Exposition by Max A Forsythe
Christ Covenant Reformed (PCA)
This
week I actually saw something new under the sun.
Oh, I know, that is indeed a rare occurrence.
But
despite what the author of Ecclesiastes says about the experience, the
curiosity that I saw, I have never heard of or even dreamed I would ever see.
Actually, I saw it twice, but the first time I dismissed it as a UFO type
experience, and thought I had been day dreaming.
But the second time I saw it, I was with six other people, so I know in
fact that it exists.
Believe it or not, someone in my home township is driving a rag top
pickup truck!
The second evening I saw it, he was driving around with the top down.
Now before you run out to buy one, you need to know that this is a home
made prototype.
If you are really interested, I understand that the owner is not happy
with it, and may be willing to sell the oddity.
Again,
a few years ago I kept on my door at school a “Beware
of Calvinist”
sign which ninety-nine per cent of the people ignored.
One student took the trouble of looking up what a Calvinist was.
He confronted me with a confusing definition.
According to his research a Calvinist was "a
person who while saved by grace, worked as if his salvation depended upon what
he could do through works".
Now there is a theological oddity in our time almost as rare as a
convertible pickup truck!
More and more, the evangelical faith, which by definition depends upon
Christ’s atonement, is becoming a works righteousness religion, or worse yet,
an emotional feel-good spiritual Amway-type corporate network.
Even
the most basic beliefs of the faith are being ignored or demonized in our day.
In a seminal work entitled, A History of War, the author,
John Keegan, dismisses evangelicals as “a
minority whose members insist that man is naturally violent ... theirs is the
argument of Christian theologians who hold to the story of the Fall and the
doctrine of original sin.”
He goes on to dismiss such nonsense out of hand.
Such a dismissal is very typical in practically all areas of serious
study.
The Christian position is unworthy of consideration.
And whenever we raise our Calvinistic witness, almost the whole world
reacts with dismayed wonder.
On a liberal talk show this week, I heard a Christian brother try to
defend the biblical attitude towards sodomy.
None of his biblical positions were even considered worthy of
consideration.
This is where we are at in our time.
Like rag-top pickups, the reformed distinctives of the faith draw
wide-mouthed wonder and very many who hold to the orthodoxy of the faith feel
very self-conscious.
And
well we should be self conscious, but not before the world!
Instead we should be self conscious before the Lord of heaven.
Let us consider our standing before the God of heaven, and never mind the
world.
Let them drive on by as we pause to hear God speak to us today.
The
first point in verses nine and ten is one rejected out of hand by the worldly
crowd today.
“There
is no one righteous, not even one,”
Paul insists from the Old Covenant texts.
This is his summary conclusion of his letter to this point.
Both Jew and Gentile stand together condemned before the awesome
righteousness of God alone.
Christian and pagan are both in that passage.
Those who would reject the teaching of the sinfulness of all mankind must
be recognized as being outside of the Judeo-Christian heritage.
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, as the divine text
tells us.
We might argue that if men were righteous, it should be evident!
However, as we well know, there is no general righteousness,
The politically correct are just as bad, if not worse, than the
administrative and intellectual types who have preceded them down through the
generations.
How
bad is this situation?
Verses eleven and twelve affirm another controversial doctrine in our day
--
Total
Depravity,
as we Calvinists call it; or universal sinfulness, as others in agreement would
define it.
Taking his cue from Psalm
53:2, Paul draws
the only conclusion possible from the Scriptural record of fallen man’s dismal
record.
In that Psalm verse, “God
looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who
understand, any who seek God.”
Paul gives us the sense that is implied in his text.
All have turned away, all have become worthless, none have done any good.
This
total depravity is a profound charge.
Certainly, the worldly would argue that within the spirit of even the
most deprived and depraved mind, there must be something good.
That certainly is the worldly hope!
But this is a hope that worldly professionals despair of finding, even as
they maintain their dream-image of mankind.
The Bible takes a different view.
Man left to himself is totally hopeless and helpless.
And to prove that essential doctrine, Paul gives ample proof from the
scriptural record.
In
verses thirteen and fourteen, Paul considers the combined voices of mankind
which are filled with vice and viciousness.
This week’s issue of World magazine joins the growing chorus
condemning the “artistry”
of Time-Warner
corporation.
Of course, that corporation is only the worst example of purveyors of
media vulgarity.
The “freedom
of filth” understanding
of the Bill of rights is beginning to have its limits in our culture.
Even the worldly are beginning to wonder what we as a nation have become
in our time.
In a recent presentation, the old clown of the sixties, Red Skeleton,
admonished his audience that if they needed to be vulgar to have fun, they could
go somewhere else.
And he closed his act in his time-honored habit, wishing that God would
bless those who had chosen to spend a little time with him.
Of the particulars of Snoop Doggy Dogg, Madonna and others of the
Time-Warner stable of demons, we would pass over with the fear that we too could
be so depraved, were it not for God’s Spirit holding us back.
In
verses fifteen to seventeen, Paul argues his most conclusive proof of the
depravity of mankind.
The cursing and bitterness of the media have, in more than one case,
gone over the line to violence and crime.
Of course, Paul already knows what can happen.
Blood, ruin and misery mark the way of the wicked.
Our whole human history is dominated by such records; war and rumors of
war, violence and hatred are all common occurrences.
Given such overwhelming evidence, what logical conclusion can be reached?
See the conclusion in verse eighteen?
“There
is no fear of God before their eyes.”
That
rule of law is but a distant memory in our day.
And when the law was administered correctly, it was based upon the
revealed law of God.
As a child I remember a movie that the family went to see at the Drive In
Theater.
There was a wagon train headed west.
Along the way, people had to decide what goods they really needed and
what could be left along the trail, since their draft animals were not up to the
task of hauling everything they wanted.
One member of the wagon train was a lawyer, headed west with his law
books.
The wagon master observed that, if he wanted to get to the promised land,
the books might be left behind. However, the wagon master offered to give him
one book to replace the dozens to be left behind.
Even to a six-year-old, it was obvious by its color and binding that the
One Book would be more than enough.
The character even testified that the Bible, which was the foundation of
law, would be everything the lawyer needed.
In the Hollywood of that era, the lawyer took the Book and left behind
the wisdom of mankind.
As
we come to the last two verses of our scripture portion, I am reminded of what a
secular author had to say about the rule of law in our historic past.
His name, and where I read it, I cannot remember.
But the crux of his argument was that the constitutional law of America,
with its juries, the mercy of its judges, and its self-governing wisdom, would
work in a society that needed not the rule of law!
When these ideas were taught, the ten commandments had a very profound
social impact.
Everyone, whether they liked it or not, knew very well what Paul declares
in verse nineteen, “the
whole world [is] held accountable to God.”
For those who belonged to God, the second purpose of the Law was also recognized. See it there in verse twenty? What is the purpose of the law? Hear it, as it is revealed to us through the teachings of Paul: “through the law we become conscious of sin.” Thanks be to God, that through the witness of the Spirit we know, understand and accept the fact that “there is no one righteous, not even one.” If we have or are ready to accept this doctrine, then and only then can we begin to talk about the abundant grace given to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. May this blessing be ours today and always.
Resources Used: The Holy Bible, New International Version
Places Preached:Hodge, Charles. Romans. Keegan, John. A History of Warfare. Mackenzie, R. Calvin's New Testament Commentaries: Romans. Murray, John. New International Commentary: Epistle to Romans.
Rushsylvania United Presbyterian Church (USA) 23 June 79
Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in America) Post Office Box 13926 - Columbus, OH 43213-7926
Rom03b.htm 18 June 95
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