“There is No One Righteous” Romans 3:1-20

Introduction

People will sometimes go to great lengths to justify themselves in their eyes. I once heard someone use the argument, “If I didn’t do it, someone else would,” or “Someone’s going to do it; it might as well as me.” Usually, such arguments are made to justify a means of making money. You can tell from the argument that there is a sense that what is happening is wrong, hence the effort to justify.

The truth of the matter is, we have been trying to justify our wrongdoing since the beginning of time. Adam in the Garden after he had sinned said to God, “The woman You gave me,” thus providing a two-pronged justification for doing wrong. It was Eve’s fault; it was God’s fault. In reality, it was Adam’s fault.

Cain and Abel; Abraham and Sarah in Egypt; David and the sordid mess with Bathsheba. On and on it goes until we come to the present day. None of us wants to look bad in the eyes of society, so we come up with excuses in order to make us look better, to justify our shortcomings.

Paul cuts through the excuses in this passage and reminds us that no one is righteous in the eyes of God; that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God.

Central Truth: Christ had to die for us because no one is righteous.

1. Foolish arguments (1-8)

I took a course on evangelism in seminary, and our text book was called “Evangelism Explosion.” The program suggested that each encounter with a person when sharing the gospel should begin with two diagnostic questions: 1) Do you know for certain that, when you die, you will go to heaven? And 2) Suppose you died and God asked you why He should let you into heaven; what would you say? These questions were designed to make a quick assessment of a person’s understanding of salvation. Some of the answers we get from such questions are quite revealing, and almost every answer is a justification answer.

Paul summarizes the previous passages we’ve been looking at in these verses. He reminds us of the reasons people use to say why they should get into heaven, and, in so doing, exposes the fallacies of such beliefs.

• The Law doesn’t save (1-2)

Paul first addresses the false faith of Judaism. He acknowledges that there is much to be said for being Jewish. After all, they are God’s chosen people. It is through the Jewish nation that God brought us His revelation, ultimately, in Christ Jesus. Paul rightly says they have been entrusted with the very words of God. But even this is not enough to justify ourselves in the eyes of God. As Paul stated in the latter verses of Chapter 2, when we fail to keep the law, we sin, and our sin separates us from God. So, even though there is much to commend being of the Jewish faith, ultimately, it isn’t enough to save us. We need something more. We need Christ.

• Lack of faith doesn’t save (3-4)

Paul next addresses a lack of faith. He uses this point to remind us that God is always faithful. God’s faithfulness, though, is to Himself. That is, God is consistent in the way He treats us and the expectations He has for us. Simply because we have a lack of faith does not mean that God also lacks faith. God’s faithfulness means that He is always true, unchanging, eternal. And if we have no faith, we have nothing. Without faith, we need Christ.

• Our wrongful behavior doesn’t help us (5-8)

Paul then changes the discussion to when people seek to justify ourselves with our feeble arguments. The arguments boil down to one basic statement: “Isn’t it good that I’m so bad so that God’s grace and mercy can be shown in a greater light?” And since that’s the case, shouldn’t God cut us some slack?

I’ve heard people ask why Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilate should be condemned for doing what they did. After all, it was foreordained that Christ would be betrayed and that He would be crucified. Both Judas and Pilate were merely playing their part. The same with Pharaoh when Moses led the people to freedom.

The problem with the argument is that each of these actors had a choice at one time or another. Granted, in Pharaoh’s case, it tells us that God hardened the ruler’s heart, but there was a time in Pharaoh’s life when he could have been more open to God, but he chose not to seek God. The same with Judas. There were eleven other men that could have betrayed Jesus; only one chose to. And the same with Pilate. He chose the expediency of placating the religious leaders of Jerusalem instead of doing what he knew was right.

Each of them had a choice. And each one chose to do what was not pleasing to God. We are the same way. We each have the opportunities to do what God calls us to do, and yet, in every case, we turn away from Him and seek to go it alone. It is only when we realize that we can’t do it alone that we do turn to Him. It is then that we realize we need something more than our best efforts. We need Christ.

1. We are all under sin (9-18)

Paul uses a series of passages from the Old Testament to stress that we “alike are all under sin.” He uses verses from Psalms, Ecclesiastes and Isaiah to stress the sinfulness that fills our hearts and keeps us from a righteous relationship with God. Look at the statements:

• No one is righteous

• No one who understands or seeks God

• All have turned away, become worthless

• No one who does good

Paul then describes the words and things we do in our sin as seen in the eyes of God. He says our words are like open graves, practicing deceit, poisonous lips, full of cursing and bitterness. He says the things we do shed blood, ruin and misery, and that we do not know the way of peace nor do we fear God.

This is not a pretty picture that Paul paints, nor is it meant to be. The point he is trying to get across is that we are in a desperate state without Christ. He uses the Old Testament to point out the truth of the matter regarding how God views sin and our rebelliousness against Him. Reading these verses we come to see just how serious God takes our sin and why He is repulsed by the sin we do.

When we read these verses, we are confronted with the truth that all our feeble excuses, our clumsy justifications and our weak arguments fall silently around our feet when confronted with the God of judgment. Who can stand before God with this reality? Who can withstand the anger of a righteous and holy God? We need more than slim beliefs in ourselves.

We need Christ.

1. Works do not save us (19-20)

Paul comes back to the law to show us that the law was given by God not to show us how to earn His good graces, but to show us that we cannot stand before Him with a self-righteousness. Instead, Paul points out the reason for the law is to show us how much we need to rely on God’s grace and how much we need to turn to Him alone for salvation. The reason for the law is “so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.”

God will use the law to show us that “no one will be held accountable in His eyes by obeying the law.” The purpose of the law was to open our eyes to our sins, and in opening our eyes, it was designed to lead us to His saving grace and mercy.

The law was designed to bring us to Christ.

Conclusion

Looking back on my life, I can remember times that I was in deep trouble. And I remember that, in all those times, I tried my best to deflect attention from me. I used my words to deny responsibility, or to try to rationalize what I had done. At the time, it seemed that I used words that would exonerate me. But looking back, I see now how foolish and empty the words were. I know that those who listened to my excuses saw through them. When I was punished, it wasn’t because they didn’t like me, but it was because I had done wrong.

So many people today are relying on empty words, feeble excuses and patently false arguments to claim that they are justified in the eyes of God. It is time our eyes are opened. It is time to realize we all need Christ.

And that’s why He died for us—to save us from ourselves.