You need to understand that Paul is referring here not so much to our sinful actions as he is to our sinful nature. When he says all have Sin. This is a reference, by the way, to the sin of Adam. and there are residual effects on all of mankind. Adam, the representative of the human race.
Had corrupted the fountainhead of the water of the human race by his sin. And now the water is polluted. And no matter how far you get away from Adam's original sin, you still drink from polluted water. What would you say? If God asks asked why you should be welcomed into heaven.
Many people believe that they're good works. would be enough. But Romans 3.23 tells us plainly. All have sinned and fall short of God's glory. Every one of us faces an impossible chasm between ourself.
and a holy God.
So How can anyone hope to cross the divide? Today, Stephen Davey explains how the answer is found not in religion or personal effort, but in the cross of Christ alone. This is the doctrine of justification by faith alone. This message is called The Great Divide. I want to draw your attention today to one of the most well-known biblical verses in all of Christianity.
Romans 3.23, which says For all have sinned. Finish it with me. and fall short of the glory of God. Not only is this verse well known within the church of our Lord the Apostle, Paul has clearly provided the inspired declaration, the inspired evidence that the truth of this verse is buried within the heart of all of mankind. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God is intuitively known by all of humanity.
In fact, man will spend his lifetime trying to come to terms with that message that whispers to his soul. How do I deal with guilt? That I know is there. What do I do about my sin that I feel and sense? And what of this sense of coming judgment?
Why do I go through life feeling a sense of emptiness? Even though I fill my life with more and more things, and what can I do to bring peace to my mind when I think of the afterlife? How do I make sure that I end up in an eternally good place rather than an eternally bad place? How can I be right? with God.
Religions throughout all time and all around the world are nothing more than man's organized effort to answer those questions. and to deal with those issues. The Greeks, even before the time of Paul, had developed the mystery religions which involved initiation into spiritual oneness with a God they believed suffered and rose again.
Sound familiar? A person who desired to be related to this God had to go through a period of venitiation rites. Known as identification rites with this God. When the identification rites were completed, the initiate was, in the language of the mysteries, a quote, twice-born one. We would call it Born again.
In one particular mystery religion, the initiate, after his identification rites were completed, was actually given a goblet of milk to drink, signifying in their minds that he or she was a newborn babe. Where'd they get that from? In one graphic mystery ceremony, a person came in direct contact with bloodshed, a ceremony called tarabolium. In this mystery identification rite, the initiate was lowered into a deep Pit and across the mouth of the pit, beams were laid in a lattice-type arrangement. Then, on top of the beams, a bull was laid who'd had its throat cut, and the blood would gush down through the beams to that initiate in the pit, who would be literally bathed with the blood of that dying animal.
This was what they considered Salvation. When the ceremony was over and the initiate was brought up out of the pit, covered in blood, he was referred to as, quote, one reborn for all eternity. The world is looking for some sort of answer. And in its pursuit of answer, it comes close, doesn't it? You can see kernels of truth therein.
But it is exercising great faith. Stopping short of the truth. The truth of Jesus Christ, and it is futile. Their religious attempts, as futile as the mouse I read about a little while ago, a man had purchased a little white mouse to use as food for his pet snake. He dropped the mouse into the glass cage, where the the snake was sleeping on a bed of sawdust.
The tiny mouse had a serious problem. And so he needed to do something in a moment. That sleeping serpent. could awaken and swallow him for dinner.
So, what did he do? He instinctively began to dig with his paws. flinging sawdust back to the corner until he had completely covered the snake with sawdust chips. And with that the mouse apparently thought he had found safety. The only safety for that little mouse was the owner.
took pity on him. took him out of that glass cage before that serpent awakened. Ladies and gentlemen, religion. is like piling wood chips upon sleeping judgment. I have seen people attempting to cover their guilt by going through baptismal water.
I have talked to those who have offered penance and some sort of self-sacrifice and self-denial. I have seen pictures of people piercing their body and even in other countries every year having themselves nailed to wooden crosses, believing that that would bestow upon them some sort of grace. I've seen people washing in polluted water, believing that the water of that river was sacred and it could wash away their sin. I have heard them humming the chantras. I have heard of them praying to the spirits and looking to the stars.
Those activities are no more effective in washing away sin as the man or woman who stood in the pit and let the blood of a bull wash over them. They are no more effective in covering over our sin and guilt and judgment than that little mouse covering the snake with chips of sawdust. Paul has delivered. the final and full verdict of mankind. And he has said in verse 22 that we looked at briefly: that salvation or hope comes through faith in Jesus Christ.
Justification. That is the legal declaration of righteous standing before a holy God has nothing to do with whatever we can do. It has everything to do with what Jesus Christ has already done. Whatever you might have done, Whether it is the water of baptism or the membership of some church or some moral deed or some philanthropy or whatever, you put it all in a category and those are all wonderful things, but they are things that you do. Justification has nothing to do with what you do.
But what Christ has done. The truth is, ladies and gentlemen, until you understand the gravity of Romans 3:23. You might think that there is something you can do. You do not understand the absolute necessity of sola fidae. Faith In Christ alone.
So let's look at this verse, shall we? Let's take it slowly enough. And yet, quickly enough to finish this morning the study of this verse, Paul begins this classic text with a universal verdict, first of all. A universal verdict. You ought to circle that first word.
Or that first phrase, for all, there's the word all, that is comprehensive. This is all inclusive. This word is all embracing, it is all encompassing, all leaves nobody out. It doesn't leave anybody behind. No one can say, well, Paul here is only talking to the Romans.
Paul is only talking to the Italians of the first century, not the Americans of the 21st century. No, he says all. This is a reference to all of humanity, of all time, up to this very moment today, and it will include all who live beyond the day. All means everyone. And what is it in which we are all included?
He moves from that universal. all-encompassing verdict to this irrevocable condition. He says, for all have Send.
Now the key word for now in our study is the word have. It is the word that we would often skip in going to what we would think would be the most important word, but this is a critical verb. The verb in the original text. In its tense, it refers to something that actually happened a long time ago. and there are residual effects on all of mankind.
for all of time. You need to understand that Paul is referring here not so much to our sinful actions as he is to our sinful nature. When he says all have This is a reference, by the way, to the sin of Adam. Adam, the representative of the human race, had corrupted the fountainhead of the water of the human race by his sin. And now the water is polluted.
And no matter how far you get away from Adam's original sin, you still drink from polluted water. He will explain that, by the way, in chapter 5. Why don't you turn over there and look at verse 12? It may be a while before we get there again. He explains this.
He says, Therefore, just as through one man, he's talking about Adam. Through one man, sin entered into the world, and death through one man. Through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.
So Paul is thinking of the entire human race as having sinned in their representative. What theologians call federal headship, others refer to as seminal headship. I think there's truth in both. We in Adam sinned. And that's good news because then we in Christ.
are righteous. But all of humanity in their representative, that is Adam, sinned. And we have proof, do we not? that we are partakers of Adam's nature. Because we all by nature do what?
We all by nature sin. I mentioned a few weeks ago those little birds. That we thought were in a nest in the rafters of our home, or perhaps just outside our bathroom window. the eaves or the gutters. My wife was outside a few days ago working in the yard and She was around that side of the house and she saw high up on the house that flap on the vent open.
and a bird fly out. And she watched for a while, and sure enough, that same bird came back again with something in her mouth. opened up that vent as it fluttered and went inside. That vent went from the outside wall and it ended in our bathroom ceiling. which made a lot of sense now to the noises that we had heard, because we could hear a slam and then chirping and then a slam and all quiet.
Well, the slam was that vent door opening up and the chirping would signal the fact that little birds knew that mommy was there. And they would all chirp. You could hear them. Heard him this morning. I got dressed to the sounds of birds.
It was. Irritating actually, but at any rate. In a few days, Little mother bird's gonna push those little birds out that vent and they're gonna. Instinctively, flap their wings and Fly. There's no driver's ed for little birds.
No, 12 months with a permit before you can They're just going to instinctively. Begin to flap their wings and they're going to fly away, praise God, and we're going to seal that vent shut or do something. a significance it won't happen again.
Well, just as a bird flies... By virtue of its nature, so we sin by virtue of our nature. Just as a bird by its instinct soars in the air, so we, by our instinct, Grovel in sin. Just as a bird learns without ever having learned.
So we sin. without ever having had one lesson, We do it by nature. Would you notice as well, back in chapter 3, verse 23, that Paul is not referring to the amount of our sins? He isn't saying here, for all have sinned a lot. And there's a reason for that.
If he had said, for all have sinned a lot, somebody in this auditorium could say, well, that's certainly not me because I don't sin a lot. I sin a little. In fact, I know others who really do sin a lot. They may even be sitting near me, but uh this sermon's for them, but that's not me. This sermon is for somebody else.
No, Paul isn't referring to the amount of our sins. He is referring to the nature of our sinfulness.
So you can read verse 23 this way: for all have the nature. of a sinner. For all by nature instinctively sin. And therein lies the offense. Paul moves from the universal verdict.
through this irrevocable condition. to the irrefutable offence. For all have what? Sinned. You can deny it?
Doesn't matter. All have sinned. You can excuse it away, doesn't matter. All Have sinned. You can say that it really isn't that bad.
It doesn't matter. God says all have sinned. Sinned. You can even claim, as I read, that There isn't even such thing as a sin, like the Russian dictionary that was published after the communists came to power in Russia, after the entry of the word sin, I have read, was the definition. Quote.
Archaic word denoting the transgression of a mythical divine law. It doesn't even matter if you try to define it away. All have sinned. Because of this irrefutable offense, Paul reveals the truth now of an impassable chasm. For all have sinned and forgot Falls short.
Hustarundai. to come short of, to be utterly lacking in. Kustarointu was used by Greek farmers in the first century for a farmer who missed the season. That is, he failed to get the seed into the ground in time to get a crop. For all have sinned and have missed the season, will never have the fruit of the crop of God's glory.
Hustaruntai was used in ancient Egypt to refer to those uneducated who couldn't read. For all have sinned and are illiterate of the glory of God. Hustaruntai was used in the financial world of the Apostle Paul to refer to somebody who is bankrupt. You could translate it, for all have sinned and are bankrupt of the glory of God. We say it this way: for all have sinned.
and fall short. Come short of. find this impassable chasm Yeah. The glory of God. A man in Detroit, Michigan.
I read about recently did everything he could to meet the standard height for law enforcement officers, which was. At that particular point in time, five feet. Seven inches. He was five feet five inches. His father was a policeman.
He wanted to be a policeman all his life. He'd mastered martial art. Studied, he'd done everything he could. He wanted to be a policeman, but he didn't meet the requirement. And so he worked at stretching.
He tried pulleys. He even Went through the excruciating pain of a sort of a handmade rack. And he grew. He stretched nearly two inches. But after he had exhausted all of his efforts, he was still five-eighths of an inch.
Too short. All of his efforts attracted the attention of the press. And the public. And enough pressure was put upon the police commissioner. that he did what our world will do, right?
Change the requirement.
So he could get in. I want you to know that God does not change the rules. even when he gets bad press. He doesn't change the standard, which is holiness. That one sin.
in one life could ever allow that life to abide forever. in the presence of a holy God. And that standard will never change. For he has said he will not allow the guilty to go unpunished. And how many in this audience are guilty?
Let me see your hands. It looks unanimous. to May. He goes on in this fifth declaration that's found embedded in this one verse: that heaven. is an unreachable goal.
He says, For all have sinned and fall short of the what? The glory of God. Now, what exactly was Paul intending to communicate? What does it mean when he says the glory of God?
Well, the original Greek word for glory translated here is the word daxa. from which we get our transliterated word Doxology.
Now, the word many, many centuries ago originally meant to appear or to seem to be. And it eventually came to refer to having an opinion about someone. Over time, the word came to refer only to that which was a positive opinion about someone. From there, Developed further to mean praise and honor toward someone of high reputation. And by the time of Scripture, you find the word used specifically in relation to God alone, who is the one worthy of all daxa, the one worthy of the highest opinion of man, the one worthy of all honor and glory.
But that's not all. The Greek word doxa translates. transliterates consistently in the Greek Old Testament the word shekinah. And that sheds even a greater volume of truth upon this word. For Shekinah was that word which referred to the glory, the brightness, the brilliance, the splendor of God's presence.
When the tabernacle of God was completed in Acts chapter 40, you remember reading perhaps the story of how the Shekinah glory came down and settled over it. Later in Israel's history, the Ark of the Covenant symbolized the place of God's Shekinah, the place of God's glory. God again revealed his Shekinah brilliance when Solomon's temple was dedicated in 1 Kings chapter 8. In Matthew chapter 2, I believe that that star is actually a reference to the Shekinah, which specifically led the Magi to the house where the young boy Jesus was. In John, in his gospel, he is describing the birth of the word that became flesh and dwelt among us.
And we beheld his daxa. We beheld the shekinah glory of the Father full of grace and truth. In Acts chapter 9, we're told that when the Apostle Paul was riding on that Damascus road to persecute believers in Christ, he saw the glory of God, the brightness which we would only believe would indicate the Shekinah glory of God. And he said, referring to the brightness, Lord. What do you want me to do?
When Stephen was being stoned to death, In Acts chapter 7, after preaching his one and only sermon. This deacon The text tells us, looked into the heavens and he saw the Shekinah. The glory of God and Jesus Christ stands. standing.
So, to fall short, ladies and gentlemen, of the glory of God means that mankind can never have a high opinion of God. But it also means that mankind will never live in the presence of the Shekinah glory of God. There isn't any way anybody will ever reach the glorious, brilliant place where Jesus Christ, the embodiment of the triune God, the visible reflection of God, resides. In other words, nobody's going to heaven. Nobody.
We are condemned already. Yes, there is a comprehensive verdict. There is an irrevocable condition. There is an irrefutable offense. There is an impassable chasm and there is an unreachable goal.
But I have one more point. There is an eternal. Bridge. The bridge, the crosses, The Great Divide. An altar of sacrifice upon which our Lord Jesus died to pay the eternal penalty for all of your sin, and more than that, you see.
But to pay the penalty for your sin. Nature. You see, if it was dependent upon you to ask the Lord to forgive you for every specific sin, you'd have to spend your entire life. Confessing sin. Redemption doesn't just mean those specific sins that you embrace, you repent of as you turn to Jesus Christ as Savior, but it has to do with your nature.
And we'll learn later in this paragraph how the nature of man is replaced, as it were, given over to the nature of Christ's righteousness. Our sinfulness. has exceeded by Christ's righteousness. Look at verse 24 in this chapter. Being justified, declared righteous.
As a what? as a gift. By his grace. Paul says that God comes to bankrupt humanity. They can do nothing.
for itself. and offers this gift by His grace through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus. Back in verse 22, even the righteousness of God through faith. In Jesus Christ. For all those who believe, Several years ago, I read recently there was a dance instructor.
who'd been out late on Saturday night. He kind of staggered back to his hotel room in the wee hours of the morning and fell into bed and and fast asleep. The next morning he was suddenly jolted awake By the sound of that hotel clock. radio alarm clock. that had been priest-set.
He was suddenly awakened. by the sound of a man preaching, The man who was preaching at the moment the radio came on, was asking this question. If in the next few moments you should die, And find yourself before God, and He should ask you, what right do you have to come into my heaven? What would you say? How's that for a truly wake-up call?
But he was confounded. He was a religious man. Yeah. paid his dues But he didn't have an answer. And he then sat on the edge of his bed while this preacher.
The late Darnold Gray Barnhouse went on to explain. How he could Claim heaven. The only right. The only answer. was Jesus Christ alone, solafide.
Faith in Christ. alone and that dance instructor got down on his knees and he gave his life to Christ. That, my friends, is the transaction of salvation. What would your answer be? By the way, that man who was saved went on And actually entered the ministry.
His name was. James Kennedy. He pastors today. The Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. And he has created this evangelism ministry called Evangelism Explosion that we even teach here at our church.
And it's based on those questions that he first heard from Donald Gray Barnhouse. What would your answer be? If you were to die this afternoon, and stand before God. And God should say to you, Why should I let you into heaven? What would you say?
For all have sinned. And fall short of the glory of God. The beginning of the gospel is that news. For all, that means you. And you And you and you and you?
And you? And you and you? And you? And you? And you?
You. And you. And me. All have sinned. All fall short.
Of the glory of God, nobody gets in. Unless they receive from The Lord that ticket. It gives them entrance, as it were, to the bridge. fashioned in the shape of a cross. and they walk across that.
That is the answer. For Jesus Christ himself said, I am. The way. No one. Not anybody.
comes to the Father. Unless they come. By way. Of me. That's the promise of the gospel.
And it's good news for every heart. As we close today's episode, I want to tell you about a resource we've developed that can help your Bible study be clearer. easier and more meaningful. Have you ever had a question about Scripture but you weren't sure where to turn? Instead of sifting through unreliable Internet searches, We've created a tool that gives you answers you can trust.
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for the heart.
