

In other words “So, does it mean nothing that we are God’s chosen people?”

Is there any value in circumcision?

In other words “So, does my parents act in obedience to set me apart from the world just a useless ritual?”

Paul’s singular answer to these questions is:

“Much in every way”

In every possible way it is an advantage of being a Jew

In every possible way there is value in being circumcised.

What does this mean for us? None of us here are Jewish, and none of us are circumcised as a sign that we belong to God.

Being a part of the church community is an advantage.

All of us here share, in some varying degree, the advantages of being a part of the church community.

Everybody here is able to see the goodness of God through the love of our church members providing you a place to eat and have fun.

Every time you see Lindsey Bridges using her gifts to sacrifice her time to shop, prepare, and serve you food, you should see how good our God is.

Everybody here is able to see, although very imperfectly, the holiness of God through our church members sacrificing their desires and passions to be obedient to the Lord.

Every time you see Larry Miller living out his life at the Four Rivers Academy refusing to use inappropriate language or laugh at inappropriate jokes, sharing the Gospel to students, and serving everybody’s needs, you should see how holy our God is.

I could count countless endless advantages, but I want to focus on the primary advantage that Paul states, so lets walk our way back to the passage.

In this passage, Paul tells the Jews that their Jewish heritage is an advantage in every possible way, but only tells us one way it is an advantage, that is because this one advantage is all the truly matters.

The most important advantage according to Paul is that they were “entrusted with the oracles of God”

Meaning that the best thing about being Jewish is having access Old Testament.

This is so valuable because it is through God’s Word that He reveals Himself to man.

This leads us to our next truth.

The greatest advantage of the church community is access to the Word of God.

Unlike the Jewish people, we have access to the complete Word of God.

We have both the old testament and the new testament.

We are able to see how God has been faithful to His people all throughout the Old Testament.

We are also able to see how God has been faithful to the world by sending His Son to die for the world in the New Testament.

The greatest benefit you all possess, being present here today, is the opportunity to hear the Word of God preached to you every Wednesday night.

God has loved you so much that He has brought you here tonight so that you may hear His Word.

Why is it such a blessing to hear God’s Word?

We find the answer in 2 Timothy 3:15 “and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

It is through the Word of God that salvation can become known to us.

Returning the the passage, Paul is still fighting up all the accusations the Jews might have

Romans 3:3–8 ESV

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.

Paul is mainly addressing 2 accusations from the Jews in this passage:

The first one being, if Christianity is true, then God has been unfaithful to the Jews.

The second one being, if Christianity is true, then God is unrighteous to judge the world.

I am not going to go into these accusations now, because Paul will answer these accusations more fully throughout the rest of Romans, but I do want us to look at the end of the passage I just read.

It says “Their condemnation is just”

Those who slander God by accusing Him of unfaithfulness and injustice will rightly face condemnation.

Just like the Jews, I imagine many of us in here have reasons why we think God is unfaithful or unjust.

One question I always hear in our society is “If God is all powerful and all good, then why is there still evil in the world?”

Many people think that this is the question that condemns God and proves that He does not exist.

Yet, this question does not condemn God, but instead it condemns us.

If God were to end all evil, that means He would have to end each and every one of us.

Yet in His mercy, He has delayed His judgment.

Despite our accusations, God has given us a chance to turn to Him and escape the eternal punishment we deserve.