The Glory Debate
Romans 3:7-8
October 7, 2007
We come to the final leg in the series of arguments
That has been thrown at Paul in regard to the gospel he is preaching.
He told the Jews that they were not acceptable to God based upon the fact that they were Jewish or religious.
They argued, “Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?”
Of course the benefit is it gives you access to the word of God,
But it does not save you.
But still they tried to prove to Paul that they really were saved.
Calling to memory the promise God made to Abraham that his descendants would be blessed, they ask Paul, “What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God will it?”
And Paul silenced that argument by pointing out that God is faithful,
It is Israel who has been unfaithful.
Even if they were unrighteous, they still didn’t deserve punishment. “But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He?”
God is so righteous that He will judge your sin,
Because you would not deny yourself in order to follow Him.
TONIGHT WE GET TO THE FINAL ARGUMENT
And I really believe it is probably the most telling of all,
In regard to the condition of their heart.
For during this argument,
We find no allegiance to Judaism, or circumcision.
We find no appeal to being Abraham’s children.
We find no desire to find some good in their old life.
VERY SIMPLY WE FIND A PERSON
WHO JUST DOESN’T WANT TO GIVE UP SIN.
AND HONESTLY, THAT IS THE OFFENSE OF CHRISTIANITY.
You cannot love sin and love God.
You must reject one or the other.
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
But that is precisely what these people wanted to do.
You can hear that in their questions.
“But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “Let us do evil that good may come”?”
That is a person who is looking for any possible reason
To be able to continue in sin.
And as we did this morning,
Before we dive into that ludicrous statement,
Let’s point out why the desire to continue in sin
Is foreign to Christianity.
It really goes hand in hand with what we learned this morning.
This morning we were reminded that a person must “deny themselves” And included in that, is denying the will and desire to sin.
We have a fancy theological term for that.
REPENTANCE
And we have talked about it before, but let’s make sure we remember
What repentance is, and what it is not.
1) Repentance is not an emotion
2) Repentance is not temporary.
Repentance is a continual action.
It changes your life, and it changes it forever.
Otherwise, repentance has not occurred.
Remember what John the Baptist taught?
Luke 3:7-9 “So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? “Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘ We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. “Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
If you kept reading, later in the passage, people would ask, “what shall we do?”
He didn’t just want an emotional display down by the water side.
He wasn’t looking for a temporary commitment.
John wanted the lives of these people to change, and to change forever.
WHEN JESUS WOULD COME ALONG AFTER JOHN.
His first sermon.
Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
And then as He confronted people.
The cripple in the Bethesda pool.
John 5:14 “Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.”
The woman caught in adultery.
John 8:11 “She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”
AND THIS REPENTANCE FROM SIN IS NECESSARY.
After Jesus ascended into heaven, and the day of Pentecost came.
Peter preached that Jesus really was Lord and Christ.
When the people wanted to know what to do.
The first statement of Peter.
Acts 2:37-38 “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Later in Acts 3 when Peter healed the cripple and the crowd flocked to him. He preached and said:
Acts 3:19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;”
AND OF COURSE THIS IDEA IS NOT NEW.
Repentance is always what God has sought
In order for people to come to Him.
Isaiah 1:16-20 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow. “Let Us Reason” “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. “If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; “But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword.” Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Jeremiah 4:1-4 “If you will return, O Israel,” declares the LORD, “Then you should return to Me. And if you will put away your detested things from My presence, And will not waver, And you will swear, ‘As the LORD lives,’ In truth, in justice and in righteousness; Then the nations will bless themselves in Him, And in Him they will glory.” For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, And do not sow among thorns. “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire And burn with none to quench it, Because of the evil of your deeds.”
In order for man to walk with God,
God has always required man to walk away from sin.
He has always required the permanent action of repentance.
Therefore, it also stands to reason
That a person cannot be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ
And live in sin at the same time.
1 John 1:6-7 “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
1 John 3:4-10 “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”
Later Paul would ask?
Romans 6:2 “May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”
And this is why Paul could so easily define and separate
True believers from false believers.
Galatians 5:19-24 “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
It is clear isn’t it?
After all, what did Jesus come to save us from?
Matthew 1:21 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
If you are still in sin, it is sure hard to make the argument
That you have been saved from it.
God requires true and genuine repentance from sin.
And of course Paul has been making this point throughout Romans.
Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,”
It doesn’t matter if you are the godless pagan or the reformed Jew.
If you live in sin, God is angry, and you are under condemnation.
But despite this truth, mankind has sought not only to live in sin,
But some also seek to live in sin
While also laying claim to salvation.
You will see it again later in Romans,
When some try to fit through the grace loophole.
Romans 6:15 “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!”
It is people who want any excuse at all to stay in their sin.
Yes they want to go to heaven, but they don’t want to repent to do it.
AND THE JEWS WERE NO DIFFERENT.
We always read about the Law and the requirements,
And the sacrifices, and all that stuff,
And usually it follows with a statement like,
“Could you imagine. Oh, I’m so glad we are not under the Law like that anymore.”
And we say that, like it was the ambition of every Jew
To get out from under the Law.
THAT WASN’T THE CASE AT ALL.
They loved it.
That is evidenced by their stubborn refusal to leave it.
They loved the sacrificial system
WHY?
They thought it allowed them to sin
And then not bear the penalty for sinning.
You were only one dead sheep away from forgiveness.
It was perfect.
It was a system that allowed them to continue in sin,
Yet still be forgiven, with relatively no cost to themselves.
Of course Paul has already killed that notion in Romans.
Romans 2:12-13 “For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.”
So now at this point, they have scrapped the Law,
And this last question Paul mentions really reveals the heart to us.
Here we see why they are so eager to justify self, and argue with Paul.
THEY LOVE SIN
And here they are doing the unthinkable.
They are trying to justify continuing in sin
By proving that their sin does have value.
Look at this.
#1 THE MISCONCEPTION
Romans 3:7-8a
“But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?”
WHAT IS THEIR LIE?
It is their swearing falsely.
Remember, the Jews were taking God’s name in vain.
Romans 2:17 “But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God,”
They claimed to be followers of God, but their lifestyle was a lie.
And now it is obvious they know it, for they even call their life a lie.
But look at their attempt.
“if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?”
If my hypocrisy only made God look that much more truthful…
If my deception only makes God look that much more trustworthy…
Then why is God judging me like those pagan wicked sinners in the world.
(“also” being judged.)
They are claiming that they shouldn’t be judged,
Because even though they sin,
It just makes God look that much better.
“God, do you have any idea how righteous you look every time a huge crowd comes to the Day of Atonement? Why if it wasn’t for the fact that we continue to sin, then no one would know how righteous You are.”
So in fact, we are doing God a favor by sinning.
We are actually glorifying Him.
Paul picked up on this ridiculous argument.
Vs. 8, “And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “Let us do evil that good may come”?”
Paul says, why not just say what you mean?
Why don’t you just go ahead and sin
So God could look really righteous.
This is a person who seeks to justify sin at all cost.
But that type of thinking is a major misconception, and let’s look at why.
#2 THE MESSAGE
Romans 3:8b
Now I hope you notice, Paul doesn’t even do them the honor
Of answering such a ridiculous notion.
He simply says, “their condemnation is just.”
If you really think that your sin is a good thing,
Then you deserve what you are going to get.
You get the feeling Paul reached the point that Jesus spoke of.
Matthew 7:6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
The argument and the logic is so backward it is mind boggling.
AND LET ME TELL YOU WHY
1) Sin does not glorify God, Righteousness does.
You see, anybody can sin.
Any person alive on this earth can give way to warnings,
Sear their conscience and do what feels good.
I’ve never seen a person get drunk and just be amazed
That he was able to overcome the temptation to stay sober.
“I’ve been tempted to stay sober, but glory to God, I’m overcoming that temptation. I’m getting drunk for the glory of God.”
I’ve never seen a person get hooked on pornography and just been amazed that he was able to overcome the temptation to look at fully clothed people.
“I’m tempted to only look at people with their clothes on, but glory to God, I’m overcoming it.”
THERE IS NOTHING GLORIFYING TO GOD ABOUT SIN.
ANY PERSON CAN DO IT.
RIGHTEOUSNESS IS GLORIFYING TO GOD.
WHY?
You cannot do it apart from His Spirit.
You can do good things, but not for the right motives.
So when a person walks in righteousness, that is truly glorifying to God.
John 15:8 “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”
Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
God is glorified when we overcome temptation,
Not when we succumb to it.
But there is another misconception these people have.
2) Sin is not beneficial for anything.
We live in the day, where surprisingly enough
People still seem to think that sin does have it’s good qualities.
Now maybe we don’t go to the depths of these people here an assume that it is beneficial to glorify God, but still we see people in the church who think it is beneficial.
PERHAPS YOU’VE HEARD OF THIS
It’s good that you sinned like that,
So now you can minister to people like you.
It’s good that you were a drunk, so now you can minister to drunks.
It’s good you were an adulterer, now you can minister to adulterers
IT DOES NOT TAKE A DRUNK TO REACH DRUNKS
IT DOES NOT REQUIRE ADULTERERS TO REACH ADULTERERS
IT TAKES THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD THROUGH THE PREACHING OF HIS GOSPEL TO REACH THOSE PEOPLE.
Sometimes we act like if people in the church are too good,
We really need to get them to sin a little,
So they will better identify with the people they are trying to reach.
THIS IS ABSURD
Are doctor’s required to have a heart attack, before they can treat one?
THERE IS NOTHING GOOD THAT COMES FROM SIN.
Now it is a credit to God that He can still glorify Himself
In spite of our sin, but there is nothing good in regard to sin.
Sin never brings a positive consequence.
Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned”
Romans 6:16 “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?”
Romans 6:21 “Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.”
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:6 “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,”
Romans 8:13 “for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
Everybody get the point?
There is absolutely no benefit to sinning,
Least of all bringing glory to God.
And so when this person seeks to justify sin,
Paul simply says, “Their Condemnation is just”
THE POINT I WANT TO LEAVE WITH YOU TONIGHT IS THIS:
The gospel of God is simple.
• Mankind is sinful, in desperate need of salvation.
• Religion may have introduced you to the things of God,
• But it cannot save you.
• God requires you to deny yourself and to repent of your sin.
The only way to be saved is through the blood of Jesus Christ.
IT IS USELESS TO ARGUE WITH GOD
The gospel is that simple.
You cannot justify yourself
You cannot save yourself
You cannot justify your sin
The only way to be saved is to repent of your sin, deny yourself, And trust in the saving work of Jesus Christ.
I know it sounds strange to a Sunday night crowd,
But trust me,
The Jews didn’t expect to be recipients of this sermon either.
Everyone needs Jesus,
If you have not trusted Him,
Let tonight be the night.
Romans 5:8-9 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”
