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The NEED

All Are Guilty Before God and NEED to be Saved

Lee Hotchkiss · Sunday, 25 May 2025 · Romans 3:9-20 · 38:18 · 5,125 words

Romans S5 · 3:9-20

There is no public page for this message yet — the transcript below is the whole of it.

The sermon explores Paul's teaching in Romans 1‑3, showing that both Jews and Gentiles are guilty of sin and self‑centered ideas. It challenges listeners to stop judging others, recognize their own need for a Savior, and receive Jesus Christ by confessing Him as Lord. The speaker emphasizes the responsibility of parents and grandparents to pass on the oracles of God to the next generation and urges believers to surrender to Christ. Ultimately, the message calls everyone to fear God, live with humility, and be the hands and feet of Jesus.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

message 20 inheritance 10 thought 22 jew 19 better 19 oracles 6 path 9 god 99 futile 5 negate 3 responsibility 8 process 8

Topics

Sin 7 Righteousness 6 Faith 2 The Gentiles 1 Grace 1

Scripture referenced 22

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 1 0:41 Romans 1 0:47 Romans 2 2:23 Romans 1 2:45 Romans 2:1 3:44 Romans 2:11 4:05 Romans 3 4:14 Romans 2 4:34 Romans 3 6:26 Romans 3 6:54 Romans 3:1 7:21 Romans 3:2 8:30 Romans 3:3 13:20 Romans 3:4 14:29 Romans 3:5-8 16:13 Galatians 5:13 17:16 Romans 3:9 19:08 Ephesians 2:8 20:25 Ephesians 2:10 20:43 Romans 3:16 30:41 Hebrews 11 30:54 Romans 3:18 32:09

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 9 lines, 0:40. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

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Alright, so in Romans chapter 1, I'll do a quick recap here because it's one letter, right?

So in Romans chapter 1, we see Paul really coming against the Gentiles.

And he points out that they suppressed the truth.

They've given themselves over to sinful nature.

He conveys to them that their sin has separated them from God.

That their thoughts have become futile.

That their thoughts lack purpose.

That they have self-centered, godless ideas.

This resonated with me as I was going over this sermon today.

And I tell you what, the book of Romans, it's a lot easier to sit and listen to a message,

but then when you really dig in for yourself, you become very vulnerable.

And I thought about my self-centered ideas, my goals, my aspirations, the things that I try to achieve,

and really began to wonder, are those God-centered goals and ideas and aspirations?

And he's speaking.

He's speaking to these Gentiles, and he's saying, like, hey, you've missed the message.

You weren't given the message.

You weren't given the oracles of God necessarily, but God is written on the heart of every man,

and you've missed the message.

You've rejected that message.

And that represents our world today, the nonbeliever, the Gentile.

And you know what?

As I went through this, I think I fit in both Gentile and Jew as we go through this letter.

Just kind of a double whammy for me this week.

Then we see in chapter...

Chapter 2, Paul flips the script and begins to go after the Jews.

And, man, the way that this book is written, obviously, this is God-inspired.

And it's like you'll see God knew what they were thinking.

God knew what questions they were going to ask.

He knew their thoughts before they even presented them.

And I can just see the Jews sitting back listening to chapter 1.

He's like, oh, man, Paul, get these guys.

These Gentiles don't have a clue.

They don't.

They don't even go to church.

And they definitely don't go to a church like the big popular church, the river.

They go to that local church that there's only like 14 people at on a Sunday morning.

Like, they don't even have anything going on.

Get them, Paul.

Let them have it.

Their thoughts are futile.

Their paths are broken.

They don't even listen to the words of God.

And then begins his indictment on the Jews.

By the way, you do the same thing.

You judge.

Those.

And you do the same thing that you judge those for.

Let me address you now.

Romans 2.1 says this.

Therefore, you have no excuse, O man.

Every one of you who judges for in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself because you judge and practice the same things.

This is called hypocritical.

Romans 2.11 says, for God shows no partiality.

God's standard is the same for all in his statement.

It transitions him into chapter three.

I show no impartiality.

God doesn't view the Gentiles and the Jews differently in terms of their actions, their approach towards life.

He doesn't look at the outside of a man.

He looks at the inside of a man.

And as we read Romans 2, we can see a sobering reflection of the church today.

You know, it's interesting.

Anytime I preach, it's kind of the one time that I don't ride to church with my family.

They'll be here later.

They get a break and I have to get up early.

And one of the things I do is I'll drive around and I'll pray for other churches.

And then I went by the church.

I was a little too early today.

And I drove through Atlas Golf Course.

And I did have a little envy because I did want to honestly go play.

And my clubs are always in the car, right?

I thought I could probably go hit at least a bucket of balls.

But I saw the parking lot filled at 8.15 in the morning, right?

And I thought, man, it's heartbreaking.

Not because they're not in church, but because probably most of them.

Most of them are the Gentiles who have rejected the message of God.

Yet their futile purpose and plan.

They have no idea what lies in front of them.

And I thought to myself, man, I probably am judging those people.

I'm judging the fact that, you know, they're out golfing instead of going to church on a Sunday morning.

I'm judging the fact by putting myself in a position that was greater than them.

And that's the Jews in this story.

Paul's saying,

You're nothing.

Why?

Because you get to stand up and preach in front of a couple hundred people.

That makes you different than the guy who's out golfing.

It doesn't.

You yourself are nothing.

As we jump into Romans chapter 3, we see Paul having a conversation essentially with himself.

It's like a rhetorical form.

He's answering the questions that he knows the Jews will present in defense.

Paul was a Jew himself, called the Hebrew of Hebrews.

He was a Pharisee.

He came.

He came from that world and he understands their thought process and their mindset.

We're going to jump into Romans chapter 3 and we're going to go through verse by verse,

which just so you guys know, invulnerability.

I'm a storyteller and I don't like to go verse by verse.

And I told my wife last night, I don't like this at all.

I want to just, I would, I'm the guy who would rather say, let's cover the book of Romans in two weeks.

But the scholars who are running the show want to do it in 34.

So bear with me today.

Romans chapter 3 verse 1 says,

So this is the first rhetorical question, right?

We see that Paul has just now told both Jew and Gentile, you're both a hot mess.

Neither of you got it going on.

Neither of you've got it figured out.

You're both in sin.

You judge him for doing the same thing and you probably do it behind closed doors.

But when you show up on Sunday morning, you got it all going on.

That's who you are.

And so the thought process of the Jew is then, then what advantage of it is there of being a Jew?

God's chosen people.

What advantage is it of circumcision?

This tradition that we've carried on since the covenant between Abraham and God.

Why is this happening?

If we're all in the same boat, why are we supposedly set apart?

What is the purpose of circumcision?

Why?

Like, where are you coming from, Paul?

And in verse two, Paul answers that.

Well, much in every way.

To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

They were given the written word of God.

That is your advantage.

He's saying, hey, you had it all given to you.

You had everything given to you.

You had, you had, imagine having the fountain of youth in your backyard.

You have the answer to, to longevity and eternal life.

This fountain of youth.

You've had it in your backyard and you haven't taken advantage of it.

But I gave it to you.

The keys to life.

We're at your fingertips.

The keys to life.

And now that you've been told that you need a savior, it's futile.

Everything that you've been given.

Now you've been told that, that you're a sinner.

And because of that, you need a savior.

And it's all futile.

It doesn't make sense to you now, even though that you know the message.

God spoke directly to your people.

He didn't speak to the ites, the Amorites, the Moabites, the Jebusites.

He didn't speak to any of them.

He spoke to you with the.

The written word of God, the oracles of God, he poured it all into you.

Yet you rejected the truth.

You were raised in the promises and blessings of God.

That's how you were raised.

You were raised under the promises and blessings of God.

Church, do not negate the benefit of being raised in a Christian home.

Here's the deal.

Being raised in a Christian home does not save you.

Not even close.

That is a personal decision between you.

And Jesus Christ.

But being raised in a Christian home has a lot of benefits.

And do not negate that benefit.

Do not look negatively on that benefit.

My parents made me come to church every Sunday morning.

But even more so, God bless your parents.

Parents, do not negate the responsibility you have to raise your children,

your grandchildren in a godly home.

Do not forsake that blessing.

That is a blessing from God.

Paul is addressing that in the second verse.

Hey, it's the biggest advantage you could ever have had.

Guess what, parents and grandparents?

You're responsible.

Well, my kid doesn't like to get up on Sunday morning at 9 a.m.

And I don't want to fight with them anymore.

Then don't give them a cell phone and pay for their bills and even let them eat in your home.

It's your responsibility.

That's your God-given responsibility.

That's not an American right or a legislation.

That's not a legislative bill that needs to be passed.

That's a responsibility given to you from God.

And if you were raised in the church, that's a blessing from God.

That is an advantage.

If you were not raised in the church, you were at a disadvantage.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for stepping up and making that choice.

The greatest inheritance you will ever pass on to your family is the oracles of God,

the truce of God.

The Bible says that a wise man will give an inheritance to his...

his children's children.

Now, I would like to...

I would like one day to be able to give an inheritance to my children's children.

Financially, I'd love to.

Right?

That makes life easier.

But if that's the only inheritance that I've given them,

I could give them millions and millions of dollars.

If that's the inheritance I've given them, I have drastically failed.

The inheritance, the first and foremost inheritance that we should be passing on

to our children and to our children's children is the word of God, the gospel message.

That is the inheritance that we have all been given and we can all pass on.

Guess what?

90% of you out here will not pass on a financial inheritance to your children's children.

This is the inheritance that we must continue to pass on.

Verse 3 says,

What if some were unfaithful?

Does their faithfulness nullify the faithfulness of God?

So what does he say in there?

If people fail, does that mean God failed?

Like the Jews thought process.

Well, well, Paul,

if people fail, does that mean that God failed?

And I would just see Paul if he was there saying,

Listen, your people have failed God for their entire lifetime.

I mean, the entire Old Testament is the Jews turning their backs on God.

And then God lets them come on back.

And they, okay, we made a mistake.

And then they turn their back on God.

And then he let them back.

And they turn their back on God.

And they're just using this as an argument.

Like, well, so if we fail,

does that mean God failed?

Does the unfaithfulness of man impact the word of God?

No.

My unfaithfulness has nothing to do with the word of God.

God's word is never changing.

It's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

I do not determine the impact of the word of God.

Verse 4 says,

By no means let God be true,

though everyone were a liar,

as it is written,

that you may be justified in your words

and prevail when you are judged.

Paul here is referencing the book of Psalms

when David is crying out before God

and he's acknowledging his sin.

He's saying, God, I deserve to be judged.

I've sinned and I deserve a just punishment.

People often equate the message of God

with the people of God.

The message of God.

I want you to think about that.

People equate the message of God

with the people of God.

You guys hear this all the time.

I want nothing to do with God.

I was hurt.

I was hurt by the church growing up.

So I hurt you.

Therefore, that affects the message of God.

No, that's just a turd Christian.

I put that word in the middle of the message.

They couldn't delete it.

You can't equate the message of God

with the people of God.

Now, we are the hands and feet of Jesus.

That is the truth.

But I cannot determine my path with God

based on your actions.

People in the church are hypocrites.

Does that change the message of God?

No.

Do these actions as a sinner

who has received Christ

nullify God's inerrant word?

No.

Verse 5 through 8 says,

But if your righteousness serves

to show the righteousness of God,

what shall we say?

That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us?

By no means.

For then how could God judge the world?

But if through my lie,

God's truth abounds to his glory,

why am I still being condemned as a sinner?

And why not do evil?

That good may come.

As some people slanderously charge us

with saying their condemnation is just.

All right, I'll break this down

because when I read that,

it probably doesn't make sense.

But I'm going to tell you right now,

this is the most ridiculous statement

probably in the Bible, right?

Like, essentially, why does it matter

if we sin because our sin is making God look better

through his righteousness, right?

That's what they're asking.

Like, so if I continue to sin,

aren't I doing God a favor

by making him look even,

more righteous?

Galatians 5.13 says this,

No, this is not a path to sin,

to make God look better.

I would hope that you know that,

but Paul is answering that

to these Jewish scholars.

No, you can't do those things

to make God look better.

You can do nothing to make God look better.

No one in here can make God look better.

You can't make God look good.

I can't preach a message and say,

man, I made God look good out there.

Man, did I direct some glory to Jesus today.

That's not my job.

Not only, if it was my job,

I'd fail at it because nobody can do it.

It's this thought process of selfish indulgence

that somehow we can twist and manipulate our sin

to benefit God, therefore we can continue.

It's like this thought process,

this process of, well, you know,

I was unfaithful to my wife

just to show how faithful she truly is.

Yeah, my wife's at the 11 o'clock service.

I won't use that one, right?

I'll use someone else.

But just to show how genuine and truthful

and faithful she is,

that it makes me justified.

It's like this twisted thinking.

That's people today.

Doing something wrong to highlight someone else's glory.

That's good.

Verse nine says, what then?

Are we Jews any better off?

No, not at all.

For we have already charged that all,

both Jews and Greeks are under sin.

Am I better because I know the truth and go to church?

No, you're not.

You're not better.

This is the message I want you to hear today.

You're not good.

You can go, hey, well, hey, Lee,

I don't know if you realize or not,

but I attended church all 52 weeks this year.

It doesn't matter.

It doesn't make you good or better.

It doesn't make you better than the guy

who just slammed his club on hole number nine

because he missed a two foot putt.

It doesn't make you any better.

You are a sinner in need of a savior.

That's what makes you better.

Not you.

You're not better because you go to church.

You're not good.

It's the grace of God that separates you

in the grace of God alone.

Ephesians 2.8 says,

for by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not of your own doing.

It is a gift of God.

This is not a license to sin,

but an understanding that you are a sinner.

Verse 10 says,

it is written,

none is righteous.

No, not one.

Know that verse?

Paul says here,

I don't care who you are,

where you came from.

I don't care who your mama is,

your daddy is.

I don't care the fact that

your daddy's the preacher here.

You're not righteous.

No one is righteous.

No, not one.

Now, what's interesting though,

is in the Bible,

multiple people are called righteous.

In fact, the Bible references Noah as being righteous.

The Bible talks in the book of Luke

of Elizabeth and Zechariah,

the parents of John the Baptist,

as being righteous.

But then Paul here says,

no one is righteous.

No, not one.

Well, that's why we've got to look

into the word righteous here.

The people throughout the Bible

who are considered righteous,

and I'm going to give you some Hebrew words,

and I did do this phonetically

so I could read this in front of everybody.

All right.

People who are considered righteous

like Elizabeth and Zechariah and Noah

is the Hebrew word zadik,

which means someone who lives according to the laws.

Someone who works hard

to follow the laws of God

and lives upstanding.

So like you're good, upstanding citizen, right?

The people who are working very diligently

to follow the laws of God.

That is what they are referencing

in terms of righteousness.

But when Paul is speaking here

in the book of Romans,

he's using the word zadik.

Do you guys even notice the difference between the two?

There's very little.

All right.

Meaning God's perfect standard

in the context of his character.

So when we reference God as righteous

and others as righteous,

they are on other planets.

Okay, let me try to put this into context

of what maybe we would understand.

Okay, I grew up in LA, Lapeer area.

And in Lapeer,

as we played sports and things like that,

we thought we were really good athletes, right?

And we thought we had these great teams

and things like that.

And we were good in terms of the people

that were around us.

Until we went and played bigger schools

down towards the city and things like that.

And we quickly realized

we were nowhere as close to as good as we thought we were.

And that's kind of just a depiction of like,

yes, you're living a strong lifestyle,

a godly lifestyle.

You're in the word of God.

You're helping those in need.

You're serving at the church.

You're following the oracles of God.

But you are nowhere near righteous

in terms of God's righteousness.

We don't even scratch the surface.

We're sinners in need of a savior.

Verse 11 and 12.

No one understands.

No one seeks for God.

All have turned aside.

Together, they have become worthless.

And no one does good, not even one.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

saith the Lord,

neither my ways your ways, declares the Lord.

For as heavens are higher than the earth,

my thoughts are higher than your thoughts,

and my ways higher than your ways.

Like, when we think about being good

and we think about God,

they really don't intertwine.

Like, have I ever done anything good?

I showed up today.

Could you imagine if I wouldn't have?

That would have been an interesting 9 o'clock service.

I'm sure they would have adjusted at some point.

It was good of me.

Good of me to put in my time.

I feel good about myself.

Have I ever helped somebody in need

or opened the door for them?

Or maybe you guys have helped a little old lady

across the street

or whatever has made you feel good.

But I'll tell you right now,

there are people who are much better people than me,

who have done much more good than me,

who have helped others and gave more money

and gave more time and gave more attention

and were probably a better husband

and was probably a better dad,

who will spend eternity in the pits of hell,

They will be in hell for eternity.

Why?

Because they're not good.

Not in comparison to the holiness of God.

Good people don't go to heaven.

Good people go to hell.

Sinners do go to heaven.

Why?

Because we've been redeemed by a Savior.

And without that Savior, you can do nothing.

Your good neighbor will go to hell.

Your family member who's the best uncle in the world

will go to hell.

That's a reality.

It's a harsh reality.

It's one that nobody wants to hear,

but I love them.

They've been great to me my whole life.

That's not the entry into heaven.

Verse 13 through 17 says,

their throat is an open grave.

Corruption come out of their speech.

He's quoting Psalms here.

They use their tongues to deceive.

They're liars.

The venom of asp is under their lips.

Their tongues are working to hurt and deceive.

He's speaking to both the Jews and the Gentiles here

to say what we do to one another.

Their mouth is full of...

Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.

There's deep resentment and hostility in their lives.

Their feet are swift to shed blood,

not only physically, but mentally and emotionally, right?

We're so quick to want to hurt those who hurt us,

to lash out to those who hurt us.

Well, you don't know what they did to me,

and I'm going to pay them back.

I mean, and Paul's saying is that that's in your heart.

Whether you do it or not, it was in your heart to act upon it.

Notice what we said this earlier today.

God isn't looking at the outward appearance of the man.

He looks at the inward appearance.

He looks at your heart.

You can't hide from God.

I've said this before.

Could you imagine if you spent...

How your actions would change

if you spent one day with Jesus side by side?

Like Jesus came down physically

and you were going to spend a day with Jesus, right?

You wake up at whatever time.

Like I would probably wake up pretty early

because I'd be super excited.

Maybe like 5 a.m.

Hey, Jesus, what are we going to do for breakfast today?

Right now, he might just like...

And it appears or whatever that's going to be.

But what are we going to do for breakfast today?

Do you guys think that you would pray over breakfast that morning?

Like would you maybe think about your thoughts

when you're driving to work and somebody cut you off

and you were like, God bless you, right?

Would your day change?

Would it adjust?

Would you process things differently

when you have to work?

Had a tough day at work and you got home

and your kids and wife met you

with just all these concerns and complaints.

Would you buy into that?

Or would you say, hey, I want to introduce you to somebody.

I want to spend some time with Jesus and the family today.

Would things change if you spent a day physically with Jesus?

And the crazy part is most of you in here are imagining like,

wow, what would I do that day?

And the reality is, is that we spend every day with Jesus

and we do all of these things that we do throughout the week

and we justify it based on your anger, your resentment,

your idea of what should be going on.

And he's sitting right next to you in your car ride

when you wake up.

Jesus is sitting next to your bed at 5 a.m.

when you wake up going, hey, let's spend some time together.

Hey, I want to, gosh, could you give me,

could you give me five minutes today?

I've been following you around all week.

I know you've had a tough one.

I work a day at work and you're struggling

and you and your wife are fighting

and your kids are being rebellious

and all these things like, hey, let's talk about this.

I want to talk and I'm going, oh, no, no, no, no, not today.

You know, I've got a big basketball game on TV tonight.

Oh, golf on Sunday, all these exciting things.

Like, God, we'll get to it later.

Does he have to be in the physical flesh

to get your time and energy and attention?

Imagine what would change?

Would we be so quickly to shed blood

It says in verse 16 that their paths are in ruin and misery.

Their paths are on ruin and misery.

Hebrews 11 calls it a fleeting pleasures of sin.

Sin does not create a clear path for your life.

Sin is like taking a road trip with your wife

without, before GPS was around

and getting lost but not wanting to ask for any help.

Like, it's not a good situation.

And that's what we do.

We continue to sin.

We've got full-time GPS in the oracles of God

like the GPS.

And we continue to just wander through life aimlessly.

It says that they reject the way towards permanent peace.

That's all we really want in life.

That's all I want in life is peace.

You guys ever been driving down the road

and you just kind of felt like you were able to breathe better?

Like, oh, man, today is just going good.

That's peace.

That's the peace of God that surpasses all understanding

beyond your acknowledgement and our ideas or thought process.

Like, man, I don't know what it is today,

but I just feel,

that peace, that's God.

And finally, in Romans 3.18,

we're going to close with this.

It says,

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

To fear God means to honor and respect his authority.

Every sin listed before this,

lying, violence, deceit, cursing, rebellion,

flows from this heart attitude.

Without the fear of God,

people follow their own desires.

This is where non-believers would say,

Hey, I don't need to hear

the message with God.

Me and God are okay.

We're good.

Their eyes have this perspective

that if they're good, right?

It's like this horizontal vision

of if I'm doing the right things,

then I'm good with God.

I don't need God because I'm walking this path.

It's this distorted path of truth.

So for you Jews out there, right?

Because that's the Christians in the conversation here.

This 34-week message sermon series is for you guys.

No longer just,

just read the words on the pages,

but put yourself into the pages.

Man, when you first read about these Jews,

all I think is like,

man, these guys were conceited, self-centered fools.

And then as I read it, I'm like,

wow, that's like who Paul's referencing me in that message.

Right?

Like, I don't have it all going on.

I'm a poor, pitiful soul in need of a savior.

And for those here today

who don't know what it means

to follow Jesus,

to follow Jesus Christ,

here's what it means.

We are all in the same boat.

If you haven't received Jesus Christ into your life,

you are in the same boat that most of us were in

prior to maybe today or last week or last year

or 20 years ago.

But even with the receiving of Jesus Christ,

we're still all sinners.

We're still riding in the same boat.

I'm no better than you.

You're no better than me.

The only difference is,

what separates Christians and non-Christians is this.

The Christians realize,

you know what?

I'm a fool and I need help.

I'm a sinner.

And without the redemptive saving power of Jesus's blood,

I will spend eternity in hell

because it is a separation between me and God.

And I cannot stand before a holy God

with this person.

Come before him.

I cannot stand before God

without a Jesus Christ saving me of my sins.

And so if you haven't received Jesus Christ

as your personal savior,

this is what the Bible says.

We have to confess with our mouth

and believe in our heart

that Jesus Christ died and rose again.

We have to confess with our mouth,

Jesus, I believe that you died for my sins

and you rose again.

And I have to believe,

I say, Jesus, I need you to my heart.

And it says, you will be saved.

That's it.

And then let him do the rest.

Because guess what?

You're not good enough to do it after that.

That's what we talk about working,

continually working out your faith

or walking out your faith.

That is allowing Christ to dictate your path

and surrendering to him

and knowing that you'll make mistakes

and knowing that you'll screw up

and knowing that you probably won't react right

driving down the road.

But also knowing the grace of God has covered you.

And with that comes great responsibility.

You have a great responsibility, church,

to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

It's your primary responsibility now.

If you don't understand that,

time to figure it out.

It's a big responsibility.

It's a big call.

Let's close in prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I thank you, Lord, for this day.

Thank you, Father God.

This is the day that you have made, Lord.

We will continue to rejoice and be glad in it.

Lord, I thank you.

That the hearts of people today

would understand that without you, we are nothing.

We are not good.

We are bad.

Without you, Father God, we are not righteous.

We are unrighteous.

But through you, Father, through you,

all things are possible.

Thank you, Father God,

that you continue to work on the hearts of those

that have accepted you and those who haven't.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.