All the World Is Guilty

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray opened Romans 3:1-8, one of the harder stretches of Paul's letter, and worked through the questions Paul raises about whether Jewish heritage still counts for anything, whether God stays faithful when people don't, and whether sin could ever be excused because it makes God's grace look greater. The sermon lands on a single, heavy conclusion before moving to the Lord's Supper: every...

Read together

1. Romans 1:16-17 the gospel theme of the letter, not ashamed of the gospel, power of God unto salvation
2. Romans 2:25-29 circumcision and Jewishness covered on Palm Sunday before the detour
3. Romans 3:1-8 the main passage preached, all the world is guilty
4. 2 Peter 3:15-16 Peter calling Paul's writings hard to understand, warning against distorting scripture
5. Psalm 51 quoted as the source of the line about God being justified in His words, and read in full before communion
6. Psalm 51:4 against You and You only I have sinned, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge
7. Psalm 22 cited as a messianic psalm pointing toward Christ
8. James 2 if you sin in any one part you have transgressed the whole law
9. Jeremiah 31 prophecy that God would write His law on hearts and send His Spirit to dwell within
10. 2 Samuel 11-12 David's sin with Bathsheba, having Uriah killed, Nathan confronting David with the parable of the sheep

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray asked the congregation what they would bring out of Romans 3:1-8 if it were their turn to preach. What struck you most about those eight verses, and why?
2. Paul says there is 'great' advantage to having been entrusted with the oracles of God, yet he has just finished arguing that Jews and Gentiles alike fall short. How do you hold those two things together in your own thinking about growing up in church or knowing the Bible from an early age?
3. Pastor Ray read from C.S. Lewis that our deepest sin is the choice to set ourselves up as the center rather than God, and that this choice is being made, repented of, or about to be made at every moment. Where do you see that pattern playing out in your own daily life?
4. The sermon drew a distinction between being condemned justly and being saved mercifully, and said every human soul will face one or the other. How does sitting with that reality change the way you think about the people around you who have not yet believed?
5. Pastor Ray walked through Psalm 51 and described it as the posture we need before coming to the Lord's table. What does it look like practically for you to approach God the way David did in that psalm, with no plea other than mercy?