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Romans 3 "Though Every Man Deny It"
"What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?
Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles
of God. For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the
faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be
true but every man a liar. As it is written: "That You may be justified
in Your words, And may overcome when You are judged." But
if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God what shall
we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) Certainly
not! For then how will God judge the world? For if the truth of God
has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged
as a sinner? And why not say, "Let us do evil that good may come"?
as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their
condemnation is just. (Romans 3:1-8)
Can the whole world agree on something and yet still be wrong? History
has shown that mankind has deluded itself many times. The easiest example
of this is the flat earth of Columbus' day. When the brave explorer
sailed west from Spain, the general opinion was that his ships would
soon sail off the edge of the world and never be heard from again. When
he did come back the whole world was proved wrong. A modern day example
of this is the theory of evolution. Scientists of the 19th century,
with the limited data of that time, came up with the idea that man was
not created, but evolved from the apes. Since that time the theory has
been expanded and revised many times over until it is taught as fact
in classrooms the world over. It is one of the foundational concepts
of modern science. And yet there is not one piece of physical evidence
that supports one species of life changing into another species. It
cannot be proved by science, and yet the whole world believes it to
be the pinnacle of science.
Whole societies have also been very wrong. In my own country many of
the founding fathers, men like Washington and Jefferson owned slaves.
The country that was built on the principle that "all men are created
equal", looked the other way and chose to believe that Africans
either were not men or were not "as" equal because of the
color of their skin. In this century, horrible places like Auschwitz
and the Gulags, the killing fields of Cambodia, ethnic cleansings in
Bosnia, Central Africa's endless cycle of revenge and rebellion, the
list goes on and on because the vast amount of people either choose
to believe that things aren't as bad as they seem, or that some other
race really is the cause of all the problems.
Just because "everybody" does it, does not mean it is right.
Just because that is what "everybody" believes, does not mean
it is true. Paul said, "Let God be true but every man a liar."
Let the examples that I have given to you be a warning. Man cannot be
trusted to decide what is true and what is false. Even the best of men
are too easily swayed by their own biases and prejudices. Even the most
rational are deceived by their own pride and greed. You must have a
standard that is above the rise and fall of popular opinion. The only
standard that can be above man, is his Creator, God. God is the only
objective standard because He alone stands apart from man, totally independent
of man.
When we think of the Jews, we think of Moses leading the children of
Israel through the wilderness, Joshua commanding the army of the Lord,
David dancing into Jerusalem, Daniel faithful under persecution. We
look at the Jews as the heroes of the faith. But the Christians to whom
Paul was writing to looked at the Jews in a different way. To them they
were their most feared enemies, their persecutors, the ones who were
trying to destroy them. Some might of thought, "If these are the
people of God, then this is a God that I don't want to have anything
to do with." I said before that even the best of men cannot be
trusted to always choose the good. Paul says, "For what if some
did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without
effect? Certainly not!" The character of God does not depend on
the character of His servants. The goodness of God does not depend on
the goodness of His servants. The faithfulness of God does not depend
on the faithfulness of His servants. As Christians we have been put
in a unique position. We are called to be the lampstands, lifting high
the light of the world, Jesus Christ. We are called to be the body of
Christ in this world, showing the love of Jesus to all. We imitate Christ,
and represent Christ, but remember≈c Jesus Christ is far more
than our meager representation of Him can ever be. We are but a shadow,
a child's drawing compared to a photograph, or a photograph compared
to the glory of a real sunset.
Like the Jews, we too will make mistakes. We will lose battles. We will
have need to repent and be forgiven before we can then again move forward.
The Bible is a unique book because it tells history not from a human
perspective but from a spiritual view. It does not gloss over sin, it
does not hide mistakes, but rather points them out so that we can learn
from them. There is no other book of history like it in the world. The
heroes of the Bible were all sinners who made mistakes. And yet God
used these mistakes, overcame their sin, worked through their shortcomings
to achieve His purpose in them. I would much rather have a church full
of sinners than a church full of perfect people. Because I know that
God will be working in us mightily! But make sure you understand what
I mean, (and what Paul means). This does not give us an excuse to stay
evil, continuing in sin. I cannot say to myself, "God is working
His good even in my mistakes, so I can just keep on doing the same mistake!"
I do not want to have a church full of sin! That would be the same as
wanting a church full of death and pain. Instead what I want is a church
full of people who know that they must depend on God instead of themselves.
I want a church where people are not afraid to confess their sins because
the know that others will understand and forgive. I want a church where
even though mistakes are made and people get hurt, we know that the
enemy is never each other.
If you look to man you will be disappointed. Whether that man is of
the world or of the church. Most definitely if you stay with me long
enough you will be disappointed. You will expect more of me than I can
give and I will let you down. This is true of any pastor, of any person.
If you stay with Tokyo Horizon Chapel long enough you will be disappointed.
We won't be the church that you want us to be. But there is One whom
you need never be disappointed in. He is always true, always faithful
even though the whole world be false.
In Japan, it is hard to believe in Jesus Christ, because most other
people don't. Most likely, if you ask your family or your friends, they
will tell you that they either don't believe or don't know. Less than
1% are born again Christians. Are all those people who don't believe
wrong? Unfortunately, yes. They are making a big mistake. Just like
the people who laughed at Columbus and said that he would fall off the
edge, because they didn't believe that the earth was round. Even though
every man on earth thinks that the world is flat, it makes no difference.
The truth is not up for a vote. The truth is not decided by popular
opinion. The truth is the truth though no one believes. God is true
even though every man denies it. Do not be deceived by the masses, search
for the truth and believe what you know is right.
Romans 3:19-31
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are
under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may
become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh
will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
(Romans 3:19-20)
For anyone who has wanted to know about sin, Paul has given a pretty
thorough description of it in these last three chapters. In its most
basic form, sin is the refusal of man to worship God, taking God out
of His rightful spot, and replacing Him with ourselves. The result of
this is that everything gets screwed up. Paul explained that those who
had never heard of the Bible or Christianity still know in their hearts
that there is a God who they should obey. But even those who had heard
of God's law are just as guilty because they do not keep the law. What
does the law say? The law was a contract between God and Israel, with
a very specific demand that the people love the Lord and keep His commandments.
If they kept their part of the contract then God would bless them, but
if they did not keep their part God promised them that they would surely
perish. (Deut 30:15-18) What the law says is that we deserve to perish
because we could not keep the law. The whole world is guilty before
God.
My son and I went to Toshimaen last summer while Rie was home with baby
Gracie. We rode for a while on the smaller rides but decided that we
would like to challenge something a little bigger. We got in line to
get on the roller coaster that looks like a choo-choo train, but before
we could ride, Keita had to prove that he was over 110cm tall. There
is a line on the sign that he must measure up to. With his hat on, he
just barely made it. Now the gates of heaven also has one of these measuring
signs. However, it does not measure how tall you are physically, it
measures how tall you are spiritually. My son had to be 110 centimeters
tall. But those wanting to go to heaven must be at least 110 RIGHTEOUSmeters
tall. Now how do you measure "righteousmeters". Well its easy.
Every time you obey God and do the good works that He has prepared for
you, you add one righteousmeter to your spiritual height. So all you
have to do is keep obeying God and pretty soon you will be good enough
to get into heaven. What could be easier? Oh! I forgot to tell you.
Everytime you disobey God, or ignore the good works that He has prepared
for you, your spiritual height is set back to zero. Every religion in
the world has its equivalent to the righteousmeter sign, each one calculates
how to grow spiritually a little different, but in the end you always
find yourself staring up at that sign. And no matter how high you stand
on your tippy toes, it doesn't matter because you don't measure up.
For the Jews their sign was the law. It showed them plainly that they
were not good enough to make it to heaven.
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed,
being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness
of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.
For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His
blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His
forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might
be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans
3: 19-26)
After riding on the choo-choo roller coaster, we looked to see what
other rides we could get on. You see some of the rides were for those
over 110 cm, and for some you had to be over 120cm. No matter how bad
Keita wanted to get on one of the bigger rides, there was no way he
could. This is the position of the world, Paul says, but ≈c What
if, as Keita and I were standing there depressed about not being able
to go on the ride, we spotted that around the corner there were other
kids about Keita's height getting in through a different gate? This
is what Paul is saying, "But now the righteousness of God apart
from the law is revealed." There is another way in! Come on, let's
check it out!
By the righteousmeter, the system by which we earn our way into heaven
by doing good deeds, the highest we could ever reach would be at most
10 or 20. Remember that you don't score more points for doing something
really good, it is only by being obedient to what God has called you
to do. And then any little sin of thought or pride or anger or putting
self over others would knock you right back down to zero. Not only that,
it would not be enough to hit the 110 mark once, but you would need
to sustain it at that level for the rest of your life. "That's
impossible!", you say. Right! But there is a better way. At the
other gate there is a man who has knelt down on his hands and knees
right at the righteousmeter sign and each of the children are climbing
up onto his back to be measured. As each one is measured over the 120
mark they get a stamp on their hands that says that they are cleared
and never need to be measured again. Unfortunately for Keita and I,
there was no such thing at Toshimaen. But the most wonderful thing in
the world is that heaven has just such a system. It is called justification.
It is the way that we can measure up to the righteousmeter, not by our
own righteousness that never is enough, but with the more than sufficient
righteousness of God.
One day when we were travelling with my wife's parents we stopped at
a go-kart racing place. Now Keita is much too young to drive the go-karts
but we wanted to let him ride in my lap and race against Grandpa. This
wasn't really allowed, but when we asked the attendant he looked both
ways and said "Go ahead". This is an example of forgiveness.
He allowed us in even though we were not qualified. If the attendant
at the sign at Toshimaen had told us to go ahead even though Keita was
not 120 cm then we would have been forgiven. We are forgiven through
Jesus Christ but justification is even better. Justification is not
letting us in even though we aren't qualified, justification is pronouncing
us qualified. God does not look at us and say, "Ok, you filthy
little slimeball, I will let you into heaven but don't touch anything
you might get it dirty." Instead He gives us the keys to heaven
and welcomes us with open arms. In fact it is impossible for God to
let anyone into heaven unless they are qualified. You see God is truth
and He is light. He cannot just ignore darkness. He can't hold secrets
from Himself. He cannot sneak around letting people in the back door,
no matter how much He loves them. So how does God justify these sinners
who do not measure up?
"being justified freely, by His grace through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood,
through faith≈c" How does God justify sinners? Let me give
you four words that explain it. "Grace, Redemption, Propitiation
and Faith" Grace and faith we will save until last and then give
you a chance to respond to God's offer. The other two I will explain
now. When I was growing up in Oregon I used to spend hot summer days
walking down the highway looking for soda-pop cans. Now why would someone
spend all day lugging around a plastic bag full of empty pop cans? Because
if I took them to the grocery store I could trade each can I found in
for a nickel. 5 cents! The store bought back each can from me for 5
cents. They redeemed the cans so that they could be recycled and used
again. The word that Paul uses here means to pay a ransom. It means
that God paid to have us loosened from the chains of sin and death.
Because of our sin Satan had a right to accuse us. Satan had a claim
on us as one of his own. But God bought us back with a price. That price
was his Son Jesus Christ. Each can in my bag cost the grocery store
5 cents. If I got real lucky I might have 100 cans in my bag and they
would be forced to pay me 5 whole dollars. Now imagine the price that
Jesus had to pay for the sins of the entire world to buy us back. It
would be as if the special line at the rollercoaster stretched on and
on forever and the man who was bent over letting each child step on
his back was Jesus. Only a rollercoaster is much too trivial to work
as an analogy any longer. Rather Jesus is like the man helping children
into the lifeboats of a sinking ship, knowing that each child he helps
to safety makes his own doom all that more certain.
Propitiation is the demonstration of God's mercy. Remember, God is just.
Every sin must be punished, every wrong righted. God cannot be just
and let things slide by. So for Jesus to rescue every man from the chains
of sin is not enough. He also had to bear the punishment for each of
those sins upon Himself. The same word is used in the Old Testament
of the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant. After God gave the law
to Moses, He commanded that they shut it up in a special box. This box
then was placed in a tent that became the center of Israel's worship.
The law in the box meant certain death for every one of them. It condemned
them as guilty before God. But God commanded Moses to make a lid for
the box called the "mercy seat" or propitiation. Once a year
the high priest would come and sacrifice a lamb on this mercy seat and
God would forgive the sins of the people. The mercy seat was a lid separating
the people from the wrath of God. The blood of Jesus Christ is the very
same "mercy seat" separating us from the wrath of God. Jesus
stands between us and God taking all the punishment for our sins upon
himself causing God to pass over our sins and proclaim us righteous.
There are two more words that make justification complete. Grace and
Faith. Jesus paid the price to set us free from sin and He takes the
punishment for our sins upon Himself. Not just our sins but the sins
of the entire world. What have we done to deserve it? Nothing. It is
freely by His grace. It is simply a gift. Why doesn't God require something
from us? Because then we would just be back on the same "Righteousmeter"
system again and He would be forced to judge us by that system. The
key to the whole thing is that it is not our righteousness, our 10 or
20 points that will get us into heaven but the righteousness of God
that is more than sufficient. Jesus Christ gives us the righteousness
of God by grace, as a free gift.
What is our response to this fabulous gift? To receive it by faith.
God has offered us redemption, and mercy so that He could justly proclaim
us as righteous. "that He might be just and the justifier of the
one who has faith in Jesus." Faith in Jesus, the one who has paid
the price to buy us back. Faith in Jesus, the one who bore our punishment
on Himself. Faith in Jesus, the one who saves us by grace.
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