Rom 3-The Fruit of Our Rejection

| The Fruit of Our Rejection! Romans 3:9-20

April 23, 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 full 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:Romans 6:5 – (NIV) If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.  Intro: Total Depravity… ReviewThere 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)A month ago (vv. 9-12):F    Man’s Depraved Character This morning (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) There is no such thing as a truly innocent person, not even a baby – in terms of 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…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   That we are as bad as we could possibly be. Ø   That we are not responsible for our choices.“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)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 need to acknowledge the deep truth of the statement: “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”2. No one seeks God (apart from the work of His Spirit in our hearts) – (v. 11)F    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.  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 CANNOT because we WILL not choose God.3. Everyone has turned away from God.Do you want to know the grace of God? Pray that you might see your desperate need.Do you want to know and enjoy the glory of God? Pray that you might see be more aware of your foolish pride.Do you want to desire God more? Pray that He will create a hunger and a thirst for His righteousness deep in your soul.This morning (vv 13-20):1. Man’s Depraved Conduct2. The Root of Depravity3. Our Advantage 1. Man’s Depraved Conduct (vv. 13-17)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 full of cursing and bitterness.”15“They are quick to commit murder.16Wherever they go, destruction & misery follow them.17They do not know what true peace is.”F   Man’s depraved conduct is seen in what comes out of his mouth. (vv. 13-14)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 full of cursing and bitterness.”Ø   We see this in fallen man’s view of lying – Lying is wrong… for someone else to do to me.We find it easy to justify our own hiding of the truth. Fear of the consequences… knowing, in our hearts that we are in the wrong… desire to achieve a particular result…  Sometimes we make distinctions between “blatant” lies and “little white” lies. Other times we feel we are alright as long as we don’t SAY anything which isn’t true, even though, in our hearts we know that we are misleading, even deceiving the other person.Even though we know that Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44 – You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.), we still deceive.  |   | A test of this is seen in our conscious desire to walk in the light. (1 John 1:7 – But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.) When we try to hide certain facts, either by outright lies OR by partial truth, we are following the wrong example.Satan loves to “sprinkle a little truth in every lie.” He “masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14)As followers of Jesus Christ this MUST NOT BE SO! We must make a commitment to speak in such a way that there will be no embarrassment when, on the day of judgment, every idle word will be made known. (Matthew 12:36 – I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.) We must live as those have no fear of being exposed. (John 3:20 – Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.)Lying is the opposite of truth. As truth is a beautiful thing, and something that will characterize Heaven, so lying is an ugly thing, and SHOULD not be seen in God’s people.Ø   We see this in our slander, gossip and back-bitingThe Scriptures are full of passages which condemn these, and yet they are SO prevalent in our society and even in the church! We are often drawn to gossip, desiring to hear something which will shock us and give us something shocking to tell someone else.We are prone to gossip, feeling the need to talk about things and yet often finding the biblical pattern of going to the source unpleasant at best.It is natural, and sometimes almost uncontrollable for us to express ourselves verbally when we are hurt or angered. “Sticks and stones…” – NOT! Who among us has NOT hurt someone deeply with our words at one time or another? Indeed, our mouths are “full of cursing and bitterness” (v. 14) and we need the Holy Spirit to change that in us.F   Man’s depraved conduct is seen in acts of violence and destruction. (vv. 15-16)15“They are quick to commit murder.16Wherever they go, destruction & misery follow them.(R. Kent Hughes) – Man’s depravity is seen in his rush to violence. Will Durant wrote in his Lessons From History: “In the last 3,421 years of recorded history only 268 have seen no war.” During World War II it was estimated that it took $225,000 to kill one enemy soldier. I wonder how much is being spent by the major nations today. Man loves violence! (R. Kent Hughes)(Edwin Palmer) – “It is the innate hatred against God and man that is the root of student violence, the burning, rioting, and looting in racial disturbance, anarchy, self-centered strikes, dope-peddling, crime, and the general chaos that Americans and the world are heading for.” (Edwin Palmer)We complain that all the suffering and evil in the world seems to deny the presence of a loving and all-powerful God…This is seen more so in places where people have less to lose than here in the States.This seen more in places where the gospel and church have little or no impact.It is natural for us to want vengeance. It is supernatural for us to love our enemies.It is natural for us to lash out when hurt. It is supernatural for us to turn the other cheek, to bless when cursed.F   Man’s depraved conduct is seen in a lack of “true peace.” (v. 17)17They do not know what true peace is.”True peace is peace of conscience, peace with God. It is seen in true contentment and is bound up in a confident assurance of God’s sovereign love and watch care.Deep in our hearts we know that we stand guilty before God. We know that we don’t even measure up to our OWN standards, no less God’s…  2. The Root of Depravity18“They have no fear of God to restrain them.”A healthy fear of God acts as a deterrent to the lies, slander and sinful violence we have been talking about. It is not the only deterrent, but it is the most effective one.Some deterrents to lies, slander and violence:F   If I perceive that it will cost me to much…F   If I have been trained to have those values – both by word and example…F   If I know it will be seen by others who know the truth (and whose opinions mean something to me)… When we have a healthy fear of God,F   We know that lies, slander and sinful violence are seen by God, who knows our true motives and hearts and we long to do what is right in His eyes…F   We know lies, slander and sinful violence is costly:Ø   To God – that which put Christ on the crossØ   To others – these things HURT others, and this, when we fully understand, will be painful to us.Ø   To us – All sin is like a cancer. It destroys us from the inside out…F   We have been and are being trained, both by word and example that these are wrong. When people “have no fear of God to restrain them,” F   It is natural to lie, when it appears to be to our advantage. F   It is natural to murder (at least in our hearts), or to desire revenge, when we are wronged.F   It is natural to slander, to gossip, to be more concerned with self.     3. Our AdvantageSome may ask, How can we conclude that those who have the Word, as we do, are advantaged since all are under sin? The answer is seen in the last line of our text: “through the law we become conscious of sin” (v. 20b). “Conscious” is literally “the intimate knowledge [the epignosis] of sin.” The first function of the Law is to unmask us and show us we are sinners, and this is our supreme advantage. We understand at least to some extent our radical corruption.So God’s Word strips away our “emperor’s clothing” of self-deceit and reveals our souls’ nakedness. The world system proclaims we are robed and well when we are not. God’s Word cries above the self-deceived crowd that we are not okay. We say, “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing,” but God says, “You are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Revelation 3:17). What advantage does this bring to us? Much in every way!We must each see our own nakedness. We must make use of our great advantage of truly knowing who we are and who God is, and what he wants of us as declared in his Word:I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. (Revelation 3:18) When we are not on the path to God, we become useless. We “cannot fulfill [our] purpose as creatures made in the image of God. [We] are like fish that cannot swim or birds that cannot fly." (R. Kent Hughes)  Call to response… A truth to remember: God does, indeed, see all that we do and also our true heart’s motives and we will all, one day, give an account for them.A Challenge to consider: Are you nurturing a growing sense of the ever-present, all knowing Presence of our Holy God, and do you even WANT to remember that when presented with the temptation to deceit or other sin? |