God's Unchanging Faithfulness Amidst Human Unfaithfulness

 

Summary

In this exploration of Romans 3, we delve into the Apostle Paul's intricate argumentation regarding the faithfulness of God amidst human unfaithfulness. Paul addresses the question of whether the Jews' unbelief nullifies God's promises. He emphatically denies this, asserting that God's faithfulness is not contingent upon human actions. This principle underscores the entire narrative of the Old Testament, where despite Israel's repeated failures, God's purposes remain steadfast and unaltered. The Apostle Paul uses this argument to highlight the unchanging nature of God's promises and the futility of human attempts to undermine divine truth.

Paul anticipates objections to his teaching, particularly the argument that if human unrighteousness highlights God's righteousness, then God should not judge sin. He refutes this by emphasizing that God's justice is absolute and that He will judge the world in righteousness. The Apostle warns against the dangerous logic that suggests sinning more to magnify God's grace, labeling such reasoning as morally and intellectually bankrupt.

The sermon also touches on the challenges faced by early Christians, who, like Paul, had to defend their faith against misunderstandings and misrepresentations. This historical context serves as a reminder that the struggle against unbelief and misinterpretation is not new but has been a part of the Christian journey since its inception.

Key Takeaways:

- God's Faithfulness is Unconditional: God's promises do not depend on human faithfulness. Despite Israel's repeated failures, God's purposes remain unaltered, demonstrating that His faithfulness is independent of human actions. This principle is a source of great comfort, assuring us that God's plans will be fulfilled regardless of human shortcomings. [12:33]

- The Danger of Misunderstanding Grace: The argument that sin can be justified if it highlights God's grace is fundamentally flawed. Such reasoning is morally and intellectually bankrupt, as it undermines the very nature of God's justice and righteousness. We must be cautious not to distort the message of grace into a license for sin. [31:58]

- The Historical Struggle Against Misinterpretation: The early church faced significant challenges in defending the faith against misunderstandings and misrepresentations. This historical context reminds us that the struggle against unbelief and misinterpretation is not new but has been a part of the Christian journey since its inception. [36:20]

- The Importance of Foundational Principles: When faced with complex theological questions, it is crucial to rely on foundational principles such as God's faithfulness and righteousness. These principles provide a solid foundation for understanding and addressing difficult theological issues. [40:06]

- Testing Our Understanding of the Gospel: A good test of our understanding and presentation of the Gospel is whether it is humbling to us and glorifying to God. If our view glorifies us and questions God, it is likely flawed. The true Gospel should always exalt God and humble humanity. [43:01]

Youtube Chapters:

- [00:00] - Welcome
- [00:12] - Introduction to Romans 3
- [00:45] - The Faithfulness of God
- [02:29] - Addressing Misunderstandings
- [04:17] - The Advantage of the Jews
- [06:08] - The Jews' Unbelief
- [09:21] - God's Unchanging Promises
- [12:13] - The Principle of God's Faithfulness
- [14:20] - The Church's Perseverance
- [16:10] - God's Righteousness
- [19:12] - The Justice of God
- [22:01] - Misinterpretation of Grace
- [24:16] - The Argument Against Sin
- [27:45] - Personal Application
- [31:58] - The Danger of Antinomianism
- [35:17] - Conclusion and Lessons
- [48:46] - Closing Prayer

Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide: Romans 3

Bible Reading:
- Romans 3:1-8
- Psalm 51:4

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Observation Questions:

1. What is the main argument Paul is addressing in Romans 3 regarding the faithfulness of God and the unbelief of the Jews? ([00:45])

2. How does Paul respond to the question of whether human unrighteousness can highlight God's righteousness? ([01:02])

3. What historical context does the sermon provide about the early church's struggle with misunderstandings and misrepresentations? ([36:20])

4. How does Paul use Psalm 51:4 to support his argument about God's justice and righteousness? ([17:21])

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Interpretation Questions:

1. How does the sermon explain the concept of God's faithfulness being unconditional, and why is this significant for believers today? ([12:13])

2. In what ways does the sermon suggest that misunderstanding grace can lead to moral and intellectual bankruptcy? ([31:58])

3. How does the historical struggle against misinterpretation in the early church relate to challenges faced by modern Christians? ([36:20])

4. What foundational principles does the sermon highlight as crucial for understanding complex theological issues? ([40:06])

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Application Questions:

1. Reflect on a time when you doubted God's faithfulness due to personal or external circumstances. How can the principle of God's unconditional faithfulness provide comfort in similar situations? ([12:13])

2. Have you ever encountered or personally held the belief that sinning more could highlight God's grace? How did you or could you address this misunderstanding? ([31:58])

3. The early church faced significant challenges in defending their faith. What are some modern-day challenges you face in your faith journey, and how can you prepare to address them? ([36:20])

4. Consider a complex theological question you have struggled with. How can relying on foundational principles like God's faithfulness and righteousness help you find clarity? ([40:06])

5. The sermon suggests testing our understanding of the Gospel by whether it humbles us and glorifies God. Reflect on your current understanding of the Gospel. Does it pass this test? ([43:01])

6. How can you ensure that your presentation of the Gospel to others is clear and not open to misinterpretation, especially regarding grace and sin? ([44:22])

7. Identify a specific area in your life where you might be tempted to question God's justice. How can you remind yourself of God's absolute righteousness in those moments? ([41:05])

Devotional

Day 1: God's Faithfulness Transcends Human Actions
God's faithfulness is a constant, unwavering truth that stands independent of human actions. Throughout the Old Testament, Israel's repeated failures did not alter God's promises or purposes. This principle is a profound source of comfort, assuring believers that God's plans will be fulfilled regardless of human shortcomings. The Apostle Paul emphasizes that God's faithfulness is not contingent upon human faithfulness, highlighting the futility of attempts to undermine divine truth. This understanding encourages believers to trust in God's unchanging nature and His steadfast commitment to His promises. [12:33]

"For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you." (Isaiah 54:10, ESV)

Reflection: In what area of your life do you need to trust more in God's faithfulness, despite your own shortcomings or failures?


Day 2: The Misuse of Grace
The argument that sin can be justified if it highlights God's grace is fundamentally flawed. Such reasoning undermines the very nature of God's justice and righteousness. The Apostle Paul warns against the dangerous logic that suggests sinning more to magnify God's grace, labeling it as morally and intellectually bankrupt. Believers must be cautious not to distort the message of grace into a license for sin, recognizing that true grace leads to transformation and a deeper commitment to righteousness. [31:58]

"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" (Romans 6:1-2, ESV)

Reflection: Is there a specific sin in your life that you have been justifying under the guise of grace? How can you seek God's help to overcome it today?


Day 3: Historical Struggles with Misinterpretation
The early church faced significant challenges in defending the faith against misunderstandings and misrepresentations. This historical context serves as a reminder that the struggle against unbelief and misinterpretation is not new but has been a part of the Christian journey since its inception. Believers today can take comfort in knowing that they are not alone in these struggles and can draw strength from the perseverance of those who have gone before them. [36:20]

"But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction." (2 Peter 2:1, ESV)

Reflection: How can you equip yourself to better discern and address misunderstandings or misinterpretations of your faith in your daily interactions?


Day 4: Foundational Principles in Theology
When faced with complex theological questions, it is crucial to rely on foundational principles such as God's faithfulness and righteousness. These principles provide a solid foundation for understanding and addressing difficult theological issues. By grounding themselves in these truths, believers can navigate the complexities of faith with confidence and clarity, ensuring that their understanding of the Gospel remains true to its core message. [40:06]

"Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God." (Hebrews 6:1, ESV)

Reflection: What foundational principle of your faith do you need to revisit and strengthen to help you address a current theological question or doubt?


Day 5: The Gospel's Humbling and Glorifying Nature
A good test of our understanding and presentation of the Gospel is whether it is humbling to us and glorifying to God. If our view glorifies us and questions God, it is likely flawed. The true Gospel should always exalt God and humble humanity, reminding believers of their dependence on His grace and mercy. This perspective encourages a posture of humility and worship, aligning believers' hearts with the true essence of the Gospel. [43:01]

"For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?" (1 Corinthians 4:7, ESV)

Reflection: In what ways can you ensure that your understanding and sharing of the Gospel remain focused on glorifying God and not yourself?

Quotes

"God's unconditional promises do not depend upon the faithfulness of men indeed were they to do so there would never have been a Salvation at all now that is in a sense the great message of of the Old Testament here is God he's chosen this people he's made this people for himself he gives them all these promises he treats them in Grace and yet look at their constant and repeated failure failure after failure after failure and if it had been left to them well the nation might very well have been exterminated and none of the promises of God would have been brought to pass or would have had any effect but it is in spite of them that God goes on with his great purposes and fulfills his wonderful Covenant." [00:13:12]

"Now here of course is one of those tremendous principles which we must take a firm grasp off and we can look at it in this way God's unconditional promises do not depend upon the faithfulness of men indeed were they to do so there would never have been a Salvation at all now that is in a sense the great message of of the Old Testament here is God he's chosen this people he's made this people for himself he gives them all these promises he treats them in Grace and yet look at their constant and repeated failure failure after failure after failure and if it had been left to them well the nation might very well have been exterminated and none of the promises of God would have been brought to pass or would have had any effect but it is in spite of them that God goes on with his great purposes and fulfills his wonderful Covenant." [00:13:12]

"Now the essence of his answer is really this the failure of the Jews does not and cannot in any way affect the purposes or the faithfulness of God God gave his promises he gave them to the Jews and to the Jews only at first now the f of the Jews to take it and to receive it and to appreciate it makes not the slightest difference to God's promise that's what he's rarely saying that is the essence of his argument he says shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect or shall their unfaithfulness nullify the faithfulness of God by no means be it not so it is quite Unthinkable." [00:12:13]

"Now this is a brilliant bit of argumentation in this way the apostle knew that the Jews did believe in the final judgment they all did believe that they believed that God was going to judge the world in righteousness of course what they believed was that they would be all right they would not be judged but the Gentiles would the world would and it would be judged because of its sin very well says the Apostle don't you see where you've lended yourselves if you are now going to argue that this unrighteousness of men which brings out into greater relief the righteousness of God always means that God therefore cannot judge sin and punish it how do you at the same time teach that God is going to judge the sin of the Gentiles at the end of the world because surely the unrighteousness of these gentiles makes the righteousness of God stand out in relief in exactly the same way as does that of the Jews in other words he's proving to them that they've gone too far they've proved too much if what they are trying to argue there is true even the Gentiles can't be judged and they believe the Gentiles would be judged so that it's a final and a conclusive argument if that is right says the Apostle well then God will not be able to judge anybody at the end of the age at the end of the world." [00:25:52]

"Now people were misunderstanding that and they were saying slanderously as Paul says that the apostle was teaching this the more we sin the more God's grace will shine out therefore there's no need to attempt to live a good life there's no need for us to bother about the law the worse we are the greater will be God's mercy to us therefore let us plunge into sin that the grace of of God May abound to us why don't you say that says the Apostle and you see then he puts it in Brackets he says you know some people are actually saying that I and the other evangelists are preaching that now that is what makes this argument a little bit difficult that the Apostle should put the two things together in this rather strange and difficult construction but that is the argument and it's a perfectly Fair argument if the argument is that because our sin produces more marvelously than ever the grace of God that therefore God will not punish sin well it's quite logical to say the more you sin therefore the greater will be the righteousness of God that's the point says the Apostle at which you lend yourselves and what is his comment upon it his comment is this whose damn nation is just any men who couldn't say let us do evil that good may come well there's no defense for him his damnation is just he is violating every moral principle he's committing moral and intellectual suicide there is nothing that is too bad for such a person his damn is just." [00:31:58]

"Now I come to a third and a very general principle which I think applies to all of us how careful we must be when we speak and express our opinions about things that we do not fully understand and especially about God and his ways now I say this applies to us all Because unless when perhaps we are chastised or when we're passing through a difficult time we like these Jews and others are a little bit prone to ask our questions we say now I don't quite see why God that's the very thing that the Apostle says God forbid you don't see very well if you don't see be very careful not to speak in such a way as to blaspheme the name of God be careful put your hand on your mouth as job puts it be very careful in expressing your opinion about God's ways you may not see it all at a glance but swifter hear slow to speak slow to wrath that is always the rule." [00:37:20]

"Now you notice the apostolic method it's a very wonderful one and a very safe one in each instance he doesn't start with details but he falls back on some great fundamental principle you notice his three principles with regard to the first question his answer is this God forbid why well he says you're querying the faithfulness of God now that is something which must be never done can I put it like this to you when you're tackling or trying to solve a difficult problem it is always a good and a wise thing to start with something about which you're absolutely certain when you've got the unknown start with the known if you're involved in some difficult argumentation and details now the wise thing always to do is this say now is there some big principle about which I'm absolutely certain which is related to these details if the there is go for it lay it down so the Apostle is saying this in effect he says whatever the detailed reply may be to you of this I am absolutely certain nothing can affect or change the faithfulness of God God is always faithful then his second great principle is this one God is ever righteous when they bring up this question is God righteous in judging now he says whatever the detailed answer may be about that of this I'm certain everything God does is righteous everything you must never query the faithfulness of God you must never query the righteousness of God so if you ever catch yourself putting a question or making a statement that seems to bring these two great things into doubt you'll at once know that you're wrong and if you're dealing with somebody else who's doing that say now wait a minute can't you see that what you are implying is that God's Eternal purpose can somehow be deflected that's impossible he'd be he'd no longer be God or secondly in the second difficulty can't you see that what you quering is is the absolute righteousness of God and the justice of God you must never do that these are absolutes these are not for discussion God is not God unless these things are always true and finally you see if ever you seem to be saying something which leads to the conclusion let us do evil that good may come well already you know that you're wrong that's morally impossible it's Unthinkable therefore well now there it is and I commend this great method of argumentation to you seek for the principle involved in the argument that is put to you then fall back upon one of these fundamental p poates stand there and then explain the difficulty in terms of that that's exactly what the Apostle does." [00:40:06]

"One other word is this a very good way of testing any view that you may hold is this one is this view humbling to me glorifying to God if it is it's is probably right you won't go far wrong if whatever view you are holding is glorifying to God humbling to men but if your view seems to glorify you and to query god well there's no need to argue or to go into details it's wrong it's a very good Universal rule V and my last word of all is again a word primarily to preachers indeed it's a word to everybody in the sense that if ever you are putting the gospel to another person you've got a very good test as to whether you're preaching the gospel in the right way what's that well let me put it like this to you if your presentation of the Gospel does not expose it to the charge of antinomianism you are probably not putting it correctly what do I mean by that just this the gospel you see comes as this free gift of God irrespective of what men does now the moment you say a thing like that you are liable to provoke somebody to say well if that is so it doesn't matter what I do the Apostle takes that takes up that argument more than once in this great epistle what then he says at the beginning of chapter 6 shall we do evil commit sin that Grace May abound he's just been saying the more sin abounded where sin abounded Grace does much more abound very well said someone this is a marvelous Doctrine this go and get drunk do what you like the grace of God will put you a antinomianism now this doctrine of the scriptures this this justification by faith only this free grace of God in Salvation he's always exposed to that charge of antinomianism Paul was charged with it he said you know some people say that that's what I'm preaching Paul's preaching was charged with antinomianism the the Jews especially said now they said this man he tells us that the law can't save us very well what he's really saying to people is this sinners much as you like the more you sin the more the grace of God will fall down upon you that's what he's teaching it's lawlessness he's encouraging an antinomianism an antagonism to the law so I say that it's a very good test of preaching you see what is not Evangelical preaching is this is the kind of preaching which says to people now if if you live a good life if you don't commit certain sins and if you do good to others and if you become a church member and attend regularly and are busy and active you'll be a fine Christian and you'll go to heaven that's the opposite of Evangelical preaching and it isn't exposed you see to the charge of antinomianism because it is encouraging good works it's telling men to save themselves by their good works and it's not the gospel because the gospel always exposes itself to this misunderstanding from the standpoint of antinomianism so let all of us test our preaching our conversation our talk to others about the gospel by that particular test does it make a certain clever type of man say ah well I see that I see how the whole position is doesn't matter what I do all is well and if you don't make people say things like that sometimes if you're not misunderstood and slanderously reported from the standpoint of antinomianism it's because you don't believe the gospel truly and you don't preach it truly what a wonderful gospel this is and how we ought to thank God even for a difficult passage like this which we've been considering together tonight I've drawn great comfort and consolation from it as I've been trying to show you we've got the apostolic method of dealing with difficulties and we see here this essential message and we see that it is of such a character that evil men will always in their cleverness as they think be able to entirely short cut it and Sid track it and turn it even into saying the exact opposite of what it says because we preach that a man is saved in spite of his works it doesn't mean for a second that therefore we say let us do evil that good may come not at all do we make void the law Paul's going to say at the end of this chapter he says no we establish the law very well God willing as I say having now dealt with these questions and queries and difficulties we shall be able to follow him as he Marshals his great ktina of evidence called from the Old Testament to prove his point Beyond any per Adventure let us pray oh Lord Our God we would thank thee more than ever that it is thy way not ours and we see that thy way are not our ways nor thy thoughts our thoughts we thank thee that as the heavens are higher than the earth so are thy thoughts and our thoughts we thank thee for this glorious salvation Lord God we would almost thank thee for the difficulties we would thank thee for the fact that it is what it is and as it is and all we thank thee for the instruction and the warnings and the safe gods for the way thou did cause thy servant of old and others to work out these Arguments for us so that before we are born they're here ready and waiting for us oh God make us wise we pray thee in these things that we may be kept from error ourselves and that we may be able to help others who are tempted to error by the Ws of Satan and the subtlety of men as the result of sin oh God dismiss us with thy blessing make us all instruments in thy hands to be of help to others who are battling with difficulties and problems take us upon our way and use us in our homes and in all our circumstances in life to the glory and the praise of thy great and holy name and now May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship and the communion of the Holy Spirit abide and continue with us now this night and ever more amen we do hope that you've been helped by the preaching of Dr Martin lyd Jones all of the sermons contained within the mlj trust audio library are now available for free download you may share the sermons or broadcast them however because of international copyright please be advised that we are asking first that these sermon never be offered for sale by a third party and second that these sermons will not be edited in any way for length or to use as audio clips you can find our contact information on our website at mlj trust.org that's mlj tusd.org" [00:43:01]

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Transcript
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