Not Even One

In one paragraph

This message picked up in the middle of Romans 3, covering verses 9 through 24. The sermon traced Paul's argument that every person, regardless of background, stands under the same judgment before God. The second half turned to the good news that God Himself has acted to justify those who believe in Jesus Christ. The first few verses of Romans 3 had been covered the previous week, but Pastor...

Read together

1. Romans 1:16-17 introduced as the theme of the book, the gospel as the power of God unto salvation for all who believe
2. Romans 3:1-4 read aloud as background recap, covering the advantage of the Jew and God's faithfulness
3. Romans 3:5-8 read aloud as background recap, addressing whether God is unrighteous to inflict wrath and the slander of doing evil that good may come
4. Romans 3:9 the question of whether Jews or Christians are better than others, answered with not at all
5. Romans 3:10-12 quoted as Paul citing David: there is none righteous, not even one, none who understands or seeks God
6. Romans 3:13-14 quoted on speech: throat is an open grave, tongues deceiving, poison of asps, mouth full of cursing and bitterness
7. Romans 3:15-18 quoted on conduct: feet swift to shed blood, destruction and misery in their paths, no fear of God before their eyes
8. Romans 3:19-20 every mouth closed, all the world accountable to God, no flesh justified by works of the law
9. Romans 3:21-22 righteousness of God manifested apart from the law, through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe
10. Romans 3:23 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, identified as the starting point of the Roman Road
11. Romans 3:24 being justified as a gift by grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus
12. Psalm 51:4 David's confession after his sin with Bathsheba: that God may be justified in His words and prevail when judged
13. Psalm 14:1-3 quoted as the source of Paul's none righteous passage: the fool has said there is no God, all turned aside
14. Psalm 53:1-3 quoted alongside Psalm 14 as a near-identical parallel source for Paul's quotation
15. Ecclesiastes 7:20 Solomon cited: there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and never sins
16. Ephesians 2:1 referenced as the Bible describing humanity as dead in trespasses and sin
17. Galatians 3:28 quoted at the closing: you are all one in Christ Jesus
18. Isaiah 6:5 Isaiah's reaction to God's presence cited as an example of holiness revealing sin: woe is me, I am undone
19. Jeremiah 17:9 referenced to support the point that out of the heart the mouth speaks: our hearts are desperately wicked
20. Matthew 15:11 Jesus telling the crowd it is not what enters the mouth that defiles but what proceeds out of it
21. Matthew 12:34 out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, cited alongside the Jeremiah reference
22. Job 40:4-5 Job's response to God's direct confrontation: I am insignificant, I lay my hand over my mouth

Talk about it

1. The pastor pointed out that David, described as a man after God's own heart, still cried out in Psalm 51 that God was right and he was wrong after his sin with Bathsheba. What does that kind of honesty before God look like in your own life when you find yourself in sin?
2. Paul writes that 'there is none who seeks after God,' yet most people in this room would say they do seek God. How do you make sense of that tension, and what did the sermon suggest about why people naturally avoid seeking God?
3. The pastor described two common views of human nature, one optimistic and one pessimistic, and said the Bible offers a third way. In your own experience, which of those two popular views do you find yourself leaning toward, and how does the Bible's view differ from both?
4. The sermon used the image of the Roman Road and noted that 'all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God' is where the conversation about salvation has to start. Why do you think it is hard for people, including people who have been in church a long time, to sit with that starting point honestly?
5. The pastor said that being justified is a divine passive, meaning God is the one doing the action, and that this should lead Christians toward humility and unity rather than a sense of being varsity versus junior varsity believers. Where do you see that kind of ranking show up among Christians, and how does the grace described in Romans 3 push back against it?