 The title of our sermon this morning is a slanderous objection. A slanderous objection. Romans chapter 3 verses 1 through 8 with particular focus this morning on verses 5 through 8 as we finish this text today. Welcome back to our in-depth consideration of Paul's epistle to the church at Rome. This is our third sermon now in chapter 3 verses 1 through 8. Each sermon having dealt with one of three anticipated objections that are raised in the text, and raised in essence against the essence of Paul's latest point in the passage, which is this that true religion, true worship, a right relationship with God is not a matter of merely religious ritual or religious observance or religious experience or religious activity, but true religion, true religion is a matter of the heart. It's a matter of the heart. Now many in our day when you say something like that would immediately agree. Well, of course it's a matter of the heart. I always said that it was a matter of heart. I told you so, right? Going to church, reading your Bible, evangelizing, giving, none of that matters. True religion is a matter of the heart. It matters that you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, right? That you love Jesus. What matters is that you love Jesus. And Paul would say, yes, of course that matters. Of course it matters that you love Jesus Christ. And what matters is that you love Jesus Christ from the heart such that going to church, reading your Bible, praying, giving, evangelizing matters more than anything else that you do with your time or with your money or with your resources, right? It is a matter of the heart. And that heart religion produces a love and an affection and a devotion for the Lord Jesus Christ that includes all of those other things. However, Paul here in our text is dealing primarily with the religious formalist, the one who would gladly, happily, pridefully check all of those boxes the one who goes to church every Sunday, the one who reads his Bible every day, the one who's praying, argues with sinners over his knowledge of the scriptures whenever he gets the chance to prove a point. He tithes all manner of mint, anise, and cumin. And yet this religious formalist neglects the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith, straining out gnats and swallowing camels. And the Lord says, these things are things that you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Do you see? The religious formalist believes that he's saved based on all the things that he's done. Some prayer that he prayed to receive Christ. Some religious tradition that he upholds. The Jew believed that it was the blood of Abraham in his veins or the mark of the covenant in his flesh. And Paul says to them, Romans chapter 2 verse 28, he is not a Jew who has won outwardly nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. He is not a Christian who has merely won outwardly nor is his Christianity outward in religious observance. Do you see? But he is a Jew who has won inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit by the work of the spirit, not in his observance of the letter whose praise is not from men but from God. This is a text. Romans chapter 3 verses 1 through 8 is a text for those who have their religion tragically wrong. This is a text for those who have made a devastating and a damning miscalculation about what true religion really is. They're deceived. These are those who have made a tragic miscalculation. They've submitted something else in the place of simple evangelical faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. These are those who have substituted something else in the place of simple evangelical gospel fueled obedience to the word of God. That obedience which is produced as a fruit of their faith in Jesus Christ, that obedience which flows from faith. They've put something else in the place of that. They've replaced that with a counterfeit external ritualistic cold formal religious observance that is ultimately heartless and they've deceived themselves that it's real. They believe that it's true. The manipulative music, the passionate pleas, the hyped Charismania on a Sunday morning may move the emotions, but those things do nothing to transform the heart. Make sure in your worship of God, make sure that it's the theology of the hymns, which is your knowledge of hymn, make sure it's the theology of the hymns that moves you, not merely the C major seventh at the end of the verse that moves you. Paul says that the proof of a truly heartless religion is your sin. That one, that religious formalist ultimately is a lawbreaker. It doesn't matter how zealous you are, it doesn't matter how much you cry, how excited you get, how moved you get at the songs, it doesn't matter that you raise your hands in worship, it doesn't matter that you pray in some unknown gibberish, it doesn't matter what your religious experience is, doesn't matter what your religious ritual is. If you are a breaker of the law, then your profession has become, as Paul would say, unprofession. Your circumcision is as worthless as uncircumcision. By condemning religious formalism in Romans chapter two, Paul then from this formalist draws out objections, draws out objections, and isn't that the way that it normally is? Right? When you challenge someone in their sin, challenge someone with the truth of God's word, they attempt to evade responsibility for their sin, or evade accountability for their sin by raising objections. This is what happens. Nothing new. You say something, you try to be clear, try to be helpful, and then as soon as you say it, your words are twisted. Words are twisted, objections get raised. However, we can't be misled by that either. This is what fallen men do to evade accountability for their sin. This is what lost men do to avoid the truth of God's word with respect to their own sinfulness. And brothers and sisters, what we need to do. Listen, if you're here today, you've never put your faith in trust in Jesus Christ. What you need to do is, from God's word, come to grips with your sin. What are you going to do about your sin? There is no evading judgment, the judgment of God, for your sin. What is needful is that you acknowledge your sin before God and flee to the cross of Jesus Christ for salvation. That's what's needful. But what does the formalist do? The formalist objects. He raises the objection. Objection one, chapter three, verse one. What's the point of the covenant then, Paul? If you're saying I'm not a Jew outwardly, outwardly, and that my place in the covenant has no bearing on my eternal salvation, and my circumcision has no bearing on my place in the covenant, then what advantage is there to the Jew? And what profit is there to circumcision? Paul answers, chapter three, verse two. Well, there's great advantage in every respect. First and foremost among those privileges, the Jews were entrusted with the scriptures. So objection chapter number two, chapter three, verse three. What if some of us were unfaithful with that entrustment? What if some of the Jews were unfaithful to the word of God? Our faithfulness would never cause God to be unfaithful to his word, would it? Even the mere mention, notice with me, even the mere mention of judgment for this religious person in his mind is then to raise an accusation against the very character of God. For Paul to raise the notion that the Jewish formalist would be judged by God for his sin is to somehow undermine or accuse God of not being faithful to his word, do you see? Paul answers that objection in chapter three, verse four. Absolutely not, absolutely not. Even if all men were unfaithful, God would always be faithful to his word. Indeed, let God be true every man a liar. God's faithfulness is not in question with your judgment. God is faithful and his faithfulness is to his promises. His promises include a promise of judgment. Psalm 51.4, our sin is against God, that God may be found righteous in his words and blameless in his judgments. Like many today, there's nothing new under the sun, right? Nothing new under the sun. These objections, these arguments that were raised in the first century are raised in various forms today. The Jewish objector, the Jewish formalist, the religious formalist in our own day, would only conceive of God's faithfulness in terms of his grace or his love or his favor. You go to many people today, if you're out witnessing, their conception of God's faithfulness only includes God's kindness, God's mercy, God's grace, God's love, God's favor. Any question of judgment or any notion of wrath is against the very character of God in their mind, you see? In terms of God pouring out his kindness and his goodness upon them, God is only seen as righteous when he's acting in grace, when he's acting in mercy. Love wins, right? Love wins. Well, God wins. And God is love, but God loves his own glory. God loves his own righteousness. God loves his own justice. God loves his own character. God wins. It's not unlike Luther. Luther, before his conversion, took the righteousness of God to be that righteousness, in Luther's words, whereby God pours out his wrath upon the unrighteous. That's how Luther viewed the righteousness of God. The Jew would have thought that God was unjust to do anything but bless him. Most people today, in reverse, would have thought that God would be unjust to judge them at all. That's not the God of the Bible they would say. That's not the God. God is God of love. God is God of forgiveness. What if some were unfaithful to the word? That doesn't mean that God will be unfaithful in his love. You see the argument today, right? Paul has charged them with unrighteousness. He's charged this Jewish formalist with unrighteousness. And he's reminding them now of God's promise to judge the unrighteous. God promises to judge the wicked, no matter their profession of faith, no matter their religious practice. If you are a breaker of the law, Paul says your circumcision has become uncircumcision. If you are a breaker of the law, then your profession of faith in Jesus Christ is meaningless. Your profession has become unprofession, so to speak. And what is Paul referring to when referring to obedience to the law of God? He's referring to that evangelical obedience that flows from faith. When someone puts their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, then the Spirit of God at work through that faith produces the fruit of evangelical obedience. It's one of the marks of being a genuine Christian. It's antinomian lawlessness to conceive of a Christianity, a faith, so to speak, that produces no works of righteousness and no fruit of obedience to the law of God. James says in chapter 2, that's a dead, lifeless, unliving faith. Do you see? So Paul charges them with unrighteousness, and he's reminding them of God's promise to judge the unrighteous. What sinners need is a heart transformation. What sinners need is a new heart. You are a true Jew, Paul says, if you are a Jew who is one inwardly of the heart, not externally, one who has a circumcised heart. True religion, true worship, that religion, that worship, which flows, is that worship, that religion which flows from a transformed heart. And that transformed heart, a work of God's spirit. It's a matter of the heart, do you see? The Lord said himself, the Lord said, it is the spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. So we come now to our third and final objection in Romans chapter 3, verses 1 through 8. First, I want you to see the objection anticipated. Verse 5, the third and final objection anticipated. Verse 5, but if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, then what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? Paul says, I speak as a man. I want to explain the objection for us and then we want to work through the answer together. Here's the objection, okay? Our Jewish objector is essentially saying this. If our unfaithfulness, now he's picking up on the prior objection and that word faithfulness or unfaithfulness in the prior objection, if our unfaithfulness, if our failure to be faithful to the entrusted word, if our failure to be faithful to the terms of the covenant, if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, in other words, makes more conspicuous the faithfulness of God, if our unrighteousness becomes the context by which God is seen as faithful, that God is always faithful to his word, that God is always faithful to the terms of the covenant, if my unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, then what am I to say? I'm doing God a solid. I'm doing a favor for God. If my unrighteousness is doing good by demonstrating the faithfulness, the righteousness of God, then why am I judged as a sinner? God would be unjust to punish me as a sinner. You see the twisted logic in that? Now that sounds absurd to any thinking Christian, right? That sounds absurd. It's a perverted accusation. When you are in sin, you're insane. You can't think straight. This person's not thinking straight. There is a logical conclusion now to their twisted logic and Paul doesn't even want to say it. Paul doesn't want to go there. Are we actually going to conclude verse five? Are we actually going to conclude that God is unjust for inflicting wrath on sinners? Verse five, God is not unrighteous in judging sinners, is he? I think the NASB has a good translation of that. God is not unrighteous in judging sinners, is he? That's the reasoning, Paul says, of a natural man. I'm speaking as a man, like a lost person, like a natural man, using worldly reason, stinking thinking. I'm speaking with human logic is what Paul is saying there at the end of verse five. And this is the implication of your ridiculous statement. It's not a biblical implication, Paul says. It's not the wisdom of God. It's the thought of a foolish man. That's the objection anticipated. If our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what left is there to say? Is God unjust then who inflicts wrath? Now we see the objection anticipated. Note with me the objection answered in verse six. Paul says in verse six, absolutely not, certainly not. May it never be God forbid. It's incomprehensible to even think such a thing. God unjust or unrighteous in judging sinners? What a stupid thing to say. What a foolish thing to assert. I can't believe he actually went there. That's what Paul is essentially saying. God is the judge of all the earth and will not the judge of all the earth do right. Amen. Psalm 96 verse 10. Say among the nations, the Lord reigns. The world also is firmly established. It shall not be moved. He shall judge the peoples righteously. Verse 13. For he is coming. He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world in righteousness. And the peoples with his truth. God certainly is going to judge the world and God judges in righteousness. God is, the accusation is, is that God would be unjust in his judgments. To judge the Jewish formalist who is merely doing good toward God in his sin. His sin serving to further glorify God in his faithfulness. Well then God would be unjust to judge that religious formalist in his sin. Verse 6. Paul raises the question then, then how will God judge the world? How will God judge the world? If chapter 2 verse 6, chapter 2 verse 6. If the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Who on that day will render to each one according to his day, his deeds. If on that day God was somehow found to be unrighteous in his judgments. Because somehow our sin magnified the righteousness of God. Then what does that say about the character of God? What does that say about God's divine right to judge? God would have no divine right to judge. No, the logical conclusion to your objection Paul says is an absurdity. May it never be. May it never be. Now we think about this objection and it might at first read. At first blush even sound somewhat foolish to us, right? So foolish that some might think why would Paul even mention such a thing, right? That somehow my sin does good for God. In that my sin shows God to be more righteous. And so God has no right to then judge me for my sin. Because I'm glorifying God in my sin. Do you see how foolish, how absurd. But we can't be so foolish to ignore how the same lie is propagated in our day today. There's nothing new under the sun. The same lie packaged up little differently propagated in our own day. If you meant it when you said that prayer. If you meant it when you said that prayer, then where is Jesus right now? Where is he right now? Well, he's in my heart. And God promised that he would be in your heart if you said that prayer, didn't he? Didn't he promise to be in your heart? God never promised that. That if you open the door to your heart that Jesus would come in. A misinterpretation of Revelation 3. God is no liar, is he? Now these are things that I was told. These are things that if you grew up in those churches that your children may have been told. God is no liar, is he? He would be unjust if he didn't keep his promise. So where is Jesus Christ right now? He's in your heart. Don't ever doubt it. Write down the date and if you ever doubt it, go back and look at the date. It's a reductionist version of a religious formalist. God is not the liar, but that one certainly is. He's a damnable liar for twisting the scriptures and using that to assure someone who has no business being assured. It's a religious formalist. Countless numbers of these deceived people fall under regular conviction of their sin. Why? Because they're in their sin. Because they are sinners. They're still in the bonds of their iniquity. And God is going to render to each one according to his deeds. Matthew chapter 13 verse 49. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. What separates the wicked from the just at the end of the age? What separates them? The just said a prayer that the wicked didn't say. Really? One was circumcised, another wasn't. Do you see the difference? The connection? The similarity? One was circumcised, another wasn't. One made a good decision. One made a bad decision. One was in the covenant community by his birth. The other one wasn't. See the absurdity of it, the foolishness of it? That is religious formalism. And it's reduced to its lowest possible denominator and propagated today. Those who propagate that are damned fools. And they are deceiving people, deceiving people by the millions. God will judge each one according to his deeds. The righteous are justified in the sight of God through faith in Jesus Christ. A living faith that produces the fruit of obedience to the word of God. An evangelical obedience that flows from a transformed or circumcised heart. There is no substitution for the gospel. But what deceivers do on a regular basis is substitute. Formalistic notions for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The formalists final objection in verse five, if carried to its logical or rather illogical conclusion, undermines the very character of God and calls into question an indisputable truth. God will judge all the earth and the judge of all the earth will do right. If he cannot judge the Jews for their unrighteousness because they are Jews, then how can he possibly judge the rest of the world for their unrighteousness? If God cannot judge the religious formalists because he said some prayer, then how can he judge the world and their unrighteousness for not saying the prayer? You see the foolish logic of the religious formalists. Somehow put our confidence, our trust in something that we have done, and our confidence is placed in that rather than in the Lord Jesus Christ who saves. Finally I want you to see this objection then applied. The objection applied in verses seven and eight. Now Paul doesn't stop with merely answering this absurd objection in verse six. Paul pushes the logic of their objection to further expose the absurdity of it in verses seven and eight. And he does so by applying their objection. Look at verse seven. Four, Paul connecting to the objection that comes before. Four, if the truth of God has increased. In other words, if his truth, his faithfulness has been magnified through my lie to his glory, then why am I having contributed to his glory also still judged as a sinner? It's the same truth expanded a bit for our understanding. If the truth of God has increased his faithfulness has been magnified through my lie to his glory, then why am I the instrument of his glory? Why am I having contributed to his glory through my sin? How can I possibly still be judged as a sinner? And why not say verse eight another implication? Why not say let us do evil that good may come? These things are absurd, aren't they? We see them as absurd. We see them as utterly foolish. But listen, these things are repackaged and resold, repettled today in another form. It's the same objections just repackaged in our day. In other words, Jewish formalists, if your objection is valid, then not only may every sinner claim an exception from judgment on the same basis that you are, but it may be rightly said, let us do evil that good may come. If what you're saying is true, Jewish objector, then everybody can claim exemption from judgment. God can get away with judging no one, and even more than that, why don't we just sin it up because only good is coming from sin? Now notice with me, beginning in verse seven, the very personal application of this truth, right? The very personal application. Paul went from speaking of Jews and all men, and our unrighteousness, verses one through six, to now emphasizing his lie. Do you see that? And his judgment. In other words, the Jewish formalist raises his objection and claims that for himself. Paul then takes the objection of the Jewish formalist and applies that to his own circumstance. Well, and if my lie brings forth the glory of God, then he can't judge me either. And why don't we just do evil that good may come, right? Paul, if what the Jewish formalist is saying is true, then every sinner could apply that to themselves. Every person may claim the same exemption by applying the same logic of the Jewish objector to themselves. What works for you will certainly work for me, Paul says, but the Jews knew, the Jews knew that God would judge the world. The Jews accepted and rejoiced in the judgment of the Gentiles. The Jewish objector would have been applauding Paul at the end of Romans chapter one, right? When those Gentiles were being judged, but as soon as Paul turns the spotlight on him, the tables are turned, right? Things change. The Jews knew that God would judge the world. That's an undeniable truth. So what doesn't work for me, Jewish formalist, certainly won't fly on the day of judgment for you either. That's essentially the point that Paul's making. The people do this, think this way, whether they realize it or not. They employ for themselves the same objection was witnessing to a man one time in his driveway profess to be a Christian and then told me he was about to divorce his wife. No biblical justification for his divorce and yet was going to go through with it anyway. And so I said, on what basis are you going to go through with an unbiblical divorce because God forgives? You see, it's the same argument repackaged. The same justification simply repackaged. God forgives. He literally said to me, I'm thankful I serve a great savior, a great forgiver. You see the antinomianism of the Jewish formalist in the statement of that man in his driveway, going to, very high-handedly, very presumptuously, sin against God claiming God is going to be faithful to his word to forgive him. It's the same argument. Don't we hear it, brothers and sisters, who serve out of the abortion mill, preaching the gospel on the sidewalk at the abortion mill, someone going into the abortion mill to murder their child. And they claim God's going to forgive me. God will forgive me. God will forgive me. It's the same lie, the same deception repackaged. Do you see? Notice another very personal application of this truth in the text. Notice that Paul moves from the Jewish objectors emphasis on the justice of God, moves from the Jewish objectors emphasis on the righteousness of God or on the judgment of God. In other words, the Jewish objector has God in his sights. And the Jewish objector is, if you will, judging God and God's character. And Paul then shifts the focus of our attention away from foolishly putting ourselves in the position of judging the character of God and wisely puts the emphasis the focus back where it belongs to God judging the character and conduct of man. That's subtle. But look, the emphasis of verse five, the righteousness of God, the justice of God. Verse six, the judgment of God. Two, verse seven, the truth of God is increased through my lie. And from man's judgment upon God to God's judgment upon man. Verse seven, why am I also still judged as a sinner? Puts the emphasis back where it belongs and God's judgment of the sinner. Do you see? Very subtle, but I think very important. In the mind of the formalist, he needs his attention, his focus where it belongs. And that's on God's righteous judgment of sinners, his righteous judgment of him and not upon his judgment of God. In this business of judgment, this is where our focus needs to be. We need to judge ourselves rightly, as Paul says, that we may not be condemned with the world. Incidentally, and thinking about the objection that the Jewish formalist raises, is there one sense in which the objection of the Jewish formalist is true? Yes, there is one sense in which it's true, isn't there? Is there a contrasting correlation between my unrighteousness and the righteousness of Almighty God? There is a contrasting correlation. There is a sense in which the sinfulness of man, we've talked about this before, in which the sinfulness of man is the black backdrop behind which the glory of God shines more brightly. Do you see? In our own sight, shines more brightly. There is some truth to that, isn't there? Does my sin afford a context in which the sinlessness of God shines in greater relief? Yes, yes. Does the fact that every man is a liar serve to magnify, by contrast, the fact that God isn't a liar? Yes. Does even my sin work to reveal the glory of God? Yes, it does. It's amazing, isn't it? Even our sin works to reveal the glory of God. All things in God's creation work out for His glory. Everything to do with God's creation terminates upon the glory of God. God will be glorified in the salvation of sinners and God will be glorified in the condemnation of sinners. Do you see? Either way, it eventuates, it terminates in the glory of God. Well, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Paul deals with the very same objection, doesn't he? And he says there, may it never be, God forbid. Look at Romans 5. Just flip the page. Romans chapter 5 and look at verse 18. Romans chapter 5 verse 18. The same objection gets raised again and Paul's going to deal with it again. Therefore, verse 18, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men resulting in condemnation. Even so, through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, what? Grace abounded much more. So that as sin reigned in death, even so, grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So what do we say then? What should we say then in response to these things? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. Incomprehensible to even think of such a thing. What a stupid thing to say. What a foolish thing to assert. To assert. I can't believe you went there. All right. That's what Paul is saying. He's dealing with the same objection. Do you see? Paul doesn't stop there. Back in Romans 3. Paul doesn't stop there. Paul pushes the personal application of their absurdity even further. Verse 8. Verse 8. And why not then say, as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say, let us do evil that good may come? Why don't we sin it up? If grace abounds, then why don't we sin it up? That grace may abound the more. Let us do evil that good may come. If our sin merely reveals the glory of God, then we're doing something unquestionable. In other words, if your objection is true and according to your logic, God cannot in fact judge the world, then why don't we live it up in sin? If all that sin will only serve to magnify the truthfulness and faithfulness of God, then let us do evil that good may come. It's what you Jewish formalists slanderously say about us anyway. Those are Paul's words, right? It's what you slanderously accuse us of anyway. Isn't that interesting? The Jewish formalist would accuse Paul of antinomianism, would accuse Paul of slanderously teaching that very thing, and yet Paul reveals that that very thing is the logical end of the Jewish formalist absurd perverted thinking, right? Turns it back on his own head. This is the heresy of antinomianism. Antinomianism. One of the accusations of the Jews, the Jewish formalist in particular, against Christians in the early church was antinomianism, that the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone, that gospel encouraged a life of licentiousness, that the gospel of Jesus Christ actually encourages a life of lawlessness and ungodliness. That is the heresy of antinomianism. There are many, many, many, many antinomians in our day who believe that very thing. You can live however you want to live. The gospel of free grace has absolutely no restrictions whatsoever on your conduct, on your life, believing that the forgiveness of all your sin on the basis of nothing else but faith, that would certainly lead men to sin all the more, wouldn't it? That's what the Jewish formalists would say. That's what Catholics have said throughout history, since the Reformation. That kind of salvation, they would say, is a license to sin. In fact, Paul even teaches that the more someone sins, the more glory God gets. You see how the accusation goes, right? Any works-based salvation argues in the same way. If you believe that you have to work something that you must do in order to be right with God, then the same objection is often raised, antinomianism. Paul says of those who slanderously say such things, verse 8, their condemnation is just. Their condemnation is just. When you are judged by God on that day, and those words of yours are taken into account, your judgment will certainly be just, and your judgment will terminate in his glory. You see? Will not the judge of all the earth do right? He absolutely will. If you're preaching the true gospel of grace through faith in Jesus Christ, if you're preaching that it is all of grace, which it is, you're going to expose yourself to the accusation of antinomianism. If you're preaching the true gospel, there is nothing that you can do to save yourself that it is entirely a free gift of God in his grace through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone, then you're exposing yourself, aren't you, to the accusation of antinomianism. If you teach, if you preach what the Bible teaches and preaches, that there is nothing, absolutely nothing that you can do to sustain your own right standing before God, to earn his favor or to earn, to merit somehow his grace, his blessing, then you're exposing yourself to the accusation of antinomianism. Our works don't matter to our salvation, past, present, and future. It is all of grace. And if you begin preaching that, I think the way the Bible clearly speaks about it, you're going to expose yourself, open yourself up to the accusation of antinomianism. If you're preaching the power of the Spirit at work through that faith to produce holiness in the life of a genuine believer, now you're going to open yourself up to the accusation of legalism. If you're preaching what the Bible teaches about genuine saving faith, that genuine saving faith, the Spirit of God through that faith produces evangelical obedience in the life of one who has been truly saved, now you're a legalist. Do you see? The accusations keep coming. The accusations will always come. And frankly, what are the accusations? What do the objections reveal? They reveal the heart of someone who is evading accountability for their sin, who is evading the truth of God's word with respect to their own condition before God, do you see? We're saved by faith alone, but we're not saved by a so-called faith that is alone. We can't apologize for either one of those things. Can't apologize preaching the gospel, preaching a gospel that is entirely by grace, and you can't apologize for preaching obedience to God's people through faith in the power of the Spirit. Don't apologize for either, preach the gospel in all its fullness. Ultimately for Paul, it comes down to this, what are you going to do about your sin? What are you going to do about your sin? Are you going to turn in faith to Jesus Christ? Abandoning your life of sin? Abandoning living life for yourself? And entrusting yourself, heart, soul, mind and strength to him? And be forgiven of your sin? Which is exactly what God promises to do when you turn from your sin and put your faith in him? What are you going to do about your sin? To the Jewish formalist? All of these objections, all of these things, these questions get, have you ever noticed that when you're witnessing? What are you going to do about your sin? I think ancient aliens were at war with the Egyptians when the plagues happened and nexus, what are you going to do about your sin? The gospel is God's free offer of grace and mercy secured by the person and work of Jesus Christ's own Son. And he offers that gift, the gift of his own Son's perfect righteousness. He offers that as a gift to anyone, to anyone who will simply believe upon him. And if you preach that, you're going to open yourself up to the accusation of antinomy. Is that all there is? That's all there is. And you can do that this moment as you hear the gospel preached in your hearing. Give up living life for yourself. It is a free gift. Trust Jesus Christ for it. Trust him for it and you are forgiven of your sin. With this, Paul concludes his case against the Jews. Paul has concluded his case against the sinfulness and wickedness of all mankind. And now Paul concludes his case against the Jews and in particular now the Jewish formalist. Bringing this case against all men to a close at the end of chapter one, the religious formalist, the religious hypocrite, the self-righteous Jew in Paul's day would have applauded, would have applauded. God is righteous. He's going to judge those Gentiles. They deserve hell for their sin. Sitting in judgment of the sinning pagan, the self-righteous hypocrite rejoicing that God is indeed righteous in pouring out his wrath upon the wicked. Then Paul turns his attention on him, the Jewish formalist, the religious formalist, religious hypocrite. He turns his spotlight on him in chapter two, verse one. Therefore, you are inexcusable, oh man, whoever you are who judge. For in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself. Why? Because you who judge practice the same things. What's the question? What are you going to do about your sin? All right, what are you going to do about your sin? We know, verse two, that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, oh man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you'll somehow escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, his forbearance and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But rather, in accordance with your hardness, in accordance with your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds the things that he has done. Eternal life to those who by patient continuance and doing good seek for glory, honor and immortality. I thought salvation was by grace. Evangelical obedience, right? The obedience that is the fruit of faith. This is not a salvation by works. This is a salvation that works. Verse eight, but to those who are self seeking, those who do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness to them, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man who does evil of the Jew first and also of the Greek, God will judge the unrighteous. But verse 10, glory, honor and peace to everyone who works what is good to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for there is no partiality with God. Now having condemned the self righteous hypocrite in chapter two, Paul reveals him then as the Jewish formalist in verse 17. And he begins to direct his case against who make those who make their boast in the law, those who place their confidence in Abraham, those who place their confidence in their place in the covenant, in their circumcision, in the external rituals of their religion. And Paul says to them, you need a new heart placing them in the very same condition as the pagan Gentiles who do not know God. And then Paul draws this conclusion to his case. It's a conclusion that we'll begin to look at next week, chapter three, verse nine. So what then? What then? Are we better than they? Are we Jews better than those Gentiles? Not at all. Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous. No, not one. And Paul closes this case, you see? Case closed. What do you think the verdict is going to be? Well, if that were the end, there'd be no hope. If that were the end, we would all be doomed. Every man, woman and child, a default citizen of hell from their conception, there would be no hope. Strangers of God. Strangers from the covenants of the promise without hope in this world. But there is hope. Why is there hope? It's because of Jesus Christ. That's what the rest of Romans is about, the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapter three, verse 21. But now, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed in provision for this horrific malady that infects us, all of us. God provides the righteousness of his own son. The righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed being witnessed by the law and the prophets. It was in the Old Testament, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who check the right boxes to all and on all who say that prayer and mean it to all and on all who believe, who put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. For there is no difference. There is no difference between Jew and Greek for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by their works. No. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption. It's interesting, not even being justified freely by their faith. Freely by his great faith is not a work. Faith is a gift of God. It is a gift of God through that circumcised heart. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a satisfaction, a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness. Praise God, amen. When you get through all the muddled murky water of religious formalism and accusations of antinomianism and legalism and all the errors and heresy that men throughout the centuries have foistered upon the word of God and upon Christians throughout what it comes down to it. When it comes down to it, it's what are we going to do about our sin? And praise God that he has made provision in the person and work of his son to deal with our sin problem. If you will turn simply believe upon Jesus Christ, abandon living life for yourself, give up the wreck of the life that you've already made for yourself, give yourself up, give all that up, put your faith and trust and trust yourself to Jesus Christ and be forgiven of your sin. Be converted that your sins may be blotted out and then follow Jesus Christ's heart, soul, mind and strength until he takes you home, amen. Pray with me. Father in heaven, we praise you and thank you for the gospel that in the midst of such wickedness and the midst of such unrighteousness and the midst of such foolish, worldly wisdom and the midst of such human, lost, perverted, corrupted, twisted logic in the midst of all the filth and garbage that lost men foist upon your truth in the midst of all that blackness. Your glory shines all the brighter. The gospel of Jesus Christ is like a breath of fresh, pure, clean air, pure, crisp, cool water. And we are grateful to you Lord for the truth of your word that just stands in opposition to all that foolishness of man. Thank you Lord for the gospel. Thank you that you've made provision for our sin. Thank you for the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ who is a propitiation by his blood. And we're grateful Lord for the blessing that our salvation simply isn't about anything that we can do to somehow clean ourselves up. I cannot cause my soul to live. I cannot change my spots or change my skin. Lord, I'm grateful to you that it is all of grace and we rejoice in that Lord because otherwise we'd be lost eternally. Thank you for this salvation, this great salvation to which you've delivered us. Help us Lord to be bold, unashamed proclaimers of this glorious truth, knowing, fully expecting all the foolish accusations that'll be raised against it. But let us Lord help us to be faithful proclaimers of the gospel for the sake of the lost Lord but for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. May he be honored, may he be magnified and glorified in it for your everlasting worship. We pray these things in his name. Amen.