Romans 3:19-20

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. -Romans 3:19-20

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Many of us know the Ten Commandments like don’t steal, don’t lie, and don’t murder.  What’s the purpose of these laws?  First, the reflect the character of God.  But second, just as important is that they help us to recognize our own messed up sinful nature.  On our own, it is impossible to keep all God’s laws.  For example, the Ten Commandments say to honor our parents.  Have you ever disrespected your mom or dad?  Have you ever talked back to them? 

My niece Taylor is a super cute baby.  She’s also a little sinner.  When we tell her not to do something, she ALWAYS wants to do it.  When we set a law for her to follow like don’t crawl on the wires, she immediately wants to break that law.  That’s her sinful nature at work.

We’re just like Taylor.  When we are told not to do something, there’s this fire inside of us that wants to disobey.  That fire is our sinful nature!

One purpose of God’s law is to show us how we are sinful and therefore we can’t follow His law perfectly.  God’s law teaches us that we can’t save ourselves.  We need a savior to help us.  That’s where Jesus comes in.  He saves us because we can’t save ourselves.

The law reminds us that we need Jesus.

Romans 3:10-12

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” -Romans 3:10-12

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We always think of ourselves better than we really are.  “I’m not that bad,” we think.  If you ask the average person if they are good enough to get into heaven, most would answer “yes.”  There’s an inherent narcissism that we all share.  We don’t judge ourselves by the same standards we judge others. 

The Bible puts us in our place.  It reminds us of our spiritual reality.  There is NO ONE who desires to do good.  There’s a fancy Christian-ese term we use called “total depravity.”  It basically means we’re so messed up that we don’t even know how messed up we are.  No one has the desire to do good.

Wait, but what about al the do-gooders in the world?  What about those who want to save the whales and promote racial justice and the like?  The Bible tells us any desire that we have to do good comes from God.  This is part of God’s “general grace” for all of humanity.  Whenever we see people doing good or even you doing good, it is by God’s grace and power that you even have that desire.  

This passage reminds the hold sin has upon us.  It reminds us that we are ALL in need of a savior.  And this reminds us that Jesus is that savior.

Do you think of yourself better than you really are?

Romans 3:5-8

5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world? 7 But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just. -Romans 3:5-8

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We’re so messed up we come up with new and creative ways to justify our sins.  Some of the Christians back in the Apostle Paul’s day said that they were helping God by sinning.  They believed that by allowing God to forgive them for their sins, they are helping God to display His glory, love, and forgiveness.  That’s messed up thinking!

That’s like saying we should celebrate law enforcement who abuse their position of power because they helped to highlight racial injustice for Americans.  Sin is still sin.

By the grace of God, our Lord can take our failures and our sins and still redeem them for good.  But we still need to own up to how we have fallen short of God’s standards.  And by no means should we ever say that our sins help God.  That’s just twisted thinking.

Do you find yourself justifying your sins?  Maybe you didn’t do it as badly as the Romans did back in the day, but there might be other ways that you try to rationalize your sins.  “It’s not that bad. Who is it hurting anyway?”

If so, turn to Jesus and repent.  Ask him to help you to hate sin just as much as he does.  Ask him to change your heart and your perspective on sin.

Romans 2:1-16

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality.

12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

-Romans 2:1-16

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As Paul speaks to the followers in Rome, he reminds everyone that we are all sinful and broken. As human beings, we were all born with sin because of the nature of this world. Paul speaks in the book of Romans how we need to change our minds and perspectives of the law from what we believed in the past in order to be saved as a Christian. But that comes after recognizing first that we are all broken people. 

You know when a friend calls you out for having a certain "bad" habit or the way you acted a certain way in a situation? We usually don't know what wrongs we did until someone has to point it out. Then, we move on to accepting the fact and starting to change and better ourselves. This is what Paul is here to do. He is helping us understand our sins and our evil doings even when we don't realize we are doing something bad. He is here to criticize us and tell us how to be more righteous.

Paul starts this chapter by calling us hypocrites and that we need to stop judging other people when we do the same. Aren't there people everywhere who act hypocritical? Well, only God is allowed to judge us because He can. Because He has done nothing wrong and is the most righteous in this world. Everyone else, even if they don't do obviously bad things, still has some sort of sin in them that prevents them from the right of judgment. What we want as Christians is the ability to know what is right and only do good/right things. We need to learn the way to righteousness.

Do you think you know what is right and wrong in the eyes of God? Do you think you meet God's standard? Do you understand your sins and want to be a righteous person? I would take this time to ask God to help you make changes in your life to be a better child of God and pursue righteousness.

Acts 1:16-32

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

-Acts 1:16-32

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There are parts of the Bible that appear harsh but are actually loving.  This is one of those passages.  The Apostle Paul gives a long list of sins that go against God’s will for us.  It definitely doesn’t make you feel warm and fuzzy reading all this.

What’s the purpose of this passage then?  It’s not designed just to make us feel terrible.  It’s designed to arouse an understanding that we are messed up and in need of a savior.

My niece Taylor has a hole in her heart.  She can’t feel the effects of it and right now appears to be a perfectly healthy baby.  But the doctors using sophisticated machines can see that there is something wrong with her heart.  When they told us about Taylor’s condition, it was painful, but necessary.  It compelled us to find a solution to her heart problem.  If we ignored the problem, it will eventually kill Taylor.

We all have spiritual heart problems.  That’s what this passage is trying to tell us.  The Bible is like a doctor telling us there’s something wrong within us even though on the surface things might look fine.  It compiles us to find a solution to our spiritual heart problem—Jesus Christ.  If we ignore the problem, it will eventually kill us—eternally.

So this passage, though harsh, is actually loving.  It loves us by telling us the truth so that we can seek salvation and comfort in the arms of Jesus.

Romans 1:8-15

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

-Romans 1:8-15

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God doesn’t need us to do His work, but He invites to join His work for our benefit.  The Apostle Paul was possibly one of the greatest missionaries who ever lived.  It’s possible that apart from Jesus, the Apostle Paul did more to further the Christian faith than anyone else.

Yet, from this passage, it’s clear that God didn’t need to use him.  Notice how the passage tells us that Roman Christians were growing in their faith.  And Paul’s writing also tells us that at this point he has not yet had a chance to visit Rome.  Paul had no direct hand in helping the Roman church start or grow.  God did!

God didn’t need Paul to serve Him.  God invited Paul to serve Him so that the Apostle can enjoy the deep satisfaction in helping others know and grow in Jesus.  In the same way, God doesn’t need us.  He doesn’t need me for AYL or Harvesters.  He doesn’t need you either.

Instead, God invites us to His story.  He invites us to join Him in this adventure to save the world.  He invites us not for His benefit, but for our benefit.  When we do God’s will and serve Him, we feel His glory.

How is God inviting you to His work on earth?  Are you listening?

Romans 1: 1-7

 Paul, a servant[a] of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David[b] according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
-Romans 1:1-7

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    Wow....after reading this little blurb, I am speechless. There's nothing too special about these verses; nothing drastic has happened; however, from these verses, I am able to infer the kind of person Paul is. Paul is a devoted Christian and in introducing himself, he shares the gospel and that's completely mind-boggling to me. Paul is so confident and sure of his faith that it has become who he identifies himself as. Whenever I meet new people I introduce myself like: " Hi my name is Jenny. I am a senior nursing major at Ramapo College. I live in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. I am Chinese American." But I usually don't even introduce myself as a Christian, let alone share the gospel as I introduce myself. To be honest, in reading these verses I am a little ashamed of myself. I have a lot to learn from Paul, starting with having my faith be a part of my identity; changing my introduction to be: "Hi my name is Jenny and I'm a Christian."