Let me invite you to turn your Bibles to Romans and chapter 3, Romans chapter 3 We'll begin reading from verse 9, Romans 3, commencing to read from verse 9. The Bible reads there, What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all. We have already made the charge The Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written, there is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves. Their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Let's pause for a word of prayer. Let's pray together. Eternal and gracious God in heaven, We count ourselves greatly privileged that in a world of sin and darkness, you've been pleased to give to us your Holy Spirit and your Word, that through Him our eyes might be opened to understand the way of life. Thank you, Lord, that we can therefore come together from different parts of this world and have a common understanding because of the light from heaven given to us by your Spirit shed upon the sacred pages. We therefore now Invite your Spirit's help as we deal with the subject of the radical depravity of man. Oh, Father, burn this truth into our hearts, we pray. For Jesus' sake, amen. Let me begin by just expressing my sense of privilege in participating in a conference that is truly taking its place upon the landscape of reformed movements that are taking place not only on the North American continent, in South America, in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, indeed around the world. There is no doubt that God has been pleased to take this conference and give it a true and meaningful place in the midst of what he is doing around the world. I have been asked, as I've already mentioned, to deal with the subject of the radical depravity of humanity in the light of the overall theme of repentance. And in drawing your attention to the passage before us, it is because I am convinced that as the Apostle Paul was opening up the subject of justification by faith, He needed to bring his readers face to face with this awesome reality that neither the Jews nor the Gentiles were sitting there ready, waiting to simply receive this good news with both hands. but that rather this message was going to a people that were opposed to its essential message. That they were in their very nature going to fight what this message was all about. And so as he is about to enter into the good news which begins with the 21st verse of this chapter, the Apostle Paul pauses for a moment. He has already talked, in a sense, about the sinfulness of the Gentiles. He has also talked about the sinfulness of the Jews. But he wants to collect his thoughts into one final conclusion. And it is primarily that conclusion that I want us to think about as we deal with the subject of the radical depravity of humanity. You see, the subject of repentance, in terms of its importance, you cannot exaggerate it. Jesus himself said, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Nothing can be clearer than that. In speaking as he did, he was making it abundantly clear that this was a non-negotiable. Play hide and seek with it, And you will be doomed not only for time, but indeed for all eternity. And even as we are gathered in this auditorium tonight, we need to repeat the same statement. That if you are here, and you have not genuinely turned from sin, you will perish. It doesn't matter what your credentials might be. And when you come to realize the clarity of this message on the one hand, and then on the other also realize that the Bible offers a full and free salvation You begin to ask yourself, why is it that human beings are not falling over each other to embrace this salvation? Why are they not abandoning the empty ways of their fathers, their cultures, in order to follow after God who is offering them a free salvation? It is really this same question that the Apostle Paul is coming back to here in his words of conclusion. He is essentially saying it is because men and women are totally deprived. Look at the way he puts it in chapter 3 and verse 9. We've already read it. But it says, what shall we conclude then? What's the summary of the many words that I have just spoken or written down? Clearly, it is this, that the reason why the warning is not being listened to, the reason why men and women are not rushing to embrace the cross is because all human beings are deprived and depraved. Are we any better, he says? Not at all. We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. Let me try and put it this way. You see, when you go into 21st century America, with all the progress that has been made technologically, with the number of churches that you may see lined up across the streets of your cities, across the whole of your country, you may perhaps begin to think that here are a people that will be more willing, indeed gladly, going to embrace the message of the cross. However, If you have attempted to do evangelistic work, you know that many a time you have come back home depressed. Surely, shouldn't a people who know so much embrace Jesus gladly? Well, the message of this text is this. There is no difference between those who live in 21st century America and those who lived three centuries ago in what was called the Dark Continent of Africa. All are in the same boat. What about those who have been brought up in the Christian home, taught the Bible from an early age? You would think that all they need is a bit of an elbowing, and they should be falling over into God's kingdom. Many have perished in their sin, despite such an advantage, such a background. Again, there is no difference we are to understand here, not at all. We have already made the charge that Jews who had been brought up in the Old Testament scriptures, and Gentiles who knew nothing of the Jehovah of the Bible, all alike are under sin. We need to recognize that. especially if we are going to deal with the subject of repentance at a very practical level in terms of our interest with respect to evangelism. We have to recognize that whether we are dealing with 21st century individuals or dealing with those at the beginning of Bible times, whether we are dealing with the educated or the uneducated, whether we are dealing with the religious or the non-religious, all are in the same boat. Do you realize that? You know, many times we have magazines and perhaps even news publications that speak about how the Africans are open to the Gospel. Let's go across the Atlantic and just share the Gospel with them and they are coming in droves into the kingdom. Well, I'll tell you, I've come from there. They are as rebellious and sinful and in as much mutiny against the living God as the very people you are leaving behind here. Of course, they will want to give an impression of acceptance. They will raise their hands. They will repeat your sinner's prayers. But as soon as you get back into the plane to cross the Atlantic, they are back to their sinful ways. And those of us who remain behind, have to use not just magnifying glasses but telescopes to look for those converts. There isn't a people group somewhere that's different. that's looking for the true God of the Bible in order to embrace Him. The Bible is telling us here that there is no one who has an advantage. No one who is any better. All are in the same boat. Why is that? Well, the reason is in this same verse that we have looked at together. And it is the fact that all are under sin. All are under sin. Educated or uneducated, rich or poor, religious or irreligious, Stone age or silicon chip age, it doesn't make a difference, they are all under sin. What does Paul mean by that phrase? And there we need to pause for a while, because it's a failure. to understand this reality that makes us extremely superficial in our evangelistic work. What are we up against as we knock on doors, as we preach through radio and television, as we give out Christian literature, As we sit down in street corners to talk to those that are passing by, what are we up against? When the Apostle Paul speaks about being under sin, he is referring to one of the major pillars of Christian theology. He is taking us right back to Genesis chapter 3, when Adam and Eve sinned against the Living God. A drastic change took place in their beings. A moral change took place in their beings. Having been alive, they became dead, spiritually dead. Yes, physically they were still able to relate as husband and wife, but you can already see that the moment God came to meet with them in the cool of the evening. There was a change you couldn't miss. They ran away from Him. And yet today we are hearing people telling us that there are some people somewhere who are running towards God. Adam and Eve ran away. The people that at one time were in real, intimate, meaningful fellowship with the living God, now wanted to have nothing to do with Him, because their hearts had become sinful. In this same book, in Romans chapter 8 and verse 7, the Bible tells us, Romans 8 and verse 7, words which we need to take very seriously. The Bible says there, the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. The Bible there is dividing the whole of the human race into two categories. Those upon whom the Spirit of God has already worked, and therefore they are individuals who are living according to the Spirit. and those upon whom the Spirit has not worked. And that is the rest of the human race, black or white, educated or uneducated. And what the Bible is telling us today is that those who are in that category are hostile to God. They are enemies of God. Now they may be religious, they may be church going, they may be people who want to go to church. But all you need to do is open before their eyes the true God of the Bible. And before long they will be hissing at you and they will run you out of their church. They worship a God of their own making. A God who doesn't mind that they are living in sin and self-centeredness. A God who doesn't mind that their lives have but one agenda, pleasure-seeking. A God who tickles them in the midst of their sinfulness. That God they will worship. But once you declare before them the God who is righteous, the God who is holy, the God who is jealous for his own honor, The God who says, you are to live for me, you are to sacrifice for me, I am to be your all in all. That God, they do not want. And that's the one the Apostle Paul is talking about here, when he says they are hostile to him, the true God of the Bible. So the mind is persuaded that way, and he goes on to say in the eighth verse that they cannot submit. In other words, even the will is in enslavement. They do not submit, they will not submit, they cannot submit. they are totally unable to. And between the mind and the will, we find the heart. And there the Bible is equally clear. You simply have to go to passages in the Old Testament, and I'll be showing you in a moment or two, that the heart of man is desperate It's beyond cure. Who can understand it? That's Jeremiah 17. The Apostle Paul has all that in mind when he says, we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. It is an enslavement under the power of sin, the pollution of sin. And therein lies the depravity. It is the fact that as human beings we are corrupted by a foul power, so enslaved by it that it is not in our power to simply decide to want God. It's not. However moral a background you might have, however religious you may have been educated through in terms of both the home and the school, that is the state we all are in without the grace Unless the power of God visits us, we are in this enslavement. We've already made the charge, he says, Jews and Gentiles alike are all under this power. It is because of this, therefore, that the Apostle goes on to bring out something of the fruit of this depravity. And it's interesting that in verse 10 down to verse 18, the Apostle Paul is primarily referring to the Jews. He's quoting Jewish writings. He's quoting the Old Testament. And when you go there, It's referring to everybody, Jew and Gentile alike, being like this. In other words, when we are talking about human depravity, please hear me correctly. We are not discussing a mere philosophical topic. We are dealing with something intensely practical. We're talking about that which stares you in the face when you decide to listen to the news. when you open your newspaper to read the front page. We're talking about that which is in your streets, in your town, in your home. And that's what the apostle is doing here. He's saying we've made the charge. This is our conclusion. This is what we've said. Now, just in case, as Jews, you think that that ought to be only true about the Gentiles, well, let me take you to your own records, your own historical records, and read to you what they say about you. And so, he quotes from the Psalms, he quotes from the Proverbs, he quotes from Isaiah, and he quotes from Jeremiah. And he shows what God has to say about self-righteous Israel. What is God saying? Listen to this again. There is no one righteous. In case you haven't heard it properly, not even one. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks God. In other words, even as you have come to fill up the temple, you are not seeking Me. You don't! You seek your own ways. All have turned away. They have together become worthless. There is no one who does good. No one. Not even one. Do you sense the comprehensiveness that God put in His Word, that there isn't a people somewhere that are fasting for God and wanting God and all we need to do is just go and put in the final touch. He is saying no one does good. And look at the ugliness of the picture that is brought out here. Their throats are open grass. They have gobbled up fellow human beings, slaughtered them through their speech. destroyed one another through malice and gossip, and sometimes even in church pews. Their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. That's what God sees. And sometimes, that's particularly true of religious people. Dressed in their Sunday best, looking like angels on the outside God sees mouths, throats, tongues that are poisonous because it's the hearts that are in that particular way Their feet are swift to shed blood, ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. And finally, there it is for all of us to see, there is no fear of God before their eyes. You see, what spiritual death has essentially done, is to rob us of the sight of the true God of heaven. We are like individuals who are blind, and in the midst of noon are arguing that there is no such a thing as the sun. And yet, the very reason why they are sweating as they are speaking like that is because of the sun's rays upon them. They cannot see the brilliance of the glory of that heavenly body called the sun. They can't. And so they argue and argue and argue. That's what is true about man. That's what depravity has done. It is to rob us of the capacity to sense and see something of the glory of the only true God. And consequently, not knowing Him and seeing Him, we demand our own way. We want to call whoever this God is to a negotiating table. so that we can negotiate our own terms for peace. We easily ask the question that Pharaoh asked Moses, who is the Lord that I should obey him? Who is he? And in your own heart, the answer is, he is nothing. at the center of the universe is yourself. Now what was true in the days of Paul writing this letter to the Romans is equally true today. This is the explanation of our world wherever you Don't let anybody ever cheat you. Human beings are all the same. They may put a thin veneer of religion on the surface, but if they have not regenerated hearts, You can be sure, face to face with the true demands of scripture, they will show their true colors, their ugly colors, these same colors we are seeing here. And you will see that they are truly depressed. Human beings, are in a state of mutiny because of this fallenness. Brethren, it is to people in this condition that we are called to preach repentance. We are called to go to a people in this rebellion and say, thus saith the Lord, repent or perish. That is what our calling is. Now you may be sitting there saying, but If this is their condition, it must be useless to even start talking about going to them to say they should turn from their sins, because they will not turn from their sins, you are right, but for the grace of God. Therein lies the only hope for our world, that He who has sent us to a people that are dead in sin, with hardened hearts, blind eyes, minds that are dim. He who sends us to them has chosen a people for Himself, and uses the preaching of the gospel to infuse life into them, to bring them to repentance. And when anyone turns from sin, putting his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we need to recognize that he is a direct product of God. God who has acted upon his soul, graciously doing so. Otherwise, it is completely impossible. But therein lies our hope. Therein lies our confidence, a God who in Jesus Christ is a present Savior. He is in the world by His Spirit, reaching out to those whom He intends to serve. Therefore, we know that the utopian cannot change his skin. A leopard cannot get rid of his spots, but God knows those who are his. And through the preaching of the gospel, will bring them to himself. Therefore, with our own eyes, Oh, I trust you have something of this joy even today. With our own eyes, we will see the impossible happen. With our own eyes, we will see a people that would have wanted to drag God off His throne and put Him before them as a little idol. We will see them bowing to the true God of heaven. wanting to live for His glory and even to die for Him. That is what God wants us to experience as we go through our evangelistic work. Not that the people by nature are ready for Him, but ours is a God who truly saves, changes lives through the gospel and makes them worshippers of himself. Oh, that we may believe it, that we may believe it, that in this pitch black darkness of depravity, God is saving souls, bringing them to genuine repentance. Let us pray. Eternal and gracious God, save us from the superficiality that has become so common today, that has filled the church the church's membership with unconverted pagans. Help us, O God, to see the reality of what we are up against, and to cry to you, the God who truly says, that as we stand in the valley of those bones, we might speak your word and see the dead leave. Father, do this and glorify yourself on the eve of the return of your Son. In whose name we pray, Amen.