Rev. David Holwick U Romans series #5
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
June 26, 2005
Romans 3:9-24
|
I. Are people good?
A. eBay theology.
eBay is an internet auction site that is only 10 years old.
Last year it had 135 million registered users, which is more
than the population of Russia.
More than 1.4 billion items were listed on the site last year
- the equivalent of five items for every American.
Most of the stained glass lamps in my house are from eBay.
eBay's main webpage has a simple slogan - People Are Good.
They even have a little movie that shows people helping push
a car that is stuck in snow.
In another, people volunteer to take Meals-on-Wheels to sick
neighbors.
People are good.
It is more than a slogan - their whole business operates on
trust.
When you purchase something on eBay, you send a person money
and you trust they will send you the product.
Apparently most of them do, or eBay wouldn't still be in
business. #29605
B. Bible theology.
1) People are rotten.
a) An even tastier word - they are DEPRAVED.
b) Everything we think, say and do is corrupted.
2) Not everyone agrees with this interpretation.
a) One pastor summarizes the debate as "Peale or Paul."
b) Many favor Norman Vincent Peale's positive-thinking,
positive self-esteem emphasis.
c) Others accept the Apostle Paul's guilt-ridden view of
the self.
3) Today's passage has as much guilt as any in Bible.
C. Which view of people is true?
1) One pastor argues eBay's version wins in public opinion.
a) We all want to see ourselves as nice, decent people.
2) But is this view of human nature correct?
II. Paul's consistent point.
A. People are evil.
1) Gentiles are evil. Romans 1
2) Moralists are evil. Romans 2a
3) Religious (Jews) are evil. Romans 2b
B. You are evil.
1) All are under sin.
In his book, WHATEVER BECAME OF SIN?, Karl Menninger points
out how our view of sin has changed over the years.
It used to be that the priest dealt with sin, because
everyone realized that sin was a moral problem.
Then sin was put solely in the hands of the police, because
it was seen as a civil problem.
Society began to hold the view that anything that was not
illegal was moral, was OK.
Then sin was taken out of the province of the police and
put in the hands of psychiatrists and psychologists.
People were no longer held responsible.
We were told that sin was a disease, like cancer.
Granted, there is such a thing as disease, and it is not
sinful to suffer from that.
But is every evil thing we commit due to disease?
So we have tried to do away with sin.
But Paul says we cannot do that. We are "all under sin."
#7422
2) Paul's "string of pearls" quotation list from Old Testament.
III. What you need to know about sin. [adapted from John Stott]
A. The ungodliness of sin.
1) Sin is the revolt of the self against God.
2) Ultimately, sin is self-deification.
B. The pervasiveness of sin.
1) Sin affects every part of our human constitution.
a) Note the body parts that are listed.
b) Instead of glorifying God and serving people, they
do the opposite.
2) Total depravity.
a) Presbyterians and "T-U-L-I-P" - total depravity is #1.
b) This doesn't mean humans are as depraved as they can be.
1> Not all are drunks or murderers.
2> And even drunks and murderers have some good in
them.
c) But it means that every part of us is depraved to some
degree.
J.I. Packer: "No one is as bad as he or she might be,
but no action of ours is as good as it should be."
d) eBay may celebrate the essential goodness of people,
but they still have to provide fraud protection.
Even good people, the best people, can be tempted
to do wrong.
e) Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr - "Original Sin is the
only empirically verifiable Christian doctrine."
#2580
3) Too negative?
Many have applauded the famous statement by Anne Frank:
"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are
really good at heart."
Yet she died in a horrible Nazi concentration camp which
was run by people who were pretty much like you and me.
#29604
C. The universality of sin.
1) No one is righteous. All have fallen short.
2) There are no exceptions. (well, maybe one...)
Evangelist Eddie Martin once conducted a crusade in
Bluefield, West Virginia.
At the altar call a well-dressed woman came forward.
It was Rev. Martin's custom to have them repeat the
sinner's prayer with him.
He took her hand and prayed,
"Dear Lord, I know that I am a sinner.
I know I can't save myself.
I need forgiveness for my awful sins.
Please accept me, Jesus."
But as he prayed with the woman, she was silent.
He asked her, "Don't you want to be saved?"
She said, "Yes, I want to be saved, but I'm not a sinner."
"Then you can't be saved," he said. "Jesus only died
for sinners."
"But Rev. Martin - I'm a GOOD sinner!"
#2149
IV. The law is not the solution. 3:19-20
A. Laws tell us the limits so we will choose correctly.
1) But do we?
2) Sarah's speeding ticket.
a) No "Do you know how fast you were going??"
Just "You were going 61 in a 50 zone; here's your ticket."
b) She sat there and cried for 15 minutes.
B. For many people, religion is a series of laws.
1) A list of "do's and don'ts" make up their faith.
2) Laws can seem hard, but they are also do-able.
a) When Jesus confronted the Rich Young Ruler with
several of the 10 Commandments, the young man said,
"I've obeyed those."
3) Laws can give a false sense of security.
Recent scandal over a pornographic film star who attended
a Republican fundraiser.
Mary Carey paid $2,500 to eat dinner - and meet President
Bush. (she was in same room but didn't meet personally)
Conservatives predictably lashed out at her.
Her response?
"I am very Christian. I believe in God;
I grew up believing and still believe in a lot of
Christian morals;
I believe in the Ten Commandments;
I believe that thou shalt not kill;
I believe in doing good and being a nice human being."
She is probably sincere in what she says.
Millions of Americans would say that's exactly how they feel
about true religion.
But is this what a real Christian is all about?
#29612
C. Luther's insight - law has opposite effect from what you think.
1) Obeying law cannot earn us salvation. 3:20
2) Purpose of the law is not to make people better, but worse.
a) It reveals our sin to us.
b) It breaks us down, so we have no option but to seek God.
3) Rev. Martin Lloyd-Jones:
"The best man, the noblest, the most learned, the most
philanthropic;
the greatest idealist, the greatest thinker,
say what you like -
there has never been a man who can stand up to the test
of the law.
Drop your plumb-line, and he is not true to it." [John Stott]
V. But now... 3:21
A. We have a God of the "but"s.
1) Negative realities have spiritual solutions.
2) God never leaves us with no options.
B. We can be righteous.
1) It comes only from God, as his gift.
a) It is not something we earn from our obedience.
2) It comes only through faith in Jesus. 3:22
a) We must believe.
b) Everyone can have it -- everyone must have it.
C. All have sinned, but all can be justified.
1) It almost sounds equivalent (= universalism)
a) But "believing" is the basis of distinction.
2) Beauty of it - no one can boast before God. 3:27
=========================================================================
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 2149 "I'm A Good Sinner!" Tan's 7700 Illustrations, #5731.
# 2580 "The Only Empirically Verifiable Christian Doctrine," Philip Yancey,
Christianity Today magazine, March 6, 1987, page 30. Note that
Yancey wrongly attributes the quote to George Bernard Shaw, and
others to G.K. Chesterton. Niebuhr is the correct source.
# 7422 "Our View of Sin Has Changed," Karl Menninger, from Kerux Sermon #21213
by Rev. Gary Vanderet, Peninsula Bible Church; Cupertino, California
#29604 "People Are Really Good At Heart," taken from "Anne Frank: The Cultivation
of the Inspirational Victim," http://www.remember.org/educate/afrank.html
#29605 "People Are Good," Keith Drury, Keith@drurywriting.com,
http://www.drurywriting.com/keith/people.are.good.htm, Feb. 22, 2005.
#29612 "A Very Religious Pornographic Film Star," edited from internet article
http://www.radarmagazine.com/web-only/politics/2005/06/~
theres-something-about-Mary.php, June 2005
These and 25,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
=========================================================================
Study notes:
John Stott
==========
I. Gentiles are evil, and so are Jews. All are under sin.
A. "String of pearls" quotation list from Old Testament.
II. Passage's teaching on sin:
A. The ungodliness of sin.
1) Sin is the revolt of the self against God.
2) Ultimately, sin is self-deification.
B. The pervasiveness of sin.
1) Sin affects every part of our human constitution.
a) Note the body parts that are listed.
b) Instead of glorifying God and serving people, they
do the opposite.
2) Total depravity.
a) This doesn't mean humans are as depraved as they can be.
1> Not all are drunks or murderers.
b) But it means that every part of us is depraved to some
degree.
J.I. Packer: "No one is as bad as he or she might be,
but no action of ours is as good as it should be."
C. The universality of sin.
1) Negative: No one is righteous.
2) Positive: All have swerved.
Lloyd-Jones:
"The best man, the noblest, the most learned, the most
philanthropic; the greatest idealist, the greatest thinker,
say what you like - there has never been a man who can
stand up to the test of the law. Drop your plumb-line,
and he is not true to it."
III. Every tongue will be silenced.
A. Canfield - the weight of evidence is against us.
1) [Tim McVeigh trial example]
2) All - pagan, moralist, religious Jew - are guilty sinners.
B. Observing the law cannot make us righteous.
1) Sanders and Dunn - law is limited to "identity markers"
like Sabbath-keeping and kosher food.
a) Paul is opposing privilege, not merit.
b) But Paul's use of "law" cannot be limited this way.
2) Luther - law is good deeds we perform to be accepted by God.
a) Good works cannot earn salvation.
b) Rom 3:20 is not against Jewish self-confidence, but
against self-salvation.
Martin Luther:
"The principal point ... of the law ... is to make men
not better but worse; that is to say, it reveals to
them their sin, that by knowing this they may be
humbled, terrified, bruised and broken, and by this
means may be driven to seek grace, and so come to that
blessed Seed [sc. Christ]."
C. Conclusions.
1) We are not helpless victims, but are responsible for our
conduct.
a) We must accept God's diagnosis of our problem.
2) We must share Christ with others.
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
Created with the Freeware Edition of HelpNDoc: Easily create PDF Help documents