The following Sunday School lesson was delivered earlier this month as a 2-part series on the grace of God. Part one introduced us to the topic and outlined the importance of correctly understanding justification by grace alone. Part two provided an illustration from the life of Martin Luther and exposed his inability to appease his conscience through his own righteousness. Part three focused on how many Evangelicals in our day want to eradicate the idea of God's wrath and sin altogether.
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The process was long and painful, but Luther eventually came to realize the reason for his guilty conscience and the manner by which he could finally say that he was at peace with God. Luther finally came to understand his own fallen nature as outlined in the glorious epistle to the Romans.
I now invite you to open your Bibles, and we will look at the apostle’s words to see what he has to say concerning this paramount issue. After all, it is the Bible that will convict the conscience over and against any mere mellifluous words of exhortation. The Word of God has authority that binds the conscience of the believer and the one who professes a love for and commitment to the Scriptures must look to it and embrace what has been revealed. We must be careful so as not come to the Bible with a postmodern way of interpreting and say what we think the Bible means to us. Instead, we must believe in the clarity of Scripture and accept it is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
Turn with me, if you will, to Romans 3:10 where we will read through verse 18 for now. Before we do that, however, remember the arguments up to this point. That is, Paul demonstrated the universal sinfulness of all human beings—Jew and Gentile alike. The former possessed no genealogical advantage from being the offspring of Abraham in that they too stood condemned before God. All of mankind needed salvation.
The apostle started first by describing this reality especially since the Gentiles suppressed the knowledge of God and were given over to a reprobate mind and participated in all sorts of debauchery and vices. One could almost hear the Jews cheering on Paul in his condemnation and in his verdict of "guilty" before God, when in chapter two, the apostle turns his attention to the Jews and tells them that they are just as guilty and they also have merited the wrath of almighty God.
He stresses the reality that merely possessing the law does nothing for an individual, and further charges them with hypocrisy. There is universal Jewish sinfulness as well. In fact, the Jews are even more guilty because they were entrusted with the oracles of God and they failed to keep its demands. While they preached against stealing, they stole; while they said do not commit adultery, they committed adultery; they abhorred robbing temples, yet they robbed them. Paul asked at the beginning of chapter three: "Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are under sin (3:9)." Paul then draws from Psalms 14 and 53 when he delivered the most rebuking charge against mankind apart from grace. It is here, in verses 10 through 18 that Paul lays the groundwork for the radical depravity of mankind in his natural state. He says that both Jews and Gentiles are worthless and fail to seek after God. Consider:
"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."
That some are good people or that others seek after God is here refuted. Paul begins with the deplorable condition of natural man in that since the fall, "None is righteous, no, not one." But how many times have we heard someone say, "He is a good man," or "She is a good woman". Paul tells us it is the exact opposite. None are good, man or woman, Jew or Gentile.
And how often do we hear someone say he or she is trying to find God, that is, one is seeking after the one true God, attempting to find Him—as if God plays hide and seek with people. No, this is not the case. If one is seeking after God and does not find Him it is because that person is seeking after the god of his or her imagination.
After several more condemning statements establishing the inability of mankind to do anything righteous, he then moves on to an illustration about the tongue. Paul could have used any sin he could have thought of but there might have been some Jews or Gentiles who said, "Wait a minute, Paul. I have not committed that particular sin." So, what argument does the apostle employ? Here he chooses the sin of the tongue—a sin that no one can say he is not guilty of. Each and every one of us has committed this particular transgression and none of us is able to escape this particular condemnation.
Moving on to verses 15–17, the apostle draws upon Isaiah 59:7–8 where the sin listed is worse than the one previously spoken about. This verse talks about the sinful inclinations and deadly actions of mankind. Just as anger and murder ruled the day during Isaiah’s time, so too were these same actions taking place at the time of the apostle—and not much has changed since. But listen to why their "feet are swift to shed blood." Paul tells us the reason in verse 19, because, "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
When one views self as autonomous and ruling over his own body and passions, then he will fear no one. If one does not believe in a higher being and fears the consequences of his actions there is no logical reason not to act in one’s own vacillating self-interest.
With all of this is mind, however, Paul brings together this list of Old Testament passages in order to shatter and to obliterate the idea that man contains any amount of self-righteousness. We could look elsewhere in Scripture that comports with this idea of natural man being radically corrupted because of the fall but for the sake of brevity we must press forward in our lesson.
Now returning to this idea of a radically corrupted natured—if one does not properly understand his own sinfulness, there is no need for repentance, no need to turn away from one’s own selfish ways and no compelling reason to look for a Savior.
Just the other day I was speaking with a woman who expressed her joy that an unsaved loved one promised to attend church with her. Knowing what sort of church she attends, I asked her how many times she has heard the gospel preached in the eight months she had been in attendance. She paused, thought for a moment, and respond, "None."
None. In eight months of sitting through preaching and she had never once heard a message of sin and redemption. What good is it, then, if her unsaved loved went with her to church? How would he ever get saved if salvation comes through the preaching of the Word? How will this person ever see his true condition apart from the gospel message? Instead, he will continue in his own ignorance of the reality that awaits him if he does not turn from his current ways.
Listen to what Paul has to say after his condemnation in verses 10–18. We read in chapter 3:19, "Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God." The person who is still yammering, "But I’m not that bad," is not ready for what the apostle is about to express. The one who does not recognize his own condition is not ready for the gospel message of hope. The one who still thinks he is a good person and just needs a little motivation here and there to continue in his own righteousness does not understand his desperate need for a Savior. The one who thinks he seeks after God and believes he will be found righteous before a holy God because he, himself, has performed so many good works will be utterly surprised when he is standing before the great Sovereign of the universe only to hear those dreaded words, "depart from me, ye worker of iniquity. I never knew you." The one who does not understand that he needs something outside of himself and that he needs and alien righteousness—a righteousness that does not come from himself—does not understand the Christian message. At best, that one, will, like Luther, continue in a state of bondage, persisting as a slave to his own works, attempting to placate an almighty God.
The irony, however, is that God will grant us the desire of our hearts—if that is truly what we want. That is, God will judge us according to our works if we truly believe that is how we can be justified. God will grant someone that wish, and the results will be eternally disastrous.
We continue in verse 20: "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." It was not until Luther cast off his chains of bondage from the treadmill of sacramentalism and good works that he finally understood what it meant to be at peace with God. It was not until he recognized that he stood condemned before a holy God and nothing he could do could change his standing before God could Luther safely rest in the arms of his Savior. Luther need more than what the Roman Catholic Church was offering. Luther was terrified of a holy God. Are you? If not, why not?
to be continued...
