Please open your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Mark, to Mark chapter 7. Mark chapter 7, and I will begin reading in verse 14, and we'll read through verse 23. Mark 7, 14 to 23. After he called the crowd to him again, he began saying to them, listen to me, all of you, and understand. There is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him. But the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples questioned him about the parable. And he said to them, are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him? Because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach and is eliminated. Thus he declared all foods clean. And he was saying that which proceeds out of the man That is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness, all these evil things proceed from within and defile the man." This is the word of God. Would you pray with me? Our Father in heaven, on our own, and left to ourselves. We are sinful through and through. We are corrupt from the very depths of our being. We are defiled and polluted by sin. We are unrighteous before you. We are condemned in your sight Father, we thank you, as we have just sung, that you are a God of grace, that you have not left us in our sins, that you have given to us by your grace a new heart. You have taken away the heart that we were born with, the heart that was completely defiled by sin and completely inclined towards sin. And you have made us to be new creatures in Christ where the old things have passed away and behold, new things have come. Father, we thank you for transforming us and making us to be your children. that you have given to us all of the rights and privileges of your children, that you love us with an everlasting love, a love that will never die or diminish, a love that continues and is steadfast even when we continue to struggle with sin. Father, we thank you for the blood of Christ. We thank you that his blood, his innocent righteous blood, was shed on our behalf and that Jesus paid the price for every single sin that we have committed so that we might be saved by faith in him. Father, we thank you for this Lord's Day. We thank you for the gift that it is to gather with your people to be able to sing together, to pray together, to open your word together. And we pray that as we continue to sing and as we open your word momentarily, that your spirit would move among us, that the spirit would make our hearts warm toward you and affectionate toward you. that you would enable us, O God, to give our full attention to you this morning, that you would remove all of the cares of this life from our mind, all of the distractions, all of the things that weigh our hearts down. And may you give us a respite of worship. May our joy be multiplied. May our faith be deepened, may our hope be enlarged. And above all, may everything that we think, say, and do as we gather here today abound to the glory of the one to whom we owe all obedience for time and eternity, namely the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is in his name that we pray. Will please open your Bibles with me to the book of Romans, Romans chapter three. And I want to direct your attention to verses 13 to 17. The title of our message is God's Portrait of Depraved Humanity. And as we begin our time together in the word of God, I want to read in your hearing verses nine through 18. The Apostle Paul writes, what then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one. Their throat is an open grave. With their tongues they keep deceiving. The poison of Asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. This is the word of God. The story is told of a man who was walking through a park one Saturday afternoon, and as he was walking, a group of young people stopped him and asked if he would take their picture. To their great surprise, the man responded by saying, I already have it. When the group of young people asked him where and when he had taken their picture, he pulled out his Bible and he read Romans 3 verses 9 to 18 to them. And after reading the passage, he said to them, this is your picture. Dear people, the Bible is not a flattering book. The picture that it paints of us is not only unflattering, it is deeply, deeply disturbing. But the portrait that the Bible paints of depraved humanity is completely accurate. It is undistorted. It is a true depiction of what sin has done to you and to me. The Bible's teaching on human sin is often referred to by theologians as total depravity. The word total in total depravity does not mean that each sinner is as bad as he or she could possibly be. That would be utter depravity. Instead, the word total means that the totality of man's being has been affected by sin. It is not partial depravity, but total depravity because every part of us is corrupted by sin. the body, the mind, the heart, the desires, the affections, the emotions, the conscience, and the will. This is what you could call holistic depravity. Other terms used to describe man's sinful condition are radical depravity, pervasive depravity, total inability, and radical corruption. All of these are apt descriptions of our sinful condition. And as we think about the doctrine of total depravity, we are not talking about a minor truth. We are talking about one of the major pillars of Christian theology. It is pervasively taught in the Word of God. On your notes, you will see the quote there by Steve Lawson, who says, if someone does not hold to total depravity, it is not because they know too much of the Bible, but because they know too little of the Bible. The more you learn about the Bible, the more you read the Bible, the more convinced and persuaded you are of the reality of the doctrine of total depravity. There are many, many passages that teach total depravity, but the single greatest passage anywhere in the Bible on the doctrine of total depravity is the one that is before us this morning here in Romans 3 9-18. Now at this point in our study of Romans, we are looking at the second major division of the book. You will find your outline in your notes. We are looking at Roman numeral two, the gospel explained. And the way Paul begins to explain the gospel is by explaining our need for the gospel. We are calling this the need for righteousness. The one word that summarizes this lengthy portion of Romans in chapter 1 verse 18 to chapter 3 in verse 20 is the word condemnation. When you think about Romans 1 18 to 3 20 you should think of it in terms of a courtroom. The Apostle Paul is the prosecuting attorney whose aim is to prove beyond any shadow of doubt that we are condemned before a holy and a just God. Paul begins with, number one, the condemnation of the Gentiles in Romans 1. From there, he turns his attention to the Jews, and as a master of logic and argumentation, Paul proves the condemnation of the Jews in chapter 2 and on into chapter 3. After proving the condemnation of both Gentiles and Jews, Paul then turns his attention to the entire world. This brings us to number three in our outline, the condemnation of all, in chapter 3, verses 9 through 20. In this section of Romans, All of humanity is on trial, and obviously that includes you and it includes me. And as Paul puts all of humanity on trial, he does not have one good thing to say. There is not one nice or positive thing in this text about depraved humanity. This section is entirely dark, it is entirely negative. Now, as we noted last time, This critical portion of Romans has a definite structure to it. I've outlined it using legal terminology. You'll see on your notes that Paul begins with, in verse 9, the charge stated. And then in verses 10 to 18, we have the evidence presented. And then in verses 19 to 20, we have the verdict rendered. Last time we looked at the universal reign of sin, in verses 9 to 12. The great emphasis in this part of the text is on the universality of sin. The key phrase is found there in verse 9, all under sin. We are all under sin. To be under something is to be subject to its power. So to be under sin means that we are under the power of sin. This fallen world that we live in is under the domain, the reign of sin. Sin is like a king and all people are born citizens of the kingdom of sin. All people by nature are subjects to king sin. Sin has a universal reign over all of human society. We all, by nature, are under the power, the influence, the domain, the rule, the reign of sin. Sin, by nature, owns you. It owns me. We are under its dominion. And so Paul's point in verse 9 is that all people, both Jew and Gentile, are under the domination of sin. You are under its power. This is the formal charge that Paul brings against the entire human race. Now notice that Paul doesn't merely state the charge, but he proves the charge, and he proves the charge through the presentation of overwhelming evidence in verses 10 to 18. Another way to think about verses 10 to 18 is that these verses are Paul's witnesses, if you will, in the courtroom. They are the Old Testament scriptures Paul will quote from a handful of verses in the Psalms and elsewhere that are the witnesses of human depravity. They all prove the charge that humanity is under the rule and reign of sin. Now as you think about verses 9 to 12, which we looked at last time, Paul shows us how wide sin goes. How wide it goes. Sin extends to all of humanity. Again, in verse 9, both Jews and Greeks are all Under sin, verse 10, there is none righteous, not even one. Verse 11, there is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. Verse 12, all have turned aside. Together they have become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one. So how far and wide does sin go in the human race? It extends to every single individual. But then in verses 13 to 18, Paul shows us how deep sin goes in us. All of us are sinners in that sin corrupts all of humanity. And all of us are sinners in that sin corrupts every single facet of our being. The corruption of sin within each and every one of us is not superficial, but rather it is profound and it is radical. With the time that we have this morning, we will look together at verses 13 to 17. And what ties these five verses together is that they present man's radical depravity, listen, in social terms, in social terms. In verses 10 to 12, we see what sin does to our relationship to God, but in verses 13 through 17, we see what sin does to our relationship with our fellow man. It is evident that all people are depraved because our sin is manifested very clearly in how we treat other people by nature. We will call this section the radical depravity of sin in verses 13 to 18. In this part of the portrait, Paul paints three details of fallen man's depraved nature, the first two of which we will look at this morning. Letter A, our destructive speech in verses 13 and 14, followed by letter B, our warlike ways in verses 15 to 17. a very dark portion of the Word of God. Now before we dive into our text, I want you to observe with me how many references there are to the human anatomy. In verse 13, throat. Also in verse 13, tongues. In verse 13, lips. In verse 14, mouth. In verse 15, feet. In verse 18, eyes. In verse 19, mouth is used again. So as you think about this portrait of depraved humanity, we are sinful from head to toe. The human anatomy is completely affected and corrupted by sin. Well, that brings us to our destructive speech in verses 13 and 14. Of all the references to the human anatomy that Paul uses in this passage, notice that four of them are concentrated on our speech in verses 13 and 14. I appreciate what the scholar Thomas Schreiner says. You'll look on your notes and find his quote. He says, the universal dimension of sin is nowhere more evident than in human speech. And he's exactly right. If you want to prove the reality of human sin, the easiest way to do so is by pointing to a person's mouth. Point to their speech. Nothing outwardly manifest our sin more than our mouth. The Bible gives a very simple yet profound principle. Whatever is in the heart proceeds out of the mouth. A person's mouth is a window into their soul. What is a person like on the inside? All you have to do is listen to the words that come out of their mouth and you will know what is in their hearts. Paul begins in verse 13 with the throat. Their throat is an open grave. In the ancient world, in the land of Israel, graves were sealed out of respect for the deceased and for the benefit of the living. Graves were sealed to hide the sight of and the stench of a decaying body. To open a grave was to unleash the stench of human decay and human rot. And when the Bible wants to describe just how sinful and how deeply sinful we really are, it compares the throat to an open grave where you see A rotting body, a decaying body. Out of a person's throat comes the stench, the foul stench of a corpse. That is to say, human speech, beloved, is corrupt and it is foul. And this is how all people are by nature. Think of all of the foul things that come out of people's mouths. profanity, obscenity, vulgarity, blasphemy, and on and on and on it goes. When I used to work at the hospital when I was in college, obviously a secular work environment, and I was to go into the men's lounge, it was appalling the things that would come out of the mouths of the men in that lounge. But that is what was natural to them. As sinners, we have dirty mouths. When a person opens their mouth, it's like the opening of a grave, and the stench of death is what comes out. What comes out of man's throats proves his radical depravity. From there, Paul gives a second description of human speech. With their tongues, they keep deceiving. In God's amazing wisdom and goodness, he made us to be communicative and expressive creatures. God created us with the amazing ability to develop language skills, the ability to write, to read, and to talk, to have conversations. God created us in our bodies with lungs. a throat and lips and a tongue, all of which are necessary to speak. And God created us to use the gift of human speech to glorify Him, to praise His great name, to edify and bless others, and to speak the truth and nothing but the truth. But instead, sin has so corrupted the human heart that we use this gift God has given to us, namely our tongue, to lie and to deceive and to do it over and over and over and over again. We are born liars, Psalm 58-3 says. It gives a picture of a child even in its mother's womb that is going astray and speaking lies. One of the most common sins committed by children is lying. I have had five children and in all five cases I have found this to be true. All of my children were born liars just like their parents were born liars. And we never had to send them to lying school to learn how to lie. They do it naturally. And it doesn't stop when a child grows up. It's not like when they reach adulthood, they all of a sudden have this conviction about truth. No, when you go into adulthood, you continue to lie if you are lost and unconverted. And so adults lie. They oftentimes become very, very skilled at lying and become very dangerous to society. Now, why do we lie? We lie because we are utterly selfish. We lie to protect ourselves. We lie to enhance ourselves. We lie to cover up things which diminish our reputation. We lie to impress other people. Lying, listen, is almost always rooted in the fear of man. That is what drives it. We lie because of fear to avoid punishment. We lie because of pride to make people think highly of ourselves. We lie because of greed. We want things and we lie to get them. We lie because of shame. We are wanting to hide our guilt from the eyes of men. Now think of all of the different ways that people can lie. I have given you a list, not an exhaustive list, but a fairly long list of 11 ways that people can lie. Number one, outright lying. This is when you say something that is flat out not true. It's like the person who calls in sick to work who is not sick. It's an outright lie. Number two, half-truths. This is when you only tell part of the truth. You only give part of the story rather than the whole truth. This is the act of omission. Think about when one of your children says to you that my brother hit me, but he conveniently leaves out the part that he hit his brother first. So it's a half truth. Number three, exaggeration. This is when you tell the truth, but you overstate the truth, you embellish the truth. I mean, the classic example is of the person who went fishing and he caught a fish and he came home and told his friends and says, I caught a fish and it was this long. And every time he tells the story, the fish gets bigger and bigger and bigger. Number four is cheating. This is when you Achieve a certain goal by deceit. You can make an A on a test by cheating. Number five, flattery. When you compliment someone to get something from them. When you are disingenuous. My, how wonderful your hair looks today. What a beautiful outfit you are wearing today. Number six, hypocrisy. This is when you pretend to be something that you are not. It's being fake. It's putting on a front. It's misrepresenting yourself. So many examples. Think of a married couple who in public often portrays themselves to be the perfect couple, but at home, behind the scenes, it is an entirely different story. Number seven is slander. This is when you misrepresent someone else to damage their reputation, when you are lying about them so as to cause them harm. Jesus was slandered by his enemies. He was called a gluttonous man. He was called a drunkard. He was called a friend of tax collectors and sinners, and they did not mean that as a compliment. Number eight, there are breaking promises. This is when you don't do what you promise that you are going to do. When you say that you are going to pray for someone and you don't pray for them. That is breaking a promise. Number nine, there is forgery. This is when you produce something that isn't genuine, like someone else's signature. Number 10, there is plagiarism. This is taking someone else's work and claiming that it is yours. This is like taking statements or paragraphs from a book and including them in your own book and claiming them as your own. And then number 11, betraying confidence. This is when you share information that is private, that you were not supposed to share with anyone. And so there are a lot of ways to lie and you understand this, you live in the fallen world, you are born with this propensity like I am to lie, to use our tongues in these ways. But as we all know, lying gets us into a lot of trouble. Look at what Alexander Pope says, he who tells a lie is forced to invent 20 more to sustain it. So think about the person who is a habitual liar, their whole life is a lie, they are constantly having to lie about their lies to cover their lies, and eventually is easily exposed. Sir Walter Scott says, oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. According to Proverbs 6, one of the things that God hates is Lying, Proverbs 12, 22, lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. I love what Charles Spurgeon says about lying, it's very insightful. He says, any crime is possible to a liar. He who is rotten with falsehood will break at the touch of every temptation. It just means that if a person will lie and develops a pattern of lying as a way of life, That person will do anything. Someone who becomes good at lying loses his fear of being discovered and will move on to any number of evil actions. He becomes arrogant and self-assured. He comes to truly believe he is above the law. And then he concludes by saying this, you should fear people like this. He's right. Fear someone like that. Paul gives a third description in verse 13, the poison of asps is under their lips. An asp is a poisonous snake. They have venom in their mouth. In the same way, people have venom in their mouth. That is to say, our speech can be deadly, just like a poisonous snake. The way we talk to other people is like a poisonous snake sinking its fangs into a person's flesh and injecting them with deadly poison. That is what our sinful, harmful, destructive words are like when we say them. With our lips, we can destroy others. I can even recall right now, as a 49-year-old man, things that were said when I was a kid on the playground that were cruel and harsh. And no doubt you can remember things that were said to you that were cruel and harsh from your childhood, things that you will be buried always remembering. Those words are like poison that are injected into your body. As Proverbs says, death is in the power of the tongue. With this little organ, you can bring death and destruction and great pain to a person. Charles Spurgeon says this very eloquently, the old serpent has not only inoculated us with his venom, but he has caused us to ourselves be producers of the like poison. It lies under our lips, ready for us, and alas, it is all too freely used when we grow angry and desire to take vengeance upon any who have caused us vexation. It is sadly wonderful what hard things even good people will say when provoked. Very powerful picture indeed. Paul continues in verse 14, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. I want you to notice there the word full. So cursing and bitterness are not rare. They are common. There's not just a little bit of cursing and bitterness coming from the human tongue. Our mouth is full of cursing. Our mouth is full of bitterness. Cursing is the idea of invoking harm upon someone. It is to wish for and verbally express hostility against another person. And bitterness is the idea of this smoldering resentment that gives vent to bitter words against people. I could give countless examples. But the one that comes to my mind was from a few years ago when Shelly and I celebrated our 20th anniversary in New York City. And one of the things that we wanted to do on that trip was to go to Central Park and At Central Park, there is this sidewalk that goes around the entirety of the park, and we were newbies, we were rookies, we didn't know the rules of the sidewalk of Central Park. Apparently there is a particular part of the sidewalk for bicycles and rollerbladers and walkers, and we were walking apparently where the rollerbladers go, not knowing what we were doing. And we're just walking along, having a wonderful time, and this very large man passes us on rollerblades, going backwards, and he shouts obscenities at me because we were in his way. The mouth is full of cursing. It is full of bitterness. And we understand this. And so what characterizes depraved humanity is our destructive speech. Marriages are dissolved, children are alienated, friendships are broken, jobs are lost, reputations are destroyed because of our words. Families are fractured and wars are even started because of our words. Sinful man has taken this gift that God has given to him, this organ of speech, and he uses it as a weapon against his fellow man. It is very profound to me when you think about Isaiah chapter 6 when God reveals himself to Isaiah the prophet And God reveals himself as the thrice holy God. And do you remember what Isaiah says about himself and about the world in which he lives in view of the holiness of God? He says, this woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips. And so this is our destructive speech. Well, that brings us now to our warlike ways. It doesn't get any better. It doesn't get any easier. In verse 15, Paul says, their feet are swift to shed blood. What a frightening statement. Depraved humanity is violent. That's not news to you. We all know this to be true. Depraved humanity is violent. In fact, do you remember the cause of the first human death? It was a murder. A brother killing another brother. Violence is not new. Ever since the fall of man, we have lived in a violent world. And as we have moved into a modern world, our advancement in technology has not done anything to curb man's propensity to violence. It has only given depraved man more tools to use as weapons. Every single day that we live, we hear about murder in the news. Our country is a war zone. Yesterday, there was a terrible shooting in Buffalo, New York. The last I saw, 10 people killed. The night before, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, there was another terrible shooting. I don't know the details of how many were injured or how many were killed, but another act of violence. The day before, I could give another example. The day before, I could give another example. And today, there will be another example of murder in our own country. Our country is a war zone. All of our cities are war zones. It doesn't matter what region of the country you go, it is a war zone. East Coast, West Coast, Gulf Coast, Middle America, war zone everywhere you go. Their feats are swift to shed blood. 21st century America has been called a neo-barbarian age, and I think that that is precisely true. Just this past week, as you probably know, liberal senators tried to codify Roe v. Wade as federal law. By God's grace, they failed in that vote. We're very thankful for that. You could take Romans 3.15, the verse we're looking at right now, and ride it on the door of every abortion clinic in this country. Their feet are swift to shed blood. People kill for revenge, people kill for greed, people kill for jealousy, and some people kill for fun. They enjoy destruction. The Scottish commentator Robert Haldane says this, such is a just description of man's ferocity, which fills the world with animosities, quarrels, and hatred in the private connections of families and neighborhoods. And with revolution, wars, and murders among nations, the most savage animals do not destroy so many of their own species to appease their hunger as man destroys of his fellows to satiate his ambition, his revenge, or greed. That is spot on. A very dark description. Murder is common. Extremely common. Robert Murray McShane says this, The seed of every sin known to man is in my heart." That's a personal testimony from Robert Murray McShane. But you know what? It's not only true of him, it's true of you, and it's true of me. If we are honest with ourselves in light of what the Word of God says, especially here in Romans chapter 3 about our depravity, The seed of every sin that is known to man is right here. And what this means is that every single one of us, no matter how nice we are, no matter how kind we are, how generous we are, every single one of us is capable of committing murder. The seed of murder is within every heart. Given the right situation and the right pressures, every one of us is capable of being swift to shed blood. Paul continues in verse 16, destruction and misery are in their paths. This week you might have seen on the news that there was a terrible storm that blew through Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and that was especially of interest to me because I have my mother's side of the family who was from South Dakota. I have been to South Dakota many times in my life. I've been to Sioux Falls many times in my life, and to see that terrible storm blowing through was really, really daunting. I watched a video of drone footage after the storm which showed the aftermath, which was just unbelievable. The storm left a wake of destruction and misery in its path. And that, beloved, is what we are like, according to Romans 3. Wherever you find people, you find destruction and misery. Sinful man has an enormous capacity to destroy everything that he touches, leaving a trail of pain, leaving a trail of tears and suffering in his wake. When you think about all of the different kinds of suffering that are in the world, think about how much of it is man-made suffering. Paul continues in verse 17, and the path of peace They have not known. The world says it wants peace. We have the United Nations for the sake of peace. You see peace symbols on bumpers and windows of cars. But the path of peace, they haven't known. Sinful man by nature is warlike and violent. Sinful man is murderous and full of conflict. Sinful man causes destruction and misery. Sinful man, as a result, lives in a world without peace. Sinful man, verse 16, knows the path of destruction and misery, but he does not know, verse 17, the path of peace. He just can't find that path. He's not able to go that way on his own without the grace of God. I can distinctly remember as a college student when the thought occurred to me for the very first time, taking some history courses, I took a class on the Russian Revolution and another one on the French Revolution, and the thought occurred to me at that time that the entire History of the world can be known by studying the history of war. That is a stunning thought. The history of the world is the history of war. It is constant. Just think about America. Our country is always involved in some kind of war, some kind of conflict. We don't have peace with many nations in the world, the most notable of which North Korea and China and Russia and Iran. We don't have peace in our country between political parties. We have blue states, we have red states. There is conflict in every corner, every sector of human society. It is manifested in the nursery. Do you want to see depravity on display? Go to a nursery. And the more kids there are in there, the more depravity is manifested. We see conflict on the playground. As I alluded to earlier, the playground can be a brutal place, even for elementary age students. Conflict is manifested in our government, it is manifested in the classroom, it is manifested on the ball field, it is manifested in our neighborhoods, it is manifested in families, in the home, and sometimes even in the church. The one place where it shouldn't be. The philosopher Alvin Plantinga says this, it, speaking of evil and sin, has been abundantly verified in the wars, cruelty, and general hatefulness that have characterized human history from its very inception to the present. Indeed, no century has seen more organized hatred, contempt, and cruelty than the late and unlamented 20th. and none has seen it on its grand scale. The 20th century, the bloodiest century in the history of humanity, unbelievable cruelty by dictators who murder their own people in the millions, also think about all of the things that exist that are normal to us in human society, but they exist because of the reality of sin. We need these things because we live in a sinful world. Because of sin, we need police. Because of sin, we need lawyers and courtrooms and judges and jails and prisons. Because of sin, we need hospitals. Because of sin, we need medicines and doctors and nurses and all manner of medical services. Because of sin, we need counselors and therapists and on and on it goes. Because of sin, we need cemeteries. And all of these things are just normal to us. We don't even really think twice about them, but all of them exist because of sin. All of them are necessary because of sin. And so again, I say to you, the path of peace, we have not known because of human depravity. We don't have peace with others. We don't have peace within ourselves because we do not have peace with God by nature. Oliver Cromwell was a Puritan. political and military leader in 17th century England. He commissioned an artist to paint an official portrait of himself that would enshrine his appearance for generations to come. It was common in such portraits for the artist to enhance the appearance of the person. But as the story goes, Cromwell told the artist to paint him, and I quote, warts and all. That's where that phrase comes from, warts and all. We don't like pictures of ourselves that are unflattering, but in Romans chapter three, we have a portrait of us, warts and all. This is God's portrait of human depravity. Many Christian doctrines are not empirically verifiable. That is to say, they cannot be proven through mere human observation or experiment. For example, the doctrine of the Trinity, the incarnation of Jesus, the atonement of Jesus are not empirically verifiable. But certain other Christian doctrines are indeed empirically verifiable, such as the total depravity of man. The British journalist and author Malcolm Muggeridge, on your notes, once said this, the depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality. He is exactly right. But at the same time, he says, the most intellectually resisted fact. Do you want to cause a ruckus at work tomorrow? Announce to the people that everybody here is evil. Do you want to cause a problem in your classroom tomorrow? Announce to the class, all of us are depraved. You will be canceled, to use a modern term. The depravity of man is obviously true, but we try to explain it away because we do not like it. It offends us. It offends our pride. And in so doing, we only further prove the fact of our depravity. The portrait of our depravity in Romans 3 is a very ugly picture. I have not endeavored at all to whitewash this picture or to remove its sharp edges. But this picture in Romans 3 is also very encouraging. It is very encouraging. Why would I say that? because this portrait of our radical depravity is not the end of the story. The book of Romans does not end in Romans 3.17. It does not end where we will look next week, Lord willing, in Romans 3.18. It does not end in Romans 3.20. In just a few weeks, Lord willing, we will finally arrive at verse 21, where Paul begins with the word, but. It's like Ephesians, but God. That is encouraging. So yes, Romans 3, 9 to 18 is a very ugly picture. It paints us in a very negative light. We are, in fact, all under sin. We are not righteous. We do not understand the things of God. We do not seek God. We have turned aside. We have become useless to God. We do not do good, not even one. Our throat is an open grave. With our tongue we lie and deceive. The poison of asps is under our lips. With our mouth it is filled with cursing and bitterness. We are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in our paths, and the path of peace we have not known. And yet, and yet, dear people, in light of all of that, the God who made you, And the God who indicts you here loves you. That is amazing. God knows everything about you. God knows you better than you know yourself. God knows the worst about you, and yet he still loves you. That is overwhelming. overwhelmingly encouraging. And out of his love for you, he has given his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to pay the price for your sins, and by grace, to give you a new heart, a new nature to live a different life than what is described here in this portrait of depravity. May the name of God be praised forever. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for so clear of a revelation of our sin. By nature, we resist this, we are offended by it, we do not want to hear these things. And so we thank you that by your grace, you have not only revealed the truth about ourselves to us in scripture, but you have enabled us to humble ourselves before your verdict and to accept the truth about ourselves. Father, we thank you that you know even the worst about us and yet you still love us and we can't even begin to fathom that. We bless you, we praise you, we honor you for being so good and kind to an evil, rotten people. And we thank you for the gospel, the good news of salvation in Christ, the one exception to what we read in Romans 3, the righteous one, the one who is good, the one who never committed any sin with his tongue and who never lived in a destructive way, who gave himself up to sinful men to be nailed to a tree, and to be made the sacrifice for our sins. Father, we bless you. We thank you for so great a salvation. And we pray this in Jesus' name and for his everlasting glory. Amen.