I originally preached this sermon at Millington Baptist Church on Feb. 2, 2025. The video is available here.
Hi, my name is Neil Shenvi and it’s a pleasure to be speaking to you today. Our passage this morning is Romans 3:19-26. You can turn with me there (or open it up on your iPhone), but the text will be displayed on the screen as well.
Christianity and the Examined Life
If you’ve seen the musical (or the movie) Wicked, a character named Fiyero sings a song called “Dancing Through Life.” The lyrics are as follows:
Dancing through life, skimming the surface
Gliding where turf is smooth
Life’s more painless for the brainless
Why think too hard when it’s so soothing
Dancing through life? No need to tough it
When you can slough it off as I do
Nothing matters but knowing nothing matters
It’s just life, so keep dancing through
Like Fiyero, too many people are living the unexamined life, living for the next weekend, the next big game, the next party, the next vacation. But they, like Fiyero, are trying to hide a gnawing emptiness, a longing for… for what? They’re not sure. They act as if they’re nothing but dust, nothing but molecules in motion, nothing but matter and energy in an empty, purposeless universe. But they can’t quite escape the nagging feeling that that isn’t true. Someone or something has set eternity in our hearts, making us long for more. And someone or something tugs at our conscience, whispering that all is not well with our souls. Someone or something makes us afraid to die.
So today, I want us to live the examined life for at least the next 39 minutes. I want to answer one of the most important questions anyone can ask: how can we know whether Christianity is true?
Christianity has answers to all the big questions in life: who are we? Where did we come from? What is the meaning of life? What happens when we die? If Christianity is true, then so much makes sense. But how can I know that Christianity is true? That’s the crucial question and it’s the one we’ll answer today.
My sermon will be divided into four parts. First, we’ll take a look at Romans 3:19-20 and ask: what does Paul tell us about our fundamental problem as human beings? Second, we’ll look at Romans 3:21-26 and ask: what is the solution to that problem? Third, we’ll show how this passage helps us answer the question: how can we know whether Christianity is true? And finally, I’ll apply this passage to all of us.
So first: what does the text tell us about our fundamental problem?
Second: what does the text tell us about the solution?
Third: how does the text show us how we can know that Christianity is true?
Fourth: Application.
Let’s begin by reading God’s Word:
“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. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
You are a sinner
Let’s start with the question: What is our fundamental problem as human beings? The Bible’s answer is: you are a sinner. That is your fundamental problem. You have broken God’s good law in thought, word, and deed, and because of that, you are under God’s curse. We see that in our passage today.
Verse 19 says: “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. 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
Here, Paul is summarizing what he’s been saying for the last three chapters, so let’s recap the book of Romans so far.
First, Romans 1 shows that Gentiles, non-Jews, have sinned. They have seen God’s attributes in the world He created “namely, his eternal power and divine nature” (v. 21). But they turned away from the true God to worship “images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” (v. 23). “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (v. 25). Therefore God gave them “gave them up to [the] dishonorable passions” (v. 26) of homosexual desire. They were filled with “all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness” (v. 29). Because of these sins, the first century Gentiles about whom Paul was speaking were under God’s curse.
And Paul was right. The pagan world was awful. Idolatry was everywhere. Slavery was everywhere. Adultery and divorce were rampant. The sexual abuse of young boys by older men was widespread. Roman emperors did it. When modern archaeologists excavate ancient Roman sites, do you know how they recognize a brothel, a house where prostitutes lived? Piles of dead baby skeletons. When prostitutes got pregnant and gave birth, they would just toss the baby in a hole or throw it down a well or into a sewer. Infanticide was also practiced by married couples, especially against little girls or against babies who were born with deformities. If you didn’t get the gender you wanted, you would just leave the tiny screaming baby outside to die of exposure. This is the Gentile world that God was condemning.
At this point, Paul’s Jewish listeners are probably cheering: “Yes. YES. Those godless Gentiles are storing up God’s judgment on themselves. God will repay them for all the evil they’ve done. That’s right, Paul. You tell them.”
But then we get to Chapter 2. How does Paul continue? He turns to the Jewish person who is cheering and says:
“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. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 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?” (Rom. 2:1-3)
He continues in 2:17-24: “if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent… you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
He’s saying to his Jewish hearers, “Thou art the man!” You, religious, observant Jew, you who revere the law and rely on it, you who despise the pagans: you are condemned by the very law you revere. Yes, the pagans break God’s law. Yes, that’s bad. But you also break God’s law. And in some ways it’s even worse, because they are sinning in darkness while you are sinning with full knowledge of what is good and right. You were supposed to be a light to the nations. You were supposed to show them God’s goodness, and mercy, and kindness, and justice. But instead, your behavior looks no different, and sometimes looks even worse, than the Gentiles around you.
So what is Paul’s conclusion? Chapter 3, verse 9:
“all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: 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.”
His conclusion is that both the first century Jews and the first century Gentiles were in big trouble.
Jew and Gentile Today
Now, how do these chapters apply to us today? Some of you might say, “ok, I’m not ethnically Jewish. I’m Irish. Or Japanese. Or Ghanaian. So I guess, technically, I am a Gentile. But I don’t live like Paul describes in Chapter 1. I’m not worshipping statues. I’m not throwing babies into sewers. So all that stuff doesn’t apply to me.”
And others of you might say “Actually, I am ethnically Jewish. But I’m not religious at all. I don’t even believe in God. I haven’t gone to synagogue since I was ten. So no, I don’t boast in the law or look down on Gentiles. Am I still somehow the Jew that Paul’s talking about in Chapter 2?”
But if you’re thinking primarily about ethnicity, you’re missing the point.
The Gentile in Romans 1 is characterized by his rejection of God’s law, his rejection of the God who reveals himself in Scripture, his rejection of the God who actually exists. Now, keep in mind that the Gentiles weren’t atheists. They believed in all kinds of gods. But they did not accept the God of the Bible as the only true, real, living God.
Similarly, the Jewish person in Romans 2 is characterized by his reliance on God’s law to earn him favor with God. Unlike the Gentile, he has God’s law and accepts the God of the Bible as the only true, real, living God. But he thinks his obedience to God’s law has made him righteous before God and has elevated him high above the immoral godless pagans.
Paul’s point is that both Jew and Gentile are condemned. If you reject the God of the Bible, and worship a god of your own invention, then you are under God’s judgment. You are like the 1st century Gentile. If you believe in the God of the Bible and revere his law, but think your obedience to God has earned His blessing, then you are also under God’s judgment. You are like the 1st century Jew. God’s law condemns both Jew and Gentile because the problem of sin is universal.
And it’s not just Paul who had this view of the law. Jesus says the same thing. Listen to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insultshis brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hellof fire.” – Matt. 5:21-22 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” – Matt. 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” – Matt. 5:43-44
Do you measure up to God’s law as Jesus explains it here? No you don’t.
But wait, it gets worse. In these passages, Jesus is expounding on what it means to love your neighbor as yourself, the idea that we should treat others as you want to be treated, what’s come to be known as the Golden Rule. However –and this is crucial—the Golden Rule is not the Greatest Commandment. Let me say that again, the Golden Rule is not the Greatest Commandment. The Golden Rule is the Second Greatest Commandment. Read Matthew 22. Jesus is extremely clear: the Greatest Commandment is “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” and the second, the second, is “like unto it”: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
In other words, everything that Jesus says about how we ought to love our neighbor, and forgive our enemy, and flee from lust, all that teaching that is so convicting and that exposes our sinfulness, is only about the Second Greatest Commandment.
Are we obligated to love our neighbor? Absolutely. But that love should flow out of a foundational love for God. We love God and therefore, we keep his commandments. We love God, and therefore we love human beings who are made in His image. Love for God is the greatest commandment out of which all the other commandments flow. And disobeying the command to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength is an even more foundational sin than disobeying the command to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Do you understand how important that is? Let me give you an illustration.
Imagine I go upstairs every night and say to my wife, “Honey, I finished the first draft of my latest manuscript today. I wrote a book review. I washed all the dishes. I got an oil change. And I put the kids to bed.” And she says, “That’s great. But I haven’t seen you all day. In fact, we’ve barely spoken in ten years.” And I reply: “Well, of course. I don’t love you. I’m not even sure you exist. But look at what a good husband I am.” That would be preposterous.
But that’s exactly what you’re like when you come to God boasting about what a good person you are while breaking the Greatest Commandment: to love him with all your heart.
And remember: we’re not breaking only the Greatest Commandment. We’re breaking all of God’s commandments. We don’t really love our neighbor as ourselves. Half the time, we don’t even know our neighbors’ names. We harbor grievances. We refuse to forgive. We lust. We cut corners. We bend the truth. We hoard our money.
We’re not like the husband who fulfills all of his duties but fails to love his wife. We’re more like the deadbeat husband who trashes the house, yells at his kids, insults his wife and then buys a “World’s Best Dad” mug to put in his trophy case.
In all of this teaching, Jesus is saying: “Do you think you keep the law? Here’s what the law really means. This is what God has always demanded and what he demands today. Now how do you measure up?” And the answer is: you don’t. If you understood what the law really teaches, you would not be relying on it. You would not be boasting about how well you keep it. If you don’t think the law condemns you too –in spite of all your religiosity– then you haven’t yet understood the law rightly.
So if neither the Jew nor the Gentile keeps the law, then what’s the point of the law?
Let’s turn to our text again: “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. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Rom. 3:19-20)
The law, Paul says, is like a mirror. The law is meant to show you God’s goodness, and show you what a righteous life looks like. But it’s also meant to reveal your sin to you. It is not supposed to make you proud. It is meant to humble you and to warn you. One day, you will die and you will stand before God and he will measure your life against his moral law and you will fall short. We all will fall short. Both Jew and Gentile will fall short. And every mouth will be stopped. There will be no more excuses.
So that’s our first point: what is your fundamental problem? You are a sinner.
You Need a Savior
Second, you need a Savior. Again, let’s turn to the text.
Paul has just argued that both Jew and Gentile are captive to sin, cursed by the law, and under God’s wrath. So what’s his solution? Try harder? Obey harder? Go to church harder? Read the Bible harder? What, Paul? What do we have to do? How can we be righteous in God’s sight?
Paul’s answer: redemption.
“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (Rom. 3:21-25).
Christianity’s solution to the problem of human sin is not a righteousness of our own that we earn, but a righteousness from God that is given to us as a gift.
In Paul’s day, the Jewish man thought he could obtain a righteousness of his own through obeying the law. He wanted to manufacture his own righteousness. But Paul contradicts this idea point by point in our passage. Look at it.
Paul announces the revelation of “the righteousness of God””? Whose righteousness? Not my righteousness. Not your righteousness. God’s righteousness. Where does this righteousness come from? From the law? No, “apart from the law.” Who is it for? For the Jew only? No, for all who believe. How does it come? Through obedience? No “through the redemption that is in Christ.” How are you declared righteous? “By your works?” No, “by his grace”? How is this righteousness received? As wages that you’ve earned? No, “as a gift.”
Christianity is the only religion that teaches that humanity’s fundamental problem cannot be solved by us. Every other religion, every other philosophy teaches that there is something, something that we can do. We can meditate. We can obey. We can think positive thoughts. We can unlock our potential. We can achieve a higher plane of consciousness. We can engineer a perfect society. We can live in harmony with nature. We can seize the means of production. We can fix ourselves.
Christianity alone says: no. The solution does not come from inside. The solution comes from outside. What you were powerless to do, God did for you. You rejected God. You despised God. You broke his commandments. You are morally corrupt. You sin every day.
Yet while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God sent His son to live the life we should have lived, to die the death we deserve to die, and to rise from the dead to justify us before God. And He offers that perfect, blameless, spotless righteousness us as a gift. We do nothing to earn it. We do nothing to deserve it. The only thing we contribute to our salvation is the sin that made it necessary.
How can I know whether Christianity is true?
Third, let’s explain how these doctrines answer the question: How can I know whether Christianity is true?
This is one of the most important questions a person can ask. Over two billion people in the world today profess to be Christians, making Christianity the world’s largest religion. Christianity teaches that God exists, that we owe Him everything, that we’ve sinned against Him and therefore have earned His wrath. But God so loved the world that He sent Jesus his Son to die on the cross and to rise from the dead so that we can be saved. Therefore, our eternal destiny depends on repenting and trusting in Christ. The stakes are enormous.
So again, the most important question a person can ask is “How can I know whether Christianity is true?”
Paul has an answer for you. In the passage we just read, Paul shows how absolutely anyone can know that Christianity is true. The gospel itself, the central message of Christianity, the message that you are a sinner and that Jesus Christ came to rescue sinners is evidence that Christianity is true.
What do I mean?
Basketball analogy
Let me give you an illustration: When I was younger, I used to love playing pick-up basketball.
Imagine that one day, I’m playing pick-up basketball and I suddenly collapse on the court. People rush over to see what’s wrong. One of them says “It’s ok. You just twisted your ankle. Get up and walk it off; you’ll be fine in five minutes.” Another says: “No, it might be sprained. I’ll get you an ACE bandage from my car.” Another says: “Actually, you probably need some Advil. There’s a pharmacy across the street and I can pick some up.” Everyone around me is calmly and cordially discussing the best way to treat my condition. They all want to help.
But suddenly, a woman rushes over to me and shouts: “Listen I’m a doctor. I saw what happened. We need to get this man to a hospital immediately. His life is in danger. Call an ambulance.”
Everyone in the crowd is incredulous. They insist that she’s overreacting. They tell her: “look, lady, he was playing basketball. He tripped. He sprained his ankle. He’ll be fine.”
But she starts yelling even more wildly “No, his life is in danger. Call 9-1-1.”
Then she crouches down and says “Look at me. I’m going to tell you two things. You can’t feel your legs and you can’t move them.”
Now the crowd is really annoyed. “Come on. This is ridiculous. Leave him alone. Are you really a doctor? Let’s see some credentials.”
But I turn to them and say “Someone call an ambulance. Get me to a hospital.”
And they look at me and say “What? What are you talking about? Why do you believe this crazy lady? How can you know that what she’s saying is true?”
The answer? Because I know two things that the crowd doesn’t know: I can’t feel my legs and I can’t move. Somehow, she was the only person in the crowd to know these two extremely relevant facts about my condition. And I had awareness of and immediate access to these two facts, even though no one else did. That’s why I’m justified in trusting her. My trust is completely rational.
The Argument from the Gospel
Now, apply this same reasoning to what Paul just explained in Romans 3.
Christianity makes two deep, existential claims about the human condition: we are all sinners and we need a savior. No other religion makes these claims.
Every other religion thinks your injuries are superficial. You just have a sprained ankle, spiritually speaking. You’ll be fine. And therefore, every other religion thinks you can fix yourself. You can walk it off. You can wrap it up in an ACE bandage. You can take some Advil. You can say some prayers. You can give some money to the poor. You can do some religious rituals. You can resolve to do better. You can try a little harder. You’ll be fine.
Christianity alone says: you are dead in sin. You cannot save yourself. Jesus alone can save you.
So if you are aware of those two truths, if you know that you are a moral failure, if you know you cannot rescue yourself, then you can infer that Christianity is true because it alone correctly diagnoses your true spiritual condition.
Let me close our time together by applying this text to four groups of people: those who don’t think they’re sinners, those who don’t think they need a savior, those who realize both but aren’t yet Christians, and those who are Christians.
Do you realize that you’re a sinner?
First, some people don’t think they’re sinners. At least, they’re not quite as bad as what the Bible describes. Listen to Romans 3: “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
You read that and you think “look, that’s not me. I’m not saying I’m perfect. I’ve made mistakes. But I have a job. I pay my taxes. I’m not in jail. I’m not some bum.”
If that’s you, let me borrow a thought experiment from Francis Schaeffer. Imagine I installed an app on your iPhone that would read your thoughts and broadcast them at full volume for 24 hours. You can’t uninstall it and you can’t mute it. So everywhere you go for one day, all of your thoughts is laid bare for everyone to hear. Where would you go that day? To the store? To the mall? To the beach? To church?
You know what you would do. You would lock yourself in your room and stuff your phone under your pillow.
What does that show us? It shows us that our thoughts are darker and more corrupt that we’d ever admit. And it also shows us that we know that. Deep down inside, we know that our thoughts and desires are corrupt and we’re ashamed of them.
Now, you might be tempted to say “look, everyone’s messed up. That’s just human nature.”
But that’s the point. Human nature is fallen. We are more corrupt and vile than we can ever imagine. Be honest with yourself. Stop living in denial. If you won’t admit that you have a problem, you’ll never find the cure.
Do you realize that you need a Savior?
Second, some people may admit that they really are pretty messed up. But they’ll deny that they need a Savior. In fact, they’re skeptical of the idea that you can be rescued by merely “trusting in Jesus” because it sounds too easy. Almost lazy. Like you can just sin, sin, sin, and then ask for mercy and get it.
Yes, they’ve messed up. But now they’re going to make it right. They’ve been living immorally, and now they’re going to turn over a new leaf.
But no, no, no. That’s not right.
If you think you can “make it right” you still don’t understand the depth of your sin or the holiness of God. If you think you can “clean yourself up,” you don’t yet understand how helpless you are.
Think about it this way: imagine that you’re an alcoholic, you had a bad day at work, you’ve been drinking, and as you pull into your driveway, you hit something. Five minutes later, you hear the doorbell and it’s your neighbor. He says “Do you know you just did?”
If he says, “You knocked over my mailbox,” it’s appropriate to respond “Sorry about that. I’ll pay you back. Let me write you a check.” But what if he bursts into tears and says, “You hit my three-year-old daughter. She was drawing with chalk on the sidewalk and you killed her.”
Do you say “let me write you a check”? That’s what you’re trying to do when you offer God your good works. God laid our sin on Jesus. God sent His son to the cross for us. And now you’re going to throw some cash in the offering bucket? You’re going to start reading the Bible and living right? That’s an insult to Him. You don’t know what it cost Him to offer you forgiveness.
Turn away from your pride, fall at his feet, and accept his mercy.
Do you know you’re a sinner who needs a Savior?
Let me speak to a third group: do you know you’re a sinner who needs a Savior? Trust him. Trust the crucified Savior.
This is not wish fulfillment or emotionalism. This is wholly rational. Christianity is the only religion that has correctly diagnosed your disease. And Christianity is the only religion that offers you a cure.
You say “But what if it isn’t true?”
Friend, it is true. We can sit here for hours talking about other evidence for the truth of Christianity. You can talk to Christians who can tell you about how Jesus has changed their lives.
But even if you’re uncertain, wouldn’t you rather perish at the foot of the cross than anywhere else? If you you’re in the middle of a barren desert dying of thirst and you see in an oasis in the distance, don’t you start crawling towards it? You’re worried that it’s a mirage? Ok, but what if it’s not? Wouldn’t you rather die seeking water than choking on mouthfuls of sand?
Listen to the words of a hymn by 18th century minister Jospeh Hart:
Come, ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore; Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love, and pow’r.
Come, ye thirsty, come, and welcome, God’s free bounty glorify; true belief and true repentance, every grace that brings you nigh.
Let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream; all the fitness He requireth is to feel your need of Him.
Come, ye weary, heavy laden, lost and ruined by the fall; if you tarry till you’re better, you will never come at all.
Are you a Christian?
Finally, are you a Christian here this morning? Have you repented and believed the gospel? Are you trusting wholly in Jesus to rescue you? Then here are two takeaways:
First, the gospel is all you need to be fully rational and confidence in your faith. It’s great to know all the different arguments for the existence of God and the reliability of the Bible. But all you need is the gospel itself. You have first-hand knowledge of your own sin and your own need for a Savior. Christianity is the only religion that recognizes these truths. So you’re rationally justified in concluding that Christianity is uniquely true.
Second, the gospel is all you need for evangelism. Sophisticated philosophical, historical, and scientific arguments are great. But if you simply tell people that they are sinners who need a Savior and then tell them the good news that Jesus is that Savior, you have given them a sufficient argument for the truth of Christianity. Then trust in the Holy Spirit to illuminate their heart, to show them their sin, and to point them to Jesus.
Let’s pray.
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