A
Study of the Book of Romans
Lesson
# 8
“The Whole World Stands Guilty!”
Romans
3:9-20
If
any one thing should stand out from our study of Romans thus far, it is that everyone
stands guilty before God. Paul like a great prosecuting Attorney has presented his case,
layer by layer. No only are the pagans guilty (1:18-32) but so are those who have high
ethical standards (2:1-16). Even the religious people are guilty (2:17-29).
Now
is the time for the final argument and then the case goes to the judge. The basic charge
is restated (3:9), the final proof is presented (3:10-18) and the inescapable verdict is
reached (3:19-20)
James
refers to the word of God as a mirror that reveals the truth about what we really look
like (James 1:23-24). We all realize that a mirror is not always flattering. It can be
like the woman who took her photographs back to the photographer and said, “I want my money back. The picture you took don’t
do me justice.” He looked at the pictures and replied, “Lady, you don’t need justice you need
mercy.” So do we all!
THE CHARGE IS RESTATED (3:9)
“What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously
charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.”
Do you think that they finally got it? That they finally
understood no matter who they were stood guilty before God! How else can we understand
“all are under sin?”
“All”
includes the religious people of the world.
“All” includes all the good, moral people in the world!
“All” includes the most wicked pagan in the darkest
corner of the world.
“All” even included me and you…
All
are “under sin.” The term “under sin” is military term that means
“under the authority of someone.” It was used for soldiers who were under the
authority of a commanding officer. It means to be under the control of someone else. In
this case it means that the whole of the human race was under the dominion of sin!
THE FINAL PROOF IS PRESENTED (3:10-18)
The Character of the Accused (vv. 10-12)
· He is Unrighteous (10)
“As it is written: “There is none righteous,
no, not one.”
If
we assess the condition of mankind from a human perspective, we will always conclude that
at least some people are good – simply because they are not as bad as others we have
observed. But compared by God as the backdrop of his goodness – all human beings are
revealed as without any righteousness at all. The prophet Isaiah gives us God assessment
of man’s righteousness in (Isaiah 64:6) “But we
are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags.” To
get the complete picture of our unrighteousness we need to understand that the word
translated “filthy
rags” refers to garments stained during a woman’s menstrual cycle.
· He is Unreasonable (11a)
“There is none who
understands …”
People
do not as a rule understand spiritual truth. Yet the lack of understanding is not
deficiency of intellect nor a lack of information but a failure of the heart to perceive
truth, willful moral blindness. The story is
told in the New Testament of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-40). This man had been
reading in the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah but he did not understand what he read,
until Philip explained it to him.
It
was not his man lacked the intellect it was that he lacked the spiritual discernment. The
Apostle Paul explains in 1 Cor 2:14, “The natural man
does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can
he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
· He is Unresponsive (11b)
“…There is none
who seeks after God.”
The
word for “seek” means to seek with determination.”
While there are many who claim to seek God, there is not one who by nature seeks God with
his wholehearted determination. We secretly believe that millions of people are seeking
God in the best way they know how. Paul says no! At the core of the human heart is an
innate selfishness that keeps us focused on ourselves.
Even when men call out to God, it primarily because we desire to receive
something from Him - his help. If any man
seeks God, it is only because the Holy Spirit is working in their hearts.
· He is Unrepentant (12)
“They have all turned aside; They have together
become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”
We might be tempted to
disagree with that statement “there is not that does good.”
After all, surely there is a difference between Mother Theresa who spend many years
working among the Untouchables of India and a Saddam Hussein who is responsible for untold
misery and suffering. Or, there must be a difference between the doctor who uses his
education and abilities to heal and one who uses his abilities to perform abortions. From
a human standpoint, there is a difference between their works and from our vantage point
we see that some people work good while others work evil. However, from a heavenly
standpoint, God looks at all our works as they appear beside His righteousness and that
leaves us guilty in His sight!
The Conversation of the Accused (vv 13-14)
“Their throat is an open tomb; With their
tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”;
(14) “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
Paul
is really not very flattering when he says that their mouths were as vile as grave (v. 13a) and as full of venom as a snake (13b-14).
Let
me give you two very important reasons that the writer now turns his full attention to the
organs of speech (throat, tongue, lips, mouth). First,
of all the organs of speech are important because they reveal what is on the inside of a person.
Jesus himself said (Matt 12:34) “For out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” What
comes out of a person’s mouth only reveals what was in their heart the entire time.
Secondly,
I believe that the organs of speech are important because of their potential for good or evil. When we see the
words “cursing and bittnerness” (v. 14) we think
of harsh and cruel words. No doubt as a child you learned the nursery rhyme “Sticks and stones may break your bones, but
words never hurt me.” But by now you no doubt understand that is not true. Words
do hurt, they hurt deeply and sometimes they hurt permanently. Words have the potential to
hurt forever.
The Conduct of the Accused (vv. 15-18)
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
(16) Destruction and misery are in their ways; (17) And the way of peace they
have not known.” (18) There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
According
to verse fifteen man is “swift to shed blood” -
This speaks of murder! One need look no farther than the statistics concerning abortion to
know that this is true. Since 1973 over 30 million children have been murdered legally in
this country. That is more than 10 times the total number of war dead from every war in
American history, from the Revolutionary War right on through the present day. According
to statistics, during the Twentieth Century, twice as many American citizens died by
murder than in all our wars put together! One researcher has concluded that a child born
in the 1980's in America had a greater chance of being murdered than an American soldier
had of being killed in battle in World War II! We are guilty!
The
last charge (v. 18) against the sinner tells us that mankind possesses “no fear of God.” This is why he is able to do all
these other things. This is why he is able to live the kind of life that he does. To put
it simply, men just do not fear the Lord! God has already told mankind what will happen as
a result of his sins. Man has chosen not to believe the Word of God. In fact, most people
live as though God did not exist! This is called "practical atheism"
This kind of person knows there is a God. Yet, he chooses to live his life his way and
live as if there were no God. This frees him from any restrictions on his behavior and
allows him to do as he pleases. God has a name for people like that, Fool.
THE FINAL VERDICT DELIVERED (3:19-20)
“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says
to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may
become guilty before God. (20) Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be
justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
Some
unbeliever’s live with the belief that one day they will stand before God and they
will be ready to offer excuses for why they never became a Christian. “I never became a Christian because of all those
hypocrites down at First Baptist Church.” or, “I never became a Christian because I went once,
and all he talked about was money.” or, “I
didn’t understand the Bible.” They may think that they will be ready to make
all kinds of excuses, but I want you to look at verse nineteen. Did you notice it
says, “that every mouth may be stopped”? Even in
human court, when the charge has been read and the prisoner is given a chance to speak for
himself, sometimes he is so overcome with the burden of his guilt that all he can do is
hang his head in shame and say, “I have
nothing to say your honor, I am guilty as charged.” When men stand before an
almighty God, they will be without defense and their mouths will be shut. There will be no
person who can make one acceptable excuse before God.
“Some years ago there was an Arthur Murray dance instructor who
had been out late on Saturday evening. In the wee hours of the morning he staggered back
to his hotel room, fell into bed, and went to sleep. The next morning he was suddenly
jolted awake by his clock radio. A man was speaking and he was asking the question: ‘If
in the next few moments some great disaster should happen and you should be killed and if
you should find yourself before God and he should ask you, What right do you have to come
into my heaven? What would you say?”
The
dance instructor was amazed and confounded by this question. He had never heard a question
like that before. He realized that he did not have an answer. He had not a single thing to
say. His mouth, filled with empty words just hours before, was suddenly stopped. He sat
silently on the edge of his bed while Donald Grey Barnhouse – he was the preacher on
the radio program- explained the answer to him.
That
dance instructor was D. James Kennedy, now the pastor of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian
Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and the author of the…. evangelism program known
as “Evangelism explosion.” Kennedy believed on Christ that day in his hotel
room, and the question that had been used to save him became the chief tool in his
evangelism strategy.” [As
told by James Montgomery Boice. Romans:
Justification by Faith (Romans 1-4) Vol 1. (Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 1991) pp.
326-327]
The
law was not given to save us but to make us realize we are sinners. In Galatians 3:24
Paul tells us what the purpose of the law was, “Therefore the
law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”
The word translated “tutor” (paidagogos) (schoolmaster
in KJV) was not the school teacher but a literally was an older trusted slave whose job it
was to see the master’s children safely to and from school. Christ is the teacher, the law was the
slave whose job it was to bring the children to the teacher. The law reveals
but only the law giver redeems! J.
Vernon McGee says, “The Law won’t lift him up.
Actually, it does the opposite. To hold onto the Law is like a man jumping out of an
airplane, and instead of taking a parachute, he takes a sack of cement with him. Well,
believe me, the Law will pull you down. It condemns man. It’s a ministration of death.”
[J.
Vernon McGee. Thru The Bible Commentary. (electronic ed. - 1997). Thomas
Nelson: Nashville, 1981]
Conclusion
What is God saying to us
and to the world from our text? You should see several obvious implications from our text.
· Every person is
hopelessly lost.
· None of us can save ourselves.
· All of us need a Savior.
· We have such a Savior in
the person of
· We must all turn our lives over to Him today, if we have not already done so. Since we have no guarantee of tomorrow, today is the day of salvation.