The Universal Diagnosis

INTRODUCTION

REVIEW QUESTIONS

QUESTION: What do we do to the name of God when we fail to practice what we preach?

ANSWER: We blaspheme the name of God to the world. The word blaspheme means to slander. It means to speak against someone in such a way to harm or injure their reputation.

QUESTION: What does it mean to have a circumcised the heart?

ANSWER: It means that the Spirit of God has done a work in you so that you obey the Lord.

INTRODUCTION

We are going to be in Rom chapter 3 tonight. And this is the sin chapter. The one that offends the entire world by calling all of us sinners.

But Paul’s point is not to offend people, but to diagnose the disease so that they people will turn from sin and be healed by Jesus.

Why do we need a diagnosis? Because if we are not aware of our problem, we will never be concerned about our problem.

One of the illustrations I use is that someone could have cancer for years and never know it and be slowly dying. And if they never see a symptom, never know its there, they could wait too long and it be too late for any help for them.

The same is true for sin. If people do not know, they will never see the need fro Jesus, or the need to be saved.

All the world has been infected with sin

Romans 3:9 “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;”

By referencing Jews and Greeks, Paul is covering all of humanity. In the Jewish mind there were only two kinds of people: Jews (God’s people) and pagan culture (here referred to as Greeks).

“under sin” is to be understood as “under the power of sin” (RSV)

QUESTION: From your own personal life before Christ, how would you describe being under the power of sin?

Sin is a power to be served. It enslaves and controls us as a master would control a slave.

John Stott says, sin is “a cruel tyrant who holds the human race imprisoned in guilt and under judgment. Sin is on top of us, weighs us down, and is a crushing burden.”

It also prevents humanity from serving God. All of us serve a master. We either serve God or we serve sin.

People think Christianity is enslavement and is so constricting. Actually Christianity is freedom to serve and follow God. Those who think they bare free are actually blindly serving sin and reaping the consequences. Those who serve God will reap the reward.

The symptoms of sin

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.””

I just talked to someone Sunday and as we got deeper into the conversation i asked him if he would go to heaven, and he said, “yes!”. And I asked why. And he said, because I am a good person. I then asked him if he committed a crime and stood before the judge, and though being guilty of the crime, he pleaded that he has given to charity for 10 years and then I asked him if that judge would excuse the crime. The guy said no. The same is true of God.

(v 12) “There is none who does good, there is not even one”

The Bible says as far as one getting to heaven because he is good is impossible.

No one can get to heaven on their own merits. This right out cancels out any teaching that we can work our way to heaven

Our natural human response is to minimize sin. We think it is is not that big of deal. Especially the little sins. We think that it really doesn’t have a grip on us. We even say if we wanted to change, we could because we are stronger than sin.

But thats not what these verses teach. These verses say that the disease is so serious that if one wanted to escape sins power, or even try not obey it, it would be impossible

What is the worst disease that you can think of? Probably one of the most common that sends fear down our spines is cancer. I cant even imagine what that would be like to sit in front of a doctor and hear that diagnosis

But even with cancer, there is a chance. Some people beat it naturally, some people beat it with medicine, some people live a long time with it.

1) Total depravity: people really want nothing to do with God, and whenever they are placed in a position to choose between their own selfish desires and choose between God and they choose their own desires.

None righteous

Every single person stands before God as an unrighteous sinner

None who understands, there is none who seeks for God

This is not in ignorance but a knowingly rejection of God.

All have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one”

Everyone has turned aside from God

2) Sin also affects what people say

Romans 3:13–14 ““Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;”

“Throat is an open grave” is a metaphor for unclean things meaning that people continually produce unclean things by what they say

“with their tongues they keep deceiving” meaning they speak falsehood, lies, and deceive others with their words

“the poison of asp is on their lips” speaks of inflicting harm on others with their lips.

James 3:8 “But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.”

“whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”

The tendency of people to complain and curse when things do not go the way they want

3) Sin also affects what people do

Romans 3:15–18 ““Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.””

People hurt and kill each other

destruction and misery accompany sinful actions

sin causes people to not seek peace

there is no fear of God

QUESTION: What do you think it means to fear God?

The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God.

It does not just mean having respect for God (though that is included) but it also means a terror of experiencing His judgement. This is why it is called a fear of God, not respect for God.

To not fear God is a total neglect of eternity. It is to live as if there will be no judgement for sin and no accountability for our actions.

The Law gives the brings about the knowledge of sin

Romans 3:19–20 “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”

One of the biggest hurdles in humanity is that we cannot really see our disease for what it is. We are unable to see any symptoms of sin because the entire world is infected with it. And when symptoms do raise its head, we justify it by saying well Im no worse than anyone else.

Try to find the chicken with the defect in a coop full of chickens with the same defect. Its not easy.

Notice this last verse: “for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin”

We do not have a doctor that we go to to find out we are terminally ill with sin. That is what the law of God does. When we read the Law, we say I cant do that and no one else can either! But that is not the purpose of the law!

The Law is there to show us that we terminally ill with sin and we desperately need a cure! And if we do not get that cure we are going to stand before God guilty and He is going to sentence us for our crime.

Application: One essential part of evangelism is helping people to see their sin. And the Law is a good way to do that.

Why do we want people to see that they are sinners? So that they will be broken over their sin and turn to God for forgiveness, and He made that possible through the blood atonement of Jesus Christ.

The diagnosis news is that we are all sinners, and there is no way we could ever be righteous. Even if we never sinned again, we cannot remove the sins of our past, making us all guilty before God.

But the good news is that God sent Jesus Christ who is perfect, who is righteous, and who was willing to step down to earth and take the guilt of the world and bear it on the cross.

Jesus made a way for the inherently unrighteous to become righteous by exchanging His righteousness for our unrighteousness

QUESTION: What verse from chapter 1 tells us how we can have the righteousness of Jesus?