Romans 3:9-20 "Worse Than You Think"

1:05The situation is becoming more and more dire. Yet, on the surface, given all that you can see, you might not be able to tell. You see, on the surface, everyone seems to be living their best life now. But below the surface, most Americans are suffering financially. I want you to listen. Listen to these stats. 32% of Americans say they're either struggling or in crisis in terms of their personal finances. The trend has really ticked upward since 21, 2021. Only 53% of Americans are happy with their current financial situation.

1:50As you know, costs have gone way up. Since 2019, groceries alone have increased 25%. Only 44% of Americans are happy with the amount of money they have saved. Most Americans, 61%, don't feel like they're making meaningful progress towards their retirement savings. 40% of Americans said that they had an unexpected money emergency that came up in the last three months. And 25% of those emergencies, those expenses were over $1,000. Top causes for money emergencies, number one, you can probably guess these. Number one, 40% say it's car issues.

2:38Closely following that, medical bills and home repairs. Now I know that you are not most Americans, and many of these stats we might argue are not preventable. But here are the staggering statistics. Collectively, Americans owe $1.1 trillion in credit card debt, 1.6 trillion in car loans, and 1.6 in student loans. Debt, debt, and more debt. One thing this tells us is that not everyone pays it off at the end of the month. I have yet to have a conversation where someone did not tell me that. Yeah, but I pay it off at the end of the month. Well, the stats show that a lot of people don't. Current interest rates are at an all-time high, 20 to 28%.

3:40That means you borrow $100, costs you $20,000. So long after that steak dinner is digested, you're still paying for it. The average student loan is $32,000. And because most of us aren't organized with our finances, we keep around the student loan so long, like it's a pet, and we never pay it off. Half of borrowers are not making any progress on their student loans. 80%, 8 out of 10 of the people in this room, living paycheck to paycheck.

4:19Now, while some of these can be attributed to emergencies, I think you and I know most of these are the results. Of not living within our means. We want, we want, we want, and we buy with money we don't have to impress people we don't even know. The median age at which people go into debt for the first time is 23, and two-thirds of U.S. adults are in debt by the time they're age 30. 37%, almost 4 out of 10, owe more on their credit cards than they have in retirement.

5:05If we want a contrast of living for now versus living for the future, that stat tells it all. 70% of households have less than $1,000 in emergency savings, and 34% have zero. Zero. So why am I telling you this? I need you to listen to me. I'm not seeking to shame. Do you believe me? I'm not seeking to shame. I think that many of these stats reveal that many of us are truly suffering and scared to death. And I don't want to discount that. I want to say to you, if that's you, please get help.

6:00But also, I say this: this toxic combination of financial factors has led many to declare bankruptcy. That is, for a period of time you've spent more than you've made, borrowed more than you can pay back, you've hit rock bottom, no other options. Bankruptcy is a legal process in which you seek relief from your debts. And, brothers and sisters, in this way, bankruptcy serves as a visible picture of an invisible reality that's present in every single one of us.

6:40And I think this is exactly what Paul is getting at in our text today. Now, while this analogy breaks down at some level, what I think Paul is trying to show is that our condition before a holy and just God is even worse. It's worse than you think. The scriptures teach that we're not just unable to pay back our sin debt, but that we're literally dead in our sin. Like, in the casket, in the hearse, funeral service dead. That's what the scriptures say.

7:22And so, what we're going to learn today is that though our condition is worse than we think, God in Christ has made a way. For us to be saved, healed, and renewed. This is the good news. So, the case that Paul's been building in our first couple of chapters, it seems to conclude here in verse 9 and the following verses. So, here are the highlights. Though the Jews enjoyed a covenant relationship with God and they had received the promises of God through the law, they were still subject to God's sovereign judgment.

8:00In other words, though they were privileged in their relationship with God, that should not let them, they should not presume upon God's love and grace towards them, supposing that they were exempt from his loving discipline for their disobedience. God, as the just and impartial judge, he would and he will judge all of us according to our works. And this checks out, right? This is exactly what we would expect for evil done to us. We wouldn't call a judge just if he pardoned someone who is truly guilty.

8:42And we don't want that from God either. And so, by our nature and by our choices, Paul is saying that all are guilty before God. Remember, Romans 1. When we think about our lives from the smallest intention of the heart, To the biggest action, when we look out at the world around us, we see that all of creation is suppressing the truth about God for a lie. God doesn't know. He doesn't care. I can do what I want. I am my own authority. All of creation suppressing the truth about God. And Paul continually, repeatedly is saying, it's all untrue.

9:30It's all untrue. So that's where we've been. And then that brings us to verse 9. Here in verse 9, I think what Paul is saying, he's summing up, and essentially he says, it's even worse than you think. It's worse than you think. Verse 9, all are under sin. He doesn't say all are sinful. He doesn't say all have committed sin. He doesn't say all have sinned by what they have not done, but know that they should do. He says all are under sin. And the sense we get here is that all are under the control of and are subject to sin's power. All are under the control of sin and subject to its power. Another way of saying this that Paul uses elsewhere is he says that we are slaves to sin.

10:28Sin is our master. This implies that you have less choice in the matter than you think. You have less freedom to choose what you do and don't do than you might think, because sin controls. This idea that you can't do anything but think and do as the master, sin, wants you to do, demands, that is being subject to its power. Have you ever thought about that? That apart from God, you and I are under the control of another.

11:13And the ruler of this world, the prince of the power of the air, is not like God. His desire is to defame the image and likeness of God, to tear down rather than to build up. His objective, his goal, because he's not benevolent, he's not kind, he's not generous, his goal is to steal, kill, and destroy. That's his goal. Verse 9, all apart from the power of God and control of the Spirit are under sin. No one's excluded. Not the Jew, not the Gentile.

12:01And then in verses 10 through 12, Paul's going to move on and he's going to describe exactly what that looks like. First, he's going to show the universal problem, that the universal problem is unrighteousness or sin, and then, second, he's going to show how sin affects every part of our being because it's worse than we think. He's going to do this by extensively quoting from Psalms and Isaiah. And so here's what he says: This is what unrighteousness looks like. With God's righteousness or holiness as the standard, so in other words, compared to God, no one is righteous, no one is upright, no one is right, no one is innocent. This is critical to understand in this moment that we're living in, because many would claim that they are the authority, or that someone other than God is the authority.

13:02But Paul is saying the standard of righteousness is God. For all that is good, all that is right, we must look to him, not you, not me, and definitely not someone online with keyboard courage. God is the standard. Not only is no one righteous, second thing he says, but no one understands. That is, no one fully comprehends humanity's depravity. And also, no one fully comprehends or understands God's goodness. Both things. And as a result, no one seeks after God. Now, that might be confusing because you might say, well, yeah, but we are, and some people are seeking after God. Agreed.

13:55But the sense here is that because of sin's debilitating effects, no one seeks after God apart from God working in that person or in their circumstances to draw them to himself. That is, if anyone is seeking after God, it's nothing other than the work of God in their lives. Amen? So by nature, we are not good and righteous, but we also choose to go our own way. All have turned aside, Paul says. All have turned aside, turning away from that which is good, departing from that which leads to flourishing.

14:39As a result, we have all become worthless, is the word Paul uses. We have been rendered useless. We have become completely corrupted and depraved by sin and its effects. Dead. It's so much worse than we like to think. Can I show you what I think this looks like? Genesis 6, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. For all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. What an indictment.

15:28Judges 21, this commentary on this awful cycle of sin that humanity found themselves in, that we often find ourselves in. Dead in sin, crying out to God for rescue and help, God rescues, we forget his rescue, and then the cycle continues back to sin. And here is the closing comment from the book of Judges. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. This gives us a sense of the depth of depravity, the evil that is in us. Romans 1 also gave us this sense. We get this idea that humanity is inventing ways to sin and then coming alongside and approving those who, friends, the universality of sin is so. Evident, both inside us and outside of us. Sin has brought death, and every single person, as a result, is in need of new life.

16:40And life must come from outside of us. New life must come from outside of us to save us, heal us, and renew us from all that's broken in us and all that is not as it should be in this world. So, the first thing here is that sin and unrighteousness is the universal problem, but how has sin affected us? How bad is it really? Paul, again, here in this next section, 13 to 18, quotes from the Old Testament to further illustrate this. And these descriptions show that it's not just our nature, right, who we are, that's broken, but it's also what we do and don't do. It's also connected to our actions, our choices. So, here's the sense: Their throat is an open grave, their tongues used to deceive. This brings to mind that not only do we speak evil, but that it comes from somewhere. It originates from somewhere, and that is in our hearts. So much so that what we say and what comes from our mouths is like poison. That description there, the venom of asps is under their lips, the poison.

18:01Their mouths are full of curses and bitterness. I think you get the point. This hatred and disregard for God and others ultimately is not the path of joy and flourishing, but it leads to all kinds of evil acts. In the end, all sin leads to ruin and misery because it's contrary to how God made us. That quote there: their feet are swift to shed blood, in their paths are ruin and misery. Friends, ultimately, the one, the life that does not acknowledge God, has no reverence for God, will not experience peace. This is his concluding remark.

18:55And peace looks like quiet, calm confidence in the midst of storms, which we all need. It's not disregarding that the difficulty is there, but it's acknowledging the difficulty and that, in spite of real difficulty, that God sees, God knows, and that ultimately our souls are secure. That kind of peace. Peace that looks like unexplainable happiness and tragedy. It looks like walking towards grief and mourning loss in order to. To be healed. Peace that looks like acknowledging the reality of our brokenness and the brokenness of our world, yet remaining hopeful because God is still present. He hasn't left the chat. That kind of peace.

19:51Peace that helps you to know that it's okay to not fully be okay. Learning to live into the already but not yet as we journey towards Jesus. This is the kind of peace that those who do not know God, those who do not fear God, will not have. And we all want peace. In the midst of this chaotic world, in the midst of the chaos of our own souls, you and I feel it every day. We all want peace.

20:34Here's the point: sin and its consequences make us want what we shouldn't want, think what we shouldn't think, and do what we shouldn't do. In the words of James K.A. Smith, it's a problem of disordered loves, disordered desires. Things are not quite how they are. Should be because something's broken in us and in this world. Do you see the impossibility of our situation? Do you see the utter hopelessness that we are left in if left to ourselves?

21:17So much worse than we think. And so here's the final ruling, verse 19 from Paul. Here's the verdict. He's going to use this legal language to contextualize for the Romans, but he's also going to use legal language because he's trying to connect the dots from everything he's been saying about God's law and the legal implications of God's law. So he's going to use legal language. And here's what he says. As a result of sin, all are under sin, and no one's able to raise a legal objection. No one's able to raise an argument against God because he's the just judge. All are guilty before a holy God.

22:05And as a result, you see it there in verse 19, every mouth is silenced and all are accountable to God. Verse 20, therefore, by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight. The law only brings knowledge of sin. It brings awareness of our condition before God. It reveals your need that all are under sin. You can't free yourself. It's worse than you think. And if we just stop there, verse 20, it would not be a Christian sermon.

22:55It would not be the good news that the Bible brings. Because God has not left us in this state. God has not left us in this place. I want you to see now. I want you to know. I want you to know the hope of Jesus. Though all are under sin, Paul is going to show now that all will be saved from their sin on the same terms. And this is why all of this Jew Gentile language matters. Because what Paul is saying is that God in Christ has leveled the playing field, and all are under sin, and all will be saved in the same way.

23:48So here's the reality: apart from God intervening, we're dead in sin. Look at this from Ephesians. Paul says something similar to the church at Ephesus. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. We can stop right there. And for many of us, we can think about what our life was like apart from Christ, before Christ.

24:28Maybe some in the room, what you're in the middle of now. But before Christ, I was dead, and I followed the course of this world. I didn't really have a choice. It was my master. Verse 3: among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body, the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. We are dead, and only God can raise the dead. The dead can't resurrect themselves.

25:06And so, friends, the good news of the gospel, the good news of this story that we are caught up in, is that though our state before God is worse than we think, God has not left us to figure out how to make that right on our own. Though we could never hope to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law, God has made a way for all the righteous requirements of the law to be fulfilled. And all of those are fulfilled in the man Jesus Christ.

25:37By looking to Him, trusting in the one who never sinned, who kept the law perfectly, His righteousness is credited to us by faith. Do you see that? So even though we are bankrupt in our sin, even though your sin debt is too great to repay, looking to Jesus in faith, God credits His righteousness to your account. And so when He looks at you, forgiven, set free, released. This is the great exchange. His life for yours. This is the best news.

26:37And this is what Paul explains in these next verses. So here's the spoiler. It's actually Pastor Joshua's fault because we recited it earlier. But verse 21, it's next week's sermon, but I have to show you what happens next. Verse 21, but now it's worse than you think. You are corrupt from beginning to end, utterly. But now, but now, God, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. Although the law and prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus for all who believe. Isn't that beautiful?

27:30Only the gospel of Jesus Christ, only Christianity offers true, real hope for desperate sinners like us. And so, three conclusions. First of all, this means hope for the sinner. Hope for the sinner, for all who are still under the power and control of sin, for all who have not believed in Jesus as the one and only who obeyed God perfectly, for all who are still in sin and who are dead in sin. Jesus means salvation, salvation from the power and the penalty of sin. That's why it's hope for the sinner. And as Jesus told Nicodemus in John chapter 3, you must be born. Again, you need to experience the new birth that is yours through faith in Christ.

28:40And maybe there are some here today who are in need of this hope. I know you have hundreds of questions flooding your mind at this very moment, and you won't have all the answers. But if you admit your need, if you confess that you've fallen short of God's glory and goodness, if you turn from your way to his way and believe that God raised Jesus from the dead for this very reason to atone for your sin, to earn your forgiveness, you will be saved.

29:24And if that's you, these next days are going to be new and exciting, and they're also going to be terrifying. Because the scripture says you will have new eyes. You will see things like you've never seen them before. And so if that's you, I want to say to you, don't do that alone. Find one of us on stage. Find another leader, someone you came with. Find someone to walk along with you. So that's hope. For the sinner.

30:02Secondly, hope for the saint. Hope for the saint. For those of us who are in Christ, we're in constant need of healing. We need healing from the devastating effects of sin. And there's two categories that come to mind. We need healing from the things that we've done, and we need healing from the things that have been done to us. Though we're saints, we need healing, for we have thought, done, and said unthinkable things. The temptation is going to be to shrink back in guilt and in shame.

30:47I am unworthy. You don't understand what I've done. I'm just different than everyone else. I'm too far gone for God. But for those who are in Christ, there is now no condemnation. While your sin was great, His grace, His mercy, is more. Don't you love that we sing that song? His mercy is more. Interestingly, the word that we often read in the New Testament that is saved can often be translated as healed. That is, God through Christ is healing us.

31:48And I believe that for many of us, we need continual healing because of the devastating effects of sin and the toll that it's taking on our whole selves. Healing comes through the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the Word, communion with the saints, life in the body of Christ, and the ministry of others. You and I need to be healed. And one of the things that that means is that we need to see ourselves as God sees us, His child. And that means He loves us.

32:25We also need to be healed and renewed from the very real effects of living in this fallen world. Think about the grief and the tragedy, the loss, the disappointment that we experience every day. Those are the effects. You see, the body keeps the score. And so, though you may not be able to see it, think about how your body is responding to the brokenness, tragedy, and fallenness of this world. We need healing. We need healing from all that we've done. Because in Christ there's no condemnation. Second thing: hope for saints. We need healing from the unthinkable that has been done to us.

33:18I know I can't possibly categorize all of this, so I'm trusting that the Spirit's going to work in you in this way. But healing from the words and actions that have wounded your soul, though not physical, you feel maimed from the abuse, the neglect, maybe abandonment, from the evil and hate that has been done to you. We're not just saved and souls secured for eternity, but there's hope for the saints because God in Christ brings healing for the saints. He knows, he sees, he cares. Let not your hearts be troubled because Jesus has overcome.

34:26He can and he will heal. Turn and receive his love and be healed. So that's hope for the saints. Well, finally, hope for the struggling. Hope for the struggling. In some sense, I think this applies to all of us. But we need the grace of Christ to rescue. We need the grace of Christ to rescue us from the ongoing power of sin as we journey with Christ and with one another. Haven't we all seen that we can't possibly stand against the schemes of the evil one on our own?

35:09Only Christ, when tempted by the evil one, fully and completely resisted. For in Him, the fullness of God dwells. You and I can't stand on our own. Only Christ in us and Christ with us do we have hope in the struggle. And so, as we'll sing in just a moment, Christ is our sure and steady anchor. And that means we have hope as we struggle onward towards Christ. Well, Church, God through Paul, has made it clear that our situation is worse than we think. But in Christ, there's hope for the sinner, hope for the saint, and hope for the struggling.

35:58As we pray, I want to. Give you a few moments before we receive the Lord's Supper to consider how God may be leading you to take hold of Christ. Let's pray God, we pray that you would work and move in us. I believe some need to receive you by faith this morning saved from the power and power. Penalty of sin. Others of us need ongoing healing from the effects and the guilt and the shame for all that we've done and what's been done to us.

38:13And then we need help and hope in the struggle. We pray, God, that you would continue to meet us through your word and your people because we are in need. We find great hope because of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, that you have not left us. And this is the good news. Thank you, God. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.