THE BOOK OF ROMANS

THE BOOK OF ROMANS
“The World Getting Right With God”
Romans 3:9-12
January 18, 2012

Someone said, “Guilt is like the red warning light on the dashboard of the car. You can either stop and deal with the trouble, or break out the light.” Guilt is a very strong force in a person’s life. You know when you’ve done wrong and you know that there’s a price to pay. Guilt won’t let you forget what you’ve done. Guilt comes when you get pulled over by a policeman for driving too fast; guilt comes when you go over the limit when you’re fishing or hunting and the game warden finds out; guilt comes when you turn down an invitation to a lunch gathering because you don’t feel good only to run into the host of that lunch somewhere else that same day; guilt comes when you say something that is ugly and you don’t have the chance to pull those words back; guilt comes when you get caught spreading rumors and gossip.

No matter who you are, sin always has a lethal pull to it. You can come to a place where you might begin to wonder, “What’s the use. I don’t have any hope in this matter.” But there is a hope and it’s in a person, Jesus Christ.

As we consider these verses, let me give you a quote by one Bible commentator in which he stated, ”In looking at such passages as this, a person must keep in mind the whole point of the passage. The point is not to charge man with sin, nor to berate man; it is not to look upon man with cynical contempt. The point is not to call man to hopelessness and despair, leaving him with a hanged head and low self-esteem. The point is to give man hope; to challenge man to seek a right relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Man must never minimize his sin, lest he ignore or neglect the right way to God. But neither must he minimize the redeeming power of Jesus Christ, lest he hang his head in hopelessness, or wallow in self pity or roam the world in despair.” So, let’s consider a few things sin and condemnation. First of all:

ALL MEN ARE UNDER SIN -- Romans 3:9 says, “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;”

The words “under sin” means to be subject to the power of or under the authority of. A person who is living outside Jesus Christ is under the power of sin and he is helpless to escape from it. Paul was dealing with Judaizers of his day who held the opinion that they were better than the Gentiles. It angered them greatly to hear Paul say that they were on the same level as the Gentiles. They didn’t have any problem with giving up the law for God’s grace, but what Paul was saying was just too much.

Paul told the Jews, “You are under sin just as are the Gentiles. Just because you are Jews doesn’t make you any more acceptable to God than are the Gentiles.” WE have the same mentality today where some in the church would say, “Aren’t we better than others because we have the Bible; or because we profess God; or because we know the will of God? Aren’t better because we know the truth?”

Paul said, “No way. You’re no better than are others. You are all, Jews and Gentiles alike, under sin. The truth is that God has a case against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man; God has a case against the Gentiles and He has a case against the Jews.”

Romans 3:23 says clearly, “….for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,…” As well, 1 John 1:8 states, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” So, no one is exempt – all are sinners. Let’s then consider:

MAN’S SINFUL NATURE -- Romans 3:10-12 “… as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.’” A sinful nature:

IS UNRIGHTEOUS -- There’s not one single human being who is righteous, perfect and sinless – not by nature or by an act. No man has ever lived a perfect life in thought, word or deed. “There is none righteous, not even one.” A sinful nature:

IS IGNORANT -- No human being understands perfectly God, man, the world, where it all comes from, what is the purpose and destiny of everything. No one understand where they came from, why they are here or where they are going. “There is none who understands.” A sinful nature:

IS INDIFFERENT AND SELFISH -- “There is none who seeks for God.” The word “seeks” in the Greek is ekzeteo (ek-zee-THE-o) which means to pursue and search for. The idea is that of a diligent, careful, determined seeking and searching. No on searches and seeks after God, with so careful and a determined spirit. Why is that? WAIT Because they are indifferent and selfish. Men want to do their own thing and their own way and they want gods that will allow them to do that.

If God is the only true and living God, then that means that He is Supreme and the only One who should be honored, glorified and obeyed. But men won’t do that because they are selfish and indifferent. They want things their way all of the time. And if God doesn’t allow for that, then they reject Him. A sinful nature:

IS CROOKED -- “All have turned aside.” The Greek means that man has turned away of turned aside from God, and God’s ways and turned to another way. They are crooked and not straight with God. They don’t follow His ways. They want another path. A sinful nature:

IS USELESS -- “Together they have become useless.” The word “useless” in the Greek is achreioo (akh-ri-O-o) which means to become sour, bad, and worthless. Men without Christ are like sour milk – worthless, bad. A sinful nature:

IS EVIL -- “There is none who does good, There is not even one.” The word “good” in the Greek is chrestotes (khray-STOT-ace) and it means moral goodness, kindness, graciousness, gentleness, justice. All men fail in being good toward God and their neighbor in being kind, gentle, just and gracious.

Man comes too short, too often and too much. Paul was telling the Jews that, just like the Gentiles, no does good. God is looking down from heaven to see if there were any that feared and sought after him; and could find none! And therefore we may safely conclude there was none to be found.

Think of a day when you thought you were on your best behavior. Were you perfect? Did you live beyond temptation? No matter how good we think we are, we still need Jesus Christ; we still need the power of the Holy Spirit; we still need the guidance and counsel of God’s Word. Why? Because everyone is a sinner and we continue to sin. As bad as these verses say that man is, there is no reason to despair or be without hope. Because, in Jesus Christ, we have the opportunity to overcome sin and our sinful nature and to be seen as holy and perfect by God.

What Paul was reminding these Jews of, and of us today, is that when men live in habitual sin outside of Jesus Christ, they become proud and arrogant. They can no longer see that they are living a life that is evil and sinful. But God reminds over and over again, sin is nothing to be proud of. But there is hope for man – that’s why He sent His only Son to be our Savior.

Father, what we have looked at tonight in Your Word is pretty negative and it may offend our senses to think of ourselves in this way. But as hard to accept as these verses are, we are again reminded that there is nothing that we can do that will make us acceptable to You except that which is through Jesus Christ. May we never take our relationship with You for granted so that we become sloppy, lazy or indifferent toward You. Holy Spirit, we ask that you continue to remind us of the hope that we have in Jesus Christ and empower us to live our life reflecting His hope in us so that others will be drawn to Him. In Jesus’ Name I pray. AMEN.