What's The Advantage?

There are times in life when we feel like we are disadvantaged.

Too poor, too rich, etc. These are man-made advantages.

We also have advantages.

Paul explained to the Romans that Jewish heritage, knowledge, and circumcision alone gave them nothing.

Some might have asked the question, “Then are you saying that it is better to be a Gentile?” Paul’s answer was “absolutely not!”

Paul finally answers the question of the day: What is our advantage as religious people?

1. The Word of God is in Our Hands. (v. 1-2)

The Jews has the 10 commandments and knew God’s expectation of His people.

There is no favoritism with God and He punishes sin when He sees it.

Paul believed that the Jews had a responsibility with this knowledge. The Jews only saw privilege.

Called to live a special, set apart life. Not do whatever they wanted.

“oracles” - Associated with pagan religions. Mediums would predict the future.

Paul wrote that we have the words of the one, true living God in our hands.

We have a responsibility to give His words our attention and focus.

2. God is Faithful to the Unfaithful. (v. 3-8)

No matter how the Jews responded to His promises, God kept His word.

While their sin was rejected by God, the door to salvation for the Jews was/is still opened. Their unbelief opened the doors for Gentiles to receive Christ.

But, this knowledge did not encourage the Jews to sin all that they wanted knowing they would be forgiven.

Paul instead expozed their legalism. When a Christian lives in continual unrepentant sin, it’s a mark of having no salvation at all.

God is just to condemn sin.

Christians have an amazing ability to justify sinful behavior.

The root of all sin is disobedience. (Now matter how we spin or explain it.)

Just because we play around with sin doesn’t mean that God will.

3. We Know the Charge Against Sin. (v. 9-20)

Jews and Gentiles are all in the same place. “under sin”.

hupo hamartian = “under the authority of”

In a Christless state, men and women are under sin. Helpless to escape.

Paul uses a common method in rabbinical preaching called “charaz” which means “stringing pearls together” by taking parts of ; ; ; ; , and and stringing them together to make 1 point.

***Because of sin, there is no one who is good***

The easy way to avoid this subject is to say, “Well I did this bad thing, but I’m not a killer or something” or “My child did this, but they didn’t do what that other kid did.”

That talk may be understood by your friends and help you sleep at night, but it doesn’t hold up in God’s court.

Apart from Jesus saving you, you are not good.

Verse 20 tells us that this is the entire point of God’s law.

Without Jesus saving man from sin, Noah was a liar, Jacob was a drunk, Moses was a murderer, Rahab was a prostitute, David was an adulterer, Peter was a traitor, Paul was an enemy to God, and every other person of the bible.

We all have charges against us for which we are guilty in the court of God. Someone has to step in and clean up our mess.

What’s the advantage of being religious people? We have this evidence against ourselves and we know it. The question is, what will be done about it?