In Jason Dohm's sermon titled 'The Judge’s Verdict', he explores Romans 3:9-20, where the Apostle Paul concludes his argument on the universal sinfulness and unrighteousness of humanity. Paul emphasizes that both Jews and Gentiles are under sin, highlighting the futility of relying on the law for justification. Despite the advantages that Jews have in receiving God's word, these blessings do not make them inherently better or exempt from sin's power. The sermon delves into the doctrine of total depravity, illustrating how every aspect of human nature is tainted by sin. It underscores that no one is righteous on their own merits and that the law serves to reveal the knowledge of sin rather than provide a path to salvation. The sermon points to the necessity of a Savior, foreshadowing the role of Jesus Christ in offering redemption.

Our sermon text for this week is from Romans chapter 3 verses 9 through 20, but for context I'm going to start at the beginning of the chapter. What advantage then has the Jew or what is the prophet of circumcision? Much in every way, chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?

Certainly not. Indeed, let God be true, but every man a liar. As it is written, that you may be justified in your words and may overcome when you are judged. But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath?

I speak as a man. Certainly not. For then, how will God judge the world? For if the truth of God has increased through my light through my lie to his glory why am I also still judged as a sinner and why not say let us do evil that good may come? As we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say, their condemnation is just.

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. As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one.

There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good.

No, not one. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced deceit. Their poison of asps is under the lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known.

There is no fear of God before their eyes. 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. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." The title of the sermon this morning is the Judge's Verdict. It is the summary and the exclamation point on a long argument that the author of the letter, the Apostle Paul, has been making. It started in Chapter 1 verse 18, it begins with, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

It's not the ungodliness and unrighteousness of some men, it's the ungodliness and unrighteousness of all men. So that really is Paul's summary and exclamation point on everything he said between the beginning of this section and now. Last week, in last week's text, we began chapter 3. And Paul evaluated the prophet of being a Jew, being part of the people that God had called to be his own and of being marked out as belonging to God. There was actually a physical sign that you were marked out to be God's and it was the sign of circumcision.

So, Paul evaluates what good is it to be a Jew and to have this mark of belonging to God. And instead of giving us a list, he gives us just the head of the list, The best thing on the list, the chief advantage, which was having the Word of God, when the rest of the nations of the earth were by and large completely without the Word of God, which teaches us about God and His ways, the Jews had it. And this is a tremendous advantage. But we learned last week, and Paul teaches this really throughout Romans, that though it's a great blessing, and it is the chief advantage of being a Jew, being marked out to be God's people, it is not infallibly saving. But it is a blessing.

Paul says elsewhere that the scriptures are able to make you wise to salvation. So this will tell you all you need to know about yourself and all you need to know about God and once you know with clarity how God sees you in truth and who God is in truth, it sends you running to Jesus for the forgiveness of sins because you feel the weight of that. This week, Paul follows on that, talking about the advantages of the Jews, and asks and answers whether that advantage, that blessing, that privilege enjoyed by the Jews makes Jews by definition better than non-Jews. In other words, God marked you out, gave you an advantage that the other nations of the world didn't enjoy. Does that mean that you, being a Jew, are by definition better than all non-Jews?

Spoiler alert, the answer is not at all. So it is an advantage, a blessing, a privilege, but it doesn't make you by definition better than people who were born in different families in different nations. As we come to our text, let's ask God to help us. God, we do need your help as we come to your Word. Of course no one knows your word like your spirit knows your word.

And we want your help. We need it and we want it. We pray for it. We plead with you that you would bless us. Help us.

Understand. See what's here in your word and benefit from it. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. I'm going to take our 12 verses, chapter 3 verses 9 through 20, and break them into four parts. So the first subdivision is just nine by itself.

So hopefully you have your Bible open to Romans chapter 3, and I'll reread verse 9, and then do my best to explain it. Romans chapter 3 verse 9, follow along. 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. In this verse we have the charge. There's a charge of criminality here. All are under sin. So there are criminal charges being brought and Paul is going to argue that you and me, we are the criminals.

All are under sin. The question is really this. Is anybody in a different boat? Is there a class of people who are safe while the rest are in peril? The answer is, we're all in the same boat.

Now, we're coming to where he says, There's another boat that you can get in, but he's not there yet. So he's starting with what we all are when we are brought forth into the world and we live and develop. And he's saying there are not different boats we're all in the same boat and it isn't the carefree safe boat. It is the boat in terrible peril. The boat that is drifting towards Niagara Falls with no ore, no motor, only the power of the current taking you over the falls.

And we're in this boat because we have all offended God by our rebellion and our sin. He is perfectly good. And He's always been that. Before what we think of as the beginning of time. Before that, God was perfectly good.

He's perfectly good now. He's going to be perfectly good through all eternity. We are nothing like that. We actually want to displace Him. We don't want to be told by Him what to do.

We want to be the one doing the telling. We want to be the one at complete freedom to follow any inclination that we have in our heart. And God is offended because of our sin and our rebellion. That is the only boat to be in. That is the boat that we are in as we come into this world.

Paul is himself a Jew and he has just acknowledged that the Jews have enjoyed a list of advantages within the plans and purposes of God. In other words, God decided to give them certain blessings and privileges and advantages. So that would lead you to the question, since God did it, God decided to give them these blessings, privileges, advantages. So then, aren't we better as Jews than the Gentiles? Hasn't God shown that we're better than them by his plans and purposes?

Then Paul claims to have already answered the question. So Paul is actually pointing back to what he's already said. Listen to what he says, not at all for we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. In other words, Paul says, I already answered that question. Are Jews by definition better than non-Jews?

I already answered that question. We already previously charged earlier in the letter that we are all under sin. When did He do that? Chapter 1 verse 18, verse by verse, through our text today. It's the end of a long argument, all saying the same thing.

Jews and Gentiles, we're all in the same boat, we're all under sin. Paul said that what everyone knows about the Creator from the creation, in other words if you never had a Bible in your lap, but you could see the works of his hands, it tells you certain things that must be true about a God who could do this. Paul talks about what it means that all of us frown on others in spite of the fact that we do the same things. Consider that for a minute. You ever do that?

You ever frown on others? By the way, you're saying there is a right and wrong. Every time we frown on somebody else, we're saying there's a good and a bad, a right and a wrong. And I'm frowning on you because you did the bad and the wrong. So you're already acknowledging every time you do that that there is a right and wrong.

And then, if you inspect yourself closely, you can find you've done the same things that you have frowned upon. And so you're without excuse. You can see things about the Creator from the creation. It renders you without excuse. You frown on other people for things that you secretly do or have done, the same things, and so you're rendered without excuse.

Paul has said, everyone has law. You either have written law, that's best, but even if you've never seen the written law, God made you born a certain way with certain inborn senses of this is good, that's bad. This is right, that is wrong. And humans have the same sense of these things. We were born that way.

And this means that in the last day, when we stand before God to be judged, God won't have to call any external witnesses. He can just call your conscience that will say, I knew it wasn't right and I did it anyway because I wanted to do it and he won't need to call your mom, your dad, your friends, your co-workers, your conscience will be sufficient to condemn you in the day that we stand before God. Even if we never owned a Bible, we had a sense of right and wrong, and we trampled on it so, so often. Then he advanced to talking about all the advantages that the Jews had been given that they never lived up to. In a sense, that makes the Jews more open to responsibility, more open to condemnation, because they were given advantages that none of the other nations had, and then they did nothing with those advantages.

So instead of being advantages, it actually opened them up to a level of responsibility and condemnation, even then people who didn't have those advantages. Now we have this phrase in our text, all under sin. We know what all means, all means all. What does under sin mean? Here's what Dr.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, All mankind by nature, as you're born, all mankind by nature is under the guilt of sin, under the power of sin, and under the pollution of sin. So we're under the guilt of sin because we did the crimes. Not one crime, but so many crimes. So we're guilty, we're under that guilt. We're under the power of sin, because it's not coincidence that we sin.

We actually sin because we love things that we shouldn't love and we hate things that we should love. We're inclined towards the sin. We want it. That's why we do it. We're actually under its power.

We have a draw inside ourselves to do things that God hates and not to do the things that He loves. We are under the pollution of sin. Sin is corrupting. Sin leads to righteousness. No!

Sin leads to more sin. Sin leads to a deadening of the conscience, which leads to less inhibition, less barriers between you and following your own inclinations into destruction. So all mankind is by nature under the guilt of sin, under the power of sin, and under the pollution of sin. Paul is just drawing us to one conclusion. We need a savior.

What's wrong with us? So much is wrong with us and we need someone to come and to save us. Next section. Now let's look at verses 10-18. And I do want to re-read 10-18.

So please follow along. Paul writes, as it is written, colon quotation mark. We're entering the quotes now. There is none righteous. No, not one.

There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good.

No, not one. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood.

Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." In this section we have the proof. Scripture declares the universal condition of mankind. So if you're taking notes on the handout by filling in blanks, universal fills in the blank. The proof that Paul offers is this.

Scripture declares the universal condition of mankind. Here, Paul paraphrases, they're not exact word for word quotes all the way through, but they're really close paraphrases. They're unmistakably quotations of six Old Testament texts. So that's what I just read. The piling up of six Old Testament texts.

I'll give them to you. One, either Psalm 14 1-3 or Psalm 53 1-3, those two Psalms are both Psalms of David and they start almost identically, so I can't even tell whether it's Psalm 14 or Psalm 53 because they're so close that it could be either or both, whatever. They're both Psalms of David and those are the words. 2, Psalm 5, verse 9, another Psalm of David. 3, Psalm 140, verse 3, a Psalm of David, 4, Psalm 10, verse 7, 5, Isaiah chapter 59, verses 7 through 9, 6, Psalm 36, verse 1.

So you have a piling up of all these Psalms, mostly of David, and from Isaiah 59. So you have six Old Testament texts. Paul is letting you know. I'm not just cherry picking one obscure text. He can pile them up.

By the way, he could have made it a lot longer than six. He didn't need to. It really proves the point. But if you wanted to double it, triple it, quadruple it, it would be easy to do. The Old Testament teaches this everywhere.

It's six texts of Old Testament scripture. And Rob Ventura points out in his commentary that it's four indictments for criminal 14 Criminal charges I say for I meant 14 14 criminal criminal charges, and they're pointed at you and me and all of us together. I'd like to make three observations. So rather than take 14 criminal indictments one by one and go through them one by one. I'm just going to give you three observations about them.

I think that would be more time efficient. You can thank me later. Number one, my first observation about these six Old Testament texts. Number one, Paul is describing the universal condition. We're all in the same boat.

We all come into this world made of the same stuff, inclined towards the same things, inclined away from the same things. John MacArthur in his study Bible says this, nine times he uses words such as none and all to show the universality of human sin and rebellion. Nine times. All, all, all. None, none, none.

What's he doing? He's painting you into a box. He's painting you into a box so that you know that you're not outside the box. You're inside the box and so am I inside the box. We're all in the same boat.

All, all, all. None, none, none. Laboring with me and you so that we don't try to wiggle out of it. Paul doesn't want you wiggling out of it. He wants the punches to land so that you're convinced that you're in a desperate state so that you will go to Christ for mercy.

This is what Paul is doing. He knows that if He gives us any wiggle room, we'll wiggle out and we'll say, it's not me, it's Him, it's not me, it's her. And so, we'll never take the desperate measures to go to Jesus Christ for mercy. We'll never humble ourselves unless God humbles us with the truth about ourselves. And that is what sends us running to Jesus for mercy.

If you go and you look at each of those six texts, Old Testament texts, Psalms and Isaiah that Paul is quoting, you'll see that he's describing the wicked. Some of those Psalms and Isaiah you can find descriptions of the righteous too. Paul doesn't want you to grab on to that and say, See I knew it wasn't me! That's just a description of the wicked. What is Paul teaching by extracting the descriptions of the wicked from these six Old Testament texts and not even touching the descriptions of the righteous.

What is he doing? He's teaching that on our own merits we're all nothing better than wicked. On our own merits what do the descriptions of the righteous have to do with you? On my own merits, what do the descriptions of the righteous have to do with me? Nothing!

Nothing! As we come into this world, as we develop, as we express the things that is in our hearts, The description that belongs to us is the description of the wicked. We're nothing better than the wicked. Just look at the bookends. The very first of what he quotes and the very last.

The first. There is none righteous. No, not one. Can he really be saying what I think he's saying? Can he really be saying that you can go individual by individual from Adam and Eve and name the names, take the time, how many billions of people have lived, will live, and you can go name by name, and in all the mass of humanity, not just in our generation, but in every generation of human history, you'll not be able to find one righteous person?

Can he possibly be saying that? Paul is saying that. When you go to Psalm 14 or Psalm 53, again they use almost the same words, you get an expanded version which is God's looking from heaven on the children of men, on the sons of men, to see if there's anyone who's righteous, if there's anyone who understands, if there's anyone who seeks God and he doesn't see one. If God can't find one, the all-knowing, all ever present, He's present everywhere at the same time, so nothing could escape His notice because He's always everywhere, even in my mind and in my thoughts. If God can't find one, how could anyone else?

The last of the book ends, The last thing that he quotes here, there is no fear of God before their eyes. Do you know that you can be religious every day of your life and not fear God? Do you know you can be so religious and so godless at the same time? You do your Do your religion, but you don't fear the God who made you. There are many reasons to be religious outside of fearing God.

How you're known, how you look, how you comfort yourself. What does the fear of God have to do with any of those things? Often times it has nothing to do with those things. You can be so religious, so respectable to your family, your friends, your coworkers. So respectable.

Like, hey, if anyone's going to make it, he's going to make it. And yet there's no fear of God. But God sees through all that. Your neighbors, coworkers, friends, family, they're all fooled. God's never fooled.

How could we fool God? The Proverb says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If the fear of God isn't before your eyes, you know nothing. Fill your heads with facts and get a PhD. The Bible says, you don't fear God, you know nothing, you have no wisdom.

It's the beginning of knowledge and the beginning of wisdom, let alone progressing in knowledge and progressing in wisdom. So this is the universal condition. The question is asked and answered. Is there anyone righteous? No, not a single person.

From Adam and Eve through the last name of the person who will be born before Jesus returns. What is the name? We don't know the name yet. And you can go one by one and you'll not find one righteous person. There will not be any exceptions except the Lord Jesus Christ who is fully God and fully man but no one else fits that description.

And it asks the question is there anyone wicked? Yes they all are. None are righteous, all are wicked. No exceptions, none are righteous, no exceptions, all are wicked. That's number one.

Paul is describing the universal condition. My second observation is this, number two. This is the doctrine of total depravity. Take the five points of Calvinism, Tulip, T-U-L-I-P, they all stand for something. This is the first one.

Calvin didn't invent this. It's well established theology in the Old Testament. It's well established theology in the New Testament. It is the teaching, the truth of total depravity. Total depravity is often misunderstood.

It's not the teaching that we are all as evil as we possibly can be all the time. I think it's clear enough that we're not all as evil as we possibly could be all the time. It's not teaching that. We are still made in the image of God and so there is a mixture in all people. Total Depravity is the teaching that every part of us has been corrupted by sin.

There is not a part of who you are that hasn't been impacted by sin, corrupted by sin. Verse 11 in our text says, there is no one who understands. Our minds have not been untouched by sins. Our minds have been touched and corrupted by sins. We don't think like we ought to think.

We ought to understand, but we don't understand because our minds are corrupted. Even to the point where we can deceive ourselves in terrible ways and convince ourselves that things are true that completely aren't true, or things aren't true that are absolutely true. We can talk ourselves into about anything. Our minds are corrupted. There is no one who understands.

It makes me think of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2 14. Listen to 1 Corinthians 2 14, But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. What the Bible teaches is that we are spiritually dead. Until the nanosecond where you are born again in Jesus Christ, every nanosecond before then that you are spiritually dead and you have no even ability to embrace spiritual things. You think they're foolishness.

The things that are most true in the world seem foolish to you because of your spiritual condition. This is called the natural man, what you are in your nature as you come into this world. Back to our text, the second part of verse 11. There is no one who seeks after God. Our wills are corrupted.

So, thank you. Anybody else want a cup of water? Elijah, see to that. Our wills are corrupted. It's not just that we don't understand, it's also that we don't seek after God.

What should you want more than God? What should you seek more than God? Now on the other side of the cross having embraced the Lord Jesus Christ and thrown myself on Him for His mercy, I can see He is the most beautiful, wonderful, desirable person, objective, the most desirable thing in all the universe. But in our natural condition, our wills are corrupted and so we don't even seek after the most desirable thing in all the universe, God Himself. Paul here quotes Old Testament text that talks about our tongues, our mouths, our feet, our eyes, our flesh and bones, our bodies are corrupted by sins.

We have hormones that take us in the wrong directions. We have inclinations that are part of being in this human body that aren't right. They take us in exactly the opposite direction. So our minds are corrupted by sin. They aren't right.

Our wills are corrupted by sin. They aren't right our flesh our bodies are corrupted by sin They aren't right That is what total depravity means There's not any part of who you are that isn't tainted, corrupted, ruined, perverted by sin. Number three. My last observation about these six Old Testament texts is this. Our natural impulse is to read this piling up of these six texts and conclude, that's not me.

That's not me. That's not me. Read it. You think your throat is an open tomb? You think the poison of vipers is under your lips?

Do you think you practice deceit? You practice it like we practice sports. Do it over and over to be good at it. You practice to see, you think of yourself that way. You think of yourself as having a mouth full of cursing and bitterness?

Do you think of yourself as a person whose feet are swift as shed blood? We come to this and we say, that's not me. I'd be scared to meet somebody who's like this. Heaven forbid you should run into somebody like this in a dark alley. What a terrible person.

Let me give you some optional homework. It's optional because I don't have the force to compel you. If I could, I probably would. Go on the website and listen to the sermon from October 16th. October 16th was the nature of the human heart and the gospel.

It really, really fills this one out. It really goes to what we are by nature. So if you can scrape together 45 minutes this week, listen to our sermon from October 16th, The Nature of the Human Heart and the Gospel. It goes to all these things. One of the verses quoted in that sermon is Jeremiah 17 verse 9.

What is Jeremiah 17 verse 9? The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, you're not disproving the point, you're proving the point. You haven't made it untrue, you've shown it to be true. My heart's not deceptive, my heart's not wicked. Your heart has deceived you that it's not desperately wicked and deceitful above all things.

You've proved the point. When we read Paul's indictments, Paul's criminal charges from scripture and say, that's not me, we're proving that we are among those who don't understand and don't seek God. If we sought this God who is perfect in righteousness, we'd get so much less comfortable in our unrighteousness. And we wouldn't be tempted to say, that's not me, that's some guy I'd hate to meet in a dark alley. Know this.

Though this might not always describe external you. The you that's known on the outside by the carefully cultivated reputation that you've constructed, that you've erected. It might not always describe external you, it does describe internal you outside of Christ. It describes you as you really are and If you went one by one, Rob Ventura in his commentary says there are 14 criminal indictments here. If you went indictment by indictment and said, if I wipe away the external facade that I've cultivated, my image, my brand, if I wiped away my brand and I looked at each one of these fourteen criminal indictments to see in my heart, am I guilty of these things, you'll be able to condemn yourself on each indictment.

Given the freedom to pursue those inclinations, your natural inclinations, and given the right pressures and circumstances, it would perfectly describe external you. Think about what I'm saying here. Let me say it again. Think about what I'm saying. So say, let's concede it doesn't describe external you at least not all the time.

I'm saying it does describe internal you and I'm saying that given complete freedom and given the right pressures and circumstances, it would perfectly describe external you. The fact that it is true of you internally would find its way into all of your external words and conduct, if all the constraints were removed and the right pressures and circumstances would be brought to bear. That you could find yourself doing anything that's ever been done by another person. I think we don't appreciate the extent to which God and His goodness has applied gracious constraints so that we don't have the perfect freedom and we aren't under the pressures and circumstances that would have us doing all sorts of things that we never ever ever ever would have admitted that we could do. But God in His goodness hasn't put you in a world like that so the things that are true of you inside haven't worked their way out and ruined your brand.

Your mind is corrupted so you don't understand. Your will is corrupted so you don't seek God. Your flesh is corrupted So though your mouth was made to praise God and express thankfulness and speak words of life and encouragement to others, so often you use your mouth for the exact opposite. And your feet take you to all the wrong places, to do all the wrong things, and your eyes are drawn to every form of distraction and idolatry. In a phrase, you are under sin.

You are under the guilt of sin. You are under the power of sin. You are under the pollution of sin. John Calvin says this, the character of men is described in those words in order that we may see what man is when left to himself. Amen to that.

These six Old Testament texts set before you what we are if we are just left to ourselves. He continues, The condition of the saints would be nothing better were not this depravity corrected in them and that they may still remember that They differ nothing from others by nature. They do find in the relics of their flesh by which they are always encompassed the seeds of those evils." What is he saying? He is saying that saints are nothing more than sinners who have benefited from the grace by the grace of God. Saints are nothing more than sinners who fit this description of these six Old Testament texts, but God had mercy on them and made them the objects of His grace.

And, even after He made them the objects of His grace, they still have these remaining corruptions so that they better watch out, the seeds are still there. God left some seeds of all these corruptions behind to remind us that we are not different by nature. We are not made of different stuff. We are just like them only we have received the grace of God. Before we move on, let's allow Dr.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones to give us an application. Think about this application. There is nothing more marvelous about one person being saved than another. There is nothing more marvelous about a man who has been a terrible drunkard being saved, Than a man who has never had a drop of drink in his life There is no difference at all none whatsoever My dear friend I could easily prove if you press me That is much more difficult to save the person who has not been a drunkard because he does not know that he is not righteous. The drunkard does know it.

He is terribly aware of it, poor fellow. What's Lloyd-Jones saying? We're all in the same boat! The drunkard is fundamentally in the same boat as the man who has maintained his brand and never had a drop of drink in his life. They need the mercy of God identically.

They will both be lost with it, they will both Without it, they will both be saved with it. And in some ways, the drunkard has a leg up, Because he's been humbled. Where the self-righteous man, in the eyes of God, is guilty of greater sins in some ways, in the eyes of God, in his self-sufficiency, self-love, self-congratulations. God hates those things. You think he hates drunkenness?

More than self-sufficiency and self-congratulations of a person who really should plead guilty to the things in these six Old Testament Acts. Verse 19. Romans 3 verse 19. Follow along as I reread it. Paul writes, 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.

Verse 19, we get the end. Every mouth stopped, and all the world guilty. Fast forward to the end of human history. Where do we land? Here.

Every mouth stopped. All the world guilty. Paul proved in chapter 2 that there is no such thing as being completely without law. You may or may not have the fullness and precision and clarity of the written law. But even if you don't have the fullness and precision and clarity of the written law, you have the sense of right and wrong, true and false that God made you born with.

So everyone is under the law in that sense, under the jurisdiction of the reflection of God's goodness in the law. Paul says that serves two purposes. One, that every mouth may be stopped. Two, that all the world may become guilty before God. Now, these two things are very tightly related.

All mouths being stopped and all the world being guilty before God, they go together. Paul is putting them here together. Let me rephrase it in this way. Not one single person will even attempt to mount a defense when standing before the all-knowing, almighty, perfectly righteous judge. Let me say that again.

Not one single person, all of humanity of every generation judged, not one of them, will even attempt to mount a defense when standing before the all-knowing, Almighty, perfectly righteous judge. Let me exhort you in this way. Never underestimate the effect on the creature of the immediate presence of the Creator. What am I getting at here? Well, God is omnipresent, meaning He is present everywhere, always at the same time, so He is here.

But He is not immediately present here, like he will be on the day of judgment when we'll stand before him and see him as he is. So I'm saying don't underestimate what it's like to be a creature in the immediate presence of the God who made everything. I think Job is a tremendously helpful example of this. In what way? Chapter 1 of Job, here's how he's described.

Notice how he's described, blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. I like to be described that way. Would you like to be described that way? Terrible circumstances are brought into the life of Job. And at a few points, as the book of Job unfolds, Job tells his friends that he wishes he could have an audience with God to question him about things that he understands.

He says this to his friends. I wish I was in the immediate presence of God the Creator. What does he say then? Job 40 verse 4. Behold, I am vile.

What shall I answer you? I lay my hand over my mouth." Job assumed that if he could just get an audience in the immediate presence of God, he'd just ask all his questions. He would unburden himself about the things that he didn't understand. But when the time came and he was in the immediate presence of God and he saw God in his perfections, making him blindingly aware of his own imperfections. He says, I'm vile.

The man who is described in chapter 1 as blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil says, I'm vile when the time comes. And every imperfection is under the microscope, under the floodlight, because of God's perfect righteousness. He claps his hand over his mouth and is silent. If Job, how much more me? I think that's the argument.

If Job had his shot to ask God about all the things he wondered about and didn't understand, but in the end he forfeited that because being in the presence of this perfectly good God made him feel so vile that he would not dare to mount a defense. How much more me? How much more you? All the self-righteousness will melt away when we're in the immediate presence of our Creator. Our guilt before this all-knowing, almighty, perfectly righteous judge will be perfectly clear to us.

If it's not clear to you now, it will be clear to you then. So clear that we will not dare to open our mouths to mount a defense. That's what Paul teaches. In that day, if you don't have a plea that originates outside of yourself and what you deserve, you will be lost forever. If you just stand or fall based on your own merits to get what you deserve, good or bad, you will be lost forever.

You must have a plea on something that comes outside of yourself and all of the corruption of your mind, the corruption of your will, the corruption of your flesh, what you bring is corruption, if you don't have a plea outside of that you're lost. There's no hope for you. Every mouth stopped. All the world guilty. Finally, verse 20.

Our text concludes this way. Verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. Here we have the conclusion.

No one will be justified by the deeds of the law. If you're taking notes on the handout, filling in blanks, justified, fills in the blanks. The conclusion of the matter is this, no one will be justified by the deeds of the law. To be justified is a legal term meaning to be declared righteous. You're righteous.

But the law does the exact opposite of that. The law declares me to be unrighteous. Not declared righteous. The law declares me to be unrighteous. Here's the standard.

Measure your thoughts by it. Measure your words by it. Measure your actions by it. What does the verdict have to be? You are guilty.

You are guilty. The law pronounces my guilty verdict. The law pronounces my condemnation. Paul says here, by the law is the knowledge of sin, not the pathway to life. Have you got it?

The law, by the law is the knowledge of sin, not the pathway to life. What a fatal mistake to think that the law can impart life. That you can be saved by law keeping, try harder, do better, turn over a new leaf. What does any of that have to do with your past guilt? Paul says, by the deeds of the law, no flesh, no one, no one in history will be justified in his sight.

No one will be declared righteous in the sight of God by law keeping. The law does exactly the opposite of that. It pronounces the guilty verdict. It is not a path to life for people who have already transgressed it. Have you already transgressed it?

How many times today? Have your thoughts been selfish? And on and on. Rob Ventura in his commentary quotes Martin Luther. Luther says, the law is not to justify but to terrify.

Way to go Luther. The law doesn't exist to justify you to declare you righteous. It exists to terrify you and to say, if there really is a God described in this book, and this really is the standard by which I'm going to be judged, What must that mean? It's terrifying to think about it. The law is supposed to do that.

So that is the bad news. And it makes the good news so very good. Give Martin Lloyd-Jones the last word. He says, It is an advantage to be a Jew. It is an advantage to have the scriptures, as it is an advantage to be the child of Christian parents.

But you are no more saved than a child who is not born into a Christian family. And that is exactly what Paul is saying here in verse 9. You must be born again. A couple of weeks ago James was preaching out of John chapter 3 Nicodemus. Right family line.

Religious, even a religious leader thinks well of Jesus, speaks well of Jesus. Jesus looks at him and says, you must be born again. Your family line does not save you Nicodemus. Your religious affiliation does not save you Nicodemus. The fact that you're a religious teacher does not save you Nicodemus.

The fact that you think well of me does not save you Nicodemus. The fact that you speak well of me does not save you Nicodemus. You must be born again. Something so wrong with us as described in Romans chapter 3 that turning over a new leaf is not the solution to this. Can't you see that?

Can't you see that turning over a new leaf is so far short? This is really a description of you and me, turning over a new leaf is so far short of what is required, we need a Savior. Next week, Paul will bring us to the Savior. God, we relish the thought. It has been good and helpful to be week after week being shown how we're without excuse, but oh how we long for the refreshment to hear how Jesus saves sinners.

I pray that you would set that truth forward in all its glory in our text next week. Thank you for helping us to understand and think rightly about these things that we have such an inclination to think wrongly about. Thank you for your word. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.