Well, let's dive right in. We're in Romans chapter 3. That's been a while since we've talked about the chapter series. The last one we did was a couple Sundays ago, and then I was out on vacation. We did have a great time. We go to Ana Maria Island once a year, and it's pretty interesting. We were having dinner on Tuesday night, and there was a whole group of about four or five people to the left of us that were all speaking German. And when you're walking around Anna Maria Island, you hear all sorts of different languages. And I thought, I'm totally biased, but I thought there are people coming all the way around the world to be in this place. And I'm an hour and a half away. I love Tampa. I love it. That whole area right there, we drove, I think it's Longboat. We like drove past Cortez Beach and all those things. It's just beautiful. There's nothing like it. So you're already living in the best place and you don't have to worry about moving somewhere else. Never leave. Okay, you've got that an hour away. You can't beat it. But we were not here last Sunday night. We were on vacation. So Trent stepped in, did a very good job. By the way, I appreciate that from him. And we also didn't have a Wednesday night service. So we're getting back into this chapter summary series. And I am not sure if I gave you the chapter headings for chapter two. I will do that for you because I think it's important. But the idea of this study is not necessarily to just make up your own paragraph headings, but to read the scripture with the intent of studying. Can you identify a change in communication? Is there something that happens between this verse and another verse where the author is going to another subject and I'm presenting to you that there is a flow. Romans so often gets cherry picked towards the middle. There's a whole section that starts in Romans chapter 9, where Paul is expressing his personal desire for Jews to be saved. And you're going to be You're going to make an error if you go into chapter 11, which is still stemming off of Romans 9, and start picking things out there to say that God is for a certain thing and He's against something else, but you don't look back into the context. And by heading paragraphs or identifying changes in the theme or in the writing, you're gonna be able to flow the book from Romans 1.1 all the way to the last chapter. You can see there's different sections and things that are addressed. We've been building on this idea of the righteousness of God being made known. We looked at the depravity of man at the end of Romans chapter one, and we talked about that word reprobate. Reprobate is an older word. You don't really hear that a lot. But I think a good definition for it, which is not to betray the actual definition, is disapproved. We talked about the United Methodist Church making its decision a couple of weeks ago to say that what the Bible says about marriage is not right. The times have changed, so we need to change too. And they've given over to specifically the sin of homosexuality. And according to Romans 1, this is the natural progression of man moving away from God's revealed knowledge. So while it is shocking, it should not be surprising. Why? Well, we have already established that as far as religion is concerned, there are things that man say is truth, and there's things that God says is truth, and we need to make a decision as to which one is correct. Then we got into chapter two and we looked specifically at the advantage of being a Jew. You know, being of the circumcision, having the law, all those different things. Does that make the Jewish person better than the Gentile, specifically at the judgment and in God's judgment? And I want you to look at this very quickly. It's just one verse, but it's going to be helpful for our study tonight. In Romans chapter two in verse 11, this is page 1193, We are expressly told this attribute of God as far as his judgment is concerned. It says right here in Romans chapter 2 and verse 11. For there is no respect of persons with God. So what this means is it doesn't matter if you're born into the nation of Israel by birthright. It doesn't matter if you're born outside of the nation of Israel. God does not respect a person based on where or their ethnicity. He judges by the content in their character. And there is a whole discussion that goes from verses 12 to 15 that talk about those who have the law, break it. And those who did not have the law, specifically Gentiles, by the nature of conscience, obey the law, but they break it too. So the Gentile is not going to be able to stand before God and say, hey, I was not there on that day when the law was given. As a matter of fact, I was in a totally different high school, you know. No, they're going to be held accountable. This is very important when you get into Romans 3, because Paul's going to ask four questions about God's righteousness concerning his judgment. And he's going to propose them from this idea of the objector. But before we get too far, in case I did not give you the paragraph titles in Romans chapter 2, which I don't think I did, just write these down. And I want you to do your own homework. And if you come up with different ones, I'd be more than happy to review them. I'm not going to say they're right or wrong. But as far as heading paragraphs, these are the ones I came up with Romans chapter 2, and then we'll get into chapter 3. So verses 1 through 11 in Romans 2, we see God's righteous judgment. God's righteous judgment, Romans 2, 1 through 11. The second paragraph that I observed is verses 12 through 16, specifically judgment by the law. Verses 17 through 23, I wrote down the paragraph title, A Warning to Hypocritical Teachers. And that's a pretty strong section. You might wanna call that concentrated truth, non-diluted truth, because there is a major, major problem in the Jewish mind that thinks, well, because I give the instruction, I'm gonna be, I'm gonna receive some type of favoritism from God. So a warning to hypocritical teachers, verses 17 through 23. And then finally, no profit in national identity. No profit, P-R-O-F-I-T, in national identity. And that's verses 24 through 29. Now, as is the nature of my business with Trent, We send each other videos from time to time that we come across that we think would be worthy of reacting to. If you are on YouTube, the reaction business is a huge business. People are quitting their day jobs to go and react to movie trailers and all sorts of stuff. And Christian content is one of them. And that is something that we do. And I don't think that's a problem. When it becomes all that you do, that's an issue, but it's a part of our ministry. Well, I was on YouTube the other day, and I came across a video from Apologia Studios. How many of you have heard of Apologia Studios? Anybody here? Okay, Rachel asked. That guy's name is Durbin, I think. Jeff Durbin. And he is a reformed teacher. He goes out and he does, I think pretty good street discussion. The guy's got a lot of good biblical knowledge, but he had a clip from his longer live stream, which was over four hours, but the clip was about 12 minutes. And it was basically using Romans chapter two, verses 28 and 29 to prove that those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior are now true Israel. That's a major problem, but it should not, it may be shocking to hear, but it should not be surprising because this is what reform doctrine teaches. This is just a part of it. If the two natures is a part of free grace, I'm not saying that it is, but just for comparison, then replacement theology is synonymous with reform doctrine. That's just what it is. They're not real strong on prophecy. They've written off a lot of that stuff. What shocked me is how many people in the comments said, yeah, you know, I don't know why we're supporting Israel. You start to realize, and this is the first thing I told Trent, how easy it is for the Antichrist is gonna be. It's gonna be so easy for him to just flip that switch and turn it against the Jews. It's being laid today. Some of y'all follow what's going on in the conservative commentary side of things. And some big names like Candace Owens and others, they're getting exposed for saying they are biblical Christians, that they know the Bible, believe the Bible, but then they come against God's people. I don't think there's anything in the Bible, as far as my study has seen, that has changed the, if you bless Israel, I will bless you, and if you curse them, I will curse you. I don't think that has changed. I don't think anything in dispensational teaching, even in covenant theology, would replace that statement, but people are acting like Israel's right to defend herself is wrong. Then they weaponize verses like 28 and 29. Folks, you are not True Jew if you've put your trust in Jesus Christ The church says you're a part of the body of Christ where there is no Jew or Gentile. There is no bond or free You've got to know these things or you're gonna find yourself going against Israel and thinking it's a righteous cause But I listened to that guy absolutely Cherry-pick. I mean it was a beautiful fruit salad of a video using those two verses and you know where else he went and Revelation chapter two in verse nine, I believe. And he went to Revelation chapter three in verse nine, where Jesus says some specific things about those who are Jews are not really Jews. And they use that too. And his point was, why do we support Israel? Why does America support Israel if they are the ones who are rejecting the Messiah? Folks, there are 144,000 that will trust Christ. and we should be about that business, laying the foundation. You think of Jim Scudder. You guys know Jim Scudder, right? And all the work he does within grace, Rachel's from that ministry. He's going to Israel as often as he can. It's noticeable, I've noticed it. But I was just talking with Paul, his video director, and he said the whole reason why Pastor Jim is going over there to an extent is to witness, to make connections. It would be wrong for us to look at some verses here, pull them out of context and say, well, we gotta be against Israel's right to defend themselves. So what? The Jews are over in Israel and they're rejecting Jesus as their Messiah. Does that mean that God is done with that program? No, it's not. It's on hold right now. And this is why understanding how the Bible works in a sense of dispensations is very important. And trust me, we're gonna get to that. But at the end of chapter two, people use those last two verses, and we talked at length about that to conclude our study on chapter two. So now we're gonna get into Romans chapter three. I think it's beneficial if for the sake of our discussion tonight, we just ignore the fact that we're in chapter three, because it flows really well. I wanna read the last two verses of chapter two into chapter three without any interruption there. There's gonna be four questions asked in this first paragraph. by Paul, and I'll give you the paragraphs as we go. I think there's three in Romans chapter three. But let's start in chapter two, verses 28 through 29, and we'll read the first two verses into chapter three. So Romans chapter two, verses 28 and 29. is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart and the spirit and not in a letter whose praise is not of men but of God. What advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision? much every way, chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. So if you were reading this back in the time when Paul wrote it, you didn't have chapter and verses here, he's just continuing a thought. I think there's a break there because now he's gonna start asking questions about the information that he just gave. This first paragraph goes from verses one through verse eight, and I would contend it's four questions concerning God's righteousness. I'm gonna give you those questions and the Bible will give you the answers. But what Paul says in these first two verses essentially is this, if Jews and Gentiles are both guilty before God, What advantage is there in being a Jew? Specifically, what advantage is there in circumcision? It's a good question. Paul's using a literary device here where he's talking in the idea of a diatribe. This gets a little deep, but follow with me here. He's talking as if he is arguing with an objector. Now the objector may be real or false, but this is teaching. This is why I love this book specifically. It's very didactic in the way that it's communicated. But he says to this objector who says, well, what advantage is there to being a Jew? He's not saying that there's somebody in the Roman church who's asking that question. There might be, but he's trying to find anybody who may have this objection. He's trying to give them a solid answer to that objection. This is what I think is an apologetic defense. This is coming to the person who asked the question and giving them an answer. This is what politicians do not do. Listen, I love Ron DeSantis. That guy, he went out there and did a lot of good work. But the reason why he fell flat is because the guy fell into all the political traps and could not answer questions directly. It would be like if someone asked me, Jesse, what is your favorite color? And I said, education is important. We're gonna raise money for education and clean energy. I gave you an answer. but it has nothing to do with my favorite color. The Bible is not written like that. It's not written to get you off on some other thought, to distract you from the validity of your question. Politicians do that. They talk, but they don't have anything that they're really saying. When Paul asks this question here, he gives an answer. The answer is in verse two. But again, to repeat the question, if Jews and Gentiles are both guilty before God, what advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision? The answer here is chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. That oracle word there means the revelation of God. What's the revelation of God? Well, it's the revelation of the law. Through that people. That's the only advantage. And they're gonna be held accountable to it. That's why I'm gonna anchor you back to chapter two in verse 11. For there is no respecter of persons with God. The only advances the Jew had over the Gentile is they got the revelations first. And God worked through them to bring about the Messiah, of whom they rejected. But there's not going to be a place for the Jew to stand and say, special privilege, we're going to get onto that later. Because that is what, I don't want to say the Jews believe, because I don't want to lump them into one group there, but a lot of rabbinical teaching says that. I didn't find the commentary. I thought it was on my iPad, but I think it was only on my computer. But there was this whole thing in the Talmud, in some of the commentaries that rabbis would talk about circumcision, how that there was some gate that the Jews would be presented before, and they literally would be judged on the condition of their foreskin. And if there was not enough, then it would be stretched from another. Crazy stuff, that if I were to sell that to you as this is what I believe, you'd say, you're nuts. But that's the conclusion that people drew because they were so focused on the outward following of the law. But God says you got to be held to all of it and you all fall short. So what does your one satisfaction to my requirements, circumcision, what does that benefit you if you don't do all the rest of them? But there is one benefit for the Jew there, and it is chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. And what did they do with that? How were these oracles revealed? Well, they're revealed through prophets. What did the Jews do to prophets? They stoned them, they killed them, and raised up false prophets that were saying things against what was being said. I don't know how this happened. Oh, I'm remembering now. I was watching a video on vacation talking about two passages in the Old Testament that seemed to support God making something about child sacrifice. And you come to find out they had a bad translation to start with. The KJV doesn't make that conclusion. But I was reading through Ezekiel and it got me to read a whole historical background. I was on vacation. This is, I still think that's fun. But I was reading a whole historical background on Ezekiel, and there were a lot of false prophets going against Ezekiel, a lot. And if you read Ezekiel, and that's not lounge reading, it's kind of tough, but he speaks quite clearly from his experience. in the priestly order. He's got a lot of stuff that he brings to the table. But there were people around him who were saying, no, no, that's, and I'm not saying this because it's relevant, but it is somewhat applicable. People were coming up to, next to Ezekiel and saying, this is fake news. This is not real. And you've got to realize, there's going to be something that's said in Romans chapter three, that is true even today. And it is this, let God be true and every man a liar. Now that sounds really pessimistic. And it sounds like, is that how you're supposed to treat people? I don't want to say that's, that's not how you're supposed to treat individuals. But it is true of every individual. If there's somebody who says, what God says is true is not true. They are a liar. And God is right. And people say, well, he has to prove that. He has no sin. There is no darkness in him. Be careful you don't die in that state of unbelief and go before this one of whom you will only be able to bend the knee and confess the name of Jesus. A lot of people are waiting to change their mind until they're at the great white throne judgment, and it will not be honored. And that'll be a terrible thing. He goes on to a second question here, verses three through four. If you're in a Schofield Bible, we're on the next page. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? This is a great question. And we saw this in the wilderness. What did God do that brought Israel into the wilderness? I'm not talking about the wandering per se, but what brought them out? God's provision. I'm gonna pull you out and I'm gonna put you into this land, which I have set aside for you. And that's the whole Palestinian discussion today. That land that God set apart, is it really Israel's? Well, if you're a government that writes off religious authority in God, you're gonna say, no. The Philistines and all the other tribes that were in there, they had it first. Yes, but God designated that land for the Jews. And if you study Joshua's conquest, you're gonna see Gaza, the first time you heard about Gaza was not on October 7th of last year. It's been a problem for Israel since they were let in. They tried to go in there and they were rebuffed because of the technology that Gaza possessed at that time. So the question here that's asked is what brought Israel into the wilderness? Well, God said, I'm gonna pull you out and I'm gonna put you in. Why did they wander? That's the real question. Why was there a whole generational timeline, 40 years of wandering? Because of unbelief. So the objector here in Paul's question makes this objection. What if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? What's the faith of God? That He's going to have a people. Let me read it to you this way. Will God forsake the blessing, the blessings, excuse me, blessing the nation of Israel since some Israelites proved unfaithful? And this is where we have that saying in verse four. God forbid, yea, let God be true and every man a liar. So those Israelites who are, they've received the oracles of God, it's been rejected. They hold on to a few followings of the law, or maybe a lot of followings of the law, but they don't have it to completion. They will not mess up the rest of God's plan for Israel. If you want to talk about God's sovereignty, here it is. That even in the nation's unbelief, God is preparing a people. That's what I think our goal should be for Israel today. Making the gospel clear. Doesn't matter if they persecute us. They persecuted Jesus. It doesn't matter. We don't stop. We don't call them genocidal, which is, that is on the news today. You hear that about Israel, which just, you know, blows my mind. But you come to find out that just because a Jew by birthright is in unbelief does not mean he's gonna foil the rest of God's plan. God is preparing his people. And that's where verse four is. God forbid, yea, which means yes, let God be true, and every man a liar, as it is written, and this is a quote from David, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, God. He's justified. and mightest overcome when thou art judged. So when man sits in the position of God, you shouldn't have, you ought have, this would have been better, why didn't you do this? That mouth is closed, because God is justified in everything that he does. What's the point here? Again, the point is being made, your birthright is not necessarily linked to your eternal life. It's not linked to your eternal blessings or your spirituality. You must be born again, Nicodemus. Verse five, this is the third question. And this third and fourth question, they're somewhat repetitive. So you'll see that here. And I like, there's something at the end here that is unique to scripture, and I think you may notice it for the first time, verse five, but if our unrighteousness, the our unrighteousness here is most likely referring to the unrighteousness of Israel, their unbelief. commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? And he puts in parentheses here, I speak as a man. And there's a lot of discussion as to why that's there. And I believe that's there because the question that Paul makes this objector say is a totally man-based way of thinking. And I think that's why he says, I speak as a man, because only flawed man would think this way. Because when you think this way, you're trying to get around the truth, beating around the bush. You know, it's like this is, you know what it's really about, but you're trying to wiggle your way into something else. So what is that question that he's asking? Essentially he's saying, since Israel's failings set off the righteousness of God, mainly their rejection of the Messiah, set off the revealing of the righteousness of God, of which Jesus has ascended, will he show favoritism to them? He speaks as a man. The idea of favoritism in a judgment is a man-based idea. Why? Because it takes sin and makes it righteousness, or some degree of righteousness. You go and stand before a judge. You want that judge to judge you based on the truth. And if you're guilty, the law through that judge should condemn you. Is that what happens in every trial in this country? No, it's not. It's not. Does that make the judge righteous or is he corrupt? He's corrupt. So now in the view of a man standing before God, if God chooses to show favoritism to the Jews because through their failings brought the Messiah, well, you get some bonus points for that. It ties back to verse four and to verse 11 of chapter two. Let God be true and every man a liar. And God is not a respecter of persons. Why is Paul hammering this so hard? Because he's trying to get people to see your national identity does not matter. Who you have believed on matters. It's about Jesus. God forbid, he says in verse six, for then how shall God judge the world? He would disqualify himself if he showed favoritism to one sin over the other. Now, this does not mean that there can't be a degree of punishment for sin, which there is a degree of punishment for sin. But as far as being impartial, as far as saying, oh, well, you know, I'm gonna let that slide because you were my favorite. Have you ever experienced favoritism in that way? It's not fun. It's not fun at all. Although it happens all the time. But that's why I think in Princess, he says, I speak as a man. All right, and then he repeats this again in verses seven and eight. For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not rather, as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say, let us do evil that good may come, whose damnation is just. Paul is continuing this idea of God showing favoritism. And what he's saying is, is God gonna bless me because my lie pushes forward his truth? No, he's not. And it was being slanderous reported back in this time, which Scofield says about AD 60. But even back then they were saying, well, this type of teaching, Paul, look at verse eight. This type of teaching, Paul says, let us do evil that good may come. That's not exactly a license to sin, but it's pretty close. And that was being slanderously reported of them at that time. No, what's the condition of man? Jew or Gentile verses nine through 20 is, this is who we are. And you do well to recognize that most governments and most cults, well, I'll say it, all governments and all cults, They're all like this, Romans 9, or Romans 3, 9 through 20. You find out that there's corruption, there's bribery, there's dishonesty. Why? Why is it always a problem with us? Because this is who we are, folks. This is what we produce. You put in an apple seed in the ground, you're going to get an apple. You're not going to get fruit by the foot. Kudos bars. This is what we produce. Verse nine, we're not gonna go verse by verse, but I want you to see this here in verse nine, because I want to get to verses 21 through 31. What then are we better than they? No, in no wise. For we have before proved, both Jew and Gentiles, which is all mankind, that they are all under sin. There's no special privilege. As it is written, there is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. I'm gonna pause there for a second because reform doctrine uses those verses to say, there's none that understand, seek, and they've all gone out of the way to prove that God has to miraculously intervene and give you the gift of faith. That's not what this is saying. This is saying man in and of himself, without the intervention of God through special revelation, through the revelation of the prophets leading up to the incarnation of Christ, without that, man would not seek after God. You saw this in the flood. Well, you saw this leading up to the flood. The heart of man was wicked continually. It just sought that all the time. They didn't seek after God. Noah was building an ark. for a hundred and what is it 120 years and everybody was like okay and then the water did come and the floods did come and they all perished they did not get on that's the heart of man and that's isn't that where we are today god is dead in our culture He's been replaced by new age mysticism. That's what I think. Because I see it all the time. I was watching a progressive commercial. By the way, progressive has excellent commercials. If I have to watch a commercial, it's probably progressive. Geico has fallen off a little bit. I just got to tell you, they're using that lizard too much. You got to go bring the caveman back. That guy, I could relate. My mother-in-law may have some commentary on that, but anyway. I was watching this progressive ad and it was, you know, they're making fun of... the social media culture that gets around nature, you know, and they've got their phone and their big Stanley cups and all that. Everybody's like, hey, look, I'm doing all this stuff. But one of the things that the girl who's like, she's the influencer, she's like standing in front of nature, is she says some terms. She says, I'm just manifesting thankfulness. And the other term slips my mind right now. Obviously, this wasn't a part of my sermon notes. Abundance. Yeah, manifesting something and something abundance. You've seen that ad. That stuck out to me because that's what everybody's saying today. Oh, your life is terrible because you're not manifesting stuff. You're not getting out there and taking the universe and telling it what you want. Really? Is that all my problems are? Why not just go to the bank and say, I'm manifesting this money into my account? They are making little g-gods out of all of us. Well, not us, because we're sticking to the truth, amen? But people are going out there thinking, I'm the whole thing. I'm the most important thing in the universe, is me. And they're living that way, folks. And they're applying for jobs, and they're getting them. And they're running for seats in political office, and they're getting them. You ever wonder how somebody like AOC would get a job? I'm not condemning her for her lack of knowledge, but it is apparent. She is sitting in a position where she should know a lot more than what she does, and she doesn't. I wish I could tell you what she said the three branches of government were, and she's still there. She didn't have them right. How does that happen? This is what man is. We're set against anything from God. What this passage says here is not that you and I need God to make us believe in order to receive Christ. You have to read that in, because it's not what's being addressed. What he's saying is Jew, Gentile, doesn't matter if you're of the ones who received or those on the outside, everybody sins. The Gentiles were not in innocence going, I wonder what's wrong. What about Cain and Abel? Did Cain know what he was about to do was wrong? Yes, God warned him, sin is at the door. And what did Cain do? He let it in. Is that okay, because there was no thou shalt not kill? Abel's blood cried out from the ground. That's such a haunting statement. He's a sinner, just like you and just like me. Verses 13 through 20. Their throat is an open sepulcher. I don't encourage you to go open up a grave, but you can imagine what that might smell like. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps, which is snakes, is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursings and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. Is this not a description of man without God? "'And the way of peace have they not known? "'There is no fear of God before their eyes. "'Now we know that what things, soever the law saith, "'it saith to them that are under the law, "'that every mouth may be stopped.'" So who's under the law? If that first part is setting the standard, and the second part is saying that every mouth may be stopped, who's gonna be judged by the law? Everybody. Unless you're founded in Christ. And that's what the rest of the chapter will go on to say. That every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. So those four questions in verses one through eight, nope, you're not gonna get there on judgment day and stump God and stop the program. Your mouth will be stopped. There will be no objector at the great white throne judgment. And all the world may become guilty before God. Verse 20, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Doesn't matter if you're circumcised or not. Doesn't matter what tribe you're from. Doesn't matter how good you are. If all you have is your deeds, you will be guilty. The world needs to wake up to this. But they won't. And you say, well, what's the joy in that message? Read verses nine through 18 again. This is man. They're not seeking to understand. Have you ever had a conversation with somebody who just doesn't want to know the truth? Yeah. Talk with little kids. And they may have some idea and you're like, no, you're giving them reasons. They're like, no, Tooth Fairy's still real, bro. Put money under my pillow. I think that's a lot of people in religion today, in organized religion. Without going into a lot of detail, I'm seeing it happen with people. It's like this hand that just comes up. It's so subtle, and then it gets around people's theological neck. And it's just all of a sudden, it's like, read, read, read. Oh, this person said this. And now this person is on the same level of scripture. And it's like, that grip gets tighter and tighter. And then all that joy that they had, they're unconscious. And you watch it happen. You're like, don't, don't do it. Don't go to those organized religions. I don't care how much history they have and all that. That doesn't mean they're right. Let God be true in every man and liar. If something in that organized religion is not in line with what God says, condemn it. So what's the most important thing? Jesus. Look at verse 21. But now, so there's a clear transition here. We've moved from that second paragraph, the depth of man's unrighteousness, verses nine through 20, and getting to the righteousness of God received through faith. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. Hold for a moment and go back to verse or chapter one. And if you have a Schofield Bible, you can half turn the page and you'll see right there, Romans 1, 16 and 17. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. So when you see that term, when you see the term in chapter three and verse 21, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, you know we're talking about that message, the gospel, which carries the righteousness of God, which is imputed by faith. being witnessed by the law and prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. This is some of the greatest proof texting in Scripture that faith is all that God will honor. And I get hot under the collar under that, about that, because there's so many people that say differently. Works, works, works. You can't read works into verse 22. The whole chapter of chapter two in Romans and all of Romans chapter three up until this point is against the idea of works justifying a man. Why do we then say it justifies a man? You're a liar, and God's the one who tells the truth, period. And it says so clearly there, upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. It doesn't matter where you come from. Jesus Christ is the only way to receive righteousness, period. You say, oh, well, I need, what's the dude's name in Mormonism? Joseph Smith. I need Joseph Smith and the angel Baloney to tell me what is unrevealed. No, you don't. Yeah, I know. It's the angel Moroni or something. Moroni, Baloney, same thing. Baloney. He probably saw that coming four seconds ago, and he was like, he won't do it. He did it. But you know, 22 is a good verse to know, guys. It's really good when someone says, well, you gotta keep doing good works. That's not what this says. And it goes on, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You know that verse. It's the first part of the wallet illustration, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Isn't it nice to see that in its context? being justified freely by his grace. We read that similarly in Hebrews 2 this morning, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Hold your spot and go to 2 Corinthians 5. You know where I'm gonna go, but I want you to see this connected. Don't you love the word? Man, I love it. So many people, well, yeah, I would say so many, Trent, right, online, they think I am such a knucklehead, because I just stick to the scripture. That's fine. You can call me a knucklehead. I'm reading what God said. Look at 2 Corinthians 5, page 1233. For he hath made him, this is verse 21, 2 Corinthians 5, 21. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made. There's that phrase again, the righteousness of God in him. Oh, so this Jesus person and the righteousness of God, they're linked. You can't have, Jesus and not have the righteousness of God same way. You can't have the righteousness of God and reject Jesus. I Like that I Like how it's all lined up there verse 25 of Romans chapter 3 going back and we're about to wrap up here page 1195 whom the whom is Christ Jesus God hath set forth to be a propitiation of That's a covering through his blood there. Through faith in his blood to declare. That's another legal term. Declare. Sorry, I lost my place there. His righteousness for the remission of sins, the forgiveness of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God to declare, I say, at this time, His righteousness, which we know from verse 22 and verse 16 in chapter one is linked to the gospel message, that He, Jesus, might be just without sin and able to, justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. And there are one, two, three, four, five verses after that. that all answer the objector again. Here's what the objector says in verse 27. I'm a Jew. I'm a Gentile. I'm a good person. Where is boasting then? Paul says, where does boasting in your good works stand in light of this truth that I just gave you? What does he conclude? It, boasting, is excluded. By what law Ooh, the law of circumcision. The law of ritualistic cleansing before entering the temple. Nope. Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Now, this is interesting. Look up here for a second. These two things are now made as a comparison. It's not necessarily saying that faith is an obedience to the law, but faith, in some ways can be viewed as trusting in Jesus Christ by faith who fulfilled the law. He did it for us. So I stand completed in the one who completed it. You understand the conclusion there? I'm not walking in there saying, well, hey, look at me, I'm bringing my good works, adding them to Jesus because he needs them. I'm coming in there poor, wretched, desperate, sinful, and I'm walking in and receiving cleansing under the blood because he did it all for me. Therefore we conclude, verse 28, that a man is justified. By the way, Schofield has an excellent note on justification there. I rarely tell you to look at notes in a study Bible, but that one is Freddie Coyle good. It's like, he knocks it out of the park, that description of justification. And he goes through quite a bit of lengthy proof for it. Uh oh, I'm mixing up letters on words. It's time to wrap it up. Man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Why is that statement being made? Because God is going to judge the whole world based on verses 21 through 28. The only way you are absent from the judgment of God at the great white throne judgment is you are justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, which is put to your account by faith. And then in chapter four, you get to how that is put to your account, imputation. And we'll study that next week. Seeing it as one God, verse 30, that shall justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith. Doesn't matter if you've received that sign, you've got to accept the man, Jesus Christ. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish the law. Why is the law established? Because it is supposed to bring every sinner to the knowledge of you stand in condemnation before God, period. And that, you need to get that right. And that's through Jesus Christ. So we don't just write off the law and say, oh, you know, it doesn't matter anymore. Yeah, it does. It condemns you. It shows your need for a savior. That's why I believe in the seven points of the gospel, it's important to recognize that people, for all of sin and come short of the glory of God. What's the glory of God? The completion of the law, which would be perfection. Can you imagine if we just said, no more law speak. I mean, who am I to say anything about you or what you do? If there's no standard, then we get to chapter four next week. I almost just want to take a four minute break and do it right now, but we won't do that. Chapter four is really good. So just as a way of refreshing, verses one through eight of Romans three, four questions concerning God's righteousness, verses nine through 20, the depth of man's unrighteousness, And verses 21 through 31, the righteousness of God received by faith. Good study, huh? I pray it's encouraging to you. And I pray that you're getting good apologetic defense here for when people want to say, no, you have to do good works to be saved. It's not there. And I think the best defense they have is that guy who said, John 10, 28, well, you can jump out of the Father's hand. I didn't tell you this, but somebody looked at Ephesians 1, 13 and 14, using that word seal. Trent and I were cracking up this entire filming session. Number one, because we had been filming for like three hours. But number two, we're listening to these people. We're like, this is crazy. They saw that word seal. The Holy Spirit is a seal. And they go, well, Paul knew and so did his readers in the old world that seals can be broken. Okay, that's like the guy that's like, speed limits are there to be broken. What's unique about this seal? It has a time limit on it. What's the time limit till the day of redemption? Oh, okay. So that's when the seal can be broken? Yeah, what's the day of redemption? Your death or the rapture. Oh, so you mean I as a Christian can't, Break that, but that's the logic they use. One of them sits there and goes, oh, translation is a tricky thing and gives you the biggest, you know that cat from Alice in Wonderland? You know that, that big, yeah, it's like, I had a feeling about you and that's right. He says, translation is a tricky thing. Guaranteed doesn't really mean guaranteed. I kid you not, folks. And people watch that documentary and they believe it. And if they're saved, the joy of their salvation is gone. They're immediately put back into a workspace model. And if they're lost, they continue to try to establish their own righteousness. Look up here for a moment as we conclude tonight. This hand represents you and me. The block of sin is sin. What's on top of my hand? Romans 3.23. We just studied. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's none that does any righteousness. So there's no good works that you can do in any kind of deed that would be considered anything that could be paying for sin. It just proves further that you're fallen. God loves us. hates the sin, it separates us from Him. And you may say, well, I'm reading Romans 2 and 3, and it doesn't sound like God loves really that much of anything. Well, read Romans 5. God commendeth His, what? Whoa, His love. I'll tell you, Romans is such a good book. And I think through the chapter summary series, you'll appreciate it. But there's no amount of good works that we can do to pay for this sin. You have to have the righteousness of God, which is only Received by faith in Christ. It's not received by good works, turning from sin, starting something, stopping something. The only way that you have this sin paid is you put your trust in Jesus Christ. This hand represents Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And as we read at the end of Romans chapter three, therefore we conclude, man is not justified by the deeds of the law, but by faith. This is a huge part that the world is missing. And if you're here, and I know all of you personally here tonight, I know that you put your trust in Jesus Christ. We need to make sure people understand this message. Because a lot of people are trying to sell this as this. They're trying to say, my good works is enough to get me to heaven. People need to put their trust in Jesus Christ and in Him alone. Amen? And read your Bible. Make those paragraph headings. I think it's a good way to study the word. Let's go to the Lord in prayer, shall we? Heads are bowed, knives are closed. If you're on the internet tonight and you say, Pastor, I came into this live stream thinking that I could work my way to heaven by a series of good deeds or maybe my church affiliation because of my family's history. But I've changed my mind. I've put my trust in Jesus Christ. Would you pray for me? If that's you, we do want to pray for you. If you're on our website, there's a green button that says you've trusted in Christ today. Click on that. It'll send us a message and we can get in touch with you. If you're on any of our other streaming platforms, YouTube, Facebook, Sermon Audio, Church One, you can leave a comment there or send us an email and we'll reach out to you and pray and encourage you. For the rest of us here tonight, as we talked about this morning, we need to keep our eye on Jesus. Not just looking for his return, although that is good, but doing the things that we're doing for him. Father, thank you for just a great day celebrating mothers, and we're so thankful, Lord, that you've given us a model for family structure in the scripture. But aside from all those things, Lord, we look for Jesus and we look for him to come back. In Jesus' name we pray these things, amen.