Class Lesson September 18, 2016

This week's lesson point is...

THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE

Some things fail to live up to their intended purpose.

When the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, purchased its first motorized ambulance in 1909, it paid a huge sum of $4,000. (That’s close to $100,000 by today’s standard.) Yet when the city crew took the ambulance on a test run, they hit a pedestrian—and killed him. This expensive purchase, meant to save lives, ended up transporting its first passenger to the morgue.

God created us for a specific purpose: to live in a joyous relationship with Him and bring Him glory. Like the ambulance, however, we have not lived up to that purpose. The Bible tells us clearly where the problem lies—inside our hearts.

Thankfully, the Bible is also clear on the only answer to our great problem. We can read about that answer in Romans 3.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY? 

 

Romans 3:9-12

9 What then? Are we any better? Not at all! For we have previously charged that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, 10 as it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away; all alike have become useless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one.”

In the opening chapters of the Book of Romans, Paul identified those who have sinned and are under the wrath of God. He included the kinds of people we’d expect—blatant sinners and rebellious people. But he also included people whom most of his readers would have considered to be good and religious; that is, the Jews. For centuries, the Jewish people had enjoyed special privileges as a result of being God’s chosen people. Despite these privileges, however, they were still guilty of sin. (Paul was a Jew himself, which is why he asked, “Are we any better?”)

Both Jews and Gentiles are guilty before God. All people everywhere are under the curse of sin, and our world is in its fallen condition because of our sin.

Evil runs rampant among us because humanity as a whole loves sin and despises righteousness. Many want to blame God for the state of the world, but the blame is ours. We all have turned away from God to seek sinful pleasure for ourselves. Paul referred to the Old Testament when he wrote, “There is no one righteous, not even one” (see also Ps. 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Eccl. 7:20). 

No one does good? No one. Even our human attempts at goodness—trying to be good apart from God—fall woefully short. Everything we seek to do is tainted by sin. The evidence is overwhelming. It’s all around us. Every day we lie, lust, disobey, covet, steal, and the list goes on. 

 

Sadly, much of humanity is spiritually ignorant about its sinfulness against God. Because our natures drift so easily toward sin, we easily turn our backs on God. As a result, we have no desire either to know God or to seek Him. 

Think about this: no one had to teach you how to sin. We’re all born with a sin nature. We inherited this nature from our first father, Adam, the head of the human race (see Rom. 5:12). When he fell into sin, we fell, too. Once the corruption of sin became part of humanity, the sin nature has since passed down from generation to generation.

In short, we’ve all broken the commandments of God. We’ve all fallen short of Christ’s righteous standard. Sin reigns in our hearts. 

Romans 3:19-20

19 Now we know that whatever the law says speaks to those who are subject to the law, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God’s judgment. 20 For no one will be justified in His sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.

Many of the Jews in Paul’s day would have quickly affirmed that sinfulness was a major problem—for the Gentiles. But they never would have claimed the same problem for themselves. They were God’s chosen people. They had been given God’s Law. 

Similarly, our world is filled with people who compare themselves with others to elevate their own righteousness: “It’s not like I’ve ever killed anyone,” or “I’m not nearly as bad as that person.” We’re quick to compare ourselves with those we consider worse than we are. However, when we compare ourselves with Christ—the only true standard of righteousness—we always fall miserably short. 

Jesus shines a harsh light on the reality of our own sinfulness. That’s because only Jesus perfectly obeyed the law of God. 

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When we say, “I’m not perfect,” we are admitting that we fall short of Jesus’ moral standard. We are guilty of sin. 

The evidence stacked against us regarding sin is overwhelming—and we have no defense. So-called “moral” people might argue, “But I do good things.” Religious people might add, “I go to church.” Yet no matter how moral or religious we may be, we all stand guilty of sin before a holy God. 

And here’s the really bad news: guilt always leads to judgment. When it comes to our sin, the evidence has been presented, and the Judge has handed down His verdict. No amount of good works can change it. Humanity stands justly condemned before a holy God. 

This is a hard truth to accept. It flies in the face of our human pride, and especially the prideful cry of our modern culture: “How dare someone tell me I can’t do something?” “Who are you to judge me?” “That may be true for you, but not for me.” Such protests don’t change the reality of our situation.

As long as we think we’re good enough or strong enough to overcome sin in our own power, we cannot be saved. We’re lost. And as long as we look to ourselves instead of to the only solution God has provided, we remain guilty and condemned. “Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God” (John 3:18). 

Romans 3:23

23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Our sinfulness is further magnified by the reality that we “fall short of the glory of God.” Our very purpose is connected to the glory of God. He created us to bring Him glory—to be motivated only by the desire to glorify Him. Yet the very thing He created us to do, we fail to do.

When we’re not satisfied in God, we look to other things to fill the void in our hearts. We look to the things of this world, and we seek glory for ourselves. This only leads to further emptiness because self-glory can never satisfy the soul. It’s only when we live for God’s glory that our souls become satisfied.

What exactly is God’s glory? The glory of God is wrapped up in the totality of who He is and what He does. When we put all God’s attributes together, we see His glory. His eternal nature, holiness, love, righteousness, justice, grace, wisdom, mercy, omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence all point to His glory. His full glory is something we can’t fully fathom in this life, but we do see it in Jesus Christ. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature” (Heb. 1:3a).

To say we “fall short of the glory of God” means we fail to measure up to the righteousness of Christ. The law served as God’s standard for righteousness, but only Christ fully kept that standard. We can’t come up to the standard of Christ or His perfect obedience; we fall short. But when we trust in Him, His righteousness is credited to us. 

Trying to match God’s standard of righteousness on our own is like trying to swim the Atlantic Ocean. Some may make it further than others, but even the world’s best swimmer would eventually drown. In the same way, no matter how good you try to be, you still fall short of God’s righteous standard. 

Thankfully, He has not left us on our own to drown. We have hope and an answer.

LIVE IT OUT

Without Christ, you are condemned forever because of your sin. How will you respond to that truth in the days to come? 

Consider the following options:

• Confess. Ask God to reveal any areas of sin in your life that have not been dealt with. Confess those sins and do whatever is necessary to turn away from them. 

• Pray. Pray daily for the three people you listed in the “Picturing Sin” activity. Ask that the Holy Spirit would confront them with their sinfulness and their need to turn to Christ.

• Worship. Spend 30 minutes this week praising God for His offer of grace and forgiveness. Thank Him for the work of Christ in your life and in the lives of those you love.

The city of Vancouver spent the equivalent of $100,000 in an effort to save lives. Christ paid a much greater price to save those who had no hope of saving themselves—including you and me.



Teacher's Notes:

One Great Problem

“The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.”

It's from our hearts that sin and its poisoned fruits spring. Show the movie part: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader based on the CS Lewis novel. One character echoes what Jesus is saying here, as he tells those setting off to confront various dark forces: "To defeat the evil outside, you must first confront the evil in yourselves."

If you had the power to fix one problem, what would you fix?

• Politics, cancer, Alzheimer’s, the environment, the weather, teenagers, the drug problem, global warming/climate change, crime.

Life is full of problems – from slow traffic to life-altering catastrophes, like wars, sickness, natural disasters, and death.

• But these external issues are not our greatest problem.
• Our greatest problem is internal to us – it’s a sin issue. 

Our lesson says this morning, that without Christ, we are condemned forever due to sin.

Until we look back at our dreadful, wicked condition and see that God–and only God–yanked us up out of it will we ever fully know His mercy and love for us.


Today our topic is SIN, and I must confess my need for Christ each day!

• The purpose of this lesson is to introduce the concept of sin and evil so that we understand the need for salvation in Jesus Christ. 

 

 

 






Paul wrote the Book of Romans to believers in Rome. He hadn’t been to Rome, but he intended to visit Rome on his way to Spain. He wrote this letter near the end of his 3rd missionary journey. He wrote this book to introduce himself and spelled out his theology in preparation for that visit.



I. All People Are Guilty Of Sin! 

Romans 3:9-12 (NIV) What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."

In the opening chapters of the Book of Romans, Paul identified those who have sinned and are under the wrath of God. He included the kinds of people we’d expect—blatant sinners and rebellious people. But he also included people whom most of his readers would have considered to be good and religious; that is, the Jews. For centuries, the Jewish people had enjoyed special privileges as a result of being God’s chosen people. Despite these privileges, however, they were still guilty of sin. (Paul was a Jew himself, which is why he asked, “Are we any better?”) Both Jews and Gentiles are guilty before God. All people everywhere are under the curse of sin, and our world is in its fallen condition because of our sin.


What evidence do you see that points to sin as a universal problem?

• Look at the newspaper, the TV news - all we hear about is either cheating, lying politicians or murder and mayhem.
• If we are honest with ourselves, we just look within our own thoughts, actions, attitudes, conversations.

Why do you think this passage lumps all people together as sinners instead of separating them by degrees of sinfulness, based on those who are more or less sinful?


Do you believe that humanity as a whole loves sin and despises righteousness?

• Evil runs rampant among us because humanity as a whole loves sin and despises righteousness. Many want to blame God for the state of the world, but the blame is ours. We all have turned away from God to seek sinful pleasure for ourselves. Paul referred to the Old Testament when he wrote, “There is no one righteous, not even one” (see also Ps. 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Eccl. 7:20). No one does good? No one. Even our human attempts at goodness—trying to be good apart from God—fall woefully short. Everything we seek to do is tainted by sin. The evidence is overwhelming. It’s all around us. Every day we lie, lust, disobey, covet, steal, and the list goes on. Sadly, much of humanity is spiritually ignorant about its sinfulness against God. Because our natures drift so easily toward sin, we easily turn our backs on God. As a result, we have no desire either to know God or to seek Him.
• Think about this: no one had to teach you how to sin. We’re all born with a sin nature. We inherited this nature from our first father, Adam, the head of the human race (see Rom. 5:12). When he fell into sin, we fell, too. Once the corruption of sin became part of humanity, the sin nature has since passed down from generation to generation.
• In short, we’ve all broken the commandments of God. We’ve all fallen short of Christ’s righteous standard. Sin reigns in our hearts.

How would babysitting a two-year-old for a week influence your opinion about the goodness or badness of humans in general?

• You see defiance, see failure to control oneself, anger, and selfishness.

In biblical terms, sin is rebellion against God – leading a life which (like the word "sin" itself) has "I" in the middle, rather than being centered on Him. Every single way we fall short and fail are symptoms of that off-centered kilter of our hearts. It's for that reason that Jesus declares: "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile," (Mark 7:14-15).

Now, we here is the dilemma, we see this in our culture and in the world around us, but why don’t we see it in our own lives? Why is it easier to see the sin in others rather than in ourselves?

• The way we feel about our neighbors
• How our kids or our spouses make us mad
• The things we look at online when no one is watching
• The thoughts we have about others
• The priorities we demonstrate with our time or our money
• When we yell at one another in our family

These verses say that sin blinds us so we do not seek God. What are some ways we do not seek God?

• Abandon Bible reading, prayer
• Don’t listen during pastor’s sermon … let your mind wander
• Reject the application of a Bible study – “that’s not for me”
• Look for human solutions to our problems, don’t go to God for His help and intervention

Why does sin seem to come naturally to us, but obedience does not?


Point: No one is innocent. No one can earn right standing with God.

In these verses we see that all people are guilty of sin. As we jump to verses 19-20, we’ll see the natural consequences of our sin.


II. All People Are Subject To God’s Judgment!

Romans 3:19-20 (NIV) 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

You see, sin does to a life what shears do to a flower. A cut at the stem separates a flower from the source of life. Initially the flower is attractive, still colorful and strong. But watch that flower over a period of time, and the leaves will wilt and the petals will drop. No matter what you do, the flower will never live again. Surround it with water. Stick the stem in soil. Baptize it with fertilizer. Glue the flower back on the stem. Do what you wish. The flower is dead.


What is the purpose of having God’s law?

• It shows us we are accountable to God, but obeying the law does not make us righteous.
• It makes us conscious of sin - we realize the problem – we are sinners.
• The law itself does not provide the solution.

What are some ways people think will make them acceptable to God?

• By doing good deeds, going to church, helping others, speaking kindly, don’t smoke, drink, chew, and stay away from trashy movies.

What are some ways people try to explain away God’s judgments?

• Many of the Jews in Paul’s day would have quickly affirmed that sinfulness was a major problem—for the Gentiles. But they never would have claimed the same problem for themselves. They were God’s chosen people. They had been given God’s Law.
• Similarly, our world is filled with people who compare themselves with others to elevate their own righteousness: “It’s not like I’ve ever killed anyone,” or “I’m not nearly as bad as that person.” We’re quick to compare ourselves with those we consider worse than we are. However, when we compare ourselves with Christ—the only true standard of righteousness—we always fall miserably short.
• Jesus shines a harsh light on the reality of our own sinfulness. That’s because only Jesus perfectly obeyed the law of God.

According to these verses can we mount any kind of defense against God’s judgment?

• Every mouth may be silenced and … the whole world held accountable to God
• The evidence stacked against us regarding sin is overwhelming—and we have no defense. So-called “moral” people might argue, “But I do good things.” Religious people might add, “I go to church.” Yet no matter how moral or religious we may be, we all stand guilty of sin before a holy God. And here’s the really bad news: guilt always leads to judgment. When it comes to our sin, the evidence has been presented, and the Judge has handed down His verdict. No amount of good works can change it. Humanity stands justly condemned before a holy God.
• If you were trying to argue your innocence before God based on your own goodness, what evidence would you present?

Why do you think most of us don’t feel a great sense of urgency everyday to rescue those at risk for judgment because they don’t know Jesus?


What’s the consequence of sin?


Point: The consequence of sin is eternal separation from God in hell.
 


III. All People Have Fallen Short of God’s Glory! 

Romans 3:23 (NIV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,


Our sinfulness is further magnified by the reality that we “fall short of the glory of God.” Our very purpose, we studied last week, is connected to the glory of God. He created us to bring Him glory—to be motivated only by the desire to glorify Him. Yet the very thing He created us to do, we fail to do.

• Some things fail to live up to their intended purpose.
• Think of the story in our lesson: When the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, purchased its first motorized ambulance in 1909, it paid a huge sum of $4,000. (That’s close to $100,000 by today’s standard.) Yet when the city crew took the ambulance on a test run, they hit a pedestrian—and killed him. This expensive purchase, meant to save lives, ended up transporting its first passenger to the morgue.

When have you felt the reality of sin in your own life? How does sin prevent us from living in a way that glorifies God?

• When we’re not satisfied in God, we look to other things to fill the void in our hearts. We look to the things of this world, and we seek glory for ourselves. This only leads to further emptiness because self-glory can never satisfy the soul. It’s only when we live for God’s glory that our souls become satisfied.

What exactly is God’s glory?

• The glory of God is wrapped up in the totality of who He is and what He does. When we put all God’s attributes together, we see His glory. His eternal nature, holiness, love, righteousness, justice, grace, wisdom, mercy, omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence all point to His glory. His full glory is something we can’t fully fathom in this life, but we do see it in Jesus Christ. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature” (Heb. 1:3a).
• To say we “fall short of the glory of God” means we fail to measure up to the righteousness of Christ. The law served as God’s standard for righteousness, but only Christ fully kept that standard. We can’t come up to the standard of Christ or His perfect obedience; we fall short. But when we trust in Him, His righteousness is credited to us.

Why is it truth that the “worst sinner” who recognizes they have fallen short of God’s glory is closer to finding God than the “basically good” person who doesn’t think they have a sin problem?

• You must recognize that you have fallen short of God’s glory before you are in a position to receive His grace for salvation.

Sin seems to have left us in a hopeless situation, separated from God and unable to help ourselves. Is there any way to get around this problem?

• Can we overcome this problem with education?
• How about cultural understanding?
• Can wealth overcome this problem?
• Can we work hard to overcome this problem?

Assuming everybody is a sinner and sin destroys our relationship with God, do you think there is any hope for us?

• Before you can appreciate the full value of the solution that God provided through Jesus, you must understand the severity of the problem that sin causes, our eternal separation from God. If you die physically while you are spiritually separated from God, you will be separated from Him forever. But through Jesus, God provides the way for you to accept His grace, forgiveness, and mercy. This means that He will restore you, bought by the blood of Jesus, redeemed back into a relationship with Him.

Point: There is a solution to the problem.

• Throughout the ages sin has been a terrible problem between man and God. God has provided the solution to that problem by sending Jesus as a sacrifice for your sins. When He shed His blood on the cross, the grace, forgiveness, and mercy of God became available to you. How you respond to that kind of love is extremely important to God. He wants you to believe that Jesus is His Son and that He died for you. When you realize that your sins cost Jesus His life and repent, He wants you to respond to His love by surrendering your life to Him in baptism. We will talk more about this next week.

Romans 3 is used to humble the proud, bring them to a knowledge of their SIN, allow them to see the sinfulness of all mankind, the wrath that abides on all who disbelieve, that no amount of doing good will ever justify a person, that the law should take away any excuses - one can ONLY be saved by the free gift of God - faith in Jesus Christ!



Hope to see everyone this Sunday!



In His Love,


David & Susan