The Book of Romans: Escape Tactics - Part 4 (3:1-8)

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The reason I say that is because sometimes I think we approach the Bible academically and we forget that the very things that we're talking about are the ideas that people run through their heads that keep them at arm's length from the goodness of God by their rejection of the gospel.

And so I just want to remind you of the seven other escape tactics that we've looked at and not apologize for being repetitive.

What I've tried to do is simplify what we've already walked through as best as I can by simple ideas.

I want to tell you briefly, you can see it on your handout.

I want to tell you briefly the escape tactic, but then why it doesn't work and in and as a way for a man or woman to escape God's righteousness in his judgment.

As you may remember, we began by looking at this concept of relative righteousness.

People claiming that, you know, they're a little bit better than most people, and so God can't judge them.

And I want you to see on the screen that this is ultimately the issue with this type of thinking, and that is that being better than most people doesn't make you holy.

Right?

Isn't that as on the most simple level, on the most basic level, this is how I would say this escape tactic is worthless.

Somebody may claim, right, that they are better than most, but that doesn't make them holy.

Another way this could be articulated is that goodness does not equal perfection.

A lot of people think that they might get to heaven because they're good.

Or aren't I good enough?

And the reality is God's not looking for good enough.

He's looking for holy.

He's looking for righteous.

And that is because, as a holy God, he will not allow sin to be in his presence.

And I'm I'm so grateful for that.

Imagine getting to heaven and there's still sin left undone.

No, I want every area of darkness purged by his light.

I want every single area of my own heart completely cleared.

I need a glorified body that at least has, if it has the capacity to sin, it will never sin because of something God's done.

I need that atoning work of the blood of Christ to give me righteousness.

Now, as we move forward, as we moved forward in the book of Romans, we saw that a second escape tactic is somebody claiming that because God has delayed his judgment, that he will never judge.

Okay, so that is this idea of presumption, and you can see here on the screen that that also is not going to allow you to get out from under the wrath of God abiding on you.

That is, if you're lost.

If we found our new identity in Jesus, we can come under his blood, and we can find safety and protection there, and we can know that our escape route is the Lord Jesus Himself and His death, burial, and resurrection.

We can be crucified with Him, as Galatians chapter 2 says in verse 20.

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

And we can be buried in the likeness of his death, as Romans chapter 6 says, and we can be raised to walk in newness of life.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

It's an amazing truth that we get to receive a gift that God's freely given to us.

And so why would we try to find, like the lost man does, another way out?

Because what it's going to require is us acknowledging that we're not good, that we need God's grace.

Grace is a wonderful thing.

But what grace means as we receive it is that I need it, that there's something inherently wrong with me, and that unless God gives me this gift, I don't have anything to offer him.

And so, thirdly, here, the escape tactic we considered in chapter two was this idea of good works.

So not just good works relative to others, but some people think that they can actually live a life good enough that God will accept them.

And a similar point can be made, right?

And that is that self-righteousness is not God's righteousness.

So a person that thinks that they can get to heaven by their good works or their good deeds, ultimately thinks way too highly of themselves, or they think way too little of God's righteousness.

Does that make sense?

The chasm's great, isn't it?

A holy God, completely separate from his creation, somehow willing to abide in it, and then and then man, so far from being able to obtain that righteous status.

And yet, a man and the pride of life will actually stand before God or in his mind think, I think I'm good enough.

And that that pride alone is enough to condemn you.

So it's just not a good escape tactic.

We also saw in our second section this idea of unique Gentile circumstances and the escape tactic of ignorance.

Now, as you can see here on the screen, this is something that I presented when I taught on it, and that is that the idea of ignorance or being ignorant of Allah doesn't make you innocent.

I brought up the idea of driving on the road, right?

You you might maybe drive in and have no clue what the speed limit is, but your ignorance does not give you innocence before the cop when he pulls you over and says you're doing 25.

I'm sorry, you're you're doing, yeah, 25 over.

You know, you're doing uh 75 in a 50 zone.

I mean, it just doesn't work.

You can claim whatever you want.

You can say that you didn't know, but you still broke the law.

And another way that this could be articulated is that the absence of the law of God does not equal the absence of any law.

Okay, so the claim here is that because somebody didn't have the law, or because someone doesn't have the Bible, therefore God can't judge them because they don't know what's right.

But as you might remember in this section of scripture, we're reminded that even if a man doesn't have the law and he's ignorant of the law of God, he does have a law written on his heart.

And you say, No, I don't.

I don't have any morals.

Yes, you do.

Because when you go through this life accusing and excusing sin, you're declaring to yourself and to God that you know what is right and what is wrong.

And you fall short of your own standard.

And then we looked at this idea of hereditary favor last week, considering somebody claiming special privilege because of their birthright, or because they know some things about God, or because they religiously observe certain things.

And I want to walk you through how those ideas also fall short.

And so, fifthly, here, the escape tactic that some men and women make is that they have special favor with God because they were born into a certain family.

I grew up Catholic.

Well, I grew up in a good Bible-teaching Baptist church.

Great.

Are you saved?

Just because your grandpa was a preacher does not make you necessarily a believer in Jesus Christ.

And the specific argument, right, that Paul's making is regarding a Jew.

And a Jew claiming that because God uniquely did call out and elect the nation of Israel, that they have now special favor because of that hereditary identity, that national identity.

But here's the simple thought being born does not mean being born again.

And Jesus said, you cannot see or enter the kingdom of God lest ye be born again.

John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

The issue in this section of scripture that Paul's trying to get us to understand is that we need to be born again.

That there's something wrong with our physical identity, and we need a new identity in Jesus.

Another way that this could be said, the escape tactic of five and its failure to actually liberate a man from his sin, is that national favor or election does not equal personal favor or justification.

So just because Israel was uniquely elected by God for a particular task in the Old Testament, and they were, and they they still are, that does not necessarily mean or follow that the individuals of that nation actually believed in the gospel.

And sure enough, you can see that in the gospel.

Just read the gospels.

Some of that nation believed on the Lord Jesus and his death, burial, and resurrection, and others did not.

So much so that they end up stoning the prophets and the very apostles that were trying to bring them that message as the church gets developed.

Secondly, here, or I'm sorry, sixthly here, but secondly, here under the third category of hereditary favor is this idea of knowledge as a way out from the judgment of God.

Some people think because they understand theology or they understand philosophy or they understand how to logically convince themselves that God doesn't exist, that he doesn't exist.

Because I know some things, because I have some facts, that that also means that I am right with God.

Here's the problem: having facts does not mean you have faith.

And the Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Okay, so cool, you know some things about God.

You and I, or the lost person, knows how to get saved.

They may even tell you, yeah, Jesus Christ became sinned for me, who knew no sin, that I might be made the righteousness of God in him.

And they they're comforted by that idea.

But you know what they've never done?

Trusted that idea for their salvation, and they still strive.

Every day they wake up, they're exhausted, afraid.

They wonder if they're gonna be judged by God.

They give mental assent to the idea that Jesus is Lord, but then yet there's no reality in their life.

Alright, so again, knowledge does not mean salvation or having facts does not mean having faith.

Last week we concluded the sermon looking at this idea of religious observance and how it also fails and falls short.

Not allowing a man to get out from under judgment.

And uh this is the idea, right?

That outward activity does not mean inward identity.

And the Lord Jesus is trying to identify with you spiritually.

Again, it's not a physical issue.

And yes, that relates to your birth, but it also relates to your activity.

Getting baptized does not save you.

In water.

You need a spiritual identity apart from your physical flesh.

And so that is the Colossians 2 baptism that is spoken of, where God by his Holy Spirit comes in and the Lord does an operation without hands, giving you a unique and a spiritual identity in the Son and the Lord Jesus Christ, apart from your physical flesh.

Such, that's why Paul is able to say in Romans 7, and we're just not here yet, but in Romans 7 he says, it is no more I that sinneth, but sin that dwelleth in me.

How is that possible, Paul?

You're saying you have sin, but you don't have sin?

Yes.

I have a new identity in Jesus.

I'm a citizen of heaven, but God has still left me in this body of death.

That's why I'm to mortify it.

I am, present tense, crucified with Christ, yet I'm also called to bury the thing that's been crucified.

Right?

Do the work of a mortician.

Mortify the deeds of the flesh.

Walk after the spirit, not after the flesh, Paul says.

We're gonna get into all that doctrine.

It's really rich and important for us, but today we need to continue looking at the last three escape tactics men and women make and why they also fall short.

And I'm hopeful to give you a simple summary of how that idea falls short.

I share all of these with, I mean, maybe as much zeal as I do because they matter to me.

And I think the more we can get our head around how people think and argue their way out of God, the better evangelists we can be.

The more sensitive we can be in conversation, the better ear we can have.

Rather than just saying, oh, you don't want Jesus, screw you, I'm not gonna listen to you.

Maybe we can actually love people and be patient enough to just listen to the reasons why they've rejected God.

And it could be that we could dismantle some belief they've held their whole life simply by letting them know.

Hey, that's not what the Bible says.

That's not actually how God is going to judge you.

This week, actually yesterday.

Yesterday, lots happened this week.

Yesterday I got on a train to Kansas City, and I spent five hours talking to a lady who ultimately felt that her good works and good deeds were enough.

And I showed her from the scriptures that, you know, salvation's not by good works.

It's a gift of God.

And she acknowledged that.

She said, you know, that that really makes sense to me, and I'm I'm thankful for you seeing it.

And then you know what she did?

She said, Well, but what about all those people who don't have the Bible?

And and they're ignorant of what God has actually said in his word.

Is God going to judge them?

I just don't know if God will judge them because they don't have a righteous standard.

And she began to articulate all the things that I've been walking through.

I mean, not all of them, but she certainly had some ideas that were strongholds and keeping her from believing that God was good and that God was just.

And it was just a blessing.

She did not get saved, but I pray that she takes one step forward in her walk with God.

She grew up Catholic and she understood that religious and outward activity was not going to save her.

She has one sister who's a devout Catholic and another family member who's kind of like a loose Bible-believing Christian.

And she's like, I just want to be real.

I know that God's not going to be like impressed by my religious activity, but I also don't think that it's just so easy that you can believe and be saved.

And so, right, it's like, okay, then let's just keep having a conversation so that I can understand why you're so resistant to the idea of the gospel.

And for her, it was not being willing to accept that God was offering to this freely to her, apart from her good works and good deeds.

And so, anyway, tons of people in the world, lots of conversations to have.

The better we can understand these escape tactics, the better off we can be in helping people be delivered from the kingdom of darkness.

Read with me now, Romans chapter 3 and verses 1 through 8.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

It says this.

And it gets it gets a little uh creative, I'll say.

People are running out of escape tactics, and so they've got to create some pretty complex systems and ideas to uh feel okay with themselves.

It says, What advantage then hath a Jew, or what prophet is there of circumcision?

And that that is following the the end of chapter two, so you've got to consider the context there.

In verse 2 of chapter 3, it says, Much and in 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 and every man a liar, as it is written, thou uh that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

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

Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance?

Paul says, 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?

In other words, if God's benefiting from my lie, why am I being judged for something that is actually helping God out?

Verse 8, 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 says.

Now the immediate argument in this series of verses concerns Jewish advantage and the faithfulness of God despite unbelief.

The idea here that I think of is someone playing dumb, playing the fool, saying there is no God even when they do know there is one.

It is the applic this is, you know, to the person who tries to make his refusal to believe an escape tactic for him.

Now, Romans chapter 3 and verse 1, again it says, What advantage then hath a Jew, or what prophet is there of circumcision?

Romans 3 · chapter mention

After Romans chapter 2, an objection naturally arises.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

If circumcision does not protect a lawbreaker from judgment, then why does it even matter to be a Jew?

What prophet is there of circumcision?

Well, Paul goes on, he says that they most certainly have an advantage.

Look at verse 2 now of Romans chapter 3.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

He says, much and in every way, chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

Much every way.

Chief among the privileges named here is unto them which were committed the oracles of God.

They were entrusted the very words of God, and therefore they were given advantage.

They had more advantage than everyone to know God.

And so we must keep together what Paul has also kept together.

And this is kind of the thought simply, and that is that the privilege of the Jew is real, but the iniquity of the Jew is also real.

Don't overcomplicate it.

Yes, God has elected the Jews for the purpose of giving them his word and making them stewards even over the nations, but that doesn't mean that they don't have iniquity, and God will judge them for it.

The privilege does not justify a man who has transgressed the law of God.

The failure of the recipient does not make the gift worthless.

There's the idea.

The failure of the recipient to receive the gift or the privilege of God does not make that gift worthless.

The unbelief of some does not make God unfaithful.

It's a strange argument, but actually it comes out in many forms and people do make it.

So look at how the ideas then fall into verse 3 or push into verse 3.

For, what if some did not believe?

Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

Like the question may be a little bit confusing, but the answer is so clear, right?

Just because I'm unfaithful, does that mean God is?

Just because I choose to not believe him, does that all of a sudden make him not exist?

And this may seem really simple and almost obvious, but here's the idea, right?

Somebody claiming unbelief.

They've been given the truth of God and righteousness has been revealed to them, but this is their argument or plea before God.

If I can convince myself, and they're doing this subconsciously, right, in their thinking, just trying to get out from under their knowledge of the wrath of God.

And they say stuff like, if I can convince myself that God isn't real, then he won't be able to judge me.

Well, because he doesn't exist.

And so somebody goes through their life building a really creative worldview, right?

To find a way to describe a universe where God doesn't exist.

This is classical atheism.

Somebody just saying, I don't believe in God.

Oh, great.

You don't believe in God, fine.

You're still gonna be judged by him.

It's not a good escape tactic.

It might make you feel comfortable for a season, so that you can have pleasure for sin in the season.

But just know, when you die, you will stand before God and give an account.

And if this is your account, you're gonna look pretty silly.

If this is your excuse for to the Lord, escape tactic to the Lord.

You're brought before him all of a sudden in your death, and you stand before the judgment, and now he asks you, why should I not judge you?

And you say, Well, because you don't exist.

Great plea.

It works when God has remained long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance in him.

But when the curtain's pulled back in the universe and it's folded up like a garment, and he comes down from the clouds, and people are brought before the great white throne judgment, this is a pretty silly, a silly escape tactic.

It could be rendered this way imagination and indifference does not make you innocent.

Or fantasy, fantiful ideas does not mean that it's factual.

You can believe whatever you want.

Right?

And they would actually say the same thing to us.

This whole type of thinking actually gets flipped the other direction.

And they say, you just believe in God because it makes you feel good.

And I would say, well, you just don't believe in God because it makes you feel good.

You know there's a moral law in your heart, you know that you fail it, you know that righteousness has been revealed in the universe and in yourself.

You just don't like that.

And so it's more comfortable for you to just say he doesn't exist.

You see, we all we all have these tendencies, and we just ought to make sure that our convictions and conclusions are in agreement with the truth of God's word.

So just make note this is a man or woman who has gone to great lengths to create ideas and philosophies, to twist the truth, or write off obvious facts about life and existence.

And the only reason at the end End of the day that someone is an atheist, I think, is because they don't want the authority of God over their life.

They want to call the shots and determine the moral system that they operate by.

And truly, people have to go to great lengths to do this.

They'll spend their whole life studying and trying to understand a world where God doesn't exist.

I know that that would offend a lot of people, but I think it is true.

As you saw in Romans chapter 1, the truth of God has not only been manifest out of us, it has also been manifest in us.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

And I think of a really simple philosophical idea through the ages regarding this watchmaker's dilemma, or an argument for God's existence from design.

And it kind of goes like this, right?

If I consider all of my experiences in life, when I look at something that has design, I never walk away concluding that it happened by happenstance, that it was coincidental.

When I walked up on this building, it was obvious to me that somebody, a designer, an architect, decided to put up the handrails and make a gable end and set up the pillars to hold the structure above.

And oh man, this brickwork actually looks like it's relatively in order.

And as I come in and I see the lights and I consider how electricity works, I don't conclude, oh man, this thousand years ago, maybe maybe it was a hundred thousand.

I bet a hundred million years ago, there's a truck carrying a load of bricks right on this road that, by the way, didn't exist because it was also designed.

And a tornado.

You know, tornadoes are possible, aren't they?

It's a possibility.

A tornado came through and threw all those bricks into a big cloud, and at the same time, there was a metal truck that came by and a cement truck of all things.

How do you how do you how do you know it?

And this tornado uh actually ended up causing a lot of uh order.

Wild, wild thing to think.

I mean, the illustrations, right?

Almost absurd because we just know how foolish it would be to make a conclusion like happenstance caused order.

And then yet the atheists will look at creation, look at biology, look at the design of what it means to be human, or even the animal world.

And they'll look at DNA and they'll begin to make a worldview that's really creative, explaining away that things have order and purpose.

Now, your only conclusion is that the universe was eternal, or that it had a beginning, and that in that causal chain that there was a God who initially started it.

Now, your problem is if you if you take the position that the universe and the material world was eternal, then you're gonna have to actually reject physics because there are physical properties and laws that plainly declare to you that matter can't be created nor destroyed.

But that's how you view this world and operate.

And your scientific materialism actually undermines the very argument that you make.

Oh no.

Somebody has to be very, very dishonest with, I think, logic, logical conclusions, a cumulative understanding of the world to come to the place where they say God doesn't exist.

Now look at with me, Genesis chapter 3 and verse 5.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

It should be no surprise to us that a man might end up in this place believing that he can call the shots, because it was the first deception in the Word of God.

Genesis chapter 3 and verse 5.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

It says, For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods.

Right?

Here's a great desire for for mankind to be as the gods, to be like them, to write off God.

Now there's a lot a lot going on here that could be discussed.

We'll do it a different time.

But I want to call your attention to is the temptation that's actually at hand.

And that is the last part in this phrase knowing good and evil.

Right?

This is an opportunity or temptation for an individual, for Eve, to be able to call the moral shots in her life.

To be the one who knows, to have that little insight or that special knowledge regarding what is good and bad.

It is no surprise to me that we hook, line, and sinker, bite on to this lure today.

Because it is in our nature to try to be good and to reject evil.

Even if our intentions are good, though, they can still be wrong and we can end up guilty.

And that's exactly what happens in Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

So make note this individual, the atheist, the person who doesn't believe God, carefully constructs a worldview that allows them to feel liberated from authority.

And here's the simple thought, and that is that if someone wants to lie to themselves, God will allow them.

But it isn't going to save them from the wrath of God or allow them to escape the righteousness of God.

You can pretend that God doesn't exist, you can play dumb, you can chase false sciences or theory rather than actual conclusions in the material world.

You can believe in false gods.

You can put your head in the sand and pretend that God doesn't exist, but you know what?

You're still going to bow before him someday and give an account for your sin.

Philippians chapter 2 and verses 8 through 12, it says this.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

This is the Lord Jesus.

Verse 9 Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

This is a promise of the word.

If someone ever challenges you and their boasting and their atheism, just remind yourself that this will be true.

And by faith, if you believe this, just be at peace, if you have a right relationship with God.

Revelation chapter 20, in verses 13 through 15, it says, And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they, that is, all those that have died in their sins, who haven't found safety in Christ, they, the lost, were judged every man according to their works.

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.

This is the second death.

They died once, now they're resurrected to give an account of their life.

Verse 15, and whosoever was not found written and the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Pretending God isn't real isn't going to help anyone out when they're standing before the throne of God giving an account of their life.

A good moral performance won't mean anything when God judges the secrets of the hearts of men.

If you remember, there is a great illustration in the book of Acts that actually describes this very behavior of unbelief, describing that the type of thing that happens when somebody's confronted with the truth.

For a little context, this is a story in the book of Acts when Stephen is stoned to death after preaching the history of Israel and Israel's stubbornness and her need to repent.

The religious leaders are looking on, listening.

And as he's pleading with Israel to repent, he says this, or it's said it's said of him this way, in Acts chapter 7 and verses 54 through 58.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

And when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

Like they were they were angry, right?

They they gritted their teeth.

Their brow was forward.

55 it says, and he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God, and standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.

And now understand, he is referencing an Old Testament promise about the Lord Jesus bringing in his day of wrath, as the Bible describes it.

And this is their reaction to their knowledge that the wrath of God was about to be poured out on them.

Verse 57.

And then they cried out with a loud voice, here's the phrase, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord and cast him out of the city and stoned him.

And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the young man's feet.

This is that moment when somebody says, I get it, the wrath of God is about to fall upon me.

I don't want to hear it.

I know a God exists, but I'm gonna declare He doesn't.

Ah, I can't hear you, I can't hear you, like what a little kid would do.

I can't hear you, what'd you say?

They know exactly what was said.

It says their heart was cut.

But they would rather just suggest to themselves or tell themselves, no, this can't be true.

I don't deserve the wrath of God.

And so they're gonna find their way out.

But does this mean that God is unfaithful to his promise?

Just because they don't believe, you know, listen to Paul's argument in the passage.

Just because they don't believe, does that make God's faithfulness of none effect and his promise?

No, God forbid.

Now I want to now end our fifth section and talk to you about this ninth escape tactic, and that is judging God's action.

A person at this point understands that they don't really have any excuses for why they aren't guilty.

They know they're guilty, and so they've got to actually now take God and put him in the position of the crime, incriminating him.

And so they begin to judge God's action.

And you can see this here, it's an appeal to the fact that God is corrupt by taking vengeance.

Now, God is not corrupt by taking a vengeance, but they build an argument to try to suggest that he is.

Okay, look at verses 5 and 6 of Romans 3.

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

Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance?

If when we sin, God's righteousness is actually magnified in contrast to our issues, does that actually mean that God is unrighteous or he is unjust in taking vengeance?

Because he's actually benefiting from our evil?

Paul says, I speak as a man.

To even ask this question is hard for me.

He says, God forbid.

If that were true, how then shall God judge the world?

This is an individual who, and in our ninth escape tactic, who isn't, saying God doesn't exist.

They know God exists and they know that they're guilty.

But the only way out, they've got to get really creative now.

The only way out is to say, well, if God exists and I'm guilty, well then maybe maybe we'll just pretend like God's actually the issue.

God's the one who's evil.

And if God's evil, then he can't judge me.

And Paul's argument here is, well, if that's true, then God can't judge anybody.

Because he has to be righteous to be able to be the judge of the world.

And obviously Jew would not accept that.

This plea is the last resort against one other.

The man has no successful defense against his own conduct, and thus he turns the accusation towards God.

He attempts to put God on trial when he's the one that's supposed to be standing in that place.

The irony of this whole thing is that God's done that by his own volition.

God's already stood in our place.

We don't need to judge him and put him in that position because he already made himself willing in the person of Jesus on the cross.

The argument moves from, I am not guilty, to you would be wrong to judge me.

The man now admits that he has sinned while insisting that God would be unjust to punish him.

The objection uses the contrast of human sin against righteous and divine judgment.

Look at verse 5 with me again.

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

Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance?

I speak as a man.

Paul states the objection, if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God.

Here, the idea is that human righteousness brings God's righteousness into clearer view by contrast.

The objector then asks, Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance?

He reasons that if his unrighteousness becomes an occasion for God's righteousness to be displayed, God should not be able to judge him for it.

I'm doing my best to articulate these ideas because they become very convoluted, don't they?

Somebody has to get pretty creative to make these type of arguments.

And they're just dishonest.

Paul adds, he says, I speak as a man, as I've already mentioned.

He is voicing the human objection, and he's trying to predict what will be in people's minds as they hear the conclusion of Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

The problem lies in the inference.

God's ability to reveal a man's righteousness in dealing with sin does not give the sinner the right to commit that sin.

Look at it with me now, Romans chapter 3 and verse 7.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

It says, Or if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why am I also judged as a sinner?

And maybe verse 7 clarifies some of these ideas.

It feels a little bit more straightforward.

If God is benefiting from my lie or my issue or my iniquity, why am I being judged if God is actually being magnified in that very situation?

The objection is restated personally.

If the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why yet am I judged as a sinner?

The man once the beneficial results of God's faithfulness counted as a defense to his own falsehood.

If my lie gave occasion for God's truth to be displayed, why am I still being treated as a sinner?

God's truthfulness does not make the man's falsehood an act of obedience.

Okay?

So as God ends up judging a man, right, and judging a man for his sin, this person's argument is, well, God's actually showing himself more righteous through my sin.

So God is using bad means to accomplish a good end.

Doesn't that make God unrighteous?

The way he's doing something is corrupt.

His behavior is corrupt, therefore he can't judge me.

Because his judgment must be righteous to do so.

Strange argumentation.

But people act this way.

The way it comes out today is anyone who claims something that God is doing to describe why God is unrighteous or evil for doing it.

There's no way I could believe in an all-good loving God who sends people to hell.

You know what somebody's saying?

I don't understand the way God's doing things, but his behavior doesn't line up with what I think is right.

And therefore, if that's the God that you believe in that the Bible talks about, then he can't judge me because that's an evil God.

An evil God sends people to hell.

Okay.

Just know that when the righteous God of the universe begins to speak to you and ask you why you should be in his holy presence, just know your mouth will be stopped and you won't have that plea anymore.

We ought to be sober.

I mean, as Christians who have believed upon the gospel, we ought to be sober and think, man, what am I trusting in?

Is it truly the all-sufficient work of Jesus?

Or maybe in my mind, have I actually suggested that God, the God of the Bible, is evil in some way?

I speak as man.

The tenth escape tactic I want us to consider as we close our time is that of abusing grace.

It's an extension of these ideas in verse 7 and 8, but I can still see it here, especially as I consider those that I've talked to on the street.

Paul says that there are some who are slandering him by suggesting that the message he is presenting is claiming that grace is to be abused.

That if God extends his love through grace, then we ought to just keep sinning so that more grace can be given.

It sounds something like this: if if truth abounds through my lie unto his glory, and I get grace by doing evil, then if I do more evil, good will come.

Or, God won't judge me for something uh for something evil because it reveals his glory and grace more and more.

Verse 7 and 8, let's just read it again.

It says, For if the truth of God hath abounded through my lie into his glory, why yet am I judged, uh 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's ultimate point here is that if your final conclusion is that you're allowed to do evil, because as you do evil God's able to give more grace, then you are actually showing that your judgment is justified, and that God can damn you to hell because your behavior is actually evil itself.

God does give grace.

God actually extends more grace where sin abounds, and that's what we're going to look at in the end of Romans 5 as we turn our page into Romans chapter 6.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

The question at hand is shall we continue in sin that grace may abound, right?

God forbid.

The context changes, though, from justification to sanctification, and we'll work through that doctrine when we get there.

Here, Paul is making a point about those who slanderously report uh affirm or point out a message that he's not speaking of.

He rejects the conclusion of these slanders.

Says the gospel ultimately, this is his conclusion, that the gospel he preaches cannot be honestly turned into an opportunity or permission for sin.

Grace does not teach us to produce more evil so that God will have more occasion to display good.

Let me say that again.

Grace does not teach us to produce more evil so that God will have more occasion to display good.

The reason that God gives us grace is to liberate us unto holiness, not to liberate us unto sin.

Stand fast in the liberty whereof Christ hath made you free.

Oh yeah, that's great.

But the Bible also tells you that you're not to use liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

The liberty that the Lord Jesus Christ has given you by his grace, which is great, is not a message saying, utilize this grace that you did need to do more evil.

And Paul's point is it is if that's your way of thinking, God's grace has been given to you not to liberate you unto holiness but unto sin, then your damnation is just because you don't understand what grace actually is and why it was needed to be given.

Herein is the lie being observed in a simple format, as you probably have already seen on the screen.

This next slide ultimately shows the issue with this way of thinking, and that is that being qualified for grace is not the same thing as having grace applied.

Okay, so great, you're a sinner.

And you have qualified for the grace of the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

I'm so thankful that the grace of God is willing to be extended to me as an enemy of the cross.

Praise the Lord, I'm so grateful.

But that does not mean that I've actually accepted that grace and it's been applied to my life.

And the person's argument here, right, is that being qualified for grace is the same thing.

They're saying if I just keep on sinning and sinning and sinning, then more grace and more grace and more grace will come.

No?

It'll still be there as an offer, but it doesn't mean that it will come and be applied to your situation to actually give you an escape route with God.

There are so many ways to talk about these ideas.

I hope that what I've presented this morning and doing a review and walking through the tenth uh has brought some clarity to our text in the book of Romans.

There's endless ways to teach the Bible, right?

And the reason I've approached it this way is so that we can just have simple ideas in our mind to better help us uh listen and care for people and lead them out of those strongholds and those ways of thinking and those lies that the enemy has given them, keeping them blind from the light of the glorious gospel.

I want to close by just looking ahead.

A few verses.

I want to read them to you in Romans chapter 3.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

And I want you to see the solution that is in Jesus Christ that we'll discuss here over the next few weeks.

Verse 9 of Romans chapter 3, it says this.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

What then are we better than they?

That is, we the Jews, better than the Gentiles.

No, and no wise, for we have before proved, both Jew and Gentile, that they are all under sin.

Paul's still leading us to that conclusion.

Look now at verses 19 through 20, which I've suggested in weeks past.

It begins this way.

It says, Now we know that whatsoever uh whatsoever that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world would become guilty before God.

Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

But now look at the conclusion of this text in verses twenty-one through twenty four, as we enter into the preciousness of the doctrine in chapters four and five.

Romans three says this in 21, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifest, 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 that believe.

There is the condition.

Even though Jesus Christ has died and all sin has been paid for, you can still reject that free gift.

And the condition of you and I receiving the righteousness and the faithfulness of Christ to us upon all is whether or not we're willing to believe.

It goes on, it says, 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.

If I can wrap up this whole section, it would be no excuses.

No more excuses.

The escape routes are excuses for why men and women shouldn't be judged.

And as a preacher, as evangelists, we should be trying to get people to the place where they have no more excuses before God.

And I've seen, I don't know if you've seen it.

I don't know if you've had a conversation with someone, you've tried to talk with them about the truth, or just, you know, get them to understand maybe where their thinking's off.

And the proud, strong conviction they had for why they wouldn't be judged, all in a moment is stripped away from them.

And they just stop talking.

And they're like, I don't know what to say.

I need to think on these things.

Or they begin weasling out in other ways.

I mean, I've I've come I've I've seen people just come to the place where they're like, yeah, I don't I don't know what to say.

Like, I don't know if I have an answer for why I'd be right with God.

And to see that like in real time, and see people working through ideas and having those ideas dismantled and then and then watching them with joy receive the gospel is just the greatest blessing in life.

I mean, there's really nothing sweeter than that.

To see a man or woman humble themselves and say, Yeah, I get it.

Accept Jesus Christ, give me life.

And by faith I receive the gift of the Son.

I I have nothing.

And I I want that.

What do I need to do?

What do I need to do to be saved?

Like, can you show me in the Bible how it is that I can be confident that I'm right with God?

It's like, yeah, I can.

You know, there's maybe been one or two times in my whole life where someone was that verbally explicit about desiring the gospel.

And I'm telling you, there is almost no better privilege in life than to just help somebody see, while God's done everything for you, you don't have to strive anymore.

Um, one of them was a complete cold call.

It was a guy I met on a campus years ago.

Walked up to him, asked him how he was doing, asked him about the gospel, and about 40 minutes later he he said, Yeah, I want I want to accept Christ.

I I don't know why somebody hasn't talked to me about these things.

But that that message is something I've been thinking about and haven't understood.

What do I need to do?

And it's like, are you sure?

I was like, I was doubtful.

Like I didn't think the guy was serious.

I was like, hey, let me just walk you through this again and uh ask you again.

You know, you you you you know that there's nothing that you could do to be saved.

He's like, yeah, I know that there's absolutely nothing, but that God does love me.

Yeah, yeah.

Um man, I think about that guy often.

He he uh who knows?

Maybe I'll see him in heaven with an army behind him, you know.

Who in your life can you begin to engage with the gospel?

That's my question for you.

As we close and we walk out the doors, is there anyone that you can begin praying for?

You think there's nobody in my life I would even know how to uh begin to engage?

Okay, fine.

Or would you be willing this week to give an honest prayer before the Lord and say, God, would you give me an open door, a supernatural opportunity with someone?

And Lord, make it easy because I'm stubborn and scared and uncertain, and I don't have all the right answers, but Lord, help me be a fool for you and share what you've done in my life.

Would you be willing to just consider this week who is that one person that you can be bold with?

And ask God by his spirit to change their heart and give you opportunity to speak the mystery of Christ.

I can think of a few.

For sake of privacy, I won't share the names in the pulpit, but um I'm I'm praying for a lady uh that I've been thinking about the last couple weeks who we've had some connection with over the last uh few months.

And um, I'm just praying for her soul.

I want I want to see God do a redemptive work in her life.

And to be honest, I can't wait to just celebrate with her and uh see her move forward in her walk with God.

Um let's pray, let's ask God for these opportunities and just to change us, make us better evangelists and uh lights in this dark world.

Once again, thank you so much for listening in.

We pray that these words were a challenge to you, but also a great encouragement in your walk with God.

May the Lord bless you and lead you further into His will as you're conformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

God bless you.