I Can't Even...

The Road Less Travelled  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
0 ratings
· 6 views

As we continue looking at humanities sin problem, Paul explains that our good nature is not really a possibility.

Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
View more →

Announcements

Men's Breakfast: August 20th 8:30a
With Peoria Rescue Ministries
At 1212 Adams
NEED an RSVP by 15th
Outdoor Movie Night
7:30p Ice Cream and Popcorn
8:00p Movie Starts at Sundown
Thursday August 11th
Spiderman into the Spiderverse
Christmas Play
Looking for actors - Miracle on 34th Street
Auditions to come on a Sunday at the end of August

Introduction

Alexander Fleming was experimenting with influenza in 1928
He went on a 2 week vacation and returned to find mold covering his work
It seemed like his staphylococcus samples were ruined, but he discovers penicillin
Treats all sorts of infections, rheumatic fever, gonorrhea, Lyme disease, tonsillitis…
Called the most important medical discovery of 20th century -- began antibiotics age
Things aren't always what you think they are… sometimes they're way better
You Version: I Can’t Even...
We’re in Romans 3:1-20
Looking at the Romans Road
Answering 4 questions:
Why do we need salvation?
How did God provide salvation?
How can we receive salvation?
What are the results of salvation?
Today we’re still looking primarily at that first question
Why do we need salvation?
You might be thinking, “Dang! More sin lectures!”
Yes… next week we start to turn that corner a little a bit...
Easiest answer
Romans 3:23 ESV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23 ESV
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We are all sinners
All sinners face eternal death
Skipped end of Romans 2
Learned that Jews are as guilty as the gentiles
They thought circumcision into Abraham’s covenant was enough
But that was more about making God’s people, not about salvation...
Circumcision is good is you keep the law, bad if you break it
Jews probably didn’t like that: What would you ask? “Why be Jewish?”
Let’s see what Paul has to say:
Romans 3:1–2 (ESV)
1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.
He says “Hello?! He gave you prophesy and the Word of God!”
They got to be the ones that maintained the instructions and promises of God for everyone

1. God’s chosen people were not a waste of time

Of course, I mean the nation of Israel and then Judah
Later in chapter 9 (won’t get to in this series), he goes further
Romans 9:4–5 (ESV)
4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
That’s quite a list!
Take Israel out for a second...
We would have no Scripture
No covenants
No law
All the times they glorified God, recieved His promises, gave Him worship - gone!
And most of all, there would be no Christ
Of course, God could handle all those things without Israel
But He didn’t, He used them for all of those things!
But that still doesn’t mean they are all saved...
Romans 3:3–4 (ESV)
3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,
“That you may be justified in your words,
and prevail when you are judged.”
The question is: If a Jew has no faith, does God’s faithfulness become useless?
God invested in this people - was that just a waste?
The answer is no! It is man that is wrong, not God!
Some make the argument that there is a significant problem here:
If God was faithful to Jews, they shouldn’t reject Christ
However, most Jews rejected Christ, so God’s faithfulness to the Jews was useless
ILLUSTRATION: Compare this to the world: If the world rejects God, does He stop moving?
God can use things and people, even if they don’t want to be used - or are unaware

2. God’s purposes are not democratic!

You know God, all of us down here agree you shouldn’t have done that...
God would say, “And? So? What do you know?!”
He’s going to do what’s right whether we agree or not!
Even a crazy atheist who hates God and spends their life attacking Him - can be used by God
Even if every human was a crazy atheist… that wouldn’t make God wrong
Spurgeon: “If God says one thing, and every man in the world says another, God is true, and all men are false.”
There are not enough men in the world to make God a failure
Now Paul seems intent to take this argument to the next level
Romans 3:5–6 (ESV)
5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world?
Notice the little (I speak in a human way)
He’s not saying (this part of the Bible will be uninspired because it’s me talking)
He’s speaking as man, for the benefit of man
In other words, he's playing devils advocate
It’s because he’s giving a ridiculous example of an argument
Early Christians probably genuinely argued this with Paul:
“If God uses unrighteous people, and that helps us see He is righteous...”
“Shouldn’t we all try to do bad things, that way God looks that much better?!”
Paul was speaking to a group that clearly understood that God was right to judge the world
The idea that God would judge was as unquestionable as the sky being blue!
Paul says, “No, because God couldn’t judge us if our bad was actually good!”
If our bad was good, we would all be sinless and we KNOW we’re not sinless!
You can’t discuss God interacting with people without including something important:
That’s because God introduces GRACE into the equation

3. God loves us in spite of who we are

It’s the thing I always say:
“God doesn’t love you for who you are, He loves you IN SPITE OF who you are.”
So without God’s grace, your evil will still be judged by a righteous God
Paul goes further:
Romans 3:7–8 (ESV)
7 But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
I am constantly getting on the nerves of my family when we argue, I mean discuss, things
When I do that, it’s proves a point: taking things to an extreme shows how far our ideas go
SHOW WEIRD AL VIDEO
It’s funny that Eminem stands for freedom of speech when it comes to artistic creation
But when Weird Al wants to use that same logic, he shuts him down
Oftentimes we don’t think of all of the implications of our statements
Paul is now revealing how far this logic has gone
If God uses evil for good, we should do more evil so He can make more good!
People were actually accusing Christians of saying that!
Here’s what Scripture says about this:
Romans 8:28 (ESV)
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Genesis 50:20 (ESV)
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
The world’s response? It accuses us (and God) of liking evil
If God can use evil for good, Christians like evil!
Watching “The God Who Wasn’t There” on Netflix, he presents a collection of evil Christians
Charles Manson, Pat Robertson, Dena Schlosser (who cut off her baby’s arm for God)
And then Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins who wrote the “Left Behind” series
Here’s the caption “Look forward to the day when all non-Christians are thrown into a lake of fire, “howling and screeching.”
“Howling and screeching” is a line describing a scene in their book
(Not describing what they want BTW)
Here is his logic:
a. Christians look forward to the day Christ returns (specifically Jenkins and LaHaye)
b. “Left Behind” chronicles this return through the imagination of these men
c. They write that unbelievers are swallowed by the earth “howling and screeching”
d. Therefore, Jenkins and LaHaye look forward to people howling and screeching
That is a non sequiter!
Paul would say that this is “slanderously reported”
Christians do not seek to torture those against us, but there will be a day when God serves justice
His justice, and not our own. There’s a huge difference there!
BTW the documentary is terrible. It is inaccurate, presumptive and deceptive
Should you choose to watch it, just know it is easily refutable
We don’t look forward to the suffering of others, but rather to the justice of God
SUMMARIZE: We don’t do evil to bring good, we marvel that God can take our evil and create good
But Paul, rather than engage simply says “their condemnation is just”
Anyone intentionally twisting the gospel will rightly be condemned by God
This is one of the worst things we could do
Sin is the one thing that keeps us separate from God
God gave everything to try and erase it
How then, could we turn around and say that it gives us a license to sin?
ILLUSTRATION: Imagine not being able to pay, and you ask for the wine list and dessert menu
Paul comes back to the Jewish question
Romans 3:9 (ESV)
9 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,
Paul says “we”, so he’s talking about his fellow Jews
In reality, as far as sin and condemnation go, Jews are no better off than anyone else.
Neither are we!

4. Sinners are going to sin

ILLUSTRATION: Why would we expect a sinful world to do anything other than sin?
Why? Paul explains its because we’re under sin.
Sin is a nasty and powerful ruler than no man is strong enough to tame on his own
We are 100% unable to free ourselves from the rule that we are under!
And now Paul proves that because the Old Testament has been saying it for years:
Romans 3:10–11 (ESV)
10 as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
Taken from several Psalms and Isaiah 59:7-8
Besides Christ, there is not a single righteous person. Never has been, never will be

5. By ourselves, we cannot know God

Do you realize it is impossible to seek after God without God interfering?
What about all the religious people? Everyone seeks after something! Nirvana, Zeus, Allah…
Those are men seeking answers, but not seeking God
No one can seek the One True God, until He reveals Himself
If God just made His creation and stepped back, no one would know He was there
Romans 3:12 (ESV)
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
The Riviera Hotel and Casino was the first high-rise casino in Las Vegas
Dean Martin owned 10%, Liberace was first resident entertainer, it was in Oceans 11 and Casino
Then it became unprofitable, so they blew it up (or it was imploded)
That’s what we do when things are “unprofitable”, they are destroyed
Then Paul assimilates sin with every part of the body:
Romans 3:13–14 (ESV)
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
What comes out of an open tomb? Nothing good!
It’s just stinking, rotting, death
James 3 compares the tongue to a rudder on a ship: it is small but it makes a big impact
Men choose deceit – our little rudders continually smash into the rocks if we have no Captain
Our lips have the poison of asps? An asp is a venomous snake, likely the Egyptian Cobra
This is the second largest species of cobra (up to 10 feet) and is very deadly
In fact, legend says Cleopatra committed suicide by being bitten because of fast acting venom
Neurotoxic venom destroys nerves and tissues, leading to respiratory failure in about 15 minutes
It can kill an adult elephant in 3 hours!
The psalmist and Paul agree that our lips are loaded with this poison
This poison called cursing and bitterness and lies
Romans 3:15 (ESV)
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
No, I would never! Yes you would…
How many generations of man went by before murder entered the picture?
Cain and Abel, the first human born generation!
But we’re more civilized now!Really?
How’s Chicago’s murder rate looking? Longest stretch without a murder was 6 days in 2018...
They had more than 800 last year!
Remember, God looks at the heart. There were 3,561 people shot.
Why were they shooting? They were trying to commit murder!
That’s not counting stabbings, beatings, or gunshots that missed…
But that’s Chicago, we don’t live there and I didn’t do it! How does Jesus classify murder?
Matthew 5:21–22 (ESV)
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
We are all murderers, and quick to become them.
Romans 3:16–18 (ESV)
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
It all comes down to this: we have no fear of God
Every sin happens because we do not put God where He belongs
Every time we rebel, it’s because we do not respect Him as He should be
But we will!
Romans 3:19–20 (ESV)
19 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. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Paul drives the final nail into his point here:
The law is not the saving factor!

6. You are totally depraved

There is this thing called “Total Depravity” that you must deal with
depraved: morally corrupt; wicked.
Here has what Paul has taught us today:
You are a sinner!
You lie, you murder, you hurt others…
You create turmoil, and struggle, and misery…
You destroy and rebel against good…
You spew death on everything with your sin
And that’s the absolute best thing you can do.
You don’t help God, you don’t understand Him
And if He never introduced Himself you couldn’t even know He existed
If He didn’t create a change in your heart, you could never even want Him!
Once you do, you continue to sin and slap Him in the face because you don’t respect Him
You and I on our own are completely, 100% depraved.
Separated, unworthy, morally corrupt, wicked…
And we don’t want to believe it. Some of you right now are probably not believing it…
Know why? Because your flesh is still there! Our depravity still shines through
Jews in that day said “No, we have THE LAW!”
Paul says “No, don’t you get it?! The law doesn’t make you sinless!”
The law broke down that wall of depravity, it showed us what good looks like
So we could say “Wow, this is hard! I can’t do it…”
Because once we understand sin, we see our inability to be anything but… depraved
Then God says “Great, you get that you’re sinful. Now here’s the answer: My Son.”
Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more