Today on Truth Time.
We have Paul telling us that not only does he glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also that he is forbidden, forbidden by God to glory for any other reason.
See, Paul didn't play.
He didn't mince words.
He didn't glory in getting his knowledge in.
He didn't glory in using his liberty as an occasion to the flesh.
He didn't glory in marking and avoiding, as we see many do on social media platforms today.
Oh, when they block somebody, they brag about it.
The old social media block and blast tactic.
Paul didn't glory in himself, and we're to mimic him, so don't do it.
He's our pattern.
All narcissists exit left.
This is Truth Time Radio.
Okay, back today with part 10 of our Through the Book of Romans.
We're going verse by verse.
We're here in chapter 3, and we'll begin today.
Let's see, last time we left off in verse 4.
We begin today with verse 5, But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? I speak as a man.
Hmm, what a question.
It's obvious that Paul's using a little absurdity here to make a point.
God could never, under any circumstances, ever be considered to be unrighteous.
Prior to verse 5, we were talking about how God is justified in the sight of men.
David said that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and overcome when thou art judged.
God is judged of men every day, all day.
Saying things like, God isn't fair to let evil people live and good people die.
Or there's the one that goes, if God is so good, then why is there so much evil in the world?
I can't begin to tell you how many times we've heard that one.
Regardless of all the judgmental questions people want to come up with about God, ultimately, it is the unrighteousness of men that clearly demonstrates the righteousness of God.
If not for the righteousness of God, no one would even know what to call evil and what to call good.
Our own unrighteousness reveals his righteousness.
If we don't have a righteous God to compare ourselves with, then we could boast of all our own righteousness by comparing ourselves with each other.
Something Paul, there in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, commands us not to do.
When we compare ourselves with God, there's no question that our righteousness is just filthy rags.
In verse 5 here, Paul directly addresses this fact, that our unrighteousness actually commends the righteousness of God.
Our unrighteousness reveals his righteousness.
So then is it unrighteous of God to take vengeance on those who obey not the truth?
Absolutely not.
Paul says, he is speaking as a man here, which tells us that he's inserting a bit of folly when he asks this absurd question.
Paul is, he's no stranger to absurdity, sarcasm, folly.
He'll do this in order to drive home a point if need be.
Just ask the Corinthians.
But the obvious answer appears in the next verse.
Verse 6, God forbid, for then how shall God judge the world?
God forbid, which by the way means exactly what it says, God forbid.
That's an answer given by Paul multiple times to the absurd questions he asked in this letter here to the Romans.
Not a single time that he says, God forbid, does he really mean to say, don't think like that.
Or, that isn't a good idea.
No, that's not the case.
If God forbids something, then it's forbidden.
It's not our job to soften it up and claim that Paul's just making a suggestion that the Romans shouldn't be thinking like that.
Obviously, they shouldn't think that.
Neither should they say that.
Neither should they behave in that manner.
Neither should they make absurd claims against the nature of a holy God.
Why?
Because it's blasphemous to do such a thing.
If something has been forbidden, that means you don't have permission to access it.
If entry into a building is forbidden, then you can't go in.
You don't have permission.
Someone put out this narrative that because sin is forgiven, it doesn't matter if you do it.
Sin's not being imputed, so, hey, it's okay.
That's incorrect.
We'll find out in a few chapters ahead that God also forbids us to sin just to prove that his grace abounds.
Some actually teach this.
Every time Paul uses the phrase, God forbid, it's in response to the absurd idea regarding God, his nature, or his grace.
Romans 3:3, For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
Verse 4, God forbid.
Verse 5, Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance?
Verse 6, God forbid.
Verse 31, Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid.
Chapter 6, verse 1, Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Verse 2, God forbid.
Verse 15, What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?
God forbid.
Chapter 7, verse 7, asks, Is the law sin? And answers, God forbid.
Verse 13, Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid.
Verse 14, Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Chapter 11, verse 1, Paul asks, Hath God cast away his people? And answers, God forbid.
Chapter 11, verse 11, I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid.
Are we starting to see the clear picture here yet?
Furthermore, furthermore, Paul he continues using the phrase, God forbid, to answer absurd ideologies four more times in other epistles.
1 Corinthians 6:15, Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of an harlot? God forbid.
Galatians 2:17, But if while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
Galatians 3:21, Is the law then against the promise of God? God forbid.
And lastly, we have Paul telling us that not only does he glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also that he is forbidden, forbidden by God to glory for any other reason.
Galatians 6:14, But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
See, Paul didn't play.
He didn't mince words.
He didn't glory in getting his knowledge up.
That experiential fact is outlined in 2 Corinthians, chapter 12.
He didn't glory in using his liberty as an occasion to the flesh.
He didn't glory in marking and avoiding as we see many do on social media platforms today.
Oh, when they block somebody, they brag about it.
That's someone needing some attention.
The old social media block and blast tactic.
Paul didn't glory in himself, and we're to mimic him, so don't do it.
He's our pattern.
All narcissists exit left.
You have no business teaching Paul's epistles or any of the Bible for that matter.
People glory in themselves because their ego requires it.
Just like this TikTok legend in his own mind several listeners have sent us clips of.
He sits there all braggadocious, claiming that he has more knowledge than all mid-acts teachers put together.
And he went on to say that he has more knowledge than any preacher this side of the Mississippi.
This guy's got that little man syndrome.
That's what he has.
Some need that ego stroked.
And they'll do just about anything to get it.
And bullies are often like that.
And hey, we've got many bullies hiding behind a Bible.
They glory in themselves to build themselves up and make you look less than them.
The truth is, bullies are those with confidence issues.
Yes, they are.
But Jesus didn't come to earth, die an excruciating death on the cross, just to fix your self-confidence issues.
He didn't do that so you could mentally lord over others.
We should have a desire to not have dominion over anyone's faith.
No, we're to be helpers of their joy.
That's our job as ambassadors.
This is a good time to use, God forbid.
We're forbidden to use God's grace for any other purpose than it was given.
Galatians 5:13, For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
There's way too much chest-beating going on for some of these, quote, "Bible believers," here on these social platforms.
These who pick up a little knowledge from Paul, mix it in with a lot of man's wisdom, then go running off, acting as if they suddenly are the harbingers of truth.
They remind me of those who Paul spoke of in 1 Timothy 1:7, those who desire to be teachers, but neither understand what they say nor whereof they affirm.
Okay, back to Romans 3, we're here in verse 7, For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?
Verse 8, And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
These two verses here are interesting to say the least.
Paul is obviously speaking to a specific situation that he experienced.
One of the many times that slanderous reports had been put out concerning him.
He isn't saying that he lied about any particular thing, and that lie made the truth of God abound to the glory of God.
No, he's speaking of the previous passages in which his response was, God forbid.
Keeping with context, he's calling an assertion that God is unrighteous from verse 5 a lie, as well as the idea from verse 3 that unbelief of man would make what God has set in place of none effect.
Both of these ideologies are examples of lies about God that man could be found guilty of.
And both are answered with, God forbid.
Verse 7 is just furthering the idea from verse 6 that our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God.
Sure, we could all manage to look pretty righteous in the sight of others as long as God's righteousness isn't in view.
But when we bring him into the equation, compare ourself to him, we're toast.
Paul, once again, uses a bit of folly here in verse 7.
He's asking why, if the fact that he is a liar brings the truth of God into light, which in turn gives glory to God, why would he be judged a sinner?
Why would he be judged a sinner if the outcome is actually good for God?
The answer is because sinners are judged as such because they commit sin.
The fact that man's unrighteousness reveals the righteousness of God to his glory does not excuse man's unrighteousness.
And we'll see Paul dealing with this very idea throughout the next few chapters.
In verse 8, Paul is speaking about a specific issue, a lie that's been reported concerning him.
Someone had apparently been claiming that Paul was teaching, let us do evil that good may come, which is a fundamental misunderstanding of God's grace and not what Paul's doctrine is teaching at all.
As a matter of fact, here is exactly what Paul says that God's grace teaches us.
It teaches us this. Titus 2:11, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.
Now, does that sound like Paul's teaching people to do evil so that good will come?
God forbid.
Okay, Romans 3:9, this verse here speaks straight to the point.
The point Paul's been trying to make with everything he has written prior.
Thus far, he's still speaking to a large Jewish audience there in Rome, not little flock Jews.
No, these are those who were at one time under the law.
Those who thought they still were and Gentiles who knew about the law, likely because of the large Jewish audience in Rome.
The Roman audience consists of people from different backgrounds who either already believed Paul's gospel, or having it presented to them for the first time during this letter.
We established this way back in our teachings on chapter 1.
And regardless of what many teach, Paul was not writing this letter to all already saved people.
And we proved that in chapter 2.
That idea is simply not provable with Scripture.
It's tradition is what it is.
Here in verse 9, we're getting straight to the point that everything else Paul said led up to verse 9.
What then?
Are we better than they? No, in no wise. For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin.
See, there it is.
Quote, "We have before proved."
This is to show that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin.
There is no other time for Paul to before prove anything than what he has written prior to this verse,to this audience that he has not yet visited.
Therefore, what Paul is saying here that he has before proved can only be referring to everything up to this point.
From Romans 1 verse 1 to Romans 3 verse 8.
As a result of both Jews and Gentiles being under sin, Paul says, We, Paul and his kinsmen in the flesh, are no better than they, Gentiles, aliens, strangers from the covenants of promise.
Isn't that something?
Everything that Paul has been trying to explain since the beginning of this letter up to this point is summarized in verse 9.
And then further validated in verses 10 through 18.
Man, it's good to have this in order.
Once again, Paul's going to reference the law and the prophets because he's talking to people who would be familiar with the law and the prophets.
Doing this validates to his audience that what he's speaking, hey, it's the truth.
It's the truth.
Verse 10, As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
Verse 11, There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God.
Verse 12, They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
If you're a Bible student, you probably recognize that Paul got this from the book of Psalms there in chapter 14, and it's also found in chapter 53.
Okay, verse 13 here, Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used deceit.
The poison of asp is under their lips.
And this is from Psalm 5:9, 36:3, and 140, verse 3.
Verse 14, Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
More Old Testament quotes here. That's from Psalm 10, verse 7.
Okay, verse 15, Their feet are swift to shed blood.
Verse 16, Destruction and misery are in their ways.
Verse 17, And the way of peace have they not known.
A clear reference here to Isaiah 58, verses 7 and 8.
Verse 18, There is no fear of God before their eyes. That's from Psalm 36, verse 1.
Everything Paul has said in verses 10 through 18 has already been written.
Don't miss this.
But Paul is using that which was written as proof that what he's teaching these Romans is coming straight from God.
Verse 19, Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law,that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Notice this verse clearly says that the law only speaks to those who are under the law.
We showed with Scripture plain and clear in our studies from chapter 2 that Gentiles were never under the law.
So many of you called and wrote thanking us for clearing that up.
Happy to help.
Having never heard that before, many thought that that was referring to us today.
No.
Gentiles were never under the law and instead were a law to themselves and used their own law to judge themselves and each other's unrighteousness, just as the Jews were guilty of doing.
There seems to be a bit of confusion as of late about what a law unto themselves means concerning Gentiles.
There's a lady on TikTok who claims to be a Pauline right divider, yet says that Gentiles being a law unto themselves has something to do with present day law keepers trying to put Gentiles under the law of Moses.
There's absolutely zero context to support that claim.
Yes, it's wrong to try to put people under the law of Moses today.
That's a fact.
But let's be clear.
It's also wrong to use God's word out of context to try to prove your point, no matter how correct your point is.
I'm fairly sure that that's what Paul was getting at back there earlier in this chapter, verses 5 through 8.
The ends do not justify the means.
And there is such a thing as trying to do the right thing in a wrong manner.
There are sincere people in mainstream Christianity who do it every Sunday.
And guess what?
Just because they were trying to do what they perceived as a right thing, it doesn't mean they're not guilty of doing something wrong to get there.
That's literally the definition of religion.
Religion teaches that you need to get to God by any means necessary.
But God says the means are wrong.
And although your goal is honorable, the road to get there isn't.
That leaves you guilty before God, every single time.
Now, because of verse 19, which tells us that all the world is guilty before God according to the law, verse 20 says, Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
That's pretty clear.
If the law concludes all the world guilty, and it does, then the deeds of that same law can never justify the flesh.
Why?
Because the flesh is where sin both originates and dwells.
Contrary to popular belief, even among some in grace circles, this flesh will never be justified.
Not by the law, and not even by imputed righteousness of Christ.
Because Jesus didn't come down here to save our flesh.
And we'll expound on this more as we progress in the next few chapters.
But for now, we'll stop here.
But next time, we're going to dive into a very detailed study about the faith of Christ.
The faith of Christ.
You don't want to miss it.
We plan on spending as much time needed to prove and reprove our understanding of the faith of Christ.
And we'll do so according to sola scriptura.
Grace and peace.
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