Romans 3:9-20, “No One Does Good, No One is Good, Apart from God.”

Bible Text: Romans 3:9-20 | Preacher: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: Romans

Read Romans 3:9… I believe Paul is saying that just because the Jews had the Law of God (as we studied lat week), are no better off than the Gentiles. The truth is, all men are guilty of sin, deserving of God’s just punishment. We cannot obtain favoritism with God, or become more acceptable, by being religious or moral, or by our ancestral heritage, or by our acquisition of knowledge wealth, power, or fame. Read Romans 3:10-14… (Ecclesiastes 7:20) God is clear in His assessment, everyone who has reached the age of accountability, knowing good from evil, truth from error. Look: no one is righteous,not even one; no one understands; no one seeks God. All people have turned away from God’s righteousness and are therefore worthless. This is clearly expressed: no one, apart from God, is able to do anything pleasing to God, not one! God says, “no one is good, no one can do good.” And good is always defined as anything and everything that pleases God. Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” What is the first and foremost thing God wants for everyone (1Timothy 2:3-4), “God our Savior wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth,” (2Peter 3:9), “[God] is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” God wants us to be saved sinners, for only then will we be “good,” as recipients of God’s grace, we are capable of doing that which pleases God. Please turn to Luke 18:18-22. Notice (v. 18), he calls Jesus “Good Teacher,” and (v. 19), “Why do you call me good? No one except God is good [morally upright].” Romans 3:13 says that apart from God, our “throats are open graves and our tongues practice deceit,” unsaved mankind is spiritually dead – lying and deceit are a natural part of life without God; in fact, “the poison of vipers” is on the lips of the unregenerate (see 1Peter 4:6). The speech of those who oppose God (Romans 3:14), “is full of cursing and bitterness. Matthew 3:7, “But when he (John) saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Matthew 12:34-35, “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.”
Matthew 15:18, “But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ “ Proverbs 15:2, “The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.” 28 “The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil.” Read Romans 3:15-17… Godless men kill and bring misery, whereas, godly men seek peace and show love for others. Read Romans 3:18… Godless men have no fear of God (Psalm 14:1), “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.” True believers revere God and try to honor Him, urging others to repent, to be reconciled to, and to serve God. Read Romans 3:19-20… Every unredeemed [unsaved] human in the whole world, who is capable of being conscious of sin, is accountable to God. Observing the Law will not justify anyone and knowing the Law only makes us conscious of sin. Paul says the Jew is accountable to God for the written Law (through Moses), just as the Gentile (everybody else) is accountable to God for the Law written upon their hearts (Romans 2:11-15). All mankind, apart from the saving grace of God, through Christ, is guilty of sin – this should result in total silence (Romans 3:19), “so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.” No man, woman, or child of accountable age has anything to boast about, for there is nothing to be said in our defense except Jesus Christ’s sacrificial payment for our sins; therefore as Paul proclaimed (2Corinthians 10:17), “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” One day there will be total silence in heaven, for Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, will open the Deed to the universe, breaking its Seals – unleashing judgement. See Revelation 5:1-14; 8:1. This incomprehensible scene in heaven is the beginning of the apocalyptic destruction of the heavens and the earth; which is unleashed as the Seven Seals are broken; the seventh seal unleashes the Seven Trumpet Judgements, and the seventh trumpet unleashes the Seven Bowl Judgments, of which the seventh bowl’s judgement is brought to an end by the very return of Jesus Christ to the earth (Revelation 19:11-16), leading to Christ’s reign on earth as King for 1000 years (20:1-6); after which, the final battle (20:7-10) and then the judgement of God (Revelation 20:11-15) will be carried out on all those who have rejected Him throughout history (White Throne Judgement) No one will be justified by their own works or by keeping the Law of God, for sinful man is incapable of obeying God perfectly and therefore, worthy the of the death sentence.
The only hope for men, women, and children of age, to be considered good, and therefore acceptable, to God, is to accept God’s gracious gift of forgiveness for sins and eternal life through God’s Son. Apart from Christ, no one is good and no one can do good, according to God’s judgement. Our message is an urgent message, a timely message of hope and love and forgiveness and redemption and eternal life – though Jesus Christ the Lord. 1John 5:10-12, “Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”