Questioning A Righteous God
Notes
Transcript
Review
Review
Turn to Romans chapter three
Paul has built his case, showing that no man - not even the most religious among us - can measure up to the perfect standard of God.
Paul’s arguments would have raised some serious questions in the mind of any unsaved Jewish person. In fact, he was probably asked these same questions many times over as he witnessed to his fellow Jews. These questions are put into writing beginning in Romans chapter three.
Introduction
Introduction
Read Romans 3:1-8.
For the last ten years, it has been my privilege to be a daddy to now four amazing kids. To say that I have learned much as a parent is a big understatement.
Being a parent has taught me much about life.
Being a parent has taught me much about how inadequate I am.
Parents, did you ever feel like you didn’t have a clue what you were doing? I’ve had those moments too. It has taught me to run to the Bible for answers.
Being a parent has taught me much about how desperately I need God.
Being a parent has taught me something else: it’s taught me to expect all kinds of questions from my kids. The older they become, the more I see it.
Sometimes I’ll make a decision for my children and then they ask me why. The first time that happened it caught me by surprise a little bit.
I thought to myself, “since when do you ask me, ‘why’? The answer is because I said so!”
As my kids have grown older, and as that question has become more frequent, I’ve learned that the question “why” is not always the same. There is a great difference between a child asking “why” out of a genuine desire to learn versus a child asking “why” out of anger.
In Romans 3:1–8, Paul raises nine questions that an unsaved Jewish objector might make to his argument.
Don’t worry, I do not have nine points to my message!
I want to clearly establish something at the very beginning of my message and it is this: I am not about to preach a message against questioning God because I don’t see that from Scripture.
In Job 3:11, When Job’s world came crashing down, he questioned God. He wondered why he didn’t die in his mother’s womb.
In Psalm 13:1, David wondered how long God was going to forget him!
How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
In Jeremiah 12:1, the prophet asks the LORD why the wicked were prospering so much!
My point is that Godly people ask questions of God all throughout the Bible but God didn’t drop hellfire and brimstone on their heads when they dared to ask!
So what do we make of these questions that Paul voices in Romans chapter three? I’ll explain the difference in a moment, but first I want you to see that this was…
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Questioning the wisdom of God - Romans 3:1-2
Paul had just laid bare the insufficiency of the Jewish religion, so it’s only natural that immediate objections would be raised.
“If its true that Jews are no more saved than Gentiles, what’s the benefit of being Jewish?”
The answer was that there were many benefits. Primarily, that God gave the Jews His written revelation! He didn’t give that to anybody else!
“The chief advantage of the Jews is that they possessed God’s special revelation in the Old Testament Scriptures of which the Gentiles, for the most part, had no knowledge. The Gentiles were limited to the general revelation of God in the creation.” - Dr. Qurollo, Notes On Romans, page 40
That is a massive advantage, but it’s one that is hard for us to appreciate! You know why? Because we Americans have enjoyed the same thing for more than 250 years! We have had such access to the Word of God that it is seen as a given, whereas countless people around this world would be thrilled just to have a page of it in their own language!
Hudson Taylor tells the story of meeting a Mr. Ni…After Mr. Ni received Christ, he asked Hudson for how many years the English people had known the truth.
“Hundreds” replied Hudson.
Mr. Ni was shocked, for he himself searched for the truth for many years without finding it…[yet Hudson Taylor’s people had access to it for centuries.]
Application: what are you doing with the Scriptures that God has given you?
The longer I serve God as a pastor, the more clearly I see: there is such a difference between the Christian who daily reads and meditates on the Scriptures and the Christian who does not. Inexplicably, the life of the first is changed whereas the life of the second remains the same.
So Paul answers the question by explaining the primary benefit afforded to God’s chosen people.
Here’s the clear problem with the question, though.
“If its true that Jews are no more saved than Gentiles, what’s the benefit of being Jewish?”
This question was not coming from someone who was genuinely wanting to know the truth. This was coming from someone who thought that they were superior to everyone else - Romans 2:17.
The Jews that raised these sort of questions to Paul thought that they were saved because they were God’s chosen people. They weren’t asking to learn, they were asking out of unbelief.
That’s the difference between a right and a wrong question!
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“It is human to ask questions, but it is devilish to ask questions because of unbelief.”
The questions of verse 1 effectively say, “Paul, if it’s true that Jewish people are not saved, then why did God make us Jewish? There’s no point in this.”
In unbelief, this was questioning the wisdom of God!
Listen, there is a great gulf between a David that asks God “how long will you forget me?” and a serpent that asks, “hath God said?”
One asks God “why?” and then trusts God no matter the answer. The other asks, “can God even be trusted?”
The difference is unbelief!
Read slowly:
Belief says, “God, why? I don’t understand, but I will trust you anyway.”
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Unbelief says, “God owes me something because of who I am.”
And that was exactly the mindset of the Jewish person that would raise these questions. In unbelief, they questioned the wisdom of God.
As your pastor, I don’t find fault with a Christian that is asking questions of God, but we cross a bright red line when we start asking questions out of unbelief.
Application: what kind of questions are you asking God this morning?
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Questioning the faithfulness of God - Romans 3:3-4
In the immediate months after my wife and I were married, I struggled to find job. I was convinced that God would give me a job at the local Walmart distribution center, and eventually He did, but for different reasons, I didn’t get a job as quickly as I would have liked.
Of course, I’d put an application in at some places and they would say I wasn’t qualified enough.
I put an application in at one place, and they said based on my education, I was over qualified! That took me by surprise and I laughed. I just wanted a job.
Throughout that season, I did question the faithfulness of God a few times. Whether or not I did it in belief or unbelief I don’t know at this point, but that’s what was happening in verse three.
Read Romans 3:3.
As I’ve studied this passage in context, it seems that the argument being made by the Jewish objector is that God made a covenant with Israel that they are His chosen people. Because of that covenant, the Jews must be saved by virtue of being Jewish, or God is not keeping His word. It’s like they are saying,
“Paul, you mean to tell me that because some of our forefathers did not believe, you’re saying that God is breaking his promises?”
Paul’s answer? Absolutely not! Every man will be found a liar before God is found unfaithful.
Application: Christian, anytime we do not understand God’s ways, rest assured, the problem is not with God.
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Unbelief says that our problems are God’s fault.
Toward the end of the book of Job, God comes to Job in a whirlwind and asks him a series of questions.
Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Each of those words carry the idea of quarrelling with God or correcting God.
It’s one thing to question God, it’s quite another to quarrel with Him or to correct Him when life doesn’t go like we planned.
Application: what kind of questions are you asking God this morning?
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Questioning the justice of God - Romans 3:5-8
Listen closely as I read verses 5-8.
Read Romans 3:5-8
The line of argument being made is that “by virtue of contrast, my sin actually helps illustrate God’s righteousness! Paul, you say I’m not living the law perfectly, well that’s just fine, because that just helps to show how high God’s standard really is. In fact, I may as well just sin because I will bring God greater glory! The greater my sin, the greater God’s grace!”
Paul says in verse eight that some people were accusing him of preaching that.
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Unbelief says that because God will get glory through my life one way or another, then I may just live as I please.
Such thinking questions the justice of God.
I have sworn by myself, The word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall swear.
Read slowly:
Application: Church family, God will be glorified through our lives one way or another, but it is much better if He gets glory by our obedience than by our sin.
Conclusion
Conclusion
What kind of questions are you asking God this morning?
Jewish people asked Paul these questions for all the wrong reasons. So why are you questioning God?
There’s been many times that I’ve questioned God. Most I’ve forgotten, but there’s one time that I still remember vividly and I think one reason I remember it is because I was angry.
I was a highschooler working on a dairy farm over in Lebanon county. It was a hot summer day and I was in the main dairy barn where most of herd was kept. I was in the center aisle, using a large push broom, sweeping the feed in so the cows could reach it and eat.
It was a thoughtless, repetitive chore that took about 10 minutes, but as I was working, I was busy questioning God. And I was angry.
I can’t say with exact certainty, but I think I was angry because I wanted to get married but I knew it wasn’t God’s time yet.
I remember that with every push of the broom, I was asking God, “why?”
“Why did you make me this way?”
“Why did you make me with these feelings?”
“Why do I have to wait? Why can’t I just get married now?”
My anger was indicative of my unbelief. I didn’t dare say these words to God, but my anger was saying, “God, I know better than you do. Your timetable is wrong. Your plan is wrong. You’re not always good to me. Your way is not always perfect.”
I could take you to the place where I was working in that barn where God convicted me of that and I repented, and I confessed that sin to the Lord.
The difference between legitimate questions and Illegitimate questions is that one is rooted in faith while the other is rooted in unbelief.
If you are facing circumstances in life that are leading you to ask questions some sobering questions of God, you must do several things:
Establish first that you will take God at his word, regardless of your feelings. Establish that the Bible will be your authority, your bedrock, no matter what.
Second, come to him with your questions, but come to him with humility. I can’t find a Bible verse that says God resists our questions but He does resist the proud.
God may or may not answer all your questions or He may not answer on your timetable. That’s okay. He gets to make that call because He is God.
Through all your questions, trust Him, because He is a righteous God.
