How to Rescue a Moralist

About this sermon

Introduction: The mouth must be shut for the soul to be saved. The mouth must be closed with respect to arguments, excuses, justifications, explanations, that seek to avoid the prosecuting power of the law of God. The law of God demonstrates God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness. It brings its charges, to which man opens his mouth with his defenses. This is one of the ways that men suppress the truth. The law of God demonstrates the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man in a way that demonstrates universal guilt. We have all violated God’s standards. We have all dishonored the almighty. We have all demonstrated that we are suppressors of truth. We all stand guilty before God as sinners, and as such, prove ourselves deserving of His wrath. And all of this is INFINITELY troubling. Mankind couldn’t be in more danger. And that is what the law of God is meant to do. It is meant to close our mouths. It’s mercy when our mouths are closed. When we stop excusing, then we can be rescued. When we stop justifying, then we can be justified. Forgiveness is found when we stop arguing with God about what we deserve and instead cast ourselves upon God’s mercy in Christ Jesus. Forgiveness is found where there is repentance. You can’t be your own defense attorney and be repentant at the same time. Romans 3:19 19 Now we know that 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; Paul has shown how the idolatry of the pagan world renders man without excuse on the basis of natural revelation. Now he will show how the hypocrisy of the religious world renders man without excuse on the basis of special revelation. Paul has shown man’s suppression of truth using the Gentile world as his model. He now seeks to destroy a kind of COMPLACENCY that exists in the face of that evidence. Someone has heard this first chapter, and they feel safe. Not safe because of the grace of God in Jesus Christ, but safe based upon their own character and performance. They just don’t feel like the 1st chapter has anything to do with them. THERE ARE LOTS OF PEOPLE WHO FEEL SAFE LIKE THIS. The world is full of people who will acknowledge that God hates immorality and yet they don’t feel indicted by that. The world is full of people who will agree that guilty sinners deserve the wrath of God, and yet they don’t feel they need to be saved from that wrath. “THERE ARE THOSE IMMORAL PEOPLE, YOU SEE, BUT I’M NOT ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE.” The world is full of people who think like that. PAUL NOW IS NOT ONLY EXPLAINING WHY THAT ATTITUDE IS WRONG, BUT BY EXPLAING HE ALSO SEEKS TO RESCUE SUCH PEOPLE FROM THE JUDGMENT THAT WILL BE AT THE END OF THEIR WRONG THINKING. AND HE ESPECIALLY HAS THE JEWS IN MIND AT THIS POINT. While there are pagan moralists (who would certainly be addressed by what Paul says here), the larger context makes clear that Paul is now turning his attention to his own people according to the flesh. This section addresses the false sense of safety felt by the Jewish moralist. This is the person who has the law of God. This is the person who glories in their knowledge of the law of God. This is the person who feels justified by their professed practice of the law of God. How do you evangelize such a person? How do you rescue the blind religious moralist? We know that in the ultimate sense, we don’t rescue anyone. But as instruments of God’s saving work, and as ambassadors of God’s saving message, we do have a role to play. WHAT DOES PAUL DO HERE? What we see in verses 1-5, are four ways to rescue the moralist. TELL THE MORALIST THE TRUTH ABOUT MORALISTS (vs.1a) The first thing that Paul does is he addresses the moralist on a personal level. He addresses an imaginary individual, but only imaginary in the sense that he represents REAL people. There is a man, there is a woman, who is the kind of person that Paul is addressing. He has met this kind of person MANY times as he has preached the gospel. There’s a kind of person who listens to the first chapter and judges those whom Paul has described. “Yes,” says this person, “that pagan idolater, that immoral pagan culture, is without excuse. They are damnable, they deserve the judgment of God.” “THE PAGAN IS WITHOUT EXCUSE” is the judgment. And Paul says, to the kind of person that he’s addressing, “I want you to understand that the very fact that you can recognize THEIR sinfulness is evidence that you are without excuse for YOUR sinfulness.