Sermon Tone Analysis

| *That Every Mouth May Be Silenced*!

Romans 3:9-20

March 26, 2006 (NLT) 9Well then, are we Jews better than others?

No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin.

10As the Scriptures say,“No one is good—not even one.11

No one has real understanding;no one is seeking God.12

All have turned away from God;all have gone wrong.No one does good, not even one.”13

“Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.Their speech is filled with lies.”“The

poison of a deadly snake drips from their lips.”14

“Their mouths are fulyl of cursing and bitterness.”15

“They are quick to commit murder.16

Wherever they go, destruction & misery follow them.17

They do not know what true peace is.”18     “They have no fear of God to restrain them.”19Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses and to bring the entire world into judgment before God.

20For no one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what his law commands.

For the more we know God’s law, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying it.

*Pray* *Memory Verse:*Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

Roman 12:1 (NIV) Intro: Total Depravity…There is a big difference between admitting that I am not perfect and admitting that I am completely and fully worthy of Hell.“We are willing to admit that there are things not known to us, but not that we are devoid of all spiritual understanding.

We are willing to admit that we wander off the true path at times, but not that we are not even on the right path.

Instead of admitting that we are running away from God, we pretend that we are seeking Him.” (Boice)Jesus will show Himself only to those who are see their need.

As long as we, or to the degree with which we feel competent in and of ourselves, we cannot see the glories He desires us to see.Turgenev, the Russian poet, caught it perfectly when he said, “I don’t know what the heart of a bad man is like, but I do know what the heart of a good man is like and it is terrible.”

[Turgenev] *This Week (vv.

9-12):*F    Man’s Depraved Character *After Easter (vv 13-20):*F    Man’s Depraved ConductF    The Root of DepravityF    Our Advantage *Man’s Depraved Character:**1.

There is no one who is good.*

(v.

10) “No one is good—not even one – lit: No one who is righteous| Except God |

Jesus ( in Luke 18:19): “Why do you call me good?

No one is good—except God alone.”

(NIV)

No one who is /righteous/ – morally good, NOT EVEN ONE!

There is no such thing as a truly innocent person, not even a baby.

This is talking about moral character, moral character as GOD sees it.

We can certainly find people with more moral character than others.

There are people who stand out in this arena in comparison with the rest of us…

*The Doctrine of /Total Depravity/ means: *

Ø   That, apart from the grace of God, we are totally incapable of doing anything to please God.

Ø   That, apart from the grace of God and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit we are totally incapable of moving towards God.

We cannot because we will not.

Ø   Apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit each of us would choose to reject God.

By nature, “We would rather be slaves to sin than to serve God as King.”

*/Total Depravity/ does not mean: *

Ø   | We are free to choose |

That we are as bad as we could possibly be.

Ø   That we are not responsible for our choices.

“I have had to face up to what I am sure has been clear to everyone else all along: I am deeply flawed.

Mind you, I always knew theoretically that to be human was to be flawed—as in, ‘Hey, nobody’s perfect.’

But as the years have gone by, I have had to face up to more dramatic, specific, and undeniable evidence that I was my own worst case.”

(Rebecca Manley Pippert)

*Question: *Does this doctrine teach that unbelievers cannot do anything “good”?

The answer is “Yes….”

and “No.”

It all depends on how we define the term “good….”

Verse 12: There is… No one does good, not even one.”

Certainly there are *many* people to do “good” things, in terms of that which is helpful, even sacrificial for other’s benefit.

However, that which is good in the eyes of God is not measured merely by *WHAT* we do, but rather by *WHY* we do it.

“A good work must not only conform to the commandments of God, it must come from a heart committed to honoring him.”

(R. Kent Hughes)

The difference between human righteousness, on the one hand, and the righteousness God requires of us, on the other, is like the difference between real money and Monopoly money…

*Question: *Does this doctrine teach that there is no good at all in people, or that we are each as evil as anyone else, or that there are not different degrees of wickedness?

We need to understand that there is a difference between /total depravity/ and /absolute depravity/.

Certainly, we need to acknowledge that we have the */capacity/* to do far more evil than we think we might….

We need to acknowledge the deep truth of the statement: “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”

It is not that some people are more righteous than others.

To compare one person’s righteousness to another’s before God would be like placing us all before the tallest structure in the world and see who could come the closest to jumping over it, or even more, who can jump the closest to the moon!

It is not that some of us do more good than others and therefore are more acceptable to God.

No. Before Him all our best works are but filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6)

It is not that some of us have merely missed the bull’s-eye.

We are shooting in the wrong direction!

People do not do /good /because their hearts are godless.

It is like the EE illustration… (the dirty hands)

No.

We are not as bad as we could be.

And no.

Some people do do things which are /good/ in a humanistic sense.

But in God’s eyes, in that which has eternal value, ONLY that which is done for God’s glory is truly /good/.

Only that which is done from a pure heart, a heart truly surrendered to God and cleansed by the finished work of Jesus Christ can do that which is truly /good/.

We do not merely need the gospel like some insurance policy to cover the bases we cannot cover.

It is not like we try as hard as we can and then the gospel makes up the difference.

*2.

No one seeks God* (apart from the work of His Spirit in our hearts) – (v.

11)

11No one has real understanding; no one is seeking God.

F    *No one understands* – There is no one who understands the depth of the attributes of God –

The problem is not one of knowledge, it is one of desire.

We do not truly understand because we do not truly seek God.

The issue is not that we cannot understand, but rather that we do not really WANT to move in that direction.

So we suppress the truth about God, refusing to glorify or give thanks to Him, and as a result our thinking becomes futile and our foolish hearts are darkened.

(Rom.

1:21)

 

F    *No one is seeking God*.

Our natural state, apart from the intervening work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, is to reject God and to live for self.

Our vaunted “free will” is, in reality, */self-will/* which cannot chose God because we WILL not… apart from God’s grace at work in our hearts.

We CAN NOT because we WILL not choose God.

*Question: *What about the invitation to all, to WHOEVER calls upon the Lord, etc.? The invitation is certainly there to all.

However the same invitation that God uses to call His own to Himself, He uses to confirm the justness of His judgment upon those who WILL not.

“The fact that we MAY come is what makes our refusal to seek God so unreasonable and increases our guilt.”

(Jonathan Edwards)

*Question:* Will there be anyone in Hell who would prefer to be in Heaven?

*The point: *

Ø   Those of us who believe cannot look down our noses at those who do not.

| There is no room for pride |

| We are totally depraved, but not absolutely depraved |

Ephesians 2:8-9 – 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; /it is/ the gift of God, 9not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Ø   We cannot claim that God OWES us salvation because WE chose Him.