Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans chapter 3 as we continue our study of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome.  As we have seen over the last several weeks, Paul is acting as a prosecuting attorney showing how man, who is on trial, is guilty before God, that none can stand before a holy and righteous God in their own righteousness.

            And Paul is systematically dismantling the notion that man is good, that he is righteous and the closing arguments will be, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23.

            So Paul starts out showing us how the unrighteous heathen are condemned by creation. You see, creation itself points us to a Creator, to a Designer, to God and to deny that you have to suppress the truth that is before you. And because you deny the truth, suppress it; God will give you over to a debased mind and wicked activities. But it is your choice and you are guilty before the God you deny exists. Thus, the unrighteous heathen are condemned by creation!

            Then Paul moves to the self-righteous moralist who is condemned by his conscience. You see, God has placed in each of us a warning system to tell us what is right and what is wrong.  We can ignore that and do as we please and short-circuit the system you might say, and in doing so we tend to look down upon others as we see ourselves as better than they are. Regarding this, J. I Packer wrote:

            An educated, sensitive conscience is God’s monitor. It alerts us to the moral quality of what we do or plan to do, forbids lawlessness and irresponsibility, and makes us feel guilt, shame, and fear of the future retribution that it tells us we deserve, when we have allowed ourselves to defy its restraints. Satan’s strategy is to corrupt, desensitize, and if possible kill our consciences. The relativism, materialism, narcissism, secularism, and hedonism of today’s Western world help him mightily toward his goal. His task is made yet simpler by the way in which the world’s moral weaknesses have been taken into the contemporary church.

- J. I. Packer

            Even if we do harden ourselves to the things of God, it does not excuse us from being condemned before God because the self-righteous moralist is condemned by his conscience!

            Then Paul moves to the super-religious person who is condemned by the commandments of God. This is the person who goes to church, may have been baptized as an infant or even as an adult, does all kinds of things for God but is doing them without a relationship with God. He may be a professor of God but he is not a possessor of God! Is that possible? Absolutely and Jesus speaks of this in Matthew 7:21-23 as He tells us, “Not everyone who says to Me, ’Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

            You see, salvation is not based upon the finished work of Christ for these people but upon a works salvation and Paul tells them that God’s commandments will condemn them because they are not able to keep the standard that God requires, perfection! Thus, the super-religious person is condemned by the commandments of God!

            In our last study, which covered Romans 3:1-9, we saw Paul answer a series of questions that some of the Jewish people might have regarding Paul’s statements about the Law and circumcision, even being a Jew doesn’t mean you are saved. And Paul concluded this section by saying, “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.” Romans 3:9.

            You see, the bottom line is this. All have sinned; both Jew and Gentile, all are guilty before God. The problem today is many don’t believe they are sinners and it is more of an addiction, a genetic flaw, but never a sin! And we will look at this a little closer next time, a study I call, WHAT EVER BECAME OF SIN?  But let me show you where we are at, the mentality we have about sin today.

Perhaps you remember this folk song by Anna Russell, which characterizes the age in which we live:

I went to my psychiatrist to be psychoanalyzed
To find out why I killed the cat and blackened my husband’s eyes.
He laid me down on a downy couch to see what he could find,
And here is what he dredged up from my subconscious mind:

When I was one, my mommy hid my dolly in a trunk,
And so it follows naturally that I am always drunk.
When I was two, I saw my father kiss the maid one day,
And that is why I suffer now from kleptomania.

At three, I had the feeling of ambivalence toward my brothers,
And so it follows naturally I poison all my lovers.
But I am happy; now I’ve learned the lesson this has taught,
That everything I do that’s wrong is someone else’s fault.

- Anna Russell

            Now that would be funny if it weren’t so true in America today. Now, the question some may ask is this. “Is sin just the product of our imagination, a religious idea to oppress people and make them feel guilty?”  Let’s find out as we begin reading in Romans chapter 3, starting in verse 10 and see what the Lord has for us as we look at, HOW GOD SEES THINGS!

            I believe the picture that is being painted for us here is that Paul, as the prosecuting attorney, places God on the stand to give His statement about man, how God sees things! And in this section God gives a 14-count indictment against man as He speaks forth words from the Old Testament Scriptures.  This is showing us how God sees man in the flesh, apart from Christ and it is not good.  So let’s break these verses down and see what God has to say.

VERSES 10-11

            For those of you who think you are righteous, God sees it a little differently. And notice there are no exceptions, not some kind of special dispensation for you, no one is righteous before God, not even one person and that is how God sees it!

            Paul is quoting out of Psalm 14:1-3, where we are told, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.”

            Notice how this Psalm opens up, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Now the words “there is” are in italics, which means they were added by the translators and thus, they were not part of the original writings but placed there to help clarify the text, but I don’t believe it does. This verse should be translated, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘No, God.’”

            I don’t believe he is saying that there is no God but he is saying no to God, man is rejecting what God has said in His Word and that has placed man on a downward spiral away from God, kind of a de-evolution!

            You see, the only righteousness that God will accept is the righteousness of Christ, and we fall far short of living up to that.  Isaiah reminds us, “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.”  Isaiah 64:6.  That is how God sees our own righteousness!

            In fact, Paul picks up on this in Romans 10:3 as he tells us, “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.”  You see, it is not our righteousness, which are like filthy rags, but the righteousness of Christ that has been imputed into our lives by faith. Paul, in II Corinthians 5:21 put it like this, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  And The Living Bible puts this verse like this and I think it does drive the point home, “For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God's goodness into us!”  So indictment number 1: NONE ARE RIGHTEOUS!

Paul moves on and tells us that no one understands the things of God and that is very true. Sinful man, unrepentant man cannot understand the things of God. Paul, tells us this in I Corinthians 2:6-14, “However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

            So indictment number 2: NO ONE UNDERSTANDS GOD!

Next Paul says that no one truly seeks after God! Now in reading this some may argue, “What about the Tibetan monks who are living their entire lives in simplicity and celibacy? Surely they are seeking after God. They are living their entire lives on this quest.”  And, “What about those people who cut themselves, whip their bodies, fast for days, crucify themselves on crosses, mediate for hours at a time, how can you say that they are not seeking after God?”

            First of all you are blaming me for this statement and that is wrong. I didn’t say it, God did!  You see, it is very clear what the Holy Spirit is saying through Paul here in these verses, that none, not one person is seeking after God.

            “Then if they are not seeking after God, what are they seeking?”  They can be seeking after many things such as peace, maybe some kind of transcendental emotional experience, maybe a higher consciousness, but they are not seeking after God, that is what Paul is saying here and it is very clear.

            And thus, indictment number 3: NONE SEEK AFTER GOD!

            Thus, in these 2 verses we see that God’s requirement’s to enter his presence is perfect righteousness, which no human being can attain. Because of that there is no one who understands God, sinful man does not have the spiritual ears to hear or the mind to understand. And thus, no sinner truly seeks after God but God seeks after the sinner.  We can see this in the parables that our Lord gave in Luke chapter 15 and in Luke 19:10 we are told by Jesus, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”  God is trying to give to us the correct way to look at the situation because if we look at it incorrectly, we are going to be in trouble, like many are today!

VERSE 12

This is a blistering attack against man who sees himself as righteous before God. Sinful man, unrepentant man has turned aside from God, they move away from God. Why is that? Because the light of God exposes their sin and thus, they turn away from the light so their deeds will not be seen! And here we see indictment number 4: THEY HAVE ALL TURNED ASIDE!

            Next Paul speaks of sinful man as being unprofitable. Interestingly enough, the Greek word for “unprofitable”, ACHREIOO (akh-ri-o’-o) speaks of fruit that is over ripened or spoiled. Thus, you can look at this verse like this, “They have altogether become sour!” The idea here is that sinful man does not produce good fruit but corrupt fruit, spoiled fruit, bad fruit.  Thus, indictment number 5: SINFUL MAN IS UNPROFITABLE!

            Then Paul tells us that there is no one who is good, not even one!  “Okay, that is it! How can Paul say that? I’m a good person; I see lots of people who do good things. What gives him the right to say something like that?” GOD DOES and thus he said it!

You see, this is a faulty premise to start from, that there are good people in this world.  C. S. Lewis said, “We’re not just imperfect people who need growth, but we’re rebels who need to lay down our arms.” Now the problem with that is that many don’t believe it. You may remember the book that was written several years ago by Rabbi Harold Kushner that was called, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” That book was built upon a faulty premise because there are no good people.  The reality is this, this world is not full of good people that God is treating badly but it is full of bad people that God is treating kindly!  Think about that one for a minute.

            We read in Matthew 19:17, “So He said to him,  ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.’”  That is the correct perspective to have, only God is good and yet He still loves us.  It is as Jesus said in John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”  You see, we don’t deserve this salvation but God gives it to us because He loves us, it is a gift.  Thus, good things happen to bad people because God loves us and bad things also happen to bad people because of sin, that is the correct perspective. And so, indictment number 6: THERE IS NONE WHO DO GOOD, NO, NOT ONE!

VERSES 13-14

            In these verses we see that what is going on in the persons heart will overflow into the things that they say and then in verses 15 through 17 we see what is going on in their hearts overflow in their actions, the things that they do! Jesus put it like this in Matthew 12:34, “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”  Jesus does not sugar coat this, He just tells it like it is!

            Paul starts out with their throat being an open tomb, and if you think about it, this is not a pretty picture. You see, the function of the tomb was to not only show respect for the deceased, but it was also there to hide the sight and the smell of the decaying body. Remember what Martha said after her brother Lazarus was four days in the tomb, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” John 11:39.  In other words, “Lord, he stinks!” Now, imagine if you passed by an open tomb what you would see and smell?  Obviously it would not be good and here Paul links that to the unregenerate man’s open throat, the foul words that come out of it, which just shows where his heart is at!  Thus, indictment number 7:  THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN TOMB!

            Next Paul speaks of the unregenerate man’s tongue practicing deceit and the idea here is that of baiting a hook by covering it with small pieces of food to disguise the danger and it is a continual, repetitive deceit – it is a normal part of their life! Here is indictment number 8: THEY PRACTICE DECEIT WITH THEIR TONGUES!

Paul moves on now and speaks of this poison of asps that is under the unregenerate man’s lips. In describing asps, one writer says, “The fangs of such a deadly snake ordinarily lie folded back in the upper jaw, but when the snake throws his head to strike, these hollow fangs drop down, and when the snake bites, the fangs press a sac of deadly poison hidden under the lips, ejecting venom into the victim.”

The words we speak can be as deadly as an asps poison and it can destroy people’s reputations, it can lead to damming doctrines and-so-on! And here we see indictment number 9: THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS!

            And lastly with this issue of the tongue, the words we say, Paul speaks of the mouth bringing forth cursing and bitterness. Isn’t that interesting, cursing and bitterness are linked together, why is that?  Listen carefully to how they are linked together. Cursing describes a person who wants the worst for someone and they will publicly express this attitude in a vicious and hateful language. Bitterness speaks of an open expression of emotional hostility against another! Indictment number 10: THEIR MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS!

            In these four points that we just looked at dealing with the things we say, we can see how our tongues can be very distasteful and what flows from them can be very ugly.  But the reality is, what flows from our mouths is just a reflection of what is going on in our hearts! James put it like this and he is tough on this one because with our mouths we bless God and curse our fellow man who was created in His image!

            In James 3:2-10 we are told, “For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.”

            We as Christians can justify what we say, spiritualize things, but James nails us and tells us that what we speak should be the words of God or we shouldn’t speak!

            Now we will move on with the last three points that deal with our actions, the things that we do, and once again this is just a reflection of what is going on in our heart and for the unregenerate man, this is not good! And for us as Christians, James tells us, “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” James 1:21-22.

VERSE 15

Isn’t it amazing how easy it is for man to shed blood.  They see no problem with it, even our sports are becoming more violent and we want to see blood spilled! Regarding this MacDonald wrote:

The cannibalism that still exists in a few primitive tribes and the mass executions of innocent civilians that have taken place in numerous “developed” countries in modern times are but extreme manifestations of the basically destructive disposition of fallen mankind. The nineteenth-century Scottish evangelist Robert Haldane wrote, “The most savage animals do not destroy so many of their own species to appease their hunger, as man destroys of his fellows’, to satiate his ambition, his revenge, or his cupidity [greed]”

           – MacDonald, An Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, p. 120

            Thus, indictment number 11: UNREGENERATE MAN’S FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD!

VERSE 16

            Paul tells us that unregenerate man leaves a trail of ruin and misery everywhere he goes! That word, “destruction” in the Greek, SUNTRIMMA, is a compound word that speaks of breaking something in pieces and completely shattering it, causing totally devastation!  Look at this trail of destruction and misery that man, apart from Christ leaves behind!  And so, indictment number 12: DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR WAYS!

VERSE 17

            Unregenerate man does not know what peace; true peace is all about because true peace is only found in Jesus Christ. That is where it begins and apart from that there is no peace for man.  You see, outward peace begins with an inward peace with God and then it flows in the things we do and say.  But apart from Christ, Isaiah warns us, “‘There is no peace,’ says the Lord, ‘for the wicked.’”  Isaiah 48:22. That is what the Lord is saying, not man and apart from Christ there is no inward peace and there is no outward peace!

            I do realize that some of you may doubt this, and thus, let me show you that apart from Christ there really is no true peace. Will Durant wrote in his Lessons From History: “In the last 3,421 years of recorded history only 268 have seen no war.”  That means we have had peace only 8% of the time, specifically 7.8% of the time. Does that sound like true peace to you? I hope not. And over the last 40 years, have we even had a time of peace, a time without a war going on somewhere in the world? I don’t think so!

            Let me share with you what true peace is about and it will only happen, outwardly when the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ sets up His kingdom on this earth. In Isaiah 11:1-10 we are told, “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.”  We long for that day when righteousness will fill this earth and peace will abound!

            Now we can have peace in the midst of the storms that surround us today and that peace is found in Christ and we can bring peace to those around us as we walk in Him. We are told in Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.”  You see, man has to get right with God first before he can get right with his fellow man and history proves that point!  The only peace we can ever find, true peace is in Jesus!  And thus, indictment number 13: UNREGENERATE MAN DOES NOT KNOW THE WAY OF PEACE!

VERSE 18

            Why is man like this?  Because there is no fear of God in his life! Folks, believe it or not, God is telling us that every sin and rebellion against God happens because we don’t know God; we don’t have a proper respect for Him!

It truly all boils down to this. When you don’t fear God, when you don’t have the proper respect for Him, then sin will flourish!  Robert Haldane wrote:

            It is astonishing that men, while they acknowledge that there is a God, should act without any fear of His displeasure.  Yet this is their character. They fear a worm of the dust like themselves, but disregard the Most High. . . They are more afraid of man than of God – of his anger, his contempt, or ridicule. The fear of man prevents them from doing many things from which they are not restrained by the fear of God. They love not His character, not rendering to it that veneration which is due; they respect not His authority. Such is the state of human nature while the heart is unchanged.

                                                            - Robert Haldane, Exposition of Romans, p. 121

            Thus, indictment number 14: THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES!

And listen carefully to how William MacDonald summarizes this for us and it is not pretty, nor is it intended to be. It is just the facts, the reality of where sinful man is.  He wrote:

Here we see the total depravity of man, by which we mean that sin has affected all of mankind and that it has affected every part of his being. Obviously every man has not committed every sin, but he has a nature which is capable of committing them all.

If Paul had wanted to give a more complete catalog of sins, he could have mentioned the sins of sex: adultery, homosexuality, lesbianism, perversion, bestiality, prostitution, rape, lewdness, pornography, and smut.

He could have mentioned the sins associated with war: destruction of innocents, atrocities, gas chambers, ovens, concentration camps, torture devices, sadism.

He could have mentioned sins of the home: unfaithfulness, divorce, wife beating, mental cruelty, child abuse.

Add to these the crimes of murder, mutilation, theft, burglary, embezzlement, vandalism, graft, corruption.

Also the sins of speech: profanity, suggestive jokes, sensual language, cursing, blasphemy, lies, backbiting, gossip, character assassination, grumbling, and complaining.

Other personal sins are: drunkenness, drug addiction, pride, envy, covetousness, ingratitude, filthy thought-life, hatred, and bitterness.

The list is seemingly endless—pollution, littering, racism, exploitation, deceit, betrayal, broken promises, and on and on. What further proof of human depravity is needed?

- William MacDonald

            Thus, man needs to be saved from his sin, he needs a Savior, he needs JESUS! And that is the next section of Paul’s letter to the Romans that we will be looking at. It is a section I call JUSTIFICATION and it covers Romans 3:21 through 5:21 as Paul shows us that the righteousness of God has been revealed to us from Heaven apart from the works of the Law and we will look at this next time.

            As I begin to close this morning, listen to what D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote:

            Man’s very nature is fallen. Man is wrong at the center of his being, and therefore everything is wrong. He cannot be improved, for, finally, nothing will suffice but a radical change, a new nature. Man loves the darkness and hates the light. What can be done for him? Can he change himself?  Can he renew his nature? “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?” Can man change the whole bias of his life? Give him new clothing, provide him with a new house in a new surroundings, entertain him with all that is best and most elevating, educate him and train his mind, enrich his soul with frequent doses of the finest culture ever known, do all and more, but still he will remain the same essential man, and his desires and innermost life will be unchanged.

- D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

VERSES 19-20

            That is the reality folk’s. Man cannot reach up to Heaven to save himself but God has reached down to sinful man to pull him out of the mire of sin that he is in! We cannot change ourselves even though we do try. We try to change the outside of the cup you might say but inside us is full of dead men’s bones! In other words, it stinks! But when God changes us, what takes place on the inside will overflow to the outside, in the things we say and the things that we do.

            Paul put it like this in II Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” The Amplified Bible puts it like this, “Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!” This is so wonderful, listen to how The Living Bible puts it, “When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!”

            God transforms our lives from the inside out! Now, if you still refuse God this morning, if the 14-count indictment against you hasn’t softened your heart and caused you to turn to Him, then you are still lost in your sins and will face His judgment if you believe it or not! But if your heart has softened, if you see yourself as a sinner in need of a Savior, then come to him this morning and ask Him into your life. The prayer is as simple as this:

“Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and I come to you asking you to forgive me my sins and to be Lord in my life. I believe by faith that you have forgiven my sins and that you are Lord of my life. Thank you Lord for your love and forgiveness. Thank you for saving me. Amen.”

If you have made that prayer, welcome to the family of God. See me afterward and I will give you some materials to help you grow in your relationship with the Lord.

If Jesus is you Lord and Savior than don’t ever forget that, don’t ever take it lightly; don’t ever negate what the Lord has done for you.  He reached down and saved you and as you applied the blood of Christ to your life by faith, all your sins were cast as far as the east is from the west, to be remembered no more. You once again can have fellowship with God the Father!  Yes, apart from Christ God sees us as sinners and we will face His judgment. But in Christ, we are brand new!

Let me leave you with these words from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He wrote:

Let me put it very plainly in this way:  there is no point in our saying that we believe that Christ has died for us, and that we believe our sins are forgiven, unless we can also say that for us old things are passed away and that all things are become new; that our outlook towards the world and its method of living is entirely changed. It is not that we are sinless, nor that we are perfect, but that we have finished with that way of life. We have seen it for what it is, and we are new creatures for whom everything has become new.

- D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones