how much is contained in these
verses from a doctrinal point of view. Notice your Bibles now,
beginning with verse 21. We're not going to read the verses.
This is verses beginning with verse 21 through verse 26. I
want you to follow along without me reading the verses as I relate
many things that are given in these verses. The foundation
of justification is grace. This is found, of course, in
verse 24. This paragraph, I think, is amazing in its depth of content. I do not know of any other section
of Scripture, including Ephesians 1 or Romans 8, that includes
as much spiritual depth as this section of Scripture to which
I have just called attention. The righteousness of God referred
to within the context of these verses has its source, and I'm
going to stress words as I give these things, its source in God. It is his righteousness. It is manifested. It is manifested
not only by the law but by the prophet. You see, the Old Testament
has two major divisions, the law and the prophets. Man could never have discovered
such righteousness. It is independent of the law. I'm stressing the word independent.
So this righteousness is revealed apart from the law. Man, therefore,
can never merit this righteousness. it was predicted because it was
witnessed by both the law and the prophets. It is bestowed,
because you will notice in verse 24, being justified freely by
his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So it
is bestowed upon those whom the Lord has chosen the salvation and
they're justified freely by God's grace. It is reconciling. Christ's blood is a propitiation. Verse 25, whom God has set forth
to be a propitiation or mercy seat through faith in his blood. It is ethical. That is, it is
in accordance with the right rules for practice. God's forbearance with the sins
of believers before the death of Jesus Christ was not due to
indifference, but he passed them over because Jesus Christ, in
the counsel of God, was on his way to Calvary. Finally, it is effective and
final because God is just in the justification of the unjust. Now for the study of verses 9
through 18. Human character is basically
depraved. In other words, human character
is depraved. Now there are seven things that
the Apostle Paul has given us in verses 9 through 12. You'll
be amazed at the great number of truths that are actually placed
within this brief context of Scripture. First of all, human
depravity is universal. It includes the Jews as well
as the Gentiles, verse 9. Now some people may be better
socially, culturally, educationally and financially. But after all,
these things are nothing but veneers, and when these veneers
are removed, all men stand alike before the Sovereign God. All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God, verse 23. There
is something interesting about the present tense of the verb
in the last part of the 23rd verse. It literally means coming
short of the glory of God. You might raise the question,
why is the present tense of the verb used here, coming short? Man who is depraved not only
comes short, but he continually comes short of the glory of God. That's what Paul wants us to
see, and that is why the present tense of the Greek verb is used. You may miss that, actually,
in the reading and understanding of the King James Version. But
Paul doesn't leave anything out. Actually, the statement, the
glory of God, is a synonymous expression that he uses along
with the righteousness of God. So righteousness and the glory
of God both are used synonymously in this particular section of
Scripture. Human depravity, I said, is universal. It includes Jews as well as Gentiles. You will notice the verdict in
verse 9. The verdict is pronounced, and
there are three things concerning the verdict. First of all, we
have the character of the verdict. It is sin. Secondly, we have
the dominion of the verdict under. Finally, the extent of the verdict
all. So we have the character, we
have the dominion, and we have the extent of the verdict. That's the first thing concerning
the depravity, our human character being basically corrupt. Number two. He goes into some
other things. Depravity means that every person
is naturally unrighteous. Notice what he says in verse
10. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Man has to be righteous before
he can do righteous deeds according to 1 John 2.29 and 1 John 3.7.
Righteousness. Not only do we have the righteous
character of God, righteousness as it is used with reference
to the attributes of God, but righteousness as it refers to
the righteousness that has been wrought out for us on the cross
by Jesus Christ. Righteousness is the criterion
by which sin is always judged. You judge sin, first of all,
by the holy character of God. And we also judge sin by the
meritorious work that Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross. If
you want to see how heinous sin really is, don't forget the work
of the cross. It was there where our sins were
imputed to Jesus Christ and he became our substitute as he became
our sin offering, suffering in our stead. So depravity means
every person is naturally unrighteous. In other words, he is saying
that the tree is not good. He is saying that the fountain
cannot give forth sweet water. A corrupt tree cannot produce
good fruit. The tree is corrupt, the fountain
is corrupt, and therefore everything that comes forth from a corrupt
tree is corrupt, just as the water that comes forth from a
corrupt fountain is also corrupt water. Number three. Depravity means that every person
is naturally without spiritual understanding. You'll notice
in the 11th verse there is none that understand it. Now let's
not take the entire verse. You see there are two parts of
the 11th verse. He deals first of all with the
subject of understanding. You might say that the Apostle
Paul is not saying in so many words that a person has the inability
to understand things generally speaking. We know that men are
capable of understanding certain things. In other words, Paul
was not talking about imbecility. Men can learn the various sciences
of the world, but because of his depraved condition, he cannot
learn the five basic sciences of the Bible—theology, soteriology,
ecclesiology, eschatology, and so forth. So man is incapable
of understanding God, Man is incapable of understanding himself. He is incapable of understanding
the science of salvation. He can't understand the science
of the church. He does not have a true biblical
understanding of eschatology. Why? Because he lacks spiritual
understanding. 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 14. The natural mind understands
not the things of the Spirit of God because they're foolishness
to him. It takes a spiritual mind to
understand spiritual things. Then number four, in the last
part of verse 11, depravity means that no man naturally seeks God. Now we hear religionists today
talk about men being hungry for God, hungry for righteousness,
and men, generally speaking, seeking God. There's not a word
of truth in it. What Paul says here is in direct
contradiction to most of that which you hear from the lips
of a great number of religious professors. No man seeketh after
God. So depravity means that man naturally
does not seek God. He doesn't have any taste for
God. And since he doesn't have any taste for God, he is not
going to seek after the Lord. He is not going to desire righteousness
because he doesn't have any taste. Righteousness is not palatable
to his taste. Then we come to the fifth thing.
Depravity means that man naturally is gone out of the way, out of
the way of godliness. Look at the first part of verse
12. They're all gone out of the way. Now since Paul is dealing
not only with the unsaved Jews but also the unsaved Gentiles,
let's consider this statement. All mankind, all mankind are
seen going out of the way, and that includes the Jews as well
as the Gentiles. You remember the familiar passage
in Isaiah 53, verse 6. Man has gone away, out of the
way. He has gone his own way. Now
that statement applies to the Jews. Isaiah was preaching to
the Jews. But when we turn to Romans chapter
1, we find that the Gentiles who knew God from the standpoint
of knowing him as he reveals himself in general revelation,
that is by the works of his hands, by his creative works. yet in knowing about God. They have gone away even from
the general knowledge that has been given to them. Thus we have
the Jews going away from the word of God, and we saw this
morning in the first part of this third chapter, when the
question was raised, what advantage then have the Jews? And Paul
says, with regard to many respects, you have advantage over the Gentiles,
but chiefly are first, because unto you the word of God has
been committed, the oracles of God. So the Jews to whom the
oracles of God have been committed, the Jews through whom the scriptures
have come to you and me, they have turned from the scriptures
that were committed to them. Thus, they have gone their own
way. They have not gone the way that
the scriptures present. Not only is that true of the
Jews, but since the Gentiles are included in all men being
sinners, Paul goes on to say, in so many words, that the Gentiles
who have not the oracles of God as the Jews possess them, yet
they have gone away from general revelation and have turned that
which has been revealed to them into means that should never
be employed by individuals. Romans 1, 19 through 21. Then we come to the sixth thing. Depravity means that the natural
man is unprofitable. Unprofitable. What are we looking
at? We're looking at the character
of every person outside of Jesus Christ. quite descriptive, is
it not? Yes. Seven things. You mean every
person outside of Jesus Christ is unprofitable? That's exactly
right. That's what the Bible says. Unprofitable. Let me give one classic biblical
example of this. You remember Onesimus, who had
stolen some money from his master? This is recorded in the little
book of Philemon, one chapter in length. After having stolen
some money from his master, he went into another country. He was apprehended, placed in
prison. In the providence of God, the
apostle Paul was also apprehended, not for stealing any money from
any human master, but for the proclamation of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. In the providence of God, the
Apostle Paul was placed in the same prison with the thief Onesimus. The master of Onesimus was Philemon. Philemon was a personal and devoted
friend of the Apostle Paul's. Paul had been in his home. There
was a church in the home of Philemon. And here, face to face with Onesimus,
Paul proclaimed the gospel to him. Onesimus was saved, and
we're told in the 11th verse of the book of Philemon, when
Paul wrote a letter back to Philemon to tell him about what had taken
place in the life of Onesimus, he made the statement that he
who was unprofitable, not only to you, but to me, is now profitable
not only to you, but to me. So every person outside of Jesus
Christ is unprofitable. He is unprofitable, spiritually
speaking, and will remain so until the grace of God enters
into his heart. So depravity means what? That
the natural man is unprofitable. And finally, In the latter part
of verse 12, depravity means that there is not a natural man
that does good. No, not one. There is not one
that does good. I'm sure that you have heard
the term many times, so-and-so is not a Christian, but he's
good at heart. How in the world can a corrupt,
black, depraved heart be good? You might say, well, there are
many things that he does in life that are good. They may be good
from the standpoint of the way that people, generally speaking,
would refer to the word good. But whatever he does, even though
it could be considered as being good in the estimation of social
activity, yet whatever the unsaved person does, does not have the
right motive behind it. And since it does not have the
right motive behind it, it is not good even though it gives
the appearance of being good. in the world. There is none that
do it good, no, not one. You say, Paul paints a mighty
dark picture, and he does do that very thing. Now coming to
the 13th and 14th verses, we have the second division of this
section. After describing most vividly what man's character
really is, in the sight of God, what he is basically, basically
depraved. In other words, there is no divine
spark in him that only needs to be fanned by Christian influence. Paul objects to any such concept,
and yet that is the concept to which most religionists hold
in this day in which we live. Now he's going to describe just
how corrupt this person really is inwardly, beginning with verse
13. First of all, the throat, if
you will notice, is likened to a grave containing the unsealed
remains of the dead. Now, that's quite descriptive,
is it not? Their throat is an open, flat
sepulcher. You see, the sepulcher was a
place where dead bodies were placed. So Paul says, now the
throat is like an open sepulcher that contains the unsealed remains
of the dead. Now he didn't stop there. He
goes on to say that the character of the natural man, his tongue
is deceitful. Do you know what that literally
means? It means that his tongue is a sugared tongue. I said a sugared tongue. It literally
means that. It charms. It's deceitful. Think about what happened in
the Garden of Eden when the serpent came and enticed Eve. by raising questions concerning
the integrity of God. Hath God said? He was a very
charming creature as he approached Eve. He was deceitful. You and
I are to beware of deceitfulness. One thing you and I can be sure
of as Christians We can be deceived to a point, all of us have been
deceived up to a point, but no person who has been saved by
the grace of God can be deceived to his destruction. Yet we do
have to be careful because natural man has a sugared tongue. We see this manifested today.
I get amused and a lot of preachers, they act like professional salesmen. I don't know how you feel about
professional salesmen, but I do not like high-powered salesmen. I do not like to walk into an
establishment and have someone approach me and to start just
with such a gift of gab and with this sweet talk. I'm leery to
begin with, and many preachers are like that. They're just full
of sweet talk, deceitful. Sugared tongue charms are presented. Now he goes on. He doesn't only
talk about the deceitfulness of the tongue, but references
made, if you will notice, to the lips. The lips give forth,
he says, poison like a serpent. Now that gives us a little better
description. sugared tongue and lips, in other words, beneath
the lips, there is nothing but the sack of poison. He uses the term asp here. Now the apostle is quoting not
only from the Mosaic legislation, but he also gives quotations
from the prophets. Now this is important for you
to observe in order to have the right understanding of the word
law when we come to the 19th verse. I stated this morning
that the word law, which comes from the Greek word nomos, is
used three different ways here in two verses of scripture. Actually
in three verses, going through the 21st verse. And the casual
reader of the scriptures will miss something here if he is
not careful. Therefore, he needs to study
the word law in the light of the context, as I mentioned this
morning in the reading of the entire third chapter of the Book
of Romans. But now the lips give forth poison like a serpent. The serpent reminds one not only
of poison but also of the crookedness of the creature. So there are
two things that we must remember, the crookedness of the creature
as well as the poison of the creature. He goes on to describe
it in the very next statement. The mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Look first of all at the word
fool. What does it mean? It means that there is no room
for anything else. Don't expect for a moment for
an unsaved person to have any room within him for spiritual
things. There is no room. He's full.
He's full of what? Well, look at it. He's full of
cursing. He's full of bitterness. He is
full of these things because he is totally depraved. He's totally corrupt. You will notice that these verses
refer to the different organs of speech. and show them all exercising
their sinful power to hurt others. Honey on the lips, poison under
the lips. Now, let's not stop with just
the cursing and the bitterness. All of us today constantly hear
cursing. You can't even turn on the news.
today. You can't listen to a program
very far today without hearing four-letter words. They're becoming
very common in the vocabulary of most people today. Cursing, bitterness. But let us not stop with just
the cursing and the bitterness. Poison goes beyond just the cursing
and the bitterness. This poison is seen not only
in the literary field. It is seen in the realm of politics. It is witnessed, yes, even in
the religious realm. That's where the devil does his
most destructive work. I was so naive when I first became
a Christian. that I thought that every person
who gave lip service to Christianity really had something, but I wasn't
saved very long until I realized that most religionists, in fact,
religion is full of poison because religion cannot be equated with
Christianity. Religion is getting something. And Christianity is having something
imparted by the sovereign God. Thus, when someone asks you a
question, did you get it? Yes, religion can get all kinds
of things, but Christianity is something that has been imparted
by the sovereign God to the heart of the person who doesn't merit
it at all. That's the meaning of grace. I read something this past week
that was quite interesting. This person was talking about
this very passage of scripture where it talks about the poison
of asps being under their lips. Having pastored out in West Texas
for almost five years, we were acquainted with the rattlesnakes.
Of course, I've never liked snakes since I was bitten by one as
a lad of ten years of age. I've never liked snakes too well.
I don't think anyone likes snakes too well. Some people might want
a Boeing restrictor or something as a pet, Python or something,
but I don't want anything for a pet that even resembles a snake. Whenever the thing starts to
move, it's crooked as far as I'm concerned. And whether it
has a head the shape of a wedge or not, it's poison as far as
I'm concerned. But while I was in West Texas,
we were not too far from what was known as Rattlesnake Gap. Some of you may have heard of
Rattlesnake Gap. In fact, it's about halfway between Abilene
and Big Spring. During the season of the year,
a certain season of the year, they have rattlesnake hunters
that go in there and they usually wind up at Rattlesnake Gap hunting
rattlesnakes. Well, they can hunt all of them
they want to. I don't want to hunt rattlesnakes or any other
kind of snake for that matter. But this was told about the rattlesnake,
even after a rattlesnake has been killed. For a number of
hours after, the poison will continue to secrete and is just
as deadly as if it actually bit you. as long as the poison continues
to secrete and it continues to do so for hours after the death
of the snake. And when I read that something
came to my mind. A person who is filled with poison
and he's written many books or a preacher who calls himself
a representative of the Lord but he is a false prophet in sheep's clothing,
according to the Scriptures. Whenever heresy is preached or
whenever a person writes a book, even after the death of a person
who has written a book that is filled with wicked things, or
after the death of a preacher who has preached heresy, The
heresy continues to be poison even after his death, just as
the book continues to be very poisonous after the death of
its author. Now there is this difference
between a rattlesnake and a human being. As the poison of a rattlesnake
continues to secrete after the death of the snake, at least
for several hours, they say. The poison of man continues to
secrete until the judgment of God. Don't forget that. Do you know
why that there is a distinction made between the judgment seat
of Jesus Christ and the great white throne judgment? Only believers
stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. There is not
going to be, even though some religionists will tell you, that
there is only one resurrection, the general resurrection and
the general judgment. That just is not the truth of
Scripture. Only believers will stand before
the judgment seat of Christ and they will stand there for the
judgment of their works to determine the degree of reward which they
shall receive. But I'm not preaching on that
subject tonight. I'm just using something as an illustration. some 1,000 years later, there will be the great white
throne judgment. The devil that shall be chained
for a period of 1,000 years shall be turned loose, Revelation 20.
He will go out to deceive the nations, Gog and Magog, to gather
them together to battle. and he will deceive the nations.
There once again you see is your deceit. Then the great white
throne judgment. When the great white throne judgment
takes place, only the unsaved will stand before that judgment.
It was Dr. B. H. Carroll in his day who
said, the influence of an unsaved man continues to spread like throwing
a rock into a placid lake. And the rock that is thrown into
the placid lake, the waves begin to spread, spread, get farther
and farther until they reach the other side or the other shore
of the lake. He said the influence of the
wicked will continue to spread, the poison will continue to spread
until it reaches the shores, I'm quoting him now, of eternity. That's why the great white throne
judgment will not take place until the consummation of all
things. The influence that was left even
at the time of his death will not be judged until that influence
reaches the shores of eternity. That's the difference between
the poison of man and the poison of a snake. Now we come to verses 15 through
18. In these verses the apostle describes
man's outward actions. He is outwardly corrupt. Notice
what he says, he begins by saying in verse 15, their feet are swift
to shed blood. The blood that was shed by Cain
when he slew his brother Abel, that was the beginning, that
was the first murder. but murdering has been going
on ever since. And blood will continue to be
shed until Jesus Christ comes as King of Kings and Lord of
Lords, and he becomes the victorious one during the battle of Armageddon,
which is yet to be fought. Yes, there are to be wars and
rumors of wars until the coming of Jesus Christ. Their feet are
swift to shed blood. Look at the word feet. What does
this remind you of in the study of the New Testament scriptures?
The word walk is used over and over again by the Apostle Paul
in his epistles. The walk of the believer. The
believer is to walk worthy of the vocation by which he is called. On and on we could go. The word
walk speaks of the conduct, the character, the conduct of the
individual. So feet here represent, they
symbolize the whole conduct of man. So their feet are swift
to shed blood. We come now to the second descriptive
thing that Paul mentions. He says destruction and misery. are in their ways. Two words,
let us look at each. Destruction is the first. This is objective. Misery is
subjective. Will you look at this for a moment?
Destruction and misery are in their ways. I said this, the
word destruction is objective. And this speaks of the desire
that is represented by the misery that exists in the heart of every
unsaved person. He is full of misery. So this
is subjective. And then notice their ways. Their
ways are made known by their evil actions. So every unsaved
person is miserable within He is it? He is, whether he recognizes
it fully or not. It often is reflected, but he
is miserable within, and then being miserable within. Misery
loves misery, and therefore a miserable person wants to make every person
that he comes in contact with miserable. You know, Paul explains
this in the last verse of Romans 1, listen to it. who knowing
the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are
worthy of death, and not only do the same, but have pleasure
in them that do them. But have pleasure in them that
do them. The miserable person wants everyone
else with whom he comes in contact to be as miserable as he is. But you know what? His sugared
tongue charms at the beginning. But then the poison, you see,
is beneath, and the poison is reflected later on. So destruction
and misery are in their ways. Their ways. Notice the word ways,
plural, in contrast to Jesus Christ being the way, the truth,
and the life. So their ways go in the opposite
direction of peace. We're told later on that they
do not know peace. Peace is found only in the way.
And there is no peace unto the wicked, saith the Lord, Isaiah
48 and verse 22. And then he says, no fear of
God before their eyes. No peace. No fear. What does it mean, no fear? No
reverential fear for God. Slavish fear, yes, when they
realize that God is on the throne. Fear of sin's punishment, but
not fear of sin. Fearful only for its punishment.
And now we come to the verdict. The verdict of the law against
depraved mankind is what? Guilty before God. Now, I want to call attention
to something very important. You know, even when I was in
school, I was taught that the word law, as it is used in verse
19, referred to the Mosaic legislation. I didn't ask any question about
it. it just seemed feasible to me that it did refer to the Mosaic
legislation. I want to prove to you tonight
that the word law as it is used the first time in verse 19 does
not refer, it cannot be restricted to the Mosaic legislation. How
do we prove that? When you go back to verse 9 and
read through the 18th verse, you have quotations by Paul drawn
not only from the Pentateuch, and Moses was the author of the
Pentateuch, but he also draws quotations. Quotations are drawn also from
the prophets, and since quotations are drawn from both the Pentateuch
and the Prophets, the word law cannot be restricted to the Mosaic
legislation, but it refers to the whole canon of the Old Testament
Scriptures. Now with that in mind, look at
it. Now we know that what thing soever the law, the Old Testament
Scriptures in general, and the word law is used many times in
that sense. The law is perfect. That's a
reference that the psalmist uses. He meant by that the word of
God is perfect. It is clean, it's pure. The psalmist
gives a great description of the written word of God in the
19th division of the Psalms. But now listen. Now we know that
what things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under
the law. What is the meaning of the phrase under the law?
And then he says, and all the world may become guilty before
God. The word law in verse 19 is not
to be understood in the restricted sense of the Mosaic legislation. but in an inclusive sense of
the Old Testament scriptures since Paul's quotations come
from both the law and the prophets, the two divisions of the Old
Testament. Now we come to the second statement,
under the law. Under the law in verse 19 is
not to be equated with under the law of Romans 6.14. I hope
that you can see by this time that it takes study. One cannot
just casually read the scriptures and rightly handle the Word of
God. Now, you need to know what is
stated in Romans 6.14. So turn, if you will, please,
to Romans 6.14 and listen to what Paul said. For sin shall
not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but
under grace. It would be better to read it
in this manner. You're not under law, but under grace. Not under
the law, but just under law, but under grace. Now, under the
law, in the verse that we are now investigating, Romans 3,
verse 19, the expression is not to be equated with under law
or under the law of Romans 6, verse 14. In Romans 3 verse 19,
it is better translated in the law rather than under the law. The preposition that is used
here is en, epsilon nu in the Greek, which is spelled in the
English in. Now look at it. What does he
mean? In the law. So I said, Here it
means in the sphere. I'm talking about Roma 319. In
the sphere of the law. So Paul is saying all of us who
live in the sphere of the law. And then he makes a distinction,
of course, between the statement used here and that used in Romans
6 and verse 14. In Romans 6 and verse 14, underlaw
was used as the antithesis of undergrace. See how simple it
is? Now we come back to Romans 3.
In the law or in the sphere of the law of Romans 3.19 is not
restricted to the Jews under which they live. But you'll notice it included
the Gentiles because they were not outside the sphere of the
judgment which the Old Testament pronounced. Now have you seen
that before? Look at it now. There is a lot
in this verse. Now let's read the 19th verse.
Now we know, you see he's giving the verdict, that what thing
soever the law, not just the Mosaic legislation, but all the
Old Testament scriptures, the law and the prophets, both bear
witness to the fact that all mankind stand before God as sinners. They not only have come short,
but they're all coming short of God's glory or God's righteousness. Why? Because they have no righteousness,
they have no glory of their own. So he says, now we know that
what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law. Now this expression cannot be
restricted to just the Jews who live under this legislation,
not only the Mosaic, but also the prophets. But he goes on
and applies it to the Gentiles. Now the question is raised by
some people. And they want to go back to Romans
2, and you see why they can't understand some things. They're
not willing to put forth a little effort to study. Go back, if
you will, to the 14th verse of the 2nd chapter. There is no
contradiction between these statements. Paul says in verse 14 of chapter
2, For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, which have
not the law, In other words, they have not the Mosaic legislation. The Mosaic legislation was not
given to the Gentiles. Due by nature to the things contained
in the law, in other words, even though the Mosaic legislation
was not given to them, even though the moral law was not given to
them, yet some of the Gentiles observed some of the things contained
in the Mosaic legislation. And then he goes on to say, these
having not the law, the Mosaic legislation, are a law unto themselves. Now there's no contradiction
between that and the last part of the 19th verse when the apostle
says, that this living in the sphere of the law must not be
restricted to just the Jews, but it must include the Gentiles
who are also under the judgment, not only the Mosaic legislation,
but under the judgment of the prophets as well. So you see,
he's pronouncing the verdict. He's pronouncing the verdict.
Now let's carry it a little further. So in the law is not restricted
to the Jews under which they live, but it included the Gentiles
because they were not outside the sphere of the judgment, which
the Old Testament pronounced. And then notice all the world,
all the world, he goes on to say, In verse 20, therefore by the
deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in its
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But he said
in the last part of verse 19, all the world may become guilty
before God. And the statement all the world
includes both Jews and Gentiles. Now notice this. This really
struck me as I sought to analyze the original in the study of
this verse. Notice now the latter part. All
the world, I said, includes both Jews and Gentiles. But the emphasis
is not that the Gentiles are included. Are you following me?
The emphasis is not that the Gentiles are included, but that
the Jews are not exempt from the condemnation about which
he's been speaking. Now doesn't that harmonize with
the whole context? It harmonizes with the whole
context, but I hadn't seen that until I got into a study of the
original this past week once again. Now let's go a step further. Then the statement before God.
Before God denotes the realm in which the guilty are condemned. Before God. It's one thing for
a person to be condemned before another person. A person might
be condemned before another person, but not be condemned before God.
I've had a lot of religionists to condemn me. You can't preach
for 35 years without being condemned by somebody. Woe be to the man
that all men speak well of. Paul said that. And I believe
it. I've experienced it. If I were guilty of some of the
things of which I've been accused, I'd be behind bars. So you see,
a man can be condemned before me and yet not be condemned before
God. I am not condemned before God.
There is therefore now no condemnation. Why? Because I'm in Christ Jesus.
I'm in Christ Jesus. But this condemnation is before
God. Reminds me of something I read.
Good way to illustrate it at this point. A certain minister
of God was witnessing to an individual and he kept saying, I'm not such
a great sinner. The minister said, you're not?
No, I'm not such a great sinner. And then like so many people
today who think that they're pretty good. He said, I pay my
debt, you know, the same old story and I won't go any further
because that's a trite saying. And so the minister said, I'll
ask you one question. Would you be willing to have
your thoughts, all your thoughts unveiled to your wife? He said,
oh no. He said, you wouldn't be willing
to have all your thoughts and all your deeds? Unveiled before
me. No, I wouldn't want that. He
said well, they're all unveiled before God God knows everything about you
He knows every thought that you have ever had he knows what you're
thinking now And he knows what you will continue to think if
you live to be three score and ten Because he knoweth our fault
our thoughts the Bible says are far off that means that if I
live to 1980 and I'm preaching on the same date, 1980, the Lord
will know, he knows even now what I'll be thinking then. This judgment, this condemnation
is before God. Now the function of the law is
not justification from sin. But what does it do? It imparts
the knowledge of sin. Look at the 20th verse. Verse
20. Therefore by the deeds of the
law. Now we have seen in verse 19
one sense in which the word law is used. Now in verse 20. Here is the second sense in which
the word law is used. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law
is what? The knowledge of sin. I want
us to look at the word knowledge here. There are two Greek words
that are important in the study of the word knowledge. One is
gnosis. I've dealt with this recently
in our study of 1 Corinthians 8. But I want to bring it out
because it is the stronger of the two words that is used here.
I said it is the stronger of the two words. There is a prefix
that is added to the word gnosis, epignosis. And it gives it a
much stronger meaning. And it is the latter that is
used here. The law gives the knowledge of
sin. knowledge of sin, the stronger
word is used. So knowledge of sin denotes knowledge
grounded in personal experience, knowledge that is revealed through
inner experience. Therefore, Paul uses the stronger
of the two Greek words, full knowledge, full knowledge, the
prefix epi. heightens the value of knowledge. So knowledge with a prefix denotes
the true, concise, and correct knowledge, thus a correct and
experiential knowledge with a center. And the law brings the guilt
to the consciousness of the center. The word flesh refers to the
unregenerate human nature in all its corruption and depravity. Justified means pronounced or
declared righteous. It never means to be made righteous. As we said this morning, both
words righteousness and justification come from the same root Greek
word. and righteousness, the righteousness that has been wrought
out by Jesus Christ on the cross is the basis, the foundation
of our being declared righteous or just before God. You see,
we're clothed by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We have none
of our own, none of our own. The Apostle Paul, before he was
saved, always sought to justify himself. He talked about the
righteousness which he had in the law, Philippians 3, verses
7 and 8. After the grace of God came into
his heart and life, he said, Oh, how thankful I am to be found
in Jesus Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is nothing
but as filtered rags, but the righteousness which is imputed
of course, to my account, imputed to my account. I stand in Christ's
righteousness. So we have the verdict and then
the righteousness. And by the way, the word righteousness
is used in two different ways here in verses 20, 21, and 22. Do you know how that the word
is used in each of the verses? So he says in verse 20, in closing,
Therefore, by the deeds of the law, it doesn't make any difference
even though a person says, well, I haven't killed anyone. I've
observed that commandment. It is not by the deeds of the
law. You see, if a man obeys all and yet offends in one point,
he's guilty of the whole moral law. And yet there is none righteous,
no, not one. No, not one. So he says, therefore
by the deeds of the law thou shalt no flesh be justified. And the word flesh is used in
the sense of corrupt nature. Man in his natural depravity
cannot be justified before God. Then he goes on to say, for by
the law is the knowledge, epignosis, full knowledge brought to the
consciousness of man. that he is a sinner and the only
means of his justification is through the redemptive work of
Jesus Christ. Now we're coming to the real
heart of the chapter. We'll spend all next Sunday and
probably the Sunday following studying verses 21 through 31
of Romans chapter 3. I assure you that when we study
these verses in the next four messages or maybe more, we'll
not be covering the same subject. Great doctrinal truths are brought
before us, and we're anxious, very anxious, to get into this
section of Scripture. You haven't heard anything thus
far that would make you rejoice.
Everything you have heard, beginning with the first verse of this
chapter through the 18th, makes the flesh of man smart. under
not only the Mosaic legislation, but the testimony of the prophets
as well. But there is hope. Where? In the righteousness brought
out by Jesus Christ. And in this righteousness brought
out by Christ, the attribute of righteousness is exalted. I said the righteous character
of God is exalted. How can God be righteous? How
can God be just and at the same time justify an unjust or an
unrighteous man? He can. Do you know how? That's our subject, which we
will begin studying next Lord's Day.