If every man is lost, God is true and loses nothing. God is not leaning on us for anything. Let God be true, let God be righteous, let God be faithful, let God be

God and every man a liar and perishing.

Does the unfaithfulness of man nullify the faithfulness of God?

That's the telling question John Piper tackles from

Romans 3, 1 to 8 in this episode of Light and Truth. The sermon was originally

preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church on March 7, 1999.

Verse 1. Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Now you can see

what's up here. He's expressing in his own words what somebody is objecting in his mind or either, as he recalls from many synagogue debates,

your gospel has undermined the Old Testament teaching

that the Jews are a very special and privileged people who have many

advantages God has chosen them out of all the world he's given the many gifts and

you seem to just level them out and if that's the truth, if he undermines what the

Old Testament teaches, if he undermines the elect position of Israel, there's no future for this gospel.

There is no future for this gospel in the world.

So he has to take a detour and answer this year.

Verse 2 begins his answer. Are there any advantages and he answers great in every respect and then he starts what looks

like is a list and he never gets beyond number one in the list.

He says first of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.

That's a great advantage. They have the word of God. God gave them the law, God gave them the prophets, God gave them the writings,

they have the oracles of God and he didn't give them to anybody else in the world before the apostles came on the scene to write the New Testament.

Now he said there's a list by saying first of all but he doesn't finish the list because he's

on a detour.

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