Bible Study Romans Part 56-Oracles of God

Welcome to the program Study in the Chapel.

God's Word is supreme in chapel ministries.

We consider it absolutely essential to a proper relationship with God.

We study it, we love it, we rely on it every minute of every day.

The following program is an edited recording of the regular Bible studies we hold, and we decided to share these with you in the hope that you too will be able to find inspiration, encouragement, and ultimately salvation through discovering Christ in Scripture.

Our intention is to travel all the way through the Bible.

It will be a challenging journey, but one that will undoubtedly bring you to a decision.

Through this study, you will be faced with either believing or rejecting what God has said to us.

It is our intention to provide you with enough knowledge to make an informed decision about God and his word.

We strongly encourage you to listen intently and diligently, because though at the moment you may not realize it, these things are truly a matter of life and death.

In fact, these are matters of eternal life and eternal death.

Never treat what God has said lightly.

There's truly nothing more important to you.

Now join us as we seek God's will through his inspired word.

We are continuing our way through Paul's letter to the Romans, a very important part of the Bible for us Christians.

By the way, let me warn you, my puppy is not feeling very good here in my home studio.

So you may hear her snoring at my feet.

She does that regularly.

Don't worry.

It's not Catherine.

Catherine does sometimes snore when I'm teaching, but it won't be her today.

So as I said, we are in Paul's letter to the Romans.

We finished the second chapter last time.

We are going to start the third chapter today.

This is one that is extremely interesting.

It's one of the most important chapters in the Bible.

It reveals one of Paul's most persistent forms of attack.

Some might think it's better to call this a form of defense, but I don't think so.

Paul is very adept at drawing his enemies in.

Let me stop with this analogy because it's an entirely inaccurate to call those he wrote to as his enemies, especially those of his own race.

No matter, listen to me, no matter how harshly he was treated following his conversion, he would have never considered the Jewish people his adversaries.

So this is by no means warfare.

This isn't rescue effort.

You know, when I was in my late teens, I worked at a summer camp for inner city youth.

And one thing you can say about kids who grow up in urban environments is that very few of them learn how to swim.

And that was especially true in Detroit in the late 70s and early 80s.

Yes, there were lots of rivers, lakes, and streams, but nearly every one of them was terribly polluted by decades of industrial exploitation of the environment.

And as far as public swimming pools were concerned, let's just say you didn't want to go there either.

You're just as likely to get lead poisoning in one of those as you would in any natural body of water, but it would be a different sort of lead poisoning if you get my drift.

Anyhow, my point is that swimming was not a skill most kids in Detroit possessed.

Well, the camp I worked at for a couple of summers had an awesome pool.

And the list of activities these boys and girls were offered included a lot of swimming.

So, of course, we spent quite a bit of time teaching these youngsters basic swimming skills.

Let me say it was one of the most challenging aspects of that job.

And as part of our responsibilities, we camp counselors had to be trained in water rescues, not quite lifeguards, but receiving a lot of the same instruction.

Well, one of the things that I remember the most from our training sessions is the warning that very often the one you're trying to rescue will fight all of your efforts to save them.

It's not that they want to stay in danger, it's just they're so panicky.

They see everything as life-threatening, even you, the one who's trying to help them.

I really found that hard to believe, but from what our trainers told us, it was a reality to be prepared for.

Well, by all appearances, it seems as if Paul is having a bit of trouble himself in his rescue efforts.

But the difference here is that those he's jumped in to save aren't panicky at all.

In fact, they don't think they need a rescue.

Many of them don't accept that they're hurtling toward ruin, and so they reject, sometimes quite violently, any efforts designed to save them from their self-destructive ways.

But listen, Paul isn't one to be easily thwarted.

He knows he has to use different tactics when dealing with his own people.

Thank God he knows the Jewish mindset because otherwise there would have been far fewer Jewish converts added to the church in those early days.

In fact, I believe without Paul's genius, many of those who did convert in the beginning would have slipped back into their old Jewish ways, turning their backs on the gospel of grace.

And one of the most effective methods he used was anticipating criticism, at the very least, confusion.

Paul's unconventional strategy involved answering unasked questions.

You heard that right.

Paul would cleverly and accurately predict objections and arguments to his teachings about Christ, and he would go about addressing those concerns before anyone had a chance to conceive in their mind these arguments, let alone say them verbally.

In the previous two chapters, he employed this tactic only occasionally, but starting here in chapter three, the pace quickens.

Throughout this chapter, Paul meets the opposition head on.

It's really a bold tactic when you think about it.

It involves giving your potential critics ammunition they didn't even know existed, suggesting to those that oppose you that there may be concerns with the position you are arguing for seems a bit counterintuitive.

But this man, Paul, is no ordinary teacher.

He isn't afraid of, nor does he avoid the naysayers.

But most of all, he believes in the truth of his arguments.

Now, the reason Paul is so successful in this strategy is that he uses scripture as the foundation for all of his reasonings and conclusions.

And as you can imagine, he uses scripture to combat these objections he anticipates.

And the reason this is such a solid strategy is twofold.

Number one, it's scripture.

It's hard to argue against something with those credentials.

And number two, the Jews knew and loved their scripture.

Now, you and I in our day would have nowhere near the success Paul had with this strategy because today people don't view the contents of the Bible as a valid basis on which to have an argument.

The modern notion is that the Bible is mere fantasy, at the very least, rambling religious nonsense with no historical nor scientific basis.

To most human modern audiences, you're better off trying to prove your point from the Harry Potter series.

They don't respect the Bible.

Well, that was not how the Jews of Paul's day saw things.

To them, the Bible was sacred, infallible, and above reproach.

If you can prove something from Scripture, you've won the day among those people.

Now, having said that, here in this chapter, it does seem that Paul has actually shifted away from the exclusive focus on the Jews that he had in the previous chapter.

It would seem that by this, he didn't want anyone to think that the only ones offending God were the Jews.

Paul continues his stinging rebukes, but this time he's broadened the targets to include, well, everyone.

I think this was a crucial strategy for Paul to pursue, lest the non-Jews reading the letter would make the same mistake the Jews made with the first chapter.

Paul wants to make sure that no one thinks they get a hall pass from God based solely on who they are or who they are not.

All right, with that, let's go ahead and read it on through.

Again, I read from the King James.

This is the third chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans.

Please follow along in the Bible in front of you.

What advantage then hath the Jew?

Or what prophet is there of circumcision?

Much, every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

For what if some did not believe?

Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

God forbid.

Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

Verse 5.

But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say?

Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance?

I speak as a man.

God forbid, for then how shall God judge the world?

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.

What then?

Are we better than they?

No, in no wise, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin.

As it is written, there is none righteous, know 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.

Verse 13.

Listen to this.

Their throat is an open sepulchre.

With their tongues they have used deceit.

The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known.

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Now we know what things soever the law saith, it saith to them 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 there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.

For there is no difference.

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Where is boasting then?

It is excluded.

By what law?

Of works, nay, but by the law of faith.

Therefore we conclude that a 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, the Gentiles also, seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith.

Do we then make void the law through faith?

God forbid.

Yea, we establish the law.

Truly one of the most important chapters in all of the Bible.

And if you go to a reformed tradition church, you are quite familiar with all those verses.

Now, what has gotten us here?

Why is Paul being so negative, at least in the beginning part?

Well, because he's teaching us about the gospel.

Wait a second, John.

Doesn't gospel mean good news?

I haven't heard any good news from Paul's pen for quite a while.

Is this really the way to talk about the good news of God?

Well, yes.

And as a matter of fact, there's really no other way to teach it.

Now I know this thing isn't, this type of thing isn't very common.

We're not used to hearing stuff like this, especially from our preachers.

The word sin never comes up on Sunday.

We never hear such ugly statements as there is none righteous, no, not one.

Listen, we're very polite to our congregations.

I mean, that's only being practical, isn't it?

If we preach like Paul preaches, I mean, before long, we'll be doing so to empty buildings.

We'll have to close the doors, and no one wants that, do they?

I mean, isn't it better to have building stuff with dumb, spoiled sheep than locking the doors and putting for sale signs out front because no one's showing up?

That's our modern mindset.

We don't care anymore what the people that come through those doors believe.

Why should it matter to us if they think they need the gospel or not?

Well, because the gospel is the very reason the church exists.

It isn't to feed the poor, it isn't to spread peace around the world, stop wars, house the homeless, demand justice for the oppressed.

The church was established for the gospel.

The church was established because of the gospel.

When the church was founded, that's all they talked about.

There were no building fund updates, no vacation Bible school announcements, no youth sports tryout notices, just the gospel.

Every meeting was an evangelistic meeting.

And once the Reformation took hold and started growing without resorting to bloodshed, that's all they talked about, too.

And at every service, the topic was the deep, ruinous, calamitous, ubiquitous power of sin.

That sounds pretty gloomy.

I wouldn't have wanted to go to church in those days.

There's no way to get you to understand what's good about the good news without discussing sin.

It's because of sin that the gospel exists.

It's because of the gospel that the name of it's because of sin that the name Jesus exists.

His name means he shall help his people.

Help them with what?

Their sin problem.

And sin is the one thing we all share, the one thing we can't escape, the one thing that stands between you and God.

And if you don't believe that, then there's nothing in the gospel for you.

The gospel has no meaning outside of sin.

And the church has no meaning, meaning without the gospel.

The greatest obstacle to understanding the things of God is human intellect and reasoning.

And Paul knows it, and he shapes his arguments in such a way as to navigate those persistent impediments.

Romans 3:1.

Romans 3:1

What advantage then hath the Jew, or what prophet is there of circumcision?

He just knew someone was going to ask him that question.

He just knew, after what he said in chapter 2, that someone was going to wonder if it was worth being a Jew at all.

What advantage then hath the Jew, or what prophet is there of circumcision?

Paul, are you ashamed of being a Jew?

Of course not.

Paul, is it a badge of shame to be circumcised?

Of course not.

Now, by way of quick reminder, very, very often the ritualistic act of circumcision is analogous to being a Jew, at least it is in the Bible.

Now, I suppose that that was even true for only a few decades, maybe a half a century previous to our own time.

Circumcision wasn't very common until maybe the past 100 or so years, when it was discovered that there's some medical advantage to circumcising infant boys.

It's apparently more hygienic.

Go figure, God was ahead of medical science by only about 4,000 years.

How shocking.

Anyhow, circumcision in the Bible is a common symbol for the Jews, since in their day, very few others were circumcised.

And just by way of a quick reference, the following is when circumcision became a permanent and important part of the lives of the Jews.

Now, those of you that join us on Wednesday nights know we're just about ready to cover this in our Genesis studies, chapter 17, starting at verse 9.

Now there's lots of good stuff before this, but I'm trying to keep from going too far off the track with this subject matter.

That believe me, the temptation is excruciating, but let's see if we can get through it.

Genesis 17, 9, again, reading from the King James.

And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant, therefore, thou and thy seed after thee in their generations.

This is my covenant, which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee.

Every man child among you shall be circumcised, and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you, and he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house or brought or bought with money of any stranger which is not of thy seed.

He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money must needs be circumcised, and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant, and the uncircumcised man, child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people.

He hath broken my covenant.

So as you can tell, this isn't just a covenant between God and Abraham.

It was meant to connect the entire nation with God.

Circumcision was a more or less visible, certainly obvious sign that there was a special relationship between that person, that circumcised person and God.

And even if there were other people groups that were circumcised, they weren't circumcised for the same reason.

Most modern day Western males are circumcised for health reasons, but only modern day Jewish males are circumcised for the purpose of being associated with God.

And for that reason, circumcision, being circumcised, is a Jewish thing in the Bible.

It is a very unique condition, and that is why it's a good symbol for Judaism.

When one is talking about those of the circumcision, they're talking about the Jews.

Now you may be wondering why circumcision became an important symbol, why God designated circumcision as his symbol as symbolic of his relationship with his people?

Why not long fingernails or blonde hair or walking in a certain way?

Why circumcision?

What about circumcision makes it the right symbol for God's covenant with the Jews?

Well, if those are the things you wonder about, you're just gonna have to tune into our Genesis covers because that's where we're going to explain it.

John, that's mean.

Sometimes I have to light a little fire under you to get you to pay attention to Bible study.

If that means I have to leave you with a cliffhanger or two, so be it.

I mean, I suppose if you really wanted to know, you could find out for yourself.

Maybe that's what I'm trying to do.

Maybe I'm trying to stoke your curiosity and motivate you to study a little bit more at the same time.

Either way, we're not going to talk about that today.

Let's get back to Romans chapter three.

I'll read verse one again.

What advantage then hath the Jew, or what profit is there of circumcision?

Paul, you're acting as if you think being a Jew is a bad thing.

You certainly don't have anything nice to say about your fellow countrymen.

On the contrary, Paul says in response to his own question, of course there are advantages to being a Jew.

For one thing, God has entrusted us with nothing less than his very wisdom.

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.

Now quickly, let me make sure you notice something very important.

It is Paul's opinion that there's no greater blessing than the giving of God's word to his people, other than salvation, of course.

First, among the advantages the Jews have is the fact that they have received what the King James calls the oracles of God.

Paul says, chiefly unto them were committed the oracles of God.

The word chiefly translates a Greek word that actually means first and actually more specifically, first place.

There aren't a whole lot of things that I dare compare myself with Paul, but one of them is our shared vision of getting the world to see the immense treasure and blessing that is God's word.

My primary purpose of chief importance in this ministry has always been to communicate the glory of Scripture.

What do you think the message God is sending us is in Scripture?

This book is about your salvation.

And if you don't believe that yet, said a while, because I've got more work to do.

Chiefly in the first place, above all, we're committed, we're given, we're entrusted.

The word committed is actually translating a form of the word pistis, which you know means to believe or to trust.

The Jews were trusted with the possession of God's word.

And listen, of all the charges one may bring against the Jewish people, one cannot accuse them of being careless with that commitment.

They were entrusted with God's word, and they did not disappoint.

The Jews protected their assignment and preserved scripture for all of us down through the millennia.

Yes, it was their privilege to be given the oracles of God, and they treated that privilege, at least, with the utmost care.

They knew this was literally a sacred trust, and they acted accordingly.

Personally, I'm immeasurably grateful to them for that.

All right, we're just getting started in this third chapter of the Romans letter.

There's still lots of work to do, and we'll pick it up right there next time.

See you then.

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