“The Weightiness of Sin,” Pt. 2
Romans 3:10-12
July 24, 2016
In 1990, our country was embroiled in a nationwide debate over a decision that had been made in Washington D.C. President George (H. W.) Bush made a decision that not everyone appreciated, but it was one that he had been contemplating for many years. He banned broccoli from being served on Air Force One. And the nation dove into debate. A group of broccoli growers sent 10 tons of the vegetable to Washington for free (as if 10 tons of the stuff would make him like it).
Bush entrenched himself against the stuff: “I do not like broccoli and I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m president of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli. Now look, this is the last statement I’m going to have on broccoli. There are truckloads of broccoli at this very minute descending on Washington. My family is divided. For the broccoli vote out there: Barbara loves broccoli. She has tried to make me eat it. She eats it all the time herself. So she can go out and meet the caravan of broccoli that’s coming in.”
Wouldn’t it be nice to say to everything we dislike, “I don’t like it; I’m done with it; I won’t deal with it ever again?” And that is the very thing that sinners do in their attempt to rid themselves of God and His influence and authority over their lives. Just like Bush and his broccoli, they say, “I am a man and I am sovereign and I am supreme, and I don’t have to concern myself with God any longer.” And they walk away from Him. And that is not just some men, as Paul notes in Romans 3:10-12, that is all humankind.
Last week we saw in v. 9 that man is depraved in everything that he does; this week the emphasis of the passage is that man’s depravity and sin is focused first of all against God. He hates God, wants nothing to do with God, and is rebellious against God in every way.
Paul’s theme in these verses is that —
The foolishness of depravity is that it is rebellion against God.
In these verses, Paul makes six observations about man’s rebellion against God:
- Man Does Not Have God’s Righteousness (v. 10)
- Man Does Not Know God (v. 11a)
- Man Does Not Desire God (v. 11b)
- Man Does Not Follow God (v. 12a)
- Man’s Life is Useless (v. 12b)
- Man Does Not Do Anything Good (v. 12c)
Download the rest of this sermon from Romans 3:10-12.
The audio will be posted on the GBC website later today.
Words of Grace 