The scripture reading this morning is found in Romans 3. Romans 3, verses 9 through 31. We read this in connection with the Heidelberg Catechism in its teaching from Lord's Day 2. Romans 3, starting at verse 9. What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise, for we have before proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used deceit. 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 ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. unto all and upon all them that believe. For there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish the law. On the basis of this passage of Scripture and on the basis of many passages of Scripture, we have the teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism in Lourdes Day 2. Found on page 3 in the back of the Psalter, Lourdes Day 2. Whence knowest thou thy misery? Out of the law of God. What doth the law of God require of us? Christ teaches us that briefly, Matthew 22, verses 37 through 40, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first and the great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Canst thou keep all these things perfectly? In no wise, for I am prone by nature to hate God and my neighbor. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, here with Lord's Day II, we begin the first main section of the Heidelberg Catechism of the misery of man. As we begin this first main section, we need to recognize just how important and just how significant it is that the catechism starts here, focusing on our misery. What the Catechism is going to do in this first section is emphasize to us the reality of total depravity. We are prone by nature to hate God and the neighbor. And as Lord's Day 3 will go on to say, we are so corrupt that we are wholly incapable of doing any good and inclined to all wickedness. And the catechism starts here, emphasizing the doctrine of total depravity, because this doctrine is vitally important. If we do not grasp this doctrine of total depravity, if we do not have this biblical truth clearly set before us, we are going to go astray. If we do not understand the doctrine of total depravity, then we will not understand what grace is. Then we will not understand what the wonder of salvation through Christ's death on the cross is. Then we will not be compelled to live a life of love and thankfulness as we should be compelled as Christians. If we do not understand total depravity, then we will not understand our own daily struggle against sin. Then we will underestimate the dangers of sin. Then we will not properly appreciate why prayer is so necessary for the Christian, why the preaching is so necessary for the Christian, why Christian fellowship with one another is so important for us. If we do not grasp the doctrine of total depravity, we will not have a proper understanding of the biblical truth, of the unconditional covenant, or of sovereign particular grace. And then, as we go forward, if we do not understand this, then the rest of the catechism is going to be confusing and quite meaningless to us. It is imperative that we start exactly here, where the catechism starts, making sure we know what our misery is. congregation to emphasize just how important it is that the catechism starts here. Notice this. This is also where the form for baptism and the form for the Lord's Supper also start. Emphasizing to us, the baptism form, that we and our children are conceived and born in sin, and the Lord's Supper calling us to examine ourselves by ourselves and the curse that is due unto us because of our sin. Not only does the catechism in the Lord's Supper form and the baptism form start this way, The Book of Romans itself begins this way, with our misery. The Book of Romans is a wonderful masterpiece that systematically sets forth the doctrines of salvation. And you Catechism students should know that the three main sections of the Catechism are patterned after the three main sections of the Heidelberg Catechism. What we read this morning, Romans chapter 3, is exactly part of that first main section in the book of Romans. In Romans chapter 1, the second half of it, the Apostle Paul emphasizes the total depravity of the Gentiles. In Romans chapter 2, he emphasizes the total depravity of the Jews. And now in Romans chapter 3, he brings it together. And he declares everyone, by nature, is totally depraved. Romans 3, verse 9. What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise. For we have before proved, chapters 1 and 2, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. They are all totally depraved by nature. And Paul emphasizes these things in order to pave the way for setting forth the beautiful doctrine of justification by faith alone. We are declared righteous by grace alone, through faith alone, on the basis of Christ's merits on the cross alone, earned on the cross alone. This is not only the order of the Book of Romans, this is also the order of many of the Psalms when you read them carefully. And this is how the Heidelberg Catechism is going to begin too, focusing on our misery. This beginning instruction on how great our misery is is pivotal for having a healthy Christian life. As strange as that may seem, to live a healthy Christian life, we need to know our misery and who we are by nature. We do not emphasize the doctrine of total depravity in order to be Debbie Downers. We are not Debbie Downers, but we do emphasize total depravity here in this first section of the Catechism. So that in a much larger section of the Catechism, the second section, we might understand fully the beautiful doctrine, the wonder of Christ's death on the cross and what God has done for us by grace alone. We do emphasize the doctrine of total depravity here in this first main section of the Catechism, so that again, in another much larger section of the Catechism, we can emphasize the joy that we have living out of Christ, the peace that we have, and the privileged life that we get to live as the children of God, walking according to His law, praying unto Him. the joy of having a complete Savior in Jesus Christ, the peace of knowing that we have an unmovable salvation, the comfort of belonging to Jesus Christ has as part of its foundation this essential element, that we are aware of who we are in ourselves and how miserable we are in our sins and our sinful natures. So we take as our theme this morning the knowledge of our misery. That's what we focus on. We look at that theme under three points. First, what it is. Second, how we know it. And third, why it is important. As we begin this first section of the catechism, it's interesting to notice just how the catechism proceeds. In Lord's Day 2, question 3, it asks us, whence knowest thou thy misery? That's a very striking question. That's a very striking question exactly because the catechism hasn't even established the fact that we are miserable. The catechism doesn't even bother to try to do that. It doesn't ask, are you miserable? The catechism simply takes it as a fundamental truth. that the Christian is miserable. Now, what we always need to remember in this entire section of the Catechism is that the Catechism is talking very specifically to the child of God. That was already assumed with the very first question and answer. What is thy only comfort in life and death? That I belong to Jesus Christ. The catechism is talking to the regenerated child of God here. And the catechism is asking the child of God this question. Catechism is not talking to an unbeliever. For an unbeliever would object at this very question. The unbeliever would object at that very first question and answer. What is your only comfort in life and death? But the child of God does not object to this question. He understands exactly where this question is coming from. Because the child of God doesn't need it proved to him. He knows himself from his own experience that in certain respects, this is who he is. He is miserable. I am miserable. By nature, I am a miserable creature. And so the question comes, whence knowest thou thy misery? What we also must notice with this question is that this is a very personal question. Whence knowest thou thy misery? As we have already seen, as we're going to see, the Heidelberg Catechism is very personal. And we enjoyed that last time with the first question and answer. What is your only question in life and death? That I belong to Jesus Christ. But it gets very personal right here with this Second Lord's Day as well. How do I know that I am miserable? And implied in that question then is this. Do I know that I am miserable? And I must bring that question to myself, congregation, and you must bring that question to yourself. Not only how do you know you're miserable, but do you know your misery? Do you know that you are miserable? That's a fundamental question. I might know a lot about the Bible, I might know a lot about Jesus Christ, I might know a lot about His death on the cross, but if I don't know my misery, I know nothing. What we must notice at the same time is that this question is a very difficult question, exactly for what I've just said. Once knowest thou thy misery. It is such a difficult question that I will not come up with the right answer of myself. I will refuse to look at the right answer of myself. I will avoid the deepest reason for my misery and try to place the reason for my misery on all secondary miseries. And you see that as soon as you ask the question, what is my misery? And maybe I start thinking about my work, and my relationship perhaps with my co-workers, or my boss, or my employee. I say, if only things were better at work, then my life wouldn't be so miserable. Then things would be going well. Or perhaps I think about my family when I ask that question, and relationships that I have. If only things were going better in my family, I wouldn't have misery, and things would be going well in my life. That would certainly be the answer that you would get from the unbeliever. What is your misery? And they might be bothered by your question and they might say this. First of all, my misery is none of your business. Go away. You don't ask people that kind of question. What is your misery? Or depending upon who you might ask, the answer might be this. Isn't it obvious? Look at all the diseases in the world. Go to the hospitals. See the people as they are suffering and dying. We need a cure. That's our misery, cancer and sickness. And they focus on that. And that's what takes their attention. Or they might say, look at the homeless in downtown Chicago begging on the street. Go to the homeless shelters. Take a tour of the prisons. Look at the crack houses. Walk through a smoky downtown bar on a Friday or a Saturday night. There you will see misery, broken lives, broken dreams. And what we need is better social networks, better education systems. And people want to talk about the social issues of the day and inequality in education and healthcare. And again, to bring it back to ourselves, we can be inclined to think this way as well, first of all. Or perhaps when something bad happens, I can be so quick to say, why me? Why does this have to happen to me? Why does God send these afflictions upon me? And perhaps I think, I don't deserve this. Or perhaps we might say to someone who's going through a hard time, bad things happen to good people. But then you see, congregation, if that's our response, then we're still not getting it. Then we still don't understand what our misery is. Because the reality is this, all these afflictions that I experience in my life, they are secondary miseries. They are but the outcome, the result of a far greater and deeper misery. All these afflictions I experience in my life, I do deserve them. No, in fact, I deserve much more, for I am not a good person by nature. By nature, I am an evil person. And so we come to that question again, what then is my misery? And as the regenerated children of God, we all know the answer, as regenerated children. My misery is exactly the fact that by nature I am an evil person. My misery is this, my sin. My misery is this, that I am prone to hate God and the neighbor. That's my misery. I hate God by nature. God, who is perfectly wise, who is perfectly good, the overflowing fountain of all good, who is full of love and mercy, who is righteous and holy, who is so good. I hate Him. I hate God. That is my misery. That's the result of all the other miseries. I hate God. Can you say that, child of God? I think that if you would say those words to yourself, it would send shivers down your spine. Exactly because there is something in you that does love God. Out of the new man in Jesus Christ, you do love God. But this is the reality of yourself. This is who you are, and this is who I am. I am a God-hater. And that is my misery. That's my misery even now as a regenerated child of God. That I still, by nature, hate my Heavenly Father. That's my misery. God made me perfect. God made me good. He so created me that my greatest joy and delight in life would be to love Him and to fellowship with Him. But this is the reality. By nature, I live each breathing moment hating God. To truly live is to love God. Yet the reality is I hate God. And so, I lie in the midst of death. by nature, under wrath and condemnation. As the Catechism says in Answer 5, I am prone by nature to hate God and my neighbor. And the idea of being prone to hate God means this, this is my default direction. This is the direction that my feet are directed towards, towards hating God and choosing sin. And not only am I prone to hate God by nature, I am prone to hate my neighbor, to hate my fellow church member. Can you say that, child of God? I think that if you were to say those things to yourselves, shivers would be sent down your spine. We rebel against that kind of thought. Partly because we do love our neighbor and we love our fellow church member out of the new man in Jesus Christ. But this is the reality. By nature, I hate my neighbor. By nature, I hate my fellow church member. By nature, you husbands hate your wives. By nature, you wives hate your husbands. By nature, you children hate your classmates, because by nature, we are completely selfish, egotistical, devoted to ourselves. Do these things make you weep, congregation? Is this your confession? I do not want to admit this. I have an aversion to saying all these things. I hate God. I hate my neighbor. No, I love God. I love my fellow church member. But that is not who we are of ourselves. Again, that's who we are through faith of yourself. You hate God. You hate the neighbor. That's true of everyone. That's true of me. Of each person in the world. We must see that and recognize that for what it is. What does Romans 7 verse 18 say? You have your Bible still open to Romans 3. Turn with me a few pages over to Romans 7 verse 18. This is the Apostle Paul speaking. The regenerated Apostle Paul. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Turn the page over, please. Romans 8, verse 7. Because the carnal mind, enmity against God. The idea there is this. This is the definition of the carnal mind. Who we are in the flesh. Who we are by nature. The carnal mind equals enmity against God. This is exactly what Romans 3 is emphasizing. Romans 3, verse 10. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. And those words, as it is written at the beginning of verse 10, show that Paul is going to use the next 18 verses Romans 3 verses 10 through 18, quoting entirely from the Old Testament scriptures, especially from the Psalms and the Proverbs and Isaiah, impressing upon his readers, this is nothing new. We ought to know this. Everyone is totally depraved by nature. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable, filthy. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. And those words are found in Psalm 14 as we sang them moments ago. Those words are repeated again in Psalm 53. This is the knowledge of our misery. Knowing this about ourselves. I am a sinner. A totally depraved sinner. So that first of all, I am guilty before God because of my sins. I have no righteousness in myself. And secondly, I am corrupt. I am guilty and I am corrupt. I am totally depraved. Who even now is a regenerated child of God. Still, according to my old man of sin, hate God and hate my neighbor, and I am helpless. I, of myself, have nothing to remedy the situation, nor by nature do I even want to, as Romans 3 emphasizes. Now, how do I know this misery? That's really what question three is asking. How do I come to the proper knowledge of just how great my sins and miseries are? The catechism says in answer three, out of the law of God. And that makes sense. Because you do not need the law of God, you do not need these scriptures to see the misery in the hospitals, to see the afflictions and the misery of the homeless in downtown Chicago, to see the misery in the prisons. But seeing all that misery doesn't point out what lies at the heart of the issue. And that's why we need the law of God. That's why the law of God is good. And it's good for us to hear it every Sunday morning because the law tells us what we refuse to hear of ourselves, what we could not tell ourselves. The law tells us the blunt truth. Our own guilt, our own totally depraved natures are the reason for our misery, for all our misery. That's the importance of Revelation. That's the importance of the Scriptures. That's the importance, the necessity of being given the spiritual eyes to see and the ears to hear the Law of God. Because in the Scriptures, as the Law of God, we are given that proper explanation of what our misery actually consists in. What is the Law of God? Well, we could say that the Law of God is, first of all, the Ten Commandments. We could also say that the Law of God refers to the summary of the Law, as the Catechism sets it forth in Answer 4, And the Law of God really refers to the Scriptures as a whole. For as Jesus Himself says on those two commandments, Love God and the neighbor, hang all the law and the prophets. And what that means is this, all the scriptures, all the instruction of the prophets, of the law, of the commandments, emphasize simply this, love God, love the neighbor. But the reason that the summary of the law, that's what the law is, but the reason that the summary of the law is now given in Lord's Day 2, why the catechism chooses to give us the summary of the law, is to emphasize the fact that we have not kept God's law. Because the law is more than just a mere list of do's and don'ts. And you might get that impression if the catechism would simply give you the Ten Commandments. But it's more than a list of do's and don'ts. The law of God does not have to do merely with outward actions. It has to do with love. The law of God does not have to do, first of all, with what you do. The law of God has to do, first of all, with what you are. Because the law has to do with love. And love has to do with your inward heart and your very nature. Love has to do with the deepest orientation of your heart. When you love someone, you breathe after them. You are attracted to them. You want to attach yourself to them. You want to fellowship with them. You want to serve them. And the point of the catechism in mentioning love is not to weaken the demand of God's law, but to heighten it, to sharpen and emphasize it. And I think that sometimes people can miss the point here. Some speak of God's commandments to love in this kind of way. All I have to do is love. Don't give me your rules and regulations. All God wants from me is love. And as nice as that sounds, perhaps, oftentimes the purpose of saying something like that is that the law of God might simply be reduced to some vague emotion, to some blurry feelings with no real understanding of what love actually includes. And the purpose of that kind of talk, all God wants is love, often is to weaken the demands. of what love is and the demands of God's law. What does Jesus say in John 14 verse 15? If you love me, keep my commandments. whole point of the Catechism in mentioning this commandment to love God, to love the neighbors, to emphasize this. Yes, you must obey God's commandments. That's a given. That's implied. You must obey every commandment God gives you. But it is not merely a matter of obedience. This obedience itself must be rooted in perfect love. And the reality is this. The intention of the Catechism in asking this question, ordering it this way, is to show this reality. In all that I do, in all that I am, by nature of myself, as much as it all may have an outward appearance of obedience to God's law, as much as it may appear in harmony with God's law, it is all sin. It is all ugly, horrible, abominable sin. Exactly because the deepest orientation of my heart and my nature is this. I do not love God, but I hate God and I hate the neighbor. That's the purpose of the catechism here in mentioning the summary. To show us that everything we do by nature is an abomination because it's not characterized by love. And what is perhaps ironic here is this. The whole mentality that I do not need to obey God and live carefully, seeking God's commandments, but all I need to do is love, that itself is exposing just how inclined we are by nature to hate God and God's commandments. Oh, let me love God! But please don't give me God's rules for keeping the Sabbath day. Please don't give me God's rules for taking His name in vain or forbidding that. Let me love God. And I will choose to love Him as I choose for myself. That's my freedom. See, that mentality is itself rooted in hatred. hatred towards God. That is exactly total depravity showing itself. And that's why congregation, when you see that attitude, and you see people not caring about the Sabbath day, and you see people not caring about taking God's name in vain, how dreadful it is. That is total depravity coming to expression. And notice, congregation, notice the wording of question five. Canst thou keep all these things perfectly? The question is not, do you keep all these things perfectly? Can you keep all these things perfectly? Can you love God perfectly? Can you love the neighbor perfectly? And the answer, in no wise. Absolutely not! And the idea is this, for in the deepest recesses of my heart, my nature hates God and the neighbor. In no wise, for I do not even have the desire to love God. I do not even have the inclination to love God. And to see just how true that is, all we have to do is examine ourselves. We can ask ourselves the question, does love characterize everything that I do. As I woke up this morning and got out of bed, did I arise out of bed with a perfect and holy joy, conscious that I woke up to another Sabbath day, to fellowship with God, a day in which I get to spend the whole day doing the Lord's pleasure and not my own all day long. Did I drive to church this morning motivated by love? Or perhaps motivated merely by obligation? As I sang the songs of Zion, was it love for God that sent forth every note through my mouth? This past week, did I do all my work out of perfect love for God? Or did I grumble and complain and carry out my work really motivated so that I could simply cross it off of my to-do list. You see, I can be so motivated in getting my work done, but I can be motivated the whole time by love for myself rather than doing it out of love for God. You know what is humbling, congregation? You know what is so sad and so miserable? What is my misery? And what I know is your misery, too, because this is part of our total depravity. I can go throughout large sections of the day sometimes, living my life completely ignoring God and forgetting about Him. I do my work. I don't do it out of love for God, I do it for myself. And in reality, I am ignoring God. Is that not highly offensive, congregation? When you are ignored by others, is that not highly offensive to you? When others simply pass you by and act as if you don't exist at all? Doesn't that get under our skin and bother us and offend us? How much more offensive must it not be to the Almighty God when we go throughout the day ignoring Him? Walking as if He's not there. Passing Him by as if He doesn't exist. To be ignoring Him. by neglecting devotions, by ignoring Him through fellowshipping with Him in prayer. When I see how often I am simply ignoring God, exactly when I'm not even thinking about it, Then I weep and I see, yes, this is exactly who I am. This is my very nature. I ignore God. I don't even have to think about it. I just do it. What does Romans 3 verse 11 say? There is none that seeketh after God. That's my total depravity when I am not seeking God. There is no one who of himself is a truth seeker. There is no one who of himself longs after God. And yes, when it comes to my neighbor too, I'm so easily and often annoyed by him rather than loving him. And that itself is again another manifestation of my hatred and rebellion against God. Because I'm supposed to love my neighbor out of my love for God. And I look at the law of God and I see this. I'm supposed to love God, to love God perfectly, to love my neighbor perfectly, to love my fellow church member, all my fellow church members perfectly. And I stand before that mirror of God's law and I see this. All that I do is hate. By nature. I'm a gossiper. I'm a backbiter. And I am not a lover. And not only is that what I do, but that is who I am by nature. One who hates God and hates the neighbor. And that is exactly my misery. And that's how I know my misery, through God's law. I come to know that in me, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Well, then we come to the question. Why is knowing this so important? Why is this significant? I emphasized at the beginning of the sermon why this is so important and why the Catechism takes this approach. But I suppose that now we could simply ask the Apostle Paul this question. Paul, why is this so important? Paul, why do you spend almost three entire chapters emphasizing the reality of total depravity? Paul, why all these quotations from the Old Testament Scriptures in Romans 3 verses 10 through 18? And the answer? All you have to do is read that last part of Romans chapter 3. The knowledge of our misery is so important. because only when we have it impressed upon us, just how sinful we are by nature, and we have the proper understanding of what total depravity is, only then can we properly confess and see our complete need for Jesus Christ and the perfect righteousness that is found in Him alone. Only when I see my guilt and my corruption And it's by God's grace that I can see that. It's only when I see my guilt and corruption accurately am I then humbled, driven to my knees at the foot of the cross, and I find my hope and deliverance alone in Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins and the perfect righteousness that's found in Him. What does Paul say at the end of Romans 3 verse 19? I'll read the whole verse. This is so important so that we don't put our trust in our own good works. So that we see that we don't have any good works of ourselves to boast in. So that we see that we don't have any good decision-making or any good will towards God of ourselves. Congregation, why does Paul say this? so that we might see the beauty of justification by faith and enjoy the complete assurance that belonging to Christ alone, I have a perfect, unmovable, unshakable salvation. And then we may also add this. Why is all this important to know? exactly congregation, so that we as the Church of Jesus Christ might understand that all the glory belongs to God alone. And we as His people might carry out and fulfill His purposes with us to acknowledge that all the glory belongs to Him alone. that we might magnify God as the God of perfect wisdom who ordained all these things. Remember that. Who ordained all this. The fall into sin. Who ordained the reality of our total depravity. Who ordained also the cross of Jesus Christ. So that everyone might see whether now, through faith, or at the last day when Jesus Christ comes again to carry out judgment so that everyone might see salvation is all God's work. He is the glorious God. He deserves the praise. We need to have a right knowledge of our misery so that we can magnify God and give Him the glory with all our life. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, for Jesus' sake, bless the preaching to our hearts and humble us. May we be pricked once again to remember how sinful we are by nature, but then also know that in Jesus Christ there is perfect and complete salvation. We thank you for him. Magnify thy name through the preaching and through the effect of the power of the preaching in our daily lives. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.