Roaming Through Romans: Lesson 8: Romans 3:9-31

the Roaming Through Romans material, if you turn to page 34, we'll be looking this morning at Romans chapter 3, verses 9 through 31. That's Romans 3, verses 9 through 31. As we begin to look at this final section, Paul will begin in verse 9 through 20 of chapter 3, he will start by sort of summarizing all that he's been saying since verse 18 of chapter 1.

You will remember probably at this point that in Romans 1, 18 through 32, he was explaining that the Gentiles were sinners, that they were underneath the wrath of God, and therefore they needed Christ. But then he turned in chapter 2 verse 1 to show that the Jews, the religious moral man, also needs Christ because he is also a sinner and in need of a savior. And so he's been making that argument about the Jews since chapter 2 verse 1 through chapter 3 verse 8. And now, as he comes to chapter 3, verse 9 through 20, he's going to summarize everything he's been saying since chapter 1, verse 18. Essentially, he's going to say, I've been telling you that the Gentiles are sinners and need a Savior. I've been telling you the Jews are sinners and need a Savior. Therefore, everyone is a sinner and needs a Savior. Because those are the two sort of distinctions of humankind in a biblical mindset.

It's Jews and Gentiles. That's everybody. There's no other type of category in their minds. So chapter 3 verse 9, again summarizing what he's been arguing now, says, As it is written, none is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good. No, not even one.

Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, and their paths are ruin and misery and the way of peace they have not known.

There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin. So what is the major theme of chapter three, verses nine through 20? Well, it's this, all men are sinners. and guilty before God. All men are sinners and guilty before God. So can a person be made righteous in God's sight by their law-keeping? Why or why not? No, right?

They can't do it. And the reason the answer is no is because as Paul says back in verse 10, of chapter three, none is righteous, no, not one. No one understands. So the reason a sinner cannot be righteous by his law-keeping is because he can't keep the law, because he isn't a law-keeper, because he's unrighteous. No one does good, no, not one. So we have to take our understanding of humankind as well as all other matters, but it has to come from God's authoritative word. So what this says about every human being is that apart from Christ, they are unrighteous. They do not do good. They are evil. That's what the text says. And so this has to be how we view humanity, not in a bleak and despairing way, but in an honest, realistic way. This is what God's Word says. God's Word knows man better than man knows man. This is the truth.

Back in verse 18 of chapter 1, Paul began making the case that we are sinners underneath the wrath of God. He is now bringing that argument to a close in the words of chapter 3, verses 9 through 20. The question then arises, how can we be justified, or we might put it like this, if we are sinners, which is what Paul has been trying to show us now for two and a half chapters. If we are sinners, how can we be declared righteous? How can we be declared righteous?

And that brings us now to chapter three, verses 21 and following. Well, the first verse here, chapter 3, verse 21, let's just read that. So commenting on verse 21, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, But now, but now, and that's what you see in chapter 321. But now, the righteousness of God has been manifested.

These two words contrast our dead, and it should say helpless, our dead and hopeless, or hopeless, our dead and hopeless estate outside of Christ with our living and hopeful estate inside of Christ. Now you see that long list of passages there. We're not going to read all of them, but maybe I'll just read a few from the book of Romans, so we only need to read the book, that have this but now. Every one of those passages you see there, in that parentheses, all of those are but now passages. So for example, in Romans chapter 6, Verse 21, what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed?

For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. Romans chapter 7 verse 5 and 6. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written And then I'll just read one more so we can see it again. Romans chapter 16, beginning in verse 25. now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel in the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal God to bring about the obedience of faith To the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen. So if you were to want, if you wanted to, you could go through all of these passages here that are in those parentheses and see how over and over and over again, the scriptures, particularly here in the New Testament, we have these, but now passages where it's contrasting who we were. And then, but now this is who we are in Christ. This is who I was, but now I am this.

So as one person put it, imagine you're drowning, your lungs are burning, your arms are failing, the water is closing over your head, then a hand breaks through the surface and pulls you up. That first gasp of air, that desperate breath, that's but now. For 62 verses, we've been underwater. These two words are the lifeguard. I love that imagery, right? These two words, but now is the lifeguard coming in and pulling us up and rescuing us. How do you think these two words might help you in your fight against sin and the devil?

Well, as I've thought about that question, it gets the focus off of myself, doesn't it? It helps me go, But now I am a new creation in Christ. We all are prone, right, to think that all we are is the sort of sum total of our sins and our wickedness. That's fundamentally who we are. But that's actually not. We are new creations in Christ Jesus. But now I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. But now I don't have to live the way I used to live. But now I don't have to act how I used to act. But now I don't have to think how I used to think.

Why? Because I am in Christ. Because I am a new creation. Because I have been redeemed. And we're constantly feeling that pull as believers to think that the core of who I am is still who I once was, that old man. But that isn't who we are. We are new creations in Christ Jesus. So that encourages me, encourages us, I think, to live differently. Why would I live like somebody who doesn't know Christ? Because that's not who I am. I'm not that person.

I am a Christian. I am redeemed. I am a believer in God. I have been rescued from sin and death. And so we constantly feel that pull to live like what we once were, but we have to renew, but now that's not who I am anymore. That's not who I am. I'm not that. I'm not that way. I'm not that person by God's grace.

Will a person be accepted by God if they have a lot of faith in the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and they are really sincere. Why or why not? What do you think? Yeah, right? No, they won't. They won't be saved even if they have really sincere and large amounts of faith in the Prophet Muhammad. Well, look what verse 22 says. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. our faith must be in Jesus Christ. And this is very actually important because it's a common way of thinking, certainly in our day and age, and I'm sure it's nothing new, to think, well, as long as you're sincere in wherever you place your faith, you'll be fine when you die.

No, you won't. It doesn't matter how sincere your faith is. I mean, let's just think about the horrible, awful events that took place in 9-11. Obviously those people were pretty sincere if they were willing to get into a plane and fly it into buildings. They obviously had to be sincere. They were very sincere, but it doesn't matter, because the object of their faith, the one in whom they were believing, was a lie. And so they died in their sins, unless, you know, somehow they repented right before they flew the, you know, and they knew Christ.

But I don't think we have any reason to believe that's the case. So my point is, it doesn't matter how sincere a person is, their object must be Christ. And again, that's what the text says. The righteousness, verse 22, of God through faith, not just abstractly, but in Jesus, Christ. That is where our faith must be placed. So it is the blank of faith that saves. It is the object of faith that saves.

The illustration that my youth pastor used to always give, and I always loved, I remember when I was a little boy in youth group, is he would say, He would always bring an illustration out as if it may have happened, and he would never tell you if it was true or not.

So at the time, one of my older brothers had gotten married, and he was helping with the youth group, and he would tell the story this way. He would say, Michael and Joy on their honeymoon just a couple years ago, and they got married. I don't know if y'all heard about it. He would tell it just like that. I don't know if y'all heard about this, and we're all 12 years old.

But they were on their honeymoon, they were going around the Grand Canyon, and actually, Michael slipped and fell. He fell down the side of the mountain. Of course, you're thinking, 12 years old, you're thinking, I'm thinking, I know this didn't happen, I know my brother, but everybody else in the room, they're, you know, is this?

Anyways, so he falls down the mountain, and as he was falling, he thought to himself, oh, if only there was some sort of stick that I could grab onto, you know, that's coming out of the side of the mountain, so that I could be saved. And so here Michael is, he's falling down the mountain, you know, the time slows down, you know, his first graduation's going through his brain when he graduated, you know, kindergarten and all these things, and he's falling and he sees this little twig and he has all the faith in the world and he says, this twig is gonna hold me, and he's so confident. He grabs the twig and what happened? The twig broke because the object was not going to be sufficient. And then he's falling and getting even closer to the ground and sees this giant branch coming out of the side of the Grand Canyon.

He thinks, I don't think this is going to hold me, but I got no choice. I'm going to go for it. He had very little faith, but he grabbed hold of that stick. Like, log, really. Well, it held him, even though his faith was weak. Why? Because it was the right object. It was a sufficient object. The first time, he might have had all the faith in the world, but he grabbed a little twig, and so he just kept falling.

And then, of course, the rescuers got their helicopters and they whisked him away. But that's the imagery that we can think of to help us understand what it means that Christ is the object of our faith. Even though my brother Michael, falling down that mountain, didn't have great confidence. He had the right object, he had a sufficient branch coming out of the side of this mountain to save him, and so he was saved, and so it is for us in Christ.

It is important to note that there are, it's topic 35, that there is much content about this object of faith set forth. It isn't merely saying you have faith in Jesus, which is true, But knowing who he is... That takes you back to chapter one, verses three and four, that he is the son of David, that he is resurrected in power, all those things from chapter one, verses three and four, and what he has done, which is where we are right now.

So we have to know something about this Jesus. It can't just be somebody who knows, they've heard the name Jesus, and that you should have faith in somebody named Jesus, but they literally know nothing about him. They've never heard of the cross. And they say, well, I have faith in Jesus. But if you said, well, what did Jesus do for you? They would say, I don't know.

Well, who is he? somebody who lived a long time ago that's not that's not saving faith you have to have some knowledge now we can be careful we don't have to say i'm not i don't have the ultimate authority to exactly where that um what how much exactly that knowledge must be but we can acknowledge that there has to be more knowledge than, oh, I've heard of somebody named Jesus who lived a long time ago, and I like him, and I have faith in him. Well, what does that mean? Well, who was he? What did he do? Do you realize you are a sinner, and that's why you need him, because he went to a cross and died for you in your place, that he is God, and those sorts of things. So it has to be knowledge, knowing who he is and what he has done.

Well, will a person be accepted by God if they never have doubts or weak faith? Or sorry, if they ever have doubts or weak faith, why or why not? So will a person be saved if they have doubts or weak faith? Well, the answer is yes, if it's in the right object, because it's the blank of faith that saves. It's the object of faith that saves.

Again, this illustration, I think I might have used this in a sermon recently, but in Exodus 12, God promises to inflict judgment on the firstborn of all the Egyptians who enslaved his people. The only way God's people can escape the judgment is by the shedding of blood.

They must shed the blood of a lamb and put the blood on the edges of their door. When the angel comes to administer judgment, he will pass over every house where the blood of the lamb is on the edges of the door. Now suppose two families live side by side. Both have killed the lamb and put the blood on the door.

One family is rejoicing in conscious certainty of safety from the destroying plague. The other family is troubled by doubts and worries, questioning and worrying about whether they will really be spared or not. Which of these families is safer? The answer is both alike. are safe." Both alike are safe. Though one has assurance, the other has doubts.

For God had not said, when I see a house where the people have no doubts or worries, I will pass over you. What God had said was, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Exodus 12, 13. The person who is putting his faith in the blood Whatever doubts about himself he may have is saved in God's sight, belongs with the covenant people of God, and ought to partake of the Lord's Supper." It's obviously in the context of the Lord's Supper that this man was writing. But isn't that a wonderful picture, right?

How even though there might have been people, and surely there must have been some Israelites who had doubts when they put the blood of the lamb over their door, and they knew that the destroyer was going to come and take the firstborn of the Egyptians, surely some of them must have had doubts. Is this blood really, I mean, really? Putting a little bit of blood around my door is gonna keep this, Destroyer from coming and killing my firstborn. He's gonna kill my neighbor the Egyptian over there and his firstborn But he's not gonna kill what you could I put I don't know about this.

This seems a little This seems a little questionable and they probably had some doubts and yet God saw the blood and God therefore passed over and so in your life when you're having doubts and When you're unsure of the sufficiency of the blood of Christ, when you're questioning your own standing with God, but in weakness and in feebleness and in frailty, you're looking to Christ and you're saying, I don't have anything. It's got to be that blood or it's nothing. I can't do it. Even though you're weak, it's the blood, and God the Father sees the shed blood of Christ, and he holds you fast in Christ, and you are secure.

But was the idea of being declared righteous in the sight of God apart from the law a new idea that God revealed only after Jesus came? So is this idea of being saved apart from your law-keeping a new idea that didn't exist in the Old Testament? What does verse 21 tell you?

Tells you that the law and the prophets bear witness to it. So it's not a new idea, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. So the law and the prophets apparently were preaching this same truth, that righteousness comes apart from my law-keeping." That's what Paul is suggesting there, and it's similar to what we saw in chapter 1 verse 2 when we learned that the Old Testament scriptures were preaching the gospel. We saw that back in chapter 1 verse 2.

So we have seen that we are not righteous, but we need to be righteous in God's sight, And this is that great quote from William Cunningham, the imputation of the righteousness which God's righteousness required him to require. That's what justification is all about. It's the righteousness that God's righteousness required him to require. This is really the theme of what's before us.

David McWilliams said God could not simply say forgiven unless the law's demands were met. God could not say by divine fiat, I justify you. So God couldn't just tell you, I justify you, and the law's demands not be met. Why couldn't God simply forgive you or justify you by a mere declaration of his will?

And the answer is because, bottom of 35, God is just. God is just, and until the justice of the law is satisfied and the perfection of the law is met, there cannot be justification. So God is just, and until the justice of the law is satisfied and the perfection of the law is met, there cannot be justification.

Right? And I hope that makes sense, right? That God would be unjust if he were to just declare me righteous in his sight without actually fulfilling a law. That would be an unjust God. And we serve a just God. Well, where must we look to be justified?

Faith looks away from blank to blank. Faith looks away from self to Christ. That's what faith does, looks to Christ. The old... way sometimes we can remember what faith is all about. I don't know if you've maybe heard it before, but I think it's helpful. Forsaking all, I trust him. That's what faith is about. Forsaking all, I trust him. F is right for forsaking, then A, all, I trust him.

What does one person deserve to be justified more than another? Why or why not? Does anybody deserve the justification more than anyone else? No, right? None of us deserve it any more than anyone else. Of course, we saw that in 2 Peter chapter 1 this past Sunday in the sermon, that they were equally righteous in God's sight, because it was all about Jesus. Nobody deserved it.

It was God's free grace. And that's what you see as we see in verses 22 through 24 here of chapter 3, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, so no one deserves it more than anyone else, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. There is no distinction between Jew and Greek.

All are sinners in need of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. And you can, I hope you can see too why he might've brought that up at this point, because he's been trying to help us see that no one is better than anyone else. And that's what he's been showing them since chapter one. And then he's saying, therefore, we all need this grace. We all need this Jesus. So point nine here on 36, page 36, what good work must a person do to receive God's grace? Right, none. That's the whole point, right? I hope we get that, but just to make it really clear, there's no good work we do to receive God's grace.

Otherwise, as Paul will say in Romans 11, grace would no longer be grace, right? That's what he says in Romans 11. It's great. It's like, if grace and salvation were by works, then grace would no longer be grace. It's a beautiful little argument Paul uses in Romans 11. Grace is here called a blank, verse 24.

A gift. It's called a gift. Gifts cease to be truly free gifts when you earn them. They're just given out of love. Gift. Point 10 here. What does the word redemption mean? Well, here's one way we might define it. Deliverance by a price. Deliverance by a price. Now we're gonna unpack that a little bit. And I bring this up because in verse 24, he uses this word redemption. Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So what does it mean? Deliverance by a price.

And let's unpack that a little bit. Well, deliverance has to be from something. So from what? Deliverance from what? Well, sin. We talk about the wrath of God as well, but sin. Well, that's what deliverance is from. It's deliverance from sin. Then at what price? If it's deliverance from sin at a price, what is the price? Well, the price of blank, the price of blood.

Okay. Well, let's unpack that a little more. Whose blood? Well, the infinite God's, the infinite God's. So if you're tracking there, that I is blank is sin. then the number two I, the two I's there are blood, and then three I's are the infinite gods. So sin, blood, and infinite gods. It costs an infinite amount for God and is totally free for us.

How could Jesus pay the infinite debt of our sins in his finite time on earth? Well, So does that make sense? If it's an infinite debt, how in a finite duration of time could he pay an infinite debt? How does that work? Well, this is the way we can think about it.

A, here on page 36, underneath, I don't know, about halfway down the page, Jesus's infinite nature gave to his finite sufferings infinite value." Jesus's infinite nature gave to his finite sufferings infinite value. And as I was talking to Mr. Chimney one time, he shared this quote from Dr. Will, and it gets at the same point, and it's quite helpful. It wasn't the blank of Christ's sufferings, but the blank of his sufferings that made it sufficient. It wasn't the quantity of Christ's suffering but the quality of his suffering that made it sufficient. So those are both getting at the exact same idea, but with slightly different language. Point 11 here.

Paul answers two important questions. How can we escape God's wrath? And the answer is propitiation. I think this is verse 25. Yeah. Okay, verse 25. probably gonna read 24 as well, "...and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Verse 25, now, "...whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith." So, Paul is answering two questions here in verse 25.

How can we escape God's wrath? Well, it's by propitiation. What does this mean? This means wrath remover, wrath remover. Jesus Christ was a wrath remover. What propitiation means, it means how do we get the wrath removed? We have the sacrifice of Christ who took God's wrath on himself. Top of 37, do we need God's wrath removed?

Of course the answer is yes, right? How can you prove this from something we have already learned in the Book of Romans? Well, do you remember what we saw back in Romans 1, verse 18? Back in Romans 1 18, we read, for the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And so back in chapter 1 verse 18, the apostle Paul said that mankind is under God's wrath. So we do need to have it removed. So Romans 1 18 has shown us that we need God's wrath removed. and propitiation is the way that takes place.

Christ takes God's wrath on himself in our place for our sins. Could anyone propitiate the wrath of God by shedding their blood for you or did it need to be Jesus? Explain. Do you think that anybody could have shed their blood for you and it would have removed God's wrath for your sins? Yeah, they're all sinners too, right? And even if they were perfect, even if it was a perfect person, could they atone for your sins if they shed their blood for you?

No, because it wouldn't have been of infinite value. Exactly, it wouldn't have been of infinite value. So even a perfect person couldn't sufficiently atone for your sins because it's an infinite cost. So they needed to be a person of infinite value, which only Jesus is. So you could theoretically atone for your, you could save yourself if you were perfect. You couldn't atone for even if you made one sin, you couldn't atone for it because it's an infinite debt, because God is infinite.

But it, so it had to be Jesus. had to be Jesus's blood, because we had an infinite death, therefore it had to be an infinitely valuable sacrifice. And that's the only way you're gonna find that is in Christ. So there's just nowhere else we can turn other than Jesus.

Three on page 27, God the Father sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. This means that God the Father is just as blank just as invested in saving us as is His Son. God the Father is just as invested in your salvation as the Son. And the reason I say that is because these verses say, verse 25, put forward as a propitiation by his blood. God the Father put his Son forward as a propitiation for our sins.

So it's not as though just the Son was invested in your salvation. The Father is as invested in your salvation as is the Son. and we should be able to remember that by john 3 16 for god and the god there in view is the father the first person of the trinity for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life some people have the tendency to pit the Father and the Son against one another, as if it were the Son alone who loved people and said, I'm gonna go die for them. And the Father really didn't have an interest in us until he was won over by the Son. But that is completely unbiblical, right?

In love, he predestined us. Who was the he who did the predestinating, primarily? the first person of the Trinity. In love, he predestined us before the foundation of the world, that we should be adopted as sons, Ephesians chapter one. And so we never wanna pit the Father and the Son or the Spirit for that matter against each other.

They were all in conjunction. And this should overwhelm us, shouldn't it? With amazement that the whole triune God, who doesn't need me at all, absolutely has love in and of himself because he's triune, he has all the love he needs, would love me. in all of his triunity is an incredible thing. But four, why did God send his son as a propitiatory for our sins?

First and foremost, he did this to show forth his blank, verse 25. This was to show God's righteousness. So it was to show forth his righteousness. That's why he did it, to show forth his righteousness. Because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins.

We'll be here on page 37. How can God accept sinners and remain just in the process? Oh, he has not lowered his standard or set his justice aside. He has satisfied his wrath by pouring it out on Christ in our place as a blank, a substitute, a substitute. Is that how he is?

So this righteous judge, so constituted reality that he can, in history, substitute himself in the person of his son to die in the place of sinners who have broken his law. What a wonderful reality is the gospel that the judge himself submitted himself to be judged. The judge himself submitted himself to be judged. Well, if you are trusting in Jesus, McWilliams states, your sins are as truly punished as if they were consigned to the darkness of hell.

What comforts might you receive from this reality as a Christian? Well, here you are as a Christian today, and every now and then, perhaps even daily, perhaps for some of us who have different, we all have different, you know, struggles and it's fine, but that thought comes up of that thing that I did X amount of days or years or decades ago, right? And we think, again, could I be saved? Could I really be a Christian? Could God really forgive me?

And what this is saying is, despite your struggles, those sins are atoned for in Christ. They have been dealt with. They have been dealt with as if they were consigned to hell forever in Jesus. That's how really and totally they have been done away with in Christ. They have been dealt with. The atonement has been made. You are indeed able to press on. Don't sort of be crippled by your past, but press on in Christ, straining forward, as Paul would say in Philippians 3, looking ahead to what is to come.

Can your sins creep back up and condemn you on the judgment day if you trusted Jesus? Why or not? No, they can't, right? Jesus paid the penalty. No, because Jesus paid the penalty, I can't pay it. even if for some reason i feel like i must pay it or i need to pay it no i i can't do it doesn't matter if even if i want to too bad remember jamie piecer telling me a story about somebody i don't even remember who some some friend of his he knew who was uh I think he was a relatively new believer, and this man was very zealous to share the gospel with people, and I think he was outside of a Walmart or something, and he said, you know, can I tell you about the gospel? Can I tell you about Jesus? And this man said to this friend of Jamie, he said, go to hell! And he said, that's just the problem, I can't. And isn't that the way it is, right? So you could say, I just think I should go to hell. Well, same, right? Obviously there's a sense in which we can say that. I know that that's what I deserve in myself.

The problem is I can't go to hell because Jesus went to hell for me. He took my hell on himself. It doesn't matter how much you might want to convince yourself, I'm just so much of a poor, rotten, yes, okay, I hear you, but Christ took that on himself. So you just stop thinking, you know, I want to go to hell and start thinking, I want to follow Christ because he took my hell on him and I'm just going to live for him.

It's not because I know I'm not worthy. I understand all of that, but Christ has done it for me. So I'm going to strive by grace to live for him. So, end of our passage here, Romans 3, beginning in verse 27. Is a person justified by faith or works? I hope we can get this right. I know we can. Of course it's by faith, but I just want to keep driving it home because, well, Paul does. Look at verse 27. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded by what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.

So Paul uses the word faith eight times in verses 21 through 31, and five times in verses 27 through 31. So just notice how clearly he is wanting to emphasize faith, faith, faith, faith, faith. Top of 38, is there any type of people, Jews or Gentiles, who are saved in another way? Of course the answer is no. Paul is wanting them to understand this.

No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. And then he proves that nobody has been saved in any other way. Verse 29. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also. Since God is one, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith? So he's just saying everybody is saved by faith. That's his point. Faith in Christ, of course.

Now why do you think our boasting is excluded? Why would our boasting be excluded, based on all the things we've been seeing? We didn't do anything, exactly! We didn't do anything, right? We can't boast, and that's what Paul goes on to say. Where is that? Our boasting is excluded. Do we then overthrow the law by the faith?

Where is it? Ah, she said it somewhere in here, doesn't she? I'm gonna make that up. Exactly, yes. Oh, there it is. Back in verse 27. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. I was trying to find it in the text. It's in here somewhere. Verse 27. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. So then I've got this little illustration here, right?

A child would never boast about birthing themselves because they had nothing to do with it. They were there, right? They had to be there. But they didn't contribute. They merely received the benefit of a mother who birthed them, so we cannot boast of our salvation. We had nothing to do with it. If you are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, do you need to try to obey the law? Yes, amen. Amen and amen. So this is very important, right? And we talked about this briefly last time.

What does antinomian mean? It means against the law. That's what antinomian means. And some people will say, right, if you're saved by grace, just live however you want. Who cares, right? That's what some people will say, and of course they're wrong. Do you believe antinomianism is something many professing Christians believe today? They might not know the language, but do they actively? Yes. They say, oh, just go ahead, God, Jesus will forgive you. Just go ahead and do it.

If that's your attitude, then you have to really wonder, does this person know Christ? Not that you can't struggle, but I'm saying when your attitude is one of flippancy, not of grievance or sadness over my sin. That's a really dangerous place to be, especially when it's an active thought of, ah, Jesus will forgive me, I'm just gonna go ahead and do it anyways. That's a very, very, very not Christ-like attitude that does not show love towards Him at all. Yeah, yeah, everybody does it, yeah. Well, exactly, yeah, that's right. Yep, exactly, yep, yep, amen. So yeah, so I think that happens a lot today. Yeah, it's very common, it's very sad.

So how, this is C, how if at all does this section of Romans prove that antinomianism is a false view? Well, notice the last verse of chapter three. He's literally been talking about how everything is by faith, everything is by God's grace, and then verse 31.

Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? So in other words, do we just start living like heathens because, well, it's all by grace, so I'm gonna live however I want. Then he says this, by no means, or God forbid. On the contrary, we uphold the law. So he actually says in verse 31 that all of these great truths of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, promote obedience to the law.

It means I've got sometimes translate so some places will translate it. God forbid. I think that's the KJV God forbid by no means like Absolutely not. I think some people actually translate it that way too. It's a very strong Statement of no way Jose right we might say in our day and age No way Jose on the contrary.

We uphold the law I read a story just last night from actually a great book that, oh, I won't, well, it was a book, I guess I have to say it now, that Angie and Wayne had gotten me for my birthday. I just finished reading it yesterday, but it closed with this incredible story. He didn't footnote it, but he didn't say it's not true, so I'm gonna assume it is true, but it was a book by Beakey, and he says, He tells a story about a woman who was, she was a slave in the 1800s, and an Englishman was there, a nobleman or something of that sort, and she's up for sale, and he offers twice as much as any slave of her particular type or whatever would have ever been paid for.

And the auctioner says, are you really going to pay that much? You even have that kind of money. And the man waved the bills in the air. And so he said, well, sold. I mean, this is ridiculous. This guy just paid twice as much money for this woman as anybody should have ever paid for her. So great, I'll take the money.

And then he goes and he helps her off the platform and she spits in his face. And then he wipes the spit off and he goes to some court place or wherever and has a document signed for her to be freed. And then she spits in his face again. And he wipes off and says, you realize what I've just done for you?

I've just set you free. And then she falls on the ground and she starts to weep. And she finally gets herself together and she says, You mean I'm free?" And she says, yes, you're free. And he says, I only have one question for you. Can I be your slave?

And the point was, she had been loved in such a profound way by this man, in such an unbelievably kind way by this man, that all of a sudden, yes, she had been set free, but there's nothing more she wanted to do than to serve him. Because she was so gracious to her, so kind to her, she couldn't believe it.

And obviously all illustrations fall short, and even if it's a true story, it's still an illustration for this point, and it falls short. But if God has done such kindness to us, shouldn't we just want to be His slaves? Shouldn't we just want to do His will? That should just be our desire.

I realize I've been saved by grace. I realize I can go do something really horrific, and God will forgive me for it. But do I want to do that? Absolutely not. That's completely contrary to the mercy that I have been shown. And so Paul concludes here by saying this upholds the law.

So how do you think God's grace in justifying sinners should make you respond? And I think I've just kind of tried to articulate it. Gratitude, right? It should make us respond with gratitude. Well, let's see here. Yeah, I'll just read this briefly. These are closing words. I just find it very helpful. from James Henley Thornwell. I think it captures what we've been seeing throughout our study.

Is there then no hope? Must the whole race of man perish beneath the frown of the Almighty? Shall none be found to ransom or to save? The grand difficulty is to find a representative who, without the entire destruction of himself, could exhaust the curse of the law. Whatever glimmering of hope the doctrine of substitution might impart, it would seem must be instantly extinguished when we call to mind the severe and arduous condition under which alone it could be rendered available to sinners. The justice of God is too formidable to be encountered by created strength. It hangs like a dark cloud over the prospects of man and mock his most anxious efforts to secure a redeemer.

Whither shall the sinner turn for help? Shall he look to his own brethren, the descendants of Adam's race? As each successive generation comes into being, it passes under the curse. Every man has iniquities of his own to bear, and none can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for his soul.

Shall he invoke the assistance of the angels above? the law might fitly turn aside from their their proffered substitution as it was man who had sinned and man who must die even if this difficulty were vanquished and an angel should become incarnate Where is its power to contend with the justice of God? What created arm could meet the thunder of insulted holiness and endure the storm of eternal wrath? Who can stand when omnipotence wields the sword and sin provokes the blow? From the single element of substitution to work out the problem of human redemption, If beyond the depths of angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, we might climb the loftiest heights and explore the utmost bounds of this widespread universe, every creature might be summoned in review before us, and heaven and earth and heaven earth and hell laid under tribute, and still not a single being could be found able to endure the curse of the law.

And yet this is the only conceivable condition on which salvation could be given. God cannot absolutely pardon. He can only transfer the punishment. He cannot set aside the sanction of his law. He can only give it a different direction. Who, then, can save from going down to the pit? It was reserved for the wisdom of the Eternal to answer this solemn question. The sublime idea of the incarnation and death of the Son could only have originated in the mind of Him who is wonderful in counsel and unsearchable in His judgments.

In Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, we behold a kinsman who, through the Eternal Spirit, is able to endure the wrath of God, a man who can satisfy justice and yet recover from the stroke, a being who could die and in dying conquer death. Great indeed is the mystery of godliness, but it is no less glorious than great.

Through the infinite wisdom of God a suitable substitute is found who takes the place of the guilty, assumes their burden, and bears it away to a land uninhabited. In the scheme of redemption, God visits the transgressions of the sinners in the person of the Son. The law is executed in its utmost rigors, and God is just, perfectly and gloriously just, in justifying those who believe. Their sins have been as truly punished as if they themselves had been consigned to the darkness of hell. God is just and the justifier, the one who has faith in Jesus.

Amen. Let's pray. Almighty God, we praise you that our sins, no matter the number, no matter the depth, are completely removed in Christ, consigned, as it were, to the depths of hell forever. never to rear their ugly head and drag us down with them to eternal darkness. We praise you for Jesus, who bore our hell for us, who took on the very punishment that my sins deserve, who took every single particular iniquity and what it deserved upon himself, as well as my very nature towards those iniquities, the very inclination of my heart as one born in Adam to go that way and to do those things, he has taken that upon himself, the punishment that those deserve, so that we who are in him might indeed be, as Romans, rather as 2 Corinthians 5 says, the righteousness of God in him. To you be the glory forever and ever. Amen.