Romans 3:1-5 – “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.  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.”

Paul, describes his ability to have pursued righteousness under the law as greater than that of any other – Phil 3:4-6 – “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:  circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.  from the tribe of Benjamin, and was blameless under the law.  He was a Pharisee among Pharisee.”

Paul also was brought to see that whatever righteousness he thought he had was worthless, compared to the righteousness of Christ.  Phil 3:7 – “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith”

So if we look back in Romans just a few verses, we see that Paul came to understand that a true Jew, the true nation of “Israel” was a matter of the heart, not of physical birth or a physical nation.  Romans 2:28-29 – “For no one is a Jewwho is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.”

So now, as a physical and spiritual Jew, Paul is answering the question for other physical Jews – has God forgotten them?  What benefit was God’s leading them out of Egypt? What benefit was covenanting with Abraham, Moses, and David?  Paul tells us that God’s revelation to Israel was of great value in every respect.  Yes, it’s true that God has revealed himself generally to all men; enough that all men know about Him and are accountable for their turning away from God in their sin, but God has given special revelation of Himself to Israel.  Here the sinfulness of the physical nation of Israel was exposed.  These people did not have any true affection for God, they only were concerned with obtaining salvation and with what God could give them.  Does that sound familiar to what we see in many churches today?  If God’s love extends such that we have the opportunity to know more about Him through special revelation, be it from the law of Moses, or any other scripture, and our response is anything less than delight, what does that tell us?  In Israel’s case, it simply went to show how despite the outward pretenses, the physical nation of Israel didn’t love God anymore than the person in the jungle who didn’t have the law of Moses or any other special revelation of God.

Again, I want to take this opportunity to show, that it doesn’t matter whether or not someone is indocrinated with scripture, has the gospel preached to them daily, or even sees Jesus Christ Himself with their physical eyes, as many in the nation of Israel had… unless God unveils their eyes, they will never turn to Him.  God is the alpha and the omega of salvation.  I realize that we all have an experience daily of “choosing” God – that is a good thing, but God has given us special revelation in His word to see that really, we are hopeless unless God first shows mercy on us to unveil our eyes.  Put another way, even the faith to believe God doesn’t come from within us – it is a gift of God through grace.  (Eph 2:8-9)  For those who are truly “saved”, that salvation is more than salvation from judgment for sin, but it is a salvation of the heart, whereby one’s heart was previously inclined towards sin, and now has been given new affections for God that are growing as they see more and more of Him.  This is why the law of Moses should have been a great delight to the Jews, it gave a picture of Jesus Christ.

Here is my question for us all as Christians – is your primary goal of your own salvation escape from hell or is it to know the risen Lord Jesus Christ in intimate fellowship?  Every one of has enough sin in us that if we’re honest with ourselves simply wants to be free from judgment without really delighting in the character of God and pursuing Him in our own lives.  That is what we need to flee from.  We need to plead for a right understanding of salvation, that God would extend grace to us through His revelation in His Word and give us new great affections for Him.  My prayer daily is that God would continually reveal Himself to me in His Word and incline my heart to Him.  If your goal every day is to pursue joy in knowing Jesus Christ as Lord, you’ll find most of your questions about how to live as a Christian work themselves out naturally.  We live in a time of literally unlimited resources to know Jesus Christ through our churches, books, and online resources.  We have money and time to invest for the Kingdom of God – to pursue treasure that will not fade – to be fishers of men – to overcome bondage to the world and delight ourselves in God.  Don’t be content to assume salvation from judgment (your may assume too much), but earnestly seek to make your heart happy in God each hour of every day.  God Himself is a fountain of joy that is without equal and without end.

Psalm 16:5-11 – “The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.  The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.  I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.  I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.  Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.  For you will not abandon my soul toSheol, or let your holy one see corruption.  You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” 

Grace and Peace,

Adam

Romans 2:25-29 – “For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.  So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?  Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.  For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.  But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.”

Those who where children of the physical nation of Israel assumed that they were God’s people by birth.  Accordingly, on the eight day after their birth, they were to be circumcised.  This was their sign  that they were the covenant people of God, the people whom God loved.  Isn’t it interesting all the different answers that you would receive if you asked a group of professing Christians what makes a Christian?  “My parents were Christians, so I am”  “I go to church”  “I tithe”  “Because Jesus Died for Me”  “I believe in God”  “I read my Bible and Pray”.

When the Pharisees came out to be baptized by John the Baptist, they too thought that this was a sign that needed to be performed by them to be righteous, and John said to them in Luke 3:7-9 – “He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.  Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Paul in Romans 1 and 2 has exposed that these people who were hoping that God would accept them for their outward righteous, had each fallen short, moreover, they were not even close.  The problem is that they were comparing themselves to those around them, and they were able to uphold the law better than most, but the law was not simply “better than most” it was pointing to the perfect righteousness of God.  These people should rather have compared themselves to God, and in His light, the depth of their sin and depravity might have caused them to beg the mercy of God – that was the purpose of the law.  Further, the Romans 2 is going further to show t that while through effort one might be “outwardly” righteous, God delights in the righteousness that is inwardly, that of the heart.  This of course creates a problem, even for those like the Pharisees who claim to be outwardly righteous, because no one is righteous inwardly.  This is what Christ was exposing in Matthew 5:21-22 – “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.“   What a gift we have through the blood of Christ!   Not only was the price paid for our sins, but through faith we have been given the Spirit of God to renew the inner man, and to conform us into the righteousness of Christ.  For those of us who know this hope in Christ, let our faith be genuine, renew the inner man in the washing of the Word of Christ – meditate on the Word; and press on that faith and renewal would have its full effect in overflowing in the proclamation of the gospel with love and good works tos others.

James 2:18-23 – “But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!  Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?  Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?  You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.”

How would you answer the question, “what makes you a Christian”?  Are you the type of person who claims Christ as savior, but are not repentant from your sin?  Does your love for God through faith overflow into your life’s actions?  Certainly we all fall short, but when we do, let’s not decide to shorten the goal; rather let us run the race that has been set before us in love with the grace of God pushing us forward.  There is no salvation through works, but saving faith will always be accompanied by works.

My prayer to our Lord for myself and all of us who are in this race together comes from Psalm 90:14-17 – “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.  Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.  Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.  Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” 

Titus 3:3-8 – “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.  But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Grace and Peace,

Adam

From follow up the last message, I just wanted to quickly clarify what I meant to say, on the subject of salvation for those who do not turn to God in faith for salvation from their sin.  The whole point of Romans 1-3 is to lay out the charge that there is no one righteous, none good; there is no one who seeks after God.  That is true of the person in Africa who never hears the gospel, and that is true of someone in the American church who does hear the gospel every week.  Everyone knows God through creation, and rejects God – 100% of us.  God in His mercy (NOT OBLIGATION) saves some according to His good pleasure.  People have this feeling as though God has “wronged” the person in Africa who rejects Him because they never hear the gospel.  God hasn’t wronged them at all.  They knew God through creation (Romans 1:18-20) and rejected Him.  God never wrongs anyone.  He gives them what they want.  This is the message we hear – John 3:19 – “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”  If you look at all the messages I’ve written in Romans 1 recently and going forward through Romans 3, there is going to be a picture of man before God, and by God’s grace we will see that we are dead – hopeless, guilty in our sin before Him.  I am burdened for those who do not hear the gospel, as all Christians should be, but let us not assume that God will lower his standard of righteousness for anyone.  We are told He does not.  Nahum 1:3 – “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty.  His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.”  He has ordained that one is justified (declared not guilty) by faith in Christ as the means by which one is saved, therefore, I believe the person who does not hear the gospel will die in their sins, be declared guilty in the judgment of God, and be justly damned by God.  This is why you should be eager to preach the good news of Christ to all – faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).

I do have a personal belief (not shared by all) that those who are mentally incapable of understanding God through creation (read as infants and mentally challenged) are in some way covered through Christ.  I get this from the flip side of Romans 1:18-20 – “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”  Thus if God’s attributes cannot be clearly perceived due to mental inability, I would say they would have an excuse and in some way the blood of Christ covers them.  I don’t have an issue with this not being explicit in the Bible, because if it were you’d have a lot of horrible “Christians” (name only) running around trying to murder muslim babies.  I just take that this is part of God’s providential hand in electing some unto salvation, and trust God in that.  Thus you could make an argument for the salvation of all babies and those mentally challenged, but not a Biblical argument for the salvation of the pagan in the wilderness who does not turn from their sin looking to salvation from God.  That said, I do not hold to a specific age (like adolescence), nor a specific mental ability to perceive God (like IQ level) as a “threshold” for salvation through Christ.  Therefore it is immensely important to raise your children in the Lord from an early age, pleading with the God of mercy to let them see the light of the gospel of the Glory of God in Jesus Christ.  Those who are mentally challenged should likewise be raised in the Lord, and have the gospel preached to them.  To have the faith of a child is praised by God – sometimes I wonder if their faith is greater than our own.  Hopefully that is helpful.

On to today’s message… a 2 for 1 deal today!

Romans 2:17-24 – “But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal?  You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?  You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.  For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

This is a message we should all be able to relate to if we have spent any amount of time in the church.  Do you practice what you preach?  Certainly we could all think back over the years and come up with some examples of very hypocritical Christians, who preached the truth of God, but neglected it in their own practice.  Certainly we know some people like that.  How did that make you feel?  Could you see how hurtful that might have been to those outside of the church who knew that this person claimed to be a Christian, yet lived a life of debauchery, or cheated on his/her spouse, or was deceitful in their business dealings?  Many make the argument that the problem with Christianity is the Christians.  They say the most unbelievable part about a God who redeems people from sin, is that there is no visible redemption.  A good response that I’ve heard to those who claim that all Christians are hypocritical, is in asking the question back to the person – who is more hypocritical?  The person who acknowledges their sin and a need for a savior, or the person who sins and denies their need for a savior?  Today is not about other people, however.  Today is about you as an individual.  Could it be said of you, that the name of God is blasphemed by how you live your life?  What about the gospel of Jesus Christ?  Are you a self-righteous person who leans on your good works for assurance of your salvation rather than the grace extended to you through the finished work of Jesus Christ?  Naturally, many of your defense mechanisms are no doubt going off right now, thinking about all the good things you have done, and how you do not fit into this mold of a blasphemer.  My friends, we all are blasphemers.

Paul here is not trying to change behavior merely, although we should all strive to live out the righteousness of God in our lives.  No, Paul is exposing (again) how even those who claim to know God’s law and follow after Him fall short.  He does not make light of this sin, and neither should we.  So my question to you, as the reader – How does your life reflect the gospel – that Jesus Christ is Lord, conqueror of sin, and we are righteous in Him.  Does your heart burn for the fellowship with Christ, away from sin?  Does your hope for salvation rest in your ability, or does your hope for salvation have a name, Jesus Christ?

If you are distant from the Lord today, be encouraged that all Christians struggle:  Hosea 6:1-3 – “Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.  After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.  Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”  

Romans 2:12-16 – “For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.  For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.  For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.  They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.”

This text begs the question, “what is the purpose of the Law”?

The law was given to the Jewish people of Israel in the Old Testament primarily through Moses, but also through the other prophets.  The law revealed the purpose and will of God, but at a larger level, the law pointed to who God was Himself.  For example; we knew when the law said, “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Ex 20:3), that God is ultimate – there is none greater to be known and worshipped.  The law, in all its perfection, was not meant to show the level of righteousness required for salvation, but to point us to salvation in the Righteous One, Jesus Christ.  Thus the law was meant to be a great blessing.

Unfortunately, every one of us is sinners.  Instead of hearing the law, and delighting in God, we each turned away from the righteousness of God to pursue our own sinful desires.  This is what Paul says later in Romans 7:7-11 – “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.  I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.  The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.  For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.”

So in short, the purpose of the law is to expose the sin of your heart, so that no one will go before God claiming to be righteous.  The law was given so that you would lose all hope in yourself and hope in the Righteous One, Jesus Christ.  Galatians 3:21-23 – “Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.  But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so thatthe promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.”

So what about those without the law?  If the law came in to reveal the righteousness of God, exposing the sin of all men, what of those who did not hear the law?  You hear it all the time.  What about the person in the jungle who never hears about God?    It may seem at first that the scripture above giving these people an “out”, but it is not.  Paul has already addressed that all men have turned from God in chapter 1 immediately before this passage.  All those without the written law know God through what has been made.  Further, there is an understanding of basic morality in all men, written on their hearts.  Many refer to this as their conscience.  It may be permissible to do many things in different cultures, but none of them glorify stealing your neighbors possessions or stealing/sleeping with his wife.  If those things occur, they are merely an outward manifestation of how sinful those people are, just as we all are apart from the grace of God.  What does God say?  Matthew 25:43-45 – “I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’  Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'”   Moreover, Galatians 5:14 – “Forthe whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  God will judge those without the law on what they did know of Him through creation, which we know is a lot from Romans 1, and how they loved their neighbor.

So God is just.  He will judge righteously with justice, but we know that none save those who hope in the perfect Righteousness of Christ shall be saved.  This is why we are told in Isaiah 52:7 – “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation,who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”  If you love your friends, if you love your family, if you love those around you, if you are burdened for the nations; preach them the gospel.  Delight yourself in the Lord, and proclaim His victory over sin and death to all.  Do not be burdened by words, do not be anxious for a response, simply proclaim the truth that we are all dead in our trespasses, but God has ransomed His people through Jesus Christ on the cross, dead, buried, risen again to eternal life, and all who come to Him in repentance of sins shall be saved – Our God Reigns.  Let all who would come, come.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

Romans 2:6-11 – “He will render to each one according to his works:  to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.”

Now I will go on record here to say with absolute confidence, that the apostle Paul was personally more righteous than myself.  Not in the sense that we both have inherited Christ’s righteousness through our faith in the shed blood of Christ, but in his sanctification, being he was further along than I am.  Yet, if he did not rest in sins overcome, but continued to strain forward towards the righteousness of Christ, how much more should I arm myself with the same purpose?  How much more should we all?

Mark 1:2-4 – “As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness:  ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'”  John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”   When a king was preparing to come to a town, his servants would go before him, and ensure that the road to the town was prepared, made straight, such that the king’s travel would be made easier.  The apostle John went before the Lord Jesus and prepared the way for coming King.

Romans 1:28-32 – “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.  They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”

I hope you all had a great holiday.  I also hope that you were challenged, but encouraged from the last message.  Paul takes much of the first three chapters of Romans to essentially drive home one single point – “no one is righteous, no, not one, no one understands, no one seeks for God.”  (Romans 3:10-11)  If you come into these messages with that understanding, you will know that the overall effect of these messages will be that no one will leave feeling good about themselves.  This is immensely unpopular in a society where everything is geared around making you feel good about yourself.  Self-esteem is lifted up as ultimate, where if someone doesn’t feel good about themselves, it is seen as a negative.  My hope through these messages from Romans 1-3 is not that you would walk away hating yourself, but that you would see that everything good in you is not your own, but wholly attributed to Christ.  By nature, you were a child of wrath, opposed to God – therefore in His eyes, there was NOTHING in you that was to be admired; it is only the grace, love, and mercy of Christ that saves you, and if you walk in His grace, whatever good is manifested within your life, must be due to His influence; Christ in you.  Put simply, before you can truly hope in Christ, you must lose all hope in yourself.  My encouragement is to read these messages to their completion, lest you be discouraged; each day will conclude by pointing us to the shed blood of Christ; where we can know peace, joy, and reconciliation to God.

The last message was almost wholly devoted to answering one question – is God just do condemn everyone.  Hopefully, that question was answered “yes” for you last time.  If you hold back reservations on the justice of God in condemning sinners, it will be very difficult for you to understand His grace and mercy through Christ; hidden somewhere deep within your soul you will always think that somehow His “saving” you was owed to you in some way.  You will always believe that you made a “right” decision, and therefore God was obliged to save you, whereas someone else made a “wrong” decision – implying that you are in some way “good” apart from God.  Christianity is not built on that understanding, however.  We are all, every one of us, fallen, apart, opposed to God from birth; sin is not something we merely do, it is who we are.  There is no room in Christianity for pride, even in a “decision”, because even the faith to believe is a gift of God.  So we are to be the most humble of all people, passionate in prayer that God’s will would be that many would be saved; and trusting that He is good and just in everything He does.

So, if everyone from birth rejects God, what is God’s response?  Does God have to intervene in order for men to continue in their sin?  NO!  “since they (men) did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done”  God simply says, “ok” if you do not want joy and peace in worship of me, then do what seems best to you in your darkened mind.  What is the result?  Sin begets greater sin, begets even greater sin still.  What is amazing is that the Bible tells us that all of us understand within ourselves that through our actions we have opposed our Creator, and deserve to die, yet we continue in our sin and approve of others who do so as well.  This the futility of mind that is spoken of in Ephesians 4:17-19 – “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles (referenced here as non-believers) do, in the futility of their minds.  They are darkened in their understanding,alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.  They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity” 

I want you all to see something here that is very important.  Many people (who didn’t read the last message…) will say, “well I was never told the gospel, so God can’t bring me into judgment” or “I never knew of Jesus, so I can’t be held accountable to Him.”  People are not ignorant of God because of their location, like lets say… the desert of Africa or the wilderness of southeast Asia; people are ignorant of God because every person chooses to be.  They supress the truth of God and choose ignorance out of the hardness of their heart.  This is what it says here in Romans when is says that people “did not see fit to acknowledge God” but continued in sin, and also in Ephesians above when it says “the ignorance that is in them” is “due to their hardness of heart”.  That’s an amazing truth that should shut the mouths of everyone seeking to deny the justice of God in condemning all sinners.  Ignorance is the result of, not the cause of a hardness of heart against God.  The heart is born hard; against God, and produces every sort of evil; it even seeks to “invent” new kinds of evil.  You can see this all around you, and perhaps even you have been able to see this in your own life.  One sin, led to another sin, which led to a new sin that you wouldn’t have even thought yourself capable of before.

My exhortation today is to not try to justify yourself before God.  None of us is righteous before Him.  There is only one person who is righteous before God – Jesus Christ.  Therefore, do not harden your heart against Him today in sin or self-righteousness.  Lift up empty hands to Christ, and be strengthened.  Do not be like Esau, we are told of in Hebrews 12:12-17 – “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.  Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.  See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.  For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.”  Hell will be full of self-righteous, “good” and “moral”, people.  Today is the day of salvation; rest your hope completely on the grace that is yours in Jesus Christ.  If you are not found in the grace of God, no good work will ever save you in the Day of Judgment.  If you are found in the grace of God, though you may have committed all sorts of evil, the shed blood of Christ is infinitely more precious, and covers all your sin.  Run to Christ, embrace Him without delay.  Consider yourself dead to those lusts of the flesh which would have you as their slave, and embrace the Master whose love knows no end.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

Romans 1:18-25 – “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.  Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” 

Today we’re moving beyond Paul’s introduction to his letter to the church at Rome.  He is now going to begin to explain the gospel in 4 parts; man’s accountability in unrighteousness before God (Rom 1:18-3), man’s justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Rom 4-8), the sovereignty of God in salvation (Rom 9-11), and applications of the gospel of Jesus (Rom 12-15).  Romans 16 is Paul’s closing personal remarks to the church at Rome.  So today we pick up with the beginning of Paul’s argument for man’s accountability in unrighteousness before God.

Today’s title may seem a bit harsh to some; that’s good.  I’ve taken the title from a sermon from Jonathan Edwards, and I’ve also pulled some material from there (slightly adjusted for modern reading).  Ultimately, many people want to sit in judgment of God.  They want to take issue with the fact that he saves some and does not choose to save others.  They believe that’s not fair, or not in keeping with the love/justice of God.  They would like to take the words of God, and make his salvation obligatory based on their actions rather than a gift.  The problem with that thinking is two-fold; one is that it reeks of pride, seeking to turn God into a puppet and second is that salvation based on obligation under any circumstances ceases to be a gift, it would be a wage due.  Ultimately people want to treat a hand raised, a prayer spoken, an action taken, as a work that obligates God to give them salvation as a wage.  Yet we know from Ephesians 2:8-9 – “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  So today I want to use Romans 1:18-25 as my focus text, and lay out for you the many reasons that despite whatever your claims to a merited salvation, God owes you nothing, and would be just if he were to judge you in your sin, damning you to hell.  I fully expect some unsubscribe requests after this… this message is about as close to a “congregation clearing” message as I can get through email.  That’s ok.  Soft preaching makes for hard hearts and hard preaching makes soft hearts.  My goal is your enlightenment in Truth.  My hope is that you would stop leaning on your own “decision” for Christ, or your current works, but that you would plead with the risen Lord, Jesus Christ, for mercy as the tax collector in Luke 18:13.  My hope is that you would learn what it means to plead for and rest in each day; in the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.  He must increase, and I must decrease.  All that said, I want you to finish this message challenged, but encouraged.  This message will take around 30 minutes to read.  Do NOT start to read this message if you cannot spend the time to finish it.  That will make more sense later.

There are two reasons above that are given about man’s accountability in unrighteousness before God.  The eternal power of God and His divine nature (read as the characteristics of God, ie. His perfection, His goodness, His justice, His wrath, His being orderly, His relational being, etc.) have been clearly perceived in creation for all time.  CLEARLY perceived.  One might have an argument before God to say that they did not know him if He hid Himself in some way, and therefore should not be accountable before Him for their sin against their Creator.  This argument falls flat, however, because God tells us that everyone knows God, clearly through His creation.  There has never been a point in time where this has not been the case.  Side note – this is immensely important to evangelism.  While this verse shuts up all men under just accountability to God, it also tells us that there is no such thing as an atheist… everyone knows that there is a God and further, they actually know a great deal about Him.  This is helpful to be bold in your evangelism, even to professing atheists.

So everyone knows God, they understand that they were created by Him and they understand much about His character.  What do men do with this truth?  They suppress it in unrighteousness.  They choose not to worship and enjoy the glory of God, and instead ignore God.  By willfully acting against the nature of God, through sinning in unrighteousness, man’s desire is to forsake God and worship a God of their own making.  What about the person in Africa who never hears the gospel?  They knew God through creation, and willfully chose to forsake Him and worship a God of their own making.  There is no distinction here; everyone rejects God.  Here are some excerpts from Edwards that I would call you to consider:

If God should for ever cast you off, it would be exactly agreeable to your treatment of him.

You never so much as stirred one step, sincerely making the glory of God your end, or acting from real respect to him: and why then is it hard if God doth not do such great things for you, as the changing of your nature, raising you from spiritual death to life, conquering the powers of darkness for you, translating you out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son, delivering you from eternal misery, and bestowing upon you eternal glory? You were not willing to deny yourself for God; you never cared to put yourself out of your way for Christ; whenever any thing cross or difficult came in your way, that the glory of God was concerned in, it has been your manner to shun it, and excuse yourself from it. You did not care to hurt yourself for Christ, whom you did not see worthy of it; and why then must it be looked upon as a hard and cruel thing, if Christ has not been pleased to spill his blood and be tormented to death for such a sinner.

You have slighted God; and why then may not God justly slight you? Are you more honourable than God, that he must be obliged to make much of you, how light soever you make of him and his glory?  And you have not only slighted God in time past, but you slight him still. You indeed now make a pretence and show of honouring him in your prayers, and attendance on other external duties, and by sober countenance, and seeming devoutness in your words and behaviour; but it if all mere dissembling. That downcast look and seeming reverence, is not from any honour you have to God in your heart, though you would have God take it so.

Why should God be looked upon as obliged to bestow salvation upon you, when you have been so ungrateful for the mercies he has bestowed upon you already?  God has watched over you, and preserved you, and provided for you, and followed you with mercy all your days; and yet you have continued sinning against him. He has given you food and raiment, but you have improved both in the service of sin. He has preserved you while you slept; but when you arose, it was to return to the old trade of sinning.

Consider how often you have refused to hear God’s calls to you, and how just it would therefore be, if he should refuse to hear you when you call upon him. You are ready, it may be, to complain that you have often prayed, and earnestly begged of God to show you mercy, and yet have no answer of prayer: One says, I have been constant in prayer for so many years, and God has not heard me. Another says, I have done what I can; I have prayed as earnestly as I am able; I do not see how I can do more; and it will seem hard if after all I am denied. But do you consider how often God has called, and you have denied him? God has called earnestly, and for a long time; he has called and called again in his word, and in his providence, and you have refused. It has been easy for you to show no regard to his calls. You let him call as loud and as long as he would; for your part, you had no desire to attend to what he said; you had other business to mind; you had these and those lusts to gratify and please, and worldly concerns to attend to; you could not afford to stand considering of what God had to say to you.

If you should for ever be cast off by God, it would be agreeable to your treatment of Jesus Christ.

It would have been just with God if he had cast you off for ever, without ever making you the offer of a Saviour. But God hath not done that; he has provided a Saviour for sinners, and offered him to you, even his own Son Jesus Christ, who is the only Saviour of men. All that are not for ever cast off are saved by him.

If God offers you a Saviour from deserved punishment, and you will not receive him, then surely it is just that you should go without a Saviour. Or is God obliged, because you do not like this Saviour, to provide you another? Is he obliged to save you in a way of your own choosing, because you do not like the way of his choosing? (Herein I would ask you to consider that if salvation belongs to the Lord, as it is His pleasure to be merciful upon whom he will have mercy, would you reject a Christ who saves to the uttermost, to ask God to provide a Christ who makes all men savable and the option to believe their own? – Adam)

I am sensible that by this time many persons are ready to object against this.  If all should speak what they now think, we should hear a murmuring all over the meeting-house, and one and another would say, “I cannot see how this can be, that I am not willing that Christ should be my Saviour, when I would give all the world that he was my Saviour: how is it possible that I should not be willing to have Christ for my Saviour when this is what I am seeking after, and praying for, and striving for, as for my life?”  Here therefore I would endeavour to convince you, that you are under a gross mistake in this matter.  Consider:

There is a great deal of difference between a willingness not to be damned, and a being willing to receive Christ for your Savior. You have the former; there is no doubt of that: nobody supposes that you love misery so as to choose an eternity of it; and so doubtless you are willing to be saved from eternal misery. But that is a very different thing from being willing to come to Christ: persons very commonly mistake the one for the other, but they are quite two things. You may love the deliverance, but hate the deliverer.

It is evident that you are not willing to accept of Christ as your Saviour; because you have never had a true sense of your own sinfulness, and accompanying conviction of your great guilt in God ‘s sight, as to be truly convinced that you lay justly condemned to the punishment of hell.  You have never been convinced that you had forfeited all favour, and are in God’s hands, and at his sovereign and arbitrary disposal, to be either destroyed or saved, just as he pleased. You never yet have been convinced of the sovereignty of God. Hence are there so many objections arising against the justice of your punishment from original sin, and from God’s decree, from mercy shown to others, and the like.

You are not sincerely willing to accept of Christ as your Saviour, appears by this, That you never have been convinced that he is sufficient for the work of your salvation. You never had a sight or sense of any such excellency or worthiness in Christ, as should give such great value to his blood and his mediation with God, as that it was sufficient to be accepted for such exceeding guilty creatures, who have so provoked God, and exposed themselves to such amazing wrath. Saying it is so and allowing it be as others say, is a very different thing from being really convinced of it, and a being made sensible of it in your own heart. The sufficiency of Christ depends upon, or rather consists in his excellency.

You are not convinced of Christ’s faithfulness; as is evident, because at such times as when you are in a considerable measure sensible of your guilt and God’s anger, you cannot be convinced that Christ is willing to accept of you, or that he stands ready to receive you, if you should come to him, though Christ so much invites you to come to him, and has so fully declared that he will not reject you, if you do come; as particularly, John 6:37. “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”

You are not willing to be saved wholly by Christ, as is evident, because you are not willing that your own goodness should seen to be nothing.  In the way of salvation by Christ men’s own goodness is wholly set at nothing; there is no account at all made of it.  You make much of your own efforts in prayer and study, that you believe God in some way should manifest salvation to you.

Seeing therefore it is so evident, that you refuse to accept of Christ as your Saviour, why is Christ to be blamed that he does not save you?

Here some would come with the objection:  If I am not willing to have Christ for my Saviour, I cannot make myself willing.

It is no excuse, that you cannot receive Christ of yourself, unless you would if you could.  If you are not willing to accept of Christ, it follows that you have no sincere willingness to be willing; because the will always approves of and rests in its own acts. To suppose the contrary, would be to suppose a contradiction; it would be to suppose that a man’s will is contrary to itself, or that he wills contrary to what he himself wills.

Sinners therefore spend their time in foolish arguing and objecting, making much of that which is good for nothing, making those excuses that are not worth offering. It is in vain to keep making objection. You stand justly condemned. The blame lies at your door: Thrust it off from you as often as you will, it will return upon you.

If God should for ever cast you off and destroy you, it would be agreeable to your treatment of others.- It would be no other than what would be exactly answerable to your behaviour towards your fellow-creatures, that have the same human nature, and are naturally in the same circumstances with you, and that you ought to love as yourself. And that appears especially in two things.

Many of you been opposed in spirit to the salvation of others. It is sometimes manifested by an uneasiness at the news of what others have hopefully obtained. It appears when persons envy others for it, and dislike them the more, and disrelish their talk, and avoid their company, and cannot bear to hear their religious discourse, and especially to receive warnings and counsels from them.

Consider also how you have promoted others’ damnation. Many of you, by the bad examples you have set, by corrupting the minds of others, by your sinful conversation, by leading them into or strengthening them in sin, and by the mischief you have done in human society other ways that might be mentioned, have been guilty of those things that have tended to others’ damnation. You have heretofore appeared on the side of sin and Satan, and have strengthened their interest, and have been many ways an accessary to others’ sins, have hardened their hearts, and thereby have done what has tended to the ruin of their souls.  Christ charges the scribes and Pharisees with this, Matthew 23:13. “woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.”

If God should eternally cast you off, it would simply be agreeable to your own behaviour towards yourself

In being so careless of your own salvation. You have refused to take care for your salvation, as God has counselled and commanded you from time to time; and why may not God neglect it, now you seek it of him? Is God obliged to be more careful of your happiness, than you are either of your own happiness or his glory?  How long, and how greatly, have you neglected the welfare of your precious soul, refusing to take pains and deny yourself, or put yourself a little out of your way for your salvation, while God has been calling upon you! Neither your duty to God, nor love to your own soul, were enough to induce you to do little things for your own eternal welfare; and yet do you now expect that God should do great things, putting forth almighty power, and exercising infinite mercy for it?

You have not only neglected your salvation, but you have wilfully taken direct action to undo yourself. You have gone on in ways and practices which have directly tended to your damnation, and have been perverse and obstinate in it. You cannot plead ignorance; you had all the light set before you that you could desire. God told you that you were undoing yourself; and yet you continued. He told you that the path you were going in led to destruction, and counselled you to avoid it; but you would not listen. How justly therefore may God leave you to be undone!

Some would still want to object here:  “God shows mercy to others that have done these things as well as I, even those that have done a great deal worse than myself.”

That does not prove that God is any way bound to show mercy to you, or them either. If God bestows it on others, he does not so because he is bound to bestow it: he might if he had pleased, with glorious justice, have denied it them. If God bestows it on some, that does not prove that he is bound to bestow it on any; and if he is bound to bestow it on none, then he is not bound to bestow it on you. God is in debt to none.

Further, if this objection is valid, then the exercise of God’s mercy is not in his own right, and his grace is not his own to give. That which God may not dispose of as he pleases, is not his own, and if that is so, then he is not capable of making a gift or present of it to any one; it is impossible to give what is a debt.  What is it that you would make of God? Must the great God be tied up, that he must not use his own pleasure in bestowing his own gifts, but if he bestows them on one, must be looked upon obliged to bestow them on another?

If he has a mind to show peculiar favour to some, and not others, he cannot do it; because he has no special gift at his own disposal. If this is the case, why do you pray to God to bestow saving grace upon you? If God does not do fairly to deny it you, because he bestows it on others, then it is not worth your while to pray for it, but you may go and tell him that he has bestowed it on others as bad or worse than you, and so demand it of him as a debt. And at this rate persons never need to thank God for salvation, when it is bestowed; for what occasion is there to thank God for that which was not at his own disposal, and that he could not fairly have denied? The thing at bottom is, men have low thoughts of God, and high thoughts of themselves; and therefore they look upon God as having so little right, and they so much. Matthew 20:15. “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?” 

God may justly show greater respect to others than to you, for you have shown greater respect to others than to God. You have rather chosen to offend God than men. God only shows a greater respect to others, who are by nature your equals, than to you; but you have shown a greater respect to those that are infinitely inferior to God than to him. You have shown a greater regard to wicked men than to God; you have honoured them more, loved them better, and adhered to them rather than to him. Yea, you have honoured the devil, in many respects, more than God: you have chosen his will and his interest, rather than God’s will and his glory.

Many of you will you not be ashamed, notwithstanding all these things, to still to open your mouth, to object about the decrees and soveriegnty of God, and other things that you cannot fully understand.  Let the decrees of God be what they will, that doesn’t change the case as to your liberty in rejecting Him.  What is that to you, how God has fore-ordered things, as long as your constant experience teaches you, that it does not hinder your doing what you choose to do. This you know, and your daily practice and behaviour amongst men declares that you are fully sensible of it with respect to yourself and others.  Still to object, because there are some things in God’s dispensations above your understanding, is exceedingly unreasonable. Your own conscience charges you with great guilt, and with those things that have been mentioned, let the secret things of God be what they will.

All of this said, I would caution anyone not to seek to improve upon this doctrine of discouragement.  Though it would be righteous of God to forever cast you off, and destroy you, yet it would also be just in God to save you, in and through Christ, who has made complete satisfaction for all sin.  Romans 3:25-26 – “Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”   The blood of Christ is so precious, that it is fully sufficient to pay the debt you have earned, and perfectly to vindicate the Divine Majesty of God from all the dishonour cast upon it, by these many great sins of yours that have been mentioned. It was as great, and indeed a much greater thing, for Christ to die, than it would have been for you to have burnt in hell to all eternity. Of such dignity and excellency is Christ in the eyes of God, that, seeing he has suffered so much for poor sinners, God is willing to be at peace with them, however vile and unworthy they have been, and on how many accounts soever the punishment would be just. So that you need not be at all discouraged from seeking mercy, for there is enough in Christ.

It would not become the glory of God’s majesty to show mercy to you, so sinful and vile a creature, for any thing that you have done; for such worthless and despicable things as your prayers, and other religious performances. It would be very dishonourable and unworthy of God so to do, and it is in vain to expect it. He will show mercy only on Christ’s account; and that, according to his sovereign pleasure, on whom he pleases, when he pleases, and in what manner he pleases. You cannot bring him under obligation by your works; do what you will, he will not look on himself obliged. But if it be his pleasure, he can honourably show mercy through Christ to any sinner of you all, not one excepted.  Therefore here is encouragement for you still to seek and wait, notwithstanding all your wickedness; agreeable to Samuel’s speech to the children of Israel, when they were terrified with the thunder and rain that God sent, and when guilt stared them in the face, 1 Samuel 12:20. “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.” 

For those who know God, and are accounted as righteous by Him through the blood of Christ, be encouraged by this reminder; so great a value has God’s grace set on you and your happiness, that you have been redeemed at the price of the blood of his own Son. You chose to be with Satan in his service; but yet God has made you a joint heir with Christ of his glory. You were ungrateful for past mercies; yet God not only continued those mercies, but bestowed unspeakably greater mercies upon you.  You abused the infiniteness of God’s mercy to encourage yourself in sin against him; yet God has manifested the infiniteness of that mercy, in the exercises of it towards you. You have rejected Christ, and viewed Him as nothing; and yet he has revealed Himself to you becoming your Saviour. You have neglected your own salvation; but God has not neglected it. You have destroyed yourself; but yet in God has been your help. God has magnified his gift of grace towards you, and not to others; because he has chosen you, and it hath pleased him to set his love upon you.

What cause is here for praise! What obligations you are under to bless the Lord who hath dealt bountifully with you, and magnify his holy name! What cause for you to praise God in humility, to walk humbly before him. Ezekiel 16:62-63. “I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD, that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord GOD.”  You shall never open your mouth in boasting, or self-justification; but lie the lower before God for his mercy to you. You have reason, even more abundantly, to open your mouth in God’s praises, that they may be continually in your mouth, both here and to all eternity, for his rich, unspeakable, and sovereign mercy to you, whereby he, and he alone, has made you to differ from others.

Grace and Peace,

Adam