Bibles with you joking them up to the New Testament to the book of Romans We're starting a new Series tonight, we're going to take the next several weeks and probably take the next several months to work our way through Romans chapters 3 through 5 on the very heart in core of the book of Romans. Now, I was thinking, just as I was driving over here, in our evening services, we've kind of covered the book of Romans in different places. Dr. Kirk, I remember, started several, perhaps years ago, started Romans 1. We got, you know, got a little bit through it. And then we've done Romans 8. We've done Romans 9. And now we'll do Romans 3 through 5. So eventually, we will hopefully cover the whole book. But we're going to be working our way through Romans chapters three through five, again, the very core of this book, which is Paul's grandest teaching and exposition of the core doctrine of justification by faith alone. If you don't know exactly what that is, that's fine. That's why we're here. And we'll work our way through it as we go through these chapters. And hopefully it will wear out our pages, these very central core pages in our Bibles over the next of the next few months. There's three things that I want to do tonight. First, it's a general introduction and outline of the Book of Romans. Then I want to take a look at Romans 3, 9 through 20, and we'll draw out some some general principles from those verses. And then lastly, we'll conclude with one or two very brief applications. So just a general introduction. The Book of Romans, again, as I said, is Paul's fullest and most systematic treatment of theology in the New Testament. Now, it's not exhaustive. It's not intended to be. It's not a systematic theology like you might find on Dr. Kerr's shelves or our study here at the church. It is not intended to serve that purpose. There are several important areas of truth, areas of theology that aren't really touched on much in Romans. The second coming, it's not a a prominent theme, the doctrine of the church. It's not a prominent theme in Romans. Of course, there are some, but it's not one of the main themes of the book, and we could go on and on. But in terms of the core gospel, in terms of the core truth of salvation, of how we as sinners are made a right with an all-holy God, Romans is the most complete study in the New Testament. If you spend any time studying church history, you may be aware of some of the giants of the faith that have come to saving faith through either hearing Romans preached or reading through Romans, St. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Wesley, and you could name several others. What is Romans about? What is its theme? Well, look at Romans 1, verses 16 and 17. Romans 1, verses 16 and 17. One New Testament scholar, Leon Morris, says, these two verses have an importance out of all proportion to their length. So two short verses, very significant to what it is we believe as Christians. So Romans 1, let me read 16 and 17. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to or for faith as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. So Paul is writing a book, the letter of Romans. This is about the gospel. This is about the gospel. That is power. Notice what he says. He says, I am not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God. It, they're referring to the gospel. For it, the gospel, is the power of God for salvation. It doesn't bring power. It doesn't make us powerful, so to speak. But the gospel, in and of itself, is power. It is God's power to change hearts. It is God's power to bring salvation. It's also universal in its offer. Look at what Paul says. He says it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. And then he expands a little bit on what that everyone is to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Well, that's everybody. And this in this particular context and culture, you're either a Jew or non-Jew. You're either Jew or Greek. So this is This is everybody, everybody under the sun. And then in verse 17, Paul gives the ground or he gives the foundation of what he has just said. So it says, the gospel, the power of God's salvation for everyone who believes to the Jew and to the Greek for. It is the righteousness of God. To everyone who believes is the righteousness of God is revealed rather from faith for faith, for as it is written, the righteous shall live So what Paul is saying is that in the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. Now this is a hugely important phrase that we will unfold over the next several weeks. What does Paul mean when he says, in the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed? Very significant. Very central to who we are as believers. This is exciting stuff. We can't get excited about Romans three through five, then. And I don't know, then we need we need to pray. Calvin says, if we have gained a true understanding of this epistle, we have an open door to all the most profound treasures of Scripture. Now, just a few more words of introduction. Paul wrote this letter on his third missionary journey, and of course, he wrote it to the church at Rome. Paul had never been to Rome. He had never traveled to Rome, but he longed to. Paul longed to go to Rome. Let me read verses 8-15. Romans 1, 8-15. Paul says, First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you, but thus far have been prevented, in order that I may reap some harvest among you, as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome." Now, the church at Rome was a mix of Jew and Gentile, probably more Gentile than Jew, but it was a mix of Jewish and Gentile folks. And it's likely that Paul wrote this letter to the church at Rome in anticipation of his coming to see them. So he wrote it for two purposes. To introduce himself to them and to introduce his theology to them. So that when he got there, they would have a starting place, somewhere that they could begin their of their mutual encouragement. So, just a brief outline of the book as a whole. As I said, Romans 1, 16 and 17 is the theme. It is the theme verses of the book. And then broadly speaking, chapters 1-3 deal with sin. Chapters 3-5, where we'll spend our time, deals with justification. Chapters 6-8 deals with sanctification. Chapters 9-11, Israel. And chapters 12-16, the Christian life. So again, that's just a broad, general outline. We'll turn over now to Romans 3, 9-20. Romans 3, verses 9-20. election season, as we all know, can't turn on your TV or open the newspapers and not see something having to do with the election, the primaries. Political correctness is flying around. Candidates are careful about what they say, about what they don't say. They don't want to offend. They don't want to turn away any potential voters. Well, the Apostle Paul does not care too much for political correctness. As I mentioned, Chapters 1-3 are about sin. Are about the universal condemnation of the human race under sin. Paul comes right out of the gate swinging. Chapter 1, verse 18. Listen to what Paul says. Chapter 1, verse 18. Paul says, "...for the wrath of God..." There's a phrase to start you off strong. It will gain your hearing. "...for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." Again, Paul's not going to win any votes with that opening sentence. Why does Paul begin Romans with sin? Have you ever thought about that? Why does Paul begin this grand letter, this grand epistle, why does he begin with sin? As we'll see, quite a strong statement. about sin. Doesn't he want to tap into their surface needs? Doesn't he want to gain a hearing? Well, Ligon Duncan in his study of Romans says, Paul is brave enough and Paul is loving enough. I think that's a key phrase. Paul is loving enough to tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. Tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. So to understand, to glory in, to receive the good news of the gospel, we have to understand and appreciate the bad news. J.C. Ryle, our favorite British 19th century pastor, says, the plain truth is that a right knowledge of sin lies at the root of all saving Christianity. So verses 9 through 20 that we're going to look at briefly tonight, is Paul's closing argument to this first main section. Next week, we'll dive into the good news. We'll dive into, as Paul begins to unfold, a justification that we need to get a proper grounding, a proper understanding and appreciation for our problem, for our root sinfulness, for our disease. for our spiritual death. We need to understand the bad news. So let me read verses 9-20 and then we'll quickly make a few comments. Romans 3, 9-20. 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. No, 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 the knowledge of sin. And we don't have time to walk through this verse by verse. I don't want to draw out three or four or five principles from these verses. So, number one, is that the sinfulness of man is the universal testimony of Scripture. Where does Paul go to prove this point? Well, he goes to the Old Testament. In verses 10-18, Paul quotes from perhaps seven Old Testament passages. He quotes from Ecclesiastes. He quotes from Psalms several times. Any quotes from Isaiah? Now, why did Paul do that? He wants to make it abundantly clear that what he's saying is not something that he just came up with. It's not something that he is speaking off the cuff. Rather, what he is saying is the universal testimony going all the way back to Genesis. This is what Jesus taught. This is what the prophets taught. This is what the great patriarchs Let me read you, just by way of example, Genesis 6, verse 5. Genesis 6, verse 5. It says, The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's not a very positive diagnosis of our condition. mankind's condition every intention of our heart was only evil not just some of the time only evil continually that's Genesis that's not Romans that's that's Genesis chapter 6 verse 5 so number one the sinfulness of man is the universal testimony of Scripture from Genesis through Christ and in the Gospels Romans all the way to the end of Scripture Secondly, Paul is teaching us that sin is directed fundamentally towards God. Yes, we sin against one another. We sin against our neighbors and against our family and friends all the time, each and every day. But at root, sin is vertical. Sin is an offense against God Himself. Notice how Paul brings this out. He says in verse 10, None is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks. For whom? No one seeks for God. Let's get down to verse 18 and 19. There is no fear of God before their eyes. And then verse 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. Later, in chapter 3, verse 23, we'll get there in a few weeks, Paul says, "...for all his sins," in what? "...fallen short of the glory of God." So, Paul there is putting our sin in reference to God. So, at root, sin is something vertical. Sin is something having to do with our relationship vertically with our Creator. With the One who made us. Think of David. David and his sin with Bathsheba. It would take us all night to list the people that David sinned against. Uriah, his mighty men, Bathsheba, the whole nation of Israel. David was the king. The Israelite army. We could list them one by one. We would be here all night listing the individuals that David sinned against. But what does he say in Psalm 51, verse 4? Remember Psalm 51? David's great psalm of repentance. He says this in Psalm 51-4, Against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. Who is the you in that verse? Well, it's God. If you have time tonight, go back and read Psalm 51. Against God and God only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. As David is talking about trying to to brush aside his sins against Uriah and Bathsheba and the army? Well, of course not. That's not what David is trying to do. David would be the first to admit that he has sinned against them. But David understands that fundamentally, his sin affected his relationship vertically with his Lord and with his Savior. John Stott writes, sin is the revolt of the self against God. the dethronement of God with a view to the enthronement of self. So every sin, no matter how great or small, is an offense against the all-holy God who created us and who has given us life and breath and all things. What does this mean? It means that sin is serious business. That's something that should not be taken lightly. Thirdly, sin is universal in scope. Not hard to see in this passage to go back and look at verses nine through 12. Paul says in verse nine. He says, we have charged picking up halfway through, we have charged that all both Jews and Greeks are under sin. And then he goes on, listen to the pronouns, just just you don't have to follow along, just As I read, listen to the pronouns that Paul uses. He says, 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. And Paul is trying to get a point across. Who does this include? Everyone, all of us, everyone here tonight, everyone that has ever walked this earth, save one, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no one who escapes Paul's indictment. Old and young, big and small, rich and poor. Billy Graham to the most remote islands floating in the Pacific Ocean. Everyone who has walked this earth and has not repented and turned to the Lord Jesus Christ falls under Paul's indictment that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Fourthly, sin is total in extent. Sin is total in extent. And what I mean by this is that there is no area of our lives, No faculty of our persons that is not stained and infected by sin. For example, our willing is affected. Our actions are affected. Paul says at the beginning, he says in verse 11, no one seeks God. That's a verb of the will. A verb of action. seeks God. All have turned aside. The word that's translated there, turned aside, is a quite strong term. It's the idea of willful, deliberate avoidance. So it's not that we're unsure. It's not that we're neutral. It's not that we're on the fence. The sinful man is deliberately running away from the Lord. Running in the opposite direction from God. So, willing is affected. Our thinking is affected. Paul says, No one understands in verse 11. No one understands having to do with our thought processes. Paul says, let me read Ephesians 4, 17 and 18. Paul expands on this idea just a little bit. Ephesians 4, 17 and 18. Paul says, you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding. Paul there is teaching that not only is our actions, our willing affected, so is our thinking. This is what theologians refer to, and here's our fancy word of the day, the noetic effects of sin, coming from the Greek word having to do with mind, nous. The noetic effects of sin, how sin stains and infects our very minds and our very thought processes. So sin affects our acting, affects our thinking. And Paul goes on in verses 13 through 17 to describe the character of the sinner outside of Christ. And it's not a pretty picture. Notice how Paul lists different parts of the body to highlight his point. He mentions our throats. He mentions tongues, lips, mouth, feet, eyes. All of these parts of the body, all of these organs were given to us by God to be used in serving Him. To be utilized, to be used in living for Him and His creation to worship and to bring honor to Him. But sinful man uses these good gifts to reject Him and to turn away from Him and to run in the opposite direction. What is the net result? What do we do with this? Well, lastly, fifthly, sin renders us hopeless before God. Verse 20, Paul says, For by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. And what this means is that left to our own strength, left to our own doing, our own acting, we are helpless. and we are hopeless. Paul sums up this picture, what he's been painting in Ephesians 2 when he says that we are dead. We are dead in sin apart from Christ. Ephesians 2. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot justify ourselves. Sinful man wants nothing to do with God and with Christ. By the works of the law, no one will be justified in his sight. Simply put, we can't save ourselves. In any aspect, even the smallest ounce of our own effort, we cannot save ourselves. Well, this is bad news. This is not a joyful way to end the Lord's Day. This is news that condemns us to hell. Thanks be to God that the story doesn't end there. That Romans doesn't end there. In fact, the storyline of the Bible is the account of what God has done to fix this, to put it rather crassly, to set right all that sin has made wrong. To bring us back to Him. And that's what we mean by the Gospel. What God has done to deal with hell deserving sinners like us, apart from Him, to deal with this hell-deserving, soul-condemning problem of sin. That is the Gospel. That is the Good News of what God has done for us. So, as we close tonight, so as not to leave us in despair, look at verse 21. Look at how verse 21 begins, "...but now." There's a lot of those great transitions in Scripture, and this perhaps is the greatest of them all. But now, God has done something. And we'll begin to unpack what it is that God has done next Sunday night. But simply put, God has done something. God has intervened. God has not left us in this condition that we have just described. He has not left us hopeless, but rather He has condescended in His amazing grace. No wonder John Newton could write, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see. John Newton understood what Paul is getting at. The darkness of our hearts and the incredible... Like what we talked about this morning when Paul was taken to the third heaven. And what Peter was talking about, that joy inexpressible filled with glory, the brightness of the light of the gospel is only seen in its full glory and brightness against the blackness of the backdrop of sin. So, dear friends, this again is the good news. I want to leave us with the but now. The good news of the gospel that God in His grace completely undeserved, completely unmerited. God in His grace condescended to bring sinners out of darkness, as Peter says, out of darkness into His marvelous light. And we'll begin unpacking that glorious truth next Sunday night. Let me pray for us as we close. Father, we do thank You for the good news of the Gospel. We thank You for those glorious transitions in Your Word. Those great Their force, those great but-nows that remind us that You have intervened, that You have not left us helpless, that You have not left us hopeless, wandering with no hope, but You, in fact, came down low to take on this very sin that we have described, to be made sin for us, so that we would be the righteousness of you in the eyes of God, so that we could be clothed with your perfect righteousness. I pray that this simple truth, this simple truth of the Gospel would be impressed deep in our hearts and souls and minds. And as we go forward to rub shoulders, to interact with those around us, that we would be like Paul, that we would not be ashamed. Because we know that this Gospel is the power. to change hearts, and to bring dead men and women, boys and girls to life. I pray all these things in Jesus' name, Amen.