Romans 3:10–18 (NKJV) 10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;
- All encompassing, NOT ONE
- We tend to think it applies to everyone else BUT MY PEOPLE
11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.
- NONE… and that is irrespective of political party, ideology or culture
12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” 13 “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways; 17 And the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Sin Nature Pathology (the cause of disease)
This is the truth about human nature. This is what we are dealing with. This is the root cause.
Essential Character
Ephesians 4:18 (NKJV) having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart
Even for Christians, generally speaking, about the best we can muster most of the time is “How much can I do and not actually sin?” (as opposed to how far away from sin can I get?)
What About Religions
All other religions outside of Biblical Christianity attempt to make man “good” in and of himself.
Religions replace the need for God elevating man to be his own salvation by earning it through being good, or having the right ideas or being part of the right group
- Isaiah 53:6 (NKJV) 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Man-originated religions are satanic counterfeits sending men in the opposite direction from God.
Romans 3:12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”
- Unprofitable, useless: the Hebrew equivalent is rancid, like rotten trash or sour milk or putrid meat
Human Nature in a Nutshell
- None righteous
- None understands
- No one seeks after God
- All have turned aside
- All our corrupt and rancid
- None does true good or righteousness, nothing acceptable to Holy God.
Deceitful Communication
What is the sum of man’s communication?
Romans 3:13–14 (NKJV) “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
What is in an open tomb: dead bodies. No matter how well you describe it in words, it is a pale imitation of the actual experience.
The communication of sinful humanity is like an OPEN TOMB, a pile of rotting rancid flesh in a pool of sewage in a landfill on a summer day.
- Turn on the media and entertainment for a short while and any argument against this truth quickly disintegrates
Romans 3:13–14 (NKJV) “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
- The term “deceiving” has as its root a word that means a fishhook.
- They lie in order to catch you for the kill.
- Think of how a fishhook works: it is baited with something desirable, slides into you easily, then gets snagged when you try to pull it out.
- Deceit is packaged as a tasty morsel but ends up snagging you and pulling you to your death.
Filthy, rotten, deceptive, treacherous poisonous bitter cursing. This is the mouth of humanity. This is the summation of how sin-cursed humans communicate.
Default Conduct
Romans 3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
- Humans are murderous.
- Wherever murder has been legalized or sanctioned, the mass of common people flock to it
Wherever man has legalized murdered, cheapened life, and dehumanized a certain group, the masses are quick to participate in murder.
Black Lives Matters, Really?
- Every day, a thousand black babies are slaughtered in their mother’s womb, the one place that is supposed to be the most sacred and safe for a human life
- Every year, 2000+ black males murdered (mostly by other black males who are then incarcerated for life, FBI stats)
Do black lives really matter? Then why are we focused on the very very rare deaths of blacks by white cops, instead of the daily onslaught of blacks being murdered by abortion doctors, gang violence, drugs and criminal activity?
- Answer: because “lives” are not important, politics and power are
Romans 3:16-17 Destruction and misery are in their ways; 17 And the way of peace they have not known.”
Murder, hatred and evil is the natural expression of the unredeemed human heart.
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Next time we’ll continue with:
Romans 3:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
To be continued…