Proverbs 20:9 † The Sinfulness of Humanity

SERMON SENTENCE SUMMARY

The Bible teaches that all of humanity has participated in sin. Sin is the willful rebellion against God’s nature and order that results in God’s punishment. The power of the gospel is the only solution to the problem of sin.

INTRODUCTION

Last week, we started our “Gospel Threads” series by looking at the holiness of God. We said that the story of Scripture—and life itself—begins with understanding the distinct nature of who God is and that he is holy.

This morning we will see that after beholding the holiness of God we are immediately presented with the truth of our own lack of holiness.

Understanding the doctrine of the sinfulness of humanity helps us to see God’s word and salvation story clearly.

THE BIG PROBLEM

We will look at several passages of Scripture this morning, but I want to start with a short verse from Proverbs 20:9 that I believe helps us see with clarity into the overall teaching of Scripture on sin.

Proverbs 20:9 “Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”?”

The Author’s Assumption

From the author’s question we can pull out two truths supported by the consistent teaching of Scripture:

1. All of us have sinned.

The author’s rhetorical question begins with the phrase “Who can say?” He assumes the negative response “no one.”

Experience alone should be enough to teach us that there are no perfect people. You and I have never met anyone bold enough to claim perfection.

The Bible is explicit across Scripture: no one is sinless.

1 Kings 8:46 ““If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near…”

Ecclesiastes 7:20 “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.”

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

James 3:2 “For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.”

1 John 1:8 “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

Original sin is the only rational solution of the undeniable fact of the deep, universal and early manifested sinfulness of men in all ages, of every class, and in every part of the world.

Charles Hodge

2. All of us is sinful.

The next step in the Bible’s doctrine of sin is where things get controversial. The Bible teaches us not just that we have sinned, but that to the core, we are sinners.

The author of the proverb carefully chooses the word “heart.” Notice: he doesn’t write: Who can say, I have made my hands, mind, or actions pure. RATHER; “Who can say I have made my heart pure?”

The heart is spoken of in Scripture as the center of the moral and spiritual life. The conscience, for instance, is associated with the heart. In fact, the Hebrew language had no word for conscience, so the word “heart” was often used to express this concept.

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary

The doctrine of total depravity doesn’t mean every person is as sinful as they could be but that every person’s inner being is motivated by a misguided and deceitful inner person.

Sin mars the image of God in us; we no longer reflect the perfection God created us to reflect.”

Wayne Grudem

Isaiah 64:6 “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

We are not sinful because we sin. We sin because we are sinful.

Daniel L. Akin

The Author’s Illustration

We may recognize the presence of sin in our lives and in the wold; however, really understanding the depths of our problem can be hard to grasp and communicate to others.

Thankfully, in Proverbs 20:9, the author paints a mental picture of sin with the illustration of impurity and uncleanliness: Proverbs 20:9 “Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”?”

Most of us can tell the difference between clean and dirty. The Bible teaches us that here is a spiritual and moral cleanliness & purity that we should posses that we can see but not get to. There is a gap between what we feel to be true and right and how we operate in the world around us.

This Proverb hints at the gap we feel. The important word to consider is only one letter: “I.”

“I” cannot make my own heart pure & “I” cannot clean myself up. Is there any better testimony to the truth of Scripture than the internal guilt of a human being?

SHUTTER ISLAND—Teddy Daniels is a detective trying to find an escaped criminal from a mental institution. In the end, we learn that Daniels actually is the patient and he has created a new reality where he is not guilty of murdering his wife. The realization helps him recover from his delusion, but in the end he pretends to still be insane so that he will be lobotomized saying: "Is it better to live as a monster or to die a good man?"

Is it possible that most of humanity is living in a delusional reality that keeps us from owning our guilt? What can we do? Is lobotomy the only way?

THE ONLY SOLUTION

The Bible does not leave us in the doctrine of sinfulness but uses the doctrine of sin to press us to our need for redemption.

The Bible’s solution for sin is the defining difference between Christianity and every other world-view.

The world’s one and only remedy is the cross.

Charles Spurgeon

A Beeline To the Cross

When we truly understand our sin and its consequences, we recognize our need for something more powerful than ourselves to intercede and “purify/cleanse” our hearts.

The gospel shows us (1) the gravity of our sin—that sin can’t go unpunished—and (2) the gravity of God’s grace—that sin will not overcome God’s plan.

Colossians 2:13–14 “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

1 Corinthians 15:3–7 “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.”

Embracing the living Jesus who died on the cross is the only remedy to your sin.

A Beeline From the Cross

Do we spend most of our time talking about the event of the cross without understanding the achievements of the cross?

What should we say, that we can continue in sin? BY NO MEANS. Does our doctrine of the cross excuse our sin, or empower our growth?

1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

In the cross is health, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is heavenly sweetness, in the cross strength of mind, in the cross joy of the Spirit, in the cross the height of virtue, in the cross perfection of holiness. There is no health of the soul, no hope of eternal life, save in the cross.

Thomas à Kempis

Christian growth means the discernment of knowing how to make a beeline from the cross. How does God’s victory over my sin in Christ Jesus lead to a life of passionate delight and pursuit of glorifying God?

CONCLUSION

Let’s take the problem of sin seriously: We won’t understand the story of Scripture that reorients our view of the world with a bad understanding of sin.

Let’s take the solution to sin to the ends of the earth: If we believe the story of Scripture, we will be transformed and become transformers.

PASTORAL PRAYER

Father, your word says that you are good and upright; therefore you instruct sinners in (your) way. You lead the humble in what is right, and you teach the humble your way. Humble us now to see your holiness and our sin. Give us hearts to repent and trust in your work in the gospel. We pray for clarity in our understanding of your word. We pray that our understanding of your word might lead us to a better way to see our world. Thank you for the cross that speaks the final word of victory to our sin. Thank you that your cross accomplishes our justification and empowers our sanctification. Be glorified in our hearts and lives. Be glorified in Tapestry Church. In Jesus’ name we make these requests. Amen.