 The title of our sermon this morning is Great Privilege, Great Responsibility. Romans chapter three, verses one through eight. We're back in our study of Romans verse by verse through this letter of Paul to the church at Rome. It would be remiss of me also if I didn't remember this morning to thank all those who helped yesterday with the women's conference. What a great event that was. Really, really a blessing. I heard a lot of good feedback and we had so many people who were working laboriously to help with the conference. Just wanna say thank you. We had ladies, husbands, a lot of our men were serving and a lot of our kids too, our young people were serving which is really encouraging to see many hands make like work and that was an all hands on deck affair. So really grateful for the effort put forth to that and I know the ladies were blessed by having Susan here and blessed by having that time together. So thank you for that. Great privilege, great responsibility. Romans chapter three, verses one through eight. In particular this morning we're gonna look at verses one and two and we're gonna take each of Paul's, or each of these objections that Paul deals with in the text and work through them in the next couple of weeks. It is not unusual for us to witness the people door to door on the campus in the parks and it's not unusual for someone to come to this church, sit under the preaching or teaching of God's word and when we're witnessing to them, when they're sitting under the preaching, for them to say, I've never heard this before. Never heard this before. You just heard the testimony from the team that went to Dahabone and many there saying, I've never heard this before. I've never heard it explained this way. Many have grown up going to church every Sunday and they will say, I've never heard this before. Many have owned a Bible as far back as they can remember. They've professed to be a Christian since the time that they could speak and they would say, I've never heard these things before. I've never heard it explained this way to me. I never knew what that word meant. I thought repentance was asking for forgiveness. I can't believe that the sinner's prayer is nowhere in the Bible. I've never heard these things before. A tragic testimony of the despicable state of the professing church today, but a very common occurrence. People are estranged from the Bible. Don't know the word of God. Often when we're witnessing to them or they're sitting under the preaching, they're forced by scripture to acknowledge that they were never really a Christian at all. I've just had this wrong my whole life. I've grown up under bad teaching. I didn't understand the gospel. I've had it wrong. Well, Paul essentially has been challenging the religious formalist in Romans chapter two in essentially the very same way. And the religious formalist, the Jewish formalist in particular would likely say, never heard these things before, Paul. I have no idea what you're talking about. You're out of your mind. I've never heard this before. Never heard such things. Paul would say, do you think that you're going to escape the judgment of God? You were circumcised the eighth day. It's of no consequence. You make your boast in the law. You are a law breaker. You call yourself a Jew. And Paul says, you're not a Jew in the way that matter. In all the ways that matter, you're not a Jew. Verse 28, for he is not a Jew who has won outwardly nor is circumcision, is that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who has won inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart. And the Jewish formalist would respond, I've never heard such things before. Never heard that. Can you imagine the shock on the part of the Jewish formalist listening to the preaching and teaching of Paul from this letter? Paul would say, in fact, the uncircumcised Gentile who has a circumcised heart will sit in judgment of you. You think that the way that you live your life is commendable to God, but the way that you live your life is a cause for which the Gentiles blaspheme God. And you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath. You're not a Jew, Paul would say. Shocking, astonishing statement. You're not a Jew. A true Jew has a changed heart. A true Jew has a circumcised heart. True religion is not a matter of your external, formal, ritualistic, heartless, dead religion. True religion is a matter of the heart. And true religion is not merely a matter of all that external form, formalism. The Jewish formalist would have responded, I have never heard such things before. Confirmed with the truth of God's word, people often respond to that kind of interaction with either humility or hostility or somewhere on the spectrum between those two extremes, humility or hostility. The Jews who were cut to the heart of the preaching of Peter cried out, what must we do to be saved? And the Jews who were cut to the heart of the preaching of Stephen, gnashed at him with their teeth and rushed at him to stone him to death. I was witnessing to a man in an neighborhood over here near the church, calmly taking him through the law. We were walking through the law carefully. He was sober-minded, responding with humility, acknowledging his sin. I finally asked him, are you innocent or are you guilty of breaking God's laws? He and I were standing at the door. Well, all of a sudden at that question there was a rush from the right-hand side and it was like a whirlwind of fury and aquanet coming at the front door. And it was his wife who'd been listening to the conversation the whole time from the table next to the door. And her response to me was, you're making it sound like we're not saved. And as she turned the corner, she recognized who I was and she knows me and her tone immediately changed. Well, hey, Mark, how are you? But angry, one responding with humility and one responding with hostility, with hostility. The truth of God gives the sinner no quarter. The truth of God's word gives the sinner no quarter. And sometimes the convicted sinner responds like a cornered animal. There's nowhere you can hide. The Lord says, all the churches shall know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts and I will give to each one of you according to your works. All things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. It's interesting how people respond to the truth of God. How will you respond? How will you respond? How have you responded? Do you respond with humility? Do you respond by acknowledging your sin? Do you respond by acknowledging the truth of God's word? When you first came to the truth and you thought to yourself, I've never heard such things before. How did you respond? Did you respond in faith, in trust, in humility, acknowledging your sin, acknowledging the preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ? Or did you respond with hostility? The wrath of man does not bring about the righteousness of God. Be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. The Jewish or religious formalist in Romans chapter three responds here with hostility. He is offended and objecting. He is offended and objecting. Paul anticipates what many of his Jewish countrymen would say in response to the case that he is built in Romans chapter two with respect to the Jewish formalist. Paul is building a case in Romans chapter one into chapter two into chapter three against all mankind for their sin. He is inditing, a scathing indictment against mankind for his sin and now particularly turns his attention to the Jewish formalist, the religious formalist in our own day and he's been building an airtight case against the formalist, the one who has put his trust, put all of his confidence in the forms and rituals of external religion when he is, when it's not coming from the heart. And so Paul's been building a case against the formalist and the formalist now responds Romans chapter three verses one through eight with offense, responds with objection. Paul anticipates these objections on the part of his Jewish countrymen. He raises their objections for them and then Paul is going to answer those objections. This is how many a Jewish formalist would have responded to Paul's case against them. Now Paul's case is airtight. Paul is an excellent prosecuting attorney. Paul's case is inarguable and so you'll notice from verses one through eight that the Jewish formalist doesn't argue any of Paul's points on the merits of his case. So rather than face the reality of their sin against God, rather than face the truth of Paul's case against them, rather than face the impending outpouring of God's wrath against them, rather than apply the truth of Paul's case to themselves and deal honestly before God with their guilt, with their sin, avoiding dealing with the guilt and shame of their sin, they evade Paul's case altogether with these objections. They evade the conviction that is brought upon them by the word of God and they do that in this case by arguing technicalities of Paul's case as we'll see. What has the advantage of being a Jew then Paul? Chapter three verse one. Won't their faithlessness prove God to be unfaithful? Verse three. If such good comes from our evil, then how can God be angry? How can God judge me? If my evil brings about God's righteousness? Verse five. Let us do good then. Let us do evil then that good may come. The formalist would say verse eight. Paul, you're being harsh. Those are harsh words Paul. That doesn't sound loving at all. In other words, evading, dealing with the truthfulness of Paul's case, evading, dealing honestly with their guilt and shame, they evade with objections. Happens all the time, doesn't it? It's a common occurrence. Have you been out witnessing for any length of time? You've seen this before. First, this is just and good evidence of the depravity of man that man would continue to make excuses rather than deal with his guilt, even in the face of such an airtight case. Man takes offense in his pride rather than humbling himself in repentance. And this is in Romans chapter three verses one through eight, little more than evasive maneuvering, arguing technicalities without dealing with the guilt of his sin. A last ditch, highly evolved defense mechanism divide, designed to avoid conviction over sin. They suppress the truth and unrighteousness. And that's where the Jewish formalist finds himself on equal grounds with the Gentile pagan in chapter one, suppressing the truth of God in his unrighteousness. Secondly, it proves that logic or reason cannot ultimately change the heart or mind of man. As airtight as Paul's case is, as well structured, masterful, brilliant as Paul's case is, it cannot change ultimately the heart or mind of the Jewish formalist. That takes a work of God's spirit, a work of God's spirit. This Jewish formalist is steeled in his stiff necked intransigence. And no matter how airtight or inarguable Paul's case is, it ultimately doesn't depend upon Paul's persuasiveness. It takes a work of the spirit through the means of the truth to circumcise the heart. This text speaks, if you will, to the necessity of grace, the necessity of grace. In all of this, as Paul builds his case against man for his sin, and in particular now the religious formalist, Paul is pointing them in their guilt, in their shame, in conviction over sin, Paul is pointing them to the grace of God that is revealed in Jesus Christ. We're gonna get to a wondrous exposition of the gospel very soon. So in this first section of chapter three verses one through eight, Paul is the prosecuting attorney. He's going to deal effectively now with our imaginary objector. He will then close his case against all mankind in a scathing indictment found in verses nine through 20. And that's followed at last by one of the most glorious expositions of the gospel in all of scripture beginning in verse 21. As we begin our text this morning in chapter three verses one through eight, consider with me first the objection anticipated. Secondly, the objection answered. An objection anticipated and the objection answered. We're gonna handle each objection in the text one at a time and we'll look at how Paul answers each one. First, the objection anticipated. Verse one, what advantage then Paul has the Jew? Or what is the profit of circumcision? In other words, Paul you've made your point. You're saying I'm not a Jew if my Jewishness is merely outward in the flesh. So what you're saying Paul is it doesn't matter that I'm descended from Abraham. It doesn't matter that I bear the sign and seal of the covenant in my flesh. Then what's the point of it all Paul? What's the point then? What advantage then has the Jew? What's the profit of circumcision? What's the point of having a physical ethnic people at all? Why would I care about being physically marked with the sign of the covenant? In other words, what you're saying Paul is I'm no better off than the Gentile. I'm no better off than the pagan. You can hear, can't you, in his tone, his indignation, his hostility, his fabricated offense, this wall that he's erecting. It's the product of a carefully constructed defense mechanism, this offense that he presumes. Offended, he assumes an extreme position. Then Paul it's all for nothing. If I understand you, if I understand what you're saying that I'm not a Jew because I'm only one outwardly, then all of it is for nothing and he willfully evades Paul's point. What was Paul's point? That the Jewish formalists cannot be saved by those external rituals. He evades that point by raising the objection. To the Jewish formalist, his Jewish heritage was everything. Exceedingly advantageous to be a Jew. His circumcision was of incalculable value. And this is the first that he's ever heard of something like this. Now notice second, the objection answered. We have the objection anticipated. Notice the objection answered. Notice how Paul masterfully diffuses his offense in verse two with much in every way. The Jewish formalist might have expected Paul to say it's not profitable at all. He expected Paul to say that none of it was profitable at all and Paul doesn't answer in that way. He says in verse two, much in every way. What advantage then has the Jew? What is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way. Paul's point in his case against the Jewish formalist in chapter two was not that the Jew had absolutely no advantage over the Gentile. His point was that the advantages of the Jew were not sufficient to save him. Any more than the lack of those advantages benefited somehow the Gentile. It's far different than saying there's no advantage at all. In fact, there is in fact, Paul says great advantage to being a Jew. There is in fact, great profit in circumcision. Paul says much in every way. It's just not in the way that the Jewish formalist had thought that there would be, right? Not in the way that the Jewish formalist had assumed. Here in chapter three, the Jewish formalist has been grossly presumptuous. He believed that his place in the covenant, which was signed and sealed to him by virtue of his circumcision, obligated God to save him. I've done the right things. I've checked the right boxes. God is obligated to save me if God is going to be faithful to his covenant with Abraham. He believed, the Jewish formalist believed that all of his spiritual blessings, all of those blessings afforded him by being a participant in the covenant, guaranteed him a place in heaven. And Spurgeon said this of these formalists, listen. They think that they shall not fall because of their privileges. They say, I take the sacrament. I've been baptized in an orthodox manner as written in God's word. I attend such and such a ministry. I'm well fed. I am fat and flourishing in the courts of my God. Now he means that spiritually, right? If I were one of those starved creatures who hear a false gospel, possibly I might sin. But oh, our minister is the model of perfection. We are constantly fed. We're made fat. Surely we shall stand. Thus, Spurgeon says, in the complacency of their privileges, they run down others, exclaiming, my mountain standard firm, I shall never be moved. That's the argument of the formalists, do you see? Take heed, presumption, take heed. Pride cometh before a fall and a haughty spirit is the usher of destruction. In the complacency of their privileges, many rest in the complacency of their privileges. Many put their confidence in their privileges. They are complacent in their privileges. In the complacency of their privileges, they grow cold and indifferent, even calloused toward their sin, do you see? In the complacency of their privileges, they grow apathetic toward the things of God. In the complacency of their privileges, they simply expect that God will save them for all the things that they have done. Lord, Lord. In the complacency of their privileges, they coast along a broad road to destruction. He is not a Christian. Listen, he is not a Christian who has won outwardly. Nor is being a Christian that which is outward in the flesh, outward in church attendance, or outward in morality, outward in the external forms of religious ritual. But he is a Christian who has won inwardly. And true religion is that which comes from the heart. Do you see the connection? What advantage is there then in giving up my Sunday to go to church, someone might ask? What advantage is there to spend all that money in the church, all that I've given? What advantage is there in giving up all that sin, all that fun? What is Paul's answer to the objection of the dead, heartless, formalist? Paul's answer is much in every way, much in every way. What advantage then has the Jew verse one? What is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way. Dr. Murray said that Paul will not allow any depreciatory reflection to be cast upon the divine institution. Not for a moment can there be allowed to be any derogatory reflection much in every way, much in every way. There is great advantage in every respect. In one example, chief among the many, one example will more than suffice, Paul says, to make my point abundantly clear, verse two, chiefly because to them the Jews were committed the oracles of God. There's actually a little word there after the word chiefly that often goes untranslated in the English translations. And it's a word that means surely or be sure. Paul's saying chiefly, be sure of it, be sure of it because to them the Jews were committed the oracles of God. The foremost advantage of the Jew, chief among the profitable benefits of his circumcision and his participation in the covenant with God was his possession of the living word of God, was his possession of the scriptures. The Jews have been given many tremendous blessings, many tremendous blessings. Turn to Romans chapter nine with me, Romans chapter nine. The Jews have been given many tremendous blessings and Paul isn't here going to expand upon all the blessings being afforded the Jews. He'll do that at a later time. He merely intends to mention that which was chief among the blessings, chiefly that to them were committed the oracles of God, special revelation. Look at Romans chapter nine, verse one. Paul says in verse one, I tell you the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh who are Israelites to whom pertain, listen to this list of blessings. To whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God and the promises of whom are the fathers and from whom according to the flesh Christ came who is overall the eternally blessed God, amen. They have many blessings that were given to them. What advantage is there to being a Jew? What profit has circumcision participation in the covenant much in every way? What Paul says that the primary or the first among all those blessings divine revelation. The words of the living God. You think about it. There is no greater privilege in this world than to have the Bible. No greater privilege in this world than having the revealed word of God. Apart from the word of God, we know nothing of Jesus Christ. Apart from the revealed word of God, we know nothing of God. Other than through general revelation, general revelation is not sufficient to save. Think of all that we know through the scriptures that God has revealed. Creation, the fall, the promised seed of the woman who had crushed the head of the serpent. The promises, the covenants, sin, salvation, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through the scriptures they were given hope. We're given hope. The Gentiles understanding of general revelation was enough to condemn him but he could not be saved apart from special revelation. Could not be saved apart from the Bible. All that God reveals in the scriptures. Think of how different life must have been for the Jew all of those years, those millennia. Think of how different life must have been for the Jew as compared to the pagan Gentiles who did not know God, who are strangers to the covenants of promise, who are without hope in the world. How different life was for the Jew. And exclusively on the basis of having possession of the revealed word of God. It's a tremendous, unspeakable, incalculable privilege. Paul says chiefly that to them were committed the oracles of God. Of all the nations in the world at the time, the Jews alone had been given the scriptures. Listen to Psalm 147, Psalm 147, verse 12. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. Praise your God, O Zion. For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. He has blessed your children within you. He makes peace in your borders, fills you with the finest wheat. He sends out his command to the earth. His word runs very swiftly. He gives snow-like wool. He scatters the frost-like ashes. He casts out his hail-like morsels. Who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word and melts them. He causes his wind to blow and the waters flow. He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and his judgments to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation. And as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise the Lord. What an incalculable privilege to have the revealed word of God, the oracles of the living God. Now notice in verse two, how that revelation, how the scriptures are delivered and how the scriptures are described. First, notice with me how the scriptures are delivered. Paul says in verse two, those oracles of God were committed to them. Notice that Paul didn't say they were merely given. Merely given or merely delivered, they were committed. The word there means entrusted. They were entrusted to them. They were entrusted to the nation as a whole, but certainly individual Jews make up the nation entrusted to every individual Jew as a part of that nation. They were entrusted. Each Jewish person in the nation, the nation as a whole, given the scriptures as a sacred trust by God, as a sacred trust, as a stewardship. Not merely given to the leaders of the church, so to speak, Jude says that we should contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints, plural. Not merely given to the leader or leaders of a church, but given to the saints. They were entrusted with God's special revelation contained in the scriptures. Paul refers to ministers of the gospel as stewards of the mysteries of God. It's the same idea. When the scriptures were delivered, when the scriptures were committed, they were given a stewardship. So the use of that word, they're entrusted rather than merely given. The use of that word implies not only reception, but implies responsibility, right? Doesn't merely imply care, but implies commission. They were entrusted with the Oracles of God. In other words, God not only gave them his revealed word, but he committed to them the execution of his will concerning that word, committed to them the word to their trust to execute his will concerning that word. God never intended that Abraham alone, or that a Jewish ethnic people alone, or the nation of Israel alone would be the object of his love and blessing. But that through Abraham and his seed, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. God intended that all the nations of the earth, there would be a people of his own possession from every tribe, tongue, and nation, all worshiping God, that the glory of God would cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. That was God's intention. Speaking initially of Israel, God says, I, the Lord have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will keep you, and listen, give you as a covenant to the people as a light to the Gentiles, a banner to the nations. Not only was the word of God given to Israel, it was committed to Israel as a sacred trust. In Israel was to be a banner to the nations. And that's how the scriptures were delivered. Notice second with me, how the scriptures are described there by Paul in Romans chapter three, verse two. Paul refers to the scriptures as the oracles of God. It's an interesting word, that word used four times in the New Testament. It's the word logion. And not merely referring to concepts, not merely referring to thoughts, but referring to words or sayings. The word literally refers to words. The word refers here to logion refers to divine revelation, divine utterance. It has the sense of not being static, but being uttered, right? It's the logion of God, the oracles of God. Divine utterance, active. The words are, as Paul would later describe, living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, right? Piercing and discerning, not merely concepts or ideas, not merely thoughts or philosophies that men would write down in their own words, but the very words, the very utterances of the living God. The Jews were in peculiar possession of the revealed, living and powerful utterances of God himself. Do you see? Not just ink on a page. Stephen, in Acts chapter seven, verse 38, refers to them as living oracles, living oracles. The word reveals to us what the apostle Paul thought of his Old Testament. They were living oracles, living utterances of the living God. And since the deceits of the serpent in the garden in Genesis chapter three, that word has come under attack, constant attack, right? The word of God, the inerrancy of God's word, the infallibility of God's word, the verbal plenary inspiration, the words inspired, plenary, all of the verbs, all of the words inspired, inspiration of the word of God, and that inspiration under constant attack. It is the word of God, not the words of men, right? The divine utterances of the living God. Many, even today, self-proclaimed theologians, many today believe it to be nothing more than the words of men. It is the prevalent view today. The prevalent view is that the Bible is nothing more, in some way or form or fashion, nothing more than the words of men, right? Men simply writing and explaining what they believe to be true about God. But the word of men, right? This is what Peter said. Second Peter chapter one, verse 20, knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, of any human source. No prophecy of Scripture is of any human source, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved, carried along by the Holy Spirit. In other words, the thoughts didn't originate in man. The concepts didn't originate in man. The words didn't originate in man. The source of Scripture isn't man, do you see? Others assert that men wrote it down, but that it's been corrupted and polluted by men ever since, that God hasn't preserved his word. Essentially, calling the Bible the oracles of men, not the oracles of God, right? You see, it's the same error. And Paul says that the Bible here is God's living utterances. If it is God's living utterance, then it is authoritative. And you and I do well to heed it, amen? And so does the Jewish formalists, so does the religious formalists in our day. BB Warfield, highly respected theologian, highly commended him to you, wrote a book called The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible. Excellent work, technical work. Chapter eight, a chapter devoted to this phrase from Paul in chapter two, the oracles of God. A chapter devoted to the use of that word, logion, in both extra biblical and biblical sources, extensively deals with that word, and BB Warfield says this. With the New Testament writers, referring to the Scriptures, and specifically referring to the Old Testament Scriptures as the oracles of God, we have unobtrusive and convincing evidence here that the Old Testament Scriptures as such were esteemed by the writers of the New Testament as an oracular book, which in itself not merely contains but is the utterance of the very word of God. That's interesting, not merely contains the word is the word, the utterance, the very word of God. And is to be appealed to as such and as such deferred to because it is nothing other than the crystallized speech of God himself. Amen. In other words, it's not just a dead letter. The word of God is not just a dead letter. It's not just ink on a page. It's not merely black and white. It's not dusty, decaying scrolls, but rather the very breathed out words of the living God. Exceedingly profitable, unimaginably profitable, right? Profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. These are the scriptures, the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make one wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. No other book does that. No other writing does that. These are the words of the living God. Paul here calls them the oracles of God. What advantages there of being a Jew, right? What profit is circumcision and participation in the covenant much in every way? Chiefly, because you, you Jewish formalists, religious formalists in our day, chiefly to you has been committed and trusted the very words of a living God. What a tremendous advantage, an unspeakable advantage. With the use of these words, Paul is emphasizing to us first the great privilege that the Jew had, the great privilege that he had, special revelation, the divine utterances. Paul masterfully then proves that point throughout his letter to the church at Rome with one quotation after another from the Old Testament. In the letter to the church at Rome alone, there's so many Old Testament quotations. We've seen those already, even getting now to chapter three. And that those scriptures bear witness to the gospel and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. A great testimony. Calvin said this. God willed that the Jews should be so instructed by these prophecies of the coming Messiah that they might turn their eyes directly to Jesus Christ in order to seek deliverance. God willed that they would be saved through the gospel. We enjoy Christ, Calvin said, only as we embrace Christ clad in his own promises. And those promises revealed in the Old Testament. With what the gospel points out with the finger in the New Testament, the law foreshadows in types the material foreshadowing the eternal. Think about all that we know of Jesus Christ from the Old Testament. And what a tremendous advantage that you had over the Gentile in being given, committed the oracles of God. Jesus Christ often in the Old Testament, many don't realize this, is spoken of directly. Jesus Christ spoken of directly in the Old Testament scriptures, hundreds, sometimes thousands of years before Jesus Christ came to the earth incarnate. He is the prophet of Deuteronomy, the one who will be raised up like Moses. He is the servant of Isaiah. He is the son of David, the subject of many Psalms, the fulfillment of many Old Testament prophecies. He's the one whom the Old Testament prophets longed to see, looked into his coming. Christ is foreshadowed in the nation of Israel. Christ is foreshadowed in the Passover. Christ foreshadowed in the whole sacrificial system. The sacrificial system doesn't make any sense apart from Jesus Christ. It's not functional apart from Jesus Christ. Christ foreshadowed in the worship of the tabernacle and the worship of the temple. Christ foreshadowed in the return of God's people from exile, return from Babylon. The kingdom of God under David is a foreshadowing of the coming kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, already inaugurated yet to be consummated. The land of Canaan was a mirror, a pledge to Israel of a celestial inheritance. Abraham, it says in Romans chapter four, knew that he was to inherit the world. He is foreshadowed in signs and symbols. He is Jacob's ladder, the only mediator between God and men, right? He alone connects heaven and earth in all of this thousands of years before he came. They should have turned in faith to Jesus Christ. They should have trusted the Lord and the revelation that God had given of himself and the scriptures that they had. They should have turned from their sin and have awaited the coming of the Messiah, the promised one, and they didn't. The Jewish formalist just strengthened his grip on religious ritual, turned the glory of God, manifest in true religion from the heart, turned it into a dead, heartless, ritualistic form and condemned himself in his formalism. You should turn in faith. The evidence, what God has revealed in the scriptures to you and I, you stopped to think about what a blessing it is to have the Bible, the word of God given to us. Let's take an argument from the far lesser to the far greater. If it was an advantage to the Jew to have the Old Testament scriptures, the oracles of God committed to their trust, how much more you and I? What an advantage the scriptures are to us. We have the New Testament. We've been given completed revelation. We see Jesus Christ, all of those Old Testament types and shadows fulfilled on the pages of the New Testament in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The scriptures were meant to be a means of salvation to the Jews. The Jews were then to be a kingdom of priests to the world. They were to carry that light to the nations. All the nations of the earth were to be blessed through believing Abraham. And do Israel's failure to be a light to the nations? Do Israel's failure to receive that light for herself? All that light, all that privilege, all that advantage, all that blessing becomes the tragic ground for greater condemnation. Becomes the fertile ground for future judgment. So then with great privilege comes great responsibility. Do you see? With great privilege comes great responsibility. The oracles of God, that divine revelation, those living utterances was a light that the Gentile world around Israel didn't have. Israel didn't receive it herself. And the Gentiles, Gentile nations around her weren't given it by Israel. What great privilege they had. And that privilege comes with great responsibility. In an argument from the lesser to the greater, think with me about our advantages today, our advantages today. Those before us went to their deaths that we might have the scriptures in our own language. We spoke this morning briefly about William Tyndale during the Sunday school class who died for the grave crime of translating the Bible into English. So the Bible, many of you have in your lap, it's not the heavenly language Spanish, it's English. You have because of brothers and sisters who went before us who died to allow us that opportunity, to allow us that advantage, that blessing, died. And many of us coast on flowery beds of ease while others went to Christ on bloody seas. What great privilege we've been given. What a great time in which we live. In a moment, you can go to any number of translations of the Bible. What advantage is there of attending a church like this? What advantage is there of having the word of God in our language? What advantage is there of having the peace that we have to worship God as we want to worship him, to be able to worship freely? What advantage is there? Chiefly, be sure it's of great advantage because to you have been committed and trusted the oracles of the living God. Who on the planet has ever had the privileges from the Lord that we have at this point in time? Who on the planet in history has ever had the kinds of blessings, the kinds of advantages that the Lord has afforded us? And let me ask you the question, to what end have we received them? Have they been merely given or have they been committed? Have they been merely delivered or have they been entrusted? What is our responsibility? What is our responsibility? Israel was to be a light to the nations under the old covenant, under the new covenant. We're to be a light to the nations. So the preaching of the gospel, our responsibility with the word of God is the great commission. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you and lo, the Lord of the church says I'm with you even to the end of the age. We have a great commission. Our responsibility, having been given the very oracles of God, having them committed to our trust, is to make disciples. We're to preach the gospel. Are we being faithful in that commission? I want to commend to you the work of our church in church planting, the work of our church in evangelism, the work of discipleship that goes on around here, brothers and sisters who take that work very seriously. Let's be faithful to the Lord. Let's be faithful to the Lord. This is a light that the nations around us do not have. They've shut off the light, many of them. Some of them don't have a Bible in their own language. Others merely ignore it and turn a blind eye to it, trying to block out the sun with their thumb. And we have a great commission that's been giving to us. Romans chapter three, verse one. What advantage then has the Jew? What is the profit of circumcision? What advantage has the Christian today? What's the profit of being in the covenant much in every way, chiefly because to them, through the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, been committed to us the very oracles of living God. Let's go there for and make disciples for him, right? May the Lord Jesus Christ receive the full reward of his sufferings. Pray with me. Father in heaven, we love you. We praise you, we worship you. We thank you for the great blessing, the great privilege of having the word of the living God in our hands, at our fingertips, taught to us. The ability to read it, to learn it, to study it, to meditate on it, to pray over it, to understand it or thank you for this unspeakable blessing. We know, Lord, that your word has been committed to us and trusted to us. I pray that you would find us faithful in the commission that you've given us. I pray first and foremost, Lord, that anyone here, everyone here would receive it, Lord. Would themselves turn from sin to put faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, would turn from sin to follow him. And Lord, then, that we would, by faith in Christ, and the power of the Spirit, preach the gospel to the nations for his name. May he be magnified, may he be glorified in it, may he, Lord, gather together all of his elect from the four corners of the earth. We look forward to that day, Lord, where we will worship you in eternity, unfettered by sin, with our elder brother in our midst, praising you forever. Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of the scriptures. Thank you, Lord, for a church like this where we can hear the Bible taught and hear it clearly and faithfully when so many others have lacked this light. I pray, Lord, we'd be faithful with it for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen.