WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.839 Well, I'd like to thank you for your warm welcome and for the privilege of being here. 00:00:08.839 --> 00:00:15.839 It's a real blessing to come and to worship with you and to share God's word together. 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:20.440 Although we are miles and miles away from you in Carlyway, we are so excited by all 00:00:20.440 --> 00:00:25.080 that God has been doing in Edinburgh here and among the other congregations. 00:00:25.080 --> 00:00:28.960 And when we see the work of church planting that's going on and the other activities 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:34.399 that you're involved in, it just thrills us and we are so excited at all that God has 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:35.920 been doing here in recent years. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:41.120 So for me it's a great privilege to be here and we're really, really thankful to God for 00:00:41.120 --> 00:00:42.600 all that he's doing. 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:48.519 So we pray that that would continue among you in the months and years to come. 00:00:48.519 --> 00:00:54.480 Well, we're going to turn back together to Romans chapter 3 and we're going to look at 00:00:54.480 --> 00:00:58.200 the verses, the Derrick read, verses 1 to 8. 00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:01.240 The words are on the screen, I won't read them through again because we're going to 00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:02.960 be going through it bit by bit together. 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:07.879 So we will probably end up reading it all together as we go through. 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:14.320 Romans is an amazing book, but it is one of these books that when you're reading it, 00:01:14.320 --> 00:01:19.960 as you go through it, you think, what exactly is Paul saying and what exactly is going on? 00:01:19.960 --> 00:01:26.240 And I remember for many years, people would say to me, Romans is amazing and I would think, 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:30.640 yeah, it is, and then I would go and read it and I'd be like, I don't really understand 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:33.199 it and I don't really know what's been said. 00:01:33.199 --> 00:01:36.599 And sometimes that can make us feel like there's something wrong with us because you're reading 00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:40.000 it and the language can be so dense. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.959 And Paul is, has this wonderful gift, Paul who wrote this letter, has this wonderful gift 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:48.759 of saying a lot in a few words. 00:01:48.759 --> 00:01:54.679 And that means that as we go through it, it's good to do it slowly because it's pretty much 00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:59.840 impossible just to blast through a passage like this and grasp it at one reading. 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:04.640 So we'll go through it bit by bit and we'll see what Paul is saying. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:07.920 In terms of understanding this passage, we need to remember what the whole of the letter 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:08.920 is about. 00:02:08.920 --> 00:02:15.280 And in many ways, the great theme of Romans is the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:19.879 Paul is explaining how the gospel message works. 00:02:19.879 --> 00:02:23.800 And back in chapter one, there's a couple of verses that really sum up the whole of 00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:24.800 the letter. 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:29.040 Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, but it's the power of God for salvation to 00:02:29.040 --> 00:02:31.200 everyone who believes. 00:02:31.200 --> 00:02:36.760 And that's really the theme that Paul unpacks in the rest of the letter. 00:02:36.760 --> 00:02:40.800 He explains how the gospel works. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:46.280 But as I'm sure you'll have seen over the last few weeks, before Paul explains the good 00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:51.560 news of the gospel, he explains the bad news. 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:58.560 And he goes into a lot of detail expanding on the problem of sin or the fact that we, 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:04.000 as the human race, have turned away from God. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:09.360 And these verses in chapter three that we're looking at today are part of a big section 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:14.240 that runs really all the way from chapter one verse 18 all the way through chapter three 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:15.240 verse 20. 00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:22.439 That's a big, big section where Paul presents this long detailed argument outlining the 00:03:22.439 --> 00:03:24.439 problem of sin. 00:03:24.439 --> 00:03:29.320 He highlights the fact that we humans have rebelled against God, even though we are created 00:03:29.320 --> 00:03:36.719 by God, even though we know that we are His, we have suppressed the truth. 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:39.320 And we've become futile in our thinking. 00:03:39.319 --> 00:03:46.959 We've turned away from the Creator and God as a result has allowed us to go our own way 00:03:46.959 --> 00:03:50.479 and He's given us over to our own desires. 00:03:50.479 --> 00:03:54.840 Paul reminds us in chapter one of the Great Truth that if we keep pushing God away, eventually 00:03:54.840 --> 00:04:00.840 God will say, okay, go your own way and do your own thing. 00:04:00.840 --> 00:04:03.840 And that's what Paul has, Paul's explaining. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:10.759 Now, throughout this whole section, Paul is forcing us to think about our worldview. 00:04:10.759 --> 00:04:16.120 Now, a worldview is just really a gentle conception of the universe around us, but it's a really 00:04:16.120 --> 00:04:21.199 important thing because everybody has got a worldview, even if you don't really think 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:22.199 it through. 00:04:22.199 --> 00:04:28.360 We've all got one, and it all shapes the way we think and the way we live our lives. 00:04:28.360 --> 00:04:29.560 Everybody has a worldview. 00:04:29.560 --> 00:04:36.680 If we are Christians, then it's really, really important that we have a biblical worldview. 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:42.560 And Paul is forcing us to think about what our worldview is in this section. 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:49.319 And in this part of Romans, Paul brings before us a key distinction that lies at the heart 00:04:49.319 --> 00:04:51.480 of a biblical worldview. 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:55.040 And that's what we call the Creator-Creation distinction. 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:59.840 And I'm putting a diagram up here, I should probably warn you, before I became a minister, 00:04:59.840 --> 00:05:06.560 I was an engineer, so I love diagrams and I love pictures and all that kind of stuff. 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:09.280 Please remember, all diagrams are simplifications. 00:05:09.280 --> 00:05:14.240 They don't explain the whole truth, but they do help us to understand a bit more clearly. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:15.240 Certainly they help me. 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:19.360 I suppose I'm better with pictures than I am with words. 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:20.840 Biblical worldview. 00:05:20.839 --> 00:05:25.759 What is Creator? 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:26.759 We are creation. 00:05:26.759 --> 00:05:30.239 And there's a distinction between the two. 00:05:30.239 --> 00:05:36.679 And this diagram is helpful because when you look at that we circle, the whole of created 00:05:36.679 --> 00:05:45.959 reality, the whole of history, the whole of the universe, the whole of matter is in that 00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:48.519 we circle. 00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:55.719 And we must never forget that that's tiny compared to God. 00:05:55.719 --> 00:06:05.000 And if you think about you and me, we're in that we circle and we're just tiny specks, 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:07.839 tiny. 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:12.479 And Paul explains in chapter one that at the heart of humanity's problem is the fact that 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:22.160 we have rejected the Creator and we've started worshiping and serving the creation instead. 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:26.040 So that's the kind of worldview that shapes what Paul is saying. 00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:31.120 He then goes into chapter two and he highlights an incredibly important point at the start 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:38.480 of chapter two, namely that God is judge and we are not. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:40.319 And that's a very obvious statement. 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:43.599 And when you look at that Creator creation distinction, it makes perfect sense. 00:06:43.599 --> 00:06:45.000 Of course God is judge. 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:49.839 He's the Creator and we are made by Him. 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:56.839 And yet we spend a lot of time judging people, don't we? 00:06:56.839 --> 00:07:02.240 And that's a really important thing to recognize because very often we use our worldview to 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:03.240 judge other people. 00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:07.120 Like we said, everybody's got a worldview and we use that worldview to judge others. 00:07:07.120 --> 00:07:13.120 So somebody who's maybe got a worldview that's entirely based on understanding things from 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:17.480 a scientific perspective, what you'd call a naturalistic worldview that does not allow 00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:21.439 for anything beyond what we can see and test and analyze. 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:25.920 Someone with that kind of worldview might judge somebody who cares about art or philosophy 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:29.600 or theology and they might think, well, they're wasting their time thinking about these things. 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:33.840 Somebody with a skeptical worldview might think that anybody who has any sort of belief 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:40.679 has just been stupid and more specifically we can have a kind of mindset towards issues 00:07:40.679 --> 00:07:43.159 that can make us judge other people. 00:07:43.159 --> 00:07:49.439 So somebody who's anti-Brexit might judge all those who said remain. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:56.959 And even in other ways, somebody who supports Hibbs might hate the people who support hearts. 00:07:56.959 --> 00:07:58.199 Why anybody would support Hibbs? 00:07:58.199 --> 00:07:59.199 I don't know anyway. 00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:03.639 Anyway, we'll go down that road. 00:08:03.639 --> 00:08:07.639 But we use our worldview to judge others. 00:08:07.639 --> 00:08:13.879 And most of the time, we think that we are right, don't we? 00:08:13.879 --> 00:08:20.759 But a true biblical worldview is not so concerned about judging other people. 00:08:20.759 --> 00:08:30.719 A biblical worldview is far more concerned with the fact that we are going to be judged. 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:35.960 The biblical worldview is that God is Creator, God is Judge. 00:08:35.960 --> 00:08:39.360 We are the creation, so we will be judged. 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:42.480 But if I ask myself the question, how often do I judge other people? 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:43.960 The answer is very often. 00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:48.200 And then if I ask myself, how often do I think about the fact that I'm going to be judged? 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:51.560 The answer is not often enough. 00:08:51.560 --> 00:08:57.279 And that's when I realized that I'm not very biblical in my thinking and I need to change. 00:08:57.279 --> 00:09:00.799 God is Creator, therefore God is Judge. 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:05.159 Chapter 2 highlights the fact that God's judgment is always fair. 00:09:05.159 --> 00:09:09.799 God is never, ever, ever unfair. 00:09:09.799 --> 00:09:13.159 And God's judgment is always informed. 00:09:13.159 --> 00:09:19.279 He judges even the secret hearts of people. 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:26.959 And the fact that God is Judge can prompt two responses from people, two different responses, 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:32.240 and Paul talks about both of these in the second half of chapter 2 and the first part 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:33.440 of chapter 3. 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:39.480 The first response to the fact that God is Judge is to try and impress God. 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:42.800 That's what the second half of chapter 2 talks about. 00:09:42.800 --> 00:09:48.240 Paul, in these words, was challenging his readers who thought that through their outward 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:54.560 obedience and their outward rituals that they would impress God. 00:09:54.559 --> 00:09:58.519 And that's something that we can think that we can impress God by our church attendance, 00:09:58.519 --> 00:10:03.279 impress God by our heritage, impress God by the stuff that we do. 00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:10.000 Paul says, don't think for one minute that you can impress God. 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:18.439 Because God knows very well that despite your boasting, in reality, you are a lawbreaker 00:10:18.439 --> 00:10:21.039 because everybody is. 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:26.240 I listened to Corey, his sermon on the first part of chapter 2, and he said something brilliant. 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:29.279 He said that God's law is terrifying and beautiful at the same time. 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:33.799 And that's an excellent description because God's law is beautiful, but at the same time 00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:38.799 it's terrifying because it's a standard that we can't meet and it's something that we 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:44.279 should have a holy reverence towards. 00:10:44.279 --> 00:10:49.559 It's a reminder that boasting before God is not really a very wise thing to do. 00:10:49.559 --> 00:10:53.079 And again, that makes perfect sense from the Creator creation distinction. 00:10:53.079 --> 00:11:00.399 Can a tiny speck in that we circle say, hey, hey, hey, look at me? 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:02.559 Of course not. 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:05.879 Makes no sense at all. 00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:09.239 We can't come before God trying to impress him because as Paul says in chapter 2, he 00:11:09.239 --> 00:11:12.519 can see right into the secrets of our hearts. 00:11:12.519 --> 00:11:16.839 Often we can impress other people by concealing our secrets. 00:11:16.840 --> 00:11:21.560 That's something we do quite a lot, we try to hide kind of the mucky stuff in our lives. 00:11:21.560 --> 00:11:24.080 We can't do that with God. 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:27.560 He can see right through it all. 00:11:27.560 --> 00:11:30.960 Boasting before God is a bad idea. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:33.600 It's not something that we can do. 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:37.160 That's one response to the fact that God is judge. 00:11:37.160 --> 00:11:43.200 But there's another response, another option that people turn to when it comes to responding 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:44.759 to God's judgment. 00:11:44.759 --> 00:11:52.480 Some people try to impress God, other people protest against God. 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:56.759 And that's what we have in chapter 3, verses 1 to 8. 00:11:56.759 --> 00:11:59.319 And that's something that people often do. 00:11:59.319 --> 00:12:01.879 People criticize God. 00:12:01.879 --> 00:12:03.200 People accuse God. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:09.240 People even blame God for the fact that things are not the way we want them to be. 00:12:09.240 --> 00:12:11.840 It's something that we see all around us. 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:13.519 It's something that we do ourselves. 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:19.759 So as we come to these verses, which as Derek said are not the easiest verses to go through, 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:22.600 that's really one of the great themes that Paul is touching on. 00:12:22.600 --> 00:12:31.639 The fact that people protest against God with questions and with sometimes almost accusations 00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:35.159 against God or against the way God is doing things. 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:41.720 So let's look at that in a wee bit more detail just for the next 15 or 20 minutes together. 00:12:41.720 --> 00:12:45.759 Here in these verses, we find four common protests against God. 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:47.120 We'll look at them together. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:49.360 So number one is in verses 1 and 2. 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:53.920 This is the protest that says, why didn't God just leave us alone? 00:12:53.920 --> 00:12:56.800 What then, what advantage has the Jew? 00:12:56.800 --> 00:12:58.360 What is the value of circumcision? 00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:03.720 That was the sign that was placed on Jewish people in the Old Testament to identify them 00:13:03.720 --> 00:13:05.240 as God's people. 00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:07.440 What's the advantage of these things? 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:10.440 That's the kind of a protest that people have. 00:13:10.440 --> 00:13:16.080 That's the view that it says, well, when it comes to bad news, ignorance is better than 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:17.920 knowledge. 00:13:17.920 --> 00:13:21.200 And examples today might be the people who come to church and say, well, I don't want 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:22.640 to be told that I'm a sinner. 00:13:22.640 --> 00:13:24.520 I don't want to be told that I've done something wrong. 00:13:24.520 --> 00:13:28.920 What's the point in going to church if they're just going to tell you that there's things 00:13:28.920 --> 00:13:31.480 that are going wrong in your life? 00:13:31.480 --> 00:13:37.520 And that's a hugely appealing protest to the world of today that wants to distract itself 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:42.679 from obligation and responsibility, because all too often we want to bury our heads in 00:13:42.679 --> 00:13:46.319 the sand and pretend that problems aren't there. 00:13:46.319 --> 00:13:53.159 Marshall just said that there are perhaps hundreds of millions of children on the street. 00:13:53.159 --> 00:14:00.120 Now, why on earth is that not the headline on the news tonight and every night until 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:01.679 it's fixed? 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:08.959 We just pretend it's not there because we don't want to be told bad stuff. 00:14:08.959 --> 00:14:10.959 And the same applies to God's law. 00:14:10.959 --> 00:14:12.519 People protest against God. 00:14:12.519 --> 00:14:16.639 And in Paul's day, people who are no doubt saying, well, what's the advantage of being 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:18.399 a Jew? 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:21.559 People might say today, what's the advantage of being a Christian if all it does is highlight 00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:24.279 that there's something wrong with you? 00:14:24.279 --> 00:14:30.639 Paul's response is to say there's much in every way that is the advantage of being a 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:31.639 Jew. 00:14:31.639 --> 00:14:34.480 God's law, knowing God's law has huge benefits. 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:37.399 You can see the words there, much in every way. 00:14:37.399 --> 00:14:38.720 And he gives one example. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:42.519 To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 00:14:42.519 --> 00:14:43.919 And it's like it's just one example. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:47.639 It's the tip of the iceberg of all these blessings. 00:14:47.639 --> 00:14:51.039 Now when you read a we phrase like that, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:54.960 It's the kind of phrase that's easy just to blast through and to not really take in. 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:58.480 But you go back to that diagram, creator creation. 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:06.639 Remember that the Jews were a tiny speck in the we circle, tiny. 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:19.200 And yet the God who is creator of everything has revealed his truth, his commands, his 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:25.960 priorities, his desires in the words of the Old Testament Scriptures. 00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:31.960 And that is an astonishing privilege. 00:15:31.960 --> 00:15:37.400 That tiny speck we're able to say, God has spoken to us. 00:15:37.400 --> 00:15:40.400 No wonder Paul says, much in every way. 00:15:40.400 --> 00:15:45.720 And the protest against God that says we'd be better off not knowing is so desperately 00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:48.519 short-sighted and foolish. 00:15:48.519 --> 00:15:54.160 And if someone was to come in here today and say, man, I don't like this place, this is 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:57.959 saying that I'm a sinner, this is saying that things are wrong, I would just rather 00:15:57.959 --> 00:15:58.959 not know. 00:15:58.959 --> 00:16:04.079 I'd rather go back out and just distract myself with all the fun of the city and life and 00:16:04.079 --> 00:16:07.360 all the things that that can offer me. 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:11.679 If you come in and think like that, then you are trying to pretend that the biggest problem 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:17.799 you will ever face doesn't actually exist. 00:16:17.799 --> 00:16:19.439 Is that a good idea? 00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:24.640 It's a bit like someone saying, what's the point of the NHS if it's just going to tell 00:16:24.640 --> 00:16:26.140 me that I'm sick? 00:16:26.140 --> 00:16:29.560 It's a crazy way to think. 00:16:29.560 --> 00:16:35.400 If we are going to be judged, then God forbid that we ever bury ourselves in ignorance 00:16:35.400 --> 00:16:41.360 and distraction, only to wake up on the day when the Creator judges His creation and find 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:47.560 that we are not ready. 00:16:47.559 --> 00:16:50.559 Verse number two is in verses three and four. 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:54.879 This is the protest that says, why did God let us get into this mess? 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:56.159 What if some were unfaithful? 00:16:56.159 --> 00:17:01.359 Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 00:17:01.359 --> 00:17:05.319 This is the view that basically says, well, if God gave His laws to the Jews, if God 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:10.639 gave the Jews these Old Testament scriptures, surely the fact that they were unfaithful 00:17:10.639 --> 00:17:13.639 is a failure on God's part. 00:17:13.639 --> 00:17:15.799 Surely it's God's fault. 00:17:15.799 --> 00:17:18.960 And today, people protest against God in the same way. 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:22.519 They say, why didn't God stop me from sinning? 00:17:22.519 --> 00:17:25.879 Why doesn't God take away the bad desires that I have? 00:17:25.879 --> 00:17:27.879 Why did God let this happen? 00:17:27.879 --> 00:17:31.759 Why is God doing this to me? 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:40.639 And Paul responds by saying that sin is never, ever, ever something that we can blame God 00:17:40.639 --> 00:17:41.919 for. 00:17:41.919 --> 00:17:43.599 He uses the example of lying. 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:50.919 So supposing everybody in the whole world is a liar, that does not mean for one second 00:17:50.919 --> 00:17:53.519 that God is. 00:17:53.519 --> 00:18:00.519 And the key point is that sin undermines us, not God. 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:06.959 And the reason for that is because sin involves doing the opposite of what God has told us 00:18:06.959 --> 00:18:07.959 to do. 00:18:07.959 --> 00:18:08.959 That's what sin is. 00:18:08.959 --> 00:18:11.919 Disobeying what God has told us to do. 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:16.440 Not fulfilling the instructions that He has given. 00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:20.279 That's why if we sin and find ourselves in a mess and we protest against God and we say 00:18:20.279 --> 00:18:23.279 to God, why didn't you tell me not to do this? 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:26.880 God can respond and say, I did. 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:29.800 I've told you again and again and again not to do this. 00:18:29.800 --> 00:18:31.720 That's what God's law is. 00:18:31.720 --> 00:18:36.519 God's law is not this kind of horrible restriction that's spoiling our lives and stopping us 00:18:36.519 --> 00:18:37.519 from doing things. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:47.920 God's law is a wonderful protection to keep us and guard us against getting into a mess. 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:50.759 Why did God give us His laws? 00:18:50.759 --> 00:18:52.039 Was it to restrict us? 00:18:52.039 --> 00:18:54.839 Was it to confine us? 00:18:54.839 --> 00:18:56.400 Was it to control us? 00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:57.400 No. 00:18:57.400 --> 00:19:02.200 God gave us His laws to be good to us. 00:19:02.200 --> 00:19:03.200 You read Deuteronomy 6. 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:04.920 It'll tell you that. 00:19:04.920 --> 00:19:08.880 God gave us these commands for our good. 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:11.320 That's why the God's law is a wonderful thing. 00:19:11.320 --> 00:19:16.960 When we sin, we are doing the very opposite of what God has told us to do and we're doing 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:19.640 the very things that He has warned us against. 00:19:19.640 --> 00:19:21.039 That's why sin is rebellion. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:22.400 It's not doing God's will. 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:24.840 It's opposing God's will. 00:19:24.840 --> 00:19:29.720 Therefore if God judges us, He's perfectly justified, as Paul says, that you might be 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:34.680 justified in your words and prevailed when you judge. 00:19:34.680 --> 00:19:44.560 If God has said to us, don't do it, and then we do it, who's to blame? 00:19:44.560 --> 00:19:51.160 And I look at my own life and I look at everything that I regret in my life and for every one 00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:58.799 of these things, God has said to me, don't do it. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:06.079 Verse number three is in verses five to six, this is the protest that says, where's God's 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:07.799 justice? 00:20:07.799 --> 00:20:11.200 This is a favorite one of many people. 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:15.119 Paul writes, if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:18.559 we say that God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? 00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:22.079 I speak in a human way, Paul says that I speak in a human way to say that this is kind of 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:23.319 a human protest. 00:20:23.319 --> 00:20:25.919 This is the way we think. 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:31.279 He's almost, well, I'm assuming that he's almost ashamed to be writing it when he says 00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:34.800 that because it's just such a human way to think. 00:20:34.800 --> 00:20:38.400 It's a protest that says, where's God's justice? 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:39.960 It follows on what Paul has just said. 00:20:39.960 --> 00:20:45.320 He said, okay, if our sin shows us the fact that God was right all along, where's God's 00:20:45.320 --> 00:20:48.920 justice in terms of the mess that we find ourselves in? 00:20:48.920 --> 00:20:53.160 And as I said, it's a very common, very popular protest against God today. 00:20:53.160 --> 00:20:58.440 People find themselves in a mess, and often in situations, people are both victim and 00:20:58.440 --> 00:20:59.440 villain. 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:00.920 That's a very important thing to remember. 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:06.759 So people do things that are wrong, but at the same time, they get hurt in the process, 00:21:06.759 --> 00:21:09.000 and likewise, they hurt other people. 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:10.560 They respond by hurting others. 00:21:10.560 --> 00:21:12.759 The whole thing becomes a horrible mess. 00:21:12.759 --> 00:21:13.960 It can happen in families. 00:21:13.960 --> 00:21:17.920 It can happen at work, and it can even happen in churches. 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:24.240 And in the midst of these situations where sin has just wrecked friendships and relationships 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:32.120 and congregations and caused deep scars in people's lives, people will say, where's God's 00:21:32.120 --> 00:21:34.960 justice? 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:40.200 When sin causes chaos, people protest against God. 00:21:40.200 --> 00:21:45.560 They say, where is God's justice in all of this? 00:21:45.559 --> 00:21:52.720 Okay, those of you who will have studied chapter one, I hope you can see that there's something 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:55.079 very, very wrong with that protest. 00:21:55.079 --> 00:21:57.159 Can you see what it is? 00:21:57.159 --> 00:22:03.039 Well, if you go back to chapter one, just in your minds, there it says that Paul's wrath 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:07.559 is revealed against unrighteousness. 00:22:07.559 --> 00:22:12.039 And so when God sees the muck of sin in life, so it's almost like he's looking at the world, 00:22:12.039 --> 00:22:20.000 he sees the mess, and that provokes in God a response, a just response. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:26.920 And his judgment for now is that he gives us over, well, the words, I'll read the words 00:22:26.920 --> 00:22:31.680 out literally, he gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:36.960 In other words, God says, okay, okay, you keep pushing me away, I'll let you go. 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:38.359 I'll let you do your own thing. 00:22:38.359 --> 00:22:45.599 This is, which is a commentary on the world today and has been ever since the words were 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:48.479 written by Paul. 00:22:48.479 --> 00:22:59.399 The key point is this, when you see chaos in your life because of sin, that is not an 00:22:59.399 --> 00:23:03.199 absence of God's justice. 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:09.440 It is a demonstration of God's justice. 00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:12.440 Sin causes chaos. 00:23:12.440 --> 00:23:15.200 Sin is not what God wants. 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:17.799 Sin is totally incompatible with God. 00:23:17.799 --> 00:23:21.840 So if we keep sinning and we keep pushing God away and we keep saying, I don't want your 00:23:21.840 --> 00:23:26.039 law and I don't want your instructions and I'm not going to do what you say, then he 00:23:26.039 --> 00:23:36.000 will let us go our own way and he is totally justified doing that. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:43.240 When sin causes chaos in our lives, that is justice. 00:23:43.240 --> 00:23:53.200 Now, if you don't agree with that, and you might not, but if you don't agree with that, 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:58.360 I would say that you don't have an adequate understanding of sin. 00:23:58.360 --> 00:24:04.480 It's vital that we recognize the immense seriousness of sin. 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:07.680 We think that sin is a plaything. 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:12.120 We think that immorality is something that we can dip into for a bit of pleasure and 00:24:12.120 --> 00:24:14.920 that it's not that bad. 00:24:14.920 --> 00:24:18.480 But sin is not this little error that we can dip into. 00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:20.960 It's not kind of a bit of naughtiness. 00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:23.319 It's not something that we can dip into. 00:24:23.319 --> 00:24:36.039 Sin is a brutal, hideous slave master that wants to capture you and destroy you. 00:24:36.039 --> 00:24:42.799 Sin wants to wreck you and to wreck your relationship with God. 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:50.360 And if we play with sin, if you play with sin in the week ahead, then you are aligning 00:24:50.359 --> 00:24:57.799 yourself with the most destructive and hideous force in all creation. 00:24:57.799 --> 00:24:59.759 Sin is lawless anarchy. 00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:04.559 That's why the world is in that horrible mess and it's not getting any better despite 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:06.639 all our advances. 00:25:06.639 --> 00:25:16.959 And a just response from God, at the very least, is to leave us to ourselves. 00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:20.920 And of course, ultimately, and Paul talks about this in chapter 2, ultimately, sin 00:25:20.920 --> 00:25:26.720 provokes eternal separation from God. 00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:34.960 That's why we should never come before God and say, show me justice. 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:38.840 Because our sin means that we would justly be condemned. 00:25:38.840 --> 00:25:43.299 We do not go to God demanding justice. 00:25:43.299 --> 00:25:53.960 We go to God and we say, please have mercy. 00:25:53.960 --> 00:25:59.000 People protest against God and say, where is your justice? 00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:05.000 The last protest is in seven and eight. 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:10.960 This is the protest that says, well, if my sin shows up God's goodness, why am I in trouble? 00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:15.380 But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned 00:26:15.380 --> 00:26:16.380 as a sinner? 00:26:16.380 --> 00:26:20.640 Why not do evil that good may come? 00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:24.960 This is the view that really is the very opposite of what Paul was talking about at the end 00:26:24.960 --> 00:26:25.960 of chapter 2. 00:26:25.960 --> 00:26:33.640 End of chapter 2 is really talking about the legalist, the person who thinks that by obeying 00:26:33.640 --> 00:26:37.920 their laws they can earn God's favor and get a relationship with God because of what they 00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:39.240 are doing. 00:26:39.240 --> 00:26:43.640 This is now the opposite of legalism, which is what we call antinomianism. 00:26:43.640 --> 00:26:47.200 So there you have, again, diagrams. 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:51.559 God's law in the middle, one extremist legalism that says you must keep every single thing 00:26:51.559 --> 00:26:54.920 that God is saying if you want any hope of knowing God. 00:26:54.920 --> 00:26:56.319 That's a heresy. 00:26:56.319 --> 00:27:03.519 At the other end of the extreme is another heresy, which says God's law doesn't matter. 00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:05.039 You can do whatever you like. 00:27:05.039 --> 00:27:06.880 You can sin as much as you like. 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:11.760 God will fix it, and the verse there basically sums that up, well, if I lie, then it just 00:27:11.760 --> 00:27:15.800 shows that God is too because I'm just highlighting his glory. 00:27:15.800 --> 00:27:21.560 And I can do evil because good will come of it because God will fix it. 00:27:21.560 --> 00:27:25.080 Paul's talking about the person who's saying, well, my sin is going to show up God's truth 00:27:25.080 --> 00:27:27.800 and God's justice, therefore it's a good thing. 00:27:27.800 --> 00:27:30.720 Why not do evil so good may come? 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:33.360 And people think like that today. 00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:38.719 People think I'm forgiven, so I can really, I can do what I like. 00:27:38.719 --> 00:27:42.240 And I can sin, but it's not that serious. 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:44.719 God's grace and forgiveness will abound. 00:27:44.719 --> 00:27:54.319 And as you come into chapter six and seven, Paul returns to this theme in more detail. 00:27:54.319 --> 00:28:01.159 The key point that Paul makes, again, is actually very, very simple. 00:28:01.160 --> 00:28:08.960 He says, if we sin, all we do is justify our condemnation. 00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:13.800 Their condemnation is just. 00:28:13.800 --> 00:28:17.840 When sin manifests itself in our lives, it's not a sign that things are good, it's a sign 00:28:17.840 --> 00:28:20.240 that there's still a lot wrong with us. 00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:22.440 Sin is never something we should be glad about. 00:28:22.440 --> 00:28:26.360 It is something that should make us mourn. 00:28:26.359 --> 00:28:31.919 For long before we ever try to make out that our sin highlights God's goodness, we should 00:28:31.919 --> 00:28:45.159 be far, far, far more concerned about the fact that sin confirms our personal guilt. 00:28:45.159 --> 00:28:51.639 So there's four protests that people rail against God. 00:28:51.639 --> 00:28:54.039 And Paul throws them all out. 00:28:54.039 --> 00:28:57.039 None of them have a foundation, none of them stand up. 00:28:57.039 --> 00:28:58.879 We can't claim ignorance. 00:28:58.879 --> 00:29:00.839 We can't blame God. 00:29:00.839 --> 00:29:02.740 We can't demand justice. 00:29:02.740 --> 00:29:05.480 And we can't play down the seriousness of sin. 00:29:05.480 --> 00:29:10.319 We cannot protest against God. 00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:12.000 And go back to your diagram. 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:16.799 That makes perfect sense, because every one of these protests is an attempt whereby a 00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:21.879 tiny speck in that we circle is saying to the Creator, hi, hi, hi, you should do what 00:29:21.880 --> 00:29:24.680 I say. 00:29:24.680 --> 00:29:31.520 A tiny speck is trying to manipulate the Creator of the universe. 00:29:31.520 --> 00:29:37.080 And I can imagine Paul coming to the person who's doing that and saying to them, are you 00:29:37.080 --> 00:29:38.080 crazy? 00:29:38.080 --> 00:29:41.880 Because we can't do it. 00:29:41.880 --> 00:29:43.680 God is Creator. 00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:45.320 God is judge. 00:29:45.319 --> 00:29:52.519 And we've got to be very, very, very careful if we think that we can shake our fist against 00:29:52.519 --> 00:29:56.200 God and protest. 00:29:56.200 --> 00:29:59.319 And I have to ask myself, am I protesting against God? 00:29:59.319 --> 00:30:04.559 When things go wrong in my life, do I get angry with Him? 00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:09.000 When things aren't how I want them to be, do I blame Him? 00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:15.200 When I look at the state of the world, when I look at Syria, do I criticize Him? 00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:18.640 Do I criticize God? 00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:26.039 When all the time, I should be looking at myself. 00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:27.840 We should not protest against God. 00:30:27.840 --> 00:30:32.200 I wanted to say very briefly that that doesn't mean that we can't ask God questions. 00:30:32.200 --> 00:30:37.360 The book of Psalms is full of wonderful examples of asking God questions. 00:30:37.360 --> 00:30:42.640 We can ask God questions, and that's a good thing to do, but we should never cross the 00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:46.400 line into protesting against God. 00:30:46.400 --> 00:30:50.560 So that raises the last question that really, I hope, brings it all together. 00:30:50.560 --> 00:30:59.480 What should we do when we see all the chaos in the world around us caused by sin? 00:30:59.480 --> 00:31:07.240 What should we do when sin mucks things up in our own lives? 00:31:07.240 --> 00:31:12.480 Is the answer that we should just make sure that we toe the line and never get on the 00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:15.200 wrong side of God? 00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:16.920 Is that what the Bible says? 00:31:16.920 --> 00:31:18.240 That God is created. 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:21.559 He can do whatever He likes, so don't you dare question Him. 00:31:21.559 --> 00:31:25.880 And if you want to be on His good side, then you better make sure that you do what He says. 00:31:25.880 --> 00:31:28.319 Is that what the Bible is saying? 00:31:28.319 --> 00:31:30.240 No. 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:32.519 That is not what the Bible says. 00:31:32.519 --> 00:31:40.759 In fact, that view that God can just do whatever He likes and that you must toe the line is 00:31:40.759 --> 00:31:45.400 actually a lot closer really to how Islam would portray God. 00:31:45.400 --> 00:31:52.039 And that's something that Muslims take very, very, very seriously, but it's not the biblical 00:31:52.039 --> 00:31:55.079 teaching about God. 00:31:55.079 --> 00:31:56.079 So what does the Bible say? 00:31:56.079 --> 00:31:57.200 What should we do? 00:31:57.200 --> 00:32:04.160 Well, the Bible teaches us that God is created, that has to be at the core of our worldview. 00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:09.360 The Bible teaches us that God is holy and righteous, totally incompatible with sin. 00:32:09.360 --> 00:32:10.840 Sin is the very opposite of God. 00:32:10.840 --> 00:32:17.360 Always put God and sin as far away from each other as you can because they are antithetical, 00:32:17.360 --> 00:32:18.559 opposites. 00:32:18.559 --> 00:32:24.000 But the Bible teaches us more about who God is. 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:31.680 The Bible teaches us that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding 00:32:31.680 --> 00:32:34.279 instead fast love. 00:32:34.279 --> 00:32:38.400 So in terms of our worldview, we can look at God and when we look at that diagram, we 00:32:38.400 --> 00:32:41.799 realize that we are absolutely nothing before Him. 00:32:41.799 --> 00:32:43.119 We are tiny. 00:32:43.119 --> 00:32:44.680 We cannot boast. 00:32:44.680 --> 00:32:46.319 We cannot protest. 00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:48.759 We cannot claim anything before Him. 00:32:48.759 --> 00:32:55.000 It does that mean that God looks down on you and he says, fall into line, you pathetic 00:32:55.000 --> 00:33:00.279 little creature, and don't ever cross me again. 00:33:00.279 --> 00:33:02.079 Does God say that? 00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:06.680 No, He does not. 00:33:06.680 --> 00:33:15.559 God looks at tiny specks like you and me and he says, I love you. 00:33:15.559 --> 00:33:30.119 And I want you as my child and I want to be the perfect Father to you for all of eternity. 00:33:30.119 --> 00:33:33.000 And that is why He sent His Son. 00:33:33.000 --> 00:33:38.200 That is why Paul can go on to talk about the wonderful good news of the Gospel in the rest 00:33:38.200 --> 00:33:40.919 of this letter. 00:33:40.920 --> 00:33:48.160 God sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, not to hammer us but to save us, not to condemn 00:33:48.160 --> 00:33:50.519 us but to restore us. 00:33:50.519 --> 00:33:57.000 And the extraordinary truth of the Gospel is that God gave His precious, beloved Son 00:33:57.000 --> 00:34:05.640 to save a world that was vehemently protesting against Him. 00:34:05.640 --> 00:34:09.200 That is why the grace of God is amazing. 00:34:09.199 --> 00:34:13.759 That the tiny specks in that little circle who are shaking their fists against God, God 00:34:13.759 --> 00:34:20.039 says, I'm not giving up on you. 00:34:20.039 --> 00:34:26.079 In fact, I will come and die in your place. 00:34:26.079 --> 00:34:30.559 And that's why when we find ourselves in the midst of a horrible mess that sin causes, 00:34:30.559 --> 00:34:34.839 the answer is never to protest against God. 00:34:34.840 --> 00:34:45.880 The answer is to run to Him, to run into His arms, to find grace and help in time of need. 00:34:45.880 --> 00:34:53.480 So when sin mucks up your life, don't protest against God. 00:34:53.480 --> 00:34:56.320 Run to Him. 00:34:56.320 --> 00:35:01.320 Let's pray. 00:35:01.320 --> 00:35:13.519 God our Father, we thank you for your mercy. 00:35:13.519 --> 00:35:20.480 And we confess that sometimes we blame you, sometimes we criticise you, sometimes we protest 00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:25.280 against you and we think that we know better. 00:35:25.280 --> 00:35:27.320 Please forgive us for being so foolish. 00:35:27.320 --> 00:35:33.960 And oh God, thank you that you are not only the God who rules, not only the God who is 00:35:33.960 --> 00:35:42.920 created, but you are the God of perfect fatherly love, showing such perfect love to tiny wee 00:35:42.920 --> 00:35:50.000 specks like us and transforming us into your own children. 00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:53.440 Oh God, we thank you. 00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:59.559 And we pray that you'd have mercy on the world around us that is protesting against you. 00:35:59.559 --> 00:36:05.039 Please just open our eyes and throw us back to you. 00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:09.840 Thank you for everything that you are and everything that you've done for us. 00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:25.840 Amen.