Four None's

Q: What does the Bible say about human righteousness?

The Bible teaches that there is none righteous, no not one, emphasizing humanity's inherent sinfulness. In Romans 3:10-12, the Apostle Paul declares the biblical truth that there is none righteous, no, not one. This statement highlights our natural state of sinfulness and inability to fulfill God's righteous requirements. It conveys the essential doctrine of total depravity, where every human being, by nature, lacks righteousness that meets God's holy standards. When we explore the implications of this teaching, it becomes clear that without the grace of God through Jesus Christ, none of us could stand justified before Him. In light of this, we recognize the need for Christ's imputed righteousness for salvation, as our own efforts cannot satisfy divine justice.

Q: How do we know that no one seeks God?

The Bible asserts that there is none that seeks after God in Romans 3:11, illustrating humanity's fallen nature. Romans 3:11 explicitly states that there is none that seeks after God. This verse encapsulates the concept of mankind's spiritual blindness and rebellion against God due to sin. In our natural state, we do not seek God; rather, we are inclined toward sin and self-centeredness. The apostle Paul emphasizes that it's only by God's initiative — His grace and the work of the Holy Spirit — that we come to seek Him. Jesus affirms this in John 6:44, stating that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws them. This reflects the profound truth that salvation is a work initiated by God, not something that man accomplishes by his will or effort.

Q: Why is understanding human depravity important for Christians?

Understanding human depravity is crucial for recognizing our need for God's grace and salvation through Christ. The doctrine of total depravity is essential in Reformed theology as it establishes the groundwork for the gospel. Romans 3:10-12 emphasizes that every person is fallen and unable to attain righteousness on their own, leading to the understanding that we all stand guilty before God. Realizing our state of sinfulness drives us to depend entirely on God's grace for salvation through Jesus Christ, who is our only hope. This acknowledgment fosters humility and deepens our appreciation for the mercy and grace we have received. Moreover, it shapes our understanding of evangelism, reminding us that it is God who must act first in the hearts of the lost.

Open your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3, and we will read verses 10 to 18 of Romans chapter 3. Let's stand up and read these wonderful verses together, beloved. Romans chapter 3 verses 10 to 18. 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 altogether become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Their throat is an open sepulcher, and with their tongues they have used to see. 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 way. In the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now this message came about, I was talking to some friends of mine this week, and this message came about by one of my friends saying, have you ever preached on the four nuns?

And I knew exactly where he was going. And I said, no, I've actually never done an independent sermon on that portion, but I've drawn reference from there many times. And then, later on in the conversation, one of the guys had said, and I mentioned this in Sunday School, and forgive me for repeating myself, one of the guys said, you have to let God save you. And I said to him, well, if you have to let God save you, then you don't have the God of the Bible. Because the God of the Bible does whatever He pleases, right?

And then one of my other friends said, well, you just, to my buddy Paul, he said, you just put man up here and you put God down here. And actually, what we preach and what we believe puts God up here and us down here, doesn't it? That's the proper perspective. God does whatever he wants. No one lets God do something. And that's the God of a lot of religion today. You see how I always say, it's not the God of the Bible. God saves us. He rules and He reigns. Aren't you thankful that He does? And we're gonna find out that if God just waited for us to let Him save us, nobody would be saved. Because there's none that seeketh after God. So we can tell just from that scripture that that's a false version of who God really is. Right?

Because it's God that has the mercy on us, isn't it? And we're so thankful. We're so thankful. And I'll tell you what, praise God for revealing to you the truth. It's amazing. And we're going to find out today that there's none that understandeth, and that included us in our natural state. And now, by the grace of God, we understand the things of God just a little bit, but still. Only because God, the Holy Spirit's taught us. That's amazing that God would do that for us. That's truly amazing.

Now, Paul, had written about the guilt of the Gentiles and the Jews separately. If you read the last two chapters, chapter one to chapter three, Paul will deal with the fact that both Jews and Gentiles are sinners. And that all the world is guilty before God. All the world, whether they be Jews or Gentiles.

See, God looks at us as mankind, doesn't he? Yeah. He doesn't see Americans and Canadians and all. He sees the human race. Right? And the reason Jews and Gentiles, because he chose the Jews, that that nation would receive his oracles. But now the gospel goes out to everyone, doesn't it? Isn't it wonderful that we were included in God's plans? We Gentile, what did Jesus call us? Gentile dogs. Well, I'll be a dog for my king, I don't mind. Oh my, call me whatever you want, I'm saved. That's amazing. That's incredible.

In these verses, He's bringing forth in these verses the conclusion that he had in mind all along. And that conclusion is found in Romans 3.20.

Look at what Romans 3.20 says. So he's been speaking about Jews and Gentiles being sinners. On an equal level ground, we're all a bunch of sinners. And here's the conclusion that he's going right to.

Therefore, by the deeds of the law, look at this, there shall no flesh be what? Justified. Notice that? No flash. In his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Praise God. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for we who believe. Because we see that by the deeds of the law, no one can be justified. You got people out there trying to keep the law. James says, if you offend in one point of the law, you broke it all.

And some people will even pick and choose certain, well, gotta keep the Sabbath day. Well, you gotta keep this. Well, you gotta keep that. Is Christ not our Sabbath? Do we not worship him every day? Oh my. We love getting together on Sundays like Brother Chris prayed. We love it. We got a place to meet. Praise God. But we worship Christ our Sabbath all week long, don't we? Yeah. So Paul's conclusion of what he had written about, we see that there is in our natural estate, we see there's none good.

We're going to see that from Romans 3.10 to Romans 3.12. There's none good. None. The only one who was good was Christ. Because he was sinless. But he's not of the seed of Adam, is he? No. He's the seed of the woman. Conceived by the Holy Spirit of God. God prepared a body for the Word of God to come into.

Think on that for a little while. It's true, though. So, there's none, there's absolutely none, None who are good. None. You know, there's none who understand the things of the God. I remember before the Lord saved me, I thought I knew who God was. I thought I understood things. I knew nothing. Nothing. I found out the God that I believed upon was the God of my imagination. "'cause I used to think my good would outweigh my bad, "'until somebody showed me this verse.'" That's one of the first verses I saw in the scriptures.

Guy pulled this up, said, Wayne, there's no one good. You say you're good, you're not an ax murderer, you're not this and that, and I said, yeah, I'm a good guy, I'm not. He said, well, the Bible says there's none good. What do you say about that? I'd never read the Bible. I had no defense. My. There's none good. There's none that understand it. And there's none who seek God.

Do you know that? It goes back to that fellow saying, you gotta let God, gotta let God save you. Well, if there's none that seeks after God, then no one's gonna be letting no one do nothing. We're gonna see he seeks us. We're lost. And he seeks us, Brother Brian. My, wonder of wonders, God seeks us.

Therefore, because of these four nones, Paul concludes that by the deeds of the law, see, because there's none good, because there's none that seeketh after God, because there's none that understandeth, because there's none that are righteous, then he concludes that by the deeds of the law, none will ever be justified. None. Because the law has to be fulfilled in order for us to be justified, doesn't it? Yeah?

And one who's born again seeks God, don't they? And one who's saved by the Lord Jesus Christ is saved by the only one who is good. And one who's saved has no righteousness of our own, but praise be to God, we're clothed in the righteousness of Christ. There's my whole sermon gone right there.

Isn't that wonderful though? That's wonderful. So here's these four nuns for us. It's impossible for us to do these things. And we're gonna see what Christ does for us. It's glorious. Make you say, my oh my. It will, I'm telling you. Look what God's done for me. Look what God's done for me. Look what God's done for we who believe. I hope that's how we can leave here today. Look what the Lord done.

I was part of those none, none, none, none, none. My, because that's the state of all people who are born into this world. Our little buddy Flynn, we love him dearly, but he's born a sinner. Right? Just like we were. Yeah. My. But there's hope, isn't there, for sinners? Oh yeah, there's hope for sinners in Christ. My oh my.

Look at verses, let's read verses 21 to 26 of Romans chapter 3. Look at this. This is amazing. So we just read, therefore by the deeds of law there shall no flesh be justified in the sight for by the laws of the knowledge of sin. And then look at verses 21 to 26. Look at this. What a hopeless state for all of us, right? Look at this though.

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. Christ is the righteousness of God. He is 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. Look at that. Unto all and upon all who believe. We're clothed in the righteousness of Christ who believe. For there's no difference.

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's every man born, and every woman born, and every child born on this top side of this earth. And then look at this. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption.

We just looked at that in Sunday school. Redemption is deliverance by payment of a ransom. Deliverance by payment of a ransom. We've been bought with a price, beloved. It's the blood of Christ. Oh, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God had set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. See, God did this. God sent his son to be a propitiation. He sent him to be an offering for our sins. The sinless one. God did that. Oh, this is amazing. Through faith in His blood, His precious blood, to declare His righteousness. See, this is God.

Remember our righteousness? There's non-righteous, no not one. In Isaiah, God tells us our righteousness are like filthy rags in the eyes of the Lord. Look at this. Look at this. This is the one to declare His righteousness. That's the righteousness of Christ. That's the righteousness of God. 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 in the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. So he's a just God, his law is satisfied, and praise be to God, he's our justifier.

My! Oh, it's wonderful, isn't it, brother? It's wonderful! My! And take note of Romans chapter 3, then, verse 9. Now, here we go. Here's the bleak side of humanity, the dark side of humanity. Look at this. Romans 3, verse 9. And this is true of every single person born into this world, whether they believe it or not. Romans chapter 3, verse 9.

What then? Are we better than they? No, and no wise, for we have proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. So Paul's saying, well, are the Jews better than the Gentiles? Nope. The first two chapters of Roman proves that all are under sin, and he continues that into this chapter. The Jews aren't superior or any better off than the Gentiles, even today, regarding their state and condition before God. The Jews had the advantage with respect to external privileges and revelations. Yet, says the apostle, we have already proved that all men, both Jew and Gentile, are under sin. There's no difference.

Bunch of sinners. Born sinners. Naturally choosing sin. Delighting in sin. My, that's our state. That's our natural state. Gentiles, equally born in sin. Practicing sinners. Both Jew and Gentile, right? That's where we were when the Lord found us. We were practicing sin. We were professional sinners. Now we're still sinners, aren't we? But now we're safe sinners. My.

And in that state, the law had a claim on us in our natural state. The law had a legitimate claim on us, just like it has on everybody else. The soul that sinneth it must die. Must die. must man with a sacrifice the lord we looked in hebrews and in sunday school the lord offered himself up a sacrifice offered himself up for us beloved for we who believe on him must Now let's look at verses 10 to 12 of Romans chapter 3.

Now again, this paints a dark picture, but this is the truth of humanity. And some people say, well, I don't believe those words. Well, it doesn't make them any less true, does it? We may have in the past said, I don't believe these words. Now we know they're true because the Holy Spirit's revealed to us who we are and what we are.

Sinners saved by grace. Look at this. And we're gonna see the four nuns here, N-O-N-E-S, four nuns. And remember, before we read this, remember who's the author of these words. Paul's just a pen man, isn't he? This is the Holy Spirit showing us, showing us our state before God in our natural state. This is what God saved us from. This is fact. Look at this, okay.

Romans chapter three, verses 10 to 12. As is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. One of the commentators said, look, the Holy Spirit put an emphasis on this because by nature we think we're good. He said there's none righteous, no, not one. Double. That's emphatic, isn't it? So, wow. People, we naturally think we're good. We're none. None good. None righteous. None righteous. There's none that understandeth.

And that's pertaining to spiritual things. That's not pertaining to worldly things, because we learn worldly things. We, our jobs, I used to work in a steel factory in different places. Those were, I had to learn how to work in that environment. We can learn things, but this is talking about spiritual things. Spiritual things.

There is none that understand it. And then look at this. People say, just bow your head and repeat a prayer, Now you're part of the family of God. People say, like my friend over there said, well, you gotta let God save you. Well, you'd be waiting a long time. You know why? Because there's none that seek it after God. That means none. By nature, we do not seek after God. Why are we here now? You ever think of that? Here we are now.

There's all kinds of things people do on Sundays, isn't there? All kinds of things. And they get pleasure out of those things, don't they? But here we are, gathering together, worshiping the King, because we want to. Amen. We want to, brother. We're seeking God now. I used to be one of those guys that did all kinds of things on Sundays, till the Lord saved me. And then the only place I wanted to be is with the Lord's people. Isn't that amazing? That's a work of God, beloved. That's a work of God.

And the reason we have our family, we want our family to come, come hear the gospel. Come hear about Christ. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, right? Come hear. Yeah, I rejoice when my daughter and my son come to service. I rejoice, they're hearing. They might not come all the time, but they're hearing. When they're here, they can't close their ears. Isn't that wonderful? And even when they're not here, we're still praying for them, aren't we? All the time.

We're still seeking God when we never used to seek him at all. So here, the scriptures are telling us That there's none that seeketh after God. None. And then it says in verse 12, they are all gone out of the way. Remember that lost sheep took off? That's a picture of us. And the shepherd went and found them. Oh yeah. They are altogether become unprofitable. That's why the Lord calls us unprofitable servants. Oh my. There is none that doeth good. So he's told us right there. There's none that doeth good. Here comes another. He makes another emphatic statement. No, not one.

I remember when, as I said, the fellow that first introduced me to anything about the Scriptures showed me that verse right there. Because I had told him, well, I'm not bad. My good will outweigh my bad. And I'd never read the Bible. I had no clue what the Bible said. So he opened up the Bible and had me read this section. Oh my gosh. I was confronted for the first time with the Scriptures. See, I was a good Catholic, I never read my Bible. Sad, isn't it? Sad, but true.

So what we see here is that not one person possesses a righteousness which can in any way meet the demands of our holy God. Not one of us. Because there is none. There's none righteous, no not one. Look at verse 11. Oh my, or actually no, verse 10. Look at verse 10. As is written, there is none righteous, no not one.

So this is a summary of all that follows now. He starts off with number one, there's none righteous. There's none who can stand in the presence of God. based upon our own supposed righteousness. You know why people add works to grace? Scripture tells us they're going about establishing their own righteousness. But there's none righteous outside of Christ. None. Think of the most, the person you know who's very religious, Very religious. But not trusting Christ alone.

And they're trying to establish their own righteousness. That's the state that they're in. They're not righteous. That's what I was in in religion. Chris, we talked about that. Go about trying to establish our own righteousness. And feeling worse off. and falling on our faces when we knew we couldn't do it. See, you go to church and the preacher would tell you, oh, you gotta do this, you gotta do this, you gotta do this. Oh, if you're not doing this, oh my, God's mad at you.

Well, I found out God wasn't mad at me. That he's loved me with a never-lasting love. Did you find that out? My, and that Christ paid my sin debt. Because I wasn't righteous. I was trying to do whatever those guys were telling me to do. I was, to the best of my ability. And then I found out there's none righteous, no not one. None.

Pretty sobering, isn't it? It's pretty sobering. But that's true for everyone. Paul's telling us here by, the Holy Spirit's actually telling us that no one possesses a righteousness which can in any way meet the demands of our holy God. That's what he's telling us. No one possesses that on our own. And four times, four times, he uses there is none, and two times he uses no, not one. Isn't that amazing? The Holy Spirit is emphasizing this, isn't he? He's emphasizing this. And in the next two verses, look at verse 11, there is none that understands, there's two nones in this one, and there's none that seeketh after God. None that understands.

So we humans in our natural state, we think we're something, we do, we think we're wise. Some people think they're quite wise. You know, I'm looking at people who are wise in Christ. And you may know some things about this world and to be able to do some things in this world, but to be worldly wise is lacking. To be spiritually wise is a gift from God.

Because by nature, there's none of us who understand. So humans, we think we're something. And we have a mind to understand natural things, to learn things, learn how to fix things. That's a gift from God too, isn't it? The ability to do all those things. So we can learn those things. We can learn how to be civil and moral. But you know, even what we know, we know imperfectly, because we're sinners. Like people say, well, I'm good. No, you're not. And you know that imperfectly because you think you're good when you're not. Now, when we're born into this world, we have no spiritual knowledge. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians 2. Do you know we are bankrupt of spiritual knowledge when we're born into this world? We don't have a clue.

Now religion might have taught us some things. Usually teach you how to work and what you gotta do. I was raised Catholic and they were always telling me, you know, you gotta be a good person. You gotta do this. You gotta do that. You gotta go to the priest to confess your sins. Well, we confess our sins to the one who is our high priest, don't we?

The Lord Jesus Christ. My, look at this, 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. That's why when we talk to people about Christ, they're like, I don't want nothing to do with that. That's why. For they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. He must be born again to understand the scriptures. You must be born again by the Spirit who gave the words to Paul, who's the true author of the scriptures, who gave the words to John, who gave the words to Moses.

My. So we're born into this world. We see in the second, or in that first part, there's none that understand it in verse 11 of Romans 3. We're born into this world having our understanding darkened to the things of God, all because of the blindness of our hearts, beloved. And therefore no man can come to the Lord Jesus Christ except the Father which has sent him draws to him. Which goes right in with the next portion of this verse. There is none that understandeth, there is none that what? Seeketh after God.

We don't seek God by nature in our natural state. We just do not seek him. Because number one, we can't understand him. Right? Can't understand him in our natural state. And then we just don't seek him. So we see the latter part of verse 11, that because we're not good and because we don't understand our sinful state before God, None will seek God then. If we saw a need, then we'd seek him, wouldn't we? But see, man, natural man doesn't see a need for Christ. Say, I'm good. Do you see the progression that the Lord's put before us? There's none righteous, there is none good. And there's none that seek it after God. My. My, oh my.

So this verse, brings before us our natural state that none of us would ever seek God sincerely and with our whole heart or in Christ Jesus. Because we don't have any desire for him in our natural state. Don't be surprised when friends and family don't want nothing to do with Christ. Keep praying for him. That's what the Lord took us out of. There go I, but for the grace of God, right? My. None that worship him in spirit and truth? None that commune with him? My, what a state.

Turn, if you would, to John chapter five, verse 39. Here our Lord was talking to a bunch of Jews, teachers. And we're gonna read verses 39 to 37. Our Lord's speaking to Jews about his authority and how his authority comes from God. And these are people who are supposedly searching the scriptures, right? Remember he said to Nicodemus, you're a master of Israel and you don't know these things, you must be born again. Look at this, this is amazing here. Look how plainly he talks to them. And you know, I never understood this until the Lord saved me. And I didn't understand it until he reveals it to you either, do we? Look at this. John chapter five, verses 39 to 47. John 39 to 47.

Search the scriptures. And that means Old Testament scriptures. They didn't have the New Testament then, did they? Search the scriptures. For in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which what? Testify of me. And ye will not come to me. Look at this, look at this. Because remember, there's none that seeketh after God. Look what he says here. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. See, he's got to draw us, doesn't he? Because we don't seek him. I receive not honor from man, but I know you.

Look at this. Oh my. Here he's expressing he knows who they really are. He's God in the flesh. Look what he says. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. My. And what spread abroad in our hearts? The love of God. You tell them, you're not born again. I come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not, because there's none that seeketh after God. If another shall come in his name, him ye will receive.

Oh, I was telling the Sunday school, there's all kinds of these bonker things that people do. that people do on the internet, and other people follow them. I was going to tell them, but the ones that I saw, the people were told, if you want to clear your nostrils, stick some garlic in your nose.

And you know, it went crazy. People were doing it like crazy. And they were all finding they were burning the inside of their noses. And the doctors come out and say, this is not good. And yet people are still doing it. But isn't it amazing that they're listening to some foolishness like that? Millions of people. And you hold Christ up to them, and they say, I don't want him.

But somebody tells them to do some Tom Floyd thing, and they run right at it. And I know. That's how I was before. Was that how you were? Oh, yeah. Oh yeah? Another one is they take the, you know that powder that you mix, the protein powder, and they drink it dryly.

And I guess what it is, people don't know it, this stuff's full of caffeine. So their heart just starts beating out of their chest almost. But see, people say, well it's good for you before you go and do your exercise. No, it's gonna cause you to have a heart attack. But people will go and run, and millions of people still doing that.

But you hold up Christ to them, I want nothing to do with that. See how foolish we are? Now, see, the reason I said I'm looking at some wise folks, because God made you wise unto your need and my need. He made me wise unto our need for salvation, didn't he? Yeah. And we ran to Christ. That's why we tell everybody, come to Christ.

He's the only Savior of sinners. Cease from your labors. Cease from trying to save yourself, because there ain't no hope in that, because there's none good. There's none that seek after God. There's none that understand it, and there's none righteous.

My, my, oh my, isn't God merciful to us? Oh, he's so merciful to us. Look what else he says here. I come in my Father's name, John 5, 43. And he received me not. If another shall come in his own name, him he will receive." Well, we see right there, people haven't changed, have they? Some guy called himself a Messiah, people run to him. Here's the Messiah right in front of them, talking to them, and they say, we need to find out how to kill this fellow. My.

How can ye believe which honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. Because Moses spoke of Christ, didn't he? For had ye believed Moses, you would have believed me. For he wrote of me." Oh my, could you imagine how that just inflamed those Jewish people? The Pharisees, they get so mad. He's saying, I'm the Messiah. Moses wrote about me.

But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words? See, that's why God has to give us an understanding, because these men, they're just left in the darkness of their mind. They may be reading the scriptures, they may be, you know, but they don't know who Christ is. This is the importance of preaching Christ and Him crucified all the time, setting them before us. It's good for you and it's good for me, isn't it? Yeah, we need Christ. I need to hear about Him all the time.

So they didn't seek God. They didn't seek Christ. They sought to entrap him. But he brings forth the spiritual ignorance that they have. And that's what we were born into. All men have this in a natural state. This is why we must be born again. We must be. We must be given faith and repentance before God. Otherwise we will never, we will never repent of our sins. If God doesn't give us faith, we will never believe on Christ if God doesn't give us the gift of faith.

And he does that when we're born again. What comes first, faith or regeneration? Regeneration. You must be born again. Oh, yeah. And I'll tell you what, you'll believe on Christ if you're born again, truly born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And God, the Holy Spirit, is the true author of these scriptures. And it is He who gives us an understanding of what's written.

Because by nature we can't understand anything. Then the fourth use of the word none is found in Romans 3.12.

They're all gone out of the way. They're all together become unprofitable. There is none that do it good. No, not one. So what man thinks of himself is actually the opposite. Because natural man think we're good. But it's actually the opposite, where there's none good.

You see how we're born with a natural warp, warp to the things of the spirit. We don't understand the things of God. We have a natural bent to creating our own gods. Calvin used to say our hearts are idle factories pumping out gods one after the other. Gods of our imagination, he said.

That's true, isn't it? That's true. Our hearts are idle factories in our natural state. That's why we must be born again. That's why we must have a new heart. So look at that. There's none good, or they are all gone out of the way. They all together become unprofitable. There's none good that do it good. No, not one. Not one. My.

You know, in Psalm 14, it says this. Listen to what Psalm 14 says. Verses two to three, if you want to write it down. It says, the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone aside. See, this is where Paul got this from. He got it from the Psalms. They are all together become filthy. There is none that do it good. No, not one. That's Psalm 14, verses two and three.

So the New Testament tells us what the Old Testament says. Mankind hasn't changed, have we? No. No, not at all. So what Paul's done here, what the Holy Spirit's done here, is he has set before us the character of the natural man. This is a true description of all mankind born into this world. whether they be Jews or Gentiles, it doesn't matter. They are not good. There's none good, there's none righteous, there's none that understandeth, and there's none that seeketh after God. That's man's natural state.

Then we see in our text, again, there's none which understandeth, which is speaking of the things of God. Now we're going to look at what happens for those in Christ. Okay, so we're born, we have no understanding of spiritual things, right? Absolutely none. We think we know about God, but really the scripture very clearly says we don't know anything. But praise be to God that our Lord Jesus Christ promised to send the Holy Spirit of God. He promised to send the Holy Spirit of God to regenerate us. To regenerate us. My, oh my. And to give us an understanding of the things of God. Turn, if you would, to John chapter 16. John chapter 16. See, there's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God, and there's none righteous.

But God sent his Son, the Holy One of God, the Word of God. And he is all our righteousness, isn't he? He's all our rights, and you know what He promised to do? He promised to send the Holy Spirit to teach us the things of Christ. And do you know the Holy Spirit won't speak of Himself? So we're born again by His power, the Holy Spirit's power, aren't we? We're given faith to believe and repentance before God.

And then, the very ones, the very ones who did not understand the thing, Think of what you know about God right now. And what we know about God really is just a little scratch, but think of it all. And this excites us what we know about God, right? But we were born with no understanding. Everything we know, He's taught us.

That's why we can't boast in it. You know, one horrible thing as a prideful Christian, we should never be proud. We should boast in Christ. Look what He's, look how our Redeemer's wonderful. Look what He's done for us. Look at the pit He took us out of. Hey Brian, man, praise His mighty name. So let's look at this, John, John chapter 16, look at this. So we don't understand anything. Look at this, John chapter 16, verses seven to 14.

Christ's words, nevertheless I tell you, it is expedient for you that I go away. So he's saying, I have to die. I have to die. My, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. So look at that. Christ was sent by the Father, and then the Son sends the Holy Spirit to us. What a gracious God we have, because there's none that understand, there's none that seek it after Him, and He seeks us. My, look at this.

For if I go away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because they believe not on me, and of righteousness because I go to my father and you shall see me no more, of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, that's the Holy Spirit of God, has come, he will guide you, look at this, into all truth. And who's the truth? He told us who's the truth. He said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. Remember John 14, six. So we're told by Christ that he's the truth.

He'll guide us into the things of Christ, the Holy Spirit will. For he shall not speak of himself, look at that. His whole goal, his whole mission is to teach us the things of Christ. But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. He's the great revealer. He's the great teacher, the Holy Spirit. It's wonderful, isn't it sister? He gives us an understanding when we didn't want an understanding when we had no understanding. My. My.

And then it says to us in the scriptures that there's none good. Well, we're saved by the one who is good. We're saved by the one who is holy. We're saved by the Lord Jesus Christ and him alone. He's the seed of the woman. He was born sinless. He's God in the flesh. And then we see that there's none that seeks after God, right?

You know what Psalm 110.3 says? Thy people shall be made will in the day of thy power. Oh my. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter 15. Here's a picture of us in our natural state. We don't understand. We're not good. We have no righteousness. And we're lost.

And look at this, look at this beautiful picture, Luke chapter 15. This is, I could read this again and again and again and again and never come close to exhausting the blessings that are in this. Just look at this. Then drew near they unto him, Luke 15, one.

Then drew near unto him, then drew near unto Christ. This is then drew near unto Christ. the public and sinners for to hear him now, okay, so In the Jews eyes, here's Christ and the worst of the worst are all around him What a blessing a brother Chris Because that's us the worst of the worst are all around him brother Brian He's he's sitting with sinners and publicans and And those Pharisees, they were so mad that they were like, what is he doing? You know, when I read that he was a friend of publican sinners, that makes my heart sing. Because I'm a sinner saved by grace. Isn't that wonderful?

He didn't snub his nose at people because of how they were dressed or because of how they, he didn't. Because remember, he didn't come to heal the whole, but those who were sick. Those who think they don't need him, he didn't come for them. He came for six sinners, didn't he?

And here he's surrounded by publicans and sinners. Oh my, do you know who we're going to meet in heaven? Publicans and sinners, bunch of sinners. That's why we're all sinners saved by grace and glory. We're gonna be rejoicing with a bunch of sinners. Bonafide sinners, too. Worst of the worst. Oh, my. But now they're saved sinners. Now they're saints of God. Look at this. Look at verse 2. Here we go. Here's religion.

And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured saying, this man, I could just hear them. They didn't say, well, this man receives sinners. They're like, this man receives sinners. They said it with hatred in their lips and in their heart. This man receives sinners.

Oh, praise God he does. And he eateth with them. He receives them and he eats with them. Isn't that wonderful that he receives us? Oh my. And he spake this parable unto them, saying, Okay, here's the Lord. He's gonna speak some wisdom here, but it's not a parable.

What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost until he found it? And when he hath found it, he laith it on his shoulders rejoicing. We're a bunch of sinners lost.

And remember David, he heard about Mephibosheth being in Lodabar, and he said, go fetch him. You ever heard of fetching grace? I believe in fetching grace. Holy Spirit fetches us, doesn't he? He comes to us, and he regenerates us, and we run to Christ.

He takes the one, he takes ones who would not seek God, and he seeks them. Why is he sitting with public and sinners? Because there's some of his sheep there. He's seeking them, just like he seeked that lost sheep. He's saying, what one of you, what one of you self-righteous man, if you had a hundred sheep and one of them went lost, would you not keep the other hundred or the other 99 and go look for that lost sheep?

Because it's valuable. It's valuable. God's people are valuable. Christ, you know why? He purchased us with his blood. He delivered us by means of paying a ransom. The law said the soul that sinneth it must die. He dies in our room and place, bears the wrath of God for our sins and gives us his perfect righteousness, which segues right into the next one. The next none, the last none. There's none righteous, no, not one. There's none righteous, no, not one. Every sinner born atop side of this earth, has no righteousness to qualify us for heaven. None at all. Everything we do is tainted with sin.

Wonder of wonders. In Colossians, it's proclaimed that we're made meat, which means we're qualified in the Greek. We're qualified for heaven. How? By the blood and righteousness of Christ. So here, none of us have righteousness, right? By birth, none of us have righteousness. None of us.

Well, the sins of God's born-again, blood-washed saints were paid for 2,000 years ago when they were laid upon Christ at Calvary's cross, and we'd been redeemed. We've been delivered by the payment of a ransom. And that's the blood of Christ that's done that. And you know what we receive? Because our righteousness is like filthy rags. Do you know what we receive?

The righteousness of Christ. The perfect, spotless righteousness of Christ. You know why you don't hear preaching on the righteousness of Christ anymore in religion? Because they're going about establishing their own righteousness. When I was in religion, I never heard about the righteousness of Christ. Never. Never heard of it. Listen to this. 2 Corinthians 5, 20 and 21.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did besiege you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. That's the message of the Bible, right? Be reconciled to God through the Lord Jesus Christ and his shed blood. That's why we must preach Christ. The only way for we human beings to be reconciled with God is through Christ alone.

And it says this, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. Our sins were placed upon Christ and he bore them all. He's the sinless sacrifice dying in the room in place of sinners, bearing our sins, our sins. Who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Oh, Spurgeon called it the great transfer. Our sins are transferred to Christ and his righteousness is transferred to us.

Glory be to God. So, so we're saved by the one who's good because there's none good, no, not one. We don't understand the things of God, and then the Holy Spirit gives us an understanding when we're born again of the things of God, and we're gonna learn about Him until the day we die, and then we're gonna see Him. And there's none that seeks after God by nature, so God seeks us. Oh, it's wonderful. He finds us. Where does He find us? In that state we looked at. none righteous, none good, right? None that understandeth, none that seeketh. He seeks us.

And then, we don't have any righteousness of our own, and praise God, he clothes us, God the Father clothes us in the perfect, spotless righteousness of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what do we say? Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Amen and amen. Niall, my brother Brian, would you close us in prayer?

Four None's

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about human righteousness?

How do we know that no one seeks God?

Why is understanding human depravity important for Christians?

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About Wayne Boyd

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Four None's

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about human righteousness?

How do we know that no one seeks God?

Why is understanding human depravity important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Wayne Boyd

Comments

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