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Who Needs the Gospel? By David Calderwood
(Series Romans)

Well, we're in the third week now of looking at Romans.
And we saw the first week that Paul was very, very excited
about the Gospel of God as he wrote his introduction.
He was very excited because Paul knew that that was the way,
the Gospel was the way God saves people from his wrath and condemnation.
But then that begs the question which we looked at last week,
well, if the Gospel's all about saving people from God's anger,
from God's condemnation, well, why do people need to be saved?
What's happened? Who needs to be saved?
Who is it that Paul's referring to that needs the Gospel?
Who is under God's condemnation?
And last week we saw that Paul started to answer that question
in that section that runs through from verse 18 of chapter 1
right through to verse 20 of chapter 3, which we're taking three bites to answer.
So he's answering the question, who needs the Gospel?
And as Paul starts to answer that question,
this confusing section of Romans chapter 3 can come clear
if we can get in our minds God's principle that Paul's working on and applying.
What's God's principle? Well, he made it plain last week.
God says this. It's very simple.
If you live according to what you know about me, says God, then you'll go to heaven.
That's God's principle.
If you live according to what you know about me, then you'll go to heaven.
If you don't, then you'll be condemned. You come under my wrath.
Now, God's principle is very important if we understand it, you see,
because God doesn't say, well, it's all about how much you know about me.
That's the key thing. No, no, no.
The amount of knowledge isn't the issue.
God says, whether you've got little knowledge or lots of knowledge,
the issue is, do you live in the light of it?
If you know only a little bit about me, do you live in the light of that?
If you know heaps about me, as the Jews did through the written word of God,
do you live in the light of that?
That's the issue, says God.
And that's why Paul told us last week, as we looked at chapter one and two,
that's why the person who lives in the remotest part of the world is condemned.
And that's why they need the gospel.
Because when you apply the principle, they didn't live according to what they know.
What did they know?
Well, they certainly never heard of the Bible and never heard of Jesus,
but that doesn't mean God didn't speak to them, says Paul.
Paul, God did speak to them. How did he speak to them?
He speaks to them through the physical creation.
They see huge mountains and they see majestic sunsets
and they see beautiful flowers that are incredibly complex and detailed,
all of which says that God exists and that God is powerful,
that God's bigger than anything we see in creation.
But, of course, you see, these people, says Paul,
they weren't happy to let God be God.
What did they do?
They ignore and suppress the truth about God
and they reduce God to a lump of wood.
They carve the lump of wood or the piece of stone and they set it up and say,
here's God, worship this.
They suppress the truth.
God's bigger, they make God smaller.
And so, says Paul, they need the gospel.
He doesn't live in the light of the knowledge that he has.
Likewise, last week Paul said, the good moral person,
the person who's got a very sensitive conscience about what's right and what's wrong,
just like Roman citizens were, very cultured people,
compared to the sort of uncivilized barbarians that Paul first mentions,
cultured Romans who knew what was right, who knew what was wrong,
a God enlightened conscience.
God had spoken to them through their conscience,
convincing them that it was wrong to lie.
It was wrong to cheat on your wife.
It was wrong to be miserly and cruel.
But, says Paul, was the good moral Roman citizen like that?
Did he live in the light of what God told him?
No.
The good moral Roman citizen finds himself lying and cheating
and being miserable and cruel.
Again, you see, the principle of God's principle is applied.
If they don't live in the light of what they know about God and what's right and wrong,
then they can under God's condemnation and they need the gospel.
They didn't live in the light of what they knew.
Now, brings us up to today, because you see, imagine you were a Jew
and there was a lot of Jews in the congregation at Rome that Paul was writing to.
Now, you'd be sitting back feeling rather smug to this point, wouldn't you?
Because the barbarians, the uncivilised people, have come in for a bit of stick from Paul
and the good old Romans, they've come in for a bit of stick from Paul
and you can well imagine the Jews sitting there thinking,
well, of course, we're in a different category.
We're decidedly much more advantaged than either of these two groups.
We're the Jews. We've got special people.
We've got God's written word.
And we, therefore, don't need the gospel.
They could understand the Romans being condemned.
They could understand the barbarians being condemned.
But not us Jews. We're far better than either of these groups of people.
See, the Jews were very religious people
with a special privilege of God's written word
and special relationship with God throughout history.
And they knew it.
We're in a different category from either of these two groups.
There's no problem with us, Paul.
We don't need the gospel like these others do.
Paul, the fact of the matter is, you see, that God will let us into heaven
because we're his special people.
Wrong, says Paul.
You religious Jews, says Paul, and this is what we're going to be unpacking this morning.
You religious Jews, says Paul, need the gospel as much as anybody else needs
because, you know, in spite of all your extra advantages and extra privileges
as God's special people, and there's no question about that, says Paul,
but in spite of that, you guys have not lived according to what you know about God.
And so, therefore, just like the other two groups of people, you also will be condemned.
You know more, but that's not the issue, says Paul.
You haven't lived according to what you do know.
And I can imagine Paul directing them to chapter 2 verse 13 that we looked at last week
and saying to them, now, listen, you Jews, you're talking to me about all these advantages you have,
but read chapter 2 verse 13.
For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified.
But, Paul, you don't seem to understand. We've had a special relationship with God right from the town of Abraham.
Paul says, read chapter 2 verse 13.
For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified.
But, Paul, we've got the temple, which is where God's presence was tied to,
and no other nation in the world has got a privilege like that.
Read chapter 2 verse 13, says Paul.
For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law.
Do you see Paul's point?
You've not lived according to what you know about God.
In fact, in fact, the emphasis we'll see here in a minute as we unpack these verses,
Paul's actually arguing that because of their extra privileges, they're more guilty.
Because they should have known better.
They should have known better.
Therefore, says Paul, you religious people are equally condemned before God
with the barbarians and the good moral Roman citizen.
Well, let's look at the text in detail now.
That's trying to give you a bit of an overview of what the logic of the argument is.
Let's unpack the text just so you can see that I've actually got it from the Bible rather than making it up.
The first part of Paul's argument is that the Jews had actually misunderstood God's privileges.
You look at verse 17.
Paul picks up, it sort of changes tack here without giving us any indication.
So when you're reading the text, it doesn't seem to make much sense.
But in the Greek, it's very clear that Paul's starting a new sort of approach.
And he says, indeed, you are called a Jew.
Now the Jews love to hear that word.
We're Jews.
And Paul's sort of feeding it back.
I think there's almost a touch of sarcasm here.
Indeed, he says, you are called a Jew.
And rest on the law and make your boast in God.
Paul's acknowledging the special privileges the Jews had.
And which they were only too happy to speak about, let me tell you.
And one of the things that they were very happy to speak about was to say, we have God's written word.
And they proudly declared that.
In fact, says Paul, they had actually come to put their whole confidence in these, that very thing,
as evidence of special relationship with God.
And their thinking went like this.
Because God's told us about himself and told us in his word about special relationship with him,
therefore, we must be right with God.
We must be in good with God.
Because God's told us.
We've got God's written word.
That confirms special privilege, special relationship.
And that meant, verse 18, that they knew in a unique way the will of God.
So that they were able to see with clarity what was fundamental and essential to God.
Generation after generation of Jews have been grounded in those very things.
And the study of God's word, verses 19 and 20, constantly detailed their special role as God's special people.
Especially with regard to the Gentiles.
And the Old Testament was full of statements that the Jews would be the very means by which the rest of the nations of the world,
the Gentiles, would receive blessing.
And so for the Jews, they concluded that because they read of that in God's word,
that that confirmed their special favorable relationship with God.
The privilege, you see, was beyond question.
But you see, Paul then starts to apply, in verse 21, God's principle.
The same logic as he applied to other groups of people.
The pagans and the moral Romans.
Look at verse 21, 23.
You therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself?
You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal?
You who say, do not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?
You who have hor idols, do you rob temples?
You who make you boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law?
Do you see Paul's point?
Again, you see, look at yourselves, Jews.
You've got all these privileges, all these things you know to be right because God's word tells you.
But do you do them?
Clearly the answer is no.
Clearly the answer is the Jews, like the others, have failed to live according to what they know about God.
But worse, worse than that, verse 24, and this is where their extra guilt is seen,
worse than that, their failure, because of their special privilege,
and because it was known around all the nations that these were the people of God,
their failure to do what God said actually meant that God's name was ridiculed among the other nations.
Well, these Jews, they talk about this great Jehovah God, but they can't think that much of them because they don't do what he says.
And so they laughed at God.
God was ridiculed because of the Jews' failure to do what was right.
And so Paul says, there you are, you're extra guilty.
Not only have you not done what was right, but you've actually meant that God's name was a joke.
The second thing that the Jews were very, very proud of was that they had the symbol of God's favor.
That was another catch cry, because the Jews were convinced that circumcision was a special covenant privilege.
And it was. Look at verse 25, and this picks up this whole idea of circumcision.
Circumcision, you see, was a sign of the covenant with Abraham.
It was the outward, visible sign that God had formed a special, enduring relationship with his people, the Jews.
It was the defining mark of God's people.
And what happened was the Jews came to see that physical mark as a guarantee of God's favor upon them.
Because we've been circumcised, we've got the guarantee that we're God's people and that God looks favorably upon us.
But, says Paul, verse 25, circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law.
But if you're a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
You could read that your circumcision has become useless.
In other words, Paul says, you see, that the symbol without the matching attitudes in the heart is a waste of time.
Verse 26 and 27, therefore, Paul says, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law,
will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?
In other words, Paul says, look, in the end, see, God's interested in what's inside a person, not what you've got as a mark on the outside.
And if a person is responsive and faithful and obedient to God, says Paul,
regardless of whether he's been physically circumcised or not, God looks at him as though he has been circumcised.
Because that's what God's interested in, the attitudes.
And the converse is true, verse 28 and 27. It doesn't matter whether you've been circumcised and go around and flash it to everybody and show that you've been done.
If your attitudes aren't right, says God, doesn't matter. Big deal.
Verse 28 and 29. See, the Jews had put a wrong confidence in this physical action, this outward sign.
But they had forgotten the true covenant response of Abraham, trust and obedience to the word of God.
In other words, you see, verse 29, they said, well, look, we're Jews, we're God's special people because we've got this mark, this physical mark that confirms it.
God says, rubbish. You want to know who the true Jew is, the true person of God is, says God, the person who's got the mark on the inside, obedience to the word of God.
Paul's conclusion? The Jews, in spite of all the religious activity, in spite of the greatest privilege of having God's word and actually having this covenant symbol, in spite of all that, says Paul, you're guilty.
You're guilty and condemned before God and you need the gospel because you've not lived according to what you know to be true about God.
Now, just imagine how that would have been heard in the church. Just imagine how those proud Jews would have responded to that.
Surely, Paul, you're not suggesting that we're in the same position as these uncivilized barbarians or these highly cultured Romans who are still Gentiles.
They don't like what they're hearing, I suspect.
So, Paul, as we move into chapter 3, anticipates some of the responses and presses on to twist the knife.
He's run it in between the ribs and he's now going to twist the bayonet and open them right up.
Because, you see, he goes in verse 1 to 8 of chapter 3 to show that the wrong understanding about their privileges has led them to draw some terribly, terribly dangerous conclusions, making them even more guilty before the Lord.
Look at verses 2 to 4. Well, verse 1 for a start. Paul turns around because he's hearing these Jews saying, well, if that's the case, Paul, what was the advantage of being a Jew?
What was the advantage of being God's special people? If what you're saying is right, the implication, I think, being Paul, you're not right.
But Paul sticks at it, you see. There's a lot of advantage in being God's people. Of course there is.
Just because you've misunderstood the privileges doesn't make them any less a privilege. That's Paul's argument.
But he goes on to show how their misunderstanding had led them to the wrong conclusions. Look at verse 2.
Much in every way is your advantage, says Paul, chiefly because to them the Jews were committed the oracles or the speech of God is the actual word they're used.
For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not. Indeed, let God be true, but every man a liar.
Now, the argument runs like this. The Jews, it would appear, fired back this thinking to Paul.
Paul, you've got to be wrong because if God condemns us, his special people, then God's plans will fail.
Let me unpack that with you. See, they recognized that God had entrusted them with his written word, with his very speech.
And what was that speech? Well, the Scripture really was a statement by God about what he was going to do in his world through the Jews.
In other words, God said to the Jews, through your nation I will bring blessing to the whole world.
So, the argument goes, well, if God condemns us, the Jews, then his purposes are going to fail.
How is he going to bring blessing to the world if he condemns us and pushes us to one side?
That's the emphasis of verse 3. See, in other words, and this is where it becomes really tacky,
the Jews had actually come to believe, as a result of their privilege, that God needed them to achieve his purposes.
And therefore, because God needed them, they were guaranteed to be secure, guaranteed that God would never condemn them because he needed them.
So, Paul couldn't possibly be right. What a dreadful conclusion to arrive at from such a wonderful privilege.
Paul's response, verse 4, he said, listen up you Jews. He said, even if everybody else in this world was shown to be an absolute and total liar,
God will still do what he said he was going to do.
Put it in other words, cutting right through these Jews, he said, don't you think for a moment that God needs you to achieve his purpose?
In fact, Paul's inference is here, that God will achieve his purpose even because of the unbelief of the Jews, as well as in spite of it.
And when we look a bit wider in the New Testament, we can see that. The unbelief of the Jews was never more clear than when they took Jesus and murdered him.
And it was because of that, that God's purposes were fulfilled.
It was because of the unbelief of the Jewish hierarchy that started to persecute the Christians in Jerusalem, that the gospel spread across the whole world.
Friends, do you see the point? These religious people looked at their privilege of having God's word and concluded that simply having God's word meant that God needed them and meant that they were safe and secure.
That God would always treat them favourably and ignore their sinful unbelief and disobedience because he needed them.
I don't need to highlight how stupid and dangerous that conclusion is.
They fail to see that their failure to obey God's word and their arrogance was actually making them more guilty.
They're making their position worse before God and that God would condemn them and that even their condemnation would only serve to highlight God's faithfulness.
God doesn't need them. God will do what he says he's going to do because that's what God does.
And he will do what he said he was going to do in spite of and because of their unbelief.
But there's one that gets worse yet. Their thinking gets worse yet. Verse 5.
And you can just hear the arrogance in this.
But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say?
Is God unjust? Who inflicts wrath? I speak as a man.
Paul's anticipating their next argument and this was again something the Jews appeared to believe.
It would appear that they actually thought along this line.
If God is made to look better because of our unbelief, then surely God would be a bit unfair to punish us.
Because after all, he's been made to look good through our unbelief.
So if he gets a bit more praise and a bit more glory because of our unbelief, then how come he can turn around and punish us?
Paul, you've got to be wrong.
It's as if the Jews dare to think that well, all's well that ends well.
Yeah, we've shown severe unbelief. Yes, we've rejected God's ways. Yes, we've rejected God's word.
But in the end, God comes out looking even better.
So God in a sense is going to be thankful for that, isn't he?
Because we've made him look really good.
How can he condemn us when we've made him look better?
I tell you friends, that is unbelievable arrogance.
And look at what Paul says in verses 6, 7 and 8 in response.
Basically Paul's saying, look, the end never justifies the means.
If that was the case, says Paul, God would never be able to judge anybody in the world.
Verse 6 or verse 7, people would be correct in saying, well, let's be more disobedient because God will look better.
Paul's highlighting absolutely stupid arguments, but arguments that people genuinely seem to believe.
And once again, the conclusion as you see, their conclusion won't stand scrutiny.
It was giving them false hope.
They had been given great privilege.
They failed to respond properly and obediently to that privilege.
Therefore, says Paul, you will be held to account.
You will be brought under God's wrath.
And that condemnation, says Paul, is proper and fair regardless of what you guys have concluded because your conclusions are wrong.
Friends, as I draw to a conclusion, we need to hear this.
That God always attaches great responsibility to great privilege.
To always go together in God's economy.
And because that's the case, we need to make sure, hear this point, because we've got enormous privilege in the whole of God's word.
Knowing all there is to know about Christ, having God's final word as we're told in Hebrews.
We need to make sure that in the light of that privilege, we've got a commensurate responsibility.
See, the problem for the religious Jews was that their privilege made them presumptuous.
That was the problem.
They became rather presumptuous on God because of their privilege.
They thought simply having God's word and having the sign of the covenant was enough to guarantee that God would make them, God would look favorably upon them.
They presumed they were acceptable to God because of those things.
And what does that translate into here this morning?
Well, let me again, as I often do, break it up into two statements, two groups.
It means this if you're not a Christian.
If you're not a Christian this morning, you see, it's not because you lack knowledge or privilege.
See, most likely you have a Bible at home.
If not, you can go down to any local bookstore and buy one.
Most likely you've heard something about the claims of Christ.
Obviously, you're religious enough to be at church today where you hear about Jesus and about salvation.
You see, that's a terrific privilege.
Question sits fair and square on your shoulder. What are you going to do about it?
Are you acting in the light of that privilege?
Are you living and responding in the light of what you know about God?
Don't worry about sitting around saying, well, I don't know everything there is to know about the Bible, yet therefore I won't become a Christian.
That's not the issue God's interested in.
He's saying, given what you do know, what are you doing with it?
And be very careful, my friends, if you're not a Christian, that you don't draw conclusions based on your own religious outlook and behavior as these guys did.
Don't think that having the outside thinks, going to church, having a Bible, being connected with other Christians is enough to win favor from God.
I'll tell you, there'd be a lot of very religious people in hell. No question at all about that.
And if you're a Christian this morning, you need to be aware of a Christian version of that same crime.
We need to be aware lest our privileges make us presumptuous.
You see, sometimes Christians come waving a baptismal certificate or a church membership certificate, or waving the flag that, well, I grew up in a Christian home, or look at my Bible.
In fact, I've got a whole shelf full of Bibles at home, all the different versions and varieties and shapes and colors and whatnot.
Or that I've got it wrapped up in one of those wonderful big leather things where a zip that everybody hears me zipping as I start the sermon and finish the sermon.
Sometimes we Christians put a lot of store in those sort of things.
Or I go to church, I'm a member of the church, whatever, and it just goes on and on and on and on. I can quote slabs of God's word.
But you see, none of those things good of themselves, and hear that, good of themselves, none of them by themselves are enough.
Simply having access to the Bible is never enough. God meant his word to bring us to Christ, to bring us to God, to bring us to obedience.
These things are only useful as public expressions of changed attitudes inside.
Friends, don't let your privileges, and without doubt great privileges, don't let your privileges result in presumptuous wrong conclusions, as though outward things will impress God.
Outward things will probably impress a lot of us here, but they won't impress God.
Don't think for a moment that because God gets glory out of your sin, and he does, and he will, that he won't hold you accountable for your sin.
Now of course as Christians we never have to face the judgment for our sins. Christ faces that thing. But that's true.
Don't think because God gets glory out of your sin that that sin hasn't been accounted to Christ, because it has.
Don't be presumptuous with God's privileges. God means you to be responsible with them.
Saying them is God's means of bringing to you to himself, of bringing you to salvation, bringing you to real security. Let's pray.
Lord, how easily we become presumptuous, misunderstanding the things that you give us, the privileges.
And Lord, rather than responding as we ought to with thankful hearts, so often we simply put our confidence on having those things, whether it be church membership or baptism, or having the Bible, or being able to quote from the Bible, or being involved in church regularly, and so the list goes on.
Lord, help us to look at what's inside where you look. Help us, Lord, to be people who bow before you, who know as we come before you that we don't live according to what we know about you.
And who therefore, Lord, come recognizing that honestly and come to Jesus for forgiveness and salvation. And we pray in Christ's name. Amen.