All Have Sinned and Fall Short

In one paragraph

The pastor opened Romans 3:9-26, the passage where Paul draws everything together after two and a half chapters building the case that every person, Jew and Gentile alike, stands condemned before God. The sermon sat squarely in the bad news before arriving at the good news, and it ended with the gospel stated plainly: justification is a gift, by grace, through the redemption that is in Christ...

Read together

1. Romans 3:1-8 read aloud as recap of previous week's sermon
2. Psalm 51 identified as the source of the quote about being justified in God's words, called the great repentant Psalm of David after his sin with Bathsheba
3. Romans 1:16-17 called the theme of the letter: not ashamed of the gospel, power unto salvation for all who believe
4. Romans 3:9 Paul asks whether Jews or Christians are better off than others, answered with not at all
5. Romans 3:10-12 quoted as scripture: none righteous, none who understands, none who seeks God, all turned aside
6. Psalm 14:1-3 identified as the Old Testament source for Paul's none righteous quotation, the fool has said there is no God
7. Psalm 53:1-3 cited as a parallel to Psalm 14, same language about no one who does good
8. Ecclesiastes 7:20 Solomon quoted: there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and never sins
9. Romans 3:13-18 read aloud describing throat as an open grave, tongues deceiving, poison of asps, feet swift to shed blood, no fear of God
10. Romans 3:19-20 the law speaks to those under it so every mouth may be closed and the world accountable to God; by works of the law no flesh justified
11. Romans 3:21-22 apart from the law the righteousness of God has been manifested, witnessed by the law and prophets, through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe
12. Romans 3:23 identified as the starting point of the Roman Road: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
13. Romans 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus
14. Job 40:4-5 Job responds to God saying he is insignificant, lays his hand on his mouth, will not answer

Talk about it

1. The pastor read from Psalm 14 and Ecclesiastes 7:20 to make the point that no one is righteous, not even one. How does that land with you personally, and what does it feel like to sit with that claim honestly?
2. The pastor described two kinds of people he notices in the world: those who are optimistic about humanity fixing its own problems, and those who are deeply pessimistic. Where do you tend to land, and how does what Paul writes in Romans 3 push back on both of those positions?
3. The pastor said that the law is good at showing us where we have gone wrong, but that there is no mercy or grace in the law itself. What has been your experience of the law in that way, either in Scripture or in life?
4. The pastor used the Job passage where Job finally puts his hand over his mouth and says 'I am insignificant' as a picture of what it looks like to stop arguing with God and accept our position as the created. What would it look like for you to take that posture toward God right now in your own life?
5. The pastor ended on the phrase 'being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,' and said that justification is something God does, not something we earn. What difference does it make in your daily life to believe that your standing before God is entirely His action and not yours?