ROMANS UNWRAPPED 35

                               
                                        THE WORLD ON TRIAL   Romans 3 v 9-20.


THE EVIDENCE:     VS. 10-18.

The evidence is gathered, there is no defence, because no-one could defend against God, there is no mitigation, this is God's estimate of the human race.   In graphic detail God now gives His assessment    It is, at one and the same time a total world scan, and a full body scan.   With greater than x ray vision he tabulates fourteen indictments against us.   For sure, reading this list, no-one will like it, and all will try to evade it, nevertheless it is God's estimate of us, and therefore the only estimate that matters.   Like a consultant diagnosing the problem in a patient, and then proposing a cure, so the God of heaven diagnoses our problem and will later present the cure.   No-one likes to hear bad news.  

The evidence is in the Holy Scriptures "as it is written".   Throughout the letter to Romans, Paul refers constantly to the scriptures, "which cannot be broken".
1 v 2;  1 v 17;  3 v 4; 3 v 10;  4 v 3;  4 v 18;  8 v 36 ;9 v 9;  9 v 17;  9 v 33.

Thus far Paul has brought CREATION, CONSCIENCE, and LAW, now he brings SCRIPTURE to bear on the subject.   The implications of all this is awesome.   Jesus said that heaven and earth would pass away before God's word would pass away, and there is clear evidence from John chapter 5 & Revelation 20 that these scriptures will be used to judge us at the great white throne.

The list of fourteen indictments arrayed against us can be categorised as follows:

1.   SIN IS UNIVERSAL     verses 10 - 12
Notice the language of these verses  "none righteous no not one,"    "none that understand,"   "none that seek after God,"   together become unprofitable",  "all gone out of the way,"   "none that doeth good, no not one."
The Divine estimate of the entire race is that sinfulness applies to every individual who has ever lived, and therefore who ever will live.   4,000 years of human history says that long enough time has been given to prove there is no betterment for us.

2.   SIN IS TOTAL     verses 13 - 18
Not only has it affected all people, it has affected the whole human being.   Paul speaks here of the members of the body, and goes from head to foot.   In these verses he speaks of the throat, the tongue, the lips, the mouth, the feet, the ways, the mind and the eyes.   Sin has affected every part of our being and although he is not saying that all of us are all evil all the time, he is saying this is the ruling principal within us.   It has affected every man, and it has affected the whole man.   Isaiah the prophet spoke to the most religious people on earth quoting the divine words "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corruptors,  they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward; ..........the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it."    Isaiah 1 v 4 - 6. If this is said to the best of men, where does that leave the rest of us?

Having classified the divine estimate we will now tabulate the entire fourteen indictments against us, but will look at them each one individually in days to come, because we need to understand why it is we need to be saved.   Here is what is written;

There is none righteous no not one.
There is none that understands.
There is none that seek after God.
There are all gone out of the way.
They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no not one.

Their throat is an open sepulchre.
With their tongues they have used deceit.
The poison of asps is under their lips.
Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood.
Destruction and misery are in their ways.
The way of peace have they not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.

The scriptures referred to are   Psalm 14 v 1 - 3;  Psalm 5 v 9;   Psalm 140 v 3;  Psalm 9 v 7; Isaiah 59 v 7&8  Psalm 36 v 1. 

I think it is clear, that somewhere in the above list we will find ourselves.   The apostle James says  "if we offend in one point we are guilty of the whole." James 2 v 10.     This withering judgement of the human condition is designed to magnify in our eyes the terrible plight of the human race.   We must continue to explore this in detail, because it is only in doing so we shall grasp, in a few sentences later, the wonder of God's salvation.

Tomorrow d.v.Romans 3 v 10 - 12  - The universality of sin.