Every Mouth Stopped
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
February 5, 2017 was one of the worst days of my life. The Atlanta Falcons were in the lead against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl VI going into half-time: 28-3. By the end of the third quarter it was 28-9. By the end of the game, Atlanta lost 28-34. Never in Super Bowl history had any team come back from such a deficit. It seemed like Atlanta couldn’t lose. In fact, Dennis sent me a text indicating the game was in the bag. I even have the text messages. I told him not to count New England out. Atlanta was on fire the first half and then fizzled the second. By the end, they were in ashes.
In similar, but in a much more devestating way, the Jews seemed to have had every advantage needed. They were given the law and were instructed in it. They were given a sign of the covenant: circumcision. They were given all the oracles, the revelation of God. Everything pointing them in the right direction. They broke the law, which nullified the circumcision. The oracles went on to prove God’s faithfulness in spite of their faithlessness. This morning, we get to the point: the Jews, while not at a disadvantage, were not really at an advantage anymore.
As we open up the text this morning, we need to ultimately see that with the advantages given to the Jews, the Jews were still not an advantaged people. The law of God is no friend to humanity since every human being has broken the law. Once the law is broken, it becomes a prosecutor and the individual is left without a defense. We see this as Paul made three arguments in an effort to open up the eyes of the Roman Christians, whether Jew or Gentile. The first argument that Paul uses to wake the church up is that everyone sins. Then he makes a second argument that everyone will be silenced. Finally, Paul’s third argument is that everyone’s sin and everyone’s silence shows that no one can be seen as righteous in God’s sight.
Sin
Silence
Sight
What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands; no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Sin
Sin
The first argument that Paul makes in an effort to wake the church in Rome up to the reality that no one has the advantage over another is simply to show that everyone sins. He does this through various proof texts, namely from the Psalms but also from Isaiah.
What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
As we study these texts, we see them divided into five areas of life indicating that our entire being is corrupt and depraved. This is what is meant by total depravity. Total depravity does not mean that every human is as evil as can be, but that every human has been corrupted in some way in every area of life. Could those areas be more depraved than they are? Absolutely, the grace of God keeps us from becoming as depraved as possible. But as we will see, humanity is depraved in mind, in heart, in speech, in action, and in the soul.
In Mind
In Mind
The first way Paul showed man’s depravity is by showing it in the mind
as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands; no one seeks for God.
Paul’s first argument is that no one is righteous. In other words, no one has a right or good standing with God. No one can justify themselves before God. Not Jew and not Gentile. He gets this from Psalm 14. But then continues for the next few verses by quoting more of that Psalm. No one understands; no one seeks for God.
The mind has been corrupted. God gave the oracles to the Jews. They had everything they needed, but when the Messiah came, they had one of two reactions: They misunderstood his coming or they denied he had come. Even though they had everything they needed, they couldn’t put all the pieces together to make them make sense. That’s what is meant by no one understands. And to make it worse, when they could not put those pieces together, they didn’t even consider going to God and finding out what he was doing. No one seeks for God; literally, no one seeks out God, with the implication “for the answers.”
In Heart
In Heart
But it is not just the mind, it is the heart as well.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Still part of Psalm 14, Paul moved to the heart issue. We’ve already seen in previous sermons how Paul reiterated God’s call for the heart to be circumcised. But look at how people actually respond to God: They turn aside. Last Monday, we had a demonstration of some self-defense techniques. One was what to do if someone grabs your wrist. You take your hand and yank it to your ear while turning your body. This is done in an effort to get away. This is humanity’s response to God. We saw him as an enemy; we saw him as one not to be trusted. And since we turned away our hearts in an effort to be released from God’s grip, we never live up to what we were meant to be.
They have become worthless, Paul wrote. The purpose to which God made us cannot be attained. A car that doesn’t run is worthless to you until it runs. Thus it is does you no good. Which is what Paul means by no one does good, not even one. Because we cannot do as we were disigned to do, we cannot then do good since we were designed to that end. Because the heart is corrupt, nothing good, nothing of benefit comes. It’s all tainted. That does not mean that there is no good at all from a human judgment. Helping a little old lady across the street is good. Getting millions of pounds of food to starving people in the world is good. But it is of no benefit, no good when it comes to your standing before God.
What we need to understand; what the world needs to understand, is that good never outweighs bad. Harvey Weinstein was a movie genious. He produced dozens of movies that millions of people have enjoyed. But he was also a scoundrel of the worst kind. All the great movies he produced cannot undo the lives he ruined. No amount of good we do apart from Christ will undo the many rebellious acts we perform.
In Speech
In Speech
But it is not only our minds and not only our hearts that are depraved. Our speech is too.
“Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
Jesus said that it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of it. Solomon wrote that death and life are in the power of the tongue. James described the tongue as a fire that sets the forests ablaze. Every one of us have a speech problem. We tear people down. We lie. We deceive. We bless God and curse those made in God’s image. We spew out bitter words; we talk before we think. We gossip and slander. We puff ourselves up with words of self-praise. Poisonous is our speech! We poison the minds of people against other people. And if you have someone in mind of which that describes, think again. I’m describing you. I’m describing me. Everyone has done this at some point.
In Action
In Action
But it is not just the mind, heart, and mouth that are depraved. Our actions are corrupt as well.
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
Mischief! Perhaps murder has not been our literal path, but destruction tends to be. We have a natural bent toward hurting others and even hurting ourselves. We leave ruin and misery in our path. And Paul juxtaposes that with what we could seek but dont: the way of peace. Rather than seeking peace, we seek destruction and war. At any given time there are at least 20 wars going on in the world. When we have been offended by someone, rather than going to work things out in peace, we hold a grudge. We’d rather be miserable than peaceful. It is our natural bent. Why? Becuase we are depraved from conception.
In Soul
In Soul
But it is not only the mind, the heart, the mouth, and the actions that are depraved. It is the soul as well.
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
No one is born respecting God. No one is born with a fear of God. God is made light of. We joke about God. We use God’s name in vain. Rather than treating him as someone to be revered and obeyed, we disregard and disobey him. We act as if he does not exist. We misrepresent him as some genie or Santa Claus in the sky. We twist his words to mean what we want them to mean. Our souls are depraved. In essence, every part of us has been corrupted in some way.
You see, the Jews wanted to know if they had any advantage. The answer is not really. Even though they had God’s oracles, they remain in the same boat as the Gentiles: the S.S. Depravity. The only question is how long is the tour.
Beloved, we cannot think that we are beyond any of these. While we have been saved, we still can fall into doing what is depraved. We ought not live in the depravity, but we cannot put ourselves above it either. Paul cautioned the Galatians in
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
John wrote in his first epistle:
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Silence
Silence
This leads us into Paul’s second argument. His first argument in an effort to wake up the church in Rome was to show that everyone starts in the boat. Everyone sins. But the second argument is that everyone will be silenced.
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
Many would take these words about the law to refer to the Old Testament, in essence the oracles of God, or even the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, and some simply the Ten Commandments. I would say that the law refers to the Old Testament, but I would not leave it there.
We saw a few weeks ago that there are two types of law. There is the law written on paper and the law written on the heart.
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.
They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them
So while technically the Gentiles didn’t have God’s oracles, his law, his written code of conduct, they had certain portions of it written on their hearts. I think that Paul’s use of the word “law” must be this way because he is including Gentiles in this verse. Let’s read it again:
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
Every mouth, not Jews only but also Gentiles. Every mouth. And then the whole world is held accountable. Not just Jews who had the written oracles of God, but Gentiles too who had the law written on their hearts. And the result is: silence. The law speaks, but humanity remains silent. As I said earlier, “The law of God is no friend to humanity since every human being has broken the law. Once the law is broken, it becomes a prosecutor and the individual is left without a defense.” Each individual sits in the witness stand. The list of offenses and charges against the individual is made, and at the end of it all, the prosecutor says: “What have you got to say for yourself? What is your excuse? Can you deny these charges?” And each person sits there in utter silence.
No excuses. No justification. No reasons. No denials. At last, every human being sees what they could not put together the entire time they were alive: they have rebelled against an eternal God and they are guilty as charged.
But beloved, you who are in Christ need not be worried. Do not hang your head. Do not think it’s hopeless!
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
John wrote that we ought not be in a lifestyle of sin, but if we do fall into sin, we need not worry. We have an Advocate. Though we are not righteous (None is righteous; no not one!), though we have no good standing before God, Jesus is the Righteous One. He stands there as our Advocate. He is our Defense Attorney. Though we would be silent, he has plenty to say. “I purchased this one with my blood. My death has satisfied the demands of the law and the wrath of the Judge.”
You who do not know this Jesus, you have no defense attorney. If you plan to represent yourself before the Judge of all heaven and earth, of the living and the dead, then understand that the old addage applies to you. He who would represent himself has a fool for a client. It only shows you have yet to understand; you have yet to seek out God. Trust Jesus to be your Advocate. Put your soul, your entire being, into his hands. He promises
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
Sight
Sight
You see it is not what you look like in your own sight, but in God’s. That’s Paul’s third argument. The first argument Paul used to wake up the church in Rome is that everyone sins. The second argument he used is that everyone will be silent. But now, the third argument he made was that it is a matter of God’s sight, not our own.
For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
I told you earlier that our good never outweighs our bad. So many people put their hope in their own good. Have you ever noticed that no one is ever put on trial for obedience to the law? That just dawned on me this past week. It is only when we disobey the law (or at least accused of disobeying the law) that we are put on trial. No one is ever made to pay a traffic ticket for going the speed limit. It’s not for the good works that we do that we are put on trial. It’s for the breaking of a law.
The same is in God’s courtroom. The good movies that Harvey Weinstein made are not given any merit against the number of rapes he committed. The laughs that Bill Cosby gave the world for decades are not considered against all the rapes committed. Phil Spector, who gave us albums by Ike and Tina Turner, the Beatles, the Ramones, and other rock and roll stars, did not have all the wonderful songs he gave to the world outweigh the murder that he committed. A just judge does not lighten the severity of a crime just because the accused has done some good in the world. Remember that’s Paul’s point and the Psalmist’s as well: no one does good in reference to their standing before God.
Obedience to the law will not make us in right standing with God. I can drive the speed limit my entire life, but if I get caught speeding, I’m still guilty of speeding. I can’t deny I was speeding. I can try to explain that every other time in life I obeyed the speed limit, but I’m not on trial for obeying the speed limit in the past. I’m on trial for disobeying it now. “I’ve never sped before in my life.” “Were you speeding this time?” “Well, yes. But it was the first time.” “So you admit, that you were speeding; you admit that you broke the law even if it was your first time.” “Yes. I have no excuse.”
Here is the great thing, brothers and sisters, when you are in Christ, God sees you as Christ presents you. How does he present you?
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,
to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Jesus does not begrudgingly present you blameless; he presents you blameless with great joy. He rejoices over his bride. He rejoices over his brothers and sister. He rejoices at having completed the work that the Father sent him to do.
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we finish with Romans 3:9-20, we have seen some mighty potent arguments that Paul was making. The first was that everyone sinned. The second is that everyone will be silent before God. Finally, we saw that we don’t need to be justified in our own sight or the sight of others, but in God’s sight.
So if you are a person who thinks you’ll be able to defend your actions, you need to understand that God has said you don’t have a leg to stand on and you won’t even be able to open your mouth to get started. You are left without excuse. You need an Advocate. You need someone who is able to stand before the Judge and defend you by pointing to the only defense anyone can have. The punishment has been paid. He took it himself. Trust in Jesus’s death. Trust him to have satisfied God’s wrath and the demands of the law. It is the only way.
If you are a believer, continue on in your faith. Remember what Paul wrote in
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
God gives his righteousness but only to those who have faith. It is from faith all the way to faith and everything in between is faith. The only way to live is by faith. Keep it. Don’t let go. You have an Advocate, you have your Defense Attorney. Trust him. Yes, it would be fantastic if we could live in this world as sinless representatives of God and Christ, but the fact is we will fail and when that happens, we can rest assured that our Advocate will still plead the blood on our behalf. No matter the sin, if you are in Christ Jesus, you will be presented as blameless, spotless, and without reproach.
What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
For my pardon, this I see: nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing this my plea: nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Nothing can for sin atone; nothing but the blood of Jesus. Naught of good that I have done; nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my hope and peace: nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness: nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow; no other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.