In his sermon 'That Thou Mightest be Justified,' Pastor Steve Hopkins explores Romans 3:1-8, highlighting the advantages the Jews had in being entrusted with the oracles of God. However, he emphasizes that merely possessing the Scriptures is insufficient without belief. The sermon underscores the necessity of an inward spiritual transformation, akin to the circumcision of the heart, to be a true Jew or believer. Paul anticipates objections from his Jewish brethren and addresses the misconception that physical lineage or outward signs like circumcision can save. Instead, the true value lies in conversion and faith in God's Word. Pastor Hopkins also discusses God's unwavering faithfulness despite widespread unbelief, affirming that God's promises remain effective. The sermon references Psalm 51 to illustrate God's justice and mercy, emphasizing that God is righteous and just in His judgments. Pastor Hopkins concludes by highlighting the centrality of Jesus Christ as the only hope for salvation, urging listeners to repent and believe in the Gospel for reconciliation with God.

Welcome back to Burnet Bible Church. Join us this week as Pastor Hopkins continues his sermon series through the Book of Romans. Let's stand for the reading of the Word of the Lord. We're going to read, picking up with Romans chapter 3 this morning verses 1 through 8. You would read together with me the word of the Lord.

What advantage then hath the Jew, or what profit is there, of circumcision, Much every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? 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. But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say?

Is God unrighteous, who taketh vengeance? I speak as a man. God forbid. For then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why yet am I also judged as a sinner?

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." Let's pray. Our Father, how good you are. Lord, we thank you for your goodness, that your goodness and your mercy endure forever. God, we acknowledge that we are not worthy of the least of all the mercy and all the truth that you've shown us. And we ask once again that you might, by your Spirit, give us understanding, O God, and open up our hearts and minds to receive the truth of your word.

For we ask it in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Let's be seated. Before I begin here, jumping into this very, actually very difficult text, I wanted to just speak for just a moment about rejecting CEBCE. Anyone familiar with those are? The perversion of the calendar, the attempt to remove Jesus Christ from history.

We need to reject that. We need to not repeat the wicked and their attempts at removing every memory of the Lord of the universe from history. So Anno Domini, AD, for you younger ones, means the year of our Lord. Some say it means the year of the Lord, it means the year of our Lord. It's the year of our Lord.

He's everybody's Lord. He's the Lord overall. It is the year of our Lord. So when we say it is a 2022 AD, we're saying it is the year of our Lord, 2022, that approximately 2022 years ago Jesus Christ came into the world. And the calendars have been based upon that.

And then of course BC, which means before Christ. And now to kind of be really tricky they call it BCE right before the Common Era No, it's before Jesus Christ Before Christ the calendars are based upon the person of our Lord Jesus Christ So we need to not give that up not give up that ground. I was thinking about that recently and the passage came to mind, I believe it's from Daniel, where it talked about this Antichrist who is speaking words against the Most High God And he says, he shall think to change times and laws. There it is. That's the mind of Antichrist, to remove the memory of Christ from the history of the world.

But let's pick up here with chapter 3 verse 1 of Romans. Paul, in just a short review, has been speaking to his brethren according to the flesh, to Jews according to the flesh, to fellow Jews since the beginning of chapter 2 of Romans and as we came to the end of chapter 2 in our last session, he has just explained the significance of circumcision and what it means to truly be a Jew. And the Apostle has explained to his Hebrew brethren that one is not truly a Jew who is merely one outwardly, but he is truly a Jew who is one inwardly. And in the same way, circumcision of the flesh is nothing apart from circumcision of the heart, which is the work of God's Spirit. So Paul has been teaching them that the outward sign of circumcision in one's flesh is of no value except there be an inward change, an inward change of the heart in the spirit, Paul says.

Circumcision of heart is what matters in God's sight And those who are circumcised in heart, which really is talking about conversion, are the true people of God. They are Jews inwardly. So as we pick up with Romans chapter 3, in verse 1, The apostle anticipates the response of his Jewish brethren according to the flesh. He's anticipating their response and a possible objection. And so he says, what advantage then hath the Jew?

Or what profit is there in circumcision? Is there any advantage in being a Jew? Is there any profit in the outward sign of circumcision? If being in the physical lineage of Abraham doesn't save, and if physical circumcision doesn't set us apart as the people of God, then what advantage could the Jew possibly have? That's the question.

What profit is there in being of the circumcision? Well Paul says a lot, a lot, much in every way. But chiefly, that is at the head of the list, is the fact that unto the Jews were committed the oracles of God. Doesn't get any better than that. God didn't entrust his word to the Amalekites.

God didn't entrust his word to the Moabites. God didn't entrust his word to the Ammonites or any other Aites other than the Israelites. God never spoke through a Philistine. God never committed his word to the Babylonians. God chose to commit his oracles, the God-breathed words, to the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which is Israel.

And he's saying, you're the sons of Israel. So much in every way, the oracles of God were committed to you. There's no greater benefit than to be the favored people to whom the revelation of God alone is committed, to be among the people to whom God alone deposited and entrusted His holy word. But Paul also wants them to understand, and he's already touched on this before, that possessing God's Word is not enough. It must be believed, which is what he's getting at in verse 3.

And I want you to remember when Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy, in 2 Timothy chapter 1, he commends the mother and the grandmother of Timothy. How many remember that? He commends them being of faith and passing that faith along to Timothy. To say that someone has faith is to say that they believe the Scriptures. And Paul commends this godly mother and grandmother for their faith.

And then further on in chapter 3 of 2 Timothy, we read that this godly mother and grandmother duo evidently taught the Scriptures to Timothy, their son and grandson, because Paul says, from a youth you have known the Scriptures. From a youth you have known the Scriptures, the Scriptures which are able to make the wise unto salvation, which is in Christ Jesus. The scriptures Paul was referring to in that passage are the Oracles of God that he's speaking of here the Old Testament which God committed to the Jews Which were the only scriptures that were in existence when Timothy was a boy There were none of the New Testament Gospels or epistles written yet The scriptures that were able to make him wise into salvation were the scriptures of the Old Testament, which Brother Eric enumerated earlier. But his mother believed, His grandmother believed, Timothy believed. But what I'm getting at here is that the text before us says, but what if some did not believe?

And the fact is that many did not believe. The chief advantage of the Jews was that they were the people to whom the oracles of God were entrusted. But possessing the Scriptures is not enough. They must be believed. By the time Jesus and his apostles show up on the scene in the first century.

The vast majority of the Jews did not believe the Scriptures and trusted to their forebears. We saw that when we studied through the book of John. Large crowds following Jesus when he feeds them and when he heals them. And then he preaches and they disappear. And by the time Christ is crucified, how many people are waiting on him?

How many people are there gathered together behind closed doors? By the time Jesus and his apostles show up in the first century the vast majority of the Jews do not believe the scriptures entrusted to their forebearers. If they had they would have recognized their Messiah when he appeared and they would have received him instead of rejecting him and handing him over to the Romans to be crucified. But Paul's question here is rhetorical. The fact that God's Word committed to the Jews was not believed by all of them doesn't affect God's faithfulness.

His answer is within the question. Though unbelief was rampant, God remained faithful. Their unbelief did not make the faith or faithfulness of God ineffective." Again, their unbelief, the fact that many did not believe, did not and does not make the faith or the faithfulness, is what it's speaking of here, of God ineffective. No. John Gill notes here that, quote, God raised up the Messiah from among them.

God is still faithful, was still faithful to his word and his promises. And God sent him, Jesus, to them, to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, just as was prophesied of Messiah. And he called his own out from among them. You know, men break their promises every day. Men violate their covenants.

We see so much of it in our world today. But God doesn't. God doesn't break his promises. God does not violate his covenant. What God promises, God does.

God is not like us. Did everybody figure that out? God is not like us. God is not a man that he should lie, Numbers 23, 19. And he promised to David that Messiah would come from his seed.

And though David sinned against God, God still kept his promise. God is faithful. God is just. And the Apostle Paul quotes David in verse 4 from Psalm 51. Why?

God still kept his promise. God is faithful. God is just. But David is going to vindicate the justice of God and the condemnation of himself. Yet God is faithful.

Verse four, let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written." This is Paul citing Psalm 51. Why? Why is Paul bringing in the 51st Psalm? Because it is that great Psalm of repentance, and that great Psalm of repentance where David justifies God in the condemnation of himself. That's why Paul brings this in here.

David has committed adultery with Bathsheba before the writing of Psalm 51. The prophet Nathan has been sent to David to confront him for his sin, and David repents. And his repentance is real. And if you'll flip over to the 51st Psalm, I said a couple of weeks ago or maybe last week that I heard a pastor say one time, every Christian should memorize Psalm 51. But David's repentance is real and he cries, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions." David doesn't want what he has coming to him.

Do you? David doesn't want what he deserves. He deserves God's wrath for all eternity. And so do you, and so do I. David cries out for mercy.

Sproul comments on this passage. He throws himself upon the mercy of the court. He asks God to deal with him not according to his justice, but according to his tender mercies. That was David's only hope. And that is our only hope in the presence of a holy God." In quote, amen.

God is just in his condemnation of David, And God is just in His condemnation of us. God would be just if He chose to save not a single one of us. He would still be just. God would still be just if he had determined to send every one of us to hell. Again David throws himself upon the mercy of the court, have mercy upon me according to your loving-kindness God, according to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity." Word means lawlessness. "...and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me." David doesn't hide his sin or attempt to extenuate the circumstances. He confesses it all to God. He doesn't hold anything back. And then he says, against thee, 51, 4, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.

What's he saying? That he didn't sin against his wives or against Uriah or even Bathsheba or the entire nation? No. He's saying, all that I have done to those on earth against whom I have sinned is nothing in comparison to my offenses against you." And then these words, which the apostle quotes in the text before us this morning from Romans chapter 3, oh God, that thou mightest be justified. That you might be justified.

What's he saying? In my condemnation, in the condemnation of what I have done, that you might be justified when you speak. It's a capital T here, that thou, God, mightest be justified. When you speak, as in when you render your sentence, and be clear when thou judges, that no one would even have any notion that what you determine to do with any of your creatures is unfair. David justifies God in the condemnation of himself.

God's sentence of wrath upon him is just. He's admitting, he's acknowledging. God's sentence of wrath upon him is just. He's admitting, he's acknowledging God's sentence of wrath upon him is just. God's sentence upon you is just.

Upon me is just. Whatever he wants to do with us is just and fair. David throws himself upon the mercy of the court and that's what every one of us does when we go before our Lord and we say, oh God be merciful to me a sinner and we trust in and look upon the person and work of his son Jesus Christ as our only acceptance with God and our only hope, our only hope, our only hope. But we must acknowledge as David did, whatever God chooses to do with me is altogether righteous and just. Whatever God chooses to do with me is altogether righteous and just.

Do you believe that? Because I don't want this, what should impact every one of us to escape us this morning. Do you believe that? Do you believe that whatever God chooses to do with you is altogether righteous and just? If you don't, you know very little of the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man.

God is holy. God is that holy and man is that sinful. God is just in whatever he does with every one of us and with any one of us and he should be glorified and praised for it. And Paul anticipates again an objection, verse 5. But if our righteousness commends the righteousness of God, What shall we say?

Is God unrighteous who takes vengeance? It's saying, I speak as a man, he's using human logic here. Wouldn't God be unrighteous to take vengeance upon us? Wouldn't God be acting unjustly if he took vengeance on us for our unrighteousness when our unrighteousness serves to commend his righteousness?" It's a silly argument. My sinfulness just shows how good God is by contrast.

If God receives glory because of my sin, then why does he punish me?" It's a silly argument. For then how should God judge the world? Paul's response, well how would God be able to judge the world if he didn't punish sin? It's based in silly human reasoning, but it goes on in verse 7. If the truth of God has more abounded, you know, been accentuated through my lie unto his glory, that brings him glory, Why yet am I also judged as a sinner?

What's he saying? That is, if by my lies or by me lying, he's talking about sinning, God's truth is elevated or it's accentuated, isn't that a good thing? The truth of God is seen for what it is, in contrast to my lies, why then am I still judged as a sinner? It's all the squirming and trying to get out from underneath the just sentence of God. David didn't do that and that's why Paul brought in the passage from Psalm 51.

This is someone trying to squirm out again and he's anticipating this argument. It's like they're saying, haven't I done God a favor? Haven't I done God a favor by, you know, by my sin showing in contrast how good God is and He receives the glory from that? Why should I be judged? Haven't I done God a favor?

That's what he's saying. We have to understand here that Paul has been and is being charged by some of the Jews, the Jewish leaders, with being an antinomian. How many know what an antinomian is? Anti is against, like an antichrist, right? Gnome, law, an anti-law guy.

He's accused of being antinomian, of being against the law, of saying, of preaching a grace that allows me to just do whatever they want to do, sin in any way they want to sin. They're accusing him of being one who preaches against the law of God. Of course it's a slander. Paul never said, let us do evil that good may come. But that's the things that they've been charging him with.

And he says their damnation was just. Who accused the Apostle falsely of preaching things like that? These men have distorted the Apostle's message his slanderers have taken the doctrine of grace and Turned it into a lasciviousness They've taken his doctrine the gospel God's gospel the gospel of grace and turned it into a thing of giving license to sin. Well what he's really preaching is that God's grace, because God's grace covers the sins of His people, then why even try to obey? Just live any way you want.

Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die, and if we're covered by the grace of God, don't worry about it. No. He says their damnation is just who distort the gospel in such a way and who pervert my words in such a way. His slanderers took the doctrine of grace and they turned it into a doctrine that gave permission and license to sin. But I'm going to wrap it up here.

I'll wrap it all up. What is he teaching here? First, being a physical descendant of Abraham doesn't save anyone. Being Circumcised doesn't save anyone. What saves is conversion, and that's a hard work of God, whereby a person becomes a Jew inwardly and not just a Jew outwardly.

Same thing as being a Christian inwardly and outwardly. Going to church doesn't save you. Being baptized doesn't save you. Sharing in the Lord's table doesn't save you. There must be an inward work of the Spirit.

That's what he's been saying leading up to chapter 3. There must be an inward work. There must be a circumcision of the heart. There must be a change in the heart, which is a spiritual thing. It's a work of God.

So if circumcision doesn't save and being a physical descendant of Abraham doesn't save, what advantage is there in being a Jew? Chiefly, because to them were committed the oracles of God because the Old Testament was entrusted to them. It wasn't entrusted to the Philistines or the Amalekites or the Ammonites or the Girgussites or any otherites but to the Israelites. But the fact he went on that many of those who were entrusted with the Word of God didn't believe the Word of God doesn't make the Word of God without effect. He still saved those whom he determined to save, both of the Jews and of the Gentiles.

Fact is, all men are liars. But because the truth of God is accentuated by the lies of men, doesn't mean that those men are somehow off the hook or congratulated because their sin brings this contrast to the truth of God and makes everyone say, wow, okay, well that's God's truth in contrast to my lies. No, it's a silly argument. They will be judged. God will be justified in their judgment, and the judging of all men, whether Jew or Gentile, and he wouldn't be God if he didn't.

He wouldn't be just if his wrath was not exacted against all evildoers. Every one of us is worthy of eternal wrath. God would be just and fair if he chose to save none and determined to send everyone who's ever been born to hell. God is faithful to his word. God is not a man that he should lie.

What God has promised, God does. He doesn't break his covenants like men and he's promised in his word to save every soul, every soul who acknowledges his sin, repents, and who throws himself on the mercies of his court. God has promised to save every soul who throws himself upon the mercies of God's court looking to Jesus Christ alone for their salvation, calling on the name of his Son. He has promised to save every soul that trusts in the person and the finished work of his Son, Jesus Christ. The question for every one of us here today is that you?

Is that me? Is that us? Have you come to a place in your life where you realized and acknowledged God would be just in damning me to hell. He would be absolutely just in casting me into the fires of an eternal hell for all eternity. Have you ever come to that place where you see your sin as that bad?

God is that holy and you are that sinful. He is that holy, you're that sinful, and because he's a just God, he must punish all sin, and I'm worthy of eternal damnation." Have you ever come to that place where you've seen yourself as that bad, as that offensive to God, as a stench in the nostrils of God because of your sin. We're a proud people. When I preach on the streets I say Americans are thin-skinned. We can't stand to have things like this out of us.

We can't stand to look in the mirror and see our wretchedness and our sinfulness. We want to think that we're not that bad. We're not that bad. Those guys are really bad. They really need Jesus.

I need Jesus a little bit. No, you need Jesus all the way. And apart from Him, you have no hope whatsoever. Our sin is that bad and His holiness is that holy. And have you come to the place where you've despaired of any hope of reconciliation with God, acceptance with God, escape from the wrath to come that is due you, but the Lord Jesus Christ.

You ever come to that place where you've seen he is my only hope? Apart from Him, outside of Him, there is no hope for me, but in Him I have hope. In Him I have eternal life because God's Word says so and He is faithful to his word. He is faithful to his word. I hope that is the case with every one of us.

We call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and are saved. Repent and believe the good news that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners like us Are you burdened by the weight of sin look to Jesus? Is your guilt unbearable look to Jesus? He's our only hope All who come to God through him he will in no wise cast out. He will receive trust in the name of Jesus.

Believe on his holy name and be saved all ye ends of the earth. Let's pray. Father we thank you for your holy word. Lord, many things are difficult to understand, but Lord we know that you have given your word to us and Brought it to us in such a way Lord that even a child who reads your word can understand the truth and know how To be saved or the most important thing we know in all of your Word, the most important thing is how can sinful man be reconciled to a holy God? And Lord, your truth has been preached once again to us today that Christ is our only hope.

Jesus is the only way, the only truth, the only life. No one comes to the Father but through him. God, we are looking to Christ again this day as we prepare to share on the Lord's table and to proclaim Jesus died for me, he shed his blood for me, Jesus suffered and died for me. As we do that Lord, that we would trust in you, our trust would be in Christ alone. Help us to remember Lord that he alone can save.

He alone is the satisfaction to the justice of God that is due us. Thank you, Lord, that through Jesus we have escaped the wrath to come and that we have a joy in believing in Him who has saved us from our sins and reconciled us to you. Thank you God. Help us now to examine ourselves before we eat of that bread and drink of that cup, showing the Lord's death for us till His return, amen.