Man Under Sin
A Sermon on Romans 3:10-12
Originally preached Feb. 1, 1957
Scripture
10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Sermon Description
The word of God is a terrifying mirror to those who are not saved. No one is innocent as all have sinned, Jews and Gentiles alike. Paul quotes the Psalms to prove his point: “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). The Jews had access to the Old Testament, yet they were tragically blind in regards to their own Scriptures and Paul reminds them of what God has stated multiple times. All are under the guilt of sin and all have been born into sin through Adam. In the sermon from Romans 3:10–12 titled “Man Under Sin,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones points out that it is essential to understand this before one can truly understand the gospel. A person must understand how truly sinful and deceitful human nature is. This will lead to evangelism, showing people their need for salvation by convicting them first of their sin. Paul continues in giving a greater description of sin and how it distorts their view of the world, humankind, and God. Even if the Jews attempted to argue that they were not under condemnation, Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains that Paul was attempting to thwart all arguments by providing adequate evidence.
Sermon Breakdown
- The Jews were blind to the meaning of their own scriptures. They read the words but missed the message.
- This passage proves the universality of sin. There is no one righteous, not even one. Sin is universal without exception.
- We see the terrible character of sin and man's appalling position by nature.
- It is essential to understand this before we can understand the gospel. We must understand our need before we understand what Christ saves us from.
- By showing us the terrible character of sin, it shows us the glory of God's grace by contrast. The greater our understanding of sin, the greater our understanding of God's grace.
The Book of Romans
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.