In Chapter 1, Paul addressed the unrighteous heathen.  The ungodly character trait of the carnal minded man that lives out his life suppressing the truth in unrighteousness and serving self…and in that we looked in depth at who indeed is being served.  Just like Eve was not serving herself when she took of the apple, right?  She was indeed serving the serpent, she was serving the enemy.  Such is the condition of the heathen.

In Chapter 2 Paul deals with the self-righteous hypocrite.  Talking about hey you who condemn the heathen for stealing, yet you steal…and the hardness of your heart towards the things of God has led you into trusting in works rather than living a lifestyle of repentance…which is absolutely inevitable when one is cognizant of the goodness of God.

So Paul has gone from zero-righteousness, to self-righteousness and now he will address in Chapter 3 genuine righteousness.  And there’s only one kind of that…only one place that true righteousness is found…Paul calls it out in Chapter 3 verse 21, “the righteousness of God.”

And what is it?  This righteous of God?  A most shocking statement to the Jew, a most shocking statement to the cults, a most shocking statement maybe even to some of you today, Paul says there in verses 21 and 22 that “the righteousness of God is revealed…apart from the law…which is through faith alone in Jesus Christ!”

Paul declared in Chapter 1, “Creation condemns the unrighteous.”  He proclaimed in Chapter 2, “Conscience within a man condemns the self-righteous.”  And in Chapter 3, we will hear him say that the law itself even condemns the ultra-righteous Jew.  One man living life worshipping evil, completely given over to the things of evil.  One man living life worshipping self, and one man living life believing they are right by who they are, what they do…all of them, dead wrong…because the reality is, man is made right by who Jesus is and what Jesus has done!

Paul is leading us in the fundamentals, man.  And he continues that lesson for us here in Chapter 3.

Romans Chapter 3 Verse 1

• Paul is one of the most practical guys we’ll find in scripture.  He just told the Jews that having the law does not justify a person. It is in the keeping of the law that one may find justification.  Ah, but he is leading us to an end isn’t he…because in just a couple of verses, in verse 20 he will say that no flesh is justified by the law.  It’s an impossibility!
• So what is he saying here to the Jew and to us? That physical circumcision really has no value in just the ritual itself.  It is the circumcision of the heart…spiritual circumcision that is the real will of God in a person’s life…cutting away the things of the flesh.
• Therefore, if a person is really walking after the Spirit, though he may not have had the physical rite of circumcision, still God counts what is in his heart. And so if circumcision doesn't really do anything for me, if having the law doesn't really do anything for me as far as giving me a righteous standing before God…if the Jew is on the same level as the gentile, then the question would naturally arise, and Paul brings it up in chapter 3, verse 1.  What good is it?
• So Paul answers there continuing in verse 2…

Romans Chapter 3 Verse 2

• You gotta imagine how that any Jew reading this letter from Paul by now would be so messed up that their clothes are torn, ash is on their head and they’ve probably even plucked their beards out!  Circumcision is useless now?  Having and following the law is useless now?  The gentile dogs have righteousness equal to mine?  The sky is falling, man! 
• But Paul puts up an umbrella here, lest the Jew be drowned in sorrow…I mean their whole life, from birth even, they’ve been taught how to be quite different than their gentle neighbors…especially in Rome where gross idolatry is rampant, and now Paul is asking them to declare bankruptcy on who they are…who they have raised their children to be…who they have aspired to become…and that is precisely what being born of the Spirit is all about!
• We are not right with God because we are good little boys and girls.  We are not blessed of God and given an inheritance in heaven because we simply believe as fact that He is Jahovah, Yahweh, God of all the ages.  We become the family of God when we are born again by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit… after not just believing that God is but by receiving the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Jesus said, “who is My mother, who are My brothers?” and He stretched His hand out towards His disciples and He said, “here they are, for whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”  (Matthew 12) That’s family talk.
• And what is the will of the Father in heaven?  Or maybe better said this way, what kind of person is on the finger end of Jesus’ outstretched hand as He identifies His disciples?  John 8:31-32, Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed,” and the kicker, “you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.”
• We must declare bankruptcy on self.  On selfish ambition, self-filled concessions we have made with sin thinking we are covered by some “special grace, some sort of grace that says even though sin continues, so too does closeness with God.”  When the Bible is so very clear that submission to God’s plan and repentance of sin, turning away from it and turning on to the things of God, is our only path to relationship with Him. 
• But you see, so many find that so difficult that they miss relationship and settle for religion.  But that breaks the heart of God because just as I desire to know my children, even more so, eternally more so, God the Father desires to know His.
• His will was never for the Jew to be a battery powered law-abiding robot…no.  His plan was to bless them by revealing Himself through them…you see it was never about them.  It was never about Abraham…it was always, in all ways, about Jesus Christ.  The Word made flesh.  And Paul is pulling out all of the stops to lead the Jew, and even us today, in utter bankruptcy out of our own righteousness which is filth in the presence of a holy God and into the righteousness that is only to be found in Jesus Christ…that’s called brokenness in Biblical terms…so that we might simply place our hearts in the hands of the One who bears the scars of our freedom.
• And so Paul here pops open his umbrella and comforts the confused Jew.  What advantage?  Much!  And in every way…but chiefly, or most importantly, the oracles of God, or better said, the Word of God, the truth of God was committed unto them and that is a tremendous advantage!  Never underestimate the advantage of having the Word of God!
• The entire race of mankind actually owes a great debt to the Jewish people, why?  Because not only was it through them that the Oracles of God were given to the world, but it was also through their painstaking effort that the Word of God has been preserved for centuries upon centuries…what is their profit them?  Much Paul says!

Romans Chapter 3 Verses 3 – 4

• Paul is saying here that the oracles of God, the Word of God is just that…God’s Word, man, and really, in the reality of it, even if someone, anyone, anytime, anywhere doesn’t believe God’s Word…their unbelief, or maybe even your own unbelief, doesn’t make God’s Word less true at all!  Man will still reap what he sows always in accordance with God’s Word, believer and non-believer alike.
• That is one of the things that has strengthened my faith over and over again as the years have passed because no matter who the person is, no matter even what my own personal situation or circumstance is, God’s Word is always true.  What God’s word says will come to pass.  Consistently, every time.  Why?  Paul tells us here, “the faithfulness of God is effective, man!”  Nothing changes that.  It has never changed and never will change.  Not for one moment through the entire history of time has God been unfaithful.  He keeps His promises and His Word, in every situation, is true!
• And that is why when there are issues in my life or in yours’, I turn to the faithfulness of God.  What does the Word say?  Your marriage struggling?  Ephesians says “wives, come under the covering and leadership of your own husbands as unto the Lord, and husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her.”  There it is.  The answer for every marriage!
• Your young children misbehaving and disobedient?  Proverbs 29 says to discipline your child and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart.  Hebrews 12:11 tells us how, with pain.  Hebrews 12 says for the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.  Proverbs 13 says whoever spares the rod hates his child but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.  And while that diligence in discipline persists physically, the Bible says spiritual discipline must also be there.  Proverbs 22 says to train your child in the way he should go and when he grows old, that will be his way.  Invest in your children, man. Discipline, Bible reading, prayer, that is all investment…and it is non-negotiable if you desire your children to not only delight your heart but make it in a terribly darkening world…
• Hey but if you’re not willing to love her husband, if you’re not willing to respect him wife, if you’re not willing to spank them dad, if you’re not willing to read the Bible with them mom…then guess what, even so…God’s Word will be true…and your marriage will be a mess and your children will be a mess. 
• Oh but submission to God’s Word, God’s faithfulness will produce what Paul says here in the end of verse 4, you will overcome…the only only only question is are you going to follow man (which last I checked we are all of the order of man) which Paul says here everyone is a liar, or are you going to choose to follow God, who Paul says here, and we know, is true?
• Now, how on earth are you going to choose God’s Word and truth over the lies of this world if you yourself have no idea those verses that we just covered even exist?  So be in the Word of God, devouring it, investing in your family and your children and God Himself…that’s what time in the Word is man…it is investment, storing your treasures where they cannot be stolen…and when the time of judgment comes, just like it says there in verse 4, you will overcome.

Romans Chapter 3 Verses 5 - 8

• Paul anticipates the question…he understands his audience and the Jews reasoning would have been then why not do as we please since God’s righteousness will prevail?  This is just the kind of counter-intuitive, ridiculous and outright silly type of arguments that you will encounter when you are sharing the wonderful faithfulness of God and His abundant grace.
• You know, you give a truth of God to someone, and that person maybe on the street, maybe in the office, maybe even in the mirror begins to give hypothetical cases or they begin to try to reason out with the human intellect.  No, doesn’t work that way. God is bigger than our intellect.  It’s a heart connection He desires, not a connection of agreement, He wants hearts cause the heart drives us…and so God’s truths…they are understood in the heart, not the mind.  But the carnal heart of a person living after their own affections always tries to mold God into their own image rather than allowing God to transform them into His image…
• This is the particular argument that Paul is saying. Here I am. God declares that all men are sinners and that the grace of God abounds to sinners, and God loves to show His grace in the forgiveness of sinful man. Therefore, by my going out and sinning, I am giving God an opportunity to show His righteousness through faith and His glorious grace. Or by my ignoring my wife and being a calloused towards her, I’m giving her an opportunity to grow…pastor said growth only comes through difficulty!  And so my unrighteousness really is magnifying the righteousness of God, therefore, why would God judge me for being unrighteous? I am just showing how good He is when He forgives. And Paul says, man you have got it all wrong and you’re condemning yourself…
• In fact Paul speaks in a particularly serious tone here and he says something that is found nowhere else in all of scripture.  He uses the phrase, “condemnation that is just.”  Wow!  Twisting scriptures man, taking the truth of God and manipulating it for personal justification of sinful indulgence and lifestyle…results in condemnation.  It’s actually the word krina in the Greek, which could also be translated, damnation…and that condemnation, that destruction…is just.  That’s scary.  Why?
• Because Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 12, “every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but one…you see one will receive what we could call just condemnation…and that is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.”  This is it.  Rejection of the Word of God man.  Rejection of Jesus Himself as it says there in John Chapter 1 that the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst men.  Twisting the word, wrapping human postulation around God’s Word and justifying why we are the way we are…man this is the only place you find this language in the entire Bible…that business will bring about just damnation.
• Upon our marriages.  Upon our families.  Upon our careers.  Upon our churches…because we have rejected the truth for the lie and we sleep well at night having justified in our minds why we are not following Jesus…let that be not so here, amongst this body of Christ.  In Jesus name.
• But it is our natural bent.  To defend our sinful nature and to justify our independence from God.  When He has created us wonderfully to need Him…and to depend upon Him…but we condemn ourselves as we run…and here Paul tells us God’s indictment against all men…look at verses 9 – 20.  God is hereby declaring the condition of man apart from God…

Romans Chapter 3 Verses 9 – 18

• Did you catch the details of that indictment?  First of all that it includes all men…Verse 9 started out that whether Jew or gentile we are all under sin man…and we would be swift to defend ourselves against these charges…that all of man, all of us, are void of righteousness…that none of us understand or seek after God…that we have all turned aside to error.  Our hearts are deceitful and we are bent, we have a bad habit, and its called destruction…we collect misery like baseball cards and peace flees…why?  Because we do not heed God’s Word…we have not the capability to…
• So what are we to do?  The Jew would ask this of Paul, we would ask the same…what are we to do…we’ll see this in depth next week, as Paul answers that question for us…but the answer is found in the second half of Chapter 3…through faith in Jesus Christ…justification freely enters and redemption arrives…
• Through Jesus man, knowing Him, loving Him, trusting Him, drawing near to Him, accepting His truth and rejecting our own rational lie…we CAN be righteous and intimate with a holy God…we CAN understand and see His salvation…we CAN seek God…We WILL not be destroyed by misery but rather WE WILL destroy IT!  And peace will be the after taste of our days…as we by His indwelling Spirit, trust in His Word and follow hard after Him…