Immanuel Church

All, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin. Romans 3:9-20

Our nation is in upheaval. We're feeling a level of uncertainty we haven't experienced in a long time. But this is the very time when we can see the cross of Christ rising over our nation with new clarity. 2000 years ago, at the cross, in the worst moment in all of history, God moved toward us. He moved toward us in all our anguish and rage. He moved toward us in all his love. He displayed himself in the darkness and loneliness and pain of the cross. Our faith was born there. Our faith shines brightest when everything is against us - everything but God. Let's just be sure we're completely clear with him. Let's be sure we're ready to go into the future with one thing solidly established - where we stand with him.

Do you have any unfinished business with God? Is there anything in your life offending him? Is there anything that isn't in your life that should be there? Let me ask you three specific questions about this. One, are you living with any unconfessed sin before God? Two, do you owe anyone else an apology for a wrong you've said or done? Three, are you tolerating anything in your life unworthy of the name of Christ?

There is so much these days that's uncertain. Let's be sure that we're clear with God. And the way to get there is humility and realism and an honest reappraisal of ourselves before the Word of God. The Bible says, "God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6). Do you want God for your Opponent or your Giver? The answer is obvious. So let's do business with God. Let's face ourselves. Let's see what God will do for people who make no demands, who have nothing but need. God is available, he is near, and he is ready. That's what Romans is all about - meeting God under all circumstances, and it has nothing to do with what we deserve. It's all of his grace. Will you go there with me? Can you think of one reason not to?

We're tracking with the flow of thought as it unfolds in Romans. In 1:18-3:20 Paul explains what it is about us that offends God and he can't accept. Paul has to explain it, because we don't naturally see it. So Paul helps us get in touch with ourselves. He shows us three common human profiles - Mr. Self-Indulgence, the freewheeling, amoral type (1:18-32), Mr. Moral High Ground, the high-minded, finger-pointing type (2:1-16), and Mr. Biblical Worldview, the religious nag who knows how everyone else should live (2:17-29). And we see something of ourselves in each profile, do we? I do. Is there a single one of us who doesn't need newness of life?

I have a friend in the Chicago area. In July he came back from vacation with a blog post about two men who sat down near his wife in a Panera Bread. She couldn't help overhearing their conversation about a woman one of the men was dating. Here's how it went:

Man A: She says she's just not ready to sleep with someone unless they're committed to a long-term relationship. Man B: Oh, my. She's really being too analytical. You know, you're good guy. She's going to lose you if she's not careful. Man A: She keeps wanting to talk about the "direction" we're going. I'm just not ready for conversations like that. I think she's being too introspective. She's just over-analyzing this. I really don't see us being in a long-term relationship. Man B: Yeah, that's why I never dated her. I mean, she's really beautiful and everything, but she does seem to analyze everything too much. If someone's been single for eight years, there must be a reason.

There was a break in the conversation, then it continued:

Man B: So, have you been to church lately? Man A: No, I've just gotten fed up with church-all those hypocritical people all dressed up and talking about doing good! They're not any better the rest of the week for having gone to church. Man B: You know, you might like my church. It's different. They're not pushy about how you should live or anything. They're just really big on helping other people-like feeding the homeless and stuff. Man A: Oh, I'd like that! I'm the kind of person who really likes to help other people. I think that's really important!

Here is American Christianity today. Why shouldn't God shake us up? Isn't it time to get real with God? Are we waiting for a better time?

In this passage Paul brings us to laser clarity about who we are and what God alone can do for us in our need. This passage is intended to bring us all to the place of humility, which is where the power of God comes down. Let's open our hearts to him by asking three questions from the passage. One, what is our problem? Two, what isn't our remedy? Three, what is our remedy?

What is our problem?

What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin. Romans 3:9

Paul asks about "we Jews" because in chapter 2 he was dialoguing with Mr. Biblical Worldview, a Jewish man instructed in God's law. But we know how widely relevant is this conversation. Paul applies it here to "Jews and Greeks." And what he means by "Greeks" is non-barbarians (Romans 1:14). The Greeks were the refined, sophisticated, well-mannered people. It's good if your mama raised you to be a civilized human being rather than a barbarian. Civilized people hold civilization together. But the gospel is taking us deeper. We all have a problem underneath the appearances that seem to separate us, the appearances that make well-bred, disciplined, smart people stand out from the rest. What is the problem only the gospel tells us about? We are all "under sin." That is the key phrase in verses 9-18.

What does it mean that we are all "under sin"? That seems so negative, doesn't it? It's extremely negative - and almost unheard of today. How have we been taught to think of ourselves? We've been taught to think of ourselves as poised between good and evil, and sometimes we make good choices and other times we make bad choices. We're neutral, and capable of good. Sure, there are evil people out there - terrorists, criminals, the Oakland Raiders. But for the rest of us, our good judgment is in control most of the time. We manage a decent life, even an admirable life. But the key point is that we always have the freedom to choose well, if we're given good information to work with. That's how our culture teaches us to see ourselves. We're even taught self-esteem. Our kids are taught they can't be emotionally healthy without seeing themselves at the high end of every scale. We're told that criminals act that way because they don't feel good enough about themselves. But is that true? Nicholas Emler, a researcher at the London School of Economics, writes, "We've put antisocial men through every self-esteem test we have, and there's no evidence for the old psychodynamic concept that they secretly feel bad about themselves. These men are racist or violent because they don't feel bad enough about themselves."

The Bible looks us right in the eye and levels with us when it tells us we are all "under sin." We are not worthy or free. Everything that makes up who we are is dominated by that God-denying impulse the Bible calls sin. We are biased toward sin, we live under its control, we're are subject to all its consequences, and we cannot just opt out. We are not under sin in the sense that sin holds us down against our wills, but rather that sin has seeped into our wills, into our good intentions, into our self-images, even into our morality. Sin feels normal and acceptable. And this is true of us all, without a single exception, down underneath the nice appearances. Theologians call it "total depravity" - not that we always act as wickedly as we're capable of acting. Fortunately for society, our behavior is okay a lot of the time. We do a lot of good, and it makes a positive difference. We really are nice people. The problem is, we're nice, evil people, and it touches everything we are, and we're stuck there. You are not a good person making a bad decision now and then; you are an evil person proving it. So am I.

God is inviting us into clarity and realism about ourselves, so that we can experience clarity about his real grace - really evil people encountering the really gracious God. That has to be okay with us, because God will not deal with us on the basis of polite unreality. Would you like it if your doctor told you you only have a headache when in fact you have cancer and only months to live but he didn't want to make you feel bad? Would that be loving? How did we become so delicate that we cannot endure the sight of ourselves as we are? That very delicacy is pride. C. S. Lewis wrote in a letter to a friend, "The true Christian's nostril is to be continually attentive to the inner cesspool." Surprisingly, this is where we find happiness. The Lord wants us to be able to sing "Amazing Grace" with a real sense of joyous amazement. But we can't sing that with awe until we feel that his grace has saved "a wretch like me." Being humbled by our wretchedness is not like telling a dumb joke at a dinner party and feeling embarrassed about it. That's just losing face. It's wounded pride. But I looked up the word "wretch" in my dictionary. A wretch is "a person of despicable character." Do you see yourself that way? Or do you just see other people that way? I did a Google search for "a person of despicable character." What struck me was that I found a cartoon character, a movie character and a fiction character. Finally, the one real person seriously considered a despicable character was Henry III, safely distant back in the 16th century. If we want all the wonderful resources of God's grace to pour into our lives today, we must reconnect with the category "wretch like me." That's when our hearts can sing not about his moderate grace but his amazing grace.

How do we get there? Verses 10-18 show the way, where Paul paints the picture of mankind "under sin." He isn't repeating what he said in chapter 1 about the pagan world, Mr. Self-Indulgence. He's applying the Bible - you can see that he's quoting the Old Testament - he's applying the Bible now to the whole human race. And he answers two questions here. First, in verses 10-12, he answers the question, How many of us stand out as righteous toward God? The answer is, not one. "No one understands," in verse 11. No one would really choose to stay under sin, if they understood where it's taking them. We don't understand. But Paul sees no victims here: "All have turned aside," in verse 12. It's a choice. It's deliberate. It's crossing the street when we see God coming, to avoid him. We didn't lose our way accidentally. If that seems harsh or just remote from your experience, Paul answers a second question in verses 13-18. The question here is, Do we spread life to other people? Sin kills. So, are we spreading life or death to other people? If we're not sure where we stand with God because he's invisible and way out there, we can still know whether or not we're "under sin." We can take an honest look at what we do to other people. And the striking thing about these verses is how they emphasize our tongues, our words. Do we spread life or death to other people by the words coming out of our mouths? Verse 13 says, "The venom of asps is under their lips." Poisonous words poisoning a social environment, biting and stinging and killing people and their reputations. Verse 14 says, "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." The word "full" means a generous supply of curses and bitterness. We never have a shortage. It's habitual, even among Christians, as we saw in the video - complaining, blaming, put-downs, griping, negativity. Nothing is ever good enough. It pours out of our mouths.

Verses 10-18 describe everyone - both Mr. Self-Indulgence and Mr. Moral High Ground and Mr. Biblical Worldview. They apply just as much to a well-taught person as they do to someone with little self-discipline and training. It's inside us all. And the root of it is, "There is no fear of God before their eyes." The problem is not other people. The problem is not a lack of education and information. The problem is deadness in our hearts toward God. We are "under sin."

What isn't our remedy?

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 3:19-20

The key phrase here is "under the law," just as the key phrase in verses 9-18 was "under sin." What will make the difference for people who are under sin? What will help them? What will change them? What will relocate them where God can approve of them and smile on them and pour out his favor and protection and provision and everything else we know we need so urgently? What is the remedy to our under-sin problem? The remedy is not coming under the law. We might think that is the remedy. We know that in our homes we need ground rules for behavior, we need curfews, we need deadlines for homework, we need to define whose job is this and whose job is that around the house. We need parameters drawn for us. All of that is good. In the 1960s my generation experimented with life-minus-any-boundaries, and the result was chaos and destruction and broken lives. So it is completely understandable that people under sin, people under compulsion and addiction, would think, "Let's put ourselves under the law, especially God's law." But that is not our remedy. Immorality is our problem. But morality is not the remedy. Morality doesn't come in at this point in the gospel. It comes later.

What is the impact of God's law on people under sin? His law can limit us and moderate the worst in us at the level of behavior, and that's helpful. Every home needs rules, every school needs rules, every church needs rules, and so forth, at the level of outward behavior. But what does God's law actually accomplish? It doesn't heal us; it exposes us. That's what Paul is saying in verse 20: "Through the law comes knowledge of sin." We can do so much of verses 10-18 and never even know it. We have little self-awareness. Most people in the world today are well-meaning people. There are very few cynical people. But the whole world at this very moment is bristling with hostility and anger, and how can that be in a world where most people just want to live their little lives without conflict and trouble? The gospel answers that question. It exposes our problem. The human heart hates God, and that alienation pours out of us in ways so natural to us they don't feel wicked. And when our behavior does register on the Richter Scale, it's always someone else's fault. No one ever fires the first shot. No one ever starts a war, whether between nations or spouses, by saying, "Okay, I just want to say at the outset that I'm picking this fight, it's my fault." Every attack is a counter-strike. Every war is defensive. Every act described in verses 10-18 can be defended. It's not my fault, it's your/his/her/their fault!" That is the motto of the human race. We're all so innocent. We're all so good. G. K. Chesterton said, "The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good." Our world is too good for Jesus. So here we are, people under sin who don't get it. Thank God for his law! Under the law, a new thought enters in: "Oops. That didn't go well. That didn't look like the Ten Commandments. I wonder if I might be wrong. I wonder if I might have to take responsibility for that unpleasant moment. In fact, I wonder if I'm going to answer to God for that. And frankly, I can't think of how I could defend what I just did."

That thought is when the words in verse 19, "held accountable to God" - the law helps that awareness to kick in. Being held accountable to God, as Paul thinks of it here, is not just an objective position we have before God whether we know it or not. To be held accountable to God is when our inexcusable words and behavior, which offend God, start to offend and frighten us. It's when we start thinking and feeling, "Wretched man that I am" (Romans 7:24). It's when we finally see ourselves not as we are in comparison with some other sinner but as we are before God. It's the disturbing new thought, "I have no one to blame for this but myself, and there is nothing I can do to leverage myself out of this." That is the ministry of the law, holding us accountable to God. It is not the answer to our sin problem. But we wouldn't even be asking the right questions without the law. So we thank God for it, and we keep looking for his remedy.

What is our only remedy?

Sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:14

You worst disaster in all of life is not the blatant sin that shocks you awake but the false obedience that keeps you asleep. And when God's law stings your conscience awake and you see that even your law-keeping is infested with pride and anger and aloofness, God is wonderfully at work in your heart. He is moving you toward a destination you don't even believe exists - his world of grace. Do you know what God's grace is and what it means to be under his grace and not under law so that sin loses its dominating power? Addison Leitch explains with this story:

About fifteen years ago I was sitting at the dining room table looking out the window and watching five boys fooling around with a BB-gun and wondering a little to myself how long it would be before one of them shot another in the eye. Finally one of them grabbed the gun to shoot at a little sparrow sitting on a tree just outside the dining room window through which I had been watching this whole performance. I could see the whole action unfolding before my eyes; it seemed almost slow-motion, uncanny, inevitable. The boy aimed deliberately at the bird, shot at the bird, missed the bird and put a hole in the window right in front of me, and away they all ran with me racing out of the house after them. I didn't catch any of them!

In a few days I had found out that a boy named Dave White had pulled the trigger. Also in a few days I had the window fixed and paid for. Then I began to think about Dave. He was evading me at every turn. He would not face me and he had no notion of confessing. In the meantime the other boys had floated back to games in the vacant lot and in the street in front of the house, while Dave, the guilty one, was on the outside of all this, ‘weeping and gnashing his teeth.' He would have none of us. So I went after him, not to punish him but to save him. He had to face me in judgment, then in grace; only thus could we renew our fellowship, only thus could I bring him back to the gang.

I caught him alone. Now we stood face to face to have it out. The boy was rebellious, tense, tight, ready to fight me, ready to run away again. He admitted he had wronged me but I gave him the surprising message that the window had been paid for, that I had no notion of collecting anything from him, that what really interested me was to know how we could get him to come back to be one of the gang again. . . . I told him over and over again the same old story: the price has been paid, it's all over; let's be friends. What a time I had getting that message through to him. Why? Because he didn't believe me. There is always an unbelievable quality in the wonder of what we call grace. But I wish you could have seen him when he finally did believe me. What a wonderful look, what a release of tensions, what a rolling away of the burdens, what a newness of life. Now he could quit running. Now he could relax. Talk about peace of mind; you should have seen that boy. What total commitment he offered me henceforth, and by no request of mine! There was nothing he wouldn't do for me.

God's grace and acceptance and safety for sinners through the cross of Christ - this is how we have the courage to face ourselves and start changing. We don't change to earn his approval; we change because he gives us his approval in Christ, and we love him for it. How does he want you to change?

Are you living with any unconfessed sin before God? Do you owe anyone else an apology for a wrong you've said or done? Are you tolerating anything in your life unworthy of the name of Christ?