Wanna discover your freedom in Christ? Then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin Smith talk about it today on Grace Coach. Welcome to Grace Coach. This is Kevin Smith with one of my best friends, Mike Stone, and we are here talking about Romans chapter 3. And before we jump into that, we're going to do a bit of review of Romans chapter 2.

Mike, tell me what do you think, is one of the key verses in Romans chapter 2 that we need to, kinda review a little bit? Yeah. Well, we talked about it last time, Romans chapter 2 verses 6 to 11, which is some hard verses to understand. And, you know, I just wanna talk about that. But before we get into that, Kevin, you know, in in the Bible, I think it's important to understand there's 3 kinds of people.

There's Jews, there's Gentiles, and then there's born again Jews and born again Gentiles as one group of people. And so, when Paul is writing this, you know, in the beginning here he's writing to Gentiles, lost Gentiles, who are, in chapter 1, he says, are without excuse and that they're under the wrath of God. And in chapter 2, we did a podcast on, we talked about how there are also lost Jews and they are also without excuse and under the wrath of God. Mhmm. And so that is something that's really important because, you know, the whole goal of the Bible and the book of Romans is Paul wanting to help lost people, both Gentiles from a Gentile background, from a Jewish background to come to Christ and be saved.

And that is so they can avoid the coming wrath of God, which is coming. Okay. So, you noted, Mike, that, Romans chapter 2 in review, 2 chapter 2 verse 6 through 11 is really a key section we wanna do a little bit of review on. Let me read that real quick. Who will render to every man according to his deeds, to those who by perseverance and doing good, seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life.

But to those who are self selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath, and indignation. There will be tribulation distress for every soul of man who does evil of the Jew first and also the Greek. But glory and honor and peace to every man who does good to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. Yeah.

So And it's it's a verse 6, Kevin, that God will repay each person both Jew and Gentile according to what they have done. Now it's easy to read that and think what they have done are the deeds. It's it's talking about The bad things. The bad things. Right.

It's really not the good things, but the bad things. But what they have done is not referring to our conduct. What they have done is referring to what they believed. Because the question god will ask every person is what did you do With my son. With my son.

Did you put your faith in my son? Did you believe god's testimony about my son, Jesus? So what did you do And the past tense of what you did is what you have done. Right. And that's why That's a great that's a great insight and great outlook, Mike.

So it's not so much God is coming back because we know Hebrews says, he when he coming when he comes back, he's coming back without reference to our sins. I I actually was just talking to my mom about that, on Sunday. We're we're doing a little bible study and reference that to her, which is an incredible verse. But that's a great insight, that it's not about the bad because when you read that, it's you you think bad deeds. It's it's kinda like we all do bad deeds.

You know, I know that I shouldn't be doing them, but it's not the bad deeds. It's like you said, God's only gonna ask us one question when we get to heaven. What did you do with my son? What did you do with the sacrifice for your bad deeds? Yeah.

And you really it's really based on what covenant you're also in. Because in the old covenant, their conduct resulted in condemnation and punishment. Their disobedience to the law. To make more sacrifices for their sins. Yes.

But in the new covenant, because Jesus has taken away our sins, it's it has to do with what you have believed about Jesus Christ. Oh, yes. Yes. Following the law because the law has ended at the cross. So this is just what happens is people mix law and grace, mix the old and new covenant, and read a verse like this and think that god's gonna repay me according to what I have done.

But look, verse 7, to those who persist in persist in doing good Yep. See glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life. Well, we know by reading the new covenant, the book of John, especially the book of John. Yes. Right?

That eternal life comes to us by faith and faith alone. We see that even in the By believing. By combining your belief with faith. That is correct. Life comes.

You know, I tell you, I have to say, and I hope I'm sure my mom's gonna listen to this podcast at some point, and she will hear. But, I mean, we were doing a bible study, and the bible study was in first John, and it was just talking about our sins. And the, you know, the verses were talking about sins, and I don't wanna go there or anything. But my point is, is that Christendom in general makes a very big deal about our sins and our sin management. We don't make a big enough deal about our savior and about Jesus Christ, and what he did.

And like you just said, if you're living in the new covenant, our sins are forgiven completely 100%. That's right, guys. Yeah. And look at verse 8. But for those who are self seeking, who reject the truth about Jesus, and follow evil because anyone who is following evil is rejecting the truth, there will be wrath and anger.

There will be trouble and distress for every human being, both Jew and Gentile. Yeah. Who does evil, first for the Jew and then the Gentile, but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, puts their faith in Jesus, first for the Jew and then the Gentile. Now, because God does not show favoritism. So it's really important to read through the scriptures with through the lenses of the new covenant.

Amen. Amen. New covenant glasses on. So we're gonna jump then into chapter 3, Kevin, as far as what's going on here. Where Paul in chapter 3, 1, and 2, it says, what advantage then is there in being a Jew?

And they have been entrusted with the very words of god. So who would ask that kind of question? Maybe a Jew? I think a Jew would ask that question. Because here, he's leveling the playing field saying that the the Gentiles are under the wrath of god.

They have no excuse. And the Jews are under the wrath of god, and they have no excuse. And so, yeah, if you're a self righteous Jew thinking that you're upholding the law, you would ask the question, what advantage that is there in being a Jew? And so what I see the scripture saying is there's no advantage. There's no advantage in being a Jew when it comes to being born again.

They have quite the heritage the Jews do. But as far as spiritually, they have no advantage over the Gentiles, but they thought they had an advantage. Mhmm. Really, as many religious people do today who might look down at, quote, unquote, unreligious people saying that we have an advantage. Let's have you read, 3334.

Romans 3334. Alright. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithfulness nullify the faithfulness of god? By no means.

Let god be true, though everyone were a liar, as it is written that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. Yeah. So what do you make of those verses there? They're not, you know, crystal clear. I think we have to just kinda look at what is Paul writing here, but will the Jews unfaithfulness nullify God's faithfulness?

Mhmm. Is God's faithfulness ever nullified? Absolutely not. You know, I think that's the that's the overarching point that God that Paul is trying to make here in this chapter because the Jews were trying to were not trying to, but they were under the belief that, you know, they were God's chosen people, that, you know, God is going to protect them and bless them when none of the covenants that God made with them were a, you're locked in never under any, you know, circumstances. Are you gonna ever get, persecution?

It was always a, if you do a, you know, then I will bless you. You know, it was a, you know, if then covenant that God made with the Jews. And obviously, they were not able to uphold their end of the bargain, and thus suffered captivities and punishment for their disobedience and stuff. So so, yeah, they they were really thinking that they were the chosen people and God was gonna be faithful and love them. Yeah.

And it says in 2nd Timothy 2 13 that even when we are faithless, because that happens, right, where we feel faithless, although it's really just a feeling. It's not we already have put our faith in Christ, so that is a done deal. But even if we are faithless, he remains faithful because he cannot disown himself. So, yeah, God is always faithful in the midst of our sin, our our our let's say our selfish acts and thoughts. God is always faithful.

So I think this is kind of a setup question where Paul, like an attorney, is saying, will the Jews unfaithfulness ever nullify God's unfaithfulness? Mhmm. And, yeah, like you said, the answer is no. God is always faithful. Right.

Let God be true. And then it says in verse 4, and every human being a liar. Right. It's really it was really more about God's character. God's faithfulness is to his character in his word, and his character in his word is always true and is always faithful.

The Jews, you know, not so much. They were up and down, you know, working hard, failing, working hard, failing. Every every step of the way, they were doing good, blowing it, doing good, blowing it. Yeah. Like kind of, every human being out there today.

Right? I mean, nobody is perfect except for Jesus was perfect, you know. And I read this verse to my wife and she when I read that every human being is a liar, she was a little taken back with that because we don't like to think of ourselves as a liar. But what I think he's calling a liar is somebody who isn't putting their faith in Jesus. Right?

He's not saying that you're not telling the truth, Kevin, or I'm not, or, you know, somebody's telling a lie. We've all done that. You know, they call it a white lie. Right? Right.

But You know what? First John 2 22 says, who is the liar? It says, it is anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist, denying the father and the son. And that's who John is calling a liar.

So, again, we look at the word liar and say, wow, you know, that's offensive. But really, the liar just reject rejection of Jesus Christ. And that's what the Jews and Gentiles in Rome were were doing. Most of these were unbelieving Jews and Gentiles. There were also believing Jews and Gentiles who were born again, but he's saying that god is always true.

And anyone who's denying that Jesus is the Christ is a liar. Amen. You take that to the bank, baby. Yeah. Make a deposit.

So, verses 35 to 38 are really interesting, Kevin, in the book of Romans. I call these verses looking for loopholes. Okay. It's like somebody and let's just say let's say a self righteous person, in this case, a Jewish person under the law. Because in verse 35, it says, but some might say that our sinfulness serves a good purpose.

For it helps people see how righteous god is. Isn't it unfair then for him to punish us or bring his wrath on us? And it says in quotes that this is merely a human argument. Yeah. I speak in a human way.

Yeah. That's for sure. You know, whether it was the Jewish, religious leaders or just people in general, they're definitely looking for a loophole in here in basically questioning god's faithfulness. That is right. And and questioning not only his faithfulness, but his ability to make judgment of sin in the world.

And Paul emphatically says at the end there that the whole world is under sin. That's the conclusion of this section is that the whole world is under sin. There there is none righteous. No, not one. And so loophole, they can try as they may, but it's a faulty loophole.

Yeah. And then it says, certainly not in verse 6. If that were so, how could god judge the world? It's almost like there's Paul is using the argument that Jews were saying, like, in the beginning. What advantage then is there being a Jew?

Who would say that? A religious person under the law because that's the attitude you would have when you think you're doing something that is the right way and God's saying no. I want you to put your faith in Christ. I don't want you to be under the law. The purpose of the law is a school master to lead you to Christ, not to be under it and think that you're written in the book of life because you're obedient to the law, many religious people today are thinking the same thing.

I was surprised that in the transition from chapter 2 to chapter 3, where as he concludes in chapter 2 about circumcision, and the essence of it is is that we're circumcised of your heart. And there's really no value in the physical circumcision, that it's the circumcision that we have of our heart. And then, and he opens up in chapter 3, kinda going back to the same question. So what value is of circumcision? Well, he just answered it in chapter 2, the end of chapter 2.

And he opens up chapter 3 with saying, well, what's what is the value of circumcision? And surprisingly, he says, much in every way. Okay? So after concluding in chapter 2, that their value of circumcision is null and void basically, then he goes on to say much in every way. So what do you how do you understand that?

Because he only he not only says circumcision, but he also says in verse 2 that they were entrusted with the oracles of god. And that's true. I mean, again, that is exactly quite the heritage that the Jews were entrusted with the words of God. Israel was given the law. Right.

Part of the law included circumcision. But all of the law is just a shadow of things to come. And as Hebrews 101, I believe, says, not the reality itself. So it's like we've said this many times on our broadcast. It's like telling a dog pointing to the dog to go get his ball after you throw it to him, and he won't run for the ball.

He's sniffing your finger. And so the Jews are just sniffing the finger of God because they're just following the law, they're under the law, they felt like they had an advantage because they had the law, and then here come these lowly gentiles who never were even given the law. And Paul is writing through God's heart that all are alike under sin. We haven't gotten there yet, but we're going there. He's just setting up this argument with loophole questions to anyone who might say, are you saying that our sinfulness serves a good purpose?

And god is unjust in bringing his wrath on us. Well, the reason why god is bringing his wrath on all people is because we're born into this world spiritually dead, separated from God. We have a huge problem. God is wanting now to help us with this. This is why Jesus came is to reverse the curse handed down to Adam and to change from being under that wrath and condemnation to eternal life in heaven one day.

So they're not listening, and Paul knows they're not listening, and they're just coming up with these loophole questions like they are in I call loophole question number 2 and 37. But someone might argue still, how can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonestly highlights his truthfulness and brings him more glory? And then how about in Romans 61? What shall we say then that shall we go on sinning that grace may increase? And Paul is telling the Jews that they're under the wrath of god.

They are condemned just like the gentiles, and they're saying, how can god condemn me as a sinner? And and and how does that bring him more glory? Well, he's just trying to help them because that's how all Jews and all Gentiles came into this world, condemned and under God's wrath and spiritually dead. And that's why God has sent Jesus to give them eternal life. Yeah.

It says someplace in here in verse 9, it says, both Jews and Greeks are under sin. In verse 9, chapter 3, it says, both Jews and Greeks are under sin. Not that they commit sin, it's that they're under sin. Meaning that, like we said so many times, it's a it's not a steal a cookie out of cookie jar situation. It's not performing a act of sin.

It's we are all under a broken relationship with the creator God Almighty, and it doesn't matter who you are. And it is only through well, ultimately, it's God's plan of salvation that, you know, where it says, we were talking about back in verse 7 and 8. Why not do evil that good may come? Well, the good that's gonna come is ultimately God's historic plan of salvation. That's the good that's going to come as we go through the life.

And as you we've said this many times before, God's given the law to reveal our sinfulness. That this that the law, the 10 commandments, are is God's perfection, and it's a mirror to say, we can't make it. We can't perform this perfection that God requires. So you can say, yes, you're, like it says right here, doing evil, the good may come, the good may come. You're doing evil.

You you're gonna come to the end of yourself, God willing. And you're gonna say, okay. I can't do this, and I need to turn to something that is not the law that it writes. Yeah. And that's just again a loophole question to try and get out of this thing.

And then let's read 3 Romans 39. You just read the second part of 39. And look at this, it says, what shall we conclude then? Do we, Jews, have any advantage? Not at all.

For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles are alike all under the power of sin. Yes. So, again, how did that happen? Romans 5 12 clearly explains how this happened. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, that's Adam, and death, that's spiritual death through sin.

And in this way, death came to all people, Jews and Gentiles. Mhmm. Because all have sinned. There is no one righteous. No.

Not one. God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he he may have mercy on them all. That's Romans 11 32. This is a leveling of the playing field. Yeah.

The verse 9, you know, like you just read, what then are we Jews any better off? That can be a very apt comparison to many either churches, I might even name churches that would feel just because they are going to this church. There's a lot of people who have a very prideful thing. They feed that into us, you know, like the cream of the crop of all the Christian schools out there. And so nobody's any better off no matter what church, what school, what denomination, blah blah blah.

You know, we're we're all understanding. And then verse 11 through 18, that's the longest list of continual verses in the whole New Testament of basically condemnation. Why don't you go ahead and read, some of that? Yeah. None is righteous.

No. Not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside.

Together, they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asp is under their lips.

Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. What a condemnation.

And that's talking again about the self righteous religious Jew and the lowly idol worshiping gentile that covers all people. And that if you read that to some people, they will get very upset with god. And when god is saying those things to to those people. Yes. Absolutely.

But here in, Romans 3/19 and 20, Kevin, it says, now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, That's the Jew and the Gentile because even though the Gentiles did not have the law, they became a law for themselves. And it says so that every mouth may be silenced. Every mouth and the whole world of Jews and Gentiles be held accountable to God. And here is this beautiful verse, Romans 3 20. Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law.

Rather, through the law, we will become conscious of our sin. Yes. And so that's what it is there for. Just read the first three chapters of Romans. This is a conclusion that no one will be declared righteous in God's sight.

Nobody will be declared right with God. That's right with God. That's what righteous means, to be right a okay with him. And right any obedience, but rather, what does the law do? Like you said, it's like a mirror to show us our condition that we're spiritually dead and that we need life.

Yeah. I remember Bob George. I know in one of his books or lectures, he talked about righteousness being right standing with God. And I just hope that all of our listeners really can personalize this. We say this all the time, but we will sit here and we will blah blah blah all day long.

And it means absolutely nothing unless everyone listening makes it their own and owns this for themselves. That they can say to themselves, yes, God, I stand condemned under sin. I am one of these people that Romans 3 is talking about, and I need a savior. I need a solution to this problem I'm having is being separated from you. We're all separated from God.

Mike, you were, I was, until we understood that Jesus Christ went to the cross, his death, burial, and resurrection paid the price for us to be in right standing with God. Now I can say with confidence, with all the faith in my heart, I am in right standing with God. When God sees me, he sees me not he doesn't see me through Jesus Christ, he sees me as his beloved son. You know, it's not like he's gotta, you know, turn away and put some like image of Christ over me. You know, he loves me.

You know, Kevin Smith, he loves you, Mike Stone, and he loves you, listener, who you are as a result of trusting in the work of Christ. And we just pray each one of you guys do that, let us know, it would joy bring us so much joy in our hearts. If you would just send us a email at the grace coach at, gmail dot com. Thank you for listening to Grace Coach. If you want to connect with us, we would love to engage with you.

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