What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

-Parallel verses:
Psalms‬ ‭14:1-3‬
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

In speaking with those who were in the Marines, one of the objectives of their boot camp is to break you down. They do this physically, mentally, emotionally, etc. Why do they do this? My guesses are: 1) To build you back up stronger, by making you face and conquer your fears. 2) They also want a new recruit to build bonds with other recruits that will last a lifetime.

Paul here is breaking down the Roman church in regards to sin. It’s like he is saying, “However great you thought you were, you are not!” Why is he doing this? Because he is wanting us to understand the depth of our sin, and our desperate need for a Savior. And then, by God’s Spirit, we can be built back up again into a vessel that is useful to him.

He does this by quoting some Old Testament passages, and we will take a look at one here. As sinners, we are foolish. It says: “The fool says in their heart, ‘There is no God.’”And before you or I say, “Well that’s clearly not me”, we must sit and reflect a little bit. When we acknowledge God for who he is, this requires us to put him on the throne of our lives — to submit to his leadership and do things his way. But in my experience with my own sin — sin is instinctively selfish and controlling. Sin drives me to want to be in charge of my own decisions. So by myself, without God, all of these statements in Romans and Psalms are true. I am not righteous, I do not seek to understand God and his will for me before acting, and I do not naturally do good. Even when I look like I am doing good, I have a selfish motive behind it. It doesn’t matter if I try to compare myself with others, because held up to the purity standard of perfection, we all fail to measure up to God’s standard. And so I must admit I am utterly and totally sinful apart from God. I need a Savior!

Lord, thank you for this undeniable truth in your word about my sin. I admit it, I am sinful and lost without you. Praise you for also making a way through Jesus for me to be in new relationship with you.


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