We have Sinned - The Heart of the Problem

Good morning, everyone. I did notice that today's the day that we're talking about our sin,

and yours truly has to talk about it. I reckon I may be the only person in here with a professorship

in sin. And I had, I want to say this just before I start, I mean, obviously, there's

a sense in which this message is severe. And I'm not giving this message because I want to upset

anybody. I want just to try and teach you the truth of what Scripture says. When I was in local

church ministry, I had this novel idea, which I drummed into my staff, that people should leave

church on a Sunday feeling better about life than before they arrived. And when you get a message

like this to preach, that can't be guaranteed. So I'm not warning you or anything like that. This is

not a trigger warning. This is just simply to say that a message like this forces you, some of you,

to be more honest with yourselves and with God than you've ever been.

And in doing that, you will find the kind of freedom that Liz was talking about when she prayed

so powerfully just a few moments ago. So let's pray together, shall we, before I begin.

Lord, we are so conscious that you are an amazingly gracious God. And Lord, in your grace and in your mercy,

you can forgive our sins. Lord, that in itself is unbelievable to us. So often we find it difficult

to forgive ourselves. But Lord, we can't comprehend the depth and the height and the depth of your grace.

But Lord, we know we need it because even if we follow you, we know that we're not perfect.

And we constantly need to plug into that source of grace and forgiveness.

And Lord, we pray that you'd help us be better disciples, better witnesses for you.

So come, Holy Spirit, and bring us under healthy conviction.

And give us the courage to do something about it.

And we pray these things in Jesus' name. And the people who agreed, say it together.

Amen.

So my text this morning is from Romans chapter 3 and verse 23.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

For all have sinned, wrote St. Paul, and fall short of the glory of God.

All have sinned.

Many years ago in the 20th century, G.K. Chesterton wrote into the Times newspaper

and the subject of the correspondence during that time was,

what's wrong with the world?

G.K. Chesterton just wrote a very short letter.

It said, dear sir, I am.

You're sincerely G.K. Chesterton.

As you know, G.K. Chesterton was a convert to the Catholic faith.

And I think like a lot of people, when they first become Christians,

feel very burdened with the kind of life they've been living.

And very grateful that God's grace is great enough to cover our sins.

But first, if I may, just a very quick thumbnail print of what the Epistle to the Romans is about.

Now, it's about salvation.

It's about how we can be saved, what salvation is,

and most importantly, how you can have assurance that you are saved.

I imagine there are a lot of people in church today,

kind of, if they think about salvation,

and they think about the end of their lives,

which would be pretty rare in itself,

but if you did do that,

you'd probably be a kind of fingers crossed thing,

you know, maybe I've done enough good in my life

to kind of get me past the finishing post.

God doesn't want you to think like that.

God wants you to know,

if you trust in Christ, that you are saved.

John, in his epistle, wrote this.

He said, we write these things.

He's been writing about the salvation of God in Christ.

We tell you these things, he said,

so that you may know,

you may know that you have eternal life.

Let me ask you this.

Would you feel a little more inspired or less inspired

if you left this church this morning

and you knew that you were saved for eternity?

Think about it.

Basically, in Romans, we're told that the wrath of God,

and some of you would say, hang on,

how can such a loving God be wrathful?

Well, any of you who are parents know

that loving parents can indeed be wrathful,

and I would argue need to be wrathful on occasions.

That the wrath of God extends to the godless,

and it might be good homework for you to go away

and read chapter one of Romans,

because if you read it and you understand it,

you'll be very clear,

you should not be surprised by the way the world is going.

What chapter one is about is that the godless

will be the sufferers of God's wrath,

and the world will go south.

It will become idolatrous.

It will become narcissistic.

It will become sexualized.

It will become everything

that healthy civilizations really don't want to be.

And Paul has a kind of framework

that he's working with here,

and that is, Paul is trying to tell us

what the diagnosis of our humanity is.

What is wrong with us?

Second, he's trying to tell us

what the prognosis of that diagnosis is.

This is what will happen

if you don't accept the diagnosis.

And the third thing is, of course,

Paul tells us about the cure.

Amazing epistle.

And, I mean, the mad thing is,

you know, when we write letters,

A, most of our letters aren't as long as Paul's,

are they?

Let's be honest.

And secondly, they're not quite as serious.

You know, and Paul, I think,

only once in all of his epistles write,

wish you were here.

You know, Paul's a serious-minded,

pharisaical rabbi

who's converted to Jesus Christ.

And because of the way the letter is,

I mean, we don't normally get letters

and just focus on one paragraph

as we are doing today.

I tend to read it from start to finish.

So, what we're talking about today

is the diagnosis.

All have sinned

and fall short of the glory of God.

If you ask yourself the question,

what is sin?

I wonder what your answer would be.

I mean, some people start

kind of expressing

a false security

because their first thought is,

go to the Ten Commandments.

And most of us,

at any one time,

are scoring about seven out of ten

in our favor.

I don't know about you,

but on my finals paper,

I would have happily settled for 70%.

We kind of think,

that's enough.

And yet, St. Paul tells us

that when we break the law

in just one tiny bit,

we break the whole of the law.

There is no security in thinking,

seven out of ten of the commandments

is fine by me.

Basically, what sin is,

is when I make the decision

openly or subliminally

to go my way

rather than go God's way.

At its very basic level,

that is what sin is.

When I decide,

either openly or inwardly,

to go my way

rather than God's way,

I am, as far as God is concerned,

in sin.

That's why Paul can so confidently say,

all have sinned.

I guarantee

that if I said to you,

is there anybody in church this morning

who's never sinned?

None of you would put your hand up,

and if you did,

the rest of us would be thinking,

liar.

All have sinned,

because

from our birth,

we've had this inward thing

to make ourselves

the center

of the universe.

We are,

as Richard Dawkins put it,

survival machines.

And the interesting thing was,

the analysis,

the Judeo-Christian analysis

of humanity,

that all have sinned

and fall short

of the glory of God,

held sway

for centuries.

People didn't quibble with it.

They might not like it.

They may not adhere

to the ramifications of it,

but

they believed

that human beings

were basically flawed.

And then,

in the 18th century,

appeared this man,

Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

His theory was

the mirror opposite.

And it was this.

No,

that Judeo-Christian

mumbo-jumbo

is not right.

No,

we are basically good,

but it is the totality

of our experiential environment

which spoils us.

Ultimately,

this is very wrong-headed thinking.

But the problem

with a lot of wrong-headed thinking

is,

it has some half-truths.

It is quite clearly true

that our experiential environment,

the way we're treated,

the way we are,

the things that we are

exposed to in our lives,

can impact

our personality

and the way we are.

What do I mean by that?

Well,

of course,

if you've had appalling parents,

you will really struggle with that

at some point in your life.

If you've had

terrible experiences

in your life,

you've been bullied,

or you've been abused,

blah, blah,

you know,

the list could go on,

then you will be

impacted by that.

Trust me,

I have worked

with so many people

who were bullied

when they were in school

who have never got past it.

Never.

Never.

Or if you feel

you've been treated

on the wrong end

of inequality,

you know,

of equality.

There's a program

on Netflix

at the moment

which is called

The Sex Life

of Adolf Hitler.

And, you know,

I'm not recommending it,

but

really what it is,

is a kind of

psychological profile

of this dreadful man

who did dreadful things.

And,

basically,

I mean,

this man's parents,

his mother was

totally over-doting,

understandably in a way,

because she lost

two sons

before Adolf,

the young Adolf,

was born.

So she

over-doted on him.

His father

was a drunken,

violent bully.

And out of

that mix

appears

this horror story

of a man

called Adolf Hitler.

Rousseau

did have a point

that

our

experiential

environment

does affect us.

But the idea

that we're just

spoiled by

that environmental

experience

tends to suggest

that there's no way

back from it.

Tends to suggest

that we are more

sinned against

than sinning.

That's why

you can understand

why it's such

a popular theory

today.

Drives a lot

of politics.

We're basically

good,

but it's the

totality of our

experience alone

which spoils us,

which ruins us.

No,

says Scripture.

We were

objects of

God's wrath

by nature,

said Paul

in Ephesians

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2.

I find it

a really

disturbing

idea

that we are

simply

the prisoners

of our past.

past.

If that were

true,

you would

indeed be

people

without hope.

If there

is no way

out of that

other than

years of

psychotherapy,

and I'm not

saying that

that's unhelpful,

but if there

is no way

out,

I'm just

left on my

own with the

totality of my

experiential

environmental

history,

that would

indeed

be without

hope.

Rousseau

believed that

the only way

you could set

human beings

free was to

get rid of

all law.

Rousseau would

have loved

the activist

line that we

should be

defunding the

police at the

moment.

That would

have been

right up his

alley.

And you've

seen on

your television

what happens

when the

police stand

back at a

demonstration,

and the next

minute people

are looting,

people are

violent.

No, if we

didn't have

police, I

think our

society probably

would be more

of a pigsty

than it often

seems today.

We were

by nature

objects of

God's wrath,

wrote St.

Paul in

Ephesians

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2,

yet we are

stained.

And you

will never

understand what

the Bible

teaches about

the amazing

nature of

God, unless

you understand

what the

Bible teaches

about our

humanity,

about the

terrifying

outcomes,

when a

society becomes

godless,

self-centered,

materialistic,

and sexualized.

All have

sinned and

fall short of

the glory of

God.

Does it

matter?

Well, if you

think it

doesn't matter,

then the

problem is,

you're in a

rather complacent

situation.

Isn't it

true that we

so often say

to ourselves,

when we

hear about

somebody who's

done something

terrible to

another person,

oh, they're

only human.

Well, of course,

there's a truth

in there.

When we say to

ourselves, a

little bit of

this and a

little bit of

that never did

anybody any

harm.

Everything in

moderation, and

yet, how

often does

moderation

lead to

addiction?

I never

met an

addict yet

who set out

when they

took their

first drag

of a spliff

or their

first glass

of alcohol,

or the

first time

they slept

with somebody,

thought to

themselves,

you know

what a

great end

game would

be if I

got addicted

to this

stuff.

I never

met anybody

who wanted

to be like

that.

Online

gambling at

the moment.

Nobody

plates their

first bet

for a tenner

on something

thinking,

it'd be great

one day,

I'll be so

addicted to

this, I'll

be owing

millions.

No, we

need to be

careful with

sin, not

to be

complacent.

And of

course, the

big deal is

that the

scripture tells

us in the

book of the

prophet Isaiah

that what

our sin

does is it

separates us

from God.

Separates

us.

You ever

have the

feeling, God

seems a

little remote

to me?

When I was

in local

church ministry,

I had people

come and see

me, and

they say

stuff like,

you know

what, I'm

feeling a

little distant

from my

wife at

the moment.

Oh, why

would that

be?

Well, you

know, things,

I'm working

hard to

work.

I said,

can I

just ask

you a

question?

Is the

fact that

you're feeling

remote from

your wife a

cause or a

symptom?

What do you

mean?

Tell me what

your relationship

with God is

like at the

moment.

Oh, well.

You know,

things are not

great.

What do you

mean?

There's a

secretary at

work.

You know,

she's young

and she's

very interested

in my

life and

we've had a

couple of

lunches

together.

I'm like,

whoa,

whoa,

whoa,

whoa.

He said,

what, do

you have any

advice for

me?

I said,

where do

you meet

this woman?

He said,

we travel

together on

the commuter

train every

morning.

Do you have

any advice?

I said,

yeah, change

trains.

change trains

and he did

and his

marriages

survived.

Does sin

matter?

Of course it

does because

it separates

us from

God.

Is there

a soul

in church

this morning

who doesn't

know that to

be true for

themselves?

When we do

stuff that we

know is wrong,

even when we

do stuff that

we're not

sure whether

it's wrong,

our relationship

with God

suffers.

And this,

my friends,

is the season

of Lent.

Forty days

of fasting

and repenting.

I know we

don't do it

for forty days,

but that's the

idea of it,

that we're

supposed to

turn inward

on ourselves

for forty

days and

examine our

relationship

with God.

in the

early church

part of

Lent was

that if

you committed

a sin and

it was publicly

known about,

right?

I mean,

you'd be

thanking God

you were not

part of that

early church.

I'll tell you

why.

Because if they

committed a

serious sin,

they had to

come up to

the front of

the church

and tell the

rest of the

church about

it.

Then the

priest would

pray a prayer

of absolution

on them

and then

he would

give them

penances.

Go and

recite the

Hail Mary

a few times

or give

the church

a bit more

money.

Only ministers

are in

favour of

that.

And that's

what Lent

was.

During the

forty days

of Lent,

repentant

sinners were

excommunicated,

not allowed to

receive communion

for those forty

days, and

then on Easter

Sunday, the

day of

resurrection,

they'd be

allowed back

in.

Imagine that.

Imagine the

joy of a

repentant sinner

being allowed

back into

the faith

community.

What we

don't have in

our church

today is

any sense

that when we

sin as

individuals,

we're letting

the side

down.

This is

your family.

This should

hurt you

like when

your kids

misbehave,

etc.,

etc.

And now,

friends, to

end, a

spoiler alert.

Because I'm

not talking

about sin.

Next week,

you're going

to get a

better exposition

of the

cure, the

cross.

Paul wrote

this in

Ephesians

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1,

in him,

in Jesus,

we have

redemption

through his

blood,

the forgiveness

of sins

in accordance

with the

riches of

his grace.

Those Jews

of old had

a very simple

idea.

You remember

in the Old

Testament how

you read

about sacrifice.

As if you're a

rich person,

you take a

full-grown bull

without blemish

and have it

slaughtered on

the altar.

If you didn't

have so much

money, you

could take a

couple of

pigeons.

And the

idea behind

that sacrificial

system was a

life for a

life.

I know that

you animal rights

activists won't

like that system

whatsoever.

But that's what

they thought.

That's why when

Paul is writing

in Ephesians 1,

he uses that

rather strange

language.

In Jesus, we

have redemption

through his

blood, through

his death on

the cross of

Calvary.

Bearing shame

and scoffing

rude, in my

place, condemned

he stood.

You know,

St.

Paul described

himself, this

man who we

put in stained

glass windows and

venerate over the

centuries.

St.

Paul described

himself as the

chief of

sinners.

I have only

one quibble with

that and I

might be able to

challenge him on

that point.

Friends, it's

Lent.

Take your

relationship with

God a notch

further.

Think about what

you've heard this

morning.

Not my ideas,

the ideas of

this book,

inspired by the

Holy Spirit,

for our

edification,

for our

rebuke,

and for our

sanctification,

to make us

more like

Jesus Christ.

All, for

all have

sinned, and

fall short of

the glory of

God.

I wonder if

you have any

sense of

personal conviction

this morning.

I wonder if

this Lent

could be a

moment when

you stand up

for Jesus

and stand in

front of him,

metaphorically

speaking,

naked,

leave your

clothes on,

and you

just,

in the

silence of

your own

heart,

tell him the

truth.

Tell him what

it is you

would love to

be saved from,

and know

the power,

the power of

his redeeming

blood in your

life.