Romans 3:1–20

Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah.

! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah,

either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us

that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself?

The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian,

we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the

Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do

what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian,

checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us

questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things

that you're really struggling with. So God bless.

Let's just bow our heads in prayer.

Father, Father, you know how we can live our lives, our entire lives with ourselves, and yet often we

don't understand ourselves at all. And you know, Father, how this comes out when your Word describes

to us how we really are. And we don't like the description. We don't recognize ourselves. We think we

see other people, but not ourselves. So Father, we ask that you would, in your kindness and mercy and

goodness towards us, that your Holy Spirit would gently bring the words of your words into our hearts,

into the center of who we are, into our imaginations, our memories, our minds, our wills, our desires,

and our hearts, and our hearts. So that we might not only recognize ourselves, but more and more recognize

our profound and deep need for Jesus, for who He is and all that He accomplished for us on the cross.

And so we ask that your Holy Spirit would do that gentle but important work in each of our lives.

And we ask this in Jesus's name. Amen. Please be seated.

So, very few knew this at the time. And since then, I don't know how many people know about this,

but I had a cancer scare at the end of January. I was sick off and on, like sort of getting better,

and then a little bit worse, and off and on. I had a cold, obviously, you know, all the way through

January, it seemed. And then towards the end of January, I can't remember the dates, it doesn't really

matter. You know, my wife said, George, you should go see a doctor. It might be something more than just,

you know, having a cold that just doesn't go away, or that grandkids keep giving back to you.

You know, grandkids are perfectly designed germ disposal units, actually. But I went to a doctor

on a Monday in the afternoon, and he looked at me, listened to my chest, said, you got pneumonia.

But he said to make sure you should go have an x-ray. So, I went on Tuesday around five-ish to get an

x-ray. And I discovered the next day, that's Thursday, but I discovered on Wednesday, as soon

as my doctor saw the x-rays, he called up the Queensway-Carleton Hospital for me to have a CT scan.

Because, yeah, I definitely had pneumonia, but I might also have had some type of

thing in there that could be sinister. And I didn't discover this until Thursday, because I missed an

email from him. But I got a call from the Queensway-Carleton Hospital saying that the doctor had

requested that I get a CT scan, and the earliest they could give me one was a week after that.

So, obviously, I was in shock. I've been around people for a long time. I've been a minister for 40

years. And I know many, many stories of people going in for an x-ray, and then getting immediately,

the doctor wanting something, calling them into the hospital or something really quick. Generally,

when you go really quick from an x-ray to something like a CT scan really quick,

the news isn't good as a general rule. And so, I confess, I was shocked. I said I wanted to call

out my doctor's office. And I'm not going to tell you that I'm just a perfectly always balanced stoic

type of guy. It was a blow, like getting a punch in the stomach. And I was in shock a bit about it.

Called my doctor's office. They had my doctor text me. I accepted the appointment. And then after that,

I think I was pretty calm about it, at least on the surface. Probably at a deeper level,

I was more worried about it. But they wanted to have a CT scan. And just to cut to the end of it,

by the way, I'm telling you all of this because it's, this story is going to actually really help

us to understand this very difficult text that we're going to look at in a moment. But just so you

know, it turned out that with the CT scan, I didn't have a lump. I didn't have cancer. And my kids knew,

and my wife knew obviously, I didn't tell people in the congregation, by and large. I didn't want

people to call me up every day and ask me whether I had it. My attitude during it was a little bit,

although I'm sure at one level, I was worried that I, if, first of all, I prayed that the cancer go

away. So who knows, maybe in heaven, we'll find out that there was cancer there. And I prayed that it

would go away. And it did, where my kids did, that went away. And we'll find that out in heaven,

just when they did the CT scan, there was no, no, nothing there. No, no bat, no foreign thing

that shouldn't be there was there. I also would have just taken it as part of God's providence that

he used the pneumonia to find something early that could then be, be more likely to be healed.

But I'm going to return to this as we go into the sermon. But this whole thing of a diagnosis and a

CT scan and seen accurately is really important for us to understand what is on the surface,

quite a difficult text. So it'd be very helpful to me if you would take your Bibles out and we're

going to look at Romans chapter three, verses one to 20. Romans chapter three, verses one to 20.

And, um, uh, where it is, right, uh, is, uh, there's some opening remarks, then the summary statement,

uh, the summary statement is the, the gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes

and then, uh, about how to be made right with God and God showing to be just. And then immediately

from verse 18 to the end of this chapter three, verse 20, Paul sells the problem. Why is it that

human beings, what is it about human beings? What is it about the human condition that means that we

really need God to have done something for us and that that can come with his power to change us?

Why is it that we need this? And so what Paul has been doing has been selling the problem.

And this is sort of the conclusion of him selling the problem. And interestingly enough,

even at, well, let's just look how he begins. It begins in a way that we don't realize that even this,

everything that Paul does is an attempt to help us to understand the human condition.

And when I say the human condition, I mean, I don't mean your condition. I mean, I do mean your

condition. I also mean my condition. Like, what am I really like? And so look how it begins. Chapter

three, verse one, then what advantage has the Jew, the Jewish person, or what is the value of

circumcision? Uh, the way that you become a Jew and the mark that you're Jewish, uh, at least for men,

it's a mark of the Jewish community. Uh, then what advantage has the Jew? Well, here's the thing.

It's a really interesting thing, the way he, he words this right towards the end, because what he's done,

if you follow through and you try to listen to the sermons and you read it, he's really, he said,

listen, here's the thing about it. Everybody has a basic sense that there has to be a God that does

exist. Every human being denies this. Every human being represses it. Every human being exchanges the

truth about God for a lie and for idols. And we're all idol worshipers. And that even if God used your

own standards to judge you, you can't even live up to your own standards. And even good people,

their hypocrisy isn't just an accidental thing about a human, that those particular human beings,

that hypocrisy is a sign of the human condition. And, and he's really been just showing time and

time again, how, uh, you know, we're not nearly as good as we think we are. And we really are very,

very far from God. He's given a moral list of 21 different, uh, vices and no human being could look

at those vices and think that they haven't broken many of them many, many, many, many times.

And so now he comes and he's even now showing that good people need the gospel, very moral people and

religious and spiritual people need the gospel. And so the next thing that he's sort of just

imagining what the average human being would say is, okay, well, okay, Jewish people, like,

do they have an advantage? Well, why do they say that? If you could put up the first point clear,

that would be helpful. Humans seek advantage and benefit and complain about advantage and benefit.

Uh, uh, uh, advantage and benefit. Now you might think, I don't know, George,

I don't even know what you're talking about. Well, I'll illustrate what I mean by this.

Let's say one of you, uh, you develop a really, really, really seriously bad knee condition or hip

condition, and you need to get a heat, a knee replacement or a hip replacement. And then the

doctors saying, I don't know, this being Canada, well, I don't know, uh, given that your pain level

and giving the waiting list, uh, the good news is in two and a half years, you can have surgery.

That's the good news. Two and a half years surgery. I mean, the really good news is it's going to be

free, but you're gonna have to wait two and a half years. Well, meanwhile, day by day, you're going

through the pain of your knee or the pain of your hip. And then one day you discover that my daughter

has moved back to, by the way, I'm just, my daughter, my daughter is not a surgeon, but I'm just using this

as an illustration. One day you discover that my daughter has moved back to Ottawa and my daughter

is the best orthopedic surgeon in Canada. The best orthopedic surgeon in Canada. And you discover that.

And you know me, I'm your pastor, and you think I can get an advantage.

Pastor, could you introduce me to your daughter, the orthopedic surgeon, to see if she would maybe

move me from two and a half years to two and a half weeks? Now, of course, none of us would do this,

of course. Like, none of us would even have that enter our mind. In fact, all of us would say to the

doctors, hey, listen, other people probably need the knee surgery more than us. I'll wait five years,

right? That's what we'd all think. No. We'd want advantage. And what always goes with advantage

is benefit, which Paul's going to mention again in a few verses. It's implied. Now, here's the other

thing. We all, if the rubber hits the road, we all want advantage and to benefit from it. But here's

the other thing about it. What do we think about a system where certain people have advantage and

benefits? Systems corrupt. It's not fair. Why on earth is there a system where, you know,

I'm going to get in really trouble. This isn't a political comment. Years ago, a doctor friend of

mine said, of course, Canada has two-tier medical. And I said, no, it doesn't. He said, yeah, yeah,

yeah. Why did he ever notice that hockey players don't have to wait as long for an MRI as you do?

We're politicians. We have an unofficial two-tier health system in Canada. Anyway, that's the end

of it. I've now gotten in trouble. You've all gone off on a whole. I should probably have not said that.

But here's the thing. That's exactly what we would think, right? That on one hand, if we can get that

advantage and benefit, we get it. But on the other hand, if we hear that our neighbor got it, because

in fact, George doesn't have a daughter who's a surgeon, the top orthopedic surgeon in Canada,

we think there's something wrong with the system. And so this is very interesting. He's once again

revealing something about the human condition. We hear all of these things. Our situation is dismal.

Okay, but maybe there's an advantage I can get. Like I heard about these Jewish people,

and maybe if I just become Jewish, I get that advantage and benefit. So how does Paul handle that?

And that whole back and forth, it all comes up in the next few verses. Look how he does it. Both the idea

of maybe I can get it. And also that if I don't get it, it's a problem with God, right? Because he gives

it to other people. And Paul really handles this very beautifully. Look at, read again from verse one.

Then what advantage has the Jew, the person who's Jewish? Or what is the value of circumcision?

Much in every way. Oh, our hopes go up. But he then surprises us to begin with,

the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. And that literally means the very words of God.

It's once again why historically Christians believe that when you read the Bible, you're reading the

actual words that God wanted to have spoken. And of all of the words in all of the world that have

ever been spoken, only the words in the Bible are the words that God actually wanted to speak.

And that's what we're hearing. And he said, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

And then verse three, what if some were unfaithful? So some people might say, okay, one moment,

how is this an advantage? Like, okay, that's their advantage? But if that's an advantage, well,

look what they're thinking. What if some were unfaithful? And then Paul says, or they, Paul says back,

does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means. Let God be true, though everyone

were a liar. As it is written, and he quotes the Bible, that you may be justified in your words and

prevail when you are judged. Now, what Paul is doing here is he's setting up, in a sense, the God's logic

of redemption, and God's logic towards freedom and wholeness and hope. And he's starting to introduce

this, how God's logic works, not how human logic works, but how God's logic works. Human logic,

well, you know, if you put up the second point, that would be very helpful. What he's just said,

he's acknowledged that, I mean, you read the Old Testament, the Old Testament regularly says to

the Jewish people, by the way, just so you know, God didn't choose you because you're the smartest,

the best, the wisest, or anything like that. That's not why I chose you, you know? In fact,

it's an early advantage of how God chooses the weak and the small to shame the strong and the powerful.

It's a very part of God's logic. But here's the thing. What he's just said is that despite human

beings being sinful, disinterested, and hostile to God, and hostile, God caused his word written to be a

public revelation. I'll say that again. Despite humans being sinful, disinterested, and hostile to God,

God caused his word written to be a public revelation. That's what he's saying here.

That, and by the way, a bit of an aside, this is part of the reason why Roman Catholics and Eastern

Orthodox are confused about thinking you have to have a sort of a, sometimes almost like a perfect

church to receive God's word, is that God makes it clear here that it's sinful, fallen human beings

that recognize public revelation, because it's God who does it. It's not because he needs us to be

perfect in any type of way whatsoever. Despite our sinfulness, despite our hostility to God,

despite at other times when we're completely, utterly disinterested, God was able to make sure

that his word was spoken, recognized, and preserved. And his word is a public revelation.

That's, I don't talk about this enough, but it's spectacular news. It's not some type of private

meditation thing that just comes to the enlightened and the anointed, some secret thing that he just

touches some people and they have a mystical experience and then they hear from God. No, no, no.

You know, if you get the Bible app, I think the Bible app now makes the Bible available in like

almost 1900 translations. Like it's completely public and open. Kids can read it. Intellectuals can read it.

Concrete finishers can read it. It's not secret and hidden and protected by some institution. It's a

public revelation. And that's what's so beautiful here. Now, the next thing though, in terms of how

they respond, it's really interesting. It's a very, very clever way of responding, but it also opens the

door to a profoundly Canadian problem. Because the way Canadians think about morality, the way most

Canadians think about right and wrong, they have a Jeffrey Epstein problem on steroids. You know,

Jeffrey Epstein, the one who's convicted of luring and trafficking of underage girls and others to the

rich and the powerful. Look at verse 5. But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of

God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? I speak in a human way.

By no means, for then how could God judge the world? But if through my lie God's truth abounds

to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come?

As some people slanderously charges with saying their condemnation is just.

Shortly before he went into jail,

Jeffrey Epstein did an interview, and in that interview,

he basically said he's a good man.

And why is he a good man? Well, how is it that the average Canadian

thinks about right and wrong?

The average Canadian thinks about right and wrong is you can take my acts,

and even those things that I do that are wrong. And you need to look at the good consequences,

and you balance the good consequences and the bad consequences.

Another way is you can't really think of right and wrong as really being any type of absolute.

You've got to look in terms of the overall good or the overall bad that flows from it.

And that's how you determine what is right and wrong. And that's how most Canadians think.

They get very uncomfortable when people like Christians, like us, say,

well, actually, no, some things are right and some things are wrong.

It doesn't matter if you do a wrong thing.

And I mean, it matters on one level, but not in terms of the wrongness of it,

if good things follow.

And Jeffrey Epstein, believe it or not, said,

now, he probably was lying about this, by the way,

but he said, I funded,

I've done major funding to try to eradicate childhood polio in Pakistan and India.

And if you balance all of the good that comes from that with the evil I've done,

you will have to conclude that I'm a good man.

Canadians' understanding of right and wrong has a Jeffrey Epstein problem.

Because our gut would say,

no, no, no, no, no, no, what he did was wrong.

What he did was absolutely, horrifically, terribly wrong.

It is wrong, wrong, wrong.

If you don't say that, you're wrong.

And I don't even know if you really believe it.

And in a sense, as soon as somebody says,

in the face of a Jeffrey Epstein,

and maybe claiming that the amount of good he brings

by trying to eradicate childhood polio in Pakistan and India

outweighs the horrible things he did and furthered,

and you want to say that it's wrong,

you're on the Christian side of the playing field.

You're understanding that ultimately,

it's because there is a God who's good at all things,

who is good,

and that goodness determines what is good and what is bad.

And it's just bad.

And if you start to actually really think

that it's always a matter of benefits and all,

and you can see increasingly in our press,

there's things wrong in our justice system

with discounting things

because of certain types of racial things

or, you know, making a hard,

like, there's things which are just increasingly out of whack.

I mean, I guess things are always out of whack

and have to be reformed.

But Paul just says very correctly,

listen, if you actually really think

that it's just a matter of weighing good and bad,

how can you ever judge anybody?

And you all want to judge people,

at least at some point in time,

and maybe not for a whole pile of things

that should be judged,

but at least at some point in time,

you want to really just say,

you know, listen,

you sexually abuse a little kid,

that is wrong.

And you should go to jail for it and more.

And it's just wrong.

It's just wrong.

Murdering innocent is just wrong.

Russians targeting innocent citizens in Ukraine.

It's just wrong.

It's just wrong.

You're speaking like a Christian.

Or a biblical person.

Orthodox Jews as well.

So what Paul is saying here is,

and then in the end,

he says, listen,

you guys even think,

if you know anything at all about me,

and the book of Romans is going to show it,

the book of Romans is going to show

how we're really far worse

than we really think we are,

and the gospel is really unbelievably better

than we think we are,

and when we give our lives to Christ,

it's something that only God,

only God can make us right with him,

but when he makes us right with him,

he makes us right with him

to live a moral life.

Read the whole book of Romans.

So it's not at all,

it's all,

it's not about,

that's what,

that's what God desires.

I mean,

the fact is that,

that you and I

were originally designed by God

for goodness and beauty

and truth.

Goodness is the food we need to thrive.

Beauty is the food we need to thrive.

Truth,

our mind needs truth to thrive.

Our affections need beauty

for us to thrive.

Our wills need goodness to thrive.

And salvation is restoring us

to what would cause us to truly thrive.

Now,

the Bible

goes on to say something

which is a bit shocking.

It's maybe the part that you noticed

that Josiah read about

nobody being righteous,

no one understanding.

And

Paul is going to be bringing things

to conclusion.

He's just tried to reveal

and show that God

could have his word written,

revealed to human beings,

despite whatever we might do

to disregard it,

to have it lost,

to have it be quenched,

to have it be banned.

We can do all those things,

but God still calls his word

to be spoken,

to be recognized,

and to be preserved.

And now he deals with this

particular beginning thing.

He closes the loop

about us seeking advantage,

and we seek advantage

because we want to get something,

a benefit from it.

And that's what he begins to say

in verse 9

with this shocking stuff

as he's bringing things

to a conclusion.

What then are we Jews?

Any better off?

Because Paul,

writing this,

is Jewish.

No,

not at all.

The advantage of hearing

God's word,

it doesn't give us a benefit

in the type of benefit

we think we do

about escaping

the human condition.

And then it says here,

read verse 9 again,

what then are we Jews

better off?

No,

not at all,

for we have already charged

that all,

both Jews and Greeks,

are under sin.

And in some ways,

this is almost the end

of this whole section

about trying to describe

the human condition

and why we need the gospel.

That human beings

are under sin.

It's as if we dwell in sin.

It's not because I do wrong things

that I'm a sinner,

it's because I'm sin

and I dwell under it,

I live in it,

that I sin.

If you could put up

the third point,

that would be helpful,

Claire.

You are under sin.

Another way I could have put it

is humans are under sin,

but once again,

if I just said humans

are under sin,

that's completely true.

But it's a more pointed thing.

You are under sin.

Now this sounds a little bit

too depressing

and a little bit too extreme.

But he's going to pack it out

a little bit.

Let's look at how he unpacks it

and look at it

in its full extremity

and then I'll go back

and try to say how

it actually describes us

more than we want to acknowledge.

So he's going to quote

13 scripture passages

in the next few verses,

mainly from Psalms,

but also from Ecclesiastes,

I can't remember what the other,

Proverbs,

and I can't remember

what the other one is.

Wrote down my notes.

I didn't have it on my thing

right in front of me.

But listen to this list.

And it's, by the way,

a lot of times for people

who hear this list,

I think it's just too extreme.

But I'm going to show you

why it's not

and its context.

As it is written,

none is righteous,

no, not one.

No one understands.

No one seeks God.

All have turned aside.

Together they have become worthless.

No one does good,

not even one.

Their throat is an open grave.

They use their tongues to deceive.

The venom of asps

is under their lips.

Their mouth is full of curses

and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood.

In their paths are ruin and misery.

In the way of peace

they have not known.

There is no fear of God

before their eyes.

Now it's a sobering list

but I think

and it's really hard

because

I don't know about what books

you parents are reading

about your children

but one of the problems

with most child-rearing books

that are written today

is they all work on the assumption

that children are basically good.

Not.

You know,

how do you know

when a child

has reached the age

of moral discernment?

Might be two, three.

You know,

there's a certain point in time.

I, you know,

my oldest son,

if he was here

he would just laugh at

and make it,

make tell funny stories

about himself.

If there was a basket of laundry

he could crawl there

amazingly fast

and immediately throw

the entire basket of laundry

all over the floor.

We had bookshelves.

You could not have

any books

on a bookshelf

that was beyond his reach

because he delighted

in taking all of the books off

and throwing them on the floor.

He's just being a kid.

He wasn't bad.

He was just being a kid.

But there comes a point in time

when the kid,

when you say something like

don't touch that

and they look at you

and they look at that

and you say to them again

don't touch that

they look at you

and they touch that.

Now if you think

you have a kid

that hasn't done that

you need therapy

because

your kids do that too.

Okay?

Or did it.

And so

on one hand

we think that

human beings

are basically good

and I think

partially what that's dealing

I won't go into

why that's dealing with it

but here's the thing.

a simple illustration.

One of the reasons

I've used this before

but I'll use it again.

One of the reasons

people like zombie movies

or aliens invading

and about to take over

the entire world

is that on one hand

they see how

you see how people

are revealed

and there's looting

and there's destruction

and one of the things

about zombie movies

is that not only

you have to fear

the zombies

you almost have to fear

human beings more

because they just

want to steal

and they hurt people

and they enslave people

and that's what

human beings do

and then there's

the moral person

in it who's not like that

and one of the reasons

people like those movies

is because

they imagine themselves

as the moral person

not the bad people

and in fact

I'm sure

I'd be willing to bet money

that if you were to ask them

about let's say

all their co-workers

or their neighbours

if they know their neighbours

well enough

to know their neighbours

on ten sides

ten houses

either way

or on the

you know

in the whole building

and if you were to say to them

how many of your neighbours

do you think

would be moral like you

and how many would be

like the hordes out there

you know

doing the stealing

and the theft

and all of that

and you'd say

well

I mean I'd be one

of the moral people

actually I don't know

how many of my

I don't know

how many of my other

co-workers

would actually be moral like me

like I actually think

they'd be out there

lying and stealing

and not knowing

the way of peace

I actually think

that's what would happen

if everything broke down

and there were zombies

and it just came down

to them

them or the other

right

now here's the

here's the problem

with the thought experiment

if you asked

each one of the co-workers

the same question

all of them

would probably say

well I'd be one

of the moral people

but I'm not sure

about all my other co-workers

and they would include

you in that

by the way

your co-workers

would not be sure

whether you would be

one of the moral people

in the zombie apocalypse

or whether you'd be

one of the people

not knowing

the way of peace

and lying

and stealing

and do whatever

you had to live

see as the psalmist

says

very truly

we flatter ourselves

too much

to detect

our hate

our own sin

and

and you know

in fact

here's the other thing

about it

a couple of weeks ago

I used the example

about how

many of us

labor under the problem

of thinking

that the more

other people

get to know me

the less they'll like me

it's a very

and I talked about

how that's why

we have to preach

the gospel to ourselves

but here's the other

aspect of it

nobody thinks

I'll rephrase this

if somebody said to me

or you

after the service

you know George

used that example

that the more people

got to know me

the less they'd like me

and I don't know

I didn't know

that that was the problem

I mean the fact of the matter

is is the more

if the more people

get to know me

the more they'd think

I'm perfect

another person

needing therapy

right

like

if people might

actually believe that

you know they're

completely deluded

I mean the fact is

I mean that's

that's one of the hard

parts about long-term

relationships

it's one of the hard

parts about marriage

is that

you get married

and you discover

you married a sinner

and they discover

they married a sinner

as well as one person's

perfect and the other

person's a sinner

both are sinners

right

and so

the fact is

that there's something

which is very

very very

profound

about this

and in it

Paul has been

very clever

he's touched

seven areas

he said

at the level

of our standing

before God

sin has touched us

at the level

of our minds

sin has touched us

at the level

of our motives

sin has touched us

at the level

of our wills

sin has touched us

at the level

of words

sin has touched us

at the level

of relationships

sin has touched us

and the level

of our relationship

to God

sin has touched us

sin has touched us

it's not saying

by the way

that every single

thing you do

as a human being

is bad

and terrible

it's not

a despairing

type of thing

it just means

that every part

of who you are

has been touched

by rebellion

against God

and your own

God project

and self-centeredness

there's no part

of who you are

that has not

been touched

by it

and

well

the text

has already

shown

this is part

of the logic

of redemption

that God

is over

everything

and if he wants

to have his word

spoken

it will be

and even

to people

under sin

God

who is

over sin

can still

have his word

to be spoken

and it's part

of the hint

that there might

be hope

and it's because

God is over

all things

that even though

human beings

have had sin

touch every area

of their lives

God

in his common

grace

has made it

that it does not

completely overwhelm

them

we do not

become Mordor

we do not

become orcs

God

restrains this

in the hope

that we would

turn to him

and repent

and this

by the way

helps us

to see something

so what

he's really

beginning to

communicate here

by this long

list

is that

you are actually

every human being

is actually

far worse

than they ever

realized

and if that's

all that

Paul was going

to say

it would just

be very depressing

but remember

he begins

by saying

there's this

profound

announcement

by God

of a great

victory

that he has

won

and has

accomplished

and it comes

with power

from him

to make you

right with God

and so Paul

is trying to

set the stage

to realize

that no matter

how depressed

or how guilty

you ever feel

or down on yourself

that you ever feel

you actually

haven't plumbed

the depths

of how bad

you are

which is

unbelievably

depressing

unless it goes

with the message

of the gospel

that even

the world's

most spectacular

narcissist

cannot possibly

imagine

how profoundly

loved they are

by God

how profoundly

loved they

are by God

so he goes on

we're going to

come back to this

in a moment

I have to start

wrapping things up

you turn down

to verse 19

now we know

that whatever

the law says

that's the moral

law

it speaks

to those

who are under

the law

so that every

mouth may be

stopped

and the whole

world may be

held accountable

to God

and if you

could put up

the point

this is just

saying that

in the face

of God's

perfect justice

point four

in the face

of God's

perfect justice

and his

perfect sentence

against you

there will be

nothing you

can say

in the face

of God's

perfect justice

and in the face

of his

perfect sentence

against you

there will be

nothing you

can say

the case

is airtight

you can't

complain that

maybe you

know you

should give

me a pass

because me

speaking lies

meant that

your truth

shines brighter

or me doing

wrong things

meant that

you looking

makes you

look good

or you know

or there's

this or that

or there's

some type

of excuse

there's nothing

like that

that's going

to work

you see

one of the

things which

is mainly

different

that this

is all

showing

coming up

to this

like about

the law

and being

under the

law

and doing

good things

going to

come up

in a

moment

is that

one of the

big differences

between a

Christian who's

been instructed

by the Bible

and the gospel

and those

outside the

Christian faith

is how we

view our

good works

and how we

view our

good works

is not that

we shouldn't

be doing

them but

that they're

never enough

to make

us right

with God

that's

what he

goes right

here and

says in

verse 20

and this

is the

end of

the bad

news

for by

the works

of the

law

no human

being

will be

justified

in his

sight

justified

here means

made right

in his

sight

since through

the law

comes

knowledge

of sin

if you

could put up

the fifth

point that

would be

helpful

God's

revelation

of what is

right and

wrong reveals

your sin

and your

need

but it

cannot make

you right

with him

God's

revelation of

what is

right and

wrong reveals

your sin

and your

need but

it cannot

make you

right with

him

think back

now to

my CT

scan

there was a

development

of revelation

and first

there was my

own perception

that I was

sick

then there's

Louise's

perception

that it

might be

something more

than just a

cold and

then there's

the doctor

looking at

me and

listening to

my chest

and saying

I have

pneumonia

and then

there's the

x-ray

which brings

more clarity

both that there

is pneumonia

but there might

also be

something else

and now you

go to a more

powerful level

of revelation

so to speak

the CT scan

and the CT scan

is able to show

that I do have

pneumonia

but in fact

I don't have

anything that

looks like a

tumor

and so it's

a bit of a

model about

how the more

moral you become

the more moral

clarity you have

you'll be able

to perceive

things better

and the right

and wrong

in your life

you'll be able

to perceive

it better

and better

but here's

the thing

if the doctor

had found

cancer

a tumorous

cancer

or a cancer

that he thought

might be

tumorous

I can't say

okay well

that's really

hard news

put me back

in the CT

scanner

because that

will make

me better

you go

no no

you don't

understand

CT scanners

don't make

you better

they just

show you

what's there

no no

no

put me back

in the CT

scanner

maybe

do I have

to go in

ten times

I'll go in

ten times

I don't

mind getting

things stuck

in my arm

and iodine

like just

keep putting

me in that

and in that

and in that

and in that

and in that

and in that

no no

CT scanners

don't make

you better

they don't

make you

better

and it's

so the law

what Paul

is saying

here is

the more

moral clarity

you have

the moral

clarity

is really

important

to be able

to understand

yourself

and more

importantly

it's really

important

because it

makes you

understand

your need

for God

but it

doesn't

actually

ever

heal

and it

doesn't

actually

ever

heal

it just

reveals

and

God

Paul

doesn't

bring us

to this

point in

time

just to

give us

a depressing

diagnosis

I don't

know if

I'm

pronouncing

this

correctly

but there

have been

people

in our

congregation

whose

loved ones

have had

Crutzfeld-Jakob

disease

and if

you get

a diagnosis

of Crutzfeld-Jakob

disease

the doctor

has to

say to

you

I have

really

really

hard

news

all of

the tests

have revealed

that you

have

Jacob

Crutzfeld

disease

and there's

absolutely

no cure

whatsoever

and you

will be

dead

probably

within

a year

maybe

two

and they

can describe

what will

happen to

you

but what

Paul is

doing here

is not

giving you

a diagnosis

like this

and his

profound

diagnosis

of the

human

condition

is making

you aware

of the

fact

that you

shouldn't

have

false

hope

that you

shouldn't

say

well if

I just

follow this

religion

and their

rules

or if

I just

learn how

to do

this

type of

meditation

and do

these

types

of

things

or if

I

go

and get

a second

opinion

about

this

or if

I

just

ignore

all of

these

things

and just

spend

my

time

living

a

completely

secular

self

centered

life

and all

of these

types

of things

and the

purpose

of the

diagnosis

is that

you have

something

which is

unbelievably

serious

that you

cannot

heal

for yourself

so you

should not

have

false

hope

and it's

not a

case

that there's

no hope

but it's

just that

you should

have no

false

hope

but there

is hope

and what

is the

hope

the hope

is already

pointed

at in

several

ways

it's

hope

if you

put up

the sixth

point

that would

be really

helpful

despite

human beings

being sinful

disinterested

and hostile

despite human

beings being

sinful

disinterested

and hostile

towards God

God accomplished

real eternal

salvation

in the person

and the work

of the Lord

Jesus Christ

he did it

with his

word

which reveals

and he does it

with salvation

which heals

and you put

your faith

in Christ

there's this

wonderful text

that Paul writes

around the same

time in 2nd

Corinthians 5

verse 21

God made

him who

knew no

sin

to be

sin

for us

so that

in him

we might

become

the righteousness

of God

there's a

whole book

of theology

there

but the

very very

basic

lesson

is this

that when

we put

what Jesus

accomplished

for us

on the

cross

he is

the sinless

the sinless

perfect

human being

and he

comes

fully human

to die

upon the

cross

that the

things

which

the life

I should

have lived

and I

couldn't

he lived

and the

punishment

that I

deserved

he takes

and when

I put

my hands

in the

hands

of Christ

he takes

me into

himself

I enter

into union

with him

and

well here's

what it's

like

here's this

example I think

a year or two

ago I'll use

it again

imagine there

was a childhood

version of

Jacob

of Critzfeld

Jacob

disease

but at the

same time

that they

discovered

that there

was this

terrible

version of

this disease

they also

discovered

one and

only one

cure

and so

they come

to my

family

and they

tell one

of my

kids

that their

eight-year-old

daughter

has this

thing which

will kill

them within

a year or

two

and then

they'll say

there is a

cure

it's rare

and it depends

upon there

being a

perfect match

but it might

be that

there's

I mean

what that

would really

involve

is that

we would

hook

somebody up

to your

child

and there

would be

tubes

having the

blood going

back and

forward

and if

that person

who's the

match

and can

identify

if

we'll take

their blood

and everything

and their

health will

go out of

them

into the

eight-year-old

girl

and the

eight-year-old

girl's deadly

disease will

go in

to the

donor

and they do

a research

and they find

out that my

wife is a

perfect match

for her

eight-year-old

granddaughter

she would

not hesitate

to say

yes

she would

not hesitate

she would

say I

will be

connected

to you

so you

can live

I will

take your

illness

and I

will die

in your

place

my wife

is a

wonderful

person

but we

have an

even more

wonderful

savior

who has

done that

sacrifice

for you

and if

you go

in union

with him

all of

this human

condition

goes into

him

all of

your

under

sinness

goes to

him

and what

you get

is under

grace

you get

his health

and he

takes

your

sickness

and that

is why

you need

to hear

that God

has done

something

that human

beings

cannot

do

and it

comes to

you as

a message

that you

are included

and it

comes with

his power

and when

you put

your hands

in the

hands of

Jesus

that power

comes to

you

that's

what you

get

that's

why you

need

the

gospel

that's

why I

need

it

so

you know

here's

the thing

if you put

up the

seventh

point

this is

really

important

for you

to

also

understand

the

gospel

shapes

the

Christian

to be

more

deeply

penitent

and

more

deeply

hopeful

you see

as

the

truth

of

the

gospel

becomes

more

and

more

real

to

your

heart

that

that's

what

Christ

has

done

Jesus

has

done

this

for

you

that

when

you

put

your

hands

in him

and

trust

in

him

and

believe

into

him

he

enters

into

you

and

you

!

enter

into

him

and

there

is

this

wonderful

transfusion

and

because

he

rose

from

the

dead

in

this

example

I

gave

my

wife

at

the

end

of

it

would

be

dead

but

at

the

end

of

it

with

Jesus

he

is

resurrected

after

his

sacrifice

and

you

now

share

in

his

life

and

you

have

this

profound

hope

of

heaven

and

you

now

live

in

the

already

not

yet

God

chose

!

chose

to

be

in

such

a

way

that

the

second

let's

say

Laurier

puts

his

faith

in

Christ

or

William

does

or

something

like

that

it

doesn't

mean

immediately

just

taken

out

to

heaven

they

continue

to

live

and

we

live

in

the

already

not

yet

we

live

on

one

hand

that

this

is

our

destiny

and

this

is

the

truth

about

us

and

the

other

hand

we

still

have

to

struggle

with

our

sin

which

is

for

you

to

be

completely

cut

to

the

heart

by

the

injustice

in

your

life

the

hard

words

that

you've

said

in

your

life

the

things

that

you've

done

the