By Faith - Romans 3:1-8
Romans - By Faith • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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So what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Considerable in every way. First, they were entrusted with the very words of God. What then? If some were unfaithful, will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? Absolutely not! Let God be true, even though everyone is a liar, as it is written:
That you may be justified in your words
and triumph when you judge.
But if our unrighteousness highlights God’s righteousness, what are we to say? I am using a human argument: Is God unrighteous to inflict wrath? Absolutely not! Otherwise, how will God judge the world? But if by my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? And why not say, just as some people slanderously claim we say, “Let us do what is evil so that good may come”? Their condemnation is deserved!
Debbie Retirement
Debbie Retirement
Debbie is retiring at the end of the month. Debbie is not one for attention so Debbie, I apologize.
Debbie has been here running things behind the scenes since the original church of Hollywood Road was started. Debbie is a fantastic and amazing woman who deserves a ton of credit and she will be sorely missed. If anyone would like to give her a card or a note of encouragement we will have basket next week and the week after.
A Quick Word about Antisemitism
A Quick Word about Antisemitism
There is an unfortunate rise of Antisemitic sentiment going on in the country and elsewhere. I don’t understand it but because of that I think it is important to clarify a few things.
In the New Testament we see the phrase “The Jews” quite a few times and usually not in a positive light. But the thing to remember is the people who are saying it are Jewish people. They are not antisemites which would be against themselves. Also Christianity and Judaism were considered the same religion until around AD 80.
At that time the Rabbis added a prayer you had to say to enter the Synagogue and that denied the Son. At that point the two split. Interestingly there are movements with in Orthodox Judaism that are acknowledging Christians as Brothers and Sisters.
The important thing is that neither Paul nor John who primary say the Jews are bing Antisemitic. They were Jews who worshiped a Jewish God, who sent a Jewish Messiah, and they worshipped in a Jewish way. Paul is sometimes pointing out that they are just as guilty as Gentiles. Sometimes he is talking about Pharisees, of which he was one, and a lot of times against the Judaizers who were the people who wanted to say Gentiles had to become Jewish. Neither they nor us when we read or say the Jews are being Antisemitic. Not that anyone has said anything I just want to make sure we are on the same page.
So what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Considerable in every way. First, they were entrusted with the very words of God.
The start of this section starts with the admonishment that the Jews were blessed because they had the Law and circumcision. Sure some where unfaithful but that is does not mean God is unfaithful.
Let God be true even though everyone is a liar.
Let God be true even though everyone is a liar.
In this section that is the key. God is true, He is right, He is righteous. As people we fail and falter. We misspeak and get things wrong, but God is true.
As created beings we have attributes we can try and attain or grow in. Think of attributes like faithfulness or perseverance like a skill and it helps make sense.
If I want to get better at guitar then I need to put in some work and depending on how good I want to get determines how much I work I need to put in to be that good.
Again, with the guitar I need to develop the physcial skills to move my fingers a certain way. I need to work on grip strength. I need to work on dexterity. The joints in my hands need to move properly. I need to have a certain amount of flexibility to move certain ways and these are just the mechanics.
I also need to learn and understand things. I need to understand notes and chords. I need to learn about timing, and what notes or chords go together. There are dozens of skills I need to develop and put together to make all these things happen in order to properly play the guitar.
Now we take something like faithful or faithfulness, the word is pistis in the Greek. It means to have confidence in. That is not something we generally do well without practice, learning, and giving attention to it.
We as human beings need to work on developing that attribute, skill or quality. It is something we have to work at. We have to practice and just like with the guitar or anything else for us it is made up of many different parts. If we are honest then a lot of times we like the people God is talking about here get it wrong.
Instead of being faithful we are selfish, or instead of practicing faithfulness we doubt and rely on ourselves. I am going to give us the benefit of the doubt and say we don’t do it on purpose we are just still learning how to be what we now are as children of God instead of children of wrath.
When we come to Christ, He makes us a new creation but we need to learn how to be the new thing we already are.
It is in our failing to be faithful that we see where we can grow to be more like God
Verse 3-4 tell us God promises to be faithful regardless of our unfaithfulness. God does not have to practice being faithful. Why?
God is faithful because that is who He is. He does not have the quality or attribute of faithfulness like we can or even understand.
Charles Ryrie in his book on Theology choses the term the Perfections of God instead of attributes because God has them perfectly.
We are composite beings whereas God is not. He does not have the attribute love, justice, holiness, etc. He is these things in perfect harmony. This is why His love demands justice, but in His justice He has mercy. He is also not the sum total of His attributes. He exists in total completion and perfection within Himself.
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful,
for he cannot deny himself.
This tells us that God does not depend on us. He as the creator exists outside of us just like He exists outside the rest of creation. He is not dependent on us. In the book of Job when God rebukes Job, He lays all of this out the table. He is totally and completely different than us and creation.
God is not restrained by time, space or matter. He exists outside of it. He can and does enter in to it but He is not bound by it.
He is faithful. That is who He is. It is not a character trait or something He has. He is faithful and He can be nothing else.
The one and only thing [God] cannot do, because He will not, is to deny Himself or act contrary to Himself - John Stott
We mess up, we sin, we make mistakes, we fall short. God remains faithful. Our inability to be faithful does not change God.
He uses our failings but they do not stop Him from being who He is.
When we understand that God is not dependent on us and that He remains faithful because that is who He is everything starts to change.
We don’t dwell on our past, we don’t sit in our failure, we don’t allow others to drag us back to were we don’t belong anymore and we don’t allow others to define us. We know who we are but more importantly we know who He is things change.
When we understand this, when it moves from a theological truth to an internal understand everything changes. Everything changes because the focus is on Him and His goodness. God and His ability to love and be faithful even when we are weak and broken.
All of the sudden healing comes. Forgiveness is something we can walk in and give. Love is something that we do not earn but just experience because we understand that the God of the Bible is for us, committed to us, and faithful!
so much is going on in the world right now. So much in our individual lives. Bills, sickness, troubles, and on and on.
Acts 16:25
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
Paul and Silas did not praise because life was easy but because God is faithful!
God is faithful, because that is who He is!
When you are struggling He is faithful, when you are down He is faithful, when you are scared He is faithful, when you doubt He is faithful.
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
there is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; as Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.
Let God be true even though everyone is a liar.
Let God be true even though everyone is a liar.
From Genesis to Revelation and every book, chapter, and verse in between we see this common theme. God is faithful. That is what we are supposed to understand.
Good, Bad, What’s the Difference?
Good, Bad, What’s the Difference?
Verses 5-8 asks follow up questions, why are we called guilty if God uses our unfaithfulness and why should we not do evil to so good will happen?
This argument is old and used even now by some.
Human beings know neither how to rejoice properly nor how to grieve properly, for they do not understand the distance between good and evil.
John of the Cross
They figure why not sin and do whatever if in the end God will be glorified. That is insanity.
God can and does use wickedness, failings, and the faults of people but we do not sin to bring out God’s glory or to demonstrate His faithfulness.
Our unfaithfulness might highlight His faithfulness, but we should not seek out ways to be unfaithful. Instead we should seek out ways to show His goodness and faithfulness.
We should always be a people who are moving away from sin and evil and towards God and goodness. To follow the Messiah is to follow Him into glory and goodness.
Remember we are always supposed to be moving towards Jesus. Not running from something but towards Jesus.
My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.
Instead of doing evil so God gets glory we should continue to grow in the things of God. If what we want is God to be glorified it would be better to do it this way.
We should be set on producing much fruit. We should be seeking out ways to love each other and the world around us.
To do evil or sin because why not is ludicrous. We are supposed to hear that God is faithful, we are supposed to understand that He is good, and then we are supposed to chose to want to be like Him.
Acquired and Practiced Skill
Acquired and Practiced Skill
Again, God is faithful and He always will be. Faithfulness for us is a skill. It is something we develop and work on. It is something we cultivate. But how do we do it?
Number is pray.
God, create a clean heart for me
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
If want to be faithful and have faithfulness it starts with prayer and asking the Holy Spirit to nurture the seed placed in us when we came alive in Jesus. It is a gift and a fruit of the Spirit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.
Number two is practice.
We have the seed and the gift now we need to practice. When we fail and we will, we pray and then we look back and see where we will failed. Then we learn from that lesson and try again.
Just like with learning the guitar we need to practice and go through the scales. We will get it wrong and miss a note, but that is ok. We just keep trying.
Just like a marriage of 50 years does not just happen it takes 50 years to get there. A life of faithfulness happens by practicing.
Here is something interesting. In the book of Job, the Hebrew word aman (aw man) which is translated faithful is never used for Job but in his entire ordeal he demonstrated faithfulness.
I believe this is because faithfulness is not a word to describe but the proof of a life lived in obedience. It is seen after the fact.
God rebukes Job but it is for justifying himself instead of God. The rebuke was to help Job understand.
Number three is seek opportunities.
In the movie Evan Almighty, God asks Joan Baxter, "If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient?”
If we want to be faithful we need opportunities to be faithful in. Temptation, exhaustion, weakness, trials, and tribulations. These are opportunities to practice and demonstrate faithfulness.
I meet with people fairly frequently that tell me they want to be in ministry. One of my first questions is always, OK what are you doing now?
If you want to be in ministry then be in ministry. You cannot wait for some magic moment when all of the sudden it happens. First step, start doing it. Wherever, however, whenever.
Closing
Closing
God is faithful
We are not by nature but we should desire it.
Pray and ask God to help.
Practice faithfulness and learn from your mistakes.
Seek opportunities to be faithful
We all need help here but if need prayer for this or anything else our prayer team will be up front.