I was thinking as the Edstroms were singing how
well that tied together with our memory verse
this morning in Romans chapter 5 verses 3 and
4. Where it says not only so, we also rejoice
in our what? Our sufferings. Because we know
that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance
character, and character hope. And so there's
reason to rejoice in our sufferings. Let's say
that together, Romans 5 verses 3 and 4. Not only
so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings because
we know suffering produces perseverance. Perseverance
character and character hope. Romans 5 verses
3 and 4. Well, we're going to continue looking
at Romans today, of course, and today is chapter
3 again. As I was studying to prepare for the
next paragraph in Romans 3, it seemed as though
the Lord said to me, not yet. Go back and talk
about this first part some more. And so today
I believe God would have us look again at chapter
3 verse 9. We're particularly interested in the
last three words of this verse. It more or less
serves to summarize the first section of the
book, chapters one through three, and what one
word would summarize chapters one through three
of Romans? What three -letter word? What is it?
Sin, right. It starts with S and ends with N.
Can you fill in the middle letter? I, right.
Very good. Actually, that middle letter is the
essence of sin, isn't it? It's I. It's self.
Self in the place of God, self in the place of
others. That's what chapters 1 through 3 talk
about, and it says that all are under sin. Let's
look at verse 9. It says, What then are we better
than they? Not at all, for we have already charged
that both Jews and Greeks or Gentiles are all
under sin. There seems to be a flippant, lighthearted
carelessness in the world about sin. This is
even carried over to some Christians. I think
the reason for that is that we as Christians
too often get used to the darkness around us
so that it doesn't affect us or offend us like
it should. We are conditioned in our day to accept
certain things and to call them something less
than sin so that we have essentially the same
kind of an attitude about some of these matters
as the world has. I think that this flippant
attitude about sin is the result of what mankind's
view of itself is. Mankind feels that it is essentially
good, although it may do some bad. Men are willing
to admit that occasionally they do something
that's wrong, but by and large men see themselves
as being good, doing pretty good, especially
when compared to others, whatever that may mean.
There's a feeling among many that God arbitrarily
calls fun things sin. in order to make man's
life miserable. They feel it's unfair for God
to name as sin what gives pleasure to life, or
what comes naturally to man's desires. They feel
it's unfair for God to call that sin, that God
is unfairly sending them on a guilt trip when
all they're doing is being human. What man calls
an accident, however God calls an abomination.
What man calls a defect, God calls disease. What
man calls chance, God calls choice. What man
calls only error, God calls enmity. What man
calls infirmity, God calls iniquity. What man
calls liberty, God calls lawlessness. What man
calls a mistake, God calls madness. What man
calls weakness, God calls willfulness. Sin is
not viewed very seriously by most men unless
it harms somebody else. They say, well, what's
wrong with it if nobody is harmed anyway? You
see, the mistake with that kind of an idea is
that people see sin, they view sin, as only affecting
themselves or others. They do not perceive its
Godward effect. And that's what I want to talk
about this morning in part. That is that all
sin is Godward, ultimately. Turn with me to Psalm
51. where we see a verse that says precisely
this. Psalm 51 was written by whom? By David.
That's correct. And Psalm 51 is a confession
on the part of David of his sin with Bathsheba,
the sin of adultery. By the time he confesses
this sin, He has lied to cover up the adultery.
He has committed murder of Bathsheba's husband.
It's gotten very, very serious. As he asks God
to be gracious to him, he says, verse 2, wash
me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me
from my sin, for I know my transgressions and
my sin is ever before me. You see, he sensed
the guilt of his sin. And then notice verse four,
against thee, thee only, I have sinned, and done
what is evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified
when thou dost speak, and blameless when thou
dost judge. That part of the verse is brought
into Romans chapter three, you'll recall we saw
it last week. But notice he says, against thee,
and thee only, I have sinned. Does that not mean
that he did not sin against Bathsheba? Did he
not sin against Uriah, her husband, when he murdered
him? Of course the answer is yes, he did. But
David recognized that ultimately all sin is against
God. If it's taking advantage of another person
as he did Bathsheba, it is against God. If it
is murder, It is the striking down of a man whose
life was given him by God, and so it is against
God. Ultimately, all sin is directed against
God. That's why sin should be viewed very, very
seriously. For even though it may not harm another
person, and it may not harm me, if it is sin,
it is sin against God. And so rather than viewing
sin from man's perspective, what we really need
to do is to view sin from God's perspective,
to see sin as he sees it. Now the text that we're
looking at today in Romans 3 .9 and those last
three words talks about that. It leads us to
three important insights about sin from God's
perspective. First, what sin is. Secondly, what
sin does from God's perspective. And thirdly,
what sin, or whom sin rather, involves. Three
important insights into what sin is all about
from God's perspective. First, let's think about
this idea of what sin is. We see that simple
word S -I -N in our text. What is sin, anyway?
A child would perhaps simply answer, well, it's
the bad things that I do. That is not an incorrect
answer, but it's not a very full answer either.
What is sin? Well, there are three things we
might say about the nature of sin. First of all,
that it is a condition or it is a state of the
heart. It is a condition of the heart of man.
That is sin. I think we see this suggested, for
example, in John chapter 1, verse 29. In these
words of John the Baptist, we invite you to turn
to John 1, 29, when he sees Jesus coming to him
at his baptism. And he says, Behold the Lamb
of God who takes away the what? The sin of the
world. You see, as a prophet of God, John saw
the world as God sees it, in the condition or
the state of sin. The Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world. We see this again in 1
Corinthians 15 and verse 17. Where the apostle
says we'll back up to verse 16 to get the whole
sentence for if the dead are not raised Not even
Christ has been raised and if Christ has not
been raised your faith is worthless You are still
in your what? your sins You're still in your
sins. In other words, you're still Identified
with your sins. You're still in that condition
You're still in that state of heart characterized
by sins And so first of all, as we think about
sin and its nature, we need to see it as a condition
of the heart, and it is ours by birth, isn't
it? There in Psalm 51, a verse down from what
we read, David said, in sin did my mother what?
Conceive me. Does it mean that he was of illegitimate
birth, as some people say? What it really means
is, that when he was conceived within the womb
of his mother, that very conception brought him
a sinful nature, so that he was born as a sinner.
It was a condition he was born into. And we see
this throughout the Word of God. I'll just give
you some other references. Isaiah 48 verse 8,
Psalm 58 verse 3, and then Ephesians 2 verse
3 where it says, that we are all by nature the
children of wrath. In other words, sin is a nature,
it is a condition, it is a state of the heart.
It's something more than that, too. For this,
turn to Romans, chapter 6. In verse 5 it says,
For if we have become united with him in the
likeness of his death, Certainly, we shall be
also in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing
this, that our old self or our old man was crucified
with him, that our body of sin might be done
away with, that we should no longer be slaves
to sin. reign in your mortal body that you should
obey its lusts. Verse 14, for sin shall not be
master over you, for you are not under law, but
under grace. And then in verse 17, but thanks
be to God that though you were slaves of sin,
you became obedient from the heart. And so on.
And here we see a second aspect of the nature
of sin, that is that it is a principle or a power
within us. It is a principle or it is a power
within us that is intent on disobeying God. We'll
be talking more about that as we get over into
chapter 6 of Romans and I trust that God will
open this chapter to us in a fresh way. One of
the reasons that I have never before in my ministry
preached through Romans is that I wasn't real
sure what to do with Romans chapters 6 and 7.
And after a number of years of thinking about
that from time to time, God has helped me to
understand better what those chapters are all
about. I'm anticipating getting to them. But
for now, would you simply notice that the second
aspect of the nature of sin is that it is a power
within us. He sees it here really personified.
He sees it as a person almost, a master. It is
a principle that lives within us. And then there
is, thirdly, As we talk about the nature of sin,
that most common aspect of it, and that is the
deeds that we do. It's the acts that come out
of us because we are by nature sinners. We see
this, for example, in Acts chapter 7 verse 60.
He says, Mrs. Stevens speaking here as he is
martyred for the faith, Lord do not hold this
sin against them. And having said this, he fell
asleep. And so here's an example of where sin
is said to be an act or a deed. Now why did they
do the deed? Because they were sinners. They
were rebelling against God, rejecting Christ
and his apostles. The thing I want you to notice
is that thirdly, by its nature, sin is an act.
And so, to summarize, it is a condition or a
state of the heart. Secondly, it is a principle
or it is a power within us. Thirdly, it is acts
or deeds. Now let's think about some of the words
for sin in the New Testament. In Romans chapter
3 verse 9 where it says all under sin, that particular
word is the most common word found in the New
Testament for sin. It is a word that is related
to archery. Have any of you ever play it around
with a bow and arrow at a camp or elsewhere?
Yeah, many of you have. I have as well. I've
done nothing more than play around with it, and
that was probably dangerous. But I have learned
how difficult it is to take that arrow, to put
it in the bow, and to hit the target. And it's
especially difficult if the arrow is in some
way warped. What happens when the arrow is warped?
Right. It will go in one direction or another
depending upon the way that it's shot and where
the warp is in the arrow. It will not go straight.
The word that is used here for sin literally
means missing the target or missing the mark.
And the idea is that God has set before us a
moral target that is a target of righteousness
and that we have all missed the mark. We've missed
the target and why? Because as an arrow is warped,
so we are warped by sin. We are twisted so that
we cannot hit the target. One of the most common
mistakes in archery is for the archer to draw
back and for the arrow to fall short because
of not putting enough power into it or the poor
aim. It means to miss the target. You and I are
like arrows that cannot hit the target of God's
standard for righteousness. Someone has compared
this to athletes who go to a beach and their
purpose there is that they might be able to jump
the ocean. Can you imagine that? They go down
to the beach, they get themselves warmed up,
they run back and forth a little bit until they're
nice and limber. and then they back up as far
as they can, they run toward the water, they
take a flying leap, and they come short of the
other shore by only a few hundred or thousand
miles depending upon where they're jumping. Now
one person may jump further than another into
the water, but no difference, they have all come
short of the goal. We see that illustrates what
God is saying here in this word sin. It means
we've all come short. We've all missed the target
that He set for us. And there are two very similar
words that are used in the original language,
which mean to go over, or to go aside, or beyond
something. This is the word that is often translated
transgression, and we see it here in Romans.
In fact, we have already seen it in chapter 2,
verse 23. This particular word is used. where
it says, you who boast in the law, through your
breaking the law, do you dishonor God? That verb
breaking there is this word transgression. It
means to overstep a boundary. You see, this was
Adam's sin, if we were to define it carefully.
God gave to Adam tremendous authority over the
earth. And yet there was one way in which God
drew the line. God set a limitation, and that
limitation was to express Adam's dependence upon
the Lord God. Adam sinned because he crossed
that line, didn't he? He transgressed the limitation
that God had set for him, and he ate of that
fruit and sinned. That is the idea here. It means
to cross over the line that is set. This last
week in another city here in Minnesota, there
was a child who was left playing in the backyard
by the parent. And the parent told the child,
don't go out of the yard. That's the limit. But
as children are sometimes want to do, the child
wanted to explore beyond the yard. and that little
five -year -old was out in the cold all night
long while searchers sought desperately for him.
He was found the next morning unharmed. But you
see, he illustrates what God is saying here about
us, that he sets the limitation here and we cross
over that boundary. We rebel against the limits
that God gives. We transgress. Then there's another
interesting word which God uses to describe sin,
and that is the word crooked. This is found in
Philippians chapter 2 verse 15, where he calls
the generation that we live in a crooked and
perverse generation. He says, do all things without
grumbling or disputing that you may prove yourselves
to be blameless and innocent, children of God
above reproach in the midst of a crooked and
perverse generation. generation. What does it
mean to be crooked? Well, the Greek word is scolios.
Now if you've had any connection with anyone
who has suffered from scoliosis, you immediately
see the connection between that Greek word and
our English word describing the disease called
the curvature of the spine. In the curvature
of the spine, For certain reasons the spine begins
to turn inward until finally it can cause premature
death. I recall seeing a woman in Chicago when
I was in school there. She was a pitiful thing.
I would judge that she must have been in her
70s. as she suffered from this disease, was completely
bent over so that she could not stand up. She
dressed in black. Her hair was long and unkept.
It dragged upon the street as she walked around
begging for money. Whenever I see this word crooked,
she immediately comes to my mind because more
than any other person I've ever seen, She fulfills
what this word talks about. It means to be crooked,
to be bent, to be curved out of shape. It's the
opposite of the word orthos, which means straight,
and is the basis for our word orthopedics. An
orthopedic doctor is one who takes a bone to
straighten it, to get it into the right position.
The word here is just the opposite of that. It's
that which is curved and crooked. And that's
how God sees the sinner. Now in Romans, chapter
1 again, we see another word that God uses to
describe sin. In verse 18, for the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men. And the word that
I'm interested in is that second one, unrighteousness.
We'll talk about ungodliness in a moment. Here
is a word that is just the opposite of upright
and righteous. Basically, an upright person is
one who is able to stand. That's the meaning
of it. An upright person is able to stand in
a spiritual sense before God. But an unrighteous
person literally is one who cannot stand before
God. This word is used time and again in the
New Testament to describe the sinner. Let's turn
to the last time that is used in Revelation chapter
22 and verse 11 and notice what God's warning
is in this chapter. But the one who does wrong
still do wrong. And let the one who is filthy
still be filthy. Let the one who is righteous
still practice righteousness. Let the one who
is holy still keep himself holy. Let the one
who does wrong still do wrong. He's talking about
the end of time, no more hope for salvation,
no more hope, possibility of forgiveness. To
be unrighteous and to die in that state means
to never to be able to stand before God, except
in the judgment. What a terrible thought that
is. And then to enter into eternity, into the
eternal fires of hell, being unrighteous, unable
to stand, is a dreadful thought. And then this
word in Romans 1, 18, godly is a word that means
those who have no respect or piety for God. It
is the opposite of godliness, one who has respect
for God. It's the attitude of disrespect for
the person of God. It's a refusal to acknowledge
Him, to worship Him. It describes the sinner
who has no place for God in his life. ungodly.
And then there is a word used in Acts chapter
2 verse 23 that I would invite you to look at
that further describes sin. And here it says,
This man, delivered up by the predetermined plan
and foreknowledge of God, you nail to a cross
by the hands of godless The word that the NAV
translates godless here is actually men who are
without law. That's the thought. Men who do what
is forbidden, but who do it with a flagrant,
defiant attitude. This is the word that is used
in 1 John 3, 4. where actually a definition of
sin is given by God Himself, where He says sin
is the transgression of the law. But this is
the word used. Sin is to be lawless, to refuse
God's standard. This is the same word that describes
Antichrist in 2 Thessalonians 2, the lawless
one, the one who is without law. any observance
of the standards which God expects, the commands
which God gives. That's what the sinner is. And
then there's one final word I invite your attention
to and that is in Romans chapter 5 verse 20.
Romans 5 20. And the law came in that the transgression
or the offense might increase. What that particular
word is, is different than the other word transgression
that we saw, but technically here what this means
is a deliberate act of unfaithfulness. And it
refers primarily back to Adam's sin, when he
deliberately and willfully sinned against God.
The law came in that that transgression, that
spirit of deliberate unfaithfulness to God might
increase. That is, that it might be seen more
clearly. It is not used often in the New Testament.
Only in a couple of places is this particular
word used. But when the Greeks translated the
Hebrew Old Testament into their language in the
book that is called the Septuagint, This is a
word that they use fairly frequently in the Old
Testament as they describe sin. It's especially
common in the book of Ezekiel. In the Septuagint
they use this word for a deliberate act of unfaithfulness.
It is a willful carelessness against God. So
those are some of the words in the Bible which
describe sin. What does it mean then if we were
to summarize all of this? Well, it means that
sin is any lack of conformity to God's will.
It is a refusal to acknowledge Him and to worship
Him. It is a transgression of the limit that
He sets. It means to miss the mark that He has
established of righteousness. That's what sin
is. W .S. Griffith Thomas in his devotional commentary
talks about some of these. Interestingly, he
goes into some of the root origins of the words
that the Bible uses for sin, as we have done
in part this morning. He goes on to say that
it means falling instead of standing. Sin means
being ignorant instead of knowing. It is diminishing
what should be rendered in full. It is to disobey
a voice. So all of those things describe what
sin is. Now let's think about what sin does.
In those three words, the key word is the middle
one. All under sin. What does sin do? Well, the
world has the idea that sin liberates. If you
want to really be free, then you should flaunt
God's standards. Disobey them, for God is only
interested in restricting. Of course, that's
the same basic idea that Satan tried to communicate
to Eve. God knows if you eat of this fruit that
you'll be like him. God's keeping something from
you. The world has maintained that attitude about
sin. It gives me freedom. I can express myself.
I can be me. I can do it my way. But God says
that what sin does is to put us under its power.
What does sin do? It puts us into bondage. As
the commentator Linden said, it means that we
are under the empire of sin. I read this paragraph
from Barnhouse in his commentary. To be under
sin is much more than missing the mark, or overstepping
a boundary, or any of the other phrases of sin
which we've considered. To be under sin means
to be dominated by sin, to be under its power,
under its rule, under its empire, under its sway,
under its control. This is our nature by birth,
our condition by choice, and our position by
the divine declaration of God placing us where
he sees us. So what does it mean to be under
sin? It means to be under the domination of sin,
to be a part of sin's kingdom as it were, its
domain, and to be enslaved to that. We see a
very similar thought expressed in Romans chapter
7 verse 14, where he says, we know that the law
is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage
to sin. Again, Galatians chapter 3 verse 22,
the same phrase is used, all under sin. the person
who is still in the condition of sin, who is
controlled by that power or principle within
him and therefore commits acts of sin. That person
belongs to the kingdom of darkness, to Satan's
kingdom. In Acts chapter 26 we have Paul relating
to us his commission given to him by the Lord.
I want you to notice what the Lord said to him.
I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Arise and
stand on your feet. For this purpose I have appeared
to you to appoint you a minister and a witness,
not only to be to the things which you have seen,
but also to the things in which I will appear
to you, delivering you from the Jewish people
and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you,
to open their eyes so that they may turn from
darkness to light. and from the dominion of Satan
to God." This is something that the world does
not recognize. For while they boast of their
freedom to do their own thing, what they are
doing is expressing their bondage to Satan and
to his kingdom. Those poor people, the Sodomites
who were down in Minneapolis, on Hennepin Avenue
the other evening with their block party, boasted
of the freedom they were able to get over the
city council, of the victory that they had in
being able to hold their block party. But my
friend, those people are to be pitied because
they are enslaved to sin. But no more so than
the other sinner under the domination, the domain
of darkness. This last Wednesday evening, Ron
Carlson covered with us in our adult session,
some interesting facts regarding astrology, UFO,
and the worship of Satan. All of us who were
present that evening were reminded afresh and
anew how very real the powers of darkness are.
How very subtle and deceitful are those evil
beings. as they seek to increase their domination
over people. He reminded us, and I'm sure many
of us are aware of the fact that the game Dungeon
and Dragons is one of the more modern ways in
which he begins to express his complete domination
over people. If you are interested in that, I
encourage you to get the tape that Ron Carlson
has regarding astrology, UFOs, and Satanism,
and see what he has to say about that game and
about some others that people commonly play.
Long before that game was produced, there was
the Ouija Board, which was again another way
in which Satan was able to gain even greater
power over people. One youth group that I had.
Some of the young people got together for a party
and decided that they would have some fun with
an Ouija board. And so there were some girls
there at a pajama party. And so they got this
thing out late at night and they began to play
with it. And to their amazement, this thing began
to work. And it began to tell them things that
were secret and unknown. And so for a lark, they
thought, they began to witness to the Ouija board
and to talk about Jesus Christ and the blood
of Christ and that Ouija board that they had
flew across the room into the wall and slammed
into it. Well, needless to say, they were quite
aware immediately of the influence, the powers
of darkness, with the Ouija board. Let us not
think lightly, dear people, of what it means
to be in bondage, to be under sin, to be under
the domain of Satan. The gracious news of God
is that when we trust Jesus Christ, we are translated
out of the kingdom of darkness and placed into
the kingdom of God's dear Son, where there is
true freedom. To be under sin means furthermore
to be under its condemnation. God says, the soul
that sins, it shall what? It shall die. Not just
physical death, but he's talking about spiritual
death, separation from God. To be under sin is
to be under its bondage and under its condemnation.
And close, we will, with this third word, the
word all, whom sin involves. But there be no
mistake about it. There's none of us that is
free from sin. There is no person who has ever
been born as a descendant of Adam who has been
free from the condition of sin. All are born
into the world as sinners. No exception of any
time or any place or any person, ALL includes
all. It includes you. It may be today that you
have never been delivered from sin. You are under
its domination. You can't control yourself. You
are powerless. You miss the mark. God sets the
standard. You overstep it. You are guilty. You
cannot stand before God. You know that. Well,
I have good news for you today. If you are under
sin, God can deliver you. There is only one provision
for sin, though, and that is in Jesus Christ.
Neither is there salvation in any other, for
there is no other name under heaven which has
been given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Salvation comes alone through the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's why he said, if the Son shall
set you free, you shall be what? Free indeed.
That's true freedom. Sin is bondage, but salvation
is freedom. I close with reminding you of this
story in Numbers chapter 21 in the Old Testament
when God's people sinned against him and he sent
among them fiery serpents. The serpents bit the
people and they died. The serpents represented
to them their sin. The sin produced death, sure
and swift. But then God made a provision for
the serpent bite, didn't He? He had Moses make
a brass serpent and put it upon a pole in the
middle of the camp. Brass in the Bible speaks
of judgment, and what that brass serpent spoke
of was sin that was judged by God. And God said,
if the people after they are bitten will but
look at that brass serpent in the middle of the
camp, they will immediately be healed of that
venom. John tells us that it's a beautiful picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. For as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. Dear friend the Lord
Jesus Christ born into this world without sin
when he died on the cross became sin for you
God judged your sin on Christ He was nailed to
the tree and there became sin on your behalf
in mine So that now if we will look to Christ
in faith As the people of old looked at the brass
serpent, we will be healed of sin, be forgiven
of sin, and delivered from its power. Will you
do that? The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us
from what? How much sin? All sin. I care not
how deeply you may have sinned, how dark the
stain may be, how overridden your conscience
is today with guilt. If you will look to the
Lord Jesus Christ and receive Him, He will set
you free. He has promised. Let's pray. God, I
pray that you will keep all of us from thinking
lightly of sin as though it were a game, as though
it were liberating. Help us to see how enslaving
and damning is sin. If there be some friend here
today who is without Christ, only today that
one receive Jesus Christ and be saved. Just as
the rain washes away the dirt of pollution, so
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses forever
from all sin. May someone here today believe
that and be saved. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.