Open your Bible tonight with
me to Romans chapter 8. My text tonight will be verse
number 8. So then, they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. So then, they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. Because, verse seven, because
the carnal mind is hatred, enmity against God. For it is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be, so then they that are
in the flesh cannot please God." We studied from this passage
the first seven verses in this chapter last Sunday evening,
but I believe I made very few comments on verse eight, at least
I tried not to. I wanted to save this verse for
us tonight to remind us of the first of five foundational gospel
truths that I believe and preach. We believe that the scriptures
teach, and my personal experience confirms this, The words that
Jonah spoke in the belly of the great fish, salvation is of the
Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. This is what the word of God
declares. This is what the word of God
teaches from the beginning to the end, that salvation is of
the Lord. And the truth about man's fallen
condition makes this absolutely necessary. Absolutely necessary because
of what is declared by the Apostle Paul in this text. So then they
that are in the flesh cannot, cannot please God. It's impossible
for those who are in the flesh, that is the natural man, to please
God. If you look in 1 Corinthians,
let me read this verse to you. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse
14. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Now listen, neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned. So then they that
are in the flesh cannot please God. Let me ask this question
in the beginning of the message. Do we believe this? Do we, every
one of us here tonight, do we believe this? This is God's word. This is God's word. This is the
declaration inspired by God the Holy Spirit that the Apostle
Paul wrote. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. Do we believe this? And if we
do, why? Why do we believe this? If you
were to take a survey among, I would say, 95% of the so-called
religious people in the world, they do not believe this. They
do not believe that the natural man, they that are in the flesh,
that they cannot please God. Most people believe there's something
man can do to please God. But the scriptures declare Salvation
is of the Lord. It must be of the Lord. Why?
Because they're in the flesh, cannot please God. Salvation
must be of the Lord. Do we believe this? And if we
do, why? Why do we believe this? I have
three points in my message. First of all, We believe this
because Adam was a real person. Adam was a real person. We believe and preach that the
scriptures are inspired of God from Genesis 1-1 to Revelation
22-20. It is the inspired word of God. And we do not accept Satan's
lie about the first seven chapters of the book of Genesis, that
that's just an allegory. No, Adam was a real person. The Apostle Paul speaks of him,
the Lord Jesus Christ spoke of Adam, and in the genealogy In
Luke chapter 3, and I believe this is the genealogy of Mary,
who was a mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. She
was his mother. When you look at that genealogy,
it traces it all the way back to the last statement that is
made, which says, Adam, the son of God. Adam, which was the son
of God. Yes, Adam was a real person.
not just some fable, some allegory. That's what so many religious
people say. They deny creation, they deny
the flood, and they deny that Adam was a individual, a real
person, from whom all men have descended. He was a real person. God created Adam, we know this
from the scripture, placed him in the Garden of Eden, and then
God made him a helpmate, Eve. And when I think of this, I always
like to bring out the goodness of God. The goodness of God. How good was God when he saw
it was not good that the man should be alone. And so he took
one of his ribs and created Eve and brought her to Adam. How
good is the Lord, the goodness of God. We see the power of God
in creation. We see the wisdom of God in creation. But yes, we see the goodness
of God too in creation. But Adam was made a covenant
head. Now, similarly, all men were
in Adam. All men have come from Adam. We know that. But he was more
than just our father, according to the flesh. He was our representative
head. He was our covenant head. God
had made a covenant with Adam, and it was a covenant of works.
And there was a probationary period, no doubt. That if Adam
had not disobeyed God, he would have been constituted righteous
and all of his descendants would have been constituted righteous.
But we know Adam failed. That covenant was all based on
that one prohibition. Here's a beautiful garden. Everything
was made ready for him. Perfect environment. You know,
men like to say, well, it's just a person's environment. No. No,
man's problem is not necessarily his environment. The problem's
he's the problem, the heart. No, he was placed in a perfect
environment. He could eat of all of the trees
that he so desired, except for one. And that was the test that
God gave him, that he should not eat. And if he did eat, then
he would die. God told him very clearly, in
the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. What he would do, either his
obedience or his Disobedience would affect every man who walked
on the face of God's earth after him except the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because he's the federal
head. Adam was the federal head of
all men. And we were all in him similarly. Just like in the book
of Hebrews, the letter of Hebrews, if Paul wrote Hebrews, he shows
how great how great Melchizedek was. And the way he does that
is by showing that Levi, who under the law received tithes,
he received tithes, but he paid tithes in Abraham. When Abraham met Melchizedek
coming back from the slaughter of the kings, when he rescued
his nephew Lot, he paid tithes to Melchizedek, and Paul tells
us Levi, which was Abraham's grandson, not born at that time. Isaac was not born at that time,
but yet he paid tithes to Melchizedek. Levi did. Why? Because he was
in the loins of Abraham. And we too, all men, we were
in the loins of Adam, the first man. His disobedience would bring
death. And not only death upon himself,
but a sinful nature. He would now have a sinful nature. And the scripture tells us this,
Paul, we dealt with this earlier in Romans, Romans five and verse
12. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon
all men. for that all have sinned. We all sinned in Adam. In 1 Corinthians
15, the apostle wrote, in Adam all die. In Christ shall all
be made alive. We all were in Adam, and we all
died in Adam. And God's chosen people are in
Christ, and all will be made alive. What kind of death was
threatened, Adam? Well, death, according to the
Bible, is separation. And it speaks of three kinds
of death. There's spiritual death, physical,
and eternal death. Adam, when he took that fruit
and ate it, he didn't die physically. He lived, I believe, to be 930
years old. He lived a long life. But he
died that day. God didn't lie. And the day that
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. He did die. He died spiritually. He died
spiritually. Not physically, but spiritually,
which as I said, death means separation. He was now separated
from God. That's the reason he ran to hide.
That's the reason he was afraid of God. We don't know. how long God hasn't chosen to
tell us. Adam stood as our representative
without disobeying God, but if it had been for a week, if it
had been for a year, if it had been for only one day, during
that time, he had perfect fellowship with the Lord. He came, the scripture
speaks of him coming in the cool of the day. and calling out to
Adam. No doubt they had had fellowship
until Adam disobeyed God. And then Adam is afraid. That's
how fear came into this world. That's how sin came into this
world. That's how death came into this
world. Yes. And there is also eternal
death, the second death, as it is called in the book of Revelation,
the second death, which is an eternal death, destroyed body
and soul. And it's a never-ending death. It's everlasting punishment. Keep your place here, but look
over in 1 Timothy. This is important to see this. You say, well, and people like
to use this word fair, don't they? Is that fair? Is that fair
that because of what Adam did, I inherited a sinful nature? Is that fair? Let me ask you
something. Would it have been more fair
if we used that word? If you had been tested when you
were just a baby, when you first came into this world, you've
all heard the expression, it's easy as taking candy from a baby. A child can have a $10 bill and
you can show him a shiny new 50 cent piece and he'll switch
with you. A child is so easily deceived. Adam was a full grown man. And we don't know really how
learned, how intellectual he was. More so, I think, than what
we can even imagine. His knowledge was so great as
God had created him. And if we'd been given a choice,
if all men had been given a choice, who do you want to represent
you? Everyone would have chosen, well,
our father. Our father Adam, let him be our
representative. Now, Adam, according to God's
purpose, represented all men. But here's the thing I want to
point out here in 1 Timothy chapter two, because this is something
I think some people misunderstand. For Adam was first formed, verse
13, then Eve. And Adam, now listen, was not
deceived. You see that? The woman, Eve,
being deceived was in the transgression. Satan, as sly an enemy as he
is, he was able by his lying, remember our Lord said he was
a murderer and a liar from the beginning, And by his lie, yea,
hath God said thou shall not eat of every tree. The reason
he said God has told you that is because he knows, God knows,
that if you eat that fruit, you'll become like God. You'll be as
wise as God. Eve was deceived by the subtlety
of Satan, not Adam. Not Adam. He did what he did
with his eyes wide open, knowing exactly what the consequences
would be. Death. He chose. He chose. People like to talk
about man's free will. Well, Adam had a free will. And
he chose to disobey God. So that's one reason I believe
the scripture when it says here, they that are in the flesh cannot
please God, I do believe that. And the reason I believe it is,
number one, because Adam was a real person. He was a real
person. I believe that. That's what the
Bible says. I like what one man said, I believe
the Bible from cover to cover. And I even believe the cover,
holy. Holy Bible, amen? That's the holy word of God,
holy scriptures, yes. The second reason, Adam's children
are born spiritually dead. The scripture says there in Genesis
chapter five that Adam had a son born after his image. But it
was after Adam had disobeyed God, it was after Adam had become
a fallen creature that he, was a father of a son who now, where
Adam was created in the image of God, now his son is born after
Adam's image, which is a fallen image, a sinful image. We take seriously, we take seriously
the fall as a result of Adam's sin. You know, I believe there's
some churches you could go to and you might hear the preacher
preach for a year and never mention the fall. The fall. What happened in the fall? Was
there a fall? Well, the scripture sure tells
us that there was a fall, yes. And the scripture teaches us
as a result that we all begin life as sinners. All men do. A fallen nature we have inherited
from our father Adam. Now David, the psalmist, he declared,
the wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon
as they be born, speaking lies. Reminded me of a lady who heard
a Sunday school teacher, another lady that we knew, She's since
gone to be with the Lord, and she heard the teacher say, well,
even babies are born with a sinful nature. They go astray from the
womb, speaking lies. And this one lady was so upset.
Aren't they innocent? Aren't babies innocent when they
come into this world? Listen, if they were innocent,
no baby would ever die. No baby would ever die in the
womb. No baby would ever die when they come into this world
if they had no sin. Why? Because death results because
of sin. Do any man, do any, I should
say, do any born to man escape being born sinners? Has there
ever been anyone? And I'm not talking about the
Lord Jesus Christ, because remember, he is the seed of the woman,
not the seed of Adam. All of us are the seed of Adam.
Do any born of man escape being born sinners? In Psalm 14, we
read these words. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any. Now you know
when the scripture says the Lord looked down from heaven to see. God is using a term, that's the
way we would do. We'd look at something to see
if there was a problem or we'd, God knew. But just to enforce
to us, when God says that there's none good, no not one, That's
so. He looked down from heaven. He
investigated, even though he needed not to do that, but for
our sakes, to show us. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of man to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God. They're all gone aside. They're
all together become filthy. There's none that do it good.
No, not one. The apostle Paul quotes many
of those statements in this book, Letter of Romans, Romans chapter
three, where he's showing both Jew and Gentile that we're all
guilty because of sin. To the believers in the church
at Ephesus, The apostle described their state when the Holy Spirit
quickened them when they were born again, like this. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air. The spirit, now listen, the spirit,
that's an evil spirit. the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom we all, also we all
had our conversation. That's the way we lived in times
past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind. And listen, now he's talking
to saved people here, God's elect, who'd been saved by the grace
of God, and were by nature We had a fallen nature, just like
everyone else, and were by nature the children of wrath. That's
what we deserved, even as others. No wonder, but God. He went on to write, but God. My third point is the five. foundational gospel truths I
mentioned a few minutes ago that I wanted to remind us of. This
is the first one of those. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. What is the first of these five
foundational truth? It's a T in the acronym TULIP. It's sati, and it stands for
either total depravity or total inability. They both mean the
same thing, really. Some people like total inability
more. It doesn't seem quite as harsh
as total depravity, but they both mean the same thing. So
then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God. What's the definition of total
depravity? Well, this is a Westminster Confession
of Faith. Westminster Confession of Faith
was written by the Presbyterians. And for years, to be ordained
in the Presbyterian Church as a pastor, you had to agree that
you believe according to the Westminster Confession of Faith.
That's not true anymore, obviously. And the Baptist Confession of
Faith, pretty much along the same line. But listen to the
definition of total depravity. Man, by his fall into a state
of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual
good accompanying salvation. So as a natural man being altogether
averse from good and dead in sin is not able by his own strength
to convert himself or to prepare himself thereunto. Now, because of the condition,
the state, that we are born in, salvation must be of the Lord. It must be. If it's not, there's
no one going to be saved. Why? Because we're totally depraved. Depravity is then natural to
man. It's natural to us. It is born
with us. And depravity is universal. No
one escapes it. No one who's born into this world
escapes it. And depravity is total, total
depravity, which I understand means that every part of our
heart, our intellect, our mind became darkened, our affections,
our heart became alienated. They're turned upon ourselves.
We love ourselves. We don't love God with all our
heart. And the will, the will, the volition, is in bondage. It's not going to do something
against its understanding or its love. That's the reason Martin
Luther wrote that book, The Bondage of the Will, the will of man. He said, they can call it free,
but it's free to do evil. That's it. When we speak about total depravity,
now this is something that I think some people, when they hear that,
I'm sure not anyone here tonight, but I'll say it anyway, they
misunderstand what that means. They think, well, if a person
is totally depraved, every person is just as bad as he possibly
could be. No, doesn't mean that. It doesn't
mean that. It doesn't mean that all men
are equally bad or evil. Doesn't mean that. And here's
a good illustration of that. Good way to illustrate this.
Think of it as two dead bodies. Let's play, there's a body over
here, a corpse over here, and there's a corpse over here. This
corpse has been dead for a week. The spirits left this body a
week ago. This body over here, the spirit
just left. They're both equally dead. This man's not deader than this
man. They're both equally dead, but
they're not equally in the form of decomposition. Decomposition,
I should say. Decomposition. They're not. His bodies already began to break
down. And yes, there are Hitlers. Not
everybody's a Hitler. There's some people, and thank
God for restraining grace, that God restrains people from evil. This world, listen, this world
would be hell if it were not for God's restraining grace.
Why? Hate God by nature, fallen, fallen
nature. We might quote the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ in John 6, 44, when he said, no man can
come to me. No man can. He didn't say no
man may come to me. No man can come to me. Why? Because he will not come. He
doesn't have a will to come. Paul wrote, for it is God who
worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Salvation is of the Lord. It is of the Lord. This fallen nature, this sinful
nature, this total inability, It means that salvation must
be of the Lord. Believing in man's total depravity,
how are any saved? If man is totally depraved, and
he is, if he's dead in trespasses and sins, and he is spiritually
dead, if the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God because there are foolishness unto him, then how in the world
is anyone ever saved? Well, some come because they're
chosen in Christ to salvation. Look at that with me in 2 Thessalonians. Some do come, some are saved. You're saved tonight if you've
come to Christ. How's that possible? Because
some were chosen in Christ. 2 Corinthians 2. and verses 13 and 14. Paul, in the beginning of this
chapter, had spoken about the man of sin, but then he said,
but we are bound, we're bound to give thanks always to God
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. Where unto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Some do come, why? Well, first
of all, though they're dead, they were chosen in Christ to
salvation. And remember this, election is
not salvation. They were chosen, notice what
the verse says. Brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Well, you say, preacher, isn't
everyone that is chosen saved? Yes, absolutely. Everyone that
God chose will be saved, but you can believe in election and
not be saved. Salvation is not in doctrine. Salvation is in Christ. No man can come to me, the Lord
Jesus Christ said. It's knowing Christ, trusting
Christ. Some will be saved, number two,
because they were redeemed by Christ. And as the prophet in
Isaiah said, he, that is the Lord Jesus Christ who is there
crucified, he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall
be satisfied. I've given you this illustration
before. Let me just mention it. A woman
carries a baby nine months, and she goes into labor, an awful
travail that she goes through. And a baby's born, healthy baby,
and there's joy. But if the baby is stillborn,
there wouldn't be any joy after all that she's gone through and
the baby to be stillborn. No, when Christ sees how he prevailed
in his death, he's going to be satisfied. Why? Because everyone
for whom he died is going to be redeemed, is redeemed, I should
say. Third, some come because they're
made willing in the day of God's power. This is what the scripture
says in Psalm 110 in verse 4, verse 3, I should say, verse
3. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Not everyone's willing to come,
but his people are. Thy people are willing in the
day of thy power. When the gospel comes in power, And number four, some come and
they persevere in Christ to the end. They persevere. Let me close
with this last verse in Jude. Look over here to this small
letter of Jude. Almost to the book of Revelation. Verses 24 and 25. Now, because salvation is of the Lord,
now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling. You couldn't
keep yourself. I couldn't keep myself. But there's one who keeps us,
right? Unto Him that is able to keep you from falling. We've
seen people turn back. John said they were not of us.
For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued
with us. They made a start, but they turned
back. But unto him that is able to
keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Notice that, what
joy. What joy is He going to have?
You were talking about rejoicing, singing that hymn, when we all
get to heaven, when we all see Jesus. And yes, that's going
to be a great day of rejoicing, not only for us, but for Him
also. For Him also, as He sees that
He has done the work the Father gave Him to do and saved the
Father gave unto Him. Through the only wise God, our
Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now
and forever. Amen. Amen. Salvation is of the Lord. All right, David.