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Life Greatest Story, Lesson #3
One Great Problem / Romans 3:9 - 23

Good Questions Have Groups Talking
www.joshhunt.com

OPEN

What is your name and, briefly, one time you got yourself in trouble as a child.

DIG

1.      Let me ask one of you to read this passage, then let me ask someone else to summarize it.

We are all sinners through and through—totally depraved. Now, that doesn’t mean we’ve committed every atrocity known to humankind. We’re not as bad as we can be, just as bad off as we can be. Sin colors all our thoughts, motives, words, and actions.

You still don’t believe it? Look around. Everything around us bears the smudge marks of our sinful nature. Despite our best effort to create a perfect world, crime statistics continue to soar, divorce rates keep climbing, and families keep crumbling.

Something has gone terribly wrong in our society and in ourselves, something deadly. Contrary to how the world would repackage it, “me-first” living doesn’t equal rugged individuality and freedom; it equals death. As Paul said in his letter to the Romans, “The wages of sin is death” (6:23)—our spiritual and physical death that comes from God’s righteous judgment of our sin, along with all the emotional and practical effects of the separation we experience on a daily basis. — Charles Swindoll, The Rising Hope (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009).

2.      Verse 11. Don’t some people seek God? Is this hyperbole?

“But what about the guy in the Philippines,” you ask, “who flagellates his body and is hung on a Cross every Easter? Yes, his theology might be askew, but surely he is seeking God.”

No, he’s not. Paul says none seeks after God.

“What about the Tibetan monks who live their entire lives in simplicity and celibacy? Surely they’re seeking after God.”

No, they’re not. The Bible says none seeks after God.

“Then what’s the guy in the Philippines seeking?” you ask.

Perhaps he’s seeking alleviation from his guilt, perhaps recognition from his peers, perhaps exaltation of his soul. But he’s not seeking God.

“What about the monks in Tibet? What are they seeking?”

Perhaps they’re seeking peace, perhaps some kind of transcendent emotional experience, perhaps a higher consciousness—but they’re not seeking God.

The Bible says none seeks after God, no not one. Every believer was chosen solely by grace, completely because of God’s unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor. — Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 890.

3.      Verse 13. Throats like open graves… what is that talking about?

What a repulsive anatomy! Throats like open graves. Deceitful tongues. Viper lips. Mouths full of vulgarity. Feet that march toward violence. And to sum it up, Paul presents the cause of it all, “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (v. 18 NIV).

Sin infects the entire person, from eyes to feet. Not only does sin contaminate every human being, it contaminates the being of every human. Paul will say it most clearly later in the letter to the Romans. “The wages of sin is death . . .” (6:23 NIV).

Sin is a fatal disease.

Sin has sentenced us to a slow, painful death.

Sin does to a life what shears do to a flower. A cut at the stem separates a flower from the source of life. Initially the flower is attractive, still colorful and strong. But watch that flower over a period of time, and the leaves will wilt and the petals will drop. No matter what you do, the flower will never live again. Surround it with water. Stick the stem in soil. Baptize it with fertilizer. Glue the flower back on the stem. Do what you wish. The flower is dead. — Max Lucado, In the Grip of Grace (Dallas, TX: Word Pub., 1996), 60.

4.      Romans 3.23 is a classic every believer ought to commit to memory. Who can quote it?

Most people think they have a bad memory, but it’s not true. As we’ve already discovered, most of the time memorizing is mainly a problem of motivation. If you know your birthday, phone number, and address, and can remember the names of your friends, then you can memorize Scripture. The question becomes whether you are willing to discipline yourself to do it.

When Dawson Trotman, founder of the Christian organization called The Navigators, was converted to faith in Christ in 1926, he began memorizing one Bible verse every day. He was driving a truck for a lumber yard in Los Angeles at the time. While driving around town he would work on his verse for that day. During the first three years of his Christian life he memorized his first thousand verses. If he could memorize over three hundred verses a year while driving, surely we can find ways to memorize a few. — Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1991), 44–45.

5.      Let me pass out a few pages of the newspaper to each of you. What evidence can you find that what Paul says here is true?

Recently I read in the local newspaper the Texas court verdict on John William King, sentenced to death for the cruel death of a black man. King was convicted of chaining James Byrd Jr. by the ankles to the back of his pickup truck, then dragging Byrd at high speed for more than three miles. You would think the impact of a sentence like that would rattle his decadent thinking, but as he was walking out of the courtroom, a reporter asked him for a comment and all he could do was curse the sorrowing family members.

I said to myself, Sin is a ruthless, heartless, vicious master. Genesis 4:7 says, “Sin lies at [your] door. And its desire is for you.” Remember, sin equals slavery, and the only way to be truly free is found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (see Romans 6:17), the One who said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). — James MacDonald and Jim Cymbala, I Really Want to Change... So, Help Me God (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2000).

6.      Besides the newspaper, where else can you find sin?

It's your sin that hinders you from experiencing a downpour of revival. Not sin in the neighborhood, not sin in the newspaper, but sin in the mirror. Sin is the answer to your (perhaps private) questions, “Why don't I feel close to God the way I used to? What happened to my passion for God?” Sin is what's in the way.

For the most part, evangelical Christians are good at seeing sin on television and in the church lobby, but we fail miserably at seeing sin in the mirror. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9). Our capacity to deceive ourselves leads us to believe we are holier than we really are. Our sinful hearts trick us into thinking that “everyone else has problems, but not me.” As one preacher rightly asserts, “You're being lied to and it's an inside job.” It's your own heart that lies to you about personal sin—and that deception is death to downpour. — James MacDonald, Downpour (Nashville: B&H, 2010).

7.      Imagine you were witnessing to a friend who said he did not think he was a sinner. How would you respond?

A young man once said to a preacher, “I do not think I am a sinner.” Then the preacher asked him if he would be willing for his mother or sister to know all he had done, said or thought, all his motives and all his desires. After a moment the young man said, “No, indeed, I certainly would not like to have them known—not for all the world. — AMG Bible Illustrations, Bible Illustrations Series (Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2000).

8.      Would it help if we would all try harder to be good?

There is a common misperception—inside and outside the church—that Christian living is fundamentally about trying really hard to be good. It is not. It is about being transformed. — Josh Hunt, Jesus’ Easy Way, 2016.

9.      If trying really hard won’t help, what hope is there? What is the solution?

What specifically is this solution? “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (3:23). The Greek is stronger: “For all have sinned [aorist tense] in the past, and all are coming short of the glory of God.” In the past, we have sinned; in the present, we are sinning. But he continues, “being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Many of you have been raised with these words from the Scripture until they have just become words. Some of you may say, “Oh, I’ve heard it ten million times, and it grinds through my mind like a phonograph.”

Smash the record and listen to the words. “Whom God hath set forth [that is, Christ] to be propitiatory through faith in his blood [that is, Christ’s finished work in space, time, and history, on the basis of the infinite value of His work because of His person as the eternal Son of God], to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” God has provided a solution whereby His holiness and man’s significance can stand, and yet not all men will be lost.

Then look at the great 3:26. People pass by it much too easily, not understanding the wonder of what Paul is saying: “For the showing at this time his righteousness, that he himself might be just [that is, that He might keep His holiness—and thus there is an absolute], and yet [the word yet is not in the Greek, but the force of it is] the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus.”

What is being said here? God has provided a way that no philosophy would have thought of. It is a way that would take us by surprise if we were not just thinking by evangelical habit. There should be everlasting surprise in it. I stand here. I am significant. God must be holy. Is all lost now that I have sinned? The answer is no! God has provided a propitiation, a substitute. The whole of God’s answer rests upon the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. Because of who He is, His death has infinite value; it can cover every spot; it can remove true moral guilt (and not just the guilt-feelings that exist) in the presence of God as the perfect Judge of the universe.

Thus three great things fall into place: God’s holiness, man’s significance, and the possibility of man’s redemption. I don’t know about you, but I believe it is time to stand up and sing the doxology. Here is an intellectual answer that nothing else has ever presented! — Francis A. Schaeffer, The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: A Christian Worldview, vol. 4 (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1982), 281–282.

10.  The theological word for what we are discussing is depravity. What does depravity mean?

The will is fallen and depraved too, but God still commands people to make a choice to believe. The doctrine of total depravity does not mean that the image of God is effaced, that sinners are as evil as they could possibly be, or that the intellect, emotions, and will are gone or completely useless. Rather, total depravity means that the entire person, including the intellect, has been adversely affected by the Fall and is separate from God. The sinner alone cannot extricate himself from this condition and cannot merit God’s favor or commend himself to God on the basis of his own righteousness. Further, the entire personality is corrupt but not inoperative, and every aspect of our personality has a natural inclination to run in ways contrary to God’s ways. However, none of this means that reason, considered in itself, is bad. — J. P. Moreland, Love Your God with All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2012), 69–70.

11.  Someone might say that this message is too pessimistic—that Paul needs to not be so negative. How would you respond?

You must understand that God’s passing grade is 100 percent. If He is less than perfect or accepts less than perfection, the absolutes are gone! That’s what an absolute means; it’s a 100 percent affair. And so God says to the man without the Bible, “Have you kept 100 percent of the moral judgments with which you bound others?” And to the man with the Bible, “Have you kept 100 percent of the standards of Scripture?” The answer is no. In Galatians 3:21 Paul writes, “Is the law, then, against the promises of God? God forbid; for if there had been a law given which could have given life (or could make alive), verily righteousness should have been by the law.” That is, if God could have given a law so that Jesus did not have to go to the cross, surely He would have done it! He didn’t send Jesus to the cross as a piece of theater, as one arbitrary possibility in the midst of other arbitrary possibilities. Rather, since there is no law that man in his rebellion does not break, God had to provide a nonhumanist solution for the problem of man if there was to be a solution. — Francis A. Schaeffer, The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: A Christian Worldview, vol. 4 (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1982), 281.

12.  What heroics do we attempt to pretend we are not depraved? What are some examples?

When the Chinese dictator Mao Zedong died in 1976, his physician, Dr. Li Zhisui, was given an impossible task. The Politburo demanded, “The chairman’s body is to be permanently preserved.” The staff objected. The doctor objected. He had seen the dry and shrunken remains of Lenin and Stalin. He knew a body with no life was doomed to rot.

But he had his commands. Twenty-two liters of formaldehyde were pumped into the body. The result was horrifying. Mao’s face swelled up like a ball, and his neck was as thick as his head. His ears stuck out in right angles, and the chemical oozed from his pores. A team of embalmers worked for five hours with towels and cotton balls to force the liquids down into his body. Finally the face looked normal, but the chest was so swollen that his jacket had to be slit in the back and his body covered with the red Communist Party flag.

That sufficed for the funeral, but the powers above wanted the body permanently preserved to lie in state at Tiananmen Square. For a year Dr. Zhisui supervised a team working in an underground hospital as they tried to preserve the remains. Because of the futility of the task, a government official ordered that an identical wax dummy be made. Both the body and the replica were taken to the mausoleum in Tiananmen Square. Tens of thousands came to file past a crystal casket and pay their respects to the man who’d ruled China for twenty-seven years. But even the doctor didn’t know if they were seeing Mao or a waxwork dummy.

Don’t we do the same? Isn’t that the occupation of humanity? Isn’t that the hope of the workaholic? Isn’t that the aspiration of the greedy, the power-monger, and the adulterer? Not to pump formaldehyde into a corpse but to pump life into a soul?

We fool just enough people to keep ourselves trying a bit longer. Sometimes, even we don’t know if people are seeing the real self or a wax figure.

A dead flower has no life.

A dead body has no life.

A dead soul has no life.

Cut off from God, the soul withers and dies. The consequence of sin is not a bad day or a bad mood but a dead soul. The sign of a dead soul is clear: poisoned lips and cursing mouths, feet that lead to violence and eyes that don’t see God.

Now you know how people can be so vulgar. Their souls are dead. Now you see how some religions can be so oppressive. They have no life. Now you understand how the drug peddler can sleep at night and the dictator can live with his conscience. He has none.

The finished work of sin is to kill the soul. — Max Lucado, In the Grip of Grace (Dallas, TX: Word Pub., 1996), 60–62.

13.  In your pre-Christ days… what do you do to justify yourself?

Growing up in the Lomita Community Presbyterian Church, Daws tried all sorts of things to justify himself apart from the work of Christ. He became a leader in Christian Endeavor. He was his high school valedictorian, student body president, and captained the basketball team. The only thing that this overachiever couldn’t manage to obtain on his own was true righteousness. After realizing that these good deeds were merely a veneer that hid a multitude of sin, he fell into a rebellious lifestyle of heavy drinking and general mischief.

One day, on his way to work at a lumberyard, John 1:12-13 flashed into his mind and he gave his life to Christ. He gained “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Romans 3:22). Christ is the fulfillment of the law that Dawson could never have hoped to keep on his own.

Oh, Christian overachiever, are you trying to appear righteous by all of your good deeds? Rest in the fact that Christ is your righteousness. As you read and study the Word, do so not to appear righteous before your fellow church members or your friends who haven’t yet turned to Christ. Instead, receive and meditate on the Word out of gratitude for Christ’s finished work. — Ken Albert et al., Dawson Trotman: In His Own Words (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2011).

14.  What good comes to those who humbly and profoundly admit it: I am a sinner.

The doctrine of original sin is much easier to grasp after I spend time on a golf course. The temptation to write down a wrong score or nudge a ball from a natural hazard helps me remember that I am a sinner. The prophet Jeremiah was possibly talking to golfers when he wrote: “The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (17:9).

There is incredible freedom in such an admission. In facing our own sinfulness, leaving it at the foot of the cross, and moving on, one stroke at a time. Each of us is a fragile creature whose hope does not lie in our own goodness, but in the fact that God sees that we are dust and loves us just the same. — Phil Callaway, With God on the Golf Course (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2002).

15.  What ill comes to those who pretend they are not sinners?

The Great Physician’s diagnosis of the condition of humanity is bleak: All are sinners without exception. This description is not just of the “bad guys”—but of you and me as well. Now, if I forget this divine diagnosis and start to think, He’s a pretty good person, I’m setting myself up for disappointment and disillusionment. Therefore, instead of being surprised when someone does something bad, I should be amazed when someone does something good because the divine diagnosis is that we are all depraved. — Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 890.

16.  Verse 20 introduces another theological concept: justification. What exactly does that mean? (Also see Romans 3.24)

After speaking of our sad situation, Paul introduces the fabulous doctrine of justification. Justification is a legal term that speaks of much more than forgiveness or pardon. Justification means being declared righteous—as though we never sinned at all.

An English gentleman bought a Rolls Royce in England and had it shipped across the English Channel so he could motor through France. In the midst of his tour, however, the Rolls broke down. So the man called the dealer in London and said, “The car I bought is broken.”

“We’ll take care of it immediately,” was the dealer’s reply. And, sure enough, within the hour, a team of mechanics flew to France, took the Rolls apart, repaired it, and returned to England.

Following the completion of his tour, the Englishman returned home and waited for what was sure to be a hefty bill for the repair of his car. But it never came. So finally he called the Rolls dealership and said, “I’ve been back for several months, but I haven’t received a bill for your services.”

“A bill for what?” asked the voice on the other end.

“A bill for the repairs you did in France on my Rolls.”

“Sir,” insisted the dealer, “we have no record whatsoever of any repairs being done on any Rolls Royce at any time. Thank you.”

That’s justification—just as if it never broke down! You see, the Lord doesn’t say, “I’ve been bearing with you and putting up with all of your sin, but I’m such a good God that I’ll overlook it.” No! Once I have faith in Jesus Christ, God looks at me as being justified—as though I never sinned at all. — Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 890–891.

17.  2 Corinthians 5.21 is a good cross-reference. What do we learn about ourselves from this verse?

Let’s suppose my daughter Christy ran up a huge bill at Meier & Frank Department Store and couldn’t make the payments. Eventually, Meier & Frank would dispatch a lawyer, who, upon finding Christy, would say, “Miss Courson, pay up immediately, or we’ll see you in court.”

Now, if Christy responded, “I can’t pay. Please forgive me,” they would most likely insist that justice be done. Three months later, Christy’s court date would arrive. Eager to face their adversary, Meier & Frank’s lawyers would arrive at the courthouse early and search for her.

Seeing Christy arrive on the arm of a handsome young man, they would say, “I hope you’re ready, Miss Courson. The day of reckoning is here. By the way, who’s the man with you?”

“Oh, this is my fiance—, Mr. Meier. His father is the partner of Mr. Frank. You wanted to talk to me about a lawsuit?”

“What lawsuit?” they would say.

You see, suddenly, the situation would change if Christy showed up with Mr. Meier’s son. She could never have won the case. Her only way out was to have the case dropped completely. And that’s exactly what happens with us. Satan accuses us. Our sin condemns us. The law convicts us—until we enter the courtroom on the arm of our Bridegroom. Then everything changes. Because we are justified, all charges are dropped for lack of evidence. In the following verses, note six characteristics of justification. — Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 891.

18.  But, what if I don’t feel justified? What if I don’t feel like I am the righteousness of God?

People who doubt their salvation are miserable Christians and confusing witnesses to the unbelieving world. They are not portraits of “the abundant life” that Jesus Christ gives those who trust Him for the forgiveness of their sins.

How then do you slip into this anxiety–producing mind–set? By subtly shifting from grace to performance. By losing sight of the all–sufficiency of the Cross. Salvation is always “by grace … through faith” (Eph. 2:8 NASB). It is a gift from God.

Once saved, you may drift into a performance–based mentality, thinking your relationship with the Lord depends upon your conduct. This is heresy. Only God’s grace saves you and keeps you saved. Your basis of acceptance before Him is the Cross where God the Father justified you (declared you not guilty) through His Son’s death. You are accepted not on your merit but wholly on Christ’s substitutionary death on Calvary. Once for all, Jesus died for all your sins for all time. When you are saved, your sins are forgiven—past, present, and future.

If you are wrestling with doubt over your salvation, look to the Cross. If you have received Christ by faith, you are eternally secure in the Savior. Nothing can alter that fact. — Charles F. Stanley, Enter His Gates: A Daily Devotional (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998).

19.  Verse 24 speaks of another theological word: redemption. I sometimes get this mixed up with reconciliation—maybe because the both start with an “R.” What is redemption? What is the difference between redeemed and reconciled?

The self-substitution of Christ for man’s sin is the heart of the Cross. Because of His death at Calvary, Christ allows believers to enjoy the eternal benefits of these central truths:

Propitiation. The wrath of God against sin was fully vented on His own Son at the cross. Christians never need to fear angering God. Our sin is forgiven, and even God’s chastisement for sinful behavior is motivated by compassion.

Redemption. Christ’s death purchased us out of the slavery of sin. His shed blood paid the penalty of death and ransomed us from sin and evil. We have been delivered from the kingdom of Satan and placed into the kingdom of God’s Son.

Justification. By God’s grace we no longer are guilty before God. Christ’s death secured our verdict, releasing us from the sentence of death. He declares us righteous and credits His righteousness to our account.

Reconciliation. Once enemies, God and man are now friends. The Cross made a permanent change possible between formerly alienated man and God. The right Man is now on our side, and we are on His. — Charles F. Stanley, On Holy Ground (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999), 97.

20.  We always want to read the Bible for application. What is the application of this passage to our lives?

Stop and think: Upon believing in Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death and bodily resurrection, the once-lost sinner is instantly, unconditionally, and permanently “declared 100% righteous.” Anything less and we are not righteous . . . we’re almost righteous.

If we are declared 99.9% righteous, some verses of the Bible would have to be rewritten. Like Isaiah 1:18, which might then read: “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘though your sins are as scarlet, they will be light pink.’”

Nonsense! The promise of sins forgiven is all or nothing. Eighty percent won’t cut it.

When our Lord said “It is finished,” He meant “finished.” — The Finishing Touch / Charles R. Swindoll, Wisdom for the Way: Wise Words for Busy People (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007).

21.  How would you respond in prayer to this passage?

O God, I declare my new identity in Christ: I am the salt of the earth, a child of God, a saint who has peace with You. I am joint heir with Jesus, free from condemnation, and justified by faith. I am the temple of God, an ambassador for Christ, eternally secure, triumphant, complete, and accepted in Christ. I am a citizen of heaven and blessed with every spiritual blessing! — Charles Stanley, I Lift up My Soul: Devotions to Start Your Day with God (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010).