WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.720 Good morning. My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:17.140 Presbyterian Church, and it's my joy to bring God's word to you today. A special welcome if 00:00:17.140 --> 00:00:21.920 you are new or visiting with us. We're glad that you're here, and we're glad that you're here not 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:28.039 because we're trying to fill seats, but because we're following Jesus together as one community. 00:00:28.039 --> 00:00:33.280 And as we follow Jesus together, we become convinced that there's no one so good, they don't 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:39.159 need God's grace, and no one so bad that they can't have it, which is why we come back week after week 00:00:39.159 --> 00:00:46.799 to hear what God has to say to us in his word. This morning, we're continuing our series in the 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:53.840 book of Romans, and you'll remember that Romans is a letter written by the Apostle Paul in the 50s AD, 00:00:53.840 --> 00:01:00.640 and it's called Romans for a very simple reason, which is that it's written to the churches in the 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:09.060 city of Rome. This letter is about the gospel. It's about the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection, 00:01:09.060 --> 00:01:15.960 and Paul's hope in writing this letter, as we saw back in chapter one, is that these churches would be 00:01:15.960 --> 00:01:22.760 established in the gospel. We're going to see many applications as we go throughout this book, 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:30.540 but Paul is especially focused with the mission and the unity of the church. And we're going to go 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:37.260 along many different spokes, many different topics and ideas in these 16 chapters, but we're going to 00:01:37.260 --> 00:01:45.160 constantly and always be returning back to the hub of the gospel. We're now in Romans chapter three, 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:51.860 and I've been telling you that as we come to these passages, we are not reading random selections 00:01:51.859 --> 00:01:58.359 with random points, but instead Paul is really making one point through chapters one through three, 00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:03.840 and that point is what he sums up. We're going to read in just a few weeks in Romans chapter three, 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:12.360 verse 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So Romans chapter one, he was saying, 00:02:12.460 --> 00:02:18.420 look, non-religious people have fallen short of God's glory. Chapter two, religious people have fallen 00:02:18.419 --> 00:02:24.719 short of God in his glory. Chapter three, we saw him answering a few objections, and now we're at the 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:31.060 part where he's kind of tying it all together and saying, okay, here is our final conclusion, the case 00:02:31.060 --> 00:02:39.019 that cannot be refuted. And this week, we're going to be, again, coming to Paul's summary here in chapter 00:02:39.019 --> 00:02:45.000 three, and we're going to ask a number of questions. One of them is this, in what sense, in what way, 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:52.120 is Paul allowed to say that no one does good? That's how this passage is going to end. Verse 12, 00:02:52.780 --> 00:03:00.379 he will say, no one does good, not even one. And you might be thinking, well, I know all sorts of 00:03:00.379 --> 00:03:06.379 people who do good. I know Christians who do good. I know people who don't know God, who don't know 00:03:06.379 --> 00:03:12.620 Jesus, who do all kinds of good. What is Paul talking about? In fact, sometimes it seems, 00:03:12.620 --> 00:03:19.099 certain instances, non-Christians do more good than Christians. So how can Paul get away 00:03:19.099 --> 00:03:27.400 with saying these things? There's a lot of rich and basic theology in these, just these few verses, 00:03:27.580 --> 00:03:32.759 and so we're going to take them from top to bottom. And so as we do that, I invite you to turn with me 00:03:32.759 --> 00:03:39.879 to God's word. As you turn, you can go to your worship guide, you can go to your phone, you can 00:03:39.879 --> 00:03:46.219 go to your Bible. No matter where you go, remember that this is God's word. And God tells us that his 00:03:46.219 --> 00:03:52.479 word is more precious than gold, even the finest gold, and it's sweeter than honey, even honey that 00:03:52.479 --> 00:03:59.120 comes straight from the honeycomb. And so that's why we read now Romans chapter three, starting at verse 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:09.560 nine. What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:20.680 both Jews and Greeks, are under sin. As it is written, none is righteous, no, not one. No one understands. 00:04:20.680 --> 00:04:32.060 No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, 00:04:32.680 --> 00:04:39.800 not even one. I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word. 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:46.519 Our Father in heaven, we do thank you and praise you again as we do every week, 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:54.459 that you have given us the power and the assistance and the blessing of your word. 00:04:55.579 --> 00:05:02.419 And so we ask that you would bless us with it again, that you would open up our eyes and our minds. 00:05:02.939 --> 00:05:10.139 We would see and understand what you've written for us. You'd use it to change our hearts, 00:05:10.139 --> 00:05:18.479 that we would believe and trust and follow you more and more. We thank you this morning that we don't 00:05:18.479 --> 00:05:23.819 have to worry about whether we've earned or deserve these things. We know that we haven't. And so we 00:05:23.819 --> 00:05:27.240 simply ask for them in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:39.240 Amen. Just very recently, I was in the Colorado Springs airport. And as I got through security and I 00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:46.280 came to the end to put my bins away, I noticed that someone had left something very important in one of 00:05:46.280 --> 00:05:52.720 the bins at the end. As they had rushed off to their gate, they had left behind their passport. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:06:03.660 Yeah, you guys know. That, in fact, is a game ender. And I know it's a game ender because when I looked 00:06:03.660 --> 00:06:10.140 at this passport, it was not blue, it was red. And if you're familiar with passports, you know they 00:06:10.140 --> 00:06:16.860 come in four different colors. You can have a blue passport, you can have a red passport, you can have a 00:06:16.860 --> 00:06:24.740 green passport, and very few countries have a black passport. Why did I know they were in trouble? Because 00:06:24.740 --> 00:06:33.100 they had a red passport? Because red is not the color of the United States passport. Right? And so here is 00:06:33.100 --> 00:06:43.360 someone who is lost in another country, and they don't have their form of identification. Now I can tell from your 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:48.920 gasp that everyone here that everyone here knows this is a big deal. Why, though, is it so important that you 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:57.120 have your passport? It's important because there's a sense in which the country you belong to trumps 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:07.800 everything else. If you show up to the airport and you are dressed strangely, and you have no money, 00:07:07.800 --> 00:07:18.400 money, and you are disheveled, but you have your passport, you will probably be okay. If you show up to 00:07:18.400 --> 00:07:27.300 the airport, and you are extremely well-dressed, and you are rich, and you are savvy in interpersonal 00:07:27.300 --> 00:07:37.120 interactions, but you have no passport, you will not be okay. Right? There's this sense in which nothing 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:45.699 else matters. Paul tells us here in verse 9, he uses an interesting phrase. He says, 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:54.540 we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin. Now that's actually kind of a 00:07:54.540 --> 00:08:00.360 strange way of talking. What does Paul mean when he says that we're under sin? I would suggest to you 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:06.519 this morning that we often have a very incomplete view of sin. We might think of sin as these particular 00:08:06.519 --> 00:08:15.019 actions that we commit at particular times, but if you think of that, that's not wrong, right? That is an 00:08:15.019 --> 00:08:23.939 element of sin. It is, however, incomplete. To be under sin is to be something actually worse than that. 00:08:24.599 --> 00:08:32.799 To be under sin means that that's actually the kingdom that you belong to. To be under sin means that sin is 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:41.419 more than just individual actions at individual times. No, it's actually sort of like a nation that has 00:08:41.419 --> 00:08:51.779 ultimate authority. And so when Paul says all people are under sin, he is saying all people live under the 00:08:51.779 --> 00:09:02.419 power of sin. Sin has a real authority, a real power over you. You might think about it this way. 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:08.240 Why doesn't every human being get the chance that Adam and Eve got? 00:09:10.059 --> 00:09:16.879 Why has every person outside of Christ born into this world after Adam and Eve, why has every person 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:22.079 ended up in sin? I mean, why don't we see, you know, there are a variety of people, some people who 00:09:22.079 --> 00:09:27.559 followed after Adam and Eve's choices and they have chosen sin. And why don't we see some other people 00:09:27.559 --> 00:09:32.819 who saw what Adam and Eve did and they realize, man, that's not really the way I want to go. 00:09:33.559 --> 00:09:38.339 Why isn't it a coin toss for every person who's born into this world? 00:09:40.339 --> 00:09:47.739 It's not a coin toss because every person is born under sin. 00:09:47.740 --> 00:09:57.360 Okay, you can think about it this way. When I was born in Waco, Texas, sometime in the late 80s, 00:09:57.879 --> 00:10:06.820 I became an American citizen. Right? You might say I was born under America. 00:10:06.820 --> 00:10:18.520 Did I get to choose in that? No. Why not? Because Beverly and Chuck Capone were American citizens. 00:10:19.560 --> 00:10:24.080 Right? I was born an American because my parents were Americans. 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:34.960 Why is every human being born into this world under sin? Because our father Adam chose the kingdom of sin. 00:10:36.860 --> 00:10:40.220 And so that's why you might look back certain moments in your life and think, 00:10:40.680 --> 00:10:47.000 man, I remember doing that, that thing that was actually pretty terrible. What was I thinking? 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:55.440 What had possession of my mind at that point? How did I not realize that was such a terrible idea? 00:10:56.639 --> 00:11:02.440 I'm going to suggest to you this morning that you did that perhaps because you were under sin. 00:11:04.039 --> 00:11:05.860 Because sin had a power over you. 00:11:08.360 --> 00:11:15.139 You might think to yourself, why is it that I do things that are wrong even though I know that they're wrong? 00:11:15.139 --> 00:11:19.519 Why do I not, why is no better not equal do better? 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:23.460 Why do I know the right way but I don't choose it? 00:11:23.500 --> 00:11:25.620 And we'll talk about that more in Romans chapter 7. 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:32.620 And I'm going to suggest to you, perhaps that's because sin had a power over you. 00:11:33.860 --> 00:11:37.299 Perhaps it's because you were under sin. 00:11:37.299 --> 00:11:47.199 Now I say perhaps, because as we'll go on to talk about, if you're in Christ, you're actually no longer under sin. 00:11:49.419 --> 00:11:51.379 Although you still fight against it, right? 00:11:51.979 --> 00:11:57.679 Galatians chapter 5, Paul talks about the spirit is at war with the flesh. 00:11:58.839 --> 00:12:01.339 You'll see this on page 8 of your worship guide. 00:12:02.359 --> 00:12:05.240 To be under sin is a legal term. 00:12:05.240 --> 00:12:08.700 We are citizens of sin. 00:12:09.659 --> 00:12:16.779 It is as though we all have a spiritual passport which shows our legal citizenship. 00:12:17.680 --> 00:12:22.960 It is either stamped under sin or under grace. 00:12:24.600 --> 00:12:33.919 In Paul's astounding statement, it does Jews and Gentiles, religious and unreligious, are all under sin. 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:44.539 Now, the man who wrote that, Tim Keller, was deeply influenced by the great 20th century preacher Martin Lloyd-Jones, 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:49.819 who said something very interestingly similar, which you'll find on the back of your worship guide. 00:12:50.299 --> 00:12:51.699 And so Keller got it from Lloyd-Jones. 00:12:51.700 --> 00:12:55.600 And I think both of them at some point actually got it from the Bible itself. 00:12:55.600 --> 00:13:01.040 Because Paul, in the letter to the Colossians, says something very similar. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:06.840 Talking about what God has done for his people, says Colossians chapter 1, verse 13. 00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:16.519 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. 00:13:17.879 --> 00:13:20.420 The domain of, there's two places, Paul's saying. 00:13:20.759 --> 00:13:24.060 There's two realms as a human being that you can belong to. 00:13:24.100 --> 00:13:25.519 And in fact, only two realms. 00:13:25.879 --> 00:13:31.639 You are either in the domain of darkness or you're in the kingdom of the son. 00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:36.620 There are not four different colors for your passport. 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:40.319 Spiritually, there are only two colors. 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:41.379 There's only two options. 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:44.199 You belong to the kingdom of this world. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:46.220 You belong to the kingdom of God. 00:13:47.199 --> 00:13:54.439 If you belong to the kingdom of this world, you are, Paul is saying here, under sin. 00:13:55.600 --> 00:13:56.659 That's what that means. 00:13:57.439 --> 00:14:00.559 Sin is not simply or merely individual actions. 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:04.979 No, sin is a power and a presence and a domain and a reality. 00:14:07.699 --> 00:14:10.679 Paul gives this idea also in his letter to the Philippians. 00:14:11.299 --> 00:14:15.799 Philippians chapter 3, he says, our citizenship is in heaven. 00:14:17.179 --> 00:14:19.319 Which is a way of saying, hey, if you're a Christian, 00:14:20.379 --> 00:14:24.359 your passport is no longer a passport of the domain of darkness. 00:14:25.619 --> 00:14:29.079 That's not the power, the rule, the reign that is most important. 00:14:29.080 --> 00:14:34.000 No, your passport is now a passport for the kingdom of the son. 00:14:35.300 --> 00:14:38.540 I had a pastor many years ago who explained it this way. 00:14:39.379 --> 00:14:42.620 When we think about sin, sin has three different Ps. 00:14:43.680 --> 00:14:49.000 It has a power, it has a presence, and it has a penalty. 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:55.539 If you are under sin, you are under all three of those things. 00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:58.000 You're under the power of sin. 00:14:58.080 --> 00:14:59.940 It's the ruling force in your life. 00:15:00.620 --> 00:15:02.600 You're under the penalty of sin. 00:15:02.679 --> 00:15:05.200 That is, you deserve God's wrath and his judgment. 00:15:06.139 --> 00:15:07.879 And you have the presence of sin. 00:15:07.940 --> 00:15:08.799 It's actually real. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:10.120 It's acted out in your life. 00:15:10.859 --> 00:15:13.120 When we change our spiritual passport, 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:17.179 when we're transferred from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of the son, 00:15:19.059 --> 00:15:21.219 two of those Ps go away. 00:15:22.299 --> 00:15:25.299 You are no longer under the power of sin, 00:15:25.299 --> 00:15:29.439 and you are no longer under the penalty of sin. 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:32.100 You have one left. 00:15:32.260 --> 00:15:34.440 You still struggle with the presence of sin. 00:15:35.700 --> 00:15:36.440 And we wait. 00:15:38.580 --> 00:15:39.880 Philippians 3 says this, 00:15:40.200 --> 00:15:44.420 The citizenship is from heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:15:45.260 --> 00:15:48.700 We wait until his return, or until our death, 00:15:49.400 --> 00:15:51.580 for the presence of sin to be removed. 00:15:52.900 --> 00:15:54.860 So what does it mean to be under sin? 00:15:54.860 --> 00:16:00.500 It means that sin has a real power and a real penalty in your life. 00:16:01.740 --> 00:16:03.159 That's what Paul is saying here. 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:08.940 He's saying, look, I'm summing up everything I've told you in Romans chapter 1 and Romans chapter 2. 00:16:09.820 --> 00:16:14.019 Romans chapter 1, religious people, Jews, are under sin. 00:16:14.680 --> 00:16:16.759 It has a real power and a real penalty. 00:16:17.820 --> 00:16:22.600 Romans chapter 2, non-religious people are also under sin. 00:16:22.600 --> 00:16:24.420 They're also in the domain of darkness. 00:16:24.860 --> 00:16:27.740 They have a real penalty and a real power. 00:16:28.039 --> 00:16:31.279 And so, Paul's bringing it all to this final conclusion. 00:16:31.899 --> 00:16:36.220 Chapter 3, he's telling us, he's restating it yet again, 00:16:36.919 --> 00:16:43.360 everyone in this world, outside of Christ, under the power of sin. 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:50.039 If you're in the domain of darkness, you have a power, a penalty, and a presence. 00:16:50.899 --> 00:16:56.200 If you're in the kingdom of the sun, the power and the penalty have been removed. 00:16:56.940 --> 00:17:00.539 You struggle with the presence for now. 00:17:00.539 --> 00:17:05.319 Are Jews any better off? 00:17:05.420 --> 00:17:06.399 No, not at all. 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:10.940 Both Jews and Greeks are under sin. 00:17:10.940 --> 00:17:21.440 Verse 9 here, Paul has laid the groundwork. 00:17:21.900 --> 00:17:23.140 He's told us about our citizenship. 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:30.019 Now he goes on in the next few verses to show us how it plays out in real life. 00:17:30.019 --> 00:17:31.920 So verse 9 gives us the foundation. 00:17:32.619 --> 00:17:33.519 You have a citizenship. 00:17:33.779 --> 00:17:36.059 You belong to a kingdom with a reign and a power. 00:17:36.519 --> 00:17:41.940 And now we're going to see how that actually shows itself Sunday through Saturday. 00:17:43.160 --> 00:17:45.460 First verse 10, he tells us, 00:17:45.460 --> 00:17:52.079 And so we see the first consequence of being under sin. 00:17:52.539 --> 00:17:55.720 If the domain of darkness is the kingdom we belong to, 00:17:55.900 --> 00:18:00.759 then of course we have no right standing with God. 00:18:01.660 --> 00:18:04.900 We have no relationship, no fellowship with him. 00:18:05.259 --> 00:18:08.640 That righteousness term means we have no standing before God. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:12.360 We belong to a different country. 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:14.759 It doesn't matter. 00:18:14.759 --> 00:18:16.579 This helps explain where we're going. 00:18:16.980 --> 00:18:19.480 This question of how can we say no one does any good. 00:18:19.879 --> 00:18:25.700 It doesn't matter what good things you do if you do them for the wrong kingdom. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:27.220 Okay? 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:30.599 Think about two nations that are at war with each other. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:34.119 Let's thought maybe it's Ukraine and Russia. 00:18:35.420 --> 00:18:41.079 It doesn't matter what great and morally good things a Russian soldier does. 00:18:41.079 --> 00:18:45.039 Because his standing, he has no standing in Ukraine. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:46.199 Right? 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:47.339 He belongs to the wrong kingdom. 00:18:48.139 --> 00:18:51.579 And so his actions are pointed in the wrong direction. 00:18:52.939 --> 00:18:54.240 We think about it that way. 00:18:54.299 --> 00:18:54.859 It makes sense. 00:18:54.960 --> 00:18:56.599 Of course, none is righteous. 00:18:56.779 --> 00:18:57.419 No, not one. 00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:00.539 For under the power of the presence of the penalty of sin, 00:19:00.619 --> 00:19:05.259 there is nothing we can do that gives us any standing in the other kingdom. 00:19:05.259 --> 00:19:09.859 In one sense, the passport illustration is good. 00:19:10.859 --> 00:19:12.279 In another sense, it isn't. 00:19:13.180 --> 00:19:16.160 Because there is no traveling between these kingdoms. 00:19:16.980 --> 00:19:19.799 You don't show your passport at one to get into the other. 00:19:20.500 --> 00:19:25.460 No, the only way to go from one to the other is to get a new passport. 00:19:25.460 --> 00:19:29.120 He goes on to tell us. 00:19:29.299 --> 00:19:30.059 So that's verse 10. 00:19:30.380 --> 00:19:30.940 None is righteous. 00:19:31.100 --> 00:19:31.740 No, not one. 00:19:31.840 --> 00:19:34.720 And then we get to see some more of the consequences in verse 11. 00:19:34.840 --> 00:19:37.900 We're told, no one understands. 00:19:39.160 --> 00:19:43.640 Which is Paul's way of telling us that our minds are affected by sin. 00:19:43.960 --> 00:19:46.120 The fact that sin has this real power. 00:19:46.360 --> 00:19:49.220 It's not a theoretical, abstract power. 00:19:49.319 --> 00:19:53.039 No, it's something that actually plays itself out in our day-to-day lives. 00:19:53.039 --> 00:20:00.500 One of the ways it plays itself out is that our minds don't actually work as well as we think they do. 00:20:01.559 --> 00:20:09.519 No one understands means that your brain, your mind, your logic have been affected by sin. 00:20:10.819 --> 00:20:12.220 I'm sure you've met someone. 00:20:12.359 --> 00:20:13.779 Maybe you are this person. 00:20:14.139 --> 00:20:16.859 Talks about how they're an independent thinker. 00:20:17.559 --> 00:20:19.559 Or they're a free thinker. 00:20:19.559 --> 00:20:26.440 You know, they don't listen to what the majority of people say or the culture around them says. 00:20:26.519 --> 00:20:29.379 They're kind of charting their own path, heading in their own direction. 00:20:30.059 --> 00:20:31.720 Now, that's true of some people. 00:20:32.279 --> 00:20:35.839 It's not true of as many people as they claim to be true. 00:20:36.879 --> 00:20:38.740 But what Paul is saying is this. 00:20:40.159 --> 00:20:41.379 That may be true. 00:20:41.539 --> 00:20:43.200 You might be a free thinker. 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:45.039 Or you might be an independent thinker. 00:20:46.180 --> 00:20:52.660 Your thinking, however, is never free of or independent from sin. 00:20:55.180 --> 00:21:00.299 Your thinking is never as clear as you think it is. 00:21:01.080 --> 00:21:04.680 You'll see this on page 7 of your worship guide. 00:21:04.779 --> 00:21:08.100 This is, in fact, one of my favorite, most succinct quotes of all time. 00:21:08.099 --> 00:21:15.219 What the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies. 00:21:16.559 --> 00:21:24.339 What the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies. 00:21:24.339 --> 00:21:32.740 Which is a way of saying that when we look at the teaching of the Bible about the thinking inside our heads, 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:38.240 it is not our logic that's running the program. 00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:39.459 It's our sin. 00:21:40.699 --> 00:21:44.279 The tail is, in fact, truly wagging the dog. 00:21:44.279 --> 00:21:54.819 The heart decides what we want, what we love, and the mind goes to work justifying it. 00:21:56.200 --> 00:22:01.399 And so that's why we exaggerate the sins of other people around us, 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:04.399 and then we minimize our own sins. 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:09.859 That's why we're blind to our own faults and our own prejudices. 00:22:09.859 --> 00:22:17.079 That's why, if we're wise, on the one hand, we might prepare well for the future, 00:22:17.439 --> 00:22:19.519 whether it's education or retirement, 00:22:20.179 --> 00:22:28.279 but somehow we fail to prepare for standing before the judgment seat of God. 00:22:31.099 --> 00:22:34.299 Because no one understands. 00:22:35.959 --> 00:22:37.299 Sin has a real power. 00:22:37.539 --> 00:22:38.579 It has a real presence. 00:22:38.579 --> 00:22:42.139 It plays out into the way that we think. 00:22:43.439 --> 00:22:46.139 Paul then tells us in that same verse, verse 11, 00:22:46.839 --> 00:22:48.619 no one seeks for God. 00:22:50.399 --> 00:22:54.519 Remember we talked in Romans chapter 1 that the creation itself 00:22:54.519 --> 00:22:59.619 gives us enough information for us to know there is a God that we should be looking after. 00:23:00.179 --> 00:23:04.439 But instead, Paul's reminding us we don't take that information and do with it what we ought to. 00:23:04.440 --> 00:23:10.140 We receive that information and then we go pursue whatever it was we were going to pursue all along. 00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:14.200 We're seeking not God's glory, but our own glory. 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:18.299 Now you might think, okay, that's great, but no one told me, right? 00:23:18.460 --> 00:23:22.600 No one told me that I was supposed to be seeking after God. 00:23:22.599 --> 00:23:24.699 Okay. 00:23:24.699 --> 00:23:24.779 Okay. 00:23:26.059 --> 00:23:27.759 But were you looking? 00:23:29.159 --> 00:23:30.519 Were you looking? 00:23:30.519 --> 00:23:42.339 Because Romans chapter 1 says the creation itself gives us enough information that we know that we should be looking for God. 00:23:43.299 --> 00:23:49.319 Not a God who is there to help us pursue our own comfort and peace. 00:23:49.319 --> 00:23:53.899 You might say, man, I know many people who are looking and searching spiritually. 00:23:54.919 --> 00:23:55.519 Great. 00:23:57.019 --> 00:24:00.000 What are they looking and searching for? 00:24:01.339 --> 00:24:07.500 Are they looking and searching for a God of mercy and grace and judgment and wrath? 00:24:09.259 --> 00:24:14.419 Or are they looking for a God who will give them peace and comfort and prosperity? 00:24:14.420 --> 00:24:20.300 You might say, I'm a Christian. 00:24:21.259 --> 00:24:22.620 I was looking. 00:24:23.900 --> 00:24:31.700 How can Paul say that no one seeks for him when I found myself here in this church building on Sunday morning, right? 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:34.320 I'm proof that Paul is wrong. 00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:43.700 And you know you might be here because you were truly seeking after God. 00:24:45.059 --> 00:24:46.519 But here's the catch. 00:24:47.500 --> 00:24:54.079 You were only seeking after God because God was seeking after you. 00:24:57.339 --> 00:24:59.079 Romans is the fifth gospel. 00:25:00.359 --> 00:25:03.339 Everything Paul teaches, Jesus taught first. 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:06.819 What does Jesus tell us in John chapter 6? 00:25:07.779 --> 00:25:13.359 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. 00:25:15.799 --> 00:25:21.500 No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father. 00:25:23.899 --> 00:25:25.099 You sought God? 00:25:26.379 --> 00:25:32.059 That's because and only because God was seeking you. 00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:35.939 No one understands. 00:25:36.539 --> 00:25:39.399 No one seeks for God. 00:25:42.659 --> 00:25:50.379 Paul's saying man by himself, man in his natural state, man without supernatural intervention, 00:25:50.919 --> 00:25:57.659 is blinded by his current allegiance to the wrong kingdom. 00:25:57.660 --> 00:26:03.340 John goes on to tell us the same thing in 1 John chapter 4. 00:26:04.380 --> 00:26:09.120 We love because he first loved us. 00:26:10.700 --> 00:26:12.040 No one understands. 00:26:13.100 --> 00:26:15.640 No one seeks for God. 00:26:15.640 --> 00:26:26.259 Paul gives us the last piece here in chapter 12 or verse 12. 00:26:26.920 --> 00:26:28.220 All have turned aside. 00:26:28.840 --> 00:26:30.280 Together they have become worthless. 00:26:31.100 --> 00:26:32.800 No one does good. 00:26:33.660 --> 00:26:35.980 Not even one. 00:26:35.980 --> 00:26:39.980 Paul's saying again what he said in the previous verse. 00:26:42.440 --> 00:26:44.319 No one's headed towards God. 00:26:45.059 --> 00:26:49.940 In their natural state, everyone is headed away from God. 00:26:51.019 --> 00:26:53.700 We're just a few weeks away from Advent. 00:26:54.880 --> 00:27:00.019 And so you're going to hear this probably many times in the Christian world as we're in that season. 00:27:00.019 --> 00:27:02.160 Isaiah chapter 53. 00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:05.579 All we like sheep have gone astray. 00:27:06.460 --> 00:27:12.980 We have turned everyone to his own way. 00:27:15.980 --> 00:27:21.099 And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 00:27:21.099 --> 00:27:32.419 Outside of God and his grace in the lives and hearts of individual believers 00:27:32.419 --> 00:27:38.980 that he's calling to faith and trust and salvation in himself. 00:27:39.799 --> 00:27:43.719 No one seeks God alone. 00:27:43.720 --> 00:27:52.240 If you seek God, it is because God is seeking you. 00:27:53.500 --> 00:28:02.240 If your heart is soft towards God, that is because God has softened you. 00:28:04.220 --> 00:28:07.480 Man by himself does not run towards God. 00:28:07.799 --> 00:28:10.460 He runs away from God. 00:28:10.460 --> 00:28:18.400 And that explains for us the last piece here of verse 12. 00:28:19.380 --> 00:28:21.880 No one does good, not even one. 00:28:25.180 --> 00:28:27.759 And again, you read that with a common sense understanding. 00:28:27.980 --> 00:28:31.480 You can think of many people who have done all sorts of good. 00:28:32.500 --> 00:28:35.400 You can think of people who are Christians who have done good. 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:39.720 You can think of people who are non-Christians who you've done good. 00:28:40.460 --> 00:28:47.980 And so what gives Paul the gall, the audacity, the arrogance here to say no one does good? 00:28:49.700 --> 00:28:53.759 Well, one thing that gives him that audacity is he's actually quoting the Old Testament. 00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:57.900 John already read it for us in Psalm 14. 00:28:58.759 --> 00:29:02.319 Remember, part of what Paul's doing here is he's trying to tell the Jews, 00:29:02.519 --> 00:29:05.940 hey, you actually don't understand everything you received in the Old Testament. 00:29:05.940 --> 00:29:08.660 You disagree with me here? 00:29:09.019 --> 00:29:12.519 Well, then you disagree with the scriptures that you revere. 00:29:13.720 --> 00:29:14.440 And so I got you. 00:29:15.220 --> 00:29:16.259 I've cornered you. 00:29:17.180 --> 00:29:21.000 Next week, we're going to continue with what's called this chain. 00:29:21.640 --> 00:29:23.460 Commentators call it, I think, a katina is there. 00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:24.580 I'm sure I mispronounced that. 00:29:24.660 --> 00:29:26.820 Their technical word for a chain of verses 00:29:26.819 --> 00:29:30.419 where he comes at them over and over again from the Old Testament 00:29:30.419 --> 00:29:33.259 to prove to them from their book that he's right. 00:29:35.099 --> 00:29:38.359 But no one does good in this sense, 00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:43.279 that their good is pointed in the wrong direction, 00:29:44.279 --> 00:29:49.359 that their good is done as they have the wrong allegiance. 00:29:49.359 --> 00:29:55.000 Their good is done as they hold the wrong passport. 00:29:56.279 --> 00:30:02.879 Their good is done as they're under the power and the penalty of sin. 00:30:03.979 --> 00:30:07.199 And so no one has done good in this sense, 00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:13.359 that no one has done good in the direction of the kingdom of God. 00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:20.559 Again, Paul's not saying anything that Jesus has not taught first. 00:30:20.959 --> 00:30:23.439 Remember the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 6. 00:30:23.799 --> 00:30:24.759 Jesus says this, 00:30:25.839 --> 00:30:29.479 When you give to the needy, sound no trumpets before you, 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:34.199 as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, 00:30:34.539 --> 00:30:36.979 that they may be praised by others. 00:30:36.980 --> 00:30:43.539 Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. 00:30:45.140 --> 00:30:47.860 He's saying they've done good in one sense. 00:30:48.700 --> 00:30:51.000 They haven't done good in another sense. 00:30:51.480 --> 00:30:55.680 They've done it for the wrong reason in the wrong direction. 00:30:56.660 --> 00:30:58.079 Jesus says something similar. 00:30:58.180 --> 00:31:00.160 Luke chapter 16, he says this, 00:31:01.099 --> 00:31:04.599 You are those who justify yourselves before men, 00:31:04.599 --> 00:31:07.459 but God knows your hearts. 00:31:08.039 --> 00:31:15.219 For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. 00:31:16.259 --> 00:31:18.099 The short answer then is this, 00:31:19.319 --> 00:31:24.579 How can Paul say that no one does good when we see good being done all around us? 00:31:25.099 --> 00:31:29.159 The answer is that we have the wrong definition of good. 00:31:29.160 --> 00:31:35.320 Good done for the wrong reason pointed in the wrong direction. 00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:41.500 Paul here is giving us his closing argument from chapters 1 through 3. 00:31:42.019 --> 00:31:45.820 I've told you before, he's coming at this from so many different angles 00:31:45.820 --> 00:31:49.580 because he wants to close every door of escape. 00:31:50.259 --> 00:31:55.040 Any direction someone might want to run to get away from Paul's conclusion 00:31:55.039 --> 00:31:57.619 that everyone has sinned in the sight of God 00:31:57.619 --> 00:32:00.639 and everyone's deserving of God's punishment. 00:32:00.859 --> 00:32:05.460 Any way we could wiggle out, Paul wants to stop us. 00:32:06.420 --> 00:32:08.720 And he's saying this, in this final argument here, 00:32:08.759 --> 00:32:14.440 he's saying, look, sin is so bad that it is like a power or a rain. 00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:20.180 Sin is so bad that it is like an infection that's taken over your whole body. 00:32:20.180 --> 00:32:21.820 It's even worse than that. 00:32:21.880 --> 00:32:24.920 In fact, it's not just an infection, it's a cancer. 00:32:26.140 --> 00:32:31.279 It is a new and powerful presence within you. 00:32:31.820 --> 00:32:33.320 So Paul closes all the doors. 00:32:33.500 --> 00:32:36.860 He refutes all the excuses so that we would see this, 00:32:37.720 --> 00:32:41.100 how desperate our condition is. 00:32:42.820 --> 00:32:44.120 And as I've told you before, 00:32:44.119 --> 00:32:50.899 the gospel is the news that we must change and we cannot change ourselves. 00:32:52.459 --> 00:32:56.019 We need salvation from somewhere else. 00:32:57.119 --> 00:32:59.000 In fact, it is so bad, 00:32:59.559 --> 00:33:04.479 we can't even seek it without God's help. 00:33:07.779 --> 00:33:10.699 And so he's going to go on and we're going to look at this in just a couple weeks. 00:33:10.879 --> 00:33:11.819 Paul will say this. 00:33:12.239 --> 00:33:13.739 This is what he's preparing us for. 00:33:14.119 --> 00:33:16.019 Romans chapter 3, verse 22. 00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:22.939 The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. 00:33:24.279 --> 00:33:25.659 We have no righteousness. 00:33:26.479 --> 00:33:29.439 There must be righteousness from somewhere else. 00:33:30.419 --> 00:33:35.899 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God 00:33:35.899 --> 00:33:40.239 and are justified by his grace as a gift 00:33:40.239 --> 00:33:43.639 through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. 00:33:44.119 --> 00:33:50.559 Do you know that you need to change? 00:33:53.059 --> 00:33:57.219 Do you know that you're broken even in your ability to think clearly? 00:33:57.220 --> 00:34:03.319 Because what the heart loves, the will chooses and the mind justifies. 00:34:03.319 --> 00:34:11.800 Do you know that by yourself, you cannot and will not seek God? 00:34:11.800 --> 00:34:19.400 There is, in fact, only one way out. 00:34:19.400 --> 00:34:22.280 And we're going to sing about it now. 00:34:22.280 --> 00:34:52.260 In other words, 00:34:52.280 --> 00:34:55.560 You bore the wrath reserved for me. 00:34:55.560 --> 00:34:59.980 Now all I know is grace. 00:34:59.980 --> 00:35:01.780 Let's pray. 00:35:01.780 --> 00:35:07.260 Our Father in heaven, we do praise you and thank you for your word, 00:35:07.260 --> 00:35:15.540 which tells us the bad news that we can't wiggle out of your judgment and our sin 00:35:15.540 --> 00:35:17.720 and reminds us of the good news, 00:35:17.940 --> 00:35:24.420 that you do come and change hearts and minds of stone to hearts and minds of flesh. 00:35:24.420 --> 00:35:26.800 We ask that you would do that for us this morning, 00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:31.420 that you'd fill us again with an understanding of our great need for the gospel, 00:35:32.200 --> 00:35:35.659 and you'd show us your mercy as you meet us at that very same point of need. 00:35:35.659 --> 00:35:39.299 And we ask all of these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. 00:35:39.679 --> 00:35:39.899 Amen. 00:35:39.900 --> 00:35:42.720 I invite you to stand for our...