For There Is No Difference
This is a modern adaptation to a sermon by DL Moody by the same title.
Chuck Sligh
September 29, 2019
NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon.
TEXT: Romans 3:22-23 – “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Please keep your Bible open here as we will look at other verses in Romans 3.)
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – One of Susan’s favorite places in England was Stoke-on-Trent—where all the china factory outlets are. On one of our trips there, I ventured into the Royal Albert china factory outlet with Susan, just to see what she got so excited about.
When I went in, I noticed that everything on one table cost £3, though I noticed a wide divergence in the quality of the different pieces of china. Some only had minute nicks or cracks in them that almost required a magnifying glass to find, while others were quite obviously disfigured somehow. Holding two plates, I asked the sales lady, “Why are both of these the same price? This one is grossly marred, while I can’t even see what’s wrong with this one?”
She looked over the second one and pointed to a tiny, almost imperceptible flake in the pattern and then she said, “Every piece must be absolutely perfect to sell retail.”
I said, “But why does this one with many imperfections cost £3 and this one—which you almost have to be a china expert to see—also cost just £3?”
She said: “As I said, every piece of china must be absolutely perfect to sell at retail price. From our point of view, there is no difference between the two pieces of china in your hands. Both fall short of our exact specifications of perfection.”
That’s the truth of our text this morning. You see, before God, there is no difference: we ALL fall short of God’s standard of perfection—some more than others to be sure—but all, nevertheless. To understand Romans 3, you must grasp the import of that little phrase at the end of verse 22—“there is no difference.”
I’d like you to consider with me four truths from Romans 3 as we think about that little phrase—“there is no difference.”
I. NOTE FIRST: THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE—WE’RE ALL SINNERS.
Look again at the last part of verse 22 through verse 23 – “…for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.”
Most people think they’re pretty good people. They compare themselves with other people, and compared to murderers, rapists and bank robbers, they feel pretty good…so they think it must surely impress God.
But this passage teaches that when it comes to your condition before a perfect, holy God, there is no difference between you and a murderer or a rapist or a bank robber—it’s just a matter of degree. Like the china, the imperfections and flaws are just a matter of degree.
Illus. – If you go to a penitentiary, you’ll find hundreds of prisoners. Some are there for forgery, some for sexual crimes, some for theft, some for manslaughter, some for premeditated murder. There are perhaps scores of different kinds of crimes people are in prison for.
But in the eyes of the law there is no difference: They’ve ALL done crimes and come short of the requirements of the law. They’ve ALL broken the law; they’ve ALL transgressed; they’re all alike criminals.
One man may have stolen $10,000, while a man in a different cell may be serving life for raping and torturing an innocent little girl to death. One man’s crime is minor compared to the other man’s crime. One’s is not so bad in terms of consequences, while the other’s is truly heinous.
But they’re both equally criminals nevertheless. They’ve both transgressed the law of the land. They both were sent to prison. They both are locked up every night. You see, in the eyes of the law, there is no difference.
Now that’s what God is saying in our text—THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE! You may just tell little white lies while the man down the street is a drunk who beats his wife and kids. His sin seems a lot worse in our eyes, and indeed the consequences are worse, but in God’s eyes, it makes no difference—you both fall short of God’s glory; you both are sinners before a holy God; you both have transgressed God’s Law.
You say, “Chuck, I’m a good, moral person. How can you call me a sinner?” Like most people, you probably think you’re a good, moral person. But I venture to say that if your sins and my sins—all our secret thoughts and all that’s been in our hearts—were printed on this screen with each of our names under the sins we’d committed, I guarantee you we would stampede out of here! You know very well that if ALL your sins were brought to the light of day, you wouldn’t talk about being so good and moral.
The truth is that we’re not so very good by nature after all. By comparison to OTHER people, we don’t fare so bad. And if we DO look bad in present company, all we have to do is go down to the meth house or the house of prostitution, and compare ourselves with them, and we wouldn’t feel so bad about ourselves. That’s because we compare ourselves with other people. But you know?—even prisoners and prostitutes do THAT.
Illus. – D.L. Moody tells about a friend who went to visit in a prison. He got into a conversation with a murderer and tried to help him see his need for salvation by talking about his guilt before God.
But the prisoner thought he wasn’t so bad after all. “Why,” he said, “you talk as if I were the worst man in the world. A man down in the other cell has killed six men; I’ve only killed one.” Like many, he was trying to justify himself by comparing himself with others.
But you see, God doesn’t compare us with other people. He’ll not say to you on the Day of Judgment, “Well, you’re not as bad as that addict down the street. I think I’ll just let you into heaven.” If you’d lived through the hell he did, you might be an addict too. You’re no better than he is in essential nature; just in degree. You’ve got the same dirty heart as he does.
God will not say to you on the Day of Judgment, “You never were as bad as the woman of the street, so you can come on into heaven, but not her.” No, God’s standard of comparison and rule of judgment is His own character and holiness. And God says that we’re not good by His standard of perfect holiness
Look at Romans 3:10-12 – “As it is written, ‘There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none who understands, there is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside, they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.”
Don’t say, “I’m a righteous person,” because verse 10 says, “There is NONE righteous,” and just so we don’t miss it, He adds, “no, not one.”
Well, you say, “I’ve ALWAYS sought after God.” No, you haven’t. Verse 11 says, “There is none who seeks after God.”
If there’s anything you learn after becoming a Christian, it’s that you didn’t seek after God; He sought after you.
But, you say, “I try to do good”—and well you might from a human standpoint. But as far as GOD is concerned, you don’t always seek to do good for all the right reasons. All too often, you do good to impress people, or to look good in the eyes of others, or to meet the expectations of a spouse, or our parents, or a church. But I wonder what you do and think when no one’s around and no one sees you; when you’re away from the restraints of family or community; when you’re all alone; in the inner sanctum of your private thoughts where you THINK what you would NEVER SAY about certain people. In truth, no one always does good solely to please God or without mixed motives.
You see, there is no difference—we are all sinners.
II. SECOND, THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE—ALL SINNERS ARE GUILTY BEFORE A RIGHTEOUS GOD.
I said earlier that we can’t compare ourselves to human standards, but GOD’S! What I want you to see now is that God’s character and holiness are reflected in His moral law, called the Ten Commandments.
Suppose you could see yourself in a spiritual mirror? The Ten Commandments are a mirror given so we can see ourselves as God sees us. A lot of people think that obeying the Ten Commandments or doing good works will help them get to heaven; but the purpose of God’s Law was not to save, but to show us our true condition as lost sinners, unable to meet God’s standards.
That’s what is meant in verses 19-20 of Romans 3, where we read, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. [You see, the purpose of the Law is to stop us from excusing ourselves and shut our mouths about how good and moral we are. Paul goes on to say in verse 20] Therefore by the deeds of the law, no one be justified in His sight [There has never been anyone who was saved by obeying God’s Law. Paul continues…] for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. [In other words—it’s by God’s Law that we come to know of our true condition as sinners guilty before a holy God].”
The Law was given as a spiritual mirror to show us how dirty we are before God and how far short we have fallen from God’s standard of perfect holiness.
Illus. – I remember when our second son Jon was about two or three years old. He was invited to a birthday party and he was all excited about it. Susan had gotten him washed up and dressed in the cutest little solid-white sailor outfit you ever saw, and then went to get herself dressed. In the meantime, Jon wanted to go outside, so without thinking (typical man), I let him go in the back yard for a few minutes to play.
Big mistake! You see, Jon had a strange passion for EATING DIRT! And when I came out to check on him, his face and that cute little white sailor outfit were COVERED with dirt.
When he saw me, he said, “We go birfday party now?”
I said, “Jon, I can’t take you like that! You’re covered with dirt from head to toe! I’ll have to wash you up and change your clothes.”
Thinking he was going to miss the party, he said, “No, I clean.”
“No, you’re not,” I said. You’re dirty. You’ve got to get cleaned up.”
“No, I clean.”
“No, you’re dirty as you can be.”
He started to cry and kept saying, “I not dirty! I not dirty! I clean!”
So I took him to the bathroom and put him up before the mirror, and when he saw himself—that stopped his mouth!—just like God’s Law stops our mouth from saying how good and clean we are. Jon stopped saying he was clean when he saw himself in the mirror.
BUT YOU MUST NOT MISS THIS NEXT POINT: I did not use the MIRROR to clean him up with; I took him to the WATER for that. You see, the Law does not cleanse us; it just shows us how dirty we are. And that drives us to CHRIST where we can be cleansed of all sin.
Now how do you look in the mirror of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20?...
The ninth commandment says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (verse 16) Have you ever told a lie? Well, how many lies do you have to tell to be a liar?—Just ONE.
James 2:10 – “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” We make distinctions between little lies and big whoppers, many lies or a few, but to God, there is no difference—we’re all liars who have transgressed His commandments.
The eighth commandment says, “You shall not steal.” (verse 15) Have you ever stolen anything—even the smallest thing?—Taking a quarter from your mom’s purse? Shoplifting a candy bar? Not returning change when the cashier gave you too much? No one here today can honestly say you’ve never stolen anything. We all stand GUILTY before a holy God as liars and thieves!
The tenth commandment says, “You shall not covet.” (verse 17) Have you ever desired something not yours?—Of course you have! So, there’s another transgression you’re guilty of.
The third commandment is “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” (verse 7) Illus. – A man can’t get his car started, so he says the S-word in anger. Then he turns the key again and when the car still won’t start, he says “GD” this time! Now what did he do?—He took the holy name of the pure, righteous God and put it on the same level as human excrement! He used the holy name of God in a vain way. If you’ve ever taken God’s name in vain, you stand guilty before a holy God!
The fifth commandment is “Honor your father and mother.” (verse 12) If you’ve ever, even one time, disobeyed or been disrespectful to your parents, you stand GUILTY before a holy God. If you ever told a parent, “I hate you,” or were ungrateful for your parents’ sacrifices, you dishonored your parents and are guilty before God.
The sixth commandment is “You shall not murder.” (verse 13) “Oh,” you say, “Chuck, I’ve never committed a murder.” Yes, you have, for we tend to think of sins as primarily outward actions, because that’s all we can see, but God sees the inward sins of the heart. In 1 John 3:15 we read “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” We all stand GUILTY of murder before a holy God.
The seventh commandment is, “You shall not commit adultery.” (verse 14) You say, “THERE’S a commandment I know I’ve never transgressed.” But Jesus said, “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman lustfully for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28) We ALL stand guilty before a holy God.
No wonder God says, “for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.” There is no difference—We’re all sinners. There is no difference—All sinners are guilty before a righteous God.
III. THIRD, THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE—ALL GUILTY SINNERS WILL PERISH.
The Bible says in Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death…”
And death means not just physical death, but what the Bible calls the second death, that lake of fire described in Revelation 20. There is no difference—if you’re a sinner, the wages of sin is death. It doesn’t matter if you’ve committed just a few sins or a million sins—there is no difference—“the wages of all sin in death.” It doesn’t matter how many good deeds you’ve racked up or how many religious acts you’ve done—the wages of sin is still death.
Illus. – Imagine what it was like when Noah stood outside the ark and preached that God said they’d better repent and come with him on the ark or they would all perish. The people laughed and scoffed at him.
“Noah, you’ve lost it!” they shouted. But Noah just preached on, “There is no difference—whoever you are. If you don’t repent and come to God and get on the ark, you’re doomed.”
They mocked and ridiculed him. But then the Flood came and took them all away—respectable people and housewives, as well as depraved harlots and thieves—all swept away alike. There is no difference: for the wages of sin is death.
Dear friend, when God comes to judge the world, there will be no difference. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a high position or low; if you’re a really BAD sinner, or a good, moral, UPRIGHT sinner…“...there is no difference: For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.”—“For the wages of sin is death.”
IV. NOW CONSIDER MY LAST POINT: THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE—ALL WHO COME TO CHRIST WILL BE SAVED.
You might be asking yourself, “Is there no hope at all? Am I condemned by my sin and by God’s Law and by God’s holiness and justice?” I have good news for you: There is an ark of refuge for sinning souls!
Noah said, “Come in and you’ll be safe.” Jesus says the same thing—“Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
GOD has provided salvation for you. Jesus Christ came to redeem you from the curse of the law which you have transgressed. You are condemned to God’s judgment without Christ, but you can be forgiven, reconciled, cleansed of all sin.
You fall woefully short of God’s standard of glorious perfection and holiness. But wait!—Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, lived a perfect life free of sin, fulfilled all of God’s Law, and then He died for your sins in your place. He atoned for all your sins and transgressions of God’s Law. He paid the penalty for your sins in your place.
Let Romans 3:24-26 wash over your soul! – “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation [which means something that satisfied God’s holiness] through faith in his blood, to demonstrate his righteousness…26 To demonstrate, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of the he who believes in Jesus.” [EXPAND ON “JUST AND THE JUSTIFIER.]
The Law CONDEMNS you, but Christ SAVES you.
1 Peter 2:24 says “He Himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree…”
Isaiah 53:5 says “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities: the chastisement for our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
Jesus took the penalty of the Law on Himself. He tasted death for every man, woman and child. Will you have Jesus as your Savior? Will you let Him redeem you from the curse of the Law today? Will you today pass from death unto life? You can if you’ll let Him.
1 John 5:12 says “He who has the Son has life; and who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
When you and I stand before God, the question will be, “What did you do with my Son? I offered you eternal life through Him. What did you do with Him?” Come to Jesus Christ, God’s Son by faith.
[GOOD CLOSING SONG: “GIVE ME JESUS.”]
