someone has to charge a person with a crime. And the

charged that he gives here is I've previously done it. And

where I did it was in chapter 1, verse 18, "For the wrath of

God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and

unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in

unrighteousness" (NKJV). Notice in verse 9, he doesn't say

that all have sinned; he says all are "under" sin. That means

we are under the penalty of our sin that we have sinned is a

given. That we pay for it. So Paul's charge is that we are all

under the penalty for our sin. Well that moves him right into

the second phase of his legal presentation here, and that is the

indictment. Look at verse 10. “As it is written . . .” Now an

indictment has to be a written charge, a formal accusation

that a person has committed a criminal offense. He says, "As

it is written." Now he's probably quoting mainly from Psalm

14, from Psalm 53, and again from the Book of Isaiah. Now

ordinarily, you have a one count indictment, two and maybe

three counts. There are three occasions where the law

enforcement people can say you did this on three different

times, or you did three different things. Paul is so detailed in

his looking at humanity, standing before God knowing that we

need a Saviour, that we are guilty for our sin; Paul was so

thorough, he lists no less than 14 counts to the indictment.

We're going to see all 14 charges that Paul brings against all of

humanity which he has to prove that charges.

Charged number one: there is no one righteous, "no,

not one." Verse 10. Righteousness is to have a right

relationship with God. And he says, "God looks around the

universe and He doesn't find a single person who has a right

relationship with Him. He finds lots of moral people; He finds

lots of religious people; He finds lots of other kind of people;

but nobody who is righteous." So the first count to his

indictment is none of us possesses God's righteousness.

Charged number two: There is no one who

understands. Also in verse 10. Now he's not talking about

mental understanding here, he's talking about spiritual

understanding. It's not that we don't have the mental power

to understand what God says in His Word, most of it. We

don't have the spiritual discernment to understand what God

says in His Word. In fact Ephesians 4:18 speaks about

people "having their understanding darkened, being

alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that

is in them, because of the hardening of their heart" (NKJV).

There is just this veil that comes over people's faces that they

do not understand what God has to say to them. They don't

even understand they need a Saviour. And until that veil is

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August

removed, this count of this indictment is true for all of us.

Charged number three: There is no one who seeks

God. Verse11. Now Paul is quoting here from Psalm 53:2-3.

"God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if

there are any who understand, who seek after God. They

have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt;

there is none who does good, not even one." Did you notice

the universal words there: all fallen away; No one who does

good; all have become corrupt. Naturally, we do not seek God.

In fact, the Bible tells us very clearly, unless the Spirit draws

us, we never come to Him.

Charged number four: "They have all gone out of the

way" (NKJV). Verse 12. People like you and me have gotten

off the path to God. We've created our own paths. We've

listened to the path of someone else, and so we're traveling

around on our own journey, our own way, going our own

destination, and not finding God in the process.

Wrath The

God

Of Romans 1:18

Charged number five: "they have together become

unprofitable" (NKJV). Verse12. So what he's saying here is

we have created in our own lives a certain un-profitability

toward God because of our own sin. God has designed us to be

useful to Him to bring praise to Him, bring glory to Him, to

help others come to Him. But our own sin keeps us from

doing that, so we're kind of like soured milk to God. We're

good, but unprofitable. Therefore, he says in this indictment,

we're not good at all, because sour milk is of no good to us.

Charged number six: "there is none who does good,

no, not one" (NKJV), verse12 again. What he's meaning

here is that we can't do anything spiritually good that buys us

any chips that gives us any stock with God. There is nothing

we can do spiritually that will take away the stain of our sin.

Psalm 14:1 "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'”

They are corrupt; they do abominable deeds,

there is none who does good. None of us left to ourselves can

make it to Heaven on our own.

Charged number seven: "Their throat is an open

tomb" He says, "Their throat is like an open graveyard." They

have graveyard throats. We sweet-talk with our tongues.

August 2009

With our tongues we both curse people and flatter them at

the same time. What comes out of our mouth tends to be

totally inappropriate to God.

Charged number eight: "with their tongues they have

practiced deceit" (NKJV). verse13. In other words what

he's saying is, left to ourselves we will try to take advantage of

people with our tongues. We're deceitful in the way we use

our tongues because we want to use our tongues to our

advantage, not to the benefit of others.

Charged number nine: "the poison of [snakes or]

asps is under their lips" (NKJV). verse13. It's like we

have poisonous tongues. The things we do, the things we say

that destroy peoples' lives, we are equally guilty just as a cobra

would be. Psalm 140:3 "They make their tongues sharp as

serpents; and under their lips is the venom of asps."

Tenth count of the indictment: "whose mouth is full

of cursing and bitterness" (NKJV). verse14. Psalm

10:7 says that, "The mouths of the wicked are full of cursing

and deceit and oppression; under his tongue is trouble and

iniquity" (NKJV). Well, Paul says, "Look, left to ourselves, we

will curse; we will be bitter; we will say things that we wish we

hadn't said." And that happens to all of us. Sometimes we just

have a sharp word to a child or a sharp word to a friend, and

oh, we wish we could take that word back. But it's indicative

of the entire human race.

Charged number eleven. "Their feet are swift to shed

blood” (NKJV). Verse 15. Paul is likely quoting here from

Isaiah 59:7-8, "Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to

shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;

desolation and destruction are in their highways. The way of

peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths;

they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on

them knows peace." Did you notice the expression in there,

that their thoughts are the thoughts of wickedness? Now you

can say, "Hey, that's not true," unless, of course you pick up

the morning newspaper. All the kinds of senseless violent

crime we see every day is just an absolute depiction of

what is being said here. In this year alone, Abbotsford is

elevated as the murder capital of Canada. In the mind of the

average individual today is the potential to devise a plan to

kill a lot of people. So what he says in his indictment here is

absolutely true today, as it was in Paul's day.

Charged number 12: "destruction and misery are in

their ways" (NKJV). Verse 16. Now I think we have to

understand this in the active sense. These people that he's

talking about, and that's you and me, these people that he's

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August

talking about actively try to find a way to ruin the lives of

other people. I mean we go out of our way to make things

difficult for our neighbour, our parents; sometimes our

friends.

Charged number thirteen: "and the way of peace they

have not known" (NKJV). Verse 17. Now we have the

United Nations. One of the sole goals of the United Nations is

to perpetuate peace in the world. And yet, in over 3,600 years

of recorded history, we have had only a total of 292 years

without a war. And that goes on today. Wars are being fought

on almost multiple fronts today because the way of peace,

these people, these human beings, you and I have not known.

We just don't know how to get along with each other because

of the sin that is in our lives.

Last count of this indictment: "There is no fear of

God before their eyes" (NKJV). Verse 18. Now, this is the

basis for all the other counts of the indictment. The reason all

the 13 things he says are true is because number 14 is true.

There is no fear of God. Fear of God here means the

appreciation, the reverence for Who God is. We treat God as if

He didn't exist, and then we wonder why people act like

animals. Now what Paul is saying here is, "I have shown you

14 different occasions, 14 different ways in which it's true that

we are all under the penalty of sin." Now he's pretty thorough

on this. Did you notice verses 10-12; he says that man is

depraved in his character. Our characters are depraved,

sinful. And then in verses 13 and 14, our conversation, what

we say is sinful and depraved. And then 15-18, it's our conduct

that's depraved. And theologians have a word for that. The

word is we are depraved (that makes it an essential doctrine).

Every area of our life is touched by our own sin. verse 19

"Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those

who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped,

and all the world may become guilty before God" . The

opportunity is given for a defence, but every mouth is

stopped. That means it's plugged right up. We are mute

before God. There is no defence that we can offer in the

courtroom of God for our actions. It was the great French

writer/philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau who said "I will

stand before God and defend my actions." When he stands

before God, he won't have a thing to say. The mouth will be

closed. And that means the only thing left is the verdict. You

see the verdict in verse 20. "Therefore [as the result of this

courtroom procedure] by the deeds of the law no flesh will be

justified in His sight" (NKJV). The verdict here is guilty, and

it has to be guilty because by doing things we can never justify

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August

ourselves. And that's what the person who doesn't know the

Lord Jesus is trying to do. That's what the moral person has

tried to do. That's what our religious friends tried to do. The

things of the Law, and Paul comes to the conclusion, by no

deeds of any law can anyone ever be justified. Now what Paul

is saying here is pretty clear. If we needed educated, God

would've sent us a teacher. If we need to have our heads on

straight, God would've sent us a therapist. If we needed a

mansion, God would've sent us an engineer. If we needed a

companion, God would've sent us a caregiver. But what we

needed was forgiveness. And so God sent us a Saviour. We

needed a defence, and also God sent us an attorney. The first

3 chapters of Romans tell just how very desperate we are and

how needy we are for a Saviour. #

The Essentials is a monthly publication of the Community Church of Christ (Christian Church) at Surrey. The intention of which is to serve as one of the means of aid in the spiritual walk of believers in Christ.

FOR MORE INFORMATION # 101-13443-78th Ave. Surrey, BC V3W 0A8

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Kaibigan, bukas po ang aming mga puso!

August 2009

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 3

Life Lessons from the Book of Romans

Romans Overview

Chapters

1-3a

OUR

CONDEM

NATION

Chapters

3b-5

JUSTIFI

CATION

Chapter

8

GLORIFI

CATION

Chapters

9-16

APPLI

CATIONS

Chapters

6-7

SANCTIFI

CATION

ON this issue, we will discuss on “our condemnation”. The

Apostle Paul begins his message in Romans 1:2-6 explaining

the Gospel; and then he immediately goes to our need for the

Gospel that we are condemned. He's proving what is said in

chapter 1, verse 18 that the "wrath of God resides on all of us

who have suppressed the truth of God." The wrath of God

is His holy hatred to all that is evil. EXODUS 15:11; 1

SAMUEL 2:2; ISAIAH 6:3; 1 PETER 1:16.

In Romans 3:9-20, Paul is going to put all of us in the

courtroom and he's going to follow the traditional courtroom

procedures used in the Roman Empire. There will be a

charge; there will be some indictments; the counts that tell

you your charge is correct. Then there will be an opportunity

for defence. Finally, there will be a verdict. And since we're all

in the courtroom, this becomes very important for you and me

as well, Verse 9, he says, "What then? Are we better than

they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews

and Greeks, that they are all under sin" (NKJV). Now the

word charge is the key word there because, remember, the

very first thing that happens in the courtroom procedure is

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August

TheTheTheThe ESSENTIALSESSENTIALSESSENTIALSESSENTIALS (1 Corinthians 15:1(1 Corinthians 15:1(1 Corinthians 15:1(1 Corinthians 15:1----6)6)6)6) THE COMMUNITY CHURCH OTHE COMMUNITY CHURCH OTHE COMMUNITY CHURCH OTHE COMMUNITY CHURCH OF CHRISTF CHRISTF CHRISTF CHRIST (COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN CHURCH)(COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN CHURCH)(COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN CHURCH)(COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN CHURCH) SERMON MAGAZINESERMON MAGAZINESERMON MAGAZINESERMON MAGAZINE