Bill Acton :: Romans 3:1-20 - Salvation by Faith

Sermon Outline for Romans 3:1-20

1. Review
   1. Theme: Salvation by Faith – Rom 1:16-17
   2. Need of Salvation: The whole world is lost and guilty
      1. The witness of God to the pagan – creation
      2. The witness of God to the moralist – conscience
      3. The witness of God to the self-righteous Jew – Scripture
2. The Text – Rom 3:1-20
   Summary: The world’s need of Salvation by Faith
   1. Jewish questions and apostolic answers – Rom 3:7-8
      1. What advantage has the Jew? – He has the Scripture
      2. Because some Jews are without faith, are all the promises of God cancelled? No, the promises are to those who believe
      3. Does not the unfaithfulness of man magnify the faithfulness of God? No, God judges unrighteousness
   2. The Divine indictment against mankind
      1. The Jew not superior to the Gentile – Rom 3:9
      2. Both are under sin – Rom 3:9
   3. The Divine diagnosis of man’s spiritual condition – Rom 3:10-18
      1. The universality of the change – Psa 14:1-3
         1. Man is universally unrighteous – Rom 3:10-12
            1. Depraved – Jer 17:9 – Eph 2:1-3
            2. Separated – Jhn 3:36 – Rom 5:10
         2. “There is none righteous, no, not one”
         3. Man is without spiritual understanding – Rom 3:11A; 1Co 2:14
         4. Man does not want God – Rom 3:11B
         5. Man is sidetracked – Rom 3:12A
            1. Walks in his own way – Isa 53:6; Jhn 14:6
         6. Man is unprofitable – Rom 3:12B; Psa 1:4
            1. A wasted life – 1Co 13:1-3
         7. Man is incapable of doing good – Rom 3:12C
            1. Human good
            2. Divine good
            3. Human goodness cannot atone for sin
      2. Further evidence of depravity
         1. Sins of the tongue – Rom 3:13-14; Psa 5:9; 140:3; 10:7; Jas 3
            1. The throat is an open sepulcher, corruption, vile speech – Rom 3:13
            2. The tongue is an organ of deceit – Rom 3:13
            3. The lips are disseminators of poison, reservoir of venom – Rom 3:13
            4. The mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, pool of ungodliness – Rom 3:14
         2. The sins of commission – Rom 3:15-17; Isa 59:7-8
            1. The swiftness of evil – feet swift to shed blood
            2. Sin’s result– destruction and misery Rom 3:16
            3. Man’s incapable of finding peace – Rom 3:17
            4. Root cause is no fear of God – Rom 3:18; Psa 36:1
   4. The Divine Conclusion – Rom 3:19-20
      1. The binding purpose of the Law – Rom 3:19
         1. Condemns
         2. Convicts of guilt
         3. Shuts our mouth
         4. Establishes the whole world is guilty
      2. The revealing purpose of the Law – Rom 3:20
         Since man has broken the Law, no amount of effort to keep it can justify