Unashamed Reading Plan – W3D3
Check out all the previous Unashamed readings here.
Unashamed Reading Plan | Week 3 | Day 3
Prayer
Take a moment to be silent and still. In order to be fully present in body and mind, take a deep breath in and let it out slowly. Do this three times. Pray that God would open your eyes to wonderful things from His word today.
Bible Reading: Romans 3:9-20
Read these verses three times slowly.
What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
“Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know.”
“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, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Reflection & Questions
Today we come to the conclusion of Paul’s argument he has been making this week. The Jews can’t claim some special privileged position in God’s eyes. As he writes today: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
What would have made this sting even more for the Jews reading these words is that Paul has pulled together a number of quotes from the Old Testament, the Jews’ very own scriptures. It’s a mic drop moment. Your own scriptures prove my point.
Paul is writing specifically to the Jews in these verses, but it’s really important we understand this, too. We all know people who are so nice and kind, and we are tempted to believe they are heading to a better place. Or perhaps we are impressed by the sincerity of someone of a different religion in their beliefs and practices, but they don’t follow Jesus. Paul is very clear: “ Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law.” There’s no argument that anyone can make towards God about their own righteousness: “every mouth [will be] silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.” “Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.” In other words, some may be better than covering it than others, but we all have the same problem: SIN. No sincerity deals with sin. No birthright. No behavior. We ALL face the wrath of God. Everyone we know has the same problem and there’s only one answer. We get to that tomorrow.
- What challenges you in today’s reading? Why?
- Have you stopped reaching out to someone because you feel they don’t need the gospel? How do today’s verses challenge you?
Prayer
Talk to God in response to today’s reading.
Worship Song
You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:
Bible Reading: Romans 3:9-13
Read these verses three times slowly.
What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
“Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know.”
“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, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Reflection & Questions
In today’s scripture reading, Paul makes it VERY clear that the Jews cannot claim some special privileged position in God’s eyes. Especially the verse that says, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” That’s pretty clear, right?
Paul is writing specifically to the Jews in these verses, but it’s important that we understand this message too. We all know people who are so nice and kind, and we really want to believe that they are headed to heaven someday. We might even know someone who has a different religion that they follow and they follow it with their whole heart, but they don’t follow Jesus.
Paul is very clear when he says that you can’t be called righteous just because you are a good person or because you obey God’s laws. And people who follow other religions might be really good people, but everybody has the same problem even though some people are better at hiding it than others: we all sin! We all face the wrath of God because of our sin. But there is one answer for all of us. And we will get to that tomorrow!
- Have you ever looked at someone and thought, “He is such a good person. He doesn’t need to be saved by God”? What does today’s lesson teach you about that?!
Pray
Pray for someone you know who seems like they don’t need Jesus but actually does. Then ask God how you can show Jesus to them.
Check out more Bible Reading Plans here.
Questions?
Ed Applegate
