[Chapter 3-3] Do You Thank God for The Lord? (Romans 3:10-31)
(Romans 3:10-31)
“As it is written:
‘There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.
Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit;
The poison of asps is under their lips;
Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Destruction and misery are in their ways;
And the way of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Now
we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the
law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be
justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now
the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed
by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through
faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no
difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through
faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God
had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate
at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It
is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the
deeds of the law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the
God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God
who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through
faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the
contrary, we establish the law.”
Human beings have nothing to boast with the flesh
Romans
3:10-12 states, “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none
who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned
aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none that does
good, no, not one.” We are all full of sins because of the flesh in
front of God. Can one become righteous by oneself with the flesh? Can
there be righteous fleshes by nature before God? A human being can never
become righteous with the flesh. The flesh can never be righteous
without being delivered from sins through Jesus Christ.
Those
whose sins are blotted out have nothing to boast with their fleshes. We
whose sins are blotted out also cannot but turn aside with our flesh
and have no ability to do good. We cannot say we lead good lives except
when we serve the Lord and do spiritual work. Just as Jesus said, “That
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6), the flesh only wants to satisfy its lust
while the spirit desires to walk by the Spirit. The flesh can never be
transformed into the spirit.
All
human beings are born sinful, live under sin, die in vain and are
eventually cast into the lake of fire in hell. They wouldn’t have had
hope if God hadn’t sent His only begotten Son to the world to save them
from all their sins. If there is any hope for us, it is just because God
gave us a true hope. If it were not for God, we would have neither
righteousness nor hope. It is true when we investigate the fate of every
individual including you and me in the world.
Even
though we are called as “the lords of all creation, we are destined to
be born sinful, regardless of our wills, live in vain and go to hell.
How transient we are! We usually identify human being’s ephemeral life
with that a dayfly that is born and lives all its life in a day and dies
and goes back to dust in vain. We have no hope without Jesus. The only
necessary things human beings do in their lives is to be born, eat,
drink, die and go to hell, however famous they may be or how great their
exploits may have been. We live in vain and disappear in vain and are
destined to receive the eternal judgment.
However,
God gave us the law to give us the knowledge of sin and then freely
made us righteous by His grace through the remission of sins in Jesus
Christ. He sent His only begotten Son Jesus, who took all our sins and
was crucified, to be a propitiation to those who believe in the baptism
and the blood of Jesus. God set forth Jesus to be a propitiation for us
and made us righteous.
How
can those who have the remission of sins become righteous? Do we, who
have the remission of sins, have the righteousness of the flesh? Do we
have any side to boast before God? We have nothing to boast with the
flesh. Because of God, the Lord, we are delighted and give thanks to
Him, for we have the remission of sins, the confirmation of salvation
and everlasting lives.
We
who have the remission of sins are nothing without God. Does the flesh
of a human being have something to boast? Is the flesh righteous at all?
Do we have anything to boast in the 70-80 years of our lives? A human
being has nothing righteous. What do we have to boast before God? The
flesh really does not have anything to boast. The flesh has nothing to
boast before God, not even 0.1%.
The only thing that we can boast is the righteousness of God
What
we boast is that the Lord saved us from our sins, as it is written,
“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being
witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.” The Lord is our eternal life and
Savior. He made us righteous. We are righteous because Jesus perfectly
saved us. We have nothing to boast with the flesh or with the deeds of
the law. We are thankful and praise the Lord for being baptized and for
washing away all the sins of the world to fulfill all righteousness.
We
come to have the righteousness of faith. The Lord saved all the people
in the world from their sins without leaving one person out. The
salvation of God makes us happy and gives us hope. It gives us a new
power. We have nothing to boast but the Lord. Far from boasting our
righteousness before God, we are shameful. Many people try to offer
their efforts to God with the pride of their deeds and their own
righteousness, but their self-righteous egos are like dirty cloths. They
may have something to boast to each other or to themselves, but nothing
before God.
The
Lord is the perfect Savior to us. ‘Jesus’ means ‘the Savior’ and He is
said to be Christ too. This means that the Savior who came in the
likeness of men was God. We call Him “Jesus Christ.” Jesus is our Savior
and God. We give thanks to the Lord, praise Him, do righteous works
before Him and have faithful lives because God completely saved us. Only
believers in God can do righteous works.
We
can work righteously without sin because the Lord took away all the
sins of the world and became our Savior who saved us from all our sins.
We cannot settle the problem of sin by ourselves. A human being can
neither eliminate his/her sins nor keep God’s righteousness by doing
good deeds with the flesh.
God
blotted out all our sins and we received the righteousness from God. We
are righteous. Can we keep our righteousness by sanctifying our flesh
with virtuous deeds on our part? If one could do so, he/she would be an
elder brother/sister to Jesus. Jesus could never be the Savior to such a
person. We have an instinct for keeping our own righteousness with the
ability of our flesh and emotions without realizing it. The flesh acts
on instinct. We instinctively struggle not to be in danger when we meet
danger, want to eat a lot when we see delicious food, and want to play
when we see something interesting.
We
instinctively want to keep the righteousness of God with the flesh
because the flesh acts on instinct. However, we cannot. Our being saved
is not through our own righteousness. We can never be saved by keeping
the law well, doing good deeds with the flesh or by our dedicating
ourselves to God. Our exploits are not included in the righteousness of
God, not even 0.1%. We are made righteous by believing that God came to
the world in the likeness of men and received baptism from John the
Baptist before He was crucified to fulfill all righteousness, which
perfectly saved us from our sins.
The Lord who saved us is the perfect Savior
The
Lord fulfilled all righteousness by taking away all the sins that human
beings commit before they die, became the perfect Savior to them, and
made us righteous. God made us perfect by fulfilling all righteousness.
God enabled us to work spiritually. We have the right to work
spiritually before God because we received His righteousness, becoming
sinless even though our flesh continues to work carnally. However, those
whose sins are not blotted out yet cannot work spiritually. They are
not qualified to do so.
We
are qualified to do the spiritual things by God. Now we can do the
things of the Spirit. We can do the righteous work of God apart from the
things of the flesh. How perfect it is that God became our Savior! God,
who created all things as well as human beings, is revealed to us as
the Lord of salvation because He came to the world and fulfilled all
righteousness. In His relations with us, God became our Lord and Savior
who saved us.
Salvation
would be imperfect if someone who is weak and has no ability saved us.
There would be a probability of failure sometime. On the contrary, the
One who saved us is not such a person. He is God and the Creator who
created all things. John 1:3 states, “All things were made through Him,
and without Him nothing was made that was made.” Who is Jesus? The
Savior. Who is the Savior? He is God, the Creator. God perfectly saved
us. Our salvation is perfect because He saved us. It lasts forever.
However our salvation would be invalid if He was not the Creator, but
rather, a person among creatures. It wouldn’t last long, and its
righteousness is like a filthy rag. If one wears perfect leather
clothes, they will never be worn out, even if one plays soccer or slides
on a slide. But if they weren’t perfect clothes, they would become worn
out at once.
The
Lord who saved us from our sins is not imperfect. The Lord who saved us
is God, who is perfect. The salvation of Jesus, who was baptized to
bear all our sins, crucified, rose again from the dead and is sitting on
the right hand of God, never becomes invalid, however weak believers’
flesh may be. This is the salvation that God gave us.
Our own righteousness should be broken for us to live by faith
In
the Bible, those who were full of their own righteousness lived through
various hardships because God wanted to break their righteousness
through those hardships. There are many passages like “However, high
places were not taken away” in the records about the kings. It means
that a human being himself/herself is not perfect in the flesh, but
he/she is made righteous by believing in the Lord.
My
beloved saints, our God perfectly saved us, no matter weak we may be.
We will die if we live only for our own righteousness. But the Lord God
completely saved us from sins. He will rejoice over us if we live for
the righteousness of the Lord, however weak we may be. Isaiah 53:5
states, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for
our iniquities.” God took away our iniquities once and for all. We don’t
need to be careful for fear that our righteousness should be broken.
Some
people have personalities similar to glass-vessels. I know a sister who
went to America. She was so noble; spoke carefully and never cursed,
whenever I met her. She used to say, “Oh! Mr. bad man,” to a strikingly
wicked man even though she received the remission of sins. She received
the remission of sins by believing in the baptism of Jesus and His blood
on the Cross, even though she was full of her own righteousness.
However, after she received the remission of sins, she was still full of
her own righteousness, so she was extremely careful in trying not to
express herself for fear that her righteousness would be broken. There
are many people who are like her. Does their righteousness last long? It
will be broken soon.
Does
your flesh have weaknesses even though you are saved? Yes. Do you live a
perfectly good life? We can live perfectly after the remission of sins
only when we walk with the Spirit. Only righteous works are qualified to
be good in front of God. We are praiseworthy when we work and walk with
the Spirit. We have nothing to be applauded with the flesh. Some people
among the saints who have the remission of sins try to keep their
righteousness for fear of it being broken.
However,
the Lord does not rejoice over them. Human righteousness will be broken
anyway. It would be better to be broken soon. It would be broken anyway
after 10 or 20 years. Therefore, the outward man would be better off
being broken now so that the inward man can live by faith. People try
not to break their righteousness, even though it will break anyway.
The
Lord became our Savior. How perfect our Savior is! The Lord God has
become our Savior. He saved both you and me. Do you become a sinner
again because of the infirmities of your flesh? No. God fulfilled all
righteousness. Our righteousness is broken many times after we are born
again of the water and the Spirit. Our evil is revealed many times as we
follow the Lord. It is revealed while trying to hide itself, in the
case of an introvert and it is revealed to other people in the case of
an extrovert. When our righteousness is revealed, only our righteousness
is broken while the righteousness of the Lord stands fast.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit
I
want you to believe that the Lord God became our perfect Savior.
Therefore, we must live by faith. God wants our own righteousness to be
broken and He is pleased with it. John 3:6 states, “That which is born
of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
The flesh cannot become the spirit. In Buddhism, there is “the doctrine
of emancipation from worldly existence.” It insists that the flesh can
become a spirit. The flesh can never become a spirit. No, it cannot. Who
can do it? Come on. Nobody can do it.
Sung-chul,
a very famous Korean monk in contemporary Buddhism, died some years
ago. He sought after the truth by meditating while facing a wall for
almost 2 decades. He neither lay down to sleep for a decade to achieve
spiritual enlightenment. He even slept sitting for those 10 years, and
he tried to have only a good mind, defeating evil thoughts, adultery,
fornication, murder, theft, wickedness, pride, and foolishness that came
up from within him. Many people thought that he was a living Buddha.
However, he himself knew that he could not extinguish the lusts of his
flesh at all, so he left a piece of a Nirvana poem when he was about to
die, after cultivating his mind for almost 2 decades in the heart of
mountains:
“For
I have deceived many men and women during my lifetime, My sins are
greater than the highest mountain. I will fall into the endless hell,
And my lamentation will be divided into ten thousands ways. A piece of
red sun goes down behind the blue mountains.”
All
the religious people of the world admired his sublime personality and
seemingly profound teachings. However, he himself actually said that he
would go to hell.
The
flesh can never be the spirit, but our souls become God’s children when
we are born again by believing in His salvation. We just became the new
creatures by the grace of God who resurrected us in His righteousness. A
human being cannot be renewed by his/her own efforts.
Ministers,
monks, and Catholic fathers who participate in prison ministry advise
prisoners to live a virtuous life for the rest of their lives. However,
the flesh never changes. God wants us to abandon our own righteousness
and firmly believe that the Lord is our Savior. Believe in the baptism
and the Cross of Jesus. Then, you will have the great faith in
salvation.
Now God looks for believers
The
Lord became a propitiation to us. He was baptized to take away all
things that separated God the Father from human beings. He was crucified
to pay the wages of our sin, was judged in our place, and saved us from
all sins. God became a propitiation to us.
He
says, “God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to
demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed
over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the
present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier
of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:25-26).
God
came to the world and fulfilled all righteousness. Everybody in the
world is sinless. Nobody goes to hell if he/she just believes in the
perfect salvation of God. He/she goes to hell due to his/her unbelief.
One can be saved if he/she forsakes his/her own righteousness and
hypocrisy and accepts God as the Savior by believing in Jesus’ baptism
and death on the Cross. We live in a state of no sin from God’s
viewpoint because He took all the sins of the world onto Him and
eliminated them.
I
believe in God. So do you. He is the Savior. We have no sin. The Lord
God perfectly saved us. The only problem left for us is how we spend the
rest of our lives. How should we live? We should walk with the Spirit.
We have no reason to worry about eliminating our sins. The words, “God
had passed over the sins that were previously committed,” means that God
does not condemn us for our sins. We have no sin and nothing to be
judged because God already saved us from our sins by receiving baptism
from John the Baptist to take them away and by being crucified.
Therefore, God does not condemn us for our sins. He looks for those who
believe this truth with the heart.
The
Bible says that there is none righteous, but we are made righteous by
the faith in God. God says, “There is none righteous, no, not one; There
is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have
all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none
who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb; With their
tongues they have practiced deceit; The poison of asps is under their
lips; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are
swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the
way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their
eyes” (Romans 3:10-18).
God
came to the world and took away all the sins of those who do every kind
of evils while living this world and have no righteousness and became
unprofitable in the Jordan River. Do you believe it?
Now,
God looks for people who believe that He saved them from all their
sins. The eyes of the lord are upon the righteous. He encourages us, the
righteous. He takes care of us, is always with us, keeps us and works
with us. God entrusted us with righteous works. Jesus will grieve more
than we do if we grieve at the evils of our flesh. “Why do you grieve at
your sins when I already saved you from all your sins.”
What
we have to do now is to believe in God, walk with the Spirit and preach
the gospel to harvest souls. Those are the things we have to do now. Do
you believe this? Do not show off your own righteousness or try to
establish it either, comparing your righteousness with others to show it
off. Do not slander the person who is not righteous by him/herself. In
fact, there is no righteous human being by nature.
We give thanks to the Lord who saved us through His baptism and the Cross
We
have nothing to boast before God except His love, which saved us
perfectly. All we have to do is to boast of God’s salvation, praise it,
glorify Him, and preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We don’t
need to worry about sin and going to hell. “There is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Never. Do
you see it? One goes to hell if he/she does not unite with the fact that
the Lord saved him/her with His righteous act. However, one does not
need to worry about going to hell if he/she believes it.
The
Lord God saved us from all sins with the baptism and the blood of
Jesus. How thankful we are! “Therefore we conclude that a man is
justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is He the God of
the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the
Gentiles also” (Romans 3:28-29).
God
is not only the God of the Jews, but also the God of the Gentiles. He
is God to all human beings. The Lord God saved us from our sins. In
order to do so, He came to the world, was baptized to bear all our sins,
and was crucified to be judged for all the sins. Therefore, He became
the God and the Savior of all human beings. This is the conclusion of
Romans chapter 3. The Apostle Paul believed this. We believe this too.
The
Apostle Paul does not only talk about the weakness of the flesh, but
also about the righteousness of God apart from the law. We cannot be
saved by the deeds of the law. By what can we be delivered? By the faith
in God’s salvation. The Lord God became a propitiation to us and passed
over the sins that were previously committed. Therefore, unbelievers
will be judged for the sin of being against the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t
judge the sins that were committed by the weakness of the flesh because
there is no sin in the world.
Therefore,
we must believe in the Lord God. There is no condemnation or judgment
to believers. God is the God of believers, so we must spend the rest of
our lives by walking with the Spirit. We can always do the things of the
Spirit because all our sins were forgiven already, even though our
flesh wants to live lustfully. The Lord God is the God of both the Jews
and the Gentiles. He is also the God of both of believers and
unbelievers. This means that God wants all human beings to be saved from
their sins. He can become the Savior of unbelievers. He has already
become the God of believers.
I
give thanks to the Lord God from the bottom of the heart. How miserable
I would have been if the Lord God had not been, if He had not come to
this world in the likeness of a human flesh, and if He had not been
baptized in the Jordan River to take away all our sins. If He did not
become our perfect Savior, we would be sinners again after receiving the
remission of sins because we are weak until the day we die. I give
thanks to the Lord God.
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