Being Sensitive to Sin (Romans 3:1–26)

Introduction

Attention

We’ll be continuing our series in the book of Romans. Today we'll be in Romans 3. This chapter has probably one of the most famous verses in Scripture. It's used a lot particularly when we are discussing evangelism, Romans 3:23, where it says for all of sinned and fall short of the glory of God. For us as Christians, we are people who are aware of the presence of sin in the human life. But sometimes we can lose a sensitivity to sin, especially in our own life. And what we'll be looking at today is, how can we as Christians have a sensitivity to sin and live as people wholly set apart for God?

Having the ability to be sensitive is important. Our body has all kinds of nerve endings that help us feel heat or cold or pain. Today there is a football game on TV, the Super Bowl. Have you ever seen one of those NFL players? They're huge. They're gigantic men.

And I know if I were standing on that field and I was hit by one of those men, there would be one of two things. My pain sensors would be going crazy, and I'd feel all kinds of pain in that moment, or I'd feel nothing at all because I'd be unconscious. But when I woke up, I'd feel the pain.

Either way, everything in my body would be screaming, “Help.” Being sensitive to things that could do us harm is important. And for the Christian, having an intense sensitivity to sin in your life is so important.

How can we as Christians develop a sensitivity to sin? We'll be looking at that in Romans 3. We'll be reading quite a few verses today. We'll be starting in verse 1 and going to verse 26.

Scripture Reading

As we get into chapter three, remember where we were in chapter two. Paul has been having this discussion with an imaginary Jewish person and Paul is respond to criticisms that they might have, which he has probably heard before in the synagogues, where he's done evangelism. So he's going to continue his commentary on being a Jew in Romans 3, and that's where we'll pick it up.

Romans 3:1–26 CSB

1 So what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? 2 Considerable in every way. First, they were entrusted with the very words of God. 3 What then? If some were unfaithful, will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 Absolutely not! Let God be true, even though everyone is a liar, as it is written: That you may be justified in your words and triumph when you judge. 5 But if our unrighteousness highlights God’s righteousness, what are we to say? I am using a human argument: Is God unrighteous to inflict wrath? 6 Absolutely not! Otherwise, how will God judge the world? 7 But if by my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say, just as some people slanderously claim we say, “Let us do what is evil so that good may come”? Their condemnation is deserved! 9 What then? Are we any better off? Not at all! For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin, 10 as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. 13 Their throat is an open grave; they deceive with their tongues. Vipers’ venom is under their lips. 14 Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and wretchedness are in their paths, 17 and the path of peace they have not known. 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes. 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are subject to the law, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God’s judgment. 20 For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law. 21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets. 22 The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. 26 God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

Pray

Now, as I was preparing this message I realized, as I was looking at Romans 3 that Paul is addressing here a problem. that. poll is addressing a problem with the human condition.

Now, as I was preparing this message I realized that Paul is addressing an innate problem in the human condition. But he is not alone. Every one in the world realizes that there is something wrong with the human condition. Internally, inside people, there is a problem.

Now everyone doesn't call it sin. Not everyone's answer is God. They come up with all kinds of different answers, but everyone realizes that there is a human condition and that something is wrong within the human condition.

Now the answer is, of course, aren't always the same, but we build up systems because of this problem within the human condition. Our entire counseling and therapy and psychiatric drugs and that whole career field is built around the issue of a problem within the human condition.

Politics is built around the realization that there is a problem in the human condition. In fact, we are in a presidential year and every four years it's the same thing. There is a problem with human beings or problem in society, and here is this guy that's going to come in and fix all the problems. and you vote the guy in and the four years pass and then you say, “Okay there's a problem in the human condition. And here is this guy who's going to fix the problem.”

Our self help book industry is built on the fact that there is a problem in the human condition. Religions of course all over the world, philosophies whatever it is, the general consensus around the entire world is that humans are broken. There is something wrong within them.

Now of course the Bible gives an answer for that. The Bible says that the problem of the human being, underneath all of the layers, underneath all the context, underneath all the issues going on, deep down, the problem within every human being is something the Bible calls sin.

Sin is a rebellion against the perfect standard of God and all human beings have found themselves as people who rebel against God's perfect and pure holy standard.

And if you look through chapter three, all of this is pointing, is referring to building up to verse 23 where it says for all of sin and foreshadow the glory God. But if you look through this chapter:

3: We were unfaithful

5: Our unrighteousness

7: By my lie, judged as a sinner

8: Let us do what is evil

9: All under sin

10: No one righteous

12: No one who does what is good

19: Whole word subject to God’s judgment

23: All have sinned

The constant theme of this text is to highlight the sin that is in all of humanity. Now, whenever we are talking about sin, we are inevitably talking about man's relationship with God.

Sin doesn't make any sense apart from God. If there is no God who are you sinning against?

In fact, humans do not want God because they don't want to be accountable to the inevitable fact that they are sinful before him. So they will try to get God out of the picture as much as possible.

Because whenever you talk about sin, you are inevitably talking about who you are before God, a sinner.

Sin refers to man's inability to live up to God's holy, perfect, and pure standard. As we're looking at Romans 3, Paul is constantly bringing us back to the law. This culminates in Romans 3:20,

Romans 3:20 CSB

20 For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.

Now from verses 10 to 18 Paul has just been quoting from a lot of different verses in Scripture. A lot of them come from the Psalms, there are references here as well to the Book of Ecclesiastes and Isaiah. So when he's saying the law, he's probably referring to Old Testament Scripture as a whole, and we don't have time to go through all of the Old Testament. But you can see the effect of the law just by looking at the 10 Commandments.

The Ten Commandments is in Exodus 20. And you can summarize them pretty simply in this way:

Have no other gods beside the Lord.

Do not have idols.

Use the name of God with respect (don't misuse it).

Keep the Sabbath Day Holy.

Honor your parents.

Do not murder.

Keep your marriage covenant (don't commit adultery).

Do not steal.

Do not lie (don't give false testimony).

Don't be envious (don't covet).

Here's the thing about the 10 Commandments. It's not like you get the 10 and you look at them and you say, “Oh, finally. Somebody finally gave me some directions. Now I just have to follow these directions and it's going to be all OK.”

That's not what happens when you see the 10 Commandments. You know what happens when you see the law? You look at them and you see them and you say, “I’ve already messed up.”

You get to one: Have no other gods beside the Lord. No, I prioritize other things in my life. You go to two. Have no idols. My bad. I've idolized some things. You get the three. Use the name of God with respect. Oh well, I haven't always respected God's name. Keep the Sabbath day holy. What does that even mean? Honor your parents. Probably haven't done that perfectly

Six, do not murder. Ah, fine. I got one! And we won't even get into the Gospels how Jesus says if I'm angry with my brother, I've murdered him in his my heart. Jesus takes that one away.

You go one by one in the Commandments. and all it does is hold a mirror up to your face and say, “Look at the mess you're in. You have rebelled against God.” And instead of giving answers, the law leaves you stuck in your mess.

What Paul says here in quoting these scriptures in Romans 3, he says, “If you really want to get a clear picture of what your heart looks like, listen to what you say out of your mouth.” He says in Romans 3:12-14:

Romans 3:12–14 CSB

12 All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. 13 Their throat is an open grave; they deceive with their tongues. Vipers’ venom is under their lips. 14 Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

Paul tell us how you really feel. their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Have you ever been bitter? I'm not going to ask if you've ever cursed, but have you ever been bitter? That bitterness starts in the inside and it comes out, doesn't it? Starts to come out on the things that you say.

Jesus said in Luke 6:45 the “mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.” James described the tongue in James 3:6 as “a fire... a world of unrighteousness… (that) stains the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” If you want to see the condition of your heart, look at the words of your mouth.

I think one of the best examples of this is just looking at social media today. If you go to X or Twitter, whatever you call it, you go in there, you just spend a few minutes and you'll just have one of those facepalm moments where you're just seeing all of the filth and the things that are coming out of people's mouth and it's just this example right in your face of the problem within the human condition.

Paul’s main point is that people are in sin. You know, sometimes we think all we need is for God to split open the sky and speak to us. And Paul's point is that the Jews had that. They had the word of God given to them in the law.

But even though they had the law, the law wasn't enough to save them. Their hearts were still far from God. The Jew and the Gentile are in the same boat. There is one universal problem in the human life for all of humanity. It is rebellion against God. Our problem is sin.

I don't care if you are rich or poor. Whether you are white or black or Hispanic, whether you are heterosexual, homosexual, whatever group or category you put yourself in, all of us, we all have one problem, and that one universal problem is sin.

And when there is one universal problem, there is only one universal solution. It is a solution that is available to all of us. It is a solution that is available to the whole world, if the world will come to him in faith.

The solution to the sin in our life is faith in Jesus Christ. It is only faith in Jesus Christ that can transform a human being and save his soul before God.

Paul says in Romans 3:22,

Romans 3:22 CSB

22 The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction.

To be in a right standing with God only comes to a human being through faith in Jesus Christ.

We hear this as Christians and we say, “Amen!” After all, at some point in our life, God convicted us to the core about our sin. He exposed our sin to us. We repented to God, and we left our sin at the cross, and we said, “Jesus, I will follow you.”

Christian, if you'll be honest, there are points in our Christian life where we lose a sensitivity to the sin in our life. Remember that you are included in the “We are all sinners.”

Now from a non-Christian. you would expect that they'd be running to sin. But for a Christian, in your life their needs to be a depth of a sensitivity to sin, as you seek to be someone who is set apart for God through faith in Christ.

I want to point out four things here. First,

Christians need to be sensitive to sin because sin is a universal problem.

We have already read in Romans 3:23 where he says,

Romans 3:23 CSB

23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

John says something very similar in 1 John 1:8. He says,

1 John 1:8 CSB

8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Christians above all else should understand the universal problem of sin that we all have. There's a sinner to your left. There's a sinner to your right. I am a sinner. You are a sinner. We are all sinners in need of God's grace, and praise the Lord he gives us grace.

The Christian life is a constant introspection. It’s constantly being aware of what's happening within the state of your soul, and we need to be aware of the things that are trying to attack our soul.

Now, I figured today is a good day for my football illustrations. Imagine you were drafted into the NFL, and you're getting ready to play football. You're on the field, but you refuse to acknowledge that there are people trying to hit you.

And so you've decided that you're going to run the same play over and over and you keep getting hit, and you can't figure out, why am I getting hit?

You know, in football, you don't run the same play over and over. Why? Because there is a team out there that is trying to stop you. If you run the same play, they're going to know what you're doing.

But when you're in sin, you can be like that team that's always running the same play. It's the same play that everyone else is running. And each time you run that play, you're going to get hit.

God is calling you to be aware of the things that are trying to knock you down in your life. God is calling you to be sensitive to sin.

We need to be sensitive to sin because it is a universal problem.

Second,

Christians need to be sensitive to sin through ongoing repentance.

The Christian life is actively repentant. There is something in Christian theology called, “Sanctification.” That's a fancy word to basically say that there is an ongoing work of God in your life to shape you and conform you into the person that God wants you to be, someone who reflects the image of God’s Son.

God is renewing you, giving you a new life. and bringing you to where he wants you. Peter in his sermon in Acts 3 says this in Acts 3:19-20. He tells them,

Acts 3:19–20 CSB

19 Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, 20 that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah.

Christian, when you live an actively repentant life, you live a life that is seeking the refreshing and renewal that only comes through the power of the presence of Jesus Christ in your life. There is refreshment and renewal from the Spirit of God that comes from an ongoing, repentant life.

We read 1 John 1:8. Let's continue in verse 9. John says in 1 John 1:9-10,

1 John 1:9–10 CSB

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

God is seeking to bring a new season of refreshing a renewal in our church and in our lives, and that's going to come through an active, repentant life. It comes when at the core of our life, we are men and women, humble on our knees, saying God, forgive me for the wrong I've done before you.

When you were a kid, you would eat food. The food would come down and it would stain your clothes. And as you got older, you learn a little bit more. There was that time you had a pen in your pocket and it ruined your jeans and you said I can't do that.

And as you get older and you start doing your own laundry. you're not rolling around in the mud anymore, because you're trying to protect your clothes. And in fact, as you get older, you become more aware of the stains on your clothes.

And even though you've gotten better, there is still an ongoing need to get laundry done. No matter what you do, the clothes are going to get dirty again There's an ongoing need to get them clean.

The Christian life is a life that is aware of the stains that are still present in our life. Now, the Lord has saved us from all our sins. We are not talking about an ongoing need for salvation. But we are talking about an ongoing need for refreshment and renewal in Christ. And sometimes there are stains that start to creep up in your life that are ready to do spiritual harm. God is calling you to bring those things to him.

Christians need to be sensitive to sin because sin is a universal problem.

Christians need to be sensitive to sin through ongoing repentance.

Third,

Christians need to be sensitive to sin to deepen their dependence on Christ.

Paul has been arguing in Romans two and three that all human beings are under sin, that salvation is not found in the law. We are not made righteous by our good works. We are only saved through faith in Jesus Christ. He repeats the same idea in Philippians 3:9 where he says,

Philippians 3:9 CSB

9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.

Now I want you to follow this: When I am sensitive to the sin in my life, when there's a sensitivity within me to the sin that is creating a boundary to the righteous life that Christ has for me, I realize that there's nothing I'm going to add that's going to bring me to that righteous life.

If I am seeing a boundary in my life to the to the refreshing and renewal that comes through Jesus Christ, I'm not going to try to do more. I am going to depend more.

Sin creeps in your life when your dependence on Christ is defeated. And I want you to have victory, and God wants you to have victory. You know when victory comes? Victory doesn't come from doing more. Victory comes by depending more on the one who had the victory for all of us on the cross.

Realizing sin in your life is a call from God to deepen your dependence on him.

I'm working out my NFL illustrations today. I'll give you another one. When you're watching the game later on today, watch how the quarterback lines up behind his defense.

That quarterback doesn't want to get hit, and so he lines up against the biggest dudes on the team. These guys are giant. The quarterback depends on the defense in front of him to protect him from the attacks coming his way.

You know, if the defense isn't there, the people are coming straight for him. He needs a strong defense.

But you know, for the Christian. there is no team or person that has a better defense in the world then Jesus Christ in your life. God has given you all the defense and power you need in him. Christian, to defend yourself against the attacks coming from you in this world, Christians are called to deepen their dependence on the powerful defense of Christ in your life.

Christians need to be sensitive to sin because sin is a universal problem.

Christians need to be sensitive to sin through ongoing repentance.

Christians need to be sensitive to sin to deepen their dependence on Christ.

Christians need to be sensitive to sin to live out their faith in holiness.

Outline

Christian, do you know that there is a calling on your life? Peter talks about it in 1 Peter 1:15. He says,

1 Peter 1:15 CSB

15 But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct;

Christian, if you're someone who is a follower of Jesus Christ today, God has placed a calling on your life. and this calling is bigger than any particular career or bigger than any particular ministry or bigger than anything else. There's a calling on your life to live as a man or woman set apart and holy for him.

We are called to live in holiness. You might ask, well, how can I be holy? We're holy because of Jesus. We're sanctified and set apart because of Jesus Christ. That's what it means to be righteous in Christ.

But the one who called you is holy And since he is holy, he is calling you to a life of holiness. As you walk with him, as you grow on him, the product of your life is going to be a life that reflects who he is, holy.

Being sensitive to the sin in your life is necessary to live out your faith in holiness. Be holy, because the one who called you is holy.

And it might sound strange but living a life of holiness is being aware of the immensity of the sin in your life before God, because the one who called you is holy.

It’s not a coincidence that the Christians of the past have seen themselves as the worst of sinners. They were sensitive to the sin in their life. Paul said in 1 Tim. 1:15,

1 Timothy 1:15 CSB

15 This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them.

The great reformer Martin Luther said, “For my part, I am a poor sinner, and that I am sure of out of God’s Word.”

The great preacher Charles Spurgeon said, “I think it very convenient to come every day to Christ as a sinner—as I came at first.”

And the hymn writer John Newton famously wrote, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”

Our call to holiness is why the Lord includes in his lesson for us on how to pray in Matthew 6:12, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

And being sensitive to sin has a starting point for all of us. You know, the cross exposes the depth of our sin problem. It exposes the immensity of our sin before God.

There is a starting point all of us need to have in our life. Maybe God is exposing something in your heart. Maybe you've never asked him for forgiveness. The Lord says come. And as we repent before him, we say God, I need you. Jesus, I believe in you.

God has provided a solution for the problem of your soul. The solution for the sin problem that we all have is to come to Jesus in faith. Heaven is a place for people saved by faith in Jesus Christ. And that can be you if you would place your faith in him today. Amen.

Conclusion

Christians need to be sensitive to sin because sin is a universal problem.

Christians need to be sensitive to sin through ongoing repentance.

Christians need to be sensitive to sin to deepen their dependence on Christ.

Christians need to be sensitive to sin to live out their faith in holiness.

Conclusion

Prayer

Last Song

Doxology

Numbers 6:24–26 CSB

24 “May the Lord bless you and protect you; 25 may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.” ’

Jude 24–25 CSB

24 Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.

You are dismissed. Have a great week in the Lord!