Tonight, we want to look at verses
nine through 20. And as we go through these verses,
I want us to consider the fall, how that God created man in his
image. And as we go through these verses,
and the title of my message is God's Description of Man. to get some idea of how far man
fail, how far we fail from original creation. Adam created in the
image of God with the knowledge that he was given of God and
the fellowship and communion that he enjoyed with God. And how different now because
of sin, man his condition, our condition is. Beginning with
verse nine, again, the apostle asked a question. We saw last
time in verse one that he asked this question, what advantage
then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision? And we saw that Paul answered,
that question by saying that chiefly, the chief advantage
that the Jews had over Gentiles was that God committed his word
unto them. They had the written word of
God. No other nation did. No other
nation under the heavens had the word, the written word that
God had given to the nation of Israel. He now asked this question,
does the fact that the Jews had some outward advantages, which
he admitted, does that mean that the state and the condition of
the Jews before God was better, somehow better, than that of
the Gentiles? Notice in verse nine, what then? Are we better than they? Even
though God has blessed us, he's speaking as a Jew, even though
God has blessed us and given us advantages that he did not
give to the other nations, what then? Does that mean that somehow
before God, we are better, better than other men? Well, his answer
is very clear, isn't it? No, no. 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. You know, this flies in the face,
that question and Paul's response, it flies in the face of what
most people believe. Most people believe about themselves
that somehow we are better than others. We have something in
us or something we've done that makes us somehow better than
others. Is that true? Of course not. I think about the parable that
our Lord told of the two men who went up into the temple to
pray. One was a Pharisee and one was
a publican, you remember. And that's one of the things
that the Pharisee thanked God for. that he was not as other
men. Well, we know that's not true.
He thanked God that he was not as other men. But Paul says here
that we have before proved, that is, what he has written before
in the way the Bible has been divided up into chapters and
verses in chapters one and chapter two. We have before proved, Paul
says, that both Jews and Gentiles, that we are all under sin, that
we come into this world born under sin, which means that we
come into this world born under the power of sin, under the guilt
of sin, under the condemnation of sin. Every man, every woman
comes into the world under the power of sin, the guilt, the
punishment, and the condemnation, the power of sin. And then beginning
with verse 10 through verse 18, the apostle cites a number of
Old Testament scriptures that show what he had just said that
brought him to this conclusion. You notice the word therefore
down in verse 20. Therefore, this is my conclusion. Therefore, there shall no flesh
be justified by the deeds of the law. That's his conclusion. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh, no man, be justified by the deeds
of the law. But beginning with verse 18,
or verse 10 rather, through verse 18, as I said, he quotes a number
of Old Testament scriptures which clearly prove Paul's conclusion
that no man will be justified by the deeds of the law. In his sight, that's very important,
isn't it? Notice that. Therefore, by the
deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. Whose sight? God's sight. A man
may justify himself, declare himself to be righteous in his
own sight. And a man may justify himself
in the sight of other men. In fact, that's pretty easy to
do, really. The problem is in the sight,
in his sight, in the sight of God. No man is able to justify
himself by the deeds of the law, by keeping the law, by obedience,
by doing. No man is able to justify himself
in his sight. I said he quoted several verses,
several from the Psalms. and some from the book of Isaiah. But I want us to look at one
of these places, if you will. Let's turn back, keep our places
here, but let's turn back to Psalm 14. This is one of the Psalms that
he quotes from. This is the way that we are to
Study the Word of God, isn't it? We are to compare Scripture
with Scripture. And this is what Paul does here,
beginning in verse 1 of Psalm 14 through verse 3. The fool
has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that doeth good. In his text here in Romans, he
says there's none righteous, no, not one. Well, if there's
none that do good, then there's none righteous. Because a person
who was righteous would be doing good. So that's his text here. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any. And how many
times in this passage will we see here in Romans 3, no, not
one. No, not one. That makes us believe
he drives the nail through the board and then he turns the nail,
he clenches it, you know, on the other side. No, not one. Because just as sure as he was
writing, he knew that someone would say, well, what about so-and-so? Or what about my grandma? What
about my mother? holy and blessed as those persons
may have been. He's not denying that, but they're
not righteous before God by their works, no matter how good they
may have been. There's none good, no, not one. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand,
that did seek God. There's none that seeketh God.
He's going to tell us that. There's none that doeth good.
There's none that understands. They're all gone aside. And when the scripture here tells
us that the Lord looked down from heaven, that just enforces
the fact that the Lord investigated. He knows everything. But just
to show you and I, God speaks as a man would speak. He investigates. He looks to see. He knew there
was none good, that there was none righteous, but he investigates. They're all gone aside. They're
all together become filthy. There's none that doeth good. No, not one. When we look at this list here
back in Romans chapter 3, as I said, we think about the fact
of how man was made, how he was created in the image of God,
and how men now, because of sin, because of the fall, we come
into this world. First of all, we're dead. We're
dead spiritually. And you hath he quickened, speaking
to believers. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. We come into this world blind.
We're in spiritual darkness. And we come into this world enmity
with God. This is what the apostle is showing
us here in Romans chapter three. In verses, back in our text here
in Romans 3, in verses 10, 11, and 12, Paul speaks of sin in
general terms, in general terms, as it is written, verse 10, there's
none righteous, no, not one. When we read there's none righteous,
there's none righteous before God. There's none holy as God
is holy. There's none pure and sinless
as Adam was when he was created. There's none righteous. No, not
one. There's none that understandeth. Man doesn't understand this,
but I'm saying and what we're looking at tonight, the natural
man, he doesn't understand this. Why would you go, why would you
go and listen to words like these when we're all about building
people up and giving people self-confidence in the flesh? Why would you listen
to that? Man doesn't understand. that
a person must hear the bad news before he's ready to hear the
good news. A person must be lost before he's going to be found.
And that's what we see here. There's none righteous, no not
one, there's none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after
God. And this is an argument I've heard, I'm sure you have
as well. People deny God's sovereign election, God's unconditional
election, and they say, well, I just believe that if a person
in the darkest area or place in this world who really sought
the Lord, that God would save him. But there's none that seeketh
God. Now, their premise is contrary
to what the word of God teaches and what the word of God says. Yes, if you could find a person
in this world, no doubt that had that desire in his heart
seeking after God, God's already visited him. Because there's
none that seeketh after God, not by nature, not apart from
the grace of God, the work of God. There's none that seeketh
after God. There's none that, they're all
gone out of the way and there's no exception, is there? There's
no exception. They're all gone out of the way,
the way of God, the right way. They're together become unprofitable. What do we add to God? We add anything to God? Of course
not. Before He ever created man, God
was, we're talking about an infinite being from all eternity. He didn't
need man, and He doesn't need man. I've heard the argument,
well, God had to show His love. He had to create a creature that
He could show His love to, but my friends, in the Trinity, in
the Godhead, there's always been love between the three persons. No, we don't add anything to
God. The scripture says we're like
the whole world, like a drop in a bucket. That's not a whole
lot, is it? A drop in a bucket. He said it
upon the circle of the earth and he sees man as grasshoppers. People have the wrong idea about
God, don't they? God is sovereign in creation. We don't add anything to Him.
But now, notice in verse 13, He becomes to particulars. That's just general. Verses 10,
11, and 12, just the general condition of all men. None righteous, no not one. None
that understandeth. None that seeketh God. They're
all gone out of the way. Together become unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good, no not one. Now, he comes to
particulars, their throat. If you notice in this verse,
or in these verses, he's going to mention a person's throat,
a person's mouth, and a person's lips. He's coming to speak about
the sins of the mouth. And he says, their throat is
an open sepulchre. Not as, but is an open sepulchre. The picture is, of course, of
a body, a corpse that's been buried and been put in the grave,
but they didn't cover it up. And so the body is deteriorating. And you can just imagine the
stench that comes out of that grave, out of the mouth of that
grave. And that's how God describes
you and I, all men apart from the grace of God. Their throat
is an open sepulchre. With their tongues, mention the
tongue also, the throat, the tongue, the lips, and the mouth,
with their tongues, They have used to see the poison of Asp
is under their lips. Again, he's quoting Old Testament
verses whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Remember what the Apostle James
wrote in his small epistle about the tongue. He said, men have
tamed and controlled animals. You see them in the circus. They
can control animals that have a ferocious nature, lions and
animals like that. But the tongue that you and I
have, no man can control. And then he goes on to say it's
like a fire. It's a small member. It's a small
member of our body, the tongue. Not near as big as your arm.
But he tells us this, that with this small member, a world of
iniquity, a fire, a world of iniquity. And I was thinking
about those fires out there in California that we've seen pictures
of on the news recently, how whole neighborhoods have been
completely destroyed for the most part. And you think about
that fire that consumed all of those houses. At one point, it
was just a little fire, just a small fire. But then it blew
up, didn't it? Into what it has become, destroying
many, many houses. And the same thing is true about
the tongue that all of us have. James said we should be swift
to hear and slow to speak. That's something that I speak
for myself. We need to learn swift to hear
and slow to speak. Beginning then on in verse 15,
Paul speaks of the actions of man's feet. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. It shows the eagerness, the eagerness
that men have, the swiftness that men have to sin against
God. And isn't it true that we see
people around us from time to time and they put us as believers
to shame. They have so much, desire and
so much effort in serving themselves and serving sin, and we're pretty
much full of slowness in serving God, backward in serving Him. Some people are so swift, feet
are swift, And then in verses 16 and 17, he reveals that the
ways that men invent in pursuit of peace and happiness, that
they will all end in destruction. Destruction and misery are in
their ways, the ways that they invent to find peace and happiness. It only is going to end in destruction,
misery, the way of peace. Have they not known? The way
of peace they have not known. You know, there's a verse in
the book of Proverbs. Let's look back to Proverbs 14. I'm sure you're familiar with
it. Proverbs 14 and verse 12. There is a way which seemeth
right unto a man. That's the reason he's in it.
It seems right to him. There is a way which seemeth
right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. How many men do we know? How
many people around us? And I appreciate that hymn that
David let us in a few minutes ago, Bring Them In. It's been
a long time, it seems like, since we've sung that hymn. But I think
about the parable of the man that had the feast and people
who were invited, they had other plans, they had other things
they had to do. And he said, go out into the
highways and byways and find those that are needy and bring
them in. For all things are ready. I'm
thankful for that, aren't you? All things are prepared, the
feast of the Lord. There is a way which seemeth
right unto men, but the end thereof are the ways of death. And the
way of peace, the way of peace with God, that's the issue. How may I have peace with God? How is it possible to have peace
with God? How may I be reconciled unto
God? I've sinned against God, and
God is absolutely holy, And he must judge sin, how may I have
peace? How can I have peace with God?
Man by nature, he doesn't know. And that's the reason we've got
all these various religions, all the inventions of men, and man just doesn't know the way
of peace with God. Christ is our peace. He said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. And he is a way to
have peace with God. But as Paul says in 1 Corinthians
2, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned. Verse 18, there's no fear of
God before their eyes. Now this fear that he's speaking
of here in this verse is not fear of damnation. It's not fear
of hell. Man may have fear of hell and
a person hears the truth about hell, surely he's gonna fear.
I remember back years ago hearing sermons on hell. A person would
have to be twice dead not to have some fear, some apprehension
about falling into hell. But that's not the fear he's
talking about here in this verse. The fear here is that fear that
God gives, the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. It's that fear that God communicates
to the heart or in the heart of those who believe in his son. It's that reverence That awe,
A-W-E, that awe of God. We live in a religious day in
which so many people, they have no awe, no reverence of God. And you say, why is it? Well,
one reason is because the true God has not been proclaimed.
And most people just think, well, he's my buddy. He's my co-captain,
or co-pilot, rather. No, he's God Almighty, before
whom even the angels he charges with folly, the pure and holy
angels, the awe that God gives his people, the reverence of
God. Reverence, and we see this in
people's speech, don't we? How many people use the name
of God? It's one of the first things
some people say when they're surprised or something different. They, oh God. Thou shall not
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. He said my enemies
take my name in vain. But people don't understand that
today. But God's people do. God's people
do. And then verses 19 and 20, the
law here that he's speaking of, of course, is not the written
law. Now we know that what things, whoever the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law. Well, all men are under God's
moral law. This is something I think sometimes
needs to be emphasized that, that Abraham He lived, what was
it, 430 years before the law was given on Mount Sinai. But
he was under a law, all men. In fact, Paul says where there's
no law, sin cannot be imputed or is not imputed. All men from
Adam on have been under God's law. It's always been sinful,
evil to murder. That didn't start when God said
thou shall not murder and write it on the table of stone. That's
been from the very beginning. And all men are under this law,
this moral law that some people refer to it as a natural law.
And there's no society, no group of people who've ever been discovered,
no matter how primitive and how separated from civilization,
No group has ever been found that did not have some idea that
there are some things that are wrong. There are some things
that men should not do. I think I may have mentioned
this before, but when the man who wrote the book
on species, what, I can't think
of his name, but, uh, Darwin. He came back from his trip and
he, he visited where he was from England. And he, he said he'd
found a group of people. I think they were on the isle,
that island of, of Chile down there, very close to Antarctica,
you know, just, he said, I found a group of people that have no
law, had no law. Of course, when he said that,
England at that time was such a nation that had believers,
they immediately had missionaries going to that place. And you
know what they found? They found that he was wrong.
Yes, those people, as uncivilized as they were, yes, they had laws
that forbid certain things, like stealing, Yes. Man is under a law. That's what Paul says here. We know that whatever the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth
may be stopped, and all the world 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. This law
In these two verses, the apostle tells us three things that this
law can do. It cannot save a person. It commands
but gives no power, no ability. But there are three things Paul
here tells us that the law can do. First of all, It can shut
the mouth of guilty men and women. And I should say, there are three
things that this law can do under the power of God, the Holy Spirit. Under the power of God, the Holy
Spirit, this law can do that. It can shut the mouth of self-righteous
individuals. It did Paul. Look in Romans chapter
seven. Paul knew the law. He was a Pharisee
of the Pharisees. And no doubt he, until the Lord
spoke to him, he thought he was keeping that law because he didn't
realize the law is spiritual. Romans 7 and verse 9. For I was
alive without the law once. Oh yeah. If anybody's going to
heaven, I am. If anybody's righteous before
God, I am. How could he say that? How could
he think that? Because he was dead spiritually. He was alive
once without the law, but notice, but when the commandment came,
when it came in power and demonstration of the spirit of God, what happened? Shut his mouth. He died spiritually. Sin revived and I died. I'm guilty. In other words, I'm
guilty. Now the law can do that. Number
two, it can show man the corruption of his nature. You know, in Isaiah
chapter one, and I know this is speaking of the nation of
Israel as a whole, but it is a picture of man individually
as well. And it is from the crown of our
head to the soles of our feet. There's no soundness in us. Nothing but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores which have not been bound up. The corruption of nature. And number three, it can shut
us up to faith. And I'm saying, and I went back
and made sure I did say it, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The law can do this in the power of the Holy Spirit. It can shut
a person up to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, You say, well,
Brother Pleasure, you've gone through these verses and it's
very obvious that by the deeds of the law, no flesh can be justified
in God's sight. Well, then how can a person be
justified? I don't want to close the message
without saying, well, how then can a man be justified before
God? How can a woman be declared righteous
before God? Well, Paul says it all but in
verse 24, being justified freely, freely. I like that word freely,
don't you? Being justified freely by His
grace through and never apart through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. I was reading this past week,
I want to close with this quote from John Bryan. He asked this question, but how
may you know that any doctrine is that of the true grace of
God? You hear a man preach, you listen
to a preacher, how may you know that his doctrine is that of
the true grace of God? And here was his answer. If it exalts the glory of the
grace of God, if it is a true doctrine of the
grace of God, the true grace of God, it will exalt the glory
of the grace of God as the soul and entire cause of salvation. I've told you before about a
man that as a part of our church years ago. He called a former
pastor and he said, is it really true that man's dead? And the
pastor said, well, it is true he's dead, but he's got a little
life. In other words, he's going to
get in on the glory. Just a little life, but just
enough for him to accept the gospel apart by its own free
will. If it exalts the glory of the
grace of God as the soul and entire cause of salvation, if
it humbles the creature, if it humbles the creature. When we
hear these things about ourselves, it humbles us to know that that's
me, what we're reading here. That's me. That was my condition,
your condition if you're here without Christ. If it excludes all boasting. Let not the, how does it go in
Jeremiah, I think Jeremiah 9, let not the rich man boast in
his riches. The man of wisdom boasts in his
wisdom, let not the man of strength boast in his strength, but he
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord, in the Lord, and
in him only. And if it provides for the honor
of God's holy law and justice, God saves sinners, yes, but not
at the expense of his holiness, of his righteousness. of his
law, it must be established the way of salvation. And we know
that is through the person and work of Jesus Christ and only
through him. And if it is a solid and strong,
a sure ground of strong consolation to the saints, and it is, the
gospel is. I pray the Lord would bless these
words and thoughts to those of us here tonight.