Today on Truth Time.
So before you send this verse here in Romans chapter 3 verse 4, before you send that to someone who made you angry, remember all you're doing is condemning yourself even more so than the one you're seeking to condemn.
In addition to that, you defy the second part of the verse by seeking to justify yourself inwardly rather than focusing on justifying God outwardly in this unbelieving world.
So you have two choices, justifying God or justifying your hypocrisy.
Now there's you a shot of truth with no chaser.
This is Truth Time Radio.
Okay, welcome back.
Last time we were discussing the faith of God and we showed you that it is neither required of God nor even possible, according to scriptures, for God to have to have faith.
Faith always has an object.
What's interesting is those who believe God needs faith rarely, if ever, define what the object of his faith is.
That's telling.
Don't accept half-explained, because I said so, declarations about scripture, and especially concerning God and his nature.
No, the faith of God isn't God's faith.
It's his words, his instructions to man concerning man's faith.
We spoke last time about the oracles of God.
This was information given to man directly from God, which the nation Israel, in particular their priesthood, was entrusted with.
These oracles of God were the source of the faith of God, which was the body of doctrine for Israel.
So listen, when you see the words, "faith of," you need to understand that we're talking about a body of doctrine that requires faith.
It's really that simple, and we'll dive into this deeper very soon.
Our last installment concerning the faith of God stirred up some questions, some really good ones, and we had hoped it would.
Thank you for those.
Our goal was never to do the thinking for anyone.
We want to stir you up so that you'll do your own thinking, your own research, and the best way to turn your brain on is to ask questions and seek answers.
That should always be the first course of action, is to figure these things out on your own.
But if you need help, that's fine.
Reach out, and we'll work through this together.
Okay, guys, Romans chapter 3, verse 4.
Here's one that's used a lot, but mostly as an insult to condemn whomever you may be upset with at the moment.
Romans chapter 3, verse 4, God forbid, yea, let God be true, but every man a liar.
Here's where they stop.
They only use the first part of the verse without including the context in the second part.
It's often used by someone wanting to accuse someone else of being a liar, not really paying close attention and noticing what the verse actually says.
It says, every man a liar, every man a liar.
Some miss that they are included in the every man.
Now, with that in mind, you may recall a verse we used in one of our past studies, Romans chapter 2, verse 1, Therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doest the same things.
Hypocrisy is inexcusable.
Hypocrisy is a false balance, an abomination.
God's Word is so perfect, so pure.
It exposes us when we try to use it with ill intentions.
It exposes our motives, whether they're pure or impure.
It reveals exactly who we are.
On the other hand, it's required that ministries be proven according to Scripture because of this.
1 Corinthians 11:19, Here we read, For there must also be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
Reproof is done in defense of the gospel, not in defense of one's name or reputation.
It isn't to be done in defense of a bruised ego or to boost one's confidence or pride.
Paul says that, Those who compare themselves among themselves are not wise.
2 Corinthians 10:12.
But Romans 3:4 doesn't compare man against man like most people who use it try to do.
No, it compares man to God.
And against the truth of God, every man is a liar.
When we use Romans 3:4 to take a shot at someone, we reveal how unaware we are of our own hypocrisy.
Now back to the verse and look at the second part.
Most ignore this.
God forbid, yea, let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
When Paul says, "as it is written," that's our cue to figure out what he's referring to in order to have a better understanding of where he's coming from.
Remember, he's talking to people who know and have lived under the law and traditions of Israel's fathers.
And do note that the reference to the first part of this verse can be found in Psalms 116, verse 11, quote, I said in my haste, all men are liars.
Here's what Paul's speaking of, the, "as it is written."
And Psalms 51:4, Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
David here speaking to God, and likewise Paul speaking about God, in the second part of Romans 3:4, Paul says, That thou, God, mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
And David says, Thou that mightest be judged when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Why are Paul and David hoping that God will be justified?
Who's going to do that?
Who's going to judge God?
God is just in the justifier.
So how is it that the just and the justifier needs to be justified?
Well, this isn't talking about God justifying himself.
Just as the author and finisher of our faith doesn't need to have faith, neither does the just and the justifier need justification.
But yet Paul and David are hoping that God will be justified in his sayings when he speaks.
What could that possibly mean?
God is the object of our faith, and we are justified by our faith in what and whom God has told us to have faith in.
Clearly, faith is the vehicle for justification.
But despite what some might have you to believe, God doesn't need to have faith in order to be justified.
Justice originates with God.
He doesn't need a vehicle such as faith to accomplish it.
He IS just.
He IS the justifier.
If you are who you are, then you don't need to have faith to become who and what you already are.
Look with me at Exodus chapter 3.
Start here at verse 13, And Moses said unto God, Behold, I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent unto me, and they shall say to me, What is his name? And what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM. And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Verse 15, And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
I AM.
I AM is present tense, no matter when it's spoken.
Past, present, future.
I am is perfectly stated as eternal, without end or beginning, never constrained to the elements of time.
Now, if you want to know what God's name really is, right there it is.
This is my name forever, and is my memorial unto all generations.
God has no need for justification to be granted to him as a man does.
So that isn't what Paul and David are talking about here.
But God does need to be justified before mankind, in order for unbelievers in time past, the Gentile nations, to be drawn to him.
The pagan gods that the Gentile nations worshipped were never seen as just.
These idols were thought to do things randomly, according to their own purposes, that made no sense in reality.
They were never consistent.
Well, they were consistent at being inconsistent.
They would be given offerings, but would not act upon those offerings by showing favor to the one sacrificing.
It was very convenient for people to claim good things, and attribute those good things to the mercy of idols, and bad things to be attributed to their wrath.
But there were never any guarantees.
Just one inconsistency after the other.
So how is God justified before men?
Just one of many perfect examples in Scripture, which happens to be one of my wife's favorites, is found in the story of Elijah.
Elijah versus the prophets of Baal, there in 1 Kings 18.
If the false god Baal were consistent to his worshippers, and sent down fire from the sky, or even spoke audibly, as his prophets were pleading and lamenting for him to do, then the outcome would have been completely different.
But we know that dumb idols and dead gods are not manipulating anyone's circumstances.
They never have been.
They've only been assumed to do such a thing.
So, even though people thought these false gods were making things happen, or keeping things from happening, they never expected them to be consistent.
They knew better.
See, Elijah wasn't doing all this for sport.
Sure, he mocked the prophets, and it's a bit amusing to think about him there laughing, while saying, Your god might be asleep, LOL.
Maybe you ought to yell a little louder and wake him up.
Maybe he's on vacation, or talking to someone else right now.
Maybe he's got something better to do.
No, Elijah was doing it because Israel had fallen to Balaam worship under King Ahab and Jezebel.
Israel had forsaken God.
And in 1 Kings 18:21 we read, And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
Elijah tried to get them to make a decision in whom they would serve.
So, in order to prove to them that God is the only one and true God in the midst of all the false ones,
Elijah created what should have been an impossible situation.
Before he prayed, he soaked down the altar with a dozen barrels of water, and even filled the trench all around it.
And immediately after he prayed, the fire of the Lord fell.
1 Kings 18:38.
And it consumed the burnt sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust, and licked up all the water that was in the trench there.
And when everyone saw what was happening, what was going on, they fell to their faces and cried out, The Lord, he is the God! The Lord, he is the God!
God was justified before these people, and justified in the sayings that he spoke.
Here's one of those sayings, Exodus 34:10, And he said, Behold, I make a covenant, before all the people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation, and all the people among, which thou art shall see the work of the Lord. For it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.
In Luke 7, after Jesus confirmed who John the Baptist was, it says here in verse 29, And all the people that heard him and the Publicans justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.
See, this is how God was justified.
Not by having faith.
Now we know, we know from our previous study on understanding terminology according to Scripture, that the precise definition of justification is to be declared righteous.
We've got to be declared righteous in order to be saved, but why does God need to be declared righteous?
He doesn't need faith, he doesn't need saving, and a declaration of his righteousness is not what makes him righteous.
He is righteous because of who he literally is in essence, in nature.
I AM.
He doesn't need faith or a declaration of his righteousness.
He is righteousness.
He doesn't need to be declared righteousness for his sake, but for the sake of unbelievers.
And that is what this is all about.
Okay, glad you've joined us here today.
We've already spent a lot of time here in this one verse, Romans 3:4, but hopefully correctly understanding the second part will give us a better idea of why the first part is even spoken.
It hasn't been written down for us to unwisely compare ourselves with each other, to give us a way to jab at someone by accusing them of lying.
No, this verse is there so that every man, including me, every man, including you, will measure himself against God and see how that works out for ya.
Mm-hmm.
For all of us, it should be rather humbling.
Doing so clearly demonstrates that God is all truth and righteousness.
God is justified as being such in the eyes of any man who holds himself up to God's standards.
That's how we measure ourselves.
That's how we compare ourselves.
Don't compare yourself to another.
Compare yourself to God.
So before you send this verse here in Romans chapter 3 verse 4, before you send that to someone who made you angry, remember, all you're doing is condemning yourself even more so than the one you're seeking to condemn.
Because not only are you included in the every man who is a liar, you're also putting your hypocrisy on full display.
In addition to that, you defy the second part of the verse by seeking to justify yourself inwardly, rather than focusing on justifying God outwardly in this unbelieving world.
So you have two choices.
Justifying God or justifying your hypocrisy.
Now there's you a shot of truth with no chaser.
We'll pick up in verse 5 next time and go into further detail concerning the righteousness of God.
If you want to read ahead or do your own study, we'll be addressing verses 5 through 20 next time.
And after that, we're going to dive deep into a very detailed study about the faith of Christ.
You don't want to miss this one.
And we plan to spend as much time needed to prove and reprove our understanding of this topic according to Scripture.
Grace and peace.
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