All right, listen to Paul, Romans
3, verse 1. What advantage then has the Jew,
or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way, chiefly because
that unto them were committed the oracles of God. But what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? God forbid! Yea, let God be true,
but every man a liar, as it is written, that thou mightest be
justified in thy sayings, and might overcome when thou art
judged. Those, by the way, are the words
of David in Psalm 51 and verse 4. But if our unrighteousness
commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh
vengeance? I speak as a man. God forbid,
for then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of
God hath abounded more through my lie, under His glory, why
yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not rather, as we slanderously
reported, and as some affirm that we say, let us do evil that
good may come, whose damnation is just. 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 understands. There is none that seeks after
God. They're 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 supplicant. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of asp 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, and there is no fear of God before their eyes. Now
we know that what thing soever the law says, it says to them
who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped, 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." Now, we'll be in verse
9 through verse 18. principally this morning. But
let us come at it this way. I think that it is not a stretch,
not one at all, if we call the book of Romans a literal, virtual
body of divinity. Other theologians have done that.
Commentators have called it a body of divinity, because it gives
us such a full account of that great and glorious doctrine of
justification of sinners before God, as no other portion of God's
Word does, like it is found here in Romans None else even comes
close, unless it be that sister epistle, the Book of Galatians,
also authored by the Apostle Paul and covering some of the
same things that we read here in Romans. Now, the great theme. of the Roman epistle is stated
in chapter 1, verse 16 and verse 17, and that subject is the righteousness
of God that is revealed and declared in the gospel. that the elect
of God are justified freely by the grace of God and that through
the redemption that is in our Lord Jesus Christ, and that this
righteousness revealed in the gospel provided by Christ and
supplied unto the elect is not an actual righteousness on our
part, but it is an imputed righteousness. It is a righteousness that God
imputes to the elect and those that believe. And also, we notice
something else before we get into our passage of Scripture,
and that is that the righteousness of God that is mentioned, chapter
1, and verse 17, and again in chapter 3, verse 21 and verse
22, is not the personal attribute of righteousness dwelling in
God. Now certainly God is righteous. He is the sum of all righteousness. There is no unrighteousness in
Him at all. But this righteousness here in
these two places refers to that righteousness that is provided
and that is imputed to the saints of God that they might stand
righteous and be justified in the sight of God. It is that
righteousness that Paul calls the righteousness of faith in
Romans 3 and 22, and the same that was imputed to Abraham,
chapter 4 and verse 22, and Galatians chapter 3 and verse 6. The righteousness of God imputed
unto Abraham. Now, let me say this before we
get to our text, that Paul discusses the doctrine of justification
and righteousness from several aspects, or he gives us several
views of it, in this great Roman epistle. Here are the sections. We'll not spend much time on
them. First of all, from chapter 1
and verse 17 down through chapter 3 and verse 20. He gives us there
the need or the necessity of justification and of a saving
righteousness. And that need is the depravity
and the corruption of the family of man. Secondly, in Romans 3,
verse 21, to the end of chapter 5 and verse 21, the divine method
of justification is set forth by the apostle. It is by grace
through Christ. He gives us the example of Abraham
in chapter 4 and the headship of Adam and of Christ in chapter
5. But then thirdly, in chapter
6 and verse 1 down through chapter 8 and verse 4, The fruits of
justification are set forth for our edification. That justification
in this manner is the only true basis of real sanctification
and living right and worshiping God. And finally, fourthly, chapter
9, 10, and 11, Paul gives us the sovereignty of God in dealing
with men under justification from both the Jew and the Gentile
standpoint. But now, with all of that behind
us, and a matter of introduction and kind of laying our foundation,
go back to chapter 1 and notice that the very first thing that
Paul addresses at large, the very first subject that he takes
up and dwells on it at some length, how he works his way toward the
righteousness of God mentioned in chapter 1 and verse 17, and
that subject resumes in chapter 3 and verse 21. That before he
opens up the method of the saving righteousness provided by God,
He first here, from 1.18 to 3.20, he first digresses in order to
set forth the unrighteousness of the entire human family. Or to put it in medical terminology,
he fully diagnoses the disease in order that he might prescribe
a proper antidote or remedy. And it is the only remedy. There
is no other. Now, there is only one alternative
to law justification. For the law cannot justify where
there is sin. Once one has sinned, all hope
of being justified by works or by the law is gone forever and
forever. Once one has become a sinner,
they cannot use the law to bring themselves to favor with God
or to justification. Now, another point. It is not
only necessary to know the severity of our state by nature, but looking
back also to remember the pit out of which God's grace has
digged us in the past. Isaiah 51 and verse 1, to remember
the pit out of which God has digged us. How precious is the
cure when we remember what was our state and what it would have
remained without a righteousness of God's providing and imputing. Thus Paul lays out. A double indictment in the section
from 1.18 to 3 and verse 19. The first part of it is directed
against the Gentile. It is against the heathen or,
shall we say, the non-Jewish world. This he does, as I said,
chapter 1, verse 18, through verse 30. Now let's make this
point, and that is that Paul prefers to treat the depravity
of the Jew and of the Gentile, first of all, separately, laying
a deep foundation and wide, in order that he might then, in
chapter 3 and verse 9 and following, lump them together as both being
depraved and guilty before the God of heaven, notwithstanding
their respective past and the different kind of past that they
had in their life. Now, He charges the heathen with
their particular sin. It begins chapter 1, verse 18,
with suppressing the revelation which God has made of His divinity
and of His power in creation. Look at 1.18 if you're there.
They held the truth in unrighteousness. Literally, it says, They suppressed
the truth in wickedness. That means they held it down. They held it under. And having
done that, they then proceeded to exchange the glory of God
for the images of created things. And they worshipped and they
served them rather than the God who had created the things which
they were worshipping, until at last They did not consider
God worth knowing, and God gave them over to a reprobate mind. Now what we have here in Romans
1, 18 through 30, I believe, is the birth of paganism. Here is the birth of paganism,
a description of how paganism and idolatry came to exist in
the world. We see what they did, if you'll
forbear me running through it again. Verse 18, they suppressed
the truth. They denied it. They held it
under. They suppressed it. Verse 21,
having revelation, they did not glorify God, nor were they thankful
for His mercy and His goodness. Look at verse 22, thinking themselves
to have become very wise, claiming wisdom, they then became fools
or foolish in their thinking and in their conduct. If you
look at verse 23 and verse 25, they exchanged glory for corruption
and the truth of God for a lie. And in response to that, What
did God do? Well, look at verse 24. God gave
them up to uncleanness. We see that sin in our day. Verse
26. He gave them up unto vile affections
and shameful, disgraceful, unseemly lusts. And verse 28. God gave
them over to a reprobate mind. And then what followed? Did they
remain upright? Did they do that which was good?
Did they seek the right way? No. They fell into that great
catalog of sins that are mentioned in verse 29 through verse 32
of Romans chapter 1. Sins of all kinds. and of all
degree. Thus Paul has proved and established
the depravity of the non-Jewish or the Gentile world. Then, coming
to chapter 2, as William G. T. Shedd noted in his opening
remarks on the second chapter of Romans, The apostle now proceeds
to consider the moral character and condition of the Jew for
the purpose of evincing, that is, showing that he also needs
that righteousness that is revealed in the gospel." The Jews harshly
judged hated and condemned the Gentile, and yet, for the most
part, they did not consider themselves to be great sinners in the sight
of God. Many of them trusted in themselves
that they were righteous. Luke 18 and verse 9. Remember, Paul once thought himself
blameless before the law of God. In Philippians chapter 3 and
verse 6, until He had that encounter with the law described in Romans
7, 7 through 13. So the Jews did not see themselves
to be in that condition or anywhere near the condition described
in chapter 1. And as Haldane wrote, they trusted
for salvation in such things as their Abraham ancestry, in
their status and privilege as a chosen nation, as being the
covenant people of God, and of their observing the law, and
especially in their circumcision in the flesh. And so it was a
difficult task for Paul to convince them that they stood equally
guilty with the Gentiles whom they had condemned for century
after century. The Jew had transgressed the
written law of God and the law works wrath. They had done the
same thing that they condemned in the Gentiles. They themselves
had become guilty of those same things. Now coming at long last,
perhaps you will agree, to chapter 3 and remembering that Paul did
not divide the epistle into chapters and into verses as we have it
in our versions today. So here are the questions in
verse 1, Romans chapter 3 and verse 1. What advantage then
has the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision? Or literally, what profit of
circumcision? Now, we can easily see this has
to do with what Paul had said or written in the end of chapter
2 about circumcision. Does this, he asks, disannul
or annul the advantage of being a Jew? And does this make circumcision
to be nothing and to be useless in the case and the eye of the
Jew? Well, this Paul denies. But the advantage that he most
extols is, to them, that is to the Jew, were committed the oracles
of God. Notice that in the second verse. Yes, the second verse. Unto them
were committed the oracles of God. They had the verbally inspired
written word of God Almighty. In addition to the prophetical
ministry among them, they possess the written, inspired Word of
God in written form, written down. Most agree the words are
these. They were entrusted with the
oracles of God as the gospel was committed or was entrusted
to the apostle Paul in 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 11. The oracles of God they had. Now the word oracle, if I did
not miscount, can be found at least four times in the New Testament. If you're interested, here they
are. Acts 7 and verse 38. Here in Romans 3 and verse 2. Hebrews 5 and verse 12. And 1
Peter chapter 4 and verse 11. And the word oracle is the word logion and means
literally an utterance or a saying, a statement we might say, a narrative
we also might describe it. And in Romans 3 and verse 2 It
refers decidedly to the Old Testament writing, the Old Testament scriptures. These they had committed unto
them or entrusted unto them. And these oracles of God were
read in their hearing every Sabbath day in the synagogue. There were readings from the
Old Testament Scripture every Sabbath day in the synagogue. Now, while they had the written
oracles of God, which were read in their hearing, the Gentiles
had, for the most part, only the light of nature, the work
of the law written in their heart. which Paul describes in Romans
2, 14 and 15. Now, coming to Romans 3 and verse
9, and the question to take up, what are we to conclude? What, therefore, is kind of the
question that Paul is asking. Or we might say it this way today.
What is the case? Or literally, what then? What then is the deduction that
we ought to draw? What then? Are we better? Some prefer to render that, do
we excel? What is the question then? Are we better? Do we excel? Now, notice, I think you will
agree, that the we, W-E, is a reference to the Jew, and though the two
words, then they, are italicized, it is clear that to give the
right sense, that the translators were right in seeing it to be
a comparison between the Jew and the Gentile that Paul is
making. What then are we better, better
than they? And any doubt is removed by the
last part of verse 9. Look at it. We have concluded
that both Jew and Gentile are charged, as it is in the margin,
with being under sin. Now to that see the word together
in verse 12. Together become unprofitable. Plus the words Paul uses, none
that does good and so forth. Now, brethren, we are afflictioned
to hear Paul set forth the truth about human depravity. See his
answer here to the question, Are we better? Do we excel? Paul answers, Not at all, not
by any means whatsoever, in no wise. to keep on emphasizing
it. The answer is an unequivocal
no. By no means do we excel the nation. And he bases it upon the facts
already stated, upon that bill of indictment laid out in chapter
1, verse 18, through chapter 2 and verse 24, saying to them,
We have already proved, we have already charged, we have already
accused, both Jew and Gentile, that they are all under sin. Now, let's hold to Every word
that Paul uses are sad. He says in the end of verse 9
that both Jew and Gentile are, quote, under sin, unquote. Now, to be under sin is to be
guilty before the tribunal of God, and to live in sin and live
under the dominion of sin. Not just that they had sinned,
or in some ways and times lived a sinful life, but that they
were under the dominion of sin. And this He had shown by their
past conduct, that both are under sin. Now Paul will prove it,
and what evidence will he present to prove his assertion that both
Jew and Gentile are indeed under sin, and that together the two
of them have become unprofitable? You look in verse 10, as it is
written. Those are some of the most important
and emphatic words that we ever read in our New Testament. How often do we read the words,
it is written, or as it is written, or what saith the Scripture,
or again, the Scripture saith, is the preface. to some great
statement in the New Testament. Sometimes the question is this,
what is written in the law? David said and Isaiah said. We read those things in the New
Testament. In other words, Paul intends
to prove human depravity from the Scripture, what he had called
the oracles of God, back in verse 2. Now, of course, we understand
that Paul is referring here to the Old Testament Scripture,
to the Law of Moses, to the Psalms, and to the prophet as the Jews
divided up their Scripture. They called them the Law, the
Psalm, and the prophet. Now he will build his case solely
on the written word of God. Any faithful minister or teacher
ought to do the same. Thus saith the word of the Lord. Our only proof Our only scripture,
our only proof is the Word of God. We have nothing to preach,
nothing to quote, nothing to substantiate our doctrine and
our teaching but the Holy Scripture, the Word of God. And these scriptures
are, according to Paul, in 2 Timothy 3 and verse 16, not only are
they given by inspiration of God, and that literally means
that they are God-breathed, but they alone are profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
and they alone are suitable to make one wise unto salvation
through the faith that is in Christ Jesus, as Paul tells Timothy
in 2 Timothy 3 and verse 15. Now, two points before we proceed
further on our way. Number one, the Jews openly confessed
the inspiration and the authority of the canon of the scripture. They professed them, they taught,
they held them to be the word of God, at least in profession. So Paul is playing into that. they confess them to be the Word
of God. The second point I want to make,
not to labor it, but to see how many times in this book of Romans
Paul quotes from the Old Testament Scripture for the sake and toward
the Jew. And for them that should have
settled every matter of doctrine and of practice. Scripture is
first and last authority. Scripture is the guiding principle. It is, as Paul said, Let God
be true, but every man a liar. Now we note in cross-referencing
our text, those verses from 9 through 18, that Paul quotes heavily
from the Old Testament and particularly from the Psalms in verse 10 through
18. For example, he quotes from Psalm
14, 1-3. He quotes Psalm 53, 1-3. He quotes
Psalm 5, 9. He quotes Psalm 140, 3. He quotes Psalms 10 and verse
7 and 36 and 1. All of these quotations from
the psalm are contained and deal with human depravity in these
few short verses. Now verse 10, the first and foundational
truth about depravity is this. There is none righteous. And he emphasizes it, no, not
one. You'll find this taken, not verbatim,
but from Psalm 14 and Psalm 53. Not content to leave it at, there
is none righteous, Paul adds for more emphasis, no, not one. We might say it this way, not
even one of the millions not one is righteous. Of all that
are born in the human family, generation after generation,
none are innately or inherently or personally righteous in the
sight of God. Now, you might say to me, some
are called righteous in the Scripture, but this is an imputed righteousness
of God's providing such as is proclaimed in the Gospel. Granted, some there are who call
themselves righteous, but it is a self-righteousness, a stench
in the nostrils of God, as saith Isaiah. Our righteousness is
filthy rags in the sight of God, Isaiah 64 and verse 6. But Paul says, then he backs
it up with the Scripture, there is not a single righteous person
among the children of men. Solomon says something like that
in Ecclesiastes 7 and verse 20. There is not a just man upon
the face of the earth that does good and sins not. I wonder if you remember in Genesis
chapter 18, Abraham's intercessory pleading and his prayers with
God. He pleaded with God to spare
Sodom, no doubt for the sake of his nephew Lot who resided
there, if peradventure a certain number of righteous individuals
might be found. Abraham started at 50. He lowered
it to 40, to 30, to 20, and then to ten, but not ten righteous
men could be found. Not only are none righteous,
but all are unrighteous, and we can see that contrast in Romans
1 and 17 between the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel
and the unrighteousness of man where Paul proceeds at great
length to establish the universal unrighteousness of humanity. Not just individuals, but humanity. Now, when Paul says there is
none righteous, what does he mean? How does he intend for
his readers to understand it? What is it to be righteous? They are all unrighteous. Now that does not mean that some
cannot work hard. They can. Some can be a good
citizen. They are. They can raise a family,
pay their debts, do volunteer work and charity work, help their
neighbor. relieve the poor. If they find
a lost purse or wallet with money in it, they can return it under
the owner. In many cases they can attend
church because, but none of these things make them righteous in
the sight of God as is necessary. The word righteous in the sense
of our text, could just as justly, I think, have been translated
as just. Just are righteous. And the word in King James is
mostly translated, almost every time, either as righteous or
as just. And it has the idea or meaning,
according to William G. T. Shedd's critical commentary
on Roman, of perfect and complete conformity to the law of God. John Murray wrote on Roman chapter
3, And verse 10, quote, righteousness is the criterion by which sin
is judged, and the absence of righteousness means the presence
of sin, end quote. In short, where there is no righteousness,
there will be sin. An unrighteous person cannot
keep the righteous precepts of God's word and law. Your word
means to be innocent, to be holy, to be upright. And according
to Strong's Concordance, it means right. Another said righteousness
is the criterion by which sin is judged, as I just said, and
the absence of it is the presence of sin. What's more, because
none are righteous in verse 10, This has far-reaching consequences,
and they are set forth beginning then in verse 11 and following. Look at verse 11. First thing
to notice, there is none that understand. The second thing
to notice is, there is none that seeks after God. Now, there is none righteous,
therefore there are none that understand or seek God. This from Psalm 14, 2 and 53, 2. Though not a verbatim
quotation, those verses say this. The Lord God looked down from
heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that
did understand and seek God." His eyes, as it were, ran to
and fro throughout all of the earth. like a watchman in his
tower, looking out over the vineyard. Spurgeon, ever the wordsmith,
put it this way, quote, the eyes of omniscience ransacking the
globe, prying among every nation or people, unquote. Proverbs
15 and verse 3, the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding
the good and the evil. Now, we notice how Paul uses
the passages from Psalm 14 and Psalm 53. The psalmist said,
the Lord did look to see if there were any that did understand
or that did seek God. And Paul changes from the original
interrogative and uses the negative. In verse 11, there is none that
understand, there is none that seeks after God. The implication in the psalm
is in the psalm, but Paul is clear. None understand. None seeks God. And in reading
one commentator, I learned a couple of new words. I had to go and
look them up. They were new to me. I had not
seen them or heard them before in all the writing of the Puritan. And they are the word noetic
and the word connotative. And noetic has to do with the
intellect or with the mind. And in regard to this in verse
11, there is none that understand. Connative has to do with seeking
or striving or to endeavor, so that there is none that seeks
after God because they have no spiritual discernment. Because
the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God,
then there is none that understand and there is none that truly
seeks Him. Consequently, look at verse 11. There is none that understandeth,
none that seeketh after God. All Jew and non-Jew together,
Jew and Gentile, are together unprofitable. That is, they are
worthless, they are useless. I've told the word could be mean
to spoil. good for nothing. As Linsky put
it, not even one was found in what was good, righteous, and
serviceable in God's sight. And Paul emphasizes this was
true of both classes and down to the very last one in each
class. Now beginning In verse 13 through
verse 17, the apostle, if you notice, cites various Old Testament
passages to confirm the actual acts of depravity, showing the
depravity of the race. And as I said, most of them are
from the psalm, as in verse 13, 14 and 18. Some are from Isaiah, as verse
15 through verse 17, and how the members are engaged in the
act of depravity. Paul lays heavy emphasis upon
the throat, upon the tongue, the lips, and the mouth, likening
the tongue or the throat to an open sepulcher or grave, sending
forth the stench of corruption and death, that their throat
is like a grave that is not covered or blocked, their lips are like
venomous snakes, Their tongues speak deceit. Their mouth is
a veritable cesspool of cursing and of bitterness. Notice, brethren
and sistren, how many ways there are to sin with the tongue, the
mouth, and the lips. Let's count some. There's blasphemy,
lying, flattery, boasting, swearing, cursing, defaming, unclean conversation. Gossip, false promises, on and
on we might go. Not only so, but now look at
verse 15 and 17. Not only are their words and
their defaming acts of depravity very evident, but notice how
violent and destructive they also are, killing, maiming, wounding
one another. Murders abound. Is there a day
that the news comes through and there is not a murder in our
city, maybe in our neighborhood? Wreaking destruction, ruin, punishment,
vengeance upon one another. Visiting their wrath upon one
another. Verse 17, notice, they are ignorant
and strangers. They do not know peace. They do not approve of it. Therefore,
they neither follow nor practice the ways of peace that are taught
and that are civil. They are neither at peace with
God nor with other men, and may we say, maybe not even with themselves. But I think perhaps the root
of it all is summed up in verse 18. Look at it. There is no fear
of God before their eye. This is from Psalms 36 and verse
1. where David looks at the conduct of his fellow men and concludes
from the conduct of the wicked that they do not have the fear
of God before their eyes. It's mentioned in Psalm 36, 2-4,
the fear of God, which Haldane and others said, is spoken of
in scripture as the sum of true religion. To say that a man fears
God or a woman fears God is to say that they have religion. But these lack the fear of God,
which is the beginning of wisdom. These want to depart from evil,
does wisdom, and to worship and to serve God. But I must close,
but let us sum up by observing, Paul is not just speaking here
of individuals, but is declaring the spiritual state of the apostate
and fallen human race. John Brown wrote, quote, this
is what people left to themselves unchanged by divine influence
are and have been and we might add continue to be, unquote. Human nature in its natural form
is incorrigible. can only become spiritual by
a divine intervention and divine regeneration. There is ample
proof of human depravity in history before our eyes in our generation
and in the Scripture, in the Word of God. None righteous,
none seek God, none seek after Him or follow His ways. Paul has indicted all of humanity.