Declaration of (in) Dependence Part 5
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“Bad News for Bad People”
· If I asked all of you if right now in this moment if you wanted to pursue the deepest worship experience of God that you have ever had in your entire life, I bet many of you would say that yes you would love that.
· If I asked you if you wanted to see the most beautiful picture of God’s glory and grace manifested in your life, again, I bet many of you would say that is exactly what you wanted.
· If I asked you if you wanted to experience the most pure joy that you have ever experienced in your life, greater than any sensual experience life has ever afforded you, I bet many of you would say, “Sign me up.”
· If I asked you if you wanted the purest, most sincere motivation to share the joys of Jesus Christ with others, I think many of you would say that is exactly what you wanted.
o Well, those things will not come from the latest book on the Christian bestseller list.
o They won’t come from an outpouring of some supernatural spiritual gift.
o They won’t come from some ecstatic experience.
o They won’t come from a really well-played or well-written or well-sung worship song.
· If you want those things, if you want pure, deep worship, if you want a beautiful picture of God’s glory and grace, if you want pure joy, if you want motivation to share the Gospel, then pursue humility before God.
· In case, you don’t want to take my word for it, here are some examples of the way that scripture speaks of humility.
o James 4:6 – God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
o James 4:10 – Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.
o Psalm 18:27 - For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.
o Psalm 25:9 - He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.
o Psalm 34:2 - My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.
o Matthew 23:12 -Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
o 1 Peter 5:6 - Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
· Now, sometimes we confuse the pain and suffering that we endure in this world with humility. Now it is possible to endure suffering and grow in humility but the two are not synonymous. It is quite possible to suffer and grow in pride and arrogance.
· The real problem you face with seeking humility is that it doesn’t seem like the pathway to joy. It seems like a pathway to greater misery. So you know what happens? You give up on the hope of having real joy.
o Trusted Biblical counselor, Dan Allender says this: “We have learned to manage our disappointment with God, and we don’t want our desire for delight to seduce us again.”
o Allender’s point is that for so many, you do truly hope for joy, but it escapes you, so the idea of pursuing is too far off; too vague. You don’t want to be disappointed again, so you just learn to live with the hubbub of life. You learn to settle for a modicum of happiness that falls well short of the joy that is described in scripture.
· Let me tell you how Amy and I have seen this played out.
o Amy and I both know a couple who work full time in the ministry. They are two of the people that get the power of the gospel more clearly than any other two people I know. They live lives of joy and worship that are pretty unparalleled in this world.
o When you meet them, they exude a happiness and a real sense of faith that God loves them and will provide for them. They are funny, creative, beautiful people.
o How did they come to be these people? They were humbled by their sin. They were both unfaithful spouses and truly thought that neither God, nor the church, nor any other human being would ever love them again.
o But they didn’t cover up their sin. They confessed it. They didn’t blame their sin on each other or anyone else. They owned it. They asked for forgiveness and walked in it.
o And in that humility, in that honesty about how sinful their hearts truly were, they found God and grace. They found joy and restoration. They found home.
· Now, all the results of this humility sound great don’t they? Joy and peace and worship, those are all good things. The pathway to them is the stumbling block. Humility and confession of sin don’t sound very fun and they don’t sell books either.
· But if you could realize just how God is more gracious than you could ever imagine, you would walk in a depth of honesty about your sin that would bring all the joy in the world.
· So this week, let’s ask this big picture question.
Big Picture Question: How deeply are you willing to pursue humility so that God will be glorified?
· Now before we jump into our passage this week, I want to step back one verse that we saw at the end of chapter 2 because I don’t think I gave it the attention that it really needed. Romans 2:29 - 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.
o We did spend a significant amount of time last week speaking about the first part of that verse but not the second.
o The first part is a declaration of the only hope that any and all of you have. If anyone wants to be called a child of God, then God must do a work in their heart.
o If you look in your heart and you see that it cries out to Jesus in faith, trusting Him for forgiveness, and trusting no good thing in yourself, then you are a child of God inwardly. No amount of ritual or effort on your part is necessary to be forgiven and restored by God. God Himself does that.
· But then, notice that powerful last phrase. Those that have had God do the wonderful work of circumcision of the heart, gifting faith, those people don’t worry about praise from other people. Why? Because they (you) sit under the absolute affection of God.
o This is the pathway to humility. You can’t earn approval from people anyway. And those of you who are approval honks, who live and die by what everything thinks of you, can testify to just how exhausting it is to win the approval of man.
o In humility, we say, I can’t do anything. If I’m going to receive the approval of anyone, it is going to be the approval of God which comes by the work of Jesus Christ.
o Now, keep that thought in mind as we move into our passage. It is going to have significant impact on your thoughts of humility and the interpretation of this passage.
· Having said that, Paul is going to attempt to answer in chapter 3 the natural questions that arise from making such a bold declaration about what constitutes the people of God. There are 4 quick questions or arguments followed by 4 quick answers.
· These questions and answers are going to serve to set a biblical understanding of humility and the Gospel that will help us answer our big picture question.
o So allow me read verses 1-8 for us, and then we’ll jump in.
3:1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 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.” 5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world? 7 But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just
· Now this passage has a lot going on in it. I’ve included an extra page or two of notes that I’ll post online tonight if you want to pursue this passage to its depths. They are earmarked right after the passage of scripture.
-- Extra notes here not mentioned in sermon.
· The first question that Paul asks is in verse 1. Paul asks, “If being a Jew is defined as Jewish by nature of the work of the Spirit in one’s life causing one to believe in Jesus, what good is it to be born a Jew?”
· Paul answers the question in verse 2 by saying that there are tons of advantages.
o The Jewish people received the gift of circumcision.
o They were entrusted with the scriptures or the oracles of God as Paul calls them.
· Imagine the significance of both of those gifts.
o A group of ragtag slaves in Egypt were given the gift of identity. They went from slaves to the becoming the people o f God.
o More than likely, they were Illiterate slaves who not only received the gift of identity but also given the very words of God to grow with and raise their children by.
· The gifting of identity and the words of God should be humbling. The proper response would, “I don’t deserve this.”
· Now Paul is explaining the relationship with the Jewish people covenantally because that was how it was established with Abraham. God made a covenant to be their God and for them to be His people.
o This covenantal relationship does not guarantee that everyone in will be saved. It does guarantee that everyone within the covenant will be raised within the covenant promise and protection of the sacraments and the Word of God.
· That leads to Paul’s second question in verse 3. Paul asks, “What if some of the Jews are unfaithful?” What if some of them don’t believe? Does their unfaithfulness mean that God is not being faithful?”
o Now this is a question that some of you may have asked before as well, but I imagine the question has been more personal. God has promised within every covenant He has ever made to include promises for the children of believers.
o Some of you may have asked, “Why my child doesn’t believe or why doesn’t my brother or my sister believe?” Maybe you have asked, “Will my children ever believe?”
· Is God unfaithful to His promise because people within the covenant are unfaithful? Paul answers the second question in verse 4, “No, 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.”
o Paul’s answer is pretty brusque. He says, “Listen, God is the only one who keeps His word. Man cannot and never will apart from the help of God.
o Any promise you make or attempt to keep will be broken without God’s help.
o Only God’s words are proved true and only God is found to be just in all He does.
· Now, at this point, you might be wondering, “Gordon, that is not a huge comfort to me as my child or loved one does not believe and what exactly does this have to do with all the humility you mentioned at the beginning of the sermon?”
· Well, what follows is a picture of what the lack of humility looks like if we are not trusting God and His covenant faithfulness.
· Paul entertains a hypothetical argument in verses 5-8. Verses 5 and 7 are essentially the same question and verses 6 and 8 serve as the answers.
· You see some might make if they feel that God is not faithful in keeping His promises. It is not too far fetched as I’ve heard people make this same argument. He asks,
o If our sin shows how good God is, then why is God mad and punishing us for our sin?
o Doesn’t God want to pour our out His goodness and if He does, then the best thing to do is sin and sin so God can be more gracious?
· Paul’s answer is “God is just and good and He pours out His wrath on people who think that way.
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· Now, Verses 1-8 can best be summarized in this way.
· v.1 Q: “Paul, are you saying there is no advantage to Biblical religion?”
o v.2 A: No, there is great value in having and knowing the Word (“oracles”) of God
· v.3a Q: “But then the Word failed, for so many of the Jews haven’t believed the gospel.”
o vv.3b-4 A: No — despite their failure to believe, God promises to save in advance. Our faithlessness only reveals how true he is!
· v.5 Q: “But if he is faithful in response to our faithlessness, how could he judge anyone?”
o vv.6-7 A: He will judge unbelief — that is being faithful in response to our faithlessness.
· The bottom line takeaway from these verses is found in verse 8.
o v.8 Anyone who says that you should sin more so that God will love you is worthy of that judgment
· Finally in verse 9, Paul asks his 4th and final question with verses 10-20 serving as the answer
9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin
· You see, even though there is an advantage in being raised in a religious, even godly environment, it does not save. Paul makes that argument that the Jewish people though blessed with the oracles of God and sacraments of the OT are not better off or saved by those things. They have no advantage. Why? Because everyone, Greeks, Jews, and yous are under sin.
o The wording “under sin” is very specific. It is a legal term. It speaks of one’s position before God.
o For example, when Jesus gives you righteousness before God, it is HIS righteousness and not yours, so you are positionally made righteous before God.
o Without Jesus’ goodness, you are positionally under sin and therefore the curse of sin falls on you from God.
· To emphasize this, Paul is going to go through a detailed explanation of the human state apart from God. He is going to describe what it looks like to be positionally apart from God.
· There are at least 7 descriptions of what it looks like to be under sin. Let’s read verse 10-18 and listen for them.
o (Though this is a common observation, specifically I used Redeemer NY’s study guide in these comments.)
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” 13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” 14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
· Did you hear them? The 7 things that are affected by sin are:
o Your legal standing
o Your mind
o Your motive
o Your will
o Your tongue
o Your relationship with others
o Your relationship with God
· These are the effects of sin in your life. Before Christ you are powerless to these things, and even after Christ, you have to be mindful of them as they have power and influence. You ultimately won’t be cured of these sinful effects until you see Christ face to face.
o Let’s look at each one in detail.
· First, sin affects your legal standing. In verse 10 it is says that no one is righteous. And just in case you didn’t get it, Paul says, “No, not one.” That is sort of like when you break into a child’s room and the kids are going crazy and you say, “Stop whatever it is you are dong.” Inevitably there is one kid who says, “I wasn’t doing anything.” And You say, “Yeah, you too, especially you.”
o Everyone is unrighteous. No one is good. The only goodness possible is the goodness of Christ given to you and the goodness you are now able to do because Christ has transformed you. There is no place for self-righteousness.
o Can you imagine how your relationships with others would change if you looked at everyone just like this? If you looked at them and said, “Whew apart from Christ and His work, we are all the same.”
o Folks, that is humbling. That is life-changing. Think of whoever you were mad with this week. Be honest; you’ve been mad at someone.
§ Why were you mad? Do you think they had done you wrong? Perhaps they did. But you are no different than they are standing on your own merit. You just feel righteous at them moment.
§ Own this verse and watch anger go away.
o Humility changes everything.
o Understand this and grow in thankfulness to God and love your neighbor more.
o Humility changes everything.
· Second, sin affects your mind. Verse 11 says “No one understands God.” Folks, we don’t get God apart from Him revealing Himself. You can take pride in your Bible knowledge because you’ve studied or picked it up by osmosis, and you will be a fool if you are proud. You only know God as He reveals Himself, so you don’t get to take credit.
o You don’t get to look at someone who is a Mormon or a radical Muslim or even someone in a Christian denomination different than your own and be self-righteous about it. You’re not smarter. You didn’t figure it all out.
o Apart from God revealing Himself to you, you didn’t understand God.
o Humility changes everything.
o Understand this and grow in thankfulness to God and love your neighbor more.
o Humility changes everything.
· Thirdly, sin affects your motives. Verse 11 says, “No one seeks God. No one.” You didn’t seek God out.
o You might say, “I know people who are seeking right now. They just haven’t found God yet,” or you might say, “I sought for God.”
o There is a difference between seeking a spiritual blessing or asking God to answer a prayer and seeking God.
o People might intellectually pursue knowledge about God or ask God to get them out of a pinch, but you know that is not seeking God for salvation. Man is dead in their sin as Paul says in Colossians. Dead men don’t seek God.
o As the good Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones says, “Prayers does not mean that we are seeking God. Seeking God means you are trying to find God, and to get into His presence”
o No sinful man seeks to enter God’s presences. Sinful man seeks to flee from God’s presence.
o What Paul is saying is that no one on their own seeks to find God. Sin’s effect is too great. If you believe in Jesus, you did not seek God. God sought you and found you.
o Humility changes everything.
o Understand this and grow in thankfulness to God and love your neighbor more.
o Humility changes everything.
· Fourthly, sin affects your will. Verse 12 says that everyone has turned away and become worthless and no one does good.
o Now, you may hear that and say, “I was never worthless.” Maybe you resonate better bumper stickers and say, “God don’t make no junk.”
o Well, every human being is born in the image of God, so each human being is born with inherent value. So what does it mean that a person becomes worthless?
o Well, every human being reflects the thing they worship.
§ You worship Jesus you will begin to be conformed into His image. You’ll become like Jesus.
§ You worship anything else in this world, and you will reflect what you worship. Anything we worship other than God, whether it be money, appearance, happiness, or even another religion, those things are worthless, and if you worship them, you become like them.
o That is who you are apart from God and who every other person in the world is apart from God.
o Humility changes everything.
o Understand this and grow in thankfulness to God and love your neighbor more.
o Humility changes everything.
· Fifthly, sin affects your tongue. Verses 13-14 speak of your tongue. Paul describes this by saying that sin makes your throat an open grave, you deceive people with your speech, you have venom on your lips and you curse and deceive.
o A grave is full of what? The rotting, stinking flesh of corpses.
o That doesn’t mean that a human being can’t speak something nice or pleasing. But it does mean that no one uses their words with the intention to please and honor God apart from God’s help.
o If a word is not intended to glorify God, it is deceptive and deceitful no matter how lovely it may be.
o Apart from God, your words are as Shakespeare said in Macbeth: “Life is a tale told by an idiot/full of sound a fury signifying nothing.”
o Those are your words apart from God’s help.
o Humility changes everything.
o Understand this and grow in thankfulness to God and love your neighbor more.
o Humility changes everything.
· Sixthly, sin affects your relationships. Verses 15-17 say that your sin causes you to shed blood, spread misery, and keeps you from knowing peace.
o Sin makes a person self-centered and always causes you to seek your interest over others first. Why? Because apart from God, every human being worships themselves.
o The great preacher, CH Spurgeon explained how this worked out in people’s lives by telling this story.
o Once in a kingdom long ago, a gardener grew a huge carrot, and decided to give it to his prince, because he loved his sovereign. When he gave it, the prince discerned his love and devotion, and that he expected nothing in return. So as the gardener turned to leave, he said, “Here, my son, I want to give you some of my land so you can produce an even greater crop. It is yours.” And the gardener went home rejoicing. A nobleman heard of this incident and thought, “If that is what the prince gives in response to the gift of a carrot, what would he give to me if I gave him a fine horse?” So the nobleman came and presented the prince with a fine steed as a gift. But the prince discerned his heart and said, “You expect me to give to you as I did to the gardener. I will not. You are very different. The gardener gave ME the carrot. But you were giving yourself the horse.”
o Apart from God, every human ultimately serves their best interest in every relationship which only leads to strife and not peace.
o Humility changes everything.
o Understand this and grow in thankfulness to God and love your neighbor more.
o Humility changes everything.
· Finally, sin affects your relationship to God. Paul makes it very clear in verse 18 when he says, “No one fears Gods.”
o Oh, people might be scared of God, but no one fears God in the biblical sense in terms of honoring and giving God the worship, reverence, and respect that God and God alone deserves.
o No one, apart from God’s help does as Psalm 16:8 says. No one sets God always before them.
o Without fear, you cannot love and worship God as Proverbs is clear to tell us that the reverent, worshipful fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
o With this in mind, every one of you, every person on the face of the planet irrespective of race, education, sexual orientation, political affiliation, or any other category is equal before God. Apart from God intervening in a person’s life, everyone is in deep do-do.
o Humility changes everything.
o Understand this and grow in thankfulness to God and love your neighbor more.
o Humility changes everything.
19 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. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
· Paul says, every person is under the law and one of the intentions of the law is to shut everyone’s mouth. This is God’s big “shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” to you and everyone else.
· No one is ever going to present a defense of themselves before God on their own and be justified, forgiven, or even declared good.
o Folks, lack of humility keeps you from glorifying God and keeps you from risking great acts of faith because you feel there are interests of your own to serve or to be served.
o Lack of humility keeps you from being compassionate to those that don’t know Jesus Christ.
o Lack of humility causes you to hold sins, even committed years ago, over people’s heads.
o Lack of humility, even if you have faith in Jesus, will make you a very ineffective believer.
o Lack of humility keeps you from fearlessly loving others as Jesus fearlessly loved you.
· Let me give you an example as I close:
o I know a Godly Christian family in another part of the country. They have a couple of great kids, they faithfully serve in their church, and they seek unique avenues to glorify God.
o However, lately one of the spouses has been consumed with being validated in the work place and seeking recognition and approval instead of walking in humility. The spouse’s life has become full of angry complaints and demands about what is deserved. Humility is slipping from his grasp.
o They know a young woman who needs a new start. She hasn’t fallen into too grave a sin yet, she isn’t dangerous, but she stands at the precipice. Her future is before her, and it looks like she is getting ready to make some huge mistakes.
o The wife says, “Hey, let’s have her move in with us. She can go to church with us. She can have a stable home environment for the first time. She can go to college here in town. She can get a fresh start.”
o The husbands answer: “No, that’s just too messy. What if she gets in trouble? What if she wrecks her car? What if she needs money? Who knows what she is going to bring into the house.”
o His life is nice and in order. It looks good on the outside and in. The family is successful in every way imaginable, except humility and grace and the faith to take risks.
· When your life is too put together to help others because theirs is too messed up, you have forgotten the lessons of chapter 3.
· The Gospel as presented in chapter 3 shows you just how great your need is and how great everyone else’s need is. If you walk fully in who you are as seen in chapter 3, you will realize just how God is more gracious than you ever imagined, you will walk in a depth of honesty about your sin that will bring you all the joy in the world possible.
· This is why we do what we do here at Sovereign King Church.
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