God vs. Humanity | Part 1

Man is an intelligent creature yet spiritually ignorant.

Listen to Adrian Rogers. I'm amazed at the brilliance of the human race today. Don't you stand in all the computers now and what they're able to do?

It's an incredible thing today. But when it comes to spiritual and eternal things, man is an ignoramus. His wisdom is warped.

His imaginations are filthy. His deductions are false. The average man thinks he can go to heaven without being born again. He's absolutely ignorant of two things. He doesn't know how sinful he is and he doesn't know how holy God is.

Welcome to Love Worth Finding featuring Profound Truth Simply Stated by Adrian Rogers. We are sinners by birth, by nature and heritage, no matter our race or background. And in Romans Chapter 3, Paul writes as a prosecuting attorney, bringing the human race before judgment in a case we could call God versus humanity. He reveals our indictment, evidence and verdict and explains how God justifies us as his children.

If you have your Bible, turn to Romans Chapter 3 as Adrian Rogers presents the case of God versus humanity. There's something terribly wrong in the world. Amen. Something terribly wrong. Something that may sound old fashioned when I say it, but it is sin. S-I-N, sin.

Life is short. Death is sure. Sin the curse. Christ the cure. But you're not going to get the cure until you have a proper diagnosis.

You see, you've got to understand what the need is. And so you may think that Paul is morose or Paul is cruel or Paul is vindictive when he begins to tell us about sin. We have a generation today that don't want to hear much about sin. So Paul opens this book and he begins to lay down the problem so we can see it and understand it. So first of all, he talked in Chapter 1 about the sin of the heathen, those who've never heard. And then in Chapter 2, he talks about the sin of the hypocrite. Those who've heard, but those whose lives are full of duplicity. And then in the last part of Chapter 2, he talks about the sin of the Hebrew.

Those who thought because they were God's chosen, because they'd heard so much because they had the Bible, because they knew the truth, that somehow sin did not affect them. And so after he deals with the sin of the heathen and the hypocrite and the Hebrew, then he just sums it up and he comes to the sin of humanity, all of us. And he says, there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. What Paul is doing is this, he is becoming a prosecuting attorney. And he is bringing the human race before the judgment bar of Almighty God and he's making an indictment. And the case is this, God versus humanity. And since you're human, it's an indictment against you. So it would pay you well to listen.

I want you to hear the indictment as it's stated when Romans Chapter 3 verses 9 and 10. What then? Are we better than they? Better than the heathen? Better than the hypocrite? Better than the Hebrew?

What then are we better than they? No in the wise, for we had before proved. Now the word proved here is a very interesting word.

It is a word, it is a legal term, which means to make an indictment and prove it. We have therefore proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one. Now the word under sin literally means dominated by sin, ruled by sin, subjugated to sin. It is not only that we sin, but we serve sin, that we have become slaves of sin. You know the irony of it is that the sinner boasts about his freedom. He's so free.

That's so ridiculous. He is a slave to his sin. He is free to do what he wants, but he's not free to do as he ought. And he is the servant, he is the slave of sin. It doesn't matter about his ethnic background, whether he's a Jew or Gentile, white or black, young or old, rich or poor, he is a sinner.

Sometimes we think that because of our environment, our pedigree, that we are excused. I preached one time in a church and a lady could hardly wait to get to see me because my name is Rogers. And she said, you, sir, are a Rogers. And she said, I am a Rogers. I said, my father was a Rogers and my maiden name was Rogers. And then she just smiled and threw her shoulders back and she said, you know, I have studied our family background and you will be pleased to know that we came over on the Mayflower. And I said, well, that's interesting. I said, I traced it back further than that. She said, you did. I said, yes, we have come all the way from a crooked farmer and a drunken sailor. The farmer was Adam and the sailor was Noah. And we go all the way back. Friend, we are sinners by birth, by nature, by heritage.

It doesn't matter about our race or our background. Now, what the people in the book of Romans were wanting to do was to stretch themselves out in the gutter alongside somebody else and say, I'm better than he or she is. But you see, that's not the standard. The standard is the glory of God. And that's the reason Paul is going to say later on in verse 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

We need to quit comparing ourselves to one another. Sometimes you ask people to come to church. They say, I don't need to go down there. I'm just as good as those folks down there at the church.

They've got it backward. They need to say I'm just as bad as those folks down there at the church. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Total depravity doesn't mean that we are as sinful as we could be.

It just means that every part of our nature is contaminated by sin. It is there. It is incipient.

It is inculcated in our hearts and in our minds because the Bible says sin comes out of our heart. Now, you may not have committed that sin, but it is down there. It is down there. You say, not in my sweet little heart. Yes, it is.

An oak tree is in the heart of an acorn. Now, it may not ever come to maturity, but it is there. Sin is hurtful, hellish, heinous, and it is in every heart and in every mind. And so Paul says that we have proved that they're all guilty. You see, because sin is an internal thing.

That's the reason reformation is not enough. We frequently use illustration of the timberman who takes a log from the woods and that tree may be crooked. But he brings it into the sawmill and puts it on the cradle and begins to run it through that sawmill where that great buzz saw is there. And the saw lops off one side of that log and then he turns it, runs it through again, and it lops off the other side. He turns it, runs it through again.

It takes the other. And then finally the fourth side. And there it is perfectly straight, perfectly square. But if you look at it from the end, the heart is still crooked. Now, that's what reformation does.

All reformation does is to square us up on the outside, presumably, but the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. So, first of all, you see the indictment that is given. That's the indictment as God versus humanity in verses 9 and 10.

Have you got that? Now, what good is an indictment without evidence? So, the next thing the apostle Paul is going to do in God versus humanity is not only make the indictment, but God is going to present the evidence against us. And he's going to show how sin has corrupted the entire human personality of every man, woman, boy, and girl, and child on the face of this earth. First of all, he talks about man's corrupted wisdom. Look in verse 11, there is none that understandeth. Man's mind has been warped by sin. Now, man may be otherwise brilliant, but the apostle Paul has also told us in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 14, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him. Neither can he know. You take a man with a PhD. He still cannot understand God.

There's none that understands. I'm amazed at the brilliance of the human race today. Don't you stand in all the computers now and what they're able to do?

And even in the simple things where you get in the automobile, it says, shut the door. You say, who? You, shut the door. Yes, sir. You find yourself interacting with machines.

It's an incredible thing today. But when it comes to spiritual and eternal things, man is an ignoramus. His wisdom is warped.

His imaginations are filthy. His deductions are false. The average man thinks he can go to heaven without being born again. He's absolutely ignorant of two things. He doesn't know how sinful he is and he doesn't know how holy God is. He has a corrupted wisdom. But not only has his mind been touched by sin, his will has been touched by sin. He has a corrupted wisdom.

He has a corrupted will. Look, if you will now in verses 11 and 12. There is none that seeketh after God. They're all going out of the way. Now, you would think that men seek God, but this verse says that they don't seek God.

They are together become unprofitable. Now, there's none that doeth good, no, not one. You say, now, wait a minute, pastor, surely people seek God. All over the world there are temples. People are worshiping in jungles. Everywhere you go on the face of the earth, people are religious. How could Paul say to Rome that had all of its gods that there's none that seeketh after God?

Get the point and don't miss it. These people are not seeking God. They're in demon worship.

First Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 20, the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils. They're not seeking the true God of heaven. They are fleeing the true God of heaven. The only reason that you sought Jehovah God, the true God, is that he first sought you.

Did you know that? Did you know that ever since the Garden of Eden, man's been running from God? When Adam sinned, he beat it to the bushes. He hit from God and God came seeking Adam. God said, Adam, Adam, where art thou? It wasn't Adam saying, oh, God, where are you? And the voice of God was not the voice of a detective. It was the voice of a brokenhearted God. You see, ever since man sinned, he has been running from God and God is chasing you. That's why I brought you here today. Did you know if God couldn't run faster than you could run, you never would have been saved. But he caught you. There's none that seeketh after God.

No, not one. The Bible makes it clear in plain that we love him because he first loved us. Thank God for that. You see, Jesus said in John chapter 6 and verse 44, no man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. In evangelism today, sometimes we hear about seeker-sensitive services.

Now, they say to preachers today, now, if you want to build a church, all these people who come who are seeking God, you be sensitive to them. Well, friend, humanity is not seeking God. Do you know who the seeker is? His name is Jesus. Now, listen, Luke 19 says, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.

Isn't that great? So, you know, we need to be sensitive to the seeker, but we need to be sensitive to the seeker who is the Holy Spirit, not sensitive to the sinner who couldn't give a hoot, because we are dependent upon the Holy Spirit to convict him. And that's the reason we have to pray and soak all that we do in prayer, because there's none that seeketh after God.

No, not one. Just like a sheep, Jesus said, all we like sheep have gone astray. One thing about a sheep is he never says, oh, I'm lost. I've got to go back to the shepherd. If the shepherd doesn't go and find him, he will never come home. And then he goes on to say in verse 12, they've all become unprofitable. Do you see that?

We're still talking about his corrupted will, unprofitable. You know what that word literally means? It refers to milk or meat that has spoiled. Have you ever been on a vacation and left milk in the refrigerator?

You know, the kind that's dated, and then you come back and your wife goes to the refrigerator and she opens the refrigerator and she opens that milk carton? And I mean, friend, it's rancid. I don't know why they do this, but they come to you and they say, smell this.

Why do they do that? You don't have to smell it. Man, you can smell it when they open it way across the room. Smell this. You think that's okay? No!

No. It's unprofitable. It's rancid.

It refers to stinking meat. You see, God made us to serve Him, but we don't do it. We're unprofitable. We're unprofitable servants.

Unprofitable literally means good for nothing. A little boy asked his mother. He said, Mother, would you pay me if I'm good all day? She said, why don't you be good for nothing like your father?

We are good for nothing. You see, man has a corrupted wisdom. He has a corrupted will. He has a depraved will. And then go on, look if you will. He has depraved words.

Look in verses 13 and 14. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they've used to see. The poison of asps is under their lips. Serpents.

Look at it. It's talking about their tongues whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Corrupted wisdom. Corrupted wills. Corrupted words.

Because the words just tell us what's down in the heart. This world is so full of wicked words. Fondlers of filth. Now, God help us, they've gotten on the internet. Lovers of lies. Traders in trash.

Peddlers of profanity. It's all around us. And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

The country, they say, what's down in the well comes up in a bucket. You say, well, pastor, I just curse a little. I take God's name in vain, but I don't mean anything by it.

That's where you're indicted, sir. That you could take the thrice holy name of Almighty God in vain and not mean anything by it. That God is no more to you than a curse word that you can mix in the muck and mire and slime of the sewer. The Bible says God will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. He will not. You'll not curse him when you meet him face to face at the judgment. What is God speaking about here? He's bringing an indictment.

There's none good, no, not one. And he talks about man's will. He talks about man's wisdom. He talks about man's words. Then he talks about man's ways, depraved, corrupted ways.

Look, if you will, in verses 15 and 16. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace they have not known. Further information, read any newspaper in America today, across the land or around the world, violence, child abuse, abortion, war, filth. Man's wicked ways. Sin has turned this world into a madhouse.

But the indictment continues. And not only does he talk about man's ways, but he talks as the crowning indictment about man's worship. Look, if you will, in verse 18. There is no fear of God before their eyes. You would think that mankind would be prostrate on the ground saying, oh, God, have mercy.

Not this generation and not a prior generation. People are egomaniacs, strutting to hell, laughing about God. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. What is the fear of God? It is a reverence, a holy awe for Almighty God. The fear of God is love on its knees before the Almighty God.

Our generation has lost the fear of God. Do you know what the worst form of badness is? The worst form of badness is human goodness when that is substituted for the new birth.

That's the worst form of badness. We have the idea that somehow our goodness is good, but the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 21 and verse 4 that the plowing of the wicked is sin. A farmer who plows a field without giving glory to God who causes the rain to fall and the seed to germinate.

That's sin. What does it mean when it says the plowing of the wicked is sin? It means that the sinner can do no good. He can do no good.

Even his good is bad if he's not saved. Plowing a field is fine. Making crops grow is fine. Being a farmer is fine, but not if you're unsaved. All of that is iniquity.

You say, I don't understand that. Suppose you go to dinner today and there's a fruit salad made of the freshest, finest fruits mixed with the best ingredients. But the man who has made that salad and mixed that salad has open running sores on his hands and he's mixing the salad. Contagious sores on his hand and he's mixing the salad. Finest fruit, finest ingredients. Here, you want some? You want any? No, I don't want it.

Why? Because even though the fruit may be good, he has contaminated what he's touched. The plowing of the wicked is sin.

The unsaved man contaminates all that he touches because he himself is a sinner. So God, God makes the indictment and then God brings the evidence and then God gives the verdict. He doesn't depend upon the jury. He himself is the judge.

Here's the verdict. Look, if you will, in verses 19 and 20. Now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, now watch it, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. The verdict of the court is guilty and he goes on to say as a result of that in verse 20, therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law was not given to save you. The law is given to condemn and convict you. The law cannot save you. God has given his holy law.

But the law is given to show us that with sinners for sin is the transgression of the law and we realize that God has given his holy law and we have come short of God's holy law. So what is the wisest thing that you could do today? What is the wisest thing you could do today? Shut up and plead guilty. Shut up and plead guilty. That's what Paul is saying. I know boys and girls that if we use the word shut up in the wrong sense, we ought not to do it. But listen, here's what he's saying in the last part of verse 19, that every mouth may be stopped. God says shut your mouth and that all the world may become guilty before God. Now you're never going to get saved until you admit your guilt before almighty God. That simple act makes all the difference. You're not going to get saved until you admit your guilt before almighty God.

What a convicting word today. And we'll hear part two of this important message tomorrow. But now you might have questions about Jesus about what he means to you about how to receive this forgiveness that he's offering. Go to our discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash lwf.org slash radio.

You'll find resources there and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith. Again, click discover Jesus at lwf.org slash radio. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message call 1-877-LOVEGOD and request the message God versus humanity.

This lesson is also part of the insightful foundations for our faith series for the complete collection all 27 powerful messages call 1-877-LOVEGOD or order online at lwf.org slash radio or you can write us at love worth finding box 38600 Memphis Tennessee 38183. We will not know mercy and forgiveness until we admit our sin. Confess your sins to God right now. Remember Adrian Rogers said he doesn't overlook our sin.

He pardons it freely by his grace. Live in that truth today and thank you for studying in God's word. Join us next time for part two of God versus humanity right here on Love Worth Finding.

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