The Knowledge – 3
Reading: Romans 2:12 – 3:8
Text: as reading
Place ……………………………………….. Date
Victoria Baptist Church – 25/09/2011
I want to remind you what this series is all about
We’ve called it ‘the knowledge’ and we’ve taken that phrase from London Taxi drivers.
All licensed London taxi drivers need to pass a special test before they can drive one of the Capital’s famous black cabs round this wonderful, inspiring city. This test is called the Knowledge.
- All-London drivers – also known as Green Badge drivers – need a detailed knowledge of London within a six mile radius of Charing Cross. And to be approved for this they have to learn, by heart, 320 routes (they call them runs). They also need to know all the landmarks and places of interest along the runs.
- It takes between two and four years to pass the All-London Knowledge.
Christian truth can sometimes feel like this road map – wonderful, inspiring, but rather complex unless you know your way around.
- So we called this series the Knowledge because I want to give you some routes, some road maps to have with you in life that give you a framework for understanding Christianity.
- I’m not going to stand here and say that we’ll give you ten easy steps to knowing Christian truth. Navigating the truths of our faith requires us to put a time and head-space into understanding what the Bible says about God’s work in our lives and in the world around us
So in this series we are taking the book of Romans and highlighting the major routes.
Today Romans 2:12-3:8 and a major theme which comes out here – hypocrisy and how to avoid it.
And we get into this by knowing the back-story.
Ch1 – God’s wrath burns against wayward mankind
- In chapter 1 the author (Paul) starts his story by talking about God’s wrath against people who have ignored the moral laws he placed within the cosmos. Especially some forms of sexual deviation.
- In fact he says this got so bad that God gave up on these people and left them to reap the consequences of their own depravity.
Now someone might say “hey, that’s rather tough isn’t it?” to which Paul responds by saying that God’s judgement is always based on the truth of his law, it’s always righteous and always desiring that people should repent, turn around and life joy-filled holy lives.
- To which we might say “but what about those people who have never heard – what about the non-Jews (or Gentiles)?”
ch 2 – God’s assessments are always righteous
Paul starts this story in chapter 2 and he says unequivocally that we are all treated the same (v11) “God does not show favouritism!”
For Jews their guiding light is the law – for non-Jews their guiding light is their conscience.
A law unto ourselves?
Have you ever heard the phrase “Oh – they’re a law unto themselves”? – it comes from this passage in v 14 (although the NIV has a better translation)
- We use that phrase to speak bout people who just flout the rules and do their own thing.
Actually the way Paul uses this phrase is very different
We all know that there are many many good people who do not profess to be Christians.
- “He’s such an pleasant person he ought to be a Christian”
- “She’s so conscientious you would have thought she’s a Christian but she isn’t”
So by what yardstick can God assess non-Jewish people who don’t have his law as their life’s framework?
Paul says something quite radical in v14
- Rom 2:14-15 … when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, (non-Christian people doing good things) they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the (Jewish) law,
15 [so] they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness,
Conscience
Non-Jews have their own law that has been written into their hearts – and it’s their conscience.
- And it’s a powerful device – placed in every one of us by our creator
And (I love this example) in July 2008 a conscience stricken man walked into Lewisham police station to confess to the murder of two French students and was told by the office on duty “would you please wait in the queue over there” – which he did! – How very British!
A man in Cairns, Australia gave himself up in January of this year having committed a murder over 20 years ago – why? Because he could not live with his conscience.
- His conscience would not leave im alone and he was driven by is conscience to give himself up after 20 years!
Charles IX (9th) of Spain who was the murderer of so many Christians once said to his doctor
- “Doctor, for months I’ve been in a fever physically and spiritually. If only I had spared the innocents and the weak-minded and the cripples.
Charles 2nd couldn’t sleep sometimes without monks being present for him to confess to
Richard III, murderer of his two nephews, would have periods where he would pick up his sword and fight with what he thought were the spirits of his two nephews who had returned from the grave to haunt him.
And the Bible is peppered with stories of people whose consciences sprang into action when they went outside what they knew to be God’s will for their lives
Adam and Eve went and hid themselves and clothed themselves with fig leaves to hide their nakedness – because for the first time their conscience had been crossed and was screaming at them that they had dome something terrifying.
Esau sold his birthright for a pot of stew and years later could not get it back from his father in spite of all his tears – his conscience drove him almost mad!
Ahab and Naboth’s vineyard >>>
Conscience is the unblinking internal eye before which every one of our thoughts, every imagination, every action is held up for personal approval or censure.
What about your conscience?
Learn to listen to it – it is God moral compass placed into us as part of the created order
Learn to listen to it – especially if you’re young before it gets seared by cynicism or weakened by neglect.
From that point to the end of chap 3 We see the major plank in Paul’s argument – both conscience and the law lead us to the conclusion that everyone has sinned <ppt>
everyone has sinned
First the gentiles (1:18-1:32)
You can hear the Jews cheering in the background!
Then the Jews (ch 2 & start of 3 – 1-8)
You can hear the Jews shuffling uncomfortably in their seats – saying ‘you must be joking’
Therefore everyone (3:9 – 3:20)
But by this time the logic of Paul’s argument is so unimpeachable
The Jews are as unrighteous as anyone (3:1-8)
So we might well ask “What’s the point of being a Jew, or being in God’s people at all?”
Paul anticipates exactly this question
- Rom 3:1 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?
What we’ve got here in ch 3 is a ‘diatribe’ – a debate between two people each arguing the truth of their case.
Imagine a heckler at Hyde park – someone is tossing in objections to the speaker
- and the Jews would object very strongly to some of what Paul is saying!
-
They would say that
Objection 1: Paul is undermining God’s covenant
- Circumcision a sign of God’s covenant – his promise to his people. – and surely that promise meant that his people were righteous in God’s reckoning
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so if circumcision no longer means anything, neither does God’s covenant, so what’s the point of being in God’s people?
So what’s the value of being a Jew? Paul says:
- 2 Much in every way! [for a start], they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
Who has God given his word to? – His people
Who has God consistently communicated to? – His people
Same it true today
Who has God given his word to? – His people – the church
Who has God consistently communicated to? – His people – the church of Jesus Christ-followers
The local church is the hope of the world!
Objection 2: Paul’s teaching nullifies God’s faithfulness
- 3 What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?
If God’s people are unfaithful, does that mean that he is?
After all, what is seen in God’s people should reflect what God is like
So is God unfaithful?
- 4 Not at all! (strong word – ‘no way!’) Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”
Objection 3: Paul’s teaching impugns God’s justice
I.e. If everyone is unrighteous and therefore a target of God’s anger then that’s not fair – God is being unjust
- 5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.)
The more unrighteous a criminal is the more righteous the judge appears to be in comparison – but that’s not fair on the criminal – surely there must be some objectivity here!
And if God does bring his wrath to bear on the gentiles – surely his own people ought to escape!
- 6 Certainly not! (no way again)
Asks the heckler a counter-question
If that were so, how could God judge the world?
Objection 4: Paul’s teaching falsely promotes God’s glory (7-8)
- 7 Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?”
- 8 Why not say– as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say–” Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved.
There is enormous value in being a Jew
God gave his word to them!
Conclusion of this line of reasoning
- 9 What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.
It’s the whole human race that is in sin
It’s a dire message
What can possibly be done about it?
I’ll preach on that next week!
At this point Paul appears to be asking the same question a second time and coming up with a different answer
“Are we any better” – this time “no we’re not”
We can understand this only by recognising the kind of advantage that Paul has in mind
In v2 – he’s asking ‘is there any benefit in being a Jews?’ (answer – yes – God gave you his word and trusted you with communicating it)
In v9 – he’s asking ‘are we, the Jews, any better off – in the sense of being God’s favourites? (answer – no – God has no favourites – we all deserve his displeasure regardless of our spiritual or racial heritage)
An important spiritual principle here
Our past heritage is no guarantee our present spirituality
The blessings of the past – great as they may be – is no guarantee of how we stand with God now
The UK, for all its faults, has a significant spiritual heritage
Men like Wesley and Whitfield
Social reformers like Wilberforce
The very legal system under which we live was founded on Christian values and principles
BUT UK PLC is as secular, as greedy and as godless as they come
