The Depravity Of Man Series

THE DEPRAVITY OF MAN

ROMANS 3:9-20

An old preacher was dying. He sent a message for his Doctor and his Lawyer, both church members, to come to his home. When they arrived, they were ushered up to his bedroom. As they entered the room, the preacher held out his hands and motioned for them to sit on each side of the bed. The preacher grasped their hands, sighed contentedly, smiled and stared at the ceiling. For a time, no one said anything. Both the doctor and lawyer were touched and flattered that the old preacher would ask them to be with him during his final moment. They were also puzzled; the preacher had never given them any indication that he particularly liked either of them. They both remembered his many long, uncomfortable sermons about greed, covetousness and their avaricious behavior that made them squirm in their seats.

Finally the doctor said, ‘Preacher, why did you ask the two of us to come?’ The old preacher mustered up some strength , then said weakly, ‘Jesus died between two thieves and that’s how I want to go too’.

When God created the world He looked around and said, ‘That is good’. Paul reflects on the world/mankind through the eyes of God now, ‘This is bad’.

• You may have a high estimation of yourself but others may look at you and have a different opinion.

1) Picture: Look at ourselves and almost always feel it is a bad picture. Someone else looks and says, ‘It looks like you’.

2) This morning: Ultimate opinion of us. What God says about mankind. A stark revelation of what God’s holy eyes see when He looks at sinful man.

3) DEPRAVITY OF MAN: (Word bothers us) Feel there are a lot worse people than us. We could also be a lot worse than we are.

a) DOES NOT MEAN THAT WE ARE AS BAD AS WE CAN BE BUT THAT WE ARE AS BAD OFF AS WE CAN BE

b) Every part of our nature is TAINTED BY SIN. Sin runs through us at every level. Effects everything we do and every thought we think.

SIN- Interesting word that has ‘I’ at it’s middle. This morning we are going to consider not so much the sin problem in the world but the sin problem in the heart. The heart of every man.

October 7, 1969 the Montreal, Canada police force went on strike. Because of what resulted, the day has been called Black Tuesday. A burglar and a policeman were slain. Forty-nine persons were wounded or injured in rioting. Nine bank holdups were committed, almost a tenth of the total number of holdups the previous year along with 17 robberies at gunpoint. Usually disciplined, peaceful citizens joined the riffraff and went wild, smashing some 1,000 plate glass windows in a stretch of 21 business blocks in the heart of the city, hauling away stereo units, radios, TVs and wearing apparel. While looters stripped windows of valuable merchandise, professional burglars entered stores by doors and made off with truckloads of goods. A smartly dressed man scampered down a street with a fur coat over each arm with no police around, anarchy took over.

In the words of that grand old philosopher Pogo: "We have met the enemy and he is us." There aren’t just a few rotten apples in the basket, all of them are flawed.

• God’s Diagnosis of Man: The Great Physician speaks! There is no cure without an accurate diagnosis.

1) A doctor is not cruel who tells you the truth: He might use words we hate like stroke, pneumonia, cancer, disease but we need to hear them to treat the problem.

2) Generation today doesn’t want to hear the diagnosis God gives of the disease that is destroying many lives.

According to a recent poll] 88% of Catholics and a majority of Presbyterian and Methodist evangelizers [those who actively try to share their "faith"] believe that "if people are generally good, or do enough good things for others during their lives, they will earn a place in heaven."

a) Symptoms are everywhere: Crime, language, entertainment(Three R’s no longer in schoolhouse), decline in church attendance, lack of giving or serving by most who do attend, lack of Bible knowledge by average Christian.

b) ALL SYMPTOMS OF A DEADLY DISEASE: SIN

3) DOCTOR VISIT:

a) Cold & Chills: Lack of spiritual passion

b) Cough & Sneeze: Lack of obedience(reject God’s Word)

c) Tired & Fatigued: Lack of energy to serve God

d) No appetite: Lack of desire for meet of God’s Word

Big thing today is ‘SEEKER SENSITIVE’ services. Services geared to not be confrontive or too strong in Biblical teaching. Attempt to reach those who are easily offended and/or do not want to hear indepth Bible teaching. We need to be sensitive to the SEEKER we are told.