Sin Is Universal

Romans 3:10-19

Driving down a back road, I saw the bloated body of a skunk that had been run over. It stunk horribly. A couple of miles farther, I saw a deer carcass, which also stunk, although not as much. Ravens were eating from both bodies. My first thought was that I couldn’t see how the ravens could eat the skunk. Then I realized that the difference was just a matter of smell. Both were rotten, and unfit for human consumption.

People tend to think that the rotten deer is better than the skunk because it smells better, but they are equally dangerous to eat because they have begun to rot. The smell is not dangerous, the decayed flesh is. It is human nature to believe what I do is petter than what the other person does, but what I think is not the important standard. Proverbs 21:2 states, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.”

When the Lord looks at mankind, he looks deeper than the surface activity and appearance. When God sent Samuel to anoint a man to take Saul’s place as king, in I Samuel 16: 7, he stressed this. “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

Man likes to imagine doing evil, and pats himself on the back because he didn’t actually do it. Pornography is one example of this behavior. Jesus condemned it when he said, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart,” in Matthew 5:27-28. While it may not stink as bad as really doing it, it is just as wrong.

Wicked actions are always a result of a person’s thoughts. No one just robs a bank without thinking of having the money first. Not all crimes are pre- meditated to the point of planning, but all are the result of a person’s thoughts. Matthew 15:19-20 makes it clear thaes are the real problem. “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.”

While there are many who live an apparently good life, when God looks on the heart, he sees what is there. As Genesis 6:5 tells us, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” The conclusion is inevitable.

“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10-17)

Man tends to think that if he lives without violating some moral code he is doing well. The Law, as given to Moses by God, is the most dependable of these moral codes. Properly applied, it is valuable. I Timothy 1:8-10 specifies who the Law applies to. “But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;”

A no left turn sign warns the person who wants to turn left that he will be doing wrong if he does so. If he turns left, he is breaking the law, whether he saw the sign, or not. For a person who had no intention of turning left, the sign is irrelevant. The sign is only for the person who wants to turn left. The Law served much the same purpose, warning that we must not do the sin. It does nothing about the thought. It just identifies what is wrong.

“Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 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.” (Romans 3:19-20)

All the Law did, or could do, was make us aware of our guilt. It could do nothing about the attitude of our heart. It could only make us feel guilty, not make us righteous. Galatians 3:21 says that if it could have, then the Law would have been enough. “Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.“ Instead, verse 22 tells us, “But the scripture hath concluded all under sin.”