Sermons
Why the Need for the Gospel
Series: The Message of Romans2 The Message of Romans
Why the Need for the Gospel?
Rom. 3:19-20
Introduction:
1. “By faith the righteous shall live,” says Rom. 1:17.
2. Theoretically if we had kept the law we would not need to be saved. Having kept the commandments, we would have no condemnation. But herein lies the problem. We have sinned and the consequence is death (Gen. 3:3; Rom. 3:23). We are under the wrath of God for having violated the law. We are helpless and ungodly (Rom. 5:6ff). We need the power of God to be saved from death (Rom. 1:16).
3. But some do not see it that way. Some think “the entrance exam won’t be that tough.” Some think they can make up for the sins they have committed by doing good things. Such positions diminish the severity of sin and do not comprehend the severity of the wrath of God. This is a common line of reasoning among perpetrators of crime. We just do not see ourselves as “that bad.” We justify our violations. Commendably, we want to do better and often think that we can make up for anything wrong we have done.
4. If this were the case there would really be no need for the gospel, but Paul makes it clear in Rom. 1:18-3:20 why we need the power of God to be saved. He addresses both Gentiles and Jews and concludes that all are under the condemnation of sin. He says that the law closes every mouth and makes the whole world accountable and that by law “no flesh will be justified in God’s sight.”
Discussion:
I. Gentiles are transgressors (1:18-32).
A. The Gentiles did not have the law of God in written form so why should they be
considered transgressors (cf. 4:15)?
1. Sometimes people make a similar argument today. “Some do not have the Bible. They
are surely not considered guilty of violation.” “I did not know it was wrong, so I am not
guilty.”
2. But Paul reasons that the Gentiles had general revelation (1:18-23). Cf. Psa. 19:1-6;
Acts 14:17.
B. The creation reveals something about God. It certainly does not reveal the details that the
Law of Moses revealed. But it reveals God’s invisible attributes, His eternal power and
divine nature.
1. Paul does not condemn the Gentiles for not offering the appropriate sacrifices as
stipulated in the Law of Moses.
2. He condemns them of more fundamental disobedience. They did not honor Him as
God or give thanks (1:21).
3. In Acts 14:17 Paul reasoned with the idolaters at Lystra about the God who made the
heaven and the earth (15) and said, “He did not leave Himself without witness, in that
He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts
with food and gladness.” Cf. Heb. 11:6.
4. In Acts 17 Paul reasoned with the Athenians that the God who made the world and all
things in it is the one their poets said, “We are His children.” “Being then the children
of God, we ought not think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone” (28-29).
5. All people have general revelation and are accountable to honor the Creator and to give
thanks for His provision. But instead of doing this they elevated themselves and
exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible
man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
C. God gave them over (24-32).
1. In other words, God allowed them to do this. He did not prevent them or stand in their
way.
2. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather
than the Creator. (They honored the gift instead of the gift giver.)
3. They gave themselves to unnatural sexual practices: women with women, and men
with men.
4. They were filled with “unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant,
boastful, inventers of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding,
untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God,
that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same,
but also give hearty approval to those who practice them” (1:29-32).
5. Note that they have deliberately rejected God as Creator. The one who gives. The one
who creates for us. The one who provides rain and fruitful seasons, food, and gladness.
They rejected Him and created their own gods who validated destructive behaviors.
Behaviors, that all know are not good and are worthy of death, but additionally, they
encourage such behaviors.
6. Gentiles are not innocent, but guilty and accountable to God!
D. Paul summarizes in Rom. 2:12-15.
1. Gentiles may not have the written law of Moses like the Jews, but they know better
than what they are doing.
2. Their conscience either accuses them or defends them. They have an instinctive law
written on their hearts. They are without excuse (20).
3. All of us do. We have a sense of right and wrong.
4. Paul’s point is that Gentiles know better than what they do! Paul is like a parent
speaking to his children, “You know better than that.” Our secular court system is
testimony to our innate understanding of a system of right and wrong.
E. As you look over the list of practices in Rom. 1:29ff it is generally recognized that these
behaviors are inappropriate. Do you see some things that you have done?
II. Jews are transgressors (2:1-29).
A. Jews pass judgment on others but practice the same things. Thus, they are without
excuse (1).
1. We all know that Gentiles do not do the right thing.
2. But Jews, although they have the law of God do the same things that the Gentiles do.
3. They cannot escape the judgment of God.
B. What characterizes their lives?
1. Condemning others while practicing what they are condemning.
2. Stubbornness.
3. Unrepentance.
4. Selfish ambition.
5. Disobedience to the truth.
6. Obedience to unrighteousness.
7. These behaviors result in tribulation and distress and the storing up of wrath and
revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
8. What should they be doing? Good and persevering in it.
C. They are under the Law of Moses, but condemned by it because they are not doing it
(2:12-13). Note 2:17-24.
1. Paul suggests that Gentiles who do right as best they can, given what they know, are
better off than Jews who have the Law of Moses but do not practice it.
2. He advocates a circumcision of the heart over a mere circumcision of the flesh.
III. In Rom. 3:1-20 Paul says that God is faithful even though some Jews were unbelieving.
A. So, God is not unjust in inflicting wrath on Jewish unbelievers.
B. Even though Jews are privileged, unbelief still results in just condemnation.
C. So, all are under sin, Jews, and Greeks.
D. Paul puts 7 O.T. texts together to define the condition of man (3:10-18).
1. Psa. 14:1-3.
2. Psa. 53:1-3
3. Psa. 5:9.
4. Psa. 140:3.
5. Psa. 10:7.
6. Isa. 59:7.
7. Psa. 36:1.
E. This stands in contrast to God’s faithfulness (cf. Psa. 36:5-9).
IV. Paul’s conclusion therefore is, “Whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.”
A. What law is Paul referring to? The Mosaic Law? The Law of the conscience? The Jews
were condemned for not doing right under the Mosaic Law. The Gentiles were
condemned for not doing right under the Law of their conscience.
B. Under what Law of God are you NOT condemned? Law as a system results in
condemnation. We may not like to see ourselves as transgressors. We may justify our
behavior. We may think it is “really not that bad.” We may be ignorant of some of our
violations. We may think that we can make up for the wrong that we have done by
doing good things.
C. Paul says, “You are condemned!” It is not an easy message to hear. You have not kept
the commandments and so you deserve to pay the penalty of death. It is all bad news at
this point! BUT there is the power of God that provides the remedy for this situation.
D. Beginning in 3:21 Paul is going to tell us about it.
Conclusion:
1. He is going to tell us that there is a righteousness that comes from God.
2. He is going to tell us that it is appropriated by faith.
3. He is going to tell us that it is available to everyone who believes; that everyone who trusts in God’s power to save indeed can be saved.
