In Romans 10, Paul continues his (later to be identified three-chapter) excurses on God’s sovereign dealings with the nation of Israel. As well, Paul continues his “hit parade” of Old Testament scripture quotes and allusions, adding an additional 12 such references in these 21 verses. Again we also see Paul’s own heart’s desire for the Israelites to truly know God through Jesus Christ.

By the time of the early church era when Paul is writing this letter to the Romans, though there were Jewish believers in churches throughout the Mediterranean world, the vast majority of Jews had rejected the gospel offer. So it is reasonable to say that Christ had truly been rejected by the nation.

Paul understood this rejection and hostility, having participated in it significantly prior to his dramatic encounter with Christ and his own conversion. He speaks here of the zealous nature of the Israelites. Indeed, they had a profound sense of their own history and deep reverence and affection for the Law of Moses. But Paul writes here that their knowledge was deficient and inaccurate. Their belief was that righteousness could be and should be attained by strict adherence to the Law. The truth is that the Law was not an instrument to give righteousness, but rather its purpose was to show a person that they could never attain it on their own – hence needing to look outside of themselves toward God for forgiveness. And the rest of Romans is arguing that this righteousness is perfectly found in Jesus Christ and his work.

Christ presented himself to Israel as their king, yet he was rejected; and in the master plan of God, this rejection and subsequent death, burial and resurrection provides the perfect payment for sin and basis for salvation of all mankind, Jew or Gentile. A wonderful summary of the gospel message is provided in verses 9 and 10: that whoever truly believes and confesses that Jesus is Lord and the one raised from the dead by God … that person will be saved, Jew or Gentile.

This message is proclaimed and spread through those who believe and strive together to see that it is promulgated near and far. Verses 14 and 15 have served as the theme Scripture for many a missions conference in churches over the years, and rightly so. There needs to be a proclamation of the gospel for people to believe, and this requires “preachers” (professional or otherwise) who are missionally sent for such communication. Surely it may be across the sea to far-flung regions, but the same principle applies to taking the gospel to the neighborhood just on the other side of the tracks.

The final verses of this chapter brings out the Old Testament anticipation that this expansion of followers of God would extend beyond the nation of Israel to include all the peoples of the world. Israel had the first shot at seeing, experiencing, and following God’s expansive heart for the world. And even now, individually they are not rejected, as belief in the gospel applies to them as well.

How thankful we should be (most of us being of Gentile extraction) that God’s heart was so expansive, even if his original “people” did not see it or largely understand it. We inherit God’s grace, it having come to us on the words of others who received it upon the words of others before them. It is a wonderful opportunity to be an active part of this universal program of God. Do you have a sense of that passion that drives you as you consider the peoples of the world, near and far?

10:1 – Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

5 Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.” 6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. 18 But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

19 Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”

20 And Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”

21 But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

In turning over today to look at Romans chapter 9, we enter a new section in Paul’s communication. Back at the beginning of this series we spoke of an oft-used simple outline of Romans with five “S” words: Sin, Salvation, Sanctification, Sovereignty, Service. This chapter begins the “Sovereignty” section as Paul presents Israel’s past (chapter 9), present (chapter 10) and future (chapter 11).

These three chapters are among the more difficult passages of Scripture. There is a tremendous amount of detail in them and some complicated reasoning involving many Old Testament texts – a total of 14 just in this 9^th chapter.

Paul begins the chapter by expressing his anguish over the nation of Israel and the people of his own race …

9:1 – I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

The sad truth was that the bulk of the nation of Israel had already rejected Christ as Messiah and the gospel message as the channel of truth through which God was working through the ages. This grieved Paul deeply. He acknowledged that Israel had every advantage as God’s chosen and special people.

This raises the difficult question as to how this could possibly be!  It would appear that God’s choosing of Israel wasn’t so great, or else the rejection of Christ by the majority of Israel proved that Paul’s gospel message was invalid.

But the fact of the matter is that quite honestly, most of the time in Israel’s history there was a minority who truly believed. Sometimes it was a small remnant. Paul makes the point that being truly an Israelite in the fullest sense meant more than just mere genetics and physical descent, there was also the matter of trusting personally in God’s promise and plan …

9:6 – It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.

Let me illustrate it with a story. In my extended family there was a situation where a particular individual was absolutely certain that he was going to be included in what he believed (far beyond factual reality) would be a large estate inheritance. By blood relationship he stood to be in line for this remembrance. However, years and years had gone by with little to no personal effort for connection and relationship with the older generation. When the time came for the execution of the will of the deceased, he was not remembered. Simple genetics was not enough; there was the need for a true relationship.

And so it was with the nation of Israel. Throughout its history, God had chosen one over another to be the line through which his redemptive plan would eventuate. God is God. And He can choose to work through whomever he desires.

So the rest of this chapter rehearses a large swath of Jewish history, recalling both God’s sovereign plan along with accounts of either faithfulness or faithlessness among the nation. Ultimately, God’s plan moved on to include the gentiles.

9:9 – For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”

10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”  21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”  26 and, “In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,     only the remnant will be saved.

28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”

29 It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”

Israel’s Unbelief

30 – What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. 33 As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

Calvin Coolidge was famous for being a man of few words. Someone once told him, “I’ll bet I can make you speak more than two words.” To which the 30^th president responded, “You lose.”

Among his quotes about listening much and speaking little are these: “I have never been hurt by what I have not said,” and, “No person ever listened themselves out of a job.”

I think it was perhaps also Coolidge who was asked, “Why do you always answer a question with a question?”  And he responded, “Why not?”

The Apostle Paul occasionally used this device as a communicative tool, as he does in our passage today. Paul asks a single question, and he then responds to it with a series of six additional questions that provide the answer.

Reflecting on God’s plan of salvation just spoken of – a plan with a scope from eternity past to eternity future – Paul asks the opening question …

8:31 – What, then, shall we say in response to these things?

God’s plan was pretty amazing. It was laid out before it was even necessary due to the entrance of sin. Nothing catches God by surprise. He is never in a position of needing to alter the direction of his will due to some unforeseen contingency. God is a category of one! This leads to a series of profound questions in Paul’s mind…

#1 – (verse 31) If God is for us, who can be against us?

It is all about who you know. It is like working for a company where you know the owner personally, and better yet, he really likes you. It therefore doesn’t matter what the immediate boss thinks and how he might attempt to harm you.

#2 – (verse 32) He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

If you gave $10 toward a benevolent agency and then it folded and your money was lost … oh well, bad things happen. But if you gave your whole fortune to a cause, you are going to be entirely supportive and invested in the success of that endeavor. God gave even more: His Son. Therefore we can count upon him furnishing us with all we truly need toward our ultimate salvation and glorification.

#3 – (verse 33) Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.

Well, we know the answer to that is Satan. But what real authority does he have to accomplish anything other than to make a lot of noise? It does not matter what the prosecuting attorney says about you when the judge has already personally paid the price for your justification.

#4 – (verse 34) Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Additionally, what standing does the evil one have? None really. The one who paid the price personally is our defense advocate who is right next to the judge to personally intercede for our cause.

#5 and #6 – (verse 35) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

The presumed answer to the fifth question is “nothing.” Paul lists some items with increasing gravity, including the very real threat of being put to death by the sword. The Apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 11 about how he faced all of these perils in the course of life and ministry. Frankly, that is the normal experience for the believer, as Paul writes about in Ephesians 6 concerning spiritual warfare. Peter affirms that if the enemies of the cross hated Christ, they will hate us also.

Paul includes a quote from Psalm 44:22 …

36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

The world has little regard for God’s people. To them we are nothing but sheep waiting for the slaughter. But even if the worst imaginable thing happens, the best thing happens immediately as well: to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. All of this is the outworking of the “all things” of 8:28.

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Come to church this Sunday for the kids musical production and you will hear these final three verses (and verse 35) set to a heavy metal rendition that you will never forget!  It is truly awesome! These kids will know these verses for the rest of their lives as this song will forever live within them.

The final verdict is that we cannot lose, no matter what happens. I like that! I like winning and I hate losing! We are secure in Christ’s love and in relationship with God for eternity. Let’s conclude with some questions: Who would not want this? Who would not be thankful for these truths? Who would not find peace in the midst of any circumstance by knowing this provision?

Think of the many things that you have gone through in your life that were less than pleasant, though you endured them to get to a better time and situation.

I look back on my educational years and still marvel that I put up with nine consecutive years of post-high school pressures and continual life transitions. I often wondered if I was ever going to grow up! There were five years of a double major in college (although I was encouraged to have gained a wife out of that time). And then there was the oft terror of seminary and its high-level academics and language study demands. Along the way were jobs as a painter, UPS package sorter, North American Van Lines, and swimming pool maintenance. A great music ministry position in a wonderful church gave me a breeze of hope that all of this might someday lead to a ministry career, which it did, now totaling 34 years.

Or think about medical things we might endure. Something is amiss physically and you have to give attention to a remedy that might be a bit painful. Someday, some year, somewhere, somehow I’m going to get my dumb arthritic knee fixed. It ain’t going to feel good. But the hope is that on the other side of a season of suffering will be a longer time of being a healthier beefcake than I am already!

If you listen to financial guru Dave Ramsey, he is always encouraging the life disciplines that will help one pay off debts. He will say, “Until you pay off that debt, it’s going to be beans and rice, rice and beans every night for dinner.”  He is saying that you need to endure hardship now for the promise of a better tomorrow.

The better tomorrow – when does that really arrive? It is a general pattern of life that wise living leads to successful outcomes, but there is no guarantee. You might get a rare cancer or be run over by the drunk driver who missed the red light. Even without randomly grave circumstances finding their way to you, life is filled with more than a few challenges and inevitable sorrows. Though some few folks may appear to live a charmed existence, nobody escapes difficulties and sadness.

But for the child of God, it is all worth it. The pain of this life is real for sure, but it is so small in comparison to the eternal glory that awaits in the promised future. So, my 9 years of educational suffering will result in something like 4x as many years of joy in service. The several months of knee surgery and associated recovery may result in perhaps 20 years of pain-free greater mobility. Financial moderation by folks now should result in decades of greater stability and reward. Those are good ratios … up to maybe like 60:1 in the one instance.

But think about suffering here now, as compared to eternity. If you have 70 years of difficulties and the accumulated sadness of the human condition in a sinful and fallen world, what is that compared to, oh, say about 7 million years of eternity?  The ratio is 100,000:1 … and that is just the bare beginning. So Paul writes in Romans 8 …

8:18 – I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

8:22 – We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

For both the creation and for us as redeemed, adopted sons of God, the current situation is far from perfect. Paul describes it as “groaning.”  The pain and difficulty is real. But bigger than all of this is the “hope” we have that is a part of our waiting. Just because we don’t have the perfection of heaven as a present reality does not mean that God is not good.

And we’re not without resources. The text above says that we have the ministry of the Holy Spirit as a “firstfruits” of the full crop of God’s eternal reward that is yet to come. Paul describes how this works practically, even in a fallen world …

8:26 – In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

There are those times in life where we do not know how to pray for ourselves or for someone else. We might say that “it’s complicated.”  Do we pray to have God give us that job that will move us 500 miles away from our family and a happy place of serving Christ in the church? What is better? We want God’s best for us, and we can be assured that the Spirit of God prays for us in a wordless way that is understood by the Father. And that’s just one ministry of the resource of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Hey, let me throw at you some of that painful Greek language education I endured 35 years ago. You’re going to like this one! The word for “helps us” in verse 26 is “synantilambanetai” (let me hear you repeat that three times quickly!), and it has the literal picture of someone who comes alongside another person to help them carry a heavy load.

Beyond this, God has a plan for us, and it is a good plan …

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Even in a sinful world, even in a place where not all things that happen to us are good, God harmonizes all of those “lesser experiences” in a way that is ultimately good for us. The Greek word for working things together is “synergei” … from which you don’t need to be a language scholar to see the roots of English words like “synergy” or “synergize.”  Yep, there is a synergy to God’s plan for us.

And it is a plan, step by step. God foreknew us – meaning He took the initiative to establish the relationship we have with him. Then he predestined or predetermined that we would know him and follow a path that would bring us into relationship with Christ and growth in his likeness. And this works out by us being called, being justified (declared righteous), and ultimately glorified.

Yep, there’s a plan. It hurts a bit right now. But the big, guaranteed truth is that THINGS ARE GOING TO GET BETTER!

Something that has always amazed me over the years is the way that so many people repeat as adults the foolish things they saw parents and other adults do when they were children. Having lived around dysfunction and horrible life choices, experiencing the pain and suffering that extended to an entire family system, surely a child who grew up in such a setting would be highly energized to not repeat those same mistakes as they grow older! Yet sadly the most common story is that they grow up to so often repeat the very same painful actions.

As I’ve thought about this phenomenon, I’ve concluded that the repeated behavior is because the person has no experience with something that is different or better. It is easier and more comfortable to repeat the known environment than it is to figure out how to live in a way that is categorically different and experientially unknown.

A 2015 article in Psychology Today entitled “8 Reasons It’s So Hard to Overcome a Tough Childhood” essentially affirms this observation immediately in point #1.

The traumatized person may be slow to realize the source of their pain. Children have no frame of reference when traumatic experiences occur, so they come to see their reality as normal, especially if their caregivers are the source of their distress. Often, it is only much later—when exposed to healthier families or when raising children of their own—that they see how damaging their childhood was. Unfortunately, the longer a person waits to get help, the tougher it becomes to heal.

Beyond this, recent studies have shown that there are biological factors that affect children who grow up in dysfunctional settings. Trauma in childhood can alter brain structure and change certain genes, with events such as abuse or the loss of a parent being found to alter the programming of genes that regulate stress, boosting the risk of developing issues such as anxiety and depression. Trauma-induced brain changes have been linked to a diminished ability to moderate negative impulses. Childhood trauma can also affect the brain’s neurotransmitters, boosting the reward felt when drugs or alcohol are used—and making dependence more likely.

The reason we are so blessed by stories of those who have overcome difficult childhoods—like a Ben Carson, for example—is because they are comparatively rare. To break free into a new and different sphere of living requires a unique new empowerment or opportunity.

The Apostle Paul in Romans 7 described the downward draw and power of “the natural man” or the sinful nature. He speaks of the war within, having at once a desire to live for God, yet also a long-term gravitational pull to an older self.

Turning to chapter 8, Paul begins with the firm assertion that there has been a radical change.

8:1 – Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

The believer is free from the condemnation of sin due to the liberating payment of the work of Christ. This is a new life category completely!  As it says elsewhere in Scripture, the believer in Christ is a new creature … part of a new family … empowered within by a new understanding that can govern the mind and life of the one who will yield to this. It is a matter of choice as to how to live – in an old way that gives in to the flesh, or a new way that yields to the Spirit…

8:5 – Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

Perhaps we could illustrate it this way: Imagine you grew up in deep poverty, not having sufficient resources for your basic needs and even foraging and stealing to meet the hunger cravings of your life. You had absentee parents who really did nothing to help you but only ultimately accused you of being a failure. Along came a wealthy man who in love and mercy stepped into your life and situation and adopted you out of it and into his family. You now had a new place and way of living that guaranteed your basic needs and presented an entirely new realm of possibilities for living a completely different and successful life. You would be pretty crazy to not take advantage of that new opportunity, choosing rather to just live too frequently as the older way you used to know.

But this is our experience in Christ. We were before our adoption by him living as the children of the evil one who accused us and provided only for our demise. But now being a part of a new family, we have the opportunity to live as an heir of God and co-heir with Christ. And this is exactly how Paul finishes this section of thought …

8:14 – For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

It is all a matter of living out who you truly are. Yes, there is a gravitational pull toward a foolish, older way of life that has a natural bent. But wisdom informs us that this is personally destructive, that we don’t need to live this way, that we are positionally different than that, and we have a new power within to help us live in a new way that is life indeed. Eternal life, with eternal values. It would be pretty crazy to not strive to live in this way!

I have always felt a bit sorry for defense lawyers. Some folks actually despise these characters as those who attempt to get criminals off the hook. Rightly understood of course, the role of the lawyer is not to get an unjustly generous outcome, but rather within our legal system’s presumption of innocence point of beginning to provide the best defense possible to appropriately put the weight of proof upon the prosecution to prove the charges.

Some criminals are difficult to defend and put into any positive light whatsoever. It is a sort of pig and lipstick kind of situation. And actually, that would be the case of trying to defend the innocence and goodness of the human race against God’s perfect standard of righteousness. It is entirely impossible, or as Paul says it at the beginning of today’s section that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.

Even if a defense lawyer is able to present a client in the best light possible, if the prosecuting attorney concludes with a laundry list of undeniable charges backed by evidence, the client is in trouble.  At that is what we have in our reading today. Paul quotes from a variety of Old Testament passages (mostly from Psalms) that prove beyond any doubt that mankind is 100% guilty before God as a condemned sinner.

3:9 – What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.”   “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” 14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” [most of these quotes are from passages in the Psalms]

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Boom! The gavel drops. All are guilty! Everyone fails to live up to God’s law. And we see in the final verse the purpose of the law: it was not to provide a pathway for people to become just in God’s sight, but rather it was to make a person aware of their sinful condition. And then, feeling the weight of their impossible situation, they would turn to trusting, following and obeying God’s provision

Theologically speaking, we are talking about the doctrine of original sin. The problem started with the original sin of the original parents. The curse and debt has been passed down; we were born bad. We weren’t born good, sinned one day and then became bad. We were never good, or righteous. We didn’t become sinners when we first sinned. We proved we were sinners when we first sinned.

All of this would be terribly depressing if the story ended right here. And if God had chosen to allow that to happen, He would not have been unjust.

So ends Part #1 of the five parts of Romans we spoke about last week (Sin / Salvation / Sanctification / Sovereignty / Service). We’re lost. We’re dead. So now what? Come back tomorrow and Chris will save you! … Well … Jesus will actually save you, but Chris can tell you how that happens!

Winning a huge lottery payout is a good thing, right? It makes for a wonderful opportunity for a person to do and enjoy pretty much everything imaginable, correct?

Apparently not! A simple search of articles on large lottery winners reveals that a sizeable majority end up with lives that are more miserable, if not completely ruined. An amazing number end up losing everything. Poor choices abound. Most are completely unequipped to manage their new situation in a positive way.

At the same time, a minority of winners report of the great blessing that it was for them. They speak of hiring professional accountants and investment advisors, being disciplined to use their newfound wealth in wise and productive ways.

From this we can say that it was not the mere fact of wealth that ruined peoples’ lives, it was the lack of faithful and disciplined execution of attention to the details that made for a mess.

We have read in recent paragraphs in Romans chapters 1 and 2 of the Jewish people who were condemned by God for their sinful lives. If being given the “blessings” of status as God’s Chosen People resulted in so many of them ending up in judgment, what good therefore was such a “blessing?”  And Paul says that there indeed was great blessing and advantage. It was not a matter that God’s goodness set them up for failure; they simply failed to be faithful with the riches to which they were entrusted, particularly having the very words of God given to them.

So there is no way that God should be blamed for their bad situation and God’s necessary judgment. He was good; they messed up all by themselves.

The argumentative objections (of which there were many) raised by Paul’s adversaries (of which there were many) as seen in verses 5-8 are admittedly a bit crazy. But arguments against God’s goodness are exactly that. Illogical is another word. Let’s add senseless to the mix.

God is good. People fail. All have sinned, Chosen People or not. That God thereby is required by His holy character to necessarily judge them is not a mark against Him.

But talk about people with great advantage! Has there ever been those with a better advantage to be people of faith than we are in our day? I suppose it could be argued that to be a first century follower who happened to be among the hundreds who saw the post-resurrection Jesus would make faith easier. Even so, I’m not sure I’d trade for that. For one thing, we possess the completed record of Scripture. Think of all the resources we have in our day to stand on the shoulders of two millennia of Christians who have gone before us. Consider the resources literally at our fingertips electronically. By any standard, we are uniquely blessed. We are people of advantage.

3:1 – What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.

3 What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written:

“So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”

5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” 8 Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!

One summer in my college years I worked for an industrial painter, mostly spray painting large structures like barns, farm buildings, warehouses, churches, etc.  Not only was it a hot job in the sun (I got burns on my shoulders that summer that I still believe could become something nasty in my life), it was rather physically demanding. We mostly used bucket-type trucks with powerful compressors, and between three of us could spray in excess of 100 gallons of paint a day.

One day our job was to paint a centuries-old church in the Pennsylvania countryside. It was a rather large building with a steep-pitched roof about 40+ feet above the ground. Beyond that was a 20-foot wooden steeple that needed to be painted. Being the light-weight of the group (you’ll have to take that by faith), I drew the assignment. The boss sent me to the roofline in the bucket truck, along with an extension ladder. We put the legs on either side of the peak, extended it fully, while also tying a rope from the ladder to the steeple for “safety.”

I still can’t believe I did this. The view from the top was amazing, but the foundation of it was precarious to the extreme that it should rightly be catalogued in the classification of the “foolish.”

And such was the category of self-evaluation possessed the “allegedly righteous” Jew to whom Paul speaks here in Romans chapter 2. From where they looked down upon the rest of the world, they saw themselves as in really good shape, just because of who they were. They knew that they had the truth of the one true God. But for too many, this did not really make a total difference in their lives. Many were guilty of the same sins as the riff-raff of the rest of the world.

Paul quotes from the Old Testament, from Ezekiel 36:20-22 … talking about how instead of Israel being a great witness for the one true God, they were an embarrassment due to His necessary, repeated judgments upon them because of their rampant sinfulness…

And wherever they went among the nations they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, ‘These are the Lord’s people, and yet they had to leave his land.’  I had concern for my holy name, which the people of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone.

“Therefore say to the Israelites, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone.

And it is not just that these self-righteous Jews saw themselves as OK simply because of who they were, it was also because of certain rituals they observed – circumcision particularly.

Paul’s admonition is that a real “Jew” (in the sense of one rightly connected to God) is one who is so because of a heart obedience and trust in God. Such a person understands that the real game is not about outscoring most people in terms of identification and deeds, but rather one who understands that they cannot score points at all without divine help – that assistance to be identified ultimately in this letter as coming from Christ’s righteousness.

In our midst as a congregation that includes all those even on the fringes of church fellowship, we probably don’t have any who fit this categorization of self-righteous Jewishness. But I realize that we do have those who wrongly think they are really pretty much OK with God, believing this as they see themselves outscoring most folks in deeds and general beliefs. I would call these people generic Christians – believing in God and making it a part of life when nothing more interesting or pressing is in the way. Rather, our faith should be the first and most defining truth of everything else. Priorities flow from this foundation of faith in the understanding of one’s totally hopeless condition apart from Christ – both for eternal salvation and the daily walk with God in this temporal world.

So don’t be generic. The view might be great, but the foundation is perilous. Be specific.

2:17 – Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; 18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26 So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.

28 A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

It grinds our souls inwardly when we hear of a terrible injustice that goes unresolved without a solution and the apprehension and punishment of the perpetrator. That is just so wrong!

I remember during the summer after my high school graduation that in my rather sedate small town environment there was a terrible murder. A woman was shopping at the local mall, driving a camper and getting groceries for a family vacation with her husband and three children. When she returned to her camper, there were reportedly two men inside. They drove it a short distance, beating the woman to death and dumping her body on the roadside … ultimately returning the camper to the mall parking lot.

Though several years later an individual was charged with the crime, the evidence was very scant and he was dismissed. To my knowledge now almost 44 years later, this case has never been solved. A reason it remains in my mind is that the woman’s body was discarded at the driveway entrance to the church where I would a decade later begin to serve for 11 years as a pastor.

So, did this murderer(s) get away with the crime? It looks like it. But if we know the larger truth about TRUTH and justice, we know that there will be a day of judgment. And that is the primary idea of our passage today – the certainty of God’s righteous judgment.

This section begins an argument that Paul is having with an imaginary disputer – one who might see himself in a rather positive light. This would be the perspective of the Jewish person in particular during the time of Paul’s writing. Indeed, the Gentile world was filled with horrid things related to idolatry and moral debauchery. The typical Jew at the time could rightly say that he was were very, very far from being as bad as so many people in the ancient world.

The problem of course is that no person possesses any sort of definitive moral high ground. As we’ll see later, this is because no one is perfect (righteous). But it is natural for a person who lives an above average life in terms of morality and human goodness to have some measure of a sense of moral security.

Let me seek to illustrate it this way: Say that you have a much nicer home than your immediate neighbor in every way. You have a mortgage balance of $25,000, whereas the neighbor owes over $400,000 and never makes his payments. Could you justly say to your lender, “My neighbor owes 16 times more than me on his house, so I don’t see any reason why I should be responsible for my smaller debt, and I’m not going to pay it!”  How would that work out?

Yet that is how many people see their standing before God. They know they aren’t entirely perfect, but they think (if they allow themselves to think about it at all) that they are probably OK with God since most people are far worse.

In the third paragraph of the passage today, the imaginary disputants felt good about themselves because they had the Law and sought as best they could to obey it. But Paul says it is more than just hearing the Law that makes a person righteous, it is obeying it fully (which no person could truthfully claim they did in every detail for all of life). And the Gentile, not having the Law, did have the residual element of being created in God’s image – a conscience. And this was therefore a law for them that condemned them for their lack of perfection.

So whether you have the Law of Moses as a guide for life, or have the human conscience, you will be judged in accordance with it. This is a certainty, and you will be found guilty. This is grim, but there is better news ahead; but not until Paul knocks down a few more straw men in the upcoming paragraphs.

2:1 – You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”[a] 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.

12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

As we work our way verse by verse through the book of Romans over a six-week period, let me throw at you a very simple outline – not of my creation, but one that has been used effectively over the years to quickly summarize this Pauline letter. It involves five words that begin with the letter “S” …

Sin 1:18-3:20 – A description of the lost condition of all mankind, regardless of their background or alleged morality.

Salvation 3:21-5:21 – Having proven like a courtroom lawyer that all mankind stands condemned before God, Paul gives the remedy in Christ. This is the truly great stuff in the book of Romans.

Sanctification 6:1-8:39 – Paul talks about the challenges of the new life in Christ, with the ongoing battle of the flesh and the spirit.

Sovereignty 9-11 – Paul answers here the question that would naturally arise about the Chosen People of God, now that Christ has come. And Paul shows that the Jews have a past, a present, and a glorious future.

Service 12-16 – The Christian life is more than fire insurance. Rather, it is about serving God by serving others.

So the book of Romans will talk about how all of that happens and how righteousness in the gospel prevails. And the first item is to make the case that, indeed, all mankind is totally lost and justly in line for God’s judgment. Paul will prove that whoever you are — Jew, Gentile, a really fine person compared to everyone else — you are a condemned sinner in a heap of trouble.

So today we begin with the issue of the sinful condition of mankind. This shouldn’t be hard to do, right?  Everyone knows they’re a sinner. But obviously, since the vast majority of people are not worried about this by being keen to see the issue of their pending sentence of judgment, we have to spend time talking about the underestimated gravity of the sin situation.

Let me bring back at this point a writing I did one year ago on this passage …

Malcom Muggeridge, the British journalist and author, is famous for noting that “sin is the one thing that man tries to deny, but the one doctrine most easily proven.”  Indeed, if you can’t see the problem in the world around you, just look into the mirror.

Before one can be “found,” one must understand that they are “lost.”  Reflecting back to even my high school years and in times of sharing the gospel with people, I recall early on how it surprisingly seemed to me that the majority of people with whom I spoke had no sense of being lost or being in eternal danger.

I am unlikely to go to the doctor and pharmacy to get a prescription for something unless I am convinced that I have a medical condition that needs medicinal treatment.

Martin Luther famously wrote that … “The [manifold corruption of nature] should be emphasized, I say, for the reason that unless the severity of the disease is correctly recognized, the cure is also not known or desired.  The more you minimize sin, the more grace will decline in value.”

So just how bad is the problem of sin?  It’s bad … very bad. Paul writes …

Romans 2:18 – The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Paul says that God’s wrath — his anger at sin — is justly focused upon human sin, godlessness and wickedness. This is because people have suppressed the truth that is plainly evident to them, having been put there for them to clearly see by the creator God.

We are talking here about what we call “general revelation” or “natural revelation.”

John Calvin wrote best in speaking of this. In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, he taught that man was to look at himself, and also to look at the majesty of creation, and to sense that he was a creature in a created world. This should cause him to desire and seek to know the creator. But over time, this truth was lost, the natural condition of sin prevailed, and truth has been set upside-down.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

This is a history of the natural decline of the human condition after the fall of man. Truth was forgotten, foolishness and futility prevailed, and rather than the creature worshipping God, man fashioned his own stupid gods out of the materials of creation.

The remaining verses we look at today contain a statement repeated three times: “God gave them over…”

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

So, what does this mean that God gave them over? Does it mean that he gave up? Well, yes, in a sense. It is a Greek word (paradidomi) that means to give over, to hand over, to allow something — in the sense of giving up the resistance against an action.

So in this context it has the idea of God withdrawing his restraining and protective hand, thus allowing the consequences of sin to have their inevitable and destructive outcome.

That’s cold, that’s hard.

But wait, there’s more …

This is not the only time that “paradidomi” is used of God giving up. It is the verb in this sentence as well, later in Romans (8:32) “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

But wait, there’s more …

It is used of what Christ did … “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

But wait, there’s more …

Again, of what Christ did as a model for us … “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

But wait, there’s more …

Again, of the model of Christ’s sacrifice … “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…”

So aren’t you glad that God didn’t give up on us, but that he gave up for us?  That’s how you can get out of the heap big trouble you are in by being the descendent of Adam!