(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, we're here in Romans chapter 3 and we're continuing through the book of Romans and we've been going through it the last several weeks. This sermon is going to be pretty complex. It's a sermon you might want to take notes. It's a lot of deep things here in the Bible in Romans chapter 3 and it's going to kind of surprise you because we're going to look at verses 9 through 23. It's actually one of the deepest parts of the Bible, okay? And so I know we quote Romans 3 10 and 3 23, but in between there, there's some really deep things here in the Bible, okay? So notice what it says in Romans 3 verse 9. It says, what then are we better than they? No and no wise, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. So notice in verse number 10, it says, as it is written, as it is written, well, written where? Well, in the Old Testament. It's quoting from the Old Testament. We're going to look at that here in a second. So there is none righteous, no, not one. And then it's going to give more details on what's written in the Old Testament here in verse 11. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God, they're all gone out of the way, they're together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one, okay? What I want you to realize here in verse number 10, this is a verse we use out soul winning, and there is none righteous, and that's true. Nobody's righteous. But the segue that's going to be made is he's going to switch from talking about something that covers everybody to talking about reprobates in these verses, okay? It said in verse number 11, there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. I don't think that's a true statement that there's no one who seeks after God. Now no reprobate seeks after God, no child of the devil seeks after God. But you know, people can seek after God that are unsaved, okay? And the verses in between here is going to prove it more. But I want to show you where this is written real quickly. Go to Psalm 14, Psalm 14 in your Old Testament, Psalm 14 in your Old Testament, Psalm chapter 14 in your Old Testament. And whenever you see as it is written in the Bible, it's a good idea to try to find out what's the context of when that was written, you know, what does the Bible say, where is it written, okay? Psalm chapter 14 right in the middle of your Bible, Psalm chapter 14, Psalm 14 verse 1, the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that doeth good. Now according to the Bible, someone who does not believe in God is a fool, okay? That's what the Bible teaches here. Then it says in verse 2, the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God, they're all gone aside. They're all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good. No not one. Do you see how that's the same wording as in Romans chapter 3? That's where it's quoting from. Look at verse 4, have all the workers of iniquity, no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread and call not upon the Lord. Notice how it says in verse 4, workers of iniquity. What is iniquity? Sin. These are people that work sin. These are people that basically live their lives to commit sin. These are bad people. It's mentioning in Psalm 14 verse 4. If you look up that phrase throughout the entire Bible, workers of iniquity, these are like the cockroaches of this world, okay? Not literally cockroaches, but people that are really wicked, bad, disgusting, filthy people that hide out in the dark, that don't want to be out in the light. They are the cockroaches of this world, okay? Now go to Psalm 53, Psalm 53, Psalm 53. So what I want you to realize is workers of iniquity are people that are reprobates. They are children of the devil. They are bad people, okay? And we see the same thing here in Psalm 53 because it's quoted from Psalm 14. It's also quoted from Psalm 53. This is going to sound almost the exact same, okay? Psalm 53 verse 1, Psalm 53 verse 1, the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. Corrupt are they and have done abominable iniquity. There is none that doeth good. Notice it's almost the exact same thing as Psalm 14. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back. They are altogether become filthy. There is none that doeth good. No not one. And see that's just like Romans 3. Verse 4, have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread they have not called upon God. So once again it talks about the workers of iniquity. These are very, very bad people. People that work sin and do things that are really bad, okay? Now in Psalm 14 and in Psalm 53, he starts off by talking about atheists. Now are all atheists children of the devil? No. There are people that do not believe in God that are not children of the devil. In fact, in a lot of countries, atheism is like the big religion. Or being agnostic. I mean many countries in this world, being an atheist is very common. Here in the Philippines, if you knock on someone's door and they tell you they don't believe in God, you're like, what in the world? How could you not believe in God? But there's a lot of countries in this world where a large percentage of people do not believe in God. They reject God. Does that mean that they're all children of the devil? No. Okay? Now it does mean that if they choose to consciously reject God, they can go down that road. But just because you're an atheist does not mean you're a child of the devil. But here, as it mentions this, it talks about atheists and then it talks about reprobates in verse 4 for both of these chapters. Now that should sound familiar to you with Romans chapter 1. Because remember, in Romans chapter 1, it talks about a downward spiral and it will talk about atheists and we see what can be the end of that, being bad, wicked, evil people. Okay? Now turn in your Bible to Romans 1, actually. Romans 1. Let me show this to you. Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. Now if you remember from Romans chapter 1, it kind of talks about general unsaved people earlier in the chapter and then it segues to people that are atheists and then eventually rejecting God and becoming a reprobate and wicked, evil person. And then it talks about the LGBT, right, LGBTQ, whatever the other, whatever the other letters are, you know, who knows, right? And so, you know, that's what it talks about in Romans 1. So you see there's a transition in Romans 1 from everyday unsaved people to reprobates. Okay? Then at the end of the chapter, notice this in verse 32. Verse 32. It says, who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Now who was being talked about for these verses right before verse 32? The LGBT, right? The Sodomites, the wicked, evil people. That's who it's referring to. Then in verse 32, it says, who knowing the judgment of God. Who knows the judgment of God? The LGBT. Because the reason why they became that in Romans 1 is why they rejected God. They didn't like what God had to say. So do they know the judgment of God? Absolutely. Why did they become the way they did? Because they found out who God was and they didn't like it. And they rejected it and they got worse and worse and worse. So they know the judgment of God. Notice this, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, okay? They are aware what the Bible says about their lifestyle and those people. They know what the Bible says, okay? Now they don't believe in the God of the Bible, but they know what the God of the Bible says. Why? They became that way when they rejected the God of the Bible. They became that way by rejecting God and hating his rules and hating his judgments. I mean, you say, well, are you sure the LGBT, they really understand the judgment of God? Why do they have a rainbow as their symbol with six colors? I mean, what is that rainbow? Oh, it's a symbol of God's judgment from the book of Genesis. That is what the symbol was for when God flooded the world and it was God's promise, right? I'm not going to flood it again, okay? And the rainbow came. They are aware about the rainbow and that's why that's their symbol. They know what God says about their lifestyle, okay? So it says that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. What is that saying? It's referring to people that are LGBT that basically commit wicked sins, but they also have pleasure when other people do those same things. And let me tell you something, if you're aware of the LGBT at all, you know that's the case. They want people to be just like them. They want the whole world to become sodomites. They want the whole world to become wicked. They do these things and they have pleasure in them that do them. They want people to reject the God of the Bible. They hate the God of the Bible. They want people to become filthy, wicked animals like them. They want people to commit these wicked sins. They take pleasure in them that do them. But then notice verse one of chapter two, because realize when you're reading the Bible that sometimes the end of the chapter does not mean, hey, we're on a brand new story, brand new topic. Sometimes you just need to keep reading. Okay. Romans two, verse one, the first word, therefore. What is therefore? That means it's connecting what's said in Romans one to what's going to be said. Okay. Then he says this, Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest, for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doest the same things. And what Paul is saying here is, you know, you that are judging others, you are inexcusable. You have no excuse. Now who is being mentioned in Romans two, verse one, not reprobates those that are judging reprobates. He's saying there's people here. You thou art inexcusable because you're judging them and saying, they're so wicked. They're so evil. They don't deserve to go to heaven. But look at me. I do deserve to go to heaven. Why? Because I'm not like them. They are judging them, but they're also guilty. So in verse 32 of chapter one, he's talking about reprobates. In verse one of chapter two, he's talking about general unsaved people. Okay. And we can see that from the context here in Romans two. He says thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judges. Here is someone who's judging people that are committing those wicked things. And so it's true that unsaved people, they look at the LGBT often and say they live bad lives. They live terrible lives. I'm better than that. Therefore I deserve to go to heaven. And the context of chapter two, he talked about religious Jews later on who think because they have this heritage, they have a free pass into heaven. They would look down at people living bad lives and saying, they're not following God's laws. They deserve to go to hell. But look at me. I deserve to go to heaven. What does Paul say to them? Wherein thou judge'st another, thou condemn'st thyself. For thou that judges do'st the same things. What he's saying is this, you know what? You look at them and say, man, they're filthy, wicked, evil people. Look at all the sins they committed. They always lie. They're full of deceit. Yeah, but you lie from time to time. So as you're judging them by this standard, God's standard is perfection and you condemn yourself. You look at them and say they deserve to go to hell, but it also condemns you because you've broken God's rules as well. Okay. Let me turn to Romans two myself. I don't have this in my notes and verse number two. Look at this. So the last verse of chapter one, he's referring to reprobates and this we'll get into chapter three here in a little bit, but it's going to help us understand this. The first verse of chapter two, he's talking about everyday unsaved people. What about verse number two of chapter two? But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commits such things. Who is the we? Saved people. Paul is saying we saved people because we means he's including himself. Now we're talking about saved people. He's saying you don't understand the judgment of God of those wicked people, but we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commits such things. And Paul is saying we understand this and we understand all of us are guilty, including you. See these people that are unsaved, they look at them and say they deserve to go to hell, but not me. Paul says, well, we all deserve to go to hell. Paul understood the judgment of God. So you're seeing this transition from basically talking about, you know, reprobates to everyday unsaved people. This transition takes place also in Romans three. It should not surprise us because that's a transition from chapter one to chapter two where he talks about and before he talks about reprobates, what he said in verse 20 was the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power in Godhead so that they are without excuse. Who is without excuse? All of us. All of us are guilty. So he transitions from unsaved people to reprobates to unsaved people and you see that transition. Go back to chapter three. What I want you to realize is this transition also takes place in chapter three as well. So look, when I go soul winning, I do use Romans three, 10 and you say, why? Because that verse does apply to everyday unsaved people, but he's going to make a sharp turn and he's going to talk about reprobates. Okay. Now you might say, brother Stuckey, I'm not sure if in verse 11 that's referring to reprobates. What I believe in verses 10 through 12 are those are verses that apply to everyday unsaved people and reprobates and then starting at verse 13, I don't think there's any question and then starting at verse 13, I don't think there's any question. It's definitely talking about, you know, reprobates. I actually, I think verse 10 is everybody versus 11 through 18 I think is in reference to reprobates. You might think this starts at verse 13 and that's fine, but there's no question starting at verse 13, we are talking about reprobates and not everyday unsaved people. Okay. Verse 13, their throat is an open sepulcher. What is a sepulcher? Where you put dead bodies? Is a six year old unsaved kid, would you say their throat is an open sepulcher? That's pretty strong language to say to a six year old kid that's unsaved that never cusses, right? Their throat is an open sepulcher. It doesn't really fit with unsaved people, does it? Does it fit with the LGBT? Yeah, absolutely. Does it fit with reprobates? Absolutely. Does it fit with everyday unsaved people? Not really. Their throat's not an open sepulcher. With their tongues, they have used deceit. Now it's true that we all lie from time to time, but it's saying their throat is an open sepulcher and the reason why is because they're filled with deceit. Their tongues, they have used deceit. These are people that are always liars. The poison of asps is under their lips. I mean, is that what you think about average unsaved people, that the poison of asps is under their lips? Verse number 14, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. You say, why is that significant? Well, go back to Romans 1 because if you remember from the sermons we preached, go to Romans 1, it said whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, not that they're bitter from time to time, not that they curse from time to time, but it said in Romans 3 verse 14, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Romans chapter 1, notice what it says in verse 29. And Romans 1 29, what are we talking about in Romans 1 29? Is this just an average unsaved person or is this a child of the devil? It's a child of the devil in verse 29. Okay, I don't have time to re-preach what I preached several weeks ago, but realize when you're reading the Bible as we're going verse by verse through this, that these chapters are going to tie together, right? I mean, obviously Paul's going to talk about things that he mentioned earlier in the chapters because they're going to understand it, okay? And so when we compare spiritual things with spiritual, we look throughout the entire Bible, but the first place you should compare is like the chapters right around what you're reading, okay? And he said, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, verse 29 of Romans 1, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness. These are people that are children of the devil. Now let me ask you a question. Are we unrighteous from time to time? Yes, but you're not filled with all unrighteousness. Is it true that people commit fornication that are, you know, saved or unsaved people can commit fornication, you know, sleep with someone before they're married? Yeah, but it doesn't mean they're filled with that. It's like I don't want to re-preach what I preached several weeks ago, but if you look at the lifestyles of the LGBT, they usually have like thousands of sexual partners in their lifetime. It's disgusting. I mean, it's like what in the world? I mean, it's like every week a new person. And with some of them even more than that, it's like, wow, that's bizarre. That's weird. That's the sort of lifestyle they lived. Now is it true that unsaved people commit fornication? Yeah, but you know, the average unsaved person doesn't fornicate with like three different people every week for years and years and years. That's weird. That's bizarre. That's disgusting, okay? It says being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness. Can we be wicked from time to time? Yes. Can we be covetous from time to time? Yes, of course. We can decide to live for money from time to time. These people are filled with covetousness. Their whole lives are about covetousness, maliciousness. So there's a difference between being unrighteous from time to time and being filled with all. Notice what it says, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers. Full of envy. Is it true we get envious from time to time? All of us have gotten envious, that you wish you were like somebody else, but you're not full of envy, okay? So we're envious from time to time, not full of envy though. Full of murder, okay? Now look, if you tell me like, yeah, Brother Stuckey, I struggle with this one. It's like, man, you know, I've murdered a lot of people in my life. It's like, you know what? This might not be the best church for you, okay? Is it true that someone like David could commit murder? Yes. Is it true a saved or an unsafe person could commit that wicked sin? Yes. But these people are full of murder. What does that mean? Well, they would love to kill people if they got away with it. Now is that your average unsafe person? No, that's a reprobate. We understand the context here in Romans 1. Debate, full of debate, okay? Is it true that we debate from time to time? Yeah, but we're not full of debates, okay? The Bible is speaking to people, and you often see this with false prophets. They'll try to lead you into debates, and we post sermons on YouTube, and there's always people just wanting to argue. They'll post this really long thing, and it's like, well, answer this and answer this and answer this. And I usually answer like a really small sentence and just kind of like mock them for being foolish. It's like, I don't even read everything they say. It's like, good night. You wrote like three pages on my wall. Answer this and this and this and this. And it's funny because they'll act like, you know, because I put all those clips up about repentance and Calvinism and everything, and it's like, well, what do you believe about this? It's like, you know what I believe. It's like, are you kidding me? It's like, you already know what I believe. So it's just like, why are you trying to argue? And I'll say, you know, hey, I don't debate. It's a waste of my time. Well, this isn't really a debate. It's just, you know, I just want to know what you think. It's like, yeah, whatever. It's like, and so these people are full of debate or full of debate, and you'll often notice that with people that are reprobates. Most prophets, they would love to have public debates and challenge everybody, okay? Now is it true we debate and argue from time to time? Yeah, but we're not full of it, and it's not a good thing to do either, right? I'm preaching a sermon and telling you what we believe is a church. It's not a debate, right? Now if you tell me you have a different opinion, you know, I'm welcome to listen to you and everything, but it's not like we're going to have two people up here. This is what I think about Romans 3. This is what I think about Romans 3. Let's just argue about it. In every service, no, there's no debate. It's like I'm the one preaching the sermons, okay? And so there's no debate, and the Bible says these people are full of debate, full of deceit. Deceit means the lie. Is it true that we lie from time to time? Absolutely. Let God be true, but every man a liar, according to Romans 3. But they're full of deceit, just like their father the devil, right? He was a liar from the beginning, okay? Malignity whispers. What's whispering? It means like gossiping, okay? Blackbiting whispering, and these people are full of that. Look, if you run into people that seem to show these symptoms, be careful about those people. You say, why? Because they're going to act nice to your face, but they're going to be bad people that are going to try to cause problems. Watch out for people like that, okay? Well, go back to Romans 3. You say, what's your point? Well, my point is this, that in Romans 1, it talked about being filled and being full of things, and that's a reference to reprobates. So what do you think it's talking about in Romans 3 verse 14 when it says, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness? Well, when you compare spiritual things with spiritual, it's referring to reprobates, right? Whose mouth is full of cursing, whose mouth is full of bitterness. Now look, I love Ampeliah, so maybe I'm bitter from time to time, but look, these people, they're full of bitterness. It's a little bit different, okay? And so notice what it says in verse 15, their feet are swift to shed blood. Doesn't that sound similar when we just looked at full of murder, right? Their feet are swift to shed blood. Is that what you would say about an unsafe person? What does that mean, their feet are swift to shed blood? It means they want to move their feet in a direction so they can kill someone. Is that your normal, was that you before you got saved? It's like, Brother Stuckey, man, I was the worst sinner before I got saved. My feet were just swift to shed blood. I wanted to kill people and do all these wicked things. No, that's not what you were before you're saved. You say, why? Unsafe people, that's not a true description of them. You can't say their feet are swift to shed blood. But is that a description of reprobates? Yeah, we just saw it in Romans 1, whose mouth, not his mouth, but who's being full of murder is what we saw in Romans 1. So this is referring to reprobates in verse 15. Verse 14 and verse 15 that shows you that. So you can see there was a transition where he talked about everyday unsafe people to talking about really bad people, children of the devil. Verse 16, 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. Now, could you say that no unsaved person fears God? You could not say that, because unsaved people can fear God. You say, how do you know that? Go to Acts chapter 10. We looked at it this morning, we'll look at it again. Unsaved people can fear God. And I would say this, that before you were saved, there's probably a lot of things you didn't do because you were afraid of God. Even though you did not understand salvation, even though you weren't saved, there were certain sins and certain things you wouldn't even think about doing those things. Why? Because you were afraid of God? You're like, man, if I do this sin. And it's like, look, before we were saved, I'm sure all of us prayed many times, God, please forgive me. You say, why did you say God, please forgive me? Because of the fact we feared God. Now, we didn't really know the true God of the Bible. We didn't have a full understanding. But even the little we knew, we were afraid of God. Because we believed in hell, we believed it was a real place. There is a fear of God, and that prevented you from doing other things that were worse. But these people, there is no fear of God before their eyes. And a reprobate does not fear God. Now, I believe reprobates can be afraid that maybe hell is real. But they don't fear the God of the Bible. They don't believe in the God of the Bible. They hate these words, but they don't fear God. What's that mean? They're willing to do whatever sin and they don't care. They're willing to do whatever if they get away with it. Now, they're afraid of what man will do to them. Because you don't see these people just committing murder in broad daylight. Why? Cuz they'll get arrested. They don't wanna get arrested. But they will do these things at nighttime. They will do these wicked actions as long as they get away with it and people aren't aware of it. Notice what it says in Acts 10, verse 1. There is a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band. A devout man and one that feared God. And one that feared God with all his house. This man fears God, his whole family fears God. This was not a family that was going out and getting drunk and fornicating and doing wicked things. They had a fear of God. And I've met many people in my life that have only been saved for a few years. But the life they lived before they were saved, they already feared God. They were already trying to do what's right. You meet families sometimes where there's parents that aren't saved, but they raise their children good. They raise their children not to be liars and bad people. And they keep their kids away from smoking and drugs and drinking. And they don't do those things. There are unsaved people that are doing a good job living their lives, trying to live a good life. Now they're still guilty. They'll still go to hell if they don't get saved. But not every unsafe person is this wicked, evil, disgusting person, okay? But the description in Romans 3 about these people of not fearing God, these are people that have no fear. They will do whatever and they don't care, okay? Acts chapter 10, we saw in verse 2, it says, which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always. This is a very generous person and he's praying to God, okay? He believes in God, but he's not saved, okay? Now, go to Romans chapter 3, actually go to Romans 2, Romans 2. Let me show you something else, Romans 2, Romans 2. And let me show this to you again in Romans 2. So we saw at the end of chapter 1, the context is reprobates that are bad people, that take pleasure in people doing wicked things. But I want you to notice Romans 2 verse 1 again here, and I want to explain something to you. It says, therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. Now, what does inexcusable mean? It means you don't have an excuse. It means you cannot justify your actions, okay? It'd be like if you catch your five-year-old child with their hand in the cookie jar. You tell them, no cookies, son, no cookies, and then all of a sudden you come in the kitchen, and all of a sudden his hand is in the jar when you walk in. I mean, what excuse is he going to make? Oh, I didn't put my hand there, somebody else put it there, right? I mean, you don't have an excuse. You're guilty, there's the evidence. It's seen, you are inexcusable, you are guilty. Now, when we think about being innocent or guilty, we often think about a courtroom, right? And what does he talk about here? Well, he's talking about judging. Wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doest the same things. And he's saying, you know, you wanna judge other people and say they're guilty and they deserve hell, you are without excuse as well. You are guilty before a just judge. You deserve to go to hell just like they deserve to go to hell. And so look, you are inexcusable. You cannot justify why you chose to tell all these lies and chose to have bad thoughts and chose to do wrong things, even though you knew it was wrong. Every single one of us has done things we knew were wrong, and we just chose to do it, right? And he's saying, you know what, there's not gonna be a single person in this world that when they die, they can say, man, I was such a good person, I've kept the law perfectly, no one's even close to keeping it. We sin every single day, you know, many times. We're not even close to keeping God's law. We are inexcusable. And here's the thing, we understand that. We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commits such things. The unsaved person, they don't understand it. We do understand it. When I was 18 years old, I didn't understand that. You say, why? I thought my good works were gonna get me to heaven. When I got saved, I understand it now. We're all guilty. I thought before, man, I don't drink, I don't party, I don't smoke. Surely I'm good enough to go to heaven. But then when you get saved, you start realizing God's judgment is according to truth, perfect truth. Perfect obedience, no mistakes. And it's like, wow, I feared God, but I didn't fear God that much. I didn't realize he was that holy and that just. And then you realize you're guilty, okay? You say, why are you showing this to me? Well, I'm showing you in verse one, it kind of talks about a courtroom when it's talking about your average, unsaved person. And this is not something that reprobate cares about, okay? But I want you to notice Romans 3, verse 19. Because we're gonna take a sharp turn again. Verse 18 is referring to reprobates. Verse 19 is not referring to reprobates, okay? Now, here's the thing, when we're reading the Bible, and me as well, sometimes we read, we're not paying attention to every word and really focusing. You read through the chapter in five minutes, you're like, I learned some things. But then if you really dig in, you start seeing exactly what's being said. What he says in verse 19 is this of Romans 3, now we know that what things soever the law sayeth. He says, we know that what things soever the law sayeth, it sayeth to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped. Every mouth may be stopped. He says, we know. Paul's saying, we understand this. Now, is he talking about reprobates when he says, we know? No, reprobates don't know this. We know that what things soever the law sayeth, it sayeth to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped. Who is the we? We know, saved people. We understand this, and he's basically speaking to the unsaved person. And specifically, really, the unsaved religious Jew that lived during that time period that said, well, I was taught the word of God at a young age and things like that. He says, we know that what things soever the law sayeth, when you think about a courtroom and a judge, you think of a law, it sayeth to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped. Every mouth may be stopped. Isn't that pretty similar to that thou art inexcusable? Right, no excuse. What does no excuse mean? It means your mouth's stopped, nothing comes out. No excuse comes out. You are inexcusable, it said. And here it says that your mouth is stopped. Basically, you're on trial, how are you gonna defend yourself? You can't. God says, I said one lie sends you to hell. Justify yourself. Right, what are you gonna say? Your mouth stopped, inexcusable, right? I mean, do you see how that's tying in with the earlier chapters? Like, I mean, and here's the thing, when we think of Romans one, two, and three, we're like, those are the simple things of the Bible, right? We know these verses, it's like, no, these are some deep things. Right, when you're looking at the transitions that are being made, and he's saying you're inexcusable, okay, your mouth is stopped, okay? And all the world may become guilty before God. Remember in Romans 2, the unsaved people wanna judge others. And here in Romans 3, what he's saying is, you know what? He's going back to just your average unsaved people. He's like, you're guilty also, okay? All the world may become guilty before God. Now go back to Romans 1, let me show this to you real quickly. Romans 1, and look, this is not really like a sermon where there's much application. I'm just kind of explaining what these verses mean. In some sermons we make applications, in some I just kind of show you what the Bible says, so we can kind of dig in here. But this is pretty similar to what he said in Romans 1, starting at verse 19. Where he said, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Look, nobody has an excuse or justification why they've broken God's laws and why they don't believe on Jesus Christ. He says, I've revealed myself to you. He says, you are without excuse. Then in Romans 2 verse 1, therefore thou art inexcusable. Doesn't Romans 2 verse 1 seem to line up with Romans 1 20, right? Therefore thou art inexcusable, without excuse, lines up with Romans 3. What are we talking about at the start of chapter 2? We're talking about average, unsafe people. We are no longer talking about reprobates. But we were just talking about reprobates, the verse right before that. So it should not really be shocking to us that in Romans chapter 3, we can say there's none righteous, no, not one. And then we take a sharp turn, and then we're looking at reprobates. And then we take another sharp turn, and we're just looking at average, unsafe people. That's what Paul was doing earlier in the book, okay? And I don't know why Paul wrote it this way. I'm just showing you that he doesn't just say, well, let's talk about reprobates for three chapters. Let's talk about unsafe people for three chapters. I mean, he kind of mixes it together, okay? And to understand this, we need to really pay, you need to do the Bible memorization challenge. And it's like, boom, wow, I'm seeing it now, right? Now, we need to really pay attention, and we can see these things, okay? Go to Romans chapter 3, Romans 3, Romans 3. So look, let me say this as we're going on here, that when you're looking at these verses, I think the proof that we're talking about reprobates here in Romans 3, the good proof is where it says, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness in verse 14, cuz that's the exact same wording about reprobates, children of the devil in Romans 1, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. And then their feet are swift to shed blood. That's just like they're full of murder from Romans 1. And then there's no fear of God before their eyes in verse 18. Well, obviously, unsafe people can fear God. And you, before you were saved, you had some fear of God, okay? What's the proof that you had some fear of God? Well, the proof is that you weren't a reprobate. Because only reprobates have no fear of God. I mean, unsaved people, they might not have as much fear of God as you, but only reprobates have no, like 0%. There's nothing inside of their entire bodies or entire minds, no fear. I mean, he's not just being like, well, let me just be really extra exaggerate. No, he's saying there's no fear. He's saying there's no fear whatsoever. That is hard for us to imagine, because we're not reprobates. Because we do fear God. Because when we do something wrong, we're like, man, I'm worried what God's going to do. And guess what? I felt that way before I was saved. Right now, I didn't understand like I do now, but before I was saved, when I did things that were wrong, you know what? Every night, I was always like, God, please forgive me. Right? I mean, I prayed to God and asked for forgiveness before I was saved. I mean, didn't you? Before you were saved, didn't you pray to God and ask him to forgive you when you did wrong? The reprobates don't do that. You say, what? They're not afraid of God. They have no fear of God before their eyes. Okay? They will do whatever they want. They don't care. Okay? There's no fear of God before their eyes. Verse 20 of Romans 3. Verse 20 in Romans 3. So in Romans 3 19, we go back to every mouth is stopped. And that is true of both unsaved people and reprobates. Everybody, our mouths are stopped. Okay? Romans 3 verse 20. 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. So look, no flesh is justified by their works. Whether they're a reprobate or unsafe person or you're saved, you didn't get justified by your works. No flesh, no person. Okay? No flesh is justified in sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. And you say, but Brother Stuckey, I grew up Hindu. I grew up Buddhist. I didn't grow up with the law of God. Yeah, you did. Right here. Inside of your heart. God gave you a conscience. God gave you these things inside of you that you knew were right and wrong. Now look, children sin at a young age. They do wrong. You don't have to teach your kids to act up or to lie. But here's the thing about this. When you look at kids at a young age, even though they act up, you know, kids are not full of murder. I mean, kids have compassion. My son has compassion. When he sees someone get hurt, he cries, right? If he sees me get hurt or if he sees his baby sister get hurt, like he's worried, right? You say, what is that? It's called that God created children. You don't have to teach them to have a conscience. You have that automatically. Reprobates, they don't have one. Unsafe people have a conscience though. And before you were saved, you know what? You felt bad when you did things that were wrong. You prayed to God and asked for forgiveness. You say, why? Because of the fact you fear God. Maybe not as much as you do now, but you still had some fear of God. Now look, let me say this. It's possible to fear God more as an unsafe person than a safe person, because Cornelius would be proof of that. He probably feared God more than a lot of us, right? Because he was actually trying to do what's right. He was giving alms. You know, he's always praying to God and everything. And look, unsafe people can have a true fear of God. And what I believe, and what you see in the Bible, is that when an unsafe person really fears God, God sends a soul winner to get him saved. You saw that in Acts 8. You saw that in Acts 10. And here's the thing. God's not going to send an angel and he's not going to come down from heaven. But you know what, he'll send a soul winner. And I believe that promise is true whether it's North Korea or a Muslim country. I believe someone that truly does fear God, God would put in the effort for them to get the gospel and to hear it. Now obviously, if you grow up here, you're going to hear the gospel more than in North Korea. So there's a far higher percentage of people that are saved here. But what the Bible shows us from these examples is if there's someone who truly does fear God and wants to do what's right, God can get a soul winner to preach them the gospel. Okay, and I believe that. We see that in Acts 8 and Acts 10. And look, Acts 8 and Acts 10 are miraculous stories. You say, Brother Stuckey, that doesn't make any logical sense because there's no way you could have a soul winner in North Korea. They'd get killed. Yeah, it doesn't make logical sense. Makes biblical sense though. You see that in the Bible. And I do believe that, you know what? There's saved people in North Korea and Iraq and all these countries in Iran or whatever Muslim country. There are plenty of saved people there. You say, why? Because of the fact people that fear God, God made it a point for them to hear the gospel. Okay, obviously not as many saved people, but there are some saved people. Okay, now go back to Romans 2 real quickly. Romans 2 real quick. We'll look at just a few more places. And so look, what I'm trying to do is show you Romans 3, but I'm also trying to tie together these thoughts that were said in Romans 1 and 2. You can see how this all ties together. And the next time you read the Bible, you can maybe see this stuff a little bit more clearly. But in Romans 2 verse 3, remember he made a transition to everyday unsafe people. And in Romans 2 verse 3, he says, And thinkest thou this, O man, that judges them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? He's saying to your average unsafe person, do you think you're gonna escape the judgment of God? I mean, you're judging the LGBT, but do you think that you're innocent? It's like they don't understand who God is. Verse 4, Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? And he's saying, you know what, people that are unsafe, they don't understand that it's God's goodness that leads to them changing their mind about what they believe and believing on Jesus Christ. They don't understand that. Us that are saved, we can look at our lives, and it was the goodness of God that we heard the gospel and got saved. I mean, I look at how the fact that there's such a small percentage of people saved in this world, man, the goodness of God that I'm one of those people, right? And quite honestly, you know, I think most of us, at least me, I know that there were probably times I could have heard the gospel or kind of sought after God more before I was saved, and I chose not to. You know, I've said before about how before I was saved, I wanted to know the gospel, and I was thinking about it. I was thinking about going to heaven, and I was like, I hope I'm going, and I remember there was a kid when I was a freshman in college, and this was someone who was probably like, I don't know, eight years old or nine years old, and they gave me an invitation to church, and it's a church I went to like a decade later. It was an independent, fundamental, soul-winning Baptist, King James only, you know, salvation by grace through faith, you know, everything that, you know, of the main things that we believe. It was a good church that I went to like a decade later, and I remember being an unsaved person, and I wanted to know what that invitation said, and I wanted to talk to them, but then I had friends around me at the college football game, and they're like, and they threw it away, so guess what I did? I threw it away. Say what, peer pressure, right? I mean, we see that when we go soul-winning all the time. You know, you see a group of three people, and somebody really wants to hear the gospel, and they've got two obnoxious friends that are gonna prevent them from hearing the gospel because they don't care. They don't want to hear it. It's like that's how I was when I was a freshman. It's just like when I threw it away, I remember like my heart smoked me. I was just like, man, I want to know what that says, and it's just like, but I worry too much about my friends that I knew, okay? And so here's the thing. Us that are saved, though, we can look back at places in our lives where maybe we were not trying to follow after God. We didn't care. We never read the Bible before we were saved, and here's the thing. Even as an unsaved person, we knew we should read the Bible. We just chose not to, and being saved, we understand the goodness of God is what led us to believe in our Jesus, repentance from unbelief to believing on Jesus, changing our mind about what we believe. Verse five, but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. These unsaved people, they are treasuring up wrath. Basically, God's wrath is getting more and more on them from day to day. You say, why? Because every day we sin. It's like yesterday you had 1,000 sins to answer for. Now you have 1,025, right? It's like every day you got more and more sins. There's more and more wrath because the Bible says when you're unsaved, he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. And that wrath is gonna treasure up and you're gonna be paying for it forever in hell as an unsaved person, which is what he's talking about. And what it said is the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Why? Because unsaved people, they don't understand the righteous judgment of God, that God is righteous, that God is holy. It's gonna be revealed. Now it's revealed to us because we have the mind of Christ, right? It's revealed to us in the word of God. We understand the righteous judgment of God, that one lie is enough to send you to hell and you gotta believe on Jesus. But it's gonna be revealed to all of the unbelieving world, the righteous judgment of God. And then they're gonna realize, man, I never even drank alcohol. I never smoked. I waited till I was married. I didn't fornicate and everything like that. I went to church every week. It's like I went down to the altar call every single Sunday. It's just like I sang that Christian rock music and everything like that. Look, people that think they're doing what's right, and look, I'm not trying to mock them. We're gonna try to get them saved because there are people out there that they think they're doing what's right. And in reality, every day they're treasuring up more wrath onto the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Why? God is a righteous and holy and perfect God. He is not like the other gods of this world. Then in verse six, it says, who will render to every man according to his deeds. And look, you say, I thought we were saved by salvation, by grace through faith. Yeah, but here's the thing. Unsaved people, they're gonna be judged by their works. The more sins they've committed, the more they're gonna pay for it in hell, okay? They wanna get to heaven by their works and God says, okay, I'll judge you by your works. You say, Brother Stuckey, how do we, how do we have the, how are we judged by our works, okay? Because he'll render to us according to our deeds as well. Here's the thing, as a saved person, no sin you ever commit is ever gonna be brought up. When you go to heaven, your rewards are based for the good things you do, okay? Now don't get me wrong, if you live a bad lifestyle, that's gonna prevent you from living a good life. I mean, don't think, well, I'll do drugs and be a soul winner. It's like, you know, you're gonna stop being a soul winner after like a week, okay? But here's what I'm saying, all the good things you do, and it's like, we don't see this, like we don't see this, because it's gonna be the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. We're gonna find out how much rewards we actually get. And to this day, none of us know. To this day, none of us know how good of a Christian we really are. That's why we can't really compare ourselves because the revelation of the righteous judgment of God is yet to come and we're gonna find out how much we really did for God, okay? Go to Romans 3, we'll look at one last place, Romans 3. And look, I know I'm bouncing around, you know, quite a bit, but you know, Paul bounced around in these chapters. I can't really think of a way to just, because Paul is changing into different topics. And what I'm really trying to show you is that in Romans 3, in that passage, maybe you never thought about it before. You know, I hadn't really thought about it until a few years ago, to be honest. And it's like, that is referring to reprobates in between verses 10 and 23. Here's the thing, though. I still use Romans 3, 10 and 3, 23 when I preach the gospel. Why? Because it still applies to unsafe people. And here's the thing, Romans 3, 23, we're not talking about the reprobates anymore. Romans 3, 19, we transitioned to just everyday unsafe people. So we can still use these verses solely. What made me think about this was several years ago, I was reading the Bible, and I noticed that in between these verses, it was referring to reprobates. I was just like, I don't get it. Because I said, and what I wondered in my mind is, am I taking these verses out of context when I use them so many? Because I said, you know, I'll tell people there's none righteous, no, not one, but I'm not going to say your feet are swift to shed blood. So I was just like, I didn't fully get it. I was like, you know, this is deep. I don't quite get it. And then, you know, over time, as I read and I cross referenced, I was like, okay, I get it now. And what we see in Romans 1 and 2, you're seeing the same wording as he bounces back and forth, okay, in these first couple chapters. Then in Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Is that true about just reprobates? No, it's true about everybody. It's not a statement that, you know, just refers to reprobates because everybody sinned. He's not talking about specifically about reprobates. So you see verses like their feet are swift to shed blood. Yeah, that's just reprobates. You say, Brother Stuckey, my feet are swift to shed blood. It's like, yeah, I mean, you might be a reprobate then if you want to kill people, that's what you enjoy, okay? It's like, that's not something you'd say about, you know, a normal, unsafe person. Now, I'll tell you just a funny story to close out. It really doesn't have much to do with the sermon at all, except the last thing I said. But I remember I was going soul winning once in the US, you know, on the East Coast. And, you know, we used to do soul winning marathons and we'd invite people to come and everything. And there's this guy who came and I was a soul winning partner and everything for a little while. And he's like a little bit off, you know, just a little bit different. And it was kind of like, you know, I don't know. This guy's kind of strange or whatever. And like this guy, like he leaves me a phone call. Like he had my phone number because we met up at the soul winning marathon. You know, there's a bunch of us. And he leaves me a phone call one day. It's like several minutes long. And I listened to the recording. And he's like, Brother Stuckey, he's like, I need prayers. He's like, I'm having suicidal and homicidal thoughts. He's basically saying like how he wanted to kill people. And he's just like, I know it's wrong and everything. And I'm just thinking, okay, that could be someone the Bible's describing here. You're like, man, it's like, I'm having these thoughts that I want to kill people and everything. I was just thinking, okay, that could be someone the Bible's mentioning. Anyway, that has nothing to do with the sermon, but just something I remember. So let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see these things in the Bible, just some of these deep things in the Bible and help us to understand these verses and these chapters we're reading, God, and help us to understand that the Bible is infinite. You know, it's eternal. Like the more we read it, we realize we don't know everything about this book. We learn, we learn, we learn. This book is a great book. There's so much to learn for us the rest of our decades where we live, God. We ask you to bless our church. We also ask you to hold off the bad weather here in passing so we can go soul winning and get some people saved this afternoon. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.