None Righteous, No Not One

Introduction

Awesome crowd we have this morning. A good number of visitors on this holiday weekend. If you’re in town to visit family, we’re certainly glad that they have that opportunity to visit with you and you’re here with us this morning. Tonight when we meet at 5 o’clock, we’re going to be trying to answer a question that is somewhat related to our subject this morning. And that has to do with the prayers of sinners. Does God hear the prayers? And if you want to do a little preparatory work, I know gnaps are important on Sunday afternoon, just so you’ll be able to pay attention tonight at 5 o’clock. But if you have a little bit of time and want to go over John chapter 9 in preparation, that might be helpful also.

Well, the reason why I don’t know that is because the second part of it hasn’t been written yet.

And I’m still formulating some things in my mind. But the first part of it is what you’re getting this morning. And hopefully, this will be my keys to bring you back next Sunday morning. All those of you who are coming from out of the middle, hey, I can’t be here next Sunday morning. We have a website for that. You can listen to part two when it’s put on the website.

Well, now the Christian’s struggle with sin. Now, you’re going to have to stay with me. I’m going to have a lot of the slides. You’re not going to write some of this down so that you can consult it later. There’s no way. Because I want to take a comprehensive look at what the Bible says about this subject. A comprehensive look. That’s a lot of material. So I’m going to have to summarize and go over some things very quickly in the beginning, assuming you might know some of these things. And then we’re going to hunker down in one passage, and things won’t be changing on the screen as much. Okay? So if you’re writing this down, sharpen your instruments. And write down quickly here in the very beginning.

Now I want you to notice something about what you see there. The Christians struggle with sin. The goal of this lesson is not so much to talk about the person who has not come to know Christ, who is lost in sin, though there’s some relevance to that person’s condition. Where I’m ultimately going with this is those who are already in Christ. A good number of our audience today, I believe. Those who are already numbered among the Lord’s people by the Lord himself, and yet who still struggle from time to time with the practice of sin. Where they fall short. And I know if there are questions about that. I hear things said in Bible classes all the time, some of them that give me pause, especially as we’ve been studying on Wednesday nights the subject of grace.

While it is a very dangerous thing to not talk about the role of grace in salvation, it is an equally dangerous thing to not talk about what to do with the problem of sin. As Christians. And so I want to do some things with you. The goal of this is your better understanding and my better understanding of the subject. And to understand the Christian struggle with sin, we need to know something about how salvation works. That’s why we’ve been studying grace on Wednesday nights. I think there’s a lot of misconceptions about how salvation works. And so we need to understand God’s system in the New Testament of salvation. And here’s really what I want us to go toward in this two sermon study, and that is the development of a right attitude, a proper attitude in regard to sin.

I think some of our failings can be attributed specifically to that. A failure to cultivate the attitude towards sin that we ought to have, and as a result of that, to talk about some things that might lead to more successes and fewer failures. And that could have eternal implications. Because one sin could lead to a lifelong practice of sin that could cause one ultimately to be lost. So, what is the Bible telling us about this new system and how it works? And how can we have more successes rather than failures in regard to sin? So I want to start with this question. And that is, why. Why do we need to look at this? Because Christians struggle with sin and they wonder am I precariously on the brink of losing my soul?

Am I precariously on the brink of falling off the stage? Even worse, precariously on the brink of losing my soul because I committed a sin. A sin that I perhaps have struggling to overcome. Well, that’s the why of this. We always need to ask, why are we doing this? Why am I teaching this? Because this is critical. And so I want to begin with just this concept. Oh, I know a verse that says this, right? The wages of sin. It’s death. Yeah, I knew that one. Romans 6, verse 23. Well, just think about that phrase. The wages of sin. There’s a high price to pay in the practice of sin, potentially. Especially if you lose your soul, that’s the highest price of all. But more than that, the price is greater than just what eternally could be lost.

It is what we surrender in the practice of sin presently or the cost of sin in our lives. But I must digress. Because when I came across this graphic that talked about the wages of sin, the passage that was attached to the graphic that I changed was not Romans 6.23. It was 2 Samuel 18. I thought, well, that’s curious. But it is an illustration of the wages of sin, the life of Absalom. Absalom, the son of King David, again, assuming you might have some familiarity with that story. If not, go back later and read 2 Samuel 18. Absalom rebelled of all things against King David, his father. But it does not go as Eden had envisioned. In fact, when Absalom thought about the ways that he might exit this world, the ways that he might die, I guess we think about that.

How you would like to die, how you envision that happening when it does occur. I don’t think he thought hanging from his head from a tree was going to be the way that it happened. But in fleeing, David’s army, that’s what happens. He gets caught in the big limbs of a tree, and his mule runs off from underneath him, and there he is suspended between heaven and earth. And David’s men don’t dare do anything because this is David’s son. Joab did not have that standing in his way. He wanted Absalom dead, and he took care of the matter. And then after he pushed the sears inside Absalom, everybody else piles off. And the end of the story is that he is ignominiously buried, a great heap of stones, thrown over him after he’s thrown into a pit.

But the interesting thing I want to draw your attention to is that in his lifetime it says Absalom had built a great monument to himself. And that really is the telltale sign of his troubles. Interesting little side note, I was really faced with just his funny comment of the week. I play golf sometimes with my preaching buddies from down at Plinewood, Brent Moody. Occasionally he brings one of his children, Chelsea’s been once. But usually if he brings, it’s the middle son, the little boy named Hyus, I love Titus, man. That guy will flat kill himself on a golf horse and swing and go to the next side. Swing and go to the next side. I mean, he loves the game. Love playing with that kid. Titus said something interesting this week.

And this is what kids do. When I’m elected president, a little kid. Great aspiration. When I’m elected president, I’m going to tear down the Statue of Liberty and build a statue of myself. Boy, there’s a kid with a mind that’s active right there. Back to the story of Absalom. The wages of sin. He certainly is one biblical illustration of it. Okay, so we talk about the Christian struggle in regard to sin. I think it’s important that we point out as we have a comprehensive look. We’re going to do this quickly. God expects his people to pursue holy behavior. And I know when I say that, I’m sorry, duh, of course. But we need to understand that God has expectations of our conduct. And I thought about a summary of that idea, Philippians chapter 2 of verse 5.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. You know, that’s really the goal of our Christian experience as far as God is concerned. That we develop in our minds the mind of Christ. The way he thought he thinks, the way he acted, we act. That ought to be the goal of our behavior. But he put it in other ways, in other places in the New Testament. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, this sounds like God has expectations, at least to me. That in verse 1 of 1 Thessalonians 4, he says, we ought to walk in such a way that he will now prescribe. But he says, and defined for us. He says, and please God. He goes, that’s the way you who are Christians in Thessalonica, that’s how you walk.

And he says in verse 3, what does God think? For this is the will of God. Whatever follows that, you need to pay attention to, this is the will of God, your sanctification. And what that’s a big word. That is, he explains it for us, that you abstain from sexual immorality. And so that’s just one aspect of being sanctified or set apart into God is that we do not give ourselves to sexual immorality, but we live in a culture where that’s a big stumbling area. And yes, even for Christians. But that’s not God’s will for you. God’s will for you is sanctification, being set apart for his purposes, not for the purpose of impurity, he says in verse 7, God has not called us. Again, it’d be hard to miss this, right?

God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. Now you want a little bit more explanation of this. I take you quickly to 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 9. Where Peter says, obtaining as the outcome of our faith, and that gets us to the conclusion of this sermon in just a moment. Obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your soul. Okay, what does that faith look like? Well, we’re to be sober in mind, he says in verses 13 following. And he says, and underlined this in your Bible in verse 14, it’s underlined in mind, as obedient children. Do not be conformed to the former lusts, which were yours in your ignorance. See how these passages all go together?

Do not be conform to the former lusts which were yours and your ignorance, but be holy in all your behavior, as God is holy. And you need to conduct yourself, your stay here on the earth with fear, knowing that you are not redeemed with perishable things, but with the precious blood of a lamb. Our souls have been purified in obedience to the truth. We talked about that very recently, verse 22. We’re born of the living and abiding word of God, verse 23, and this rebirth is unto an unfeigned love of the brethren. Fervently love one another from the heart. So that’s just the short list in this comprehensive look. Does it not establish the point? God has expectations of his people in regard to holy behavior.

But the experience of most of us is still an occasional problem at least, with succumbing to temptation. What does the Bible talk about that? Remember that the great cloud of witnesses, chapter 11, the great hall of faith? Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, what? Let us do what? Lay aside every weight. Anything that might weigh you down in this race. Wait, race.

You know, I don’t want to be carrying a 50 pound weight when I’m exercising. I’m going to wear the heaviest possible clothes. I’m going to put, you know, much change in my pocket. You know, I want to be weighted down when I’m when you’re running a race, you’ve got to get rid of the weight. And there’s a lot of things that want to weigh us down in this race. And we’re to lay aside every weight, but then the second part of that. And sin. That’s so humility in faith. So we got it. I guess. I get both of those things. And that’s why I talk about Hebrews 12 and verse 1 so often. Lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles us and run with endurance.

And that’s the hard part in running the race, I want to suggest to you, is that the race is not a dash. Run with endurance. It’s a marathon. The race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus. You’ve got to do that. Be sober in spirit, as we saw in 1 Peter chapter 1. Focusing on the grace to be brought to you with the revelation of Jesus Christ. Fixing your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith, who for the joy set before him before the cross, despised the shame that set down at the right hand of God. James 3 and verse 2. Christians struggle with sin. James just says it very plainly, simply, or we all stumble in many ways. There it is.

That’s our struggle. We stumble in many ways. And what’s the context of that statement? He immediately goes in to talk about one of the easiest, most common areas of transgression, as we shall see in a moment. Sin with tongue. Can be so easily done in our lives. Thankfully, all is not hopeless. And that’s really why I’m preaching this. When I think about why I’m doing this two lesson series, I guess it’s going to be two. I don’t know yet. I guess two is what I’m looking at looking at. But it’s this verse that gives us soul. John says, I write these things that you may not sin. Okay, so whatever we’re going to say comprehensively about sin and the Christian, the goal of the apostle of our Lord John was what?

I’m writing these things to deter you from sin. I’m writing these things that you may not sin. Anybody who preaches a message that does not involve trying to remove sin from the lives of believers is not preaching the gospel.

I write these things that you may not sin. But thankfulness. If any man sins, it’s not hopeless, it’s not all loss. We have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous, who’s the propitiation for our sins. He satisfies God’s anger in regard to sin. And not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. He’s saying, it’s because you’ve committed sin since you become a Christian, it’s not, well, it’s all hopeless. Give up, quit fighting, just go be worldly, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die. That’s not what he’s saying. He’s saying there is hope. Okay, so we’ve defined the nature of our struggle. I want to say something briefly about this. I’m running out of time, but is Romans 7 talking about our struggle with sin, that which I wish to do, I do not do, the law of sin is working in my members.

I don’t have enough time to go through that in detail this morning. I’m not entirely sure, to tell you the truth. And we’re going to be teaching Romans and we’ll hash all this out. But I don’t really think the main idea is our struggle of sin, but it may have an application to the fact that the Christians still struggle with sinfulness and explain why that is. But I don’t think that’s the overall purpose that Paul is describing in Romans 7. I think he’s talking about the inability to arrive at justification before God. That is, I’m right and justified, and have every reason to expect God to give me all the goods. To God to shower me with eternal salvation. He’s talking about the inability to arrive at that on the basis of a system where you had to keep the law perfectly.

Because no man does. And that gets me to my next point. So I’m just not really sure about Romans 7, but I thought I ought to throw it in there and you can look at it. Romans 7 14. In the preparation of all of this in his book Reading Romans, Robert Turner says, and I want to throw this out here, this is why we’re talking about this. Salvation is the prize set before the reader. But this implies that we are lost. And in the moral context of the scriptures, that means lost in sin. And when you read Romans, you should come away with that very impression. Now, the one thing I want to focus on in this quote are the words. The prize. The Bible talks about the prize that is before us, and I just want to tell you that prize is attainable.

1. The Gravity and Enormity of Sin

There is not a single person here this morning, regardless of the baggage you bring to the table, regardless of your past, regardless of every minute that you have lived prior to this point, there is not a single person here today who is incapable of receiving this prize. And this prize is worth all that we had to give in the pursuit. Now, this was about Romans, as I suggested, and we were in Romans 7 a minute ago. Here’s the first thing. There’s really two points to this sermon. The first thing I want to say to us is that Romans is doing something for us that’s very important, and that is this very point. And I can just say, look at that for a while, okay? Are you looking at it?

We need to appreciate the gravity of sin. And a lot of people, even who hear religious lessons, if they sit in religious assemblies, don’t get it. Gravity. That’s a very weighty thing, isn’t it?

And it’s not just very great in its implications. The wages of sin is death. But it’s enormous. The implications in regard to sin are enormous. The gravity and enormity. I wish I could have thrown in a bunch of other words, synonyms of these. Thought about it. The gravity and enormity of sin. That’s what Romans 3 is telling us. The conclusion of all history. Romans 3 and verse 9. The conclusion of all history. And even history that follows the writing of Romans 3. For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks all are under sin. I think that’s what Paul is describing mostly in Romans 7. Verse 23, the conclusion of all history, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And what Paul has done getting to this juncture in Romans 3 is to explain why a new system was needed, why the law of Moses was never intended to fix this problem.

Only what happens in Christ can fix this problem only on the basis of his redeeming blood could this great problem be fixed. And as he talks in chapter 1, and I’m going to have to do this quickly, in chapter 1, he’s talking about where man has gone in his sinfulness. And it’s bad, including disobedience to parents. Let me throw that in parents. Disobedient to parents. But that’s just the beginning. Ungrateful. Unholy. Acts of homosexuality. I mean, he goes through the whole catalog in Romans chapter 1. And at first I was thinking he’s only talking about the Gentiles because of chapter 2. But I decided this week I’m not really sure that’s the point. I think the point in Romans chapter 1 is this is the status of the sinner in the world.

Period. And then in chapter 2, he says, now, Jews, don’t start thinking I’m only talking about the Gentiles. You’re included in chapter 1. You’re guilty of sin too. And he’s specifically talking to the Jews. I know that in chapter 2. And so when he comes to chapter 3, after he talks about the privileges of the Jews, and I love that, he says, Well, if we’re all sinners, then what advantage have we had through the years? He goes, Great in every respect. I mean, you were entrusted with the oracles of God.

In 3 1 and 2. But then he comes to this section starting where the conclusion of all history. All are under sin. And he says, This, what? There is none who is righteous. No, not what. I heard a preacher preach on this one time. It might have been very when he was here. I can’t remember. I didn’t write it down. But when he started reading from this context, he said, and I wrote it in my Bible because I thought it was good. Insert your name here. I like that. Starting in Romans 3 and verse 10, insert your name here. Because this is describing the person who is guilty of sin. And you look at this, and let me just say that what Paul does here is sort of interesting.

He quotes from the Psalms. Every one of these statements is a quote from the Psalms except for one from Isaiah, which I’m really puzzled about. Isaiah 59. But all the other quotes are from the Psalms. And he says, there’s none that is righteous, not even one. So he said, What? There’s some good things about my life. Again, in Romans 7, Paul is saying there’s some good things about my life, but the fact is I’m a sinner. And while you may not go headlong into all of this conduct, there is some measurement of guilt for all of us in this text. Their throat is an open grate, with their tongues they keep deceiving. The poison of asp is under their lips, verse 13. Destruction and misery are in their path, verse 16.

I think about those who drink when I read that text. And things that happen as a result of intoxication. That’s just one example. And the path of peace they have not known.

It may not be both parties, but a lot of times it is. The path of peace they have not known. I just wrote conflict next to that. And then this, the conclusion, the finality is there is no fear of God before their eyes. And what I simply want to say about that is, because there is not a healthy and proper respect for God, people just plunge headlong into sinful conduct. And that gets to part of the solution, I think. So, what do we learn is that God provided a system that can fix our problem with sin. There’s so much more that can be said about Romans 3, but we’re going to study that not very in the not very far away future. What Christ has thus procured for us, we can effectively, we can make effectively our own by faith, FF Bruce said.

And that’s where he goes in chapter 4. And I might disagree with Bruce as to what he means by faith, but that’s true, properly defining faith. As Romans in the book of Hebrews does for us. And again, Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. And we would be pitiful, miserable, and hopeless had it not been for God’s kindness. Where he saves us not on the basis of deeds that we have done in righteousness, because Paul says in Romans 7, we fail at that miserably. Not on the basis of deeds that we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy. God says, I know what they deserve, but I’m not going to give it to them.

Okay, so we talk about Christian struggle with sin. We need to understand how salvation works. And what did we say point number one was? I’ve gone on from that. The gravity, enormity of sin. That’s going to be part of the solution in the Christian scrubble.

2. The Vital Response of the Sinner

I want to talk about the vital response of the sinner. And I want to talk to you about four things. Remember what we saw in Romans 3? There is no fear of God before their eyes. If that’s what causes the sin, then we’re going to have to develop fear of God to defeat it, right? And faith is the solution of the new system, for by grace have you been saved through faith. And so fear and faith are going to have to be part of the equation in dealing with the struggle of sin. And I want to throw in a couple of other things that I’m going to demonstrate in our final verse. Coupled with faith and fear, there needs to be joy over salvation.

And a gratitude for God doing this in regard to the gravity and enormous of our sin. That he actually in his mercy provided a solution.

So I’m not going to go into it in great detail now, but I want you to focus on those four words. And notice how I use the word vital. Crucial to living. The vital response of the sinner, fear, faith, joy, and gratitude. And let me just talk about this. If you had parents who were Christians, who, despite their imperfections, brought you up to be good citizens. And more than that, and my parents taught me about being a citizen of peace team and introduced me to the truth. And beyond all of that, they loved me, and they still love me. Whatever you mean by the word love, my parents loved me. If you have an experience, like I know everybody doesn’t have that experience, but if you have an experience like that, then should you not try to requite your parents for what they’ve done?

Paul talks about that in 1 Timothy chapter 5. Shouldn’t you give them some attention in their older and declining years for all that they did for you? And as wonderful as some of our parents were, and as much as they deserve from us, and I’m not sure I’m very good at it, or that I can even in any way repay all that my parents have done for me through the years.

And then to realize that what God has done for me is even greater. And should I not, as his child, attempt to requite him? That’s part of the solution. Requite him for what he’s done. Okay, these four things are going to go a long way. That’s why I stopped with gratitude there. And let me just say there’s one more word. One more word. What have I left out? There’s a lot of words that could be put here, but there’s an important word that flows out of it. We’ve already read it this morning. Can you guess it? This is where I stop and say, can you guess the fifth word that flows out of these four? And may I suggest that it’s the result in our lives because of these four things.

It’s not it comes and then all these other things come. I mean, these things are here. Thus the fifth word comes. I’m giving you enough time now. And this is the most distasteful word that it is. Not to us, hopefully. Oh, I hate to win failing.

It is the word. Obedience. He is the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him. Hebrews 5 and verse 9. It says, As obedient children, as we read in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 14, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance. This is the vital response. Trust and obey, we sing. This is the vital response that flows out of these four qualities. And I’m stopping right here at Hebrews 12. Kids have had enough. In Hebrews 12. It reflects all of these qualities.

And thankfully, we don’t have to approach God with the same kind of fear the Israelites did. When he appeared to them on the mount, and there was thunder and lightning, and the earth was shaking, and they said, Moses, you speak to God. We are terrified. Take care of this for us. Be our intercessor, but you know, shield us from this. We’re terrified of God. He said, we don’t have to approach God like that. Because you have come to Mount Sinai. To the city of the living God. I love Hebrews chapter 12. It’s describing the very pinnacle of human existence. Christians have come to that, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to God the judge of all, to the better blood that is better than the blood of Abel.

Conclusion

These are the things to which we’ve come. And then he says, but do not refuse him who is speaking. We receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken. Let us serve God acceptably. With reverence and awe. With gratitude. For our God is a consuming man. Doug. Now, if you’re in our audience this morning, and there is sin on your account by heaven’s account. You need that remedy. I may not have given you enough in this lesson to explain to you all that you must do, but we want to talk to you about that. Are you wanting to talk about that further? But if you understand that sin is on your account and it’s unremedied, that the blood of Jesus Christ has not cleansed you from your sin.

We sing a song now to encourage your response. You need to be baptized in the death of Christ in the blood of Christ to have your sins washed away. You need to turn from the paths of sin and start walking the walk that we read in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. We want to assist you in that. There’s no more important thing going on in your life right now than that. Are you ready to meet the Lord?

Are you ready to bring your sins to him? And if we can assist you in that, won’t you respond as we stand and sing?