{"id":3536,"date":"2022-09-16T20:37:26","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T20:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/?p=3536"},"modified":"2023-03-08T17:21:42","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T17:21:42","slug":"fallen-and-i-cant-get-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/?p=3536","title":{"rendered":"Fallen… and I Can’t Get Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Romans 3:10 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:”
<\/em><\/strong>
The Bible\u2019s exacting description of man\u2019s fallen nature explains the human condition and history and is one of the myriad of evidences that the Bible is the Word of God. Genesis chapter 3 explains why man is unrighteous in his nature, why the world is filled with trouble, and why men die.\u00a0
The most extensive description is found in Romans 3:9-18. It teaches that all men are sinners and all are under God\u2019s condemnation. Every son and daughter of Adam is corrupt before God. There are no exceptions. This is emphasized by the repetition of the words \u201call\u201d (Ro. 3:9, 12), \u201ctogether\u201d (Ro. 3:12), \u201cnone\u201d (Ro. 3:10, 11, 12), \u201cnot one\u201d (Ro. 3:10, 12). The expression \u201cno, not one,\u201d which is repeated twice (Ro. 3:10, 12), is the strongest type of emphasis. It is saying that there is not even one, not so much as one, who is righteous and who is good.

This is a description of man\u2019s complete moral corruption before God. \u201cThey are all under sin\u201d (Rom. 3:9). \u201cUnder the guilt of sin: under it as under a sentence; under it as under a bond, by which they are bound over to eternal ruin and damnation; under it as under a burden (Ps. 38:4) that will sink them to the lowest hell. Under the government and dominion of sin: under it as under a tyrant and cruel taskmaster, enslaved to it; under it as under a yoke; under the power of it\u201d (Matthew Henry).

\u201cThere is none righteous, no, not one\u201d (Ro. 3:10). When measured by God\u2019s righteousness, which man was created to reflect, none measure up. Note the emphasis: \u201cnone … no, not one.\u201d Not even one! Man\u2019s apparent righteousness is so corrupted by selfish motives, so impure from the deceit and wickedness of his heart (Jer. 17:9), that it is \u201cas filthy rags\u201d before the thrice holy God (Isa. 64:6). Every man knows \u201cthe plague of his own heart\u201d (1 Ki. 8:38).

\u201cThere is none that understandeth\u201d (Ro. 3:11). No man in his natural state understands God and the things of God. \u201cBut the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know\u00a0them,\u00a0because they are spiritually discerned\u201d (1 Co. 2:14). Men do not naturally know the truth. They do not have spiritual wisdom. Man cannot \u201cfollow his heart\u201d to the truth, because it does not know truth, it does not understand. It is God who enlightens sinners by His Spirit, which He sent into the world at Pentecost for this purpose. Christ \u201clighteth every man that cometh into the world\u201d (Joh. 1:9) and has commanded that the gospel be preached to every creature (Mr. 16:15).

\u201cThere is none that seeketh after God\u201d\u00a0(Ro. 3:11). No man in his natural state seeks God. This is a present participle, indicating continuous action. Man is made to seek God with all his being, but no man does that. Sinners are not naturally seeking God, but God is seeking sinners and convicting them, enlightening them, and drawing them by His Spirit (Joh. 12:32; 16:7-11). Adam and Eve did not seek God after their sin, but God sought them and confronted them with their sin and saved them by clothing them in the coats of skins, signifying justification through a substitutionary sacrifice (Ge. 3).

\u201cThey are all gone out of the way\u201d (Ro. 3:12). The entire human race has gone out of the way of God and truth and righteousness, gone out of the way that God intended for man when He made him, gone out of the way of God\u2019s blessing.

\u201cThey are together become unprofitable\u201d (Ro. 3:12). Man has become unprofitable to God. He created man in His image to exist for His purposes and glory. All things are of him, through him, and to him (Ro. 11:36). All things are for His pleasure (Re. 4:11). But man rebelled and corrupted himself and became unprofitable for his created purpose.

\u201cThere is none that doeth good\u201d (Ro. 3:12). This is another present participle, indicating continuous action. While sinners do good deeds (from man\u2019s perspective and based on man\u2019s definition of good), they do not do good in a continual, truly righteous way as defined by God\u2019s law. Even when they do something that appears to be good, their hearts are filled with evil (\u201cthe heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked,\u201d Jer. 17:9). Man\u2019s standard and man\u2019s way of thinking says, \u201cHe\u2019s a good man; she\u2019s a good woman.\u201d But God says, \u201cThere is none that doeth good,\u201d because He is judging on the basis of His standard of absolute goodness, which is the standard by which men will be judged.

\u201cTheir throat is an open sepulchre\u201d (Ro. 3:13). Man\u2019s speech is full of \u201ccorrupt communication … filthiness, foolish talking, jesting\u201d (Eph. 4:29; 5:4). \u201cTheir throat is an open sepulchre\u201d is an accurate description of the modern pop culture and entertainment industry, of rock and blues and country western and rap and standup comedy and\u00a0Saturday Night Live\u00a0and nightclub performances and R- and M-rated movies, even a great many G-rated ones, and a vast percentage of social media. \u201cTheir throat is an open sepulchre\u201d describes conversations in public schools and college and university campuses, in the marketplace, in the halls of government, in the homes.

\u201cwith their tongues they have used deceit\u201d (Ro. 3:13). Man\u2019s speech is full of lying. It is an expression of a heart that is \u201cdeceitful above all things\u201d (Jer. 17:9). Lying is natural to fallen man and begins at the earliest age. \u201cThe wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies\u201d (Ps. 58:3). Even the saints Abraham and David dissimulated (Ge. 12:11-13; 1 Sa. 21:12-13; 2 Sa. 11). This is a world of lies.
\u201cthe poison of asps is under their lips, Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness\u201d (Ro. 3:13-14). Man\u2019s speech is poisonous, harmful, full of slander, railing, talebearing, cursing God and man, anger, wrath, malice, vengeance. Jesus warned that men will give account for every word they speak. \u201cBut I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.\u00a0For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned\u201d (Mt. 12:36-37).

\u201cTheir feet are swift to shed blood\u201d (Ro. 3:15). Violence and murder have been man\u2019s way since Cain, Adam\u2019s first son, killed his brother. Cain\u2019s grandson Lamech boasted, \u201cI have slain a man to my wounding\u201d (Ge. 4:23). By the time of Noah, the earth was filled with violence (Ge. 6:13). After the flood swept away that generation and delivered the most terrible warning of God\u2019s wrath, men soon returned to filling the earth with violence as kingdom fought against kingdom across Mesopotamia and Africa and Europe and the Americas and China and wherever men settled.
\u201cDestruction and misery are in their ways\u201d (Ro. 3:16). This enlarges the description of man\u2019s way to encompass every type of destructive and miserable action, and what a perfect description of man\u2019s history it is! Hateful and hating one another, war, mayhem, rape, beating, burning, torturing, pillaging, looting, robbing, kidnapping, abortion, infanticide, parricide, child abuse, mental abuse, stalking, slandering. Man has the capacity for endless cruelty, because he is the sinner God\u2019s Word says he is.

\u201cAnd the way of peace have they not known\u201d (Ro. 3:17). The history of man is disharmony and war, not peace. Man is not at peace with God and he cannot be at peace for long with his neighbor, not even his closest loved ones. The way of peace is not known in the home, on the streets, at the workplace, in the government, between friends and neighbors, between nations. Peace is only barely maintained in this present world by the force of law and the presence of arms, but war is always near. Every peace plan has failed and will fail until the fundamental problem of man\u2019s wicked heart is resolved. Only when man is at peace with God will he be at peace with himself and with his neighbor. Those who march for peace and sing for peace cannot live peaceably even with their neighbors, families, and friends. When John Lennon sang, \u201cGive Peace a Chance\u201d in 1969, he was on the verge of breaking up with his own band members and he and Yoko Ono were living together while hatefully estranged from their marriage partners. Every one of the \u201cpeace loving\u201d Beatles went through \u201cmessy, acrimonious divorces,\u201d even stealing one another\u2019s wives. The Bible describes an end-time peace movement that will fail. The whole world will believe the peace promise of the Man of Sin, the covenant that he will make with apostate Israel, but it will end in destruction (Da. 9:27). \u201cFor when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape\u201d (1 Th. 5:3). There will be no peace until the Prince of Peace comes and rules this world. It will first come with a rod of iron during the Millennial kingdom. Complete peace will come in the New Heaven and New Earth when all of the citizens will be reconciled with God and \u201cthe abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone\u201d (Re. 21:8).

\u201cThere is no fear of God before their eyes,\u201d Ro. 3:18). This is man\u2019s fundamental problem, and it has been since Adam. Had the first man and woman feared God, they would not have disobeyed His law. It is the fear of God that keeps men from sinning. \u201c… by the fear of the LORD\u00a0men\u00a0depart from evil\u201d (Pr. 16:6).

This passage presents the correct view of man\u2019s nature. It is impossible to understand man properly apart from this. He is not good. Every philosophy that is based on the goodness of man is fundamentally flawed, and this includes every social studies program taught in the public education systems worldwide. As prophesied in Psalm 2, the \u201cmodern\u201d world has aligned itself against God and against His Word.\u00a0

1. Man\u2019s character is\u00a0Evident in\u00a0human history.
<\/strong>A more accurate summary of human history has never been penned: \u201cTheir feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known.\u201d This is man whenever and wherever we see him, in every age, on every continent, in every tongue.

2. Man\u2019s character Explains human history.\u00a0
<\/strong>The fundamental problem with mankind is not a matter of education or economics or environment; the fundamental problem is man\u2019s fallen nature, his corrupt heart, his wrong relationship with God. The world is corrupt because man is corrupt. \u00a03. Man’s character can be Exchanged only through Christ Christ is the only answer. It is not turning over a new leaf, 12 steps, or quitting\/learning a new habit… It is only through a new birth (John 3:3), becoming a new creature (2 Cor 5:17), redemption (Eph 1:7), Justification (Romans 5:1), Salvation by Grace through Faith (Eph 2:8-9). Man is fallen… and the only way up is Jesus Christ and his payment for our sins on the Cross of Calvary. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ pays for ALL of our sins and gives us eternal life! (John 3:16, Romans 5:8, 6:23, 10:13)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

William Davis | Youth Pastor
Clays Mill Baptist Church
yplife.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 3:10 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:”The Bible\u2019s exacting description of man\u2019s fallen nature explains the human condition and history and is one of the myriad of evidences that the Bible is the Word of God. Genesis chapter 3 explains why man is unrighteous in his nature, why the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"0","layout":"no-sidebar-narrow","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"float","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"0","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_food_recipe":[],"enable_food_recipe":"0","food_recipe_title":"","food_recipe_description":"","food_recipe_serve":"","food_recipe_time":"","food_recipe_prep":"","food_recipe_level":"","food_recipe_keywords":"","food_recipe_category":"","food_recipe_cuisine":"","food_recipe_yield":"","food_recipe_calories":"","enable_print_recipe":"0","ingredient":[{"item":""}],"instruction":"","jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_podcast_option":{"enable_podcast":"0","podcast_duration":"","upload":""},"jnews_podcast_series":null,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,28],"tags":[],"jnews-series":[],"class_list":["post-3536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-4-the-yp","category-youth-truth"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Fallen-And-I-Cant-Get-Up-1024x683.jpg","blog_images":{"medium":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Fallen-And-I-Cant-Get-Up-300x200.jpg","large":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Fallen-And-I-Cant-Get-Up-1024x683.jpg"},"ams_acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3536"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3830,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3536\/revisions\/3830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3536"},{"taxonomy":"jnews-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fjnews-series&post=3536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}