Let's be remembering Brother
Luke Coffey. He is preaching for Brother Frank
Tate at Hurricane Road Grace Church. Brother Frank got sick
and the Coffey family was up there celebrating Thanksgiving
and so Brother Luke is covering for him. So let's remember them
and the service there and all of our brethren. Let's bow for
prayer. Our high and holy Heavenly Father,
Lord, we come to you this morning asking that if you would be willing,
you would meet with us and bless us and open our eyes and teach
us. We pray, Lord, that you will
be near to us. We pray that you will have mercy
on us. We pray that you will protect
us. We pray, Lord, that you will give us the ability to clearly
preach your truth and declare your truth. And we pray this
for our brother Luke this morning and all of our brethren who stand
and preach right now. We pray for our teachers that
you would be with them and give them a word and plant a seed
in the heart of these children. We desperately need you and we
desperately need your mercy and we just pray, Lord, that you
will be with us. We pray that you will never let us stray from
the truth of your word. Lord, keep your eye on us, keep
your hand on us until you return. We ask, Lord, that you will be
with our loved ones that are enduring great trials and sicknesses
We pray that you will comfort those who need it, Lord. We pray that you will comfort
all your people everywhere. We all need you in our own way. And so we ask, Lord, that you
would please be with us. Help us. Let us not be here right
now in vain. Let us not be here out of habit.
We pray that you have drawn us here according to your will and
purpose to feed us and nourish us with the truth of your word. And that's what we ask for, Lord.
We pray that you will strengthen us by your word. Help us, Lord,
forgive us for all of our shortcomings, all of our frailties, every way
that we disappoint you and sin against you. Forgive us for Christ's
sake, amen. Turn with me to Psalm 116. Psalm
116. The Lord has again blessed me,
blessed my heart with Psalm 116, and I believe led me to be here
all day long again, just like we were last Sunday. We are going
to follow the verses in order. We're going to pick up where
we left off and follow the verses in order for all three of our
services, but the theme or the feel of each message will be
off a little bit. You may or may not notice it,
I don't know, but I feel like I have a Sunday morning message
for our Bible study. The tone, the feel of our different
services, it's different for me. And I just feel like I have
a Sunday morning message for this Bible study. And then I
feel like I have a Sunday evening message for our morning message. And I most definitely have a
Bible study for tonight. I have a lesson, I believe a
very important lesson for us tonight. With that being said,
this is what we're going to look at for all three of our services
today. Ruined by the fall. redeemed by the blood, and regenerated
by the Spirit. Those three subjects are collectively
known as the three Rs. That was a popular statement,
phrase for a long time in the, you know, maybe 50s, 60s, 70s,
80s, 90s. I don't know. I don't hear people
say it too much anymore. But it's not reading, writing,
and arithmetic. It's ruined by the fall, redeemed
by the blood, regenerated by the spirit. The title of this
Bible study is Ruined by the Fall. And our text will be verses
10 and 11, which say, I believed, therefore have I
spoken. I was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are
liars. Ruined by the fall. I believed, therefore have I
spoken. I was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are
liars. Ruined by the fall. What do we
mean by the fall? When we are talking about the
fall, what are we talking about? What are we saying? Well, turn
with me over to Romans 5, Romans chapter 5. Romans 5, I'll just tell you,
we're talking about Adam's fall in the Garden of Eden. We're
talking about Adam's fall into sin. Adam's fall from grace. That's what happened. Adam fell
from grace. He fell into works. From grace
into works. His fall from God. And with him,
every soul on this earth that came from Him, which is every
soul on this earth. All of mankind fell into the
darkness and the depravity and the ruin of sin with Adam when
Adam fell into that state before God. Romans 5 verse 12 says,
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. Sin infected man and man just
keeps passing it on to man. Man just keeps passing it on
to man. Psalm 51 verse five says, we are shapened in iniquity and
conceived in sin. And sin is an all-ruining disease. It's not like a mark or a smudge
on us. It has soaked into the depth
of our core. It comes from the depth of our
core. And it's not like a cancer. you
know, illustrated sin by way of using the illustration of
cancer. It's not like a cancer where you can have it in one
part of your body and not in the other part of your body.
That's what people think, you know, my hands have sinned or
my mind has sinned. Well, it's not like that. Sin
creates total ruin to whatever it touches, like leprosy. That's why leprosy is used as
a picture of sin throughout the scripture. Leprosy was just completely
ruining. Whatever a leper touched got
leprosy because every part of him was infected with a loathsome
disease. It makes me think about that
story of a man Paris Readhead in the early 1900s. He was a
missionary to Africa, Ethiopia. And he said that he was walking
through the jungle with some native men, and they heard a
very faint voice crying, somebody help me. Somebody help me. And they followed this voice
through the jungle, somebody help me, until they came to a
man laying in the jungle in the last stages of leprosy. Mr. Reedhead said, this man was
just eaten alive, just completely eaten alive. He was just half
gone, just rotted away, just laying there crying, somebody
help me. And he said, I've never felt
more helpless in all my life. We all stood there looking at
that man, knowing there is nothing we can do for him. He is completely
ruined. There is no hope here. There
is no help here. And he said, as I stood there
looking at that man, the thought went through my mind that if
somehow I could reach down and pick this man up, impress his
rot-eaten body to mine, impress his half-gone face to mine, and
take all of his rot and ruin and death into me, and impart
all of my health and life into him. He said, if I could do that,
I would have a better understanding of what my Lord Jesus Christ
did for me. Total utter ruin. Complete and total ruin. If a man or a woman has sin,
it is total depravity. Man's trying to figure out how
to fix his problem and get out of the state he's in. What he
doesn't realize, it's total depravity. The word depravity means corruption. It's total corruption. The word means wickedness. It's total wickedness. You hear a lot, people will say,
they'll sing about it in songs. I believe there's a little bit
of good in everybody. Not so. It's total evil. That's what the word depravity
means. Total Evil, that's the reality state of all men and
women. When sin affects a man or a woman,
it causes that man or woman to be complete, total, through and
through, in and out, top to bottom, evil, corruption. wickedness. It is total depravity. That's what happens when sin
infects a man or a woman. And the last three words here
in verse 12, Romans 5 verse 12, the last three words there say,
all have sin. All have sinned. Every soul on
this earth is ruined by the fall of mankind into sin. Look back
at Romans chapter 3 verse 10. Romans 3 verse 10, as it is written,
there is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that
understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. You know, the command goes out,
seek the Lord while he may be found. You know, nobody, not
one soul has ever done that. Not until God Almighty says,
seek my face. That's when a heart cries, I
face Lord while I seek. Verse 11, there's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good. No, not one. Their throat is
an open sepulcher. That's a grave, an open grave. That means death is down inside
there. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of asps is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is
no fear of God before their eyes." Who's he talking about? Everybody. Everybody, every soul in human
flesh, everybody. Verse 19, now we know that what
things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. Now, this is what David said
God revealed to him and convinced him of. Hold your place right
here in Romans 3 and go back to our text, which is Psalm 116.
Psalm 116, verse 10, David said, I believed Therefore have I spoken. When
God comes to a sinner, when God brings the truth to a sinner,
he causes that sinner to believe. He causes that sinner to believe. He gives faith to the sinner
and the sinner believes. Not only what God's word has
to say about God, but what God's word has to say about us, the
sinner. Until God sends faith to a sinner,
you tell this to people and they say, I don't believe that. No
way. I reject that. But when God's
spirit comes in God's power, in God's time, and he puts faith
in that center, they say, you know what? I believe that. I
believe it. I believe what God has to say
about me. Verse 10, David said, I believed, therefore have I
spoken. I was greatly afflicted. I was
greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are
liars. Know what he's saying? I'm included
in that. All men are liars. I was afflicted.
All men are liars. Because of sin, I was afflicted
by sin. greatly, completely, totally
afflicted by sin. I said in my haste, all men are
liars. You know, at first glance, when
you just read that verse 11, it appears like he's saying,
I got a little too hasty there. I fired off at the mouth just a
little too quick. I said in my haste, you know,
I said, well, everybody's a liar. I didn't mean that. I shouldn't
have said that. No, he meant it and he said it. Look back
at Romans 3. Verse 4, Romans 3 verse 4, look
at the fourth word in. Romans 3 verse 4, that fourth
word says, let God be true, but every man a liar. Let God be true, but every man
a liar. Why? Why should we let it be
that way? Because that's the way it is. That's the way it
is. God is true, and every man is
a liar. God is holy and just and right,
and every man is a sinner. And when salvation comes to a
sinner, God convinces that sinner of that. The sinner will believe, therefore
he or she will speak. God is true, and all men are
liars. David said it hastily. He said,
all men are liars, hastily, quickly. That's how David said it. He
said it quickly. But just to be clear, it doesn't
really matter whether you say it fast or slow. Either way,
all men are liars. So that brings us to this. Whatever
man says is wrong. Whatever man says is wrong. There's a lot of talk out there. There's a lot of talk out there.
Whatever God says is right, and whatever man says is wrong. When it comes to salvation and
eternal life, when you hear a man say, okay, when, not if, but
when you hear a man say, well, I think It's wrong. Whatever's about
to be said is wrong. It's a lie. It's a lie. You can literally take this to
the streets. Okay. You can take this conversation
is going to be heard out there in the streets. And you take
this with you out there. Okay. When you hear somebody
say, well, now I believe, okay, this is what I believe. It's
wrong. It's a lie. It is a lie. If you hear a man or a woman
say, well, God says, and if you can see it in the
word and you know it's being quoted correctly in the word
because everybody says, well, now you know what the Bible says.
And then they don't quote the Bible. Well, now God says, and
then they don't quote God. But if somebody tells you, now
God says, and you can read it with your own two eyes and say,
yeah, there it is. It's right. It's the truth. It's the truth. That's the one thing that I wish
I could really get across to Kingsport, Tennessee. This house,
this building has not one opinion on God's word. Not one opinion
on God's Word. God said it, now what do we think
about it? Who cares? God said it. This is what God said. If man says, now salvation's
on you, if their words get around to saying that, this thing's
on you, that's a lie. When God's Word says, salvation
is of the Lord, you ever read that? That's the truth. When
man says salvation now is in your works, that's a lie. When God's word says salvation
is in Christ's blood, without the shedding of blood, there's
no remission of sin. That's the truth. When man says
Jesus Christ died for everybody to make salvation possible, that's
a lie. When God's word says Jesus Christ
died for his elect sheep to make salvation permanent. That's the
truth. When man says salvation is still
not finished yet, there's still something you have to do. That's
a lie. When God's word says it is finished,
you are complete in him. That's the truth. Now let me prove that to you,
okay? Look right here at Romans 3 verse 20. Romans 3 verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by
the law is the knowledge of sin. The law was given to prove that
we do not obey it. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God. which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there's
no difference. What he's saying is the only
difference in any man or woman on this earth is faith in Christ.
Outside of faith in Jesus Christ, looking to him, believing on
his accomplishment and his word, there's not a bit of difference
in any of us. Are we better than they? God forbid, no way, in
no wise. Verse 23, For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by
His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation, a bloody victim, a sacrifice
of atonement, a covering, through faith in his blood, to declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just in the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It's
excluded. By what law? Of works? No, by
the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law. Are we
going to add the law to the end of God-given faith? No. No, we are not. We conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law. That's the truth. That's
the truth right there. And we're either going to find
that out now in mercy, or we're going to find that out in condemnation
on the day of judgment. I want to read something to you.
I've gone back and forth this morning on whether or not I want
to read this to you because it's so fearful to me. It's just so,
so frightening and so sobering. I've had this in my folder of
stuff that I keep for years. And as soon as I read this, I
thought, man, I'm going to read this to Kingsport. And I've never
had the guts to do it. And I'm going to do it today.
Okay. This is a bulletin article that Brother Henry Mahan wrote
back in the 1980s. And it's a fearful warning. And that's what this Bible study
is. It's a fearful warning. Let's
not be fooled. We are all ruined by the fall.
And outside of Christ, there's only one end for a ruined simple
soul. And what he's doing in this is
he is You know, like Bunyan's Pilgrim's
Progress, you know, he's telling a he's envisioning a story, a
spiritual story, and that's what he's doing is this is the day
of judgment. He wrote an article about what is the day of judgment
going to be like? And let me just read this to
you, OK? It's titled The Judgment of the
Self-Righteous. I can imagine the day of judgment.
All are gathered before the throne of God. Those who are robed in
the perfect robe of Christ's righteousness are gathered to
his right hand. The rest wait to hear his voice
of condemnation depart from me. Does anyone have anything to
say? If there be one who has no sin, let him step forth and
say so. Come forth, my friend, and state
your case. What about the righteousness and holiness in which you boasted
while on earth? Come forward and tell about your
works, your gifts, your denomination. You found so much comfort in
these things once. You who scoffed at substitution,
who laughed at free grace, imputed righteousness and covenant mercies,
you are not laughing now. Why is your face so pale? Why
do you tremble so? You never trembled before, but
always had so much confidence in your decision and boasting
of being as sure for heaven as if you were already there. Why do you not tell God what
you did for him on earth? It is quite evident that he did
nothing for you. But I remember that you said
God has done all that he could do and salvation is up to you.
What a terrible time to discover what you should have known. Salvation
is of the Lord. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. Why
do you not speak? Is it because of the awesome,
infinite holiness of His presence? You clutch your righteous garments
about you, and they are nothing but filthy rags now, and you
know it. You think of your prayers, your
religious activities, your debates over doctrine, And they are all
so much rubbish in the light of his presence. And now you
are praying. And what is that you cry? Oh,
rocks and mountains fall on me and hide me from the face of
him that sits upon the throne. I wish that you had cried as
fervently for Christ to hide you. You know, Let me finish. I wish you'd cried as fervently
for Christ to hide you, cleanse you, and cover you. He would
have. It takes the grace of God to make a sinner cry for that.
But when I read this, it caused me to realize that God-given
grace and faith and mercy causes a sinner right now in fear to
cry out to Christ to cover him. It causes a sinner to say, I
need you to cover me in your righteousness, cover me in your
blood, cover me, cover me, cover me. But in that day, when it's
too late, there will be no cry for Christ anymore. The word
of God told us that it's going to be mountains and hills and
rocks fall on me and cover me. Your judgment is better than
the judgment of the one sitting on the throne. How fearful, how
fearful is that? How fearful. All men are liars
because of our total ruin and sin. Thank God he is true. Thank God right now he has given
us the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Today is the day of salvation. We have truth right here with
us. If God will reveal it to us,
His truth will reign over our lives. Where our sin has abounded,
His grace will much more abound. For that, we give him thanks.
We give him thanks. And that's what our message is
gonna be in just a moment. We are gonna give him thanks.
We're gonna give him such thanks for everything he's done for
us. We're gonna be so thankful for Jesus Christ. Lord, let us
be thankful right now. Do you realize how thankful we'll
be on the day of judgment? Thankful for everything we've
received in and through him. Redemption by the blood. Redemption
by His blood. All right, you're dismissed.
We'll take a break here.