Saved From What? (3)

Have you ever thought of the purpose of the mirror?

When we look into a mirror we look for specific reasons?

To check our clothes

To check our hair

For you ladies possibly to check your make-up

To check our teeth before we smile and after eating

To see if we still look the same.

So why look in the mirror…it’s really to look at the image staring back at us.

Did you know man was made in the image of God?

Because we are made in the image of God:

We are called to mirror his attributes

Holiness

Righteousness

Goodness

Yet, we also bare the image of Adam, as we are his descendants.

Our passage today should really exhort us to consider the value of man and the depravity of man simultaneously.

Romans 3:9–12 ESV

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Life & The Outflow of Life Is Weighty!

Romans 3:9 (ESV)

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,

When we consider a business that is struggling to survive, we may say it is under water.

When someone is unable to unable to pay their payments, we may say they under a burden

John Bunyan describes the weight of “Christian’s” sins in pilgrims progress as burden on his back he wishes to rid himself of

Shall we say men are depraved, but not “utterly depraved” as R.C. Sproul would put it.

For instance, we have to understand that men sin regularly, but they could always be worse.

Yet here, Paul says we all are under sin.

Further, if we are to mirror the attributes of God, as image bearers, then we should bear those attributes in a manner different than vs. 10-11.

Before we go back to vs. 10-11: let’s look at the Psalm 14:1-3

Psalm 14:1–3 ESV

1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

You see, Paul did not make this up and is not some gloomy writer.

He is reiterating what the Psalmist already laid before us in the O.T.

Romans 3:10–11 (ESV)

10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.

In these two verse, Paul describes the reality of us all.

We seek what we should not and bear the weight as a consequence.

These verses are difficult in a post-modern world, where people believe that their fellow man is basically good and seeking God.

I’ve heard many people over the last 15 years say, “people are basically good and they are just seeking.”

But according to the O.T. & the N.T. this is a false picture of man. It has always been a false picture of man since the fall.

Romans 3:12 (ESV)

12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Thomas Aquinas taught: When people are searching for peace and happiness…they are searching for relief from their guilt. He furthered this with the understanding that all Christians should realize: peace and happiness can only be found in God.

Isaiah 53:6 (ESV)

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

If the outflow of life is weighty:

The Total of Man is Involve In Creating the Weight.

Look with me at vs. 13-18

Romans 3:13–18 (ESV)

13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”

14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16 in their paths are ruin and misery,

17 and the way of peace they have not known.”

18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Vs. 13-14 — Human Speech (Ps. 5:9)

Vs. 15-16 — Way (Is. 59:7-8)

Vs. 17 — The Mind

Vs. 18 — The Pride/Vision (Ps. 36:1)

In Debt Because of Being Not Good.

Romans 3:19–20 ESV

19 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. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Pride & Defense is halted.

Accountability Rises

Realization is Revealed.

Walking Away, But In...

Don’t Trust In Your Goodness.

Don’t Trust In Your Church.

Don’t Trust In Your Family.

Trust in Christ!