Morning Message: The Unregenerate Man

Bobservations' Column
Title - "The Unregenerate Man"
Written by: Pastor Bob Lawrenz

After last week’s study in the beginning of Romans 3, Paul asks a rhetorical question of the Jews dwelling inn Rome: “Are we better than they?” Is God unrighteous because He takes vengeance? To say that God is unrighteous would be a blasphemous lie! So, clearly Paul’s question needs no reply, because the Jews were guilty of the same things as the gentile heathens. Yet, the Jews had God’s Law(s) passed down to them through Moses.

God’s Chosen People garnered much favor from the Lord, but they ignored His laws as much as did the heathens. This is evidence of a broken relationship. It is the curse of sin as it was passed down to us from Adam. Obedience to God took on many gray areas for the Jews, and the priests of the Temple fostered it by their own hypocrisy. In verse 5, Paul describes the human rationalization, human thinking, because God gave man an intellect. The natural man will always choose that way of thinking, but the Spiritual man will set his human thoughts aside and ask himself if his thoughts are according to God’s will for him. King David wrote of this in the Psalms, as he asked Jehovah to examine his heart and reveal any wicked way in him. It’s the residual sin nature that begs to come out, and the Gospels teach us to lay it aside, and even to put it to death, that we might please God.

The answer to Paul’s question though, is found in James 4:6, “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore He saith God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.” God’s grace is given freely to those that adopt His ways as their own, as exemplified by the Lord Jesus… Not my will, Lord, but thine be done!

The human intellect pales in comparison with God’s (Isaiah 55:7-9). While it’s true that He made us in His image, that image consists of body, mind, and spirit. How sad that as humans, we focus on things we have in common with Jesus: two legs, two arms, a torso, and a brain. Yet the natural man has a tendency to use his legs to run to mischief, seeking only to fulfill his own desires. Mischief (sin) is not the product of a God-fearing world.

God’s grace is indeed abundant, but only to those that are seeking Him.

From Psalm 139:33-34,

“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Bobservations' Column:  Audio Version

Sunday Morning Audio Message:

Romans 3:9-20 - "The Unregenerate Man"

This morning as we come to Paul’s final section on sinfulness of man, his summary of this whole discourse of the bad news of the Gospel, he delivers to us the ultimate testimony, the undeniable testimony, the testimony of Scripture. Beginning in verse 10 and going through verse 18 Paul as if standing in a courtroom presents to the court the testimony of God’s own Word as seen in the Old Testament. This whole section can be divided as if it is taking place in a courtroom with first the charge being read, then the indictment, which is God’s testimony, and finally the ruling of the court, the verdict. In this testimony of God’s Word, it shows His perfect view of man.

If you ever wondered if you were measuring up... you're not. Not at all. If you ever thought even a part of you earned God's favor or somehow you provoked Him to overlook your sin by the things you've done or by the things you've abstained from doing, you didn't (Rom. 9:16, James 2:10). Why? Because you have no bargaining chip before God (Rom. 11:35). If our study through Romans thus far didn't clear that up, let these verses tell you it very plainly as Paul intended it to be. God who delights in righteousness (Jer. 9:24) looked down and found none.

Paul thus far in Romans has walked us through scripture, facts, and sound reasoning in order to give us understanding, now tells us plainly to our face. Paul who first showed us that according to scripture, nature, logic, experience, and evidence that we are not right with God. Now, to those who may be left hanging onto the law; Paul tells them very plainly from that very law, we are bankrupt (Matt. 5:3). We have nothing to offer God (Psalm 8:3-4, 144:3, Job 7:17) and you're clinging to a sinking ship.

As Christians, especially those of us who are legalists, we like to think we are "good" sinners. In the back of our minds we measure our merits according to a standard of our own, grasping for something to hold onto that will declare us an "okay person". In our own minds we victimize ourselves (to avoid blame) our change our standards (to avoid judgement). Paul here wants us to recognize that there is no such thing as an "upright thief" nor is there an "honest liar". If we rob a bank but in the process vow to not hurt anyone, we're still a robber. Oh but such declarations help us avoid guilt doesn't it. Let the Romans road which comes to a point in these verses sink in. The law has found you guilty of being a sinner. The law which was intended for our good, to show us the right way of living (Rom. 7:10), because of the weakness of our flesh (Matt. 26:41, Rom. 8:3), has only pointed out to us our shortcomings "for through the law comes the knowledge of sin" (v20).

Paul declares that all people—both Jews and gentiles—are under the power of sin and cannot be justified through the Law.

Romans 3:9–20 is the conclusion of a longer section of the letter that begins in 1:18. In this section, Paul argues that all people—both gentiles and Jews—have some awareness or knowledge of God, whether through experience of the world and the testimony of one’s conscience, or, in the case of the Jews, also through the Law that God gave them. Despite this knowledge, both groups have failed to properly honor God and have instead turned away from God, manifested by not living in accordance with God’s will (as they have come to understand it). Therefore, all people—Jews and gentiles alike—are subject to God’s impartial judgment.

Paul powerfully brings this argument to completion in 3:9–20. Although he acknowledges in 3:1–8 that Jewish people have an advantage that gentiles do not because God gave them the Scriptures, in 3:9–20 he clarifies that even so, Jews and gentiles (referred to in 3:9 as Greeks) are equally under sin and not able to be justified (that is, brought into right relationship with God) by observance of the scriptural Law. Paul, in fact, presents a chain of Scriptural citations in 3:10–18 to show that the very Scriptures the Jews received testify to the fact that no one is righteous. This illustrates the bold claim Paul makes in 3:9 that all people are equally “under the power of sin.” Although “sin” has various nuances of meaning throughout Romans, here and elsewhere in the letter, Paul characterizes it as a force that seeks to dominate people and thus alienates them from God (e.g., Romans 6:12–14; 7:8–11). Rather than freeing people from sin, the Law brings awareness of sin (3:20).

Sunday Morning Audio Message:  

Key Words and Definitions with Reference:

Are We Better . . .? (3:9) - "We" probably refers to the Christians in Rome who would receive this letter.  Christians do not have an intrinsically superior nature to all those Paul has shown to stand under God's condemnation. 

All Under Sin (3:9) - The important passage from Romans 3:9-23 should make it clear to everyone that there is no one who is righteous enough before a holy God to earn his own salvation.  If anyone wishes ever to be saved and to receive eternal life, he must first of all recognize himself as a guilty sinner before God - in fact, dead spiritually, in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).  Some liberal pastors, counselors and evangelists seem inclined to bypass this essential point in trying to enlist converts, and this is a dangerous, soul-destroying error.

As it is Written (3:10) - The common introduction to Old Testament quotations.  The tense of the Greek verb emphasizes continuity and permanence, and implies its divine authority. 

There are None Righteous (3:10) - Mankind is universally evil. The human dilemma is this: God is holy, and we are not. God is righteous, and we are not. Our righteousness is a myth, but by no means a harmless one. Nothing is more perilous than for an unrighteous person to rest his future hope in an illusion. If God requires perfect righteousness and perfect holiness to survive His perfect judgment, then we are left with a serious problem. Either we rest our hope in our own righteousness, which is altogether inadequate, or we flee to another’s righteousness, an alien righteousness, a righteousness not our own inherently. The only place such perfect righteousness can be found is in Christ—that is the good news of the gospel.

None...Understands (3:10) - Man is unable to comprehend the truth of God or grasp His standard of righteousness (see Psalm s 14:2; 53:3; cf. 1 Corinthians 2:14).  Sadly, his spiritual ignorance does not result from a lake of opportunity (1:19, 20; 2:15), but is an expression of his sinful state, rebellion (Ephesians 4:18).

None...Seeks (3:10) - See Psalm 14:2.   This verse clearly implies that the world's false religions are fallen man's attempts to escape the true God - not to seek Him.  Man's natural tendency is to seek his own interests (cf. Philippians 2:21), but his only hope is for God to seek him (John 6:37, 44).  It is only as a result of god's work in the heart that anyone seeks Him (Psalm 16:8; Matthew 6:33).

Turned Aside (3:12) - See Psalm 14:3.   This word basically means "to lean in the wrong direction."  It was used to describe a soldier's running the wrong way, or deserting.  All people are inclined to leave God's way and purse their own (cf. Isaiah 53:6). 

Open Tomb (3:13) See Psalm 5:9.   Tombs were sealed not only to show respect for the deceased, but to hide the sight and stench of the body's decay.  As an unsealed tomb allows those who pass to see and smell what is inside,  the unregenerate person's open throat - that is, the foul words that come from it - reveal the decay of his heart (cf. Proverbs 10:31, 32; 15:2,, 28; Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 12:34, 35; 15:18; James 3:1-12).

Asps (3:13) - Paul moves from throat to tongue to lips and a quote from Psalm 140:3. There, David referred to evil men with the venom of asps—deadly snakes—under their lips. In other words, words from the mouths of his enemies could quickly poison and kill.

Cursing (3:14) - This is quoted from Psalm 10:7. It refers to wanting the worst for someone and publicly expressing that desire in caustic, derisive language. 

Bitterness (3:14) - The open, public expression of emotional hostility against one's enemy (cf. Psalm 64:3, 4).

Destruction and Misery (3:16) - Man damages and destroys everything he touches, leaving a trail of pain and suffering in his wake.

Way of Peace (3:17) - Not the lack of an inner sense of peace, but man's tendency toward strife and conflict, whether between individuals or nations (cf. Jeremiah 6:14).

Fear of God (3:18) - See Psalm 36:1. Man's true spiritual condition is nowhere more clearly seen than in the absence of a proper submission to and reverence for God.  Biblical fear for God consists of: (1) awe of His greatness and glory, and (2) dread of the results of violating that holy nature.

Those...Under the Law (3:19) - Every unredeemed human being.  Jews received the written law through Moses (3:2), and Gentiles have the works of the law written on their hearts (2:15), so that both groups are accountable to God.

Every Mouth...Stopped...Guilty (3:19) - There is no defense against the guilty verdict God pronounces on the entire human race.

Deeds of the Law (3:20) - Doing perfectly what God's moral law requires is impossible, so that every person is cursed by that inability.

By the Law is the Knowledge of Sin (3:20) - The law makes sin known, but cannot save.