Under Sin — Don McClure

Humanity Under the Power of Sin

All right Romans chapter 3 tonight and as we continue on with this To me. I did a tremendous study on sin. Not something a lot of people like to deal with but I think one of the most important things to deal with In all of life and we're picking it up tonight in Romans chapter 3 verse 9.

We'll have to we get a little bit late here. So We'll have to move it on here a little bit faster tonight. So Romans 3 9 What then are we better than they know and no wise for we have before proved? That both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin as it is written.

There is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that understand it. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They're all together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.

No, not one. The throat is an open sepulcher. Their tongues. They have used to seat the poison of ass is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursings and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood.

Destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace. They have not known and there is no fear of God Before their eyes here. Paul is giving quite an indictment here against us all as human beings and.

So we need to stop and take a good look at this but let's pray and then we'll look at it father. We do. Thank you again and again and again for your word Lord, may there never be a day in our life that we aren't Grateful for it and may it constantly be more important to us than our necessary food.

Maybe we want to partake continuously again and again of your word. Hear what it has to say to us Lord. Even if the things that it has to say sometimes are very convicting or they show us how hopeless we are.

But Lord that at the same time is that which magnifies your love? Magnifies the work of redemption the cross that we've celebrated tonight the forgiveness of our sins. Lord, we ask that as we study it tonight that you would just open our hearts.

We wouldn't argue with it and wouldn't have to defend ourselves. But rather than that Lord, we can just come and open our heart and say God your word is true now speak to me in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Paul's Indictment and the Total Depravity of Humanity

Well here Paul now he continues his brief as I have kind of thought of this and called it a number of times as if an attorney has gone before the Supreme Court to present his case and Here for chip for three chapters Paul is doing something I don't think it's found anywhere else in the Bible quite like this.

Because really from the first half essentially the first chapter all the way through the end of chapter 3. Essentially Paul is going through one indictment after another after another after another one argument after another one Explanation one after another where he finally is going to come we won't get there tonight in 323 where he says all have sinned and by the time he says all is sinned.

Virtually anybody who has listened to his argument up until then has got to agree with it. It's really indisputable and when you would when you would look at it and study it and He Paul is systematically Working towards I believe that verse.

Coming to the place where hope ultimately every person has got to realize I am a sinner. Here he tells us in verse 9 of chapter 3. He says what then are we better than they know and no wise. For we have before proved that both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin.

So he said I've already proven the fact that both Jews and Gentiles Yeah, you know are all under sin and nobody has one right to look at anybody else in all the world and say they're a bigger sinner than me and Or I'm a bigger sinner than then we're all under sin and here when Paul the the first thing he has to say here Essentially is he makes again kind of a broad statement and then he's going to spend the rest of this section here arguing for it Presenting it but he essentially here.

He says all of humanity all are under sin. That is all under the power of sin as he essentially is what it means in verse 9 when Paul uses the word under sin He literally means in under its power. The word that is used there in Greek it's hoopoe her merit in and the word hoopoe simply means under the power of under the dominion of under the authority of.

Essentially here when when a centurion in the Bible when he makes reference to Jesus that he has men Under me, you know, he uses the word hoopoe Emation which means under my command. He looks there and he says I'm a commander I have been under my command subject to my command a slave in the Bible is hoopoe Zagon that means under the yoke of his master under his power.

Well here Paul says the Christless man the man outside of God's love God's mercy God's grace that has yet to come in to the Regenerating work the forgiving the atoning work of Christ that we've celebrated tonight the person that is without it.

He is somebody that he is hoopoe her merit and he is under the command. He is under the authority is under the yoke. Essentially under the power the control of sin and it's a power that he cannot escape from.

There is no escaping from it at all. That's true of all people essentially the whole whole world. The whole planet the whole globe everybody on it like that little nursery song used to sing in Sunday school.

You know red and yellow black and white. We're all wretched sinners in his sight. Jesus knows we're all the sinners of the world or something like that. I can't remember exactly how it was. I didn't I didn't listen much in Sunday school.

But anyway. But here Paul he's wanting me to he's going to go on and reinforce he makes a statement we are all under its power. There is no escape of it no escape at all. Essentially here and as he goes on wanting to reinforce this truth this statement that here he makes he puts together.

Something that was rather customary in Jewish teaching the way that the rabbis would oftentimes Teach is they would string together a collection of verses like oftentimes I suppose many good teachers do there's a point that they want to bring and bringing that point.

They will just go collect from the Bible a lot of verses that point again and again and again one after another to it. And as he strings them together here, he Paul in this section that we have just read earlier He quotes Psalm 14 1 through 3 Psalm 5 9 Psalm 140 verse 3 Psalm 10 verse 7 Isaiah 59 verses 7 and 8 and Psalm 36 1 and as he puts these together.

It is something he is using. What is again in Jewish teaching by the rabbis? It was called a charaz in the word charaz. It actually means stringing of pearls and When a rabbi would be teaching it was like he would take one verse after another after another after another and he would make a charaz.

He would string these truths together and to bring home a point. Well here essentially Paul does this very same thing that they were very used to seeing he takes and he strings together pearls. My father-in-law before he went to heaven.

He used to always all the time when I'd see him day after day or call him on the phone one of his first thing He always said to me. Well, Don, do you have any pearls for me? And he was constantly just asked for something.

Maybe I'd read that day something that the Lord had showed me or whatever. But but that's the here Paul. It was like he he could string together a verse after another after another and he puts them all together as he gathers here from Isaiah as he gathers from the Psalms and puts these things together.

He makes this string of pearls and as he strings them together He ultimately by the time we're through with this in a few moments He brings home the point of what theologians have called all the way through church history.

Essentially nothing new about this at all, but the total depravity of man. He is going to bring home the great point that man essentially is absolutely totally Hopelessly depraved has no hope at all within himself left alone.

He is absolutely definitely totally completely Lost and to deny I suppose the depravity of man as some would even want to do I don't know why but it's also though to deny the total glory of God in the power and the wonder of our salvation.

So on one hand the wonderful thing in the Christian life is to be able to realize the absolute hopelessness. But that magnifies the glory of our salvation in the love of God that just didn't what has he was one alternative.

No, he wasn't one alternative. He is the only alternative. Otherwise man is lost totally and here Paul essentially as he gives us here He kind of blink gives us a string of Old Testament quotes where he says there is none righteous.

There is none that understands none that seek God. There are none that are prophet none that do good and he doesn't really leave any room for leniency. He just lays them out. Quotes the scriptures puts them together absolutely nobody.

None at all. And to look at those the first thing that he has to say there is there is none righteous as he says there in verse 10 the first one he quotes out of Psalm 14 3 and As it says there are all gonna say Aside, they're all together become filthy.

There is none that doeth good. No, not one but here of course Moses. Here he had told the children of Israel that of course that they were sinners. He had told them that they didn't do right and that they were unrighteous.

He had taught them that they knew that and he actually instructed them before they were to come into the land in Deuteronomy 12 8. He told them and when you get him to the promised land and you're walking with God the way you want.

He said you should not do after all the things that we do here this day. Every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. You see here, you know a lot of people just think if they're doing right in their own eyes.

If they're just doing what they really believe is they would look at a situation and say I want to discover right and do it. I want to do the right thing. I want to say the right thing. I want to express the right attitude.

I want to be absolutely right here. Moses told the children of Israel. Don't try that when you get into God's will. You don't do what is right in your own eyes. The difference between a child of God and a lost man trying to get saved is whether they're doing away if they're doing something right in their own eyes.

It completely wrong. Over and over it tells about the children of Israel when they were in trouble and judges 17 6. It says and in those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Judges 21 25 in those days. There was not no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Proverbs 12 15 says the way of a fool is right in his own eyes. And here a foolish man is somebody he just simply does what he believes is right in his own eyes as he Deciphers the information collects it evaluates it deals with it when then he even says not wrong.

We think somebody is a sinner if they're doing what's wrong in their own eyes. Now the Bible says if you're even doing what is right? You're a you are still Unrighteous here. Paul says about men about human beings.

There is none Righteous, even the man who thinks that he does what is right? You know, we have this great tendency as Jesus told the Pharisees, you know, he says you measure yourselves by one another.

We think we're right only because the person next to us did something wrong. And therefore if we got a whole bunch of people doing something that we know is wrong and we tried to do right we think We did the righteous thing.

And Paul is gonna carry this on he's not gonna let up on this thing. But so often I suppose in one of the interesting things in prison I used to preach at the LA County Jail and been around them and number of times to go in and visit people.

And one of the interesting things about prison life is that there's a code of what is right within even all the prisoners. Many prisoners in fact, it's interesting if somebody gets thrown into prison for something like a child molesting.

Or they do something, you know in that category now all the cry in all prison. That's a terrible thing. They all have a kind of an unwritten code. I mean a lot of them are in there for things like murder, but hey, sometimes you just got a murder.

But if you buddy, I mean sometimes it just calls for murder and there's enough of them there that did it that that's true. I mean this don't you agree? Let's have a word democracy in here. Let's vote on it.

How many think murders? Okay, and the next thing, you know, you'll get enough that says it's not bad. Sometimes you just got to do it and sometimes you just got to steal you got to embezzle. I mean you just gotta do it.

And so we're all here because of the fact that they're just a bunch of people out there. They know you got to do it and then I'll get upset when they catch you doing it or whatever else, but they justify it.

But then somebody does something to a child and they'll kill him literally. They say now that's wrong. On TV the other night. I literally watched a thing where they had, you know, I'm done TV on the news.

There was two Fellas, they're being you know. Stand behind the glass and being charged for something and as they were being charged there. They are both in their orange outfits chained together and they're just standing there and one of them as he is being charged.

He is B. I think the other guy was for murder. But when the guy who was but when he was in there for child molesting the guy that was chained to him who was in For murder looked over at this guy. For child molesting and literally hauled up there chained in behind this thing starts wailing on him beat him into a pulp.

He just jumps on him. They go down the police are in there. Everybody's bailiffs pulling him off because that guy looking at he says you did what you know, I did see terrible person. But he was right in this time.

He had to do that. Well, that's essentially as Paul looks he says this is the mentality of everybody in our prison. We're all fallen. We're all under guilt. We're all incarcerated on this planet is sinners and we have our own little unwritten things.

But as far as the ultimate truth about man is all are unrighteous. Everyone in there we just set different standards for it. And then he goes on in verse 11 in the first part. There is none that understands.

He said not only are all unrighteous and he says all are unreasonable is What it means there nobody understands he says people are without reasoning. They have lost the capacity to reason once you're unrighteous.

Sin's Blinding Effect on Spiritual Understanding

You're all you then become unreasonable. Paul says in first Corinthians 2 for the natural man receiveth not The things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him man looks at the things of God the natural man.

If you ever notice this on how so many natural men can be brilliant IQs that just seem to have left the planet. They're so smart and guys that have the ability to do some unbelievable things with science and with technology and with medicine I mean an intelligence of brilliance that is astounding as since you see here.

We are doing heart transplants liver transplants kidney transplants. I don't know when we'll start brain transplants. I want to be in that line, I suppose but anyway a Poor guy that has to trade I suppose anyway, but the I mean we're filling the heavens with satellites.

We even talked now about you know, the Hubble Telescope and the suggestion that we may even see creation I mean with this thing and the awesome things people are doing which would be quite a sight when all of a sudden the Camera comes in.

There's this big hand. Flinging something out. Whoa who put their hand in front of the camera. God, but anyway, but the thing is but sin at the same time. The result is as brilliant as man can be the things that we are able and capable of doing yet the blinding power of sin has kept man so unreasonable that he's as Thick as a caveman when it comes to spiritual things.

You look at these brilliant human beings that have learned most anything. It seems like you can learn and yet they're as dense as ever when it comes to the things of God. Sin is so corrupted. It's so weakened is so ruined the mind of a natural man.

That his mind actually it becomes unreasonable. It cannot function. Sunday morning Chuck mentioned on how the children of Israel here after these terrible 40 years of slavery crying out to God by reason their Taskmasters the terrible slavery and they get out and they're no sooner out and they look back and said, you know.

Israel's Irrational Longing for Egypt

We remember the leeks and the melons and the onions and the garlic that we did so freely in Egypt. And you're looking I beg your pardon. What is if we want to go back? I? Mean first of all here the interesting thing is they never ate that stuff.

They were slaves. Secondly, it gave me indigestion if you ever did and you would remember he ate all leeks and melons and onions and garlic and here. Let's go have a wonderful meal. I mean you'd remember that dinner.

But here is something to where we remember it, but it didn't happen but on how the spiritual mind when it gets twisted it loses all sense of reality of what there really is and. Then we come up with with all the you look at the religious thought of the world and how odd some of these brilliant people are.

These geniuses of people and yet you'll talk to them about spiritual things and they say, you know I believe that it doesn't make any difference what a man believes as long as he's sincere. And you say really?

That's this. Let me write that down. That's the word of it. That's a brilliant genius told me that but here when you stop to think I suppose this very hour. Hundreds of millions of people on this planet when it comes to things eternal believe that exact same thing.

I believe that if you are sincere. Now I wonder where that guy got that the reasoning here. He is a brilliant mathematician. I wonder if any of his math teachers ever thought hey, look. We don't really care how you multiply divide add subtract or anything here.

Just write down an answer and if you're sincere we'll use it, you know or something I I wonder how far we would have got in space. You know with this type of thinking Just be sincere. There are laws that are fixed and he knows that.

You imagine going into a geography class being given a man empty map of the United States in Geography and saying here is the outline now just write in there the states and where the capitals are and what the name of the capital is and if you're really sincere We'll change the name of the state to whatever you write, you know, I mean or something I mean what logic is it is these brilliant minds actually believe sincerity counts for something you imagine a physicist scientist if you're sincere just Step off of the 20-story building.

With the cape and a big red s on your chest and if you're sincere you can be Superman. I Don't care how sincere you are. You will be super Plot, you know or something in a moment. I mean what? Sincerity means nothing and yet millions of people.

I don't know why this guy I never had a professor that went for that. I tried right where I could write a whole paragraph knowing nothing, but just fill it in with sincerity. None of them went for it.

They could see right through it. But on how we do these things. We have people that literally in philosophy and psychology and even religions in Eastern one that just say Let it go Turn over a new leaf.

Breathe in breathe out. Release the past and now turn over a new leaf and we just Turn over this new leaf, you know or something that just kind of happens and yet at the same time The Bible says God require it that which is past.

God says, oh, no, you don't. You don't turn over any leaves with me. I wonder how many businessmen would actually these guys that believe they're gonna turn over a new leaf. How would they like if one of their you know person that owns owes them thousands of dollars?

Just wrote him a letter and say, you know this weekend. I turned over a new leaf. All is gone. So I'm not going to pay you what I owe you. I'm just I'm just starting fresh and I'm going to pay you from now on out.

I mean they would look there and write right back hey, I'm not forgetting the past and neither are the courts you're going to jail, you know, or whatever but spiritually. They'll believe They can turn over a new leaf.

Try harder do better. Indeed here Paul says no one understands. When you become unrighteous Unrighteous you become unreasonable. You become unreasonable with yourself unreasonable with God and then the result when you're unreasonable.

The Unresponsive Heart and False Religion

You're Unresponsive because he says in verse 11 as well. There is none that understand. There is none that seek God and Here he looks now at this point. Somebody might say. Oh, wait a minute here the whole world is filled with temples and with churches and with synagogues and with sex or with religions and very very deep spiritual people that spend their entire lives in monasteries seeking truth.

Doing all that can be wonderful and you are gonna tell me nobody seeks God. I think there's billions of people seeking him. Well, first of all Paul didn't say this Bible said it. Paul quoted that from the scriptures when he says there is none that seeketh God and he also and sent 1st Corinthians 6 and 10 Pardon me in 1020 Paul I think gives us a little light when he says there's none that seek God for here Paul says but I say that the things With the jet which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils and not to God and I would not that he should have fellowship with devils.

Paul's analysis of the world religions is that it's something that people that are unrighteous and Unreasonable create as a substitute for God. And here he looks at all of these things. He says they're merely spiritual though.

They're spiritual. All right, but they're not God. They're distractions and diversions from from Jehovah. From from the true God the one true God. They are not things that are after him their religious experience is trying to fill in for the God.

They don't know they're unrighteous against that. They're unreasonable about and now they become hardened and actually unresponsive to him. They're not seeking God. They're seeking religion. They're sinking seeking some way that might pay off Their failures and here Paul he just says when then you get a look at the rest of the world and all of its ways of worshipping and Sacrificing is behind it or spiritual forces not of God and.

And here is something just set up essentially by demons themselves. Jesus says that no man comes to the father except by me and he says and no man can come to the father unless I draw him. And Here it is something there that that the the work of redemption the work of becoming responsive is because God begins seeking us.

Bible says we love him because he first loved us. Jesus even told his disciples who thought they'd left their nets. Thought they'd left their careers thought they made all sorts of choices of their own volition.

But yet Jesus one day after three years with them. He said you did not choose me. I Chose you and ordained you. My hand is upon you. I've called you. I'm quickening you. I am doing the work and Here it is is something that that only you know, God can do.

Spiritual Death and the Necessity of Regeneration

Essentially the Bible tells us we can't seek him because we're dead in our trespasses and sins. Not will be dead. God told Adam in the garden the day in which thou sinnest in Hebrew. It's literally present progressive dying thou shalt surely die.

You'll die that very moment you sin. To go on progressively to ultimately die. You'll have a death that'll result in death in the moment Adam died God took his presence his spirit his life out of Adam a three-dimensional being spirit soul and body.

But that moment he sinned he died. Spiritually he remained bodily alive and soulishly active for a period of years in this wonderful Grace period God gave man to repent and say I miss you. I miss your spirit.

I miss your life. But he was dead. The wages in his death not will be we're all ready. We're born dead and Just like your parents told you you were born dead kid. Well, they were whatever they were thinking who knows but as far as eternal things.

We were. David said I was conceived in iniquity. I was all together born in sin. Was born outside of the life flow of God's love of his power. Fortunately God calls us, but we can't raise ourself from the dead.

We can't you know dead people don't seek anything. You know, they're you know, and you put a guy in a tomb and you know, it is like well now. Well, you know, let's leave a little crack in it because maybe he'll get tired of being dead.

And he'll want to come back to life and whatever he's gonna do, you know think it over. You know, well, they don't do that dead people tend to stay dead. And so also spiritually people we don't seek him until he does something.

Well, but not only then are we Unresponsive but the result is in verse 12 were unrepentant and it says they are gone out of the way. They're all together become unprofitable and there is none that do it good.

No, not one and here he turns now and he says the result of all of this. When you're you know, you're unrighteous. You're unreasonable. You're unresponsive you end up to be unrepentant. Then the result is there they've all gone out of the way and when he's talking there about the way He says the result of this is that man has lost the way of life.

He has lost the way to live the way to experience life it means they're the way it means a Designated path a predetermined method of acceptable living and he says man as a result of this he has gone out of the way every one of them.

The way that we were made to be the life that we were made to live. We're not living it all of us. It's as if the Wright brothers, you know Orville and Wilbur one day when they decided they'd do out their plans and made up this airplane.

Drew it up put it together. You know got the whole thing up and going and then they kind of take their little flight and decide hey, this is really good we made an airplane and then on the second flight they kind of Hit a tree limb and it knocks the wing off and and somebody else comes along and well.

Let's knock the other wing off and let's make a car out of it. You know or something and then they just go driving around the streets it'd be a little dangerous I suppose if you're a pedestrian, but it'd be quick I suppose.

But anyway, the thing is is let's make a car. Let's do this and they make something else with it. It no matter what they make of it. It has gone out of the way. Orville and Wilbur Wright would forever look at whatever we've done with it.

I Don't need to say I don't care what you do with it. You can use it to beat eggs. You can do with it to ride to the grocery store. You can do it to use it to Dry your clothes, you know or something, but you've gone out of the way.

It is not what it was created to be and by that identity. It has now become unprofitable for he says they've gone out of the way and they've become Unprofitable. The word they're unprofitable. It means Well for this literally unprofitable, but it means useless and unserviceable.

God now looks at men though. Our heart is beaten and our blood is flow and we're talking and walking and doing things we have become entirely unserviceable for eternal things for the real creative Design and then as a refer the result there is none that doeth good.

No not one. God now looks at all human beings. The verdict on fallen man is no matter what you do in your fallen state. It is no good. It will not work and here. It's something that we you may be a good person.

A lot of people say wait a minute a lot of people do good things. No, they don't Good as far as you know, the prison mentality is concerned. As far as the jailhouse standards of what's good. Yeah helped a little old lady across the street I gave money to build a park bench, you know, or so I did that's a good thing.

You want to say that's not a good thing. No, that's a good thing. But not as far as God's concerned. Any more than if that if you you know somebody came and stole a million dollars from you and you watched him take a Thousand bucks and buy a park bench with it.

You would tend to say no that was not a good thing because that's mine and Whatever they did with it on their agreed evaluation of good. Is they stole it? They're stolen lives stolen hearts stolen thoughts stolen minds.

Stolen bodies all doing whatever they want to with them and God has this way of looking at all this thing and he says you're entirely Unprofitable and as a result nobody does anything good and then the result of that in verse 13 is that the Results in wicked words.

For in verse 13, it says their throat is an open sepulcher their tongues They have used for deceit the poison of ath is under their lips whose mouth is full of cursings and bitterness. God now looks at men when they when he watches us talk.

He watches us speak High and wonderful and gifted and brilliant things high IQs and doing all the scientific Things that we do that. We say this is great. And this is wonderful God's commentary on the whole thing as he watches it.

He says every time you open your mouth you're lying. Every time you say a word you're lying you're lying about God you're lying about man. You're lying about yourself. You're lying about why you exist and what you're truly were made for.

Everything you may be on your own little level of agreed Commentary on life and saying in the jailhouse thought of it. Well, this is what I'm doing with my life. This is what I'm doing with mine. And this is good and I'm think I'm pretty good and I'm not as bad as that of the guy.

But God looks and he says every word you utter Is a lie. It isn't my word. It isn't my love. It isn't my life. It isn't heaven that's flowing through you. It's earth. It's man. It's yourself and he looks there.

He says their throat is an open sepulcher. What a comment here God, I mean when you Hadn't think of it of a somebody's mouth as an open sepulcher an Open tomb, you know, I mean here that I mean there's you open it up and there's a dead body inside and they tend to stink.

You know sort of a thing here God looks everything you say stinks to me. Remember when Lazarus when he was dead and Jesus, you know, we we do nice things to bodies these days to make them stink less or Not start stinking for longer or whatever else with formaldehyde and other sorts of things, but Basically, you just let a body die and sit there and over in the East where they don't do that stuff.

They bury him that day. They don't sit around and say here. Why don't in three days? We'll just have all the friends over and we'll have this time. We're all come in and visit the body over in the East in three days.

I don't think I want to visit Uncle Remus in three days. No, I don't I think he will be stinking really bad by then. Well here this is God says you are an open sepulcher. You're an open tomb. From heaven's perspective when God looks at man.

Instead of speaking the melodies of heaven the love of heaven the the joys. The attitudes the heart the behavior of our Created design when God looks at every one of us and he says this is the life. This is the love.

This is the power. This is the magnitude. This is the way of life I can give to you and this is what every one has gone away from. I Don't care what you say. And I don't care whatever it is. He looks there and he says it stinks to high.

Heaven to me an open sepulcher talk about halitosis. This is kind of halitosis or something. But anyway, it's God looks at it and he says I don't like it in the result of having wicked words as you have wicked ways.