Good evening. It's good to be
here tonight. Glad for each one that's here.
And as we closed out a study of a book this last week, sometimes
in this position, not knowing where we're going to go in our
studies of the books of the Bible, I feel that just a good time
to stop and go over some of those glorious truths that we hold
so dear, those things most surely believed among us, those things
that have been taught since the time of Abel and his sacrifice,
Abraham, Noah, Moses, John the Baptist, Paul, our Lord and Savior
taught so clearly through the scriptures. And so tonight we'd
like to start with the first one in that acronym, And that
is total depravity. And we look into the scriptures
and we really see that this is God's description of the problem.
If you'll turn with me to the book of Genesis, chapter 2. Genesis,
chapter 2, and I'd like to begin reading in verse 7, and read
verse 7 and 8, and then we're going to move down to verses
15, 16, and 17. Genesis, chapter 2, verse 7. And the Lord God formed man of
the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted
a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He
had formed. Now if you'll drop down to verse
15 of that chapter, Genesis chapter 2 and verse 15, it says, And
the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden
to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the
man saying of the every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shall not
eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die and then would you travel with me just a little
further here in the book of genesis genesis chapter three genesis
chapter three and we want to look at a few verses here in
Genesis chapter 3 and I'd like to begin reading with verse 6. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 6.
Genesis 3 and verse 6, And when the woman saw that the tree was
good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, a tree
to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof,
and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he
did eat. And the eyes of them both were
opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig
leaves together and made themselves aprons. And
they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in
the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the
garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him,
where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice
in the garden and was afraid, because I was naked and I hid
myself. And he said, who told thee that
thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, the
woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree,
and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the
woman, what is this that thou hast done? And the woman said,
The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said
unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed
above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon thy
belly shalt thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of
thy life. And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. And it
shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the
woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth
children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall
rule over thee. And to Adam he said, Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten
of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not
eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also, and thistles. shall it bring forth to thee,
and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy
face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground.
For out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and to dust
shalt thou return. And Adam called his wife's name
Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And unto Adam,
and also to his wife, did the Lord God make coats of skins,
and clothed them. And then in verse 24, So he drove
out the man, and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden
cherubims, and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep
the way of the tree of life. Adam's sin touched every aspect
of his life. He died that very day spiritually,
and he demonstrated the future path of all his descendants he
hid from God, and all of his descendants by nature would too.
The Apostle Paul, in writing to Timothy in 1 Timothy 2 and
verse 14, had this to say about that incident. 1 Timothy 2 and
verse 14, And Adam was not deceived, but
the woman being deceived was in the transgression. And Adam
was not deceived. Adam never was deceived at all. He knew what he did. He ate the
fruit not Out on order or under deception or vain imagination
He sinned willfully and against light and knowledge without any
deception or Hereby death came in and passed on all who ever
find him as their father. Adam's sin was a great crime
against God, and that willfully he knew this sin would cause
his death as well as all his descendants. He essentially said,
I will not have God rule over me. Now the impact of the fall
can be summed up under three headings. Subjection to spiritual
death, later physical death, bondage to sin, and blindness
of the heart. Now when we talk about total
depravity, we will never say that man sins as much as they
possibly can. But we do say, when we use that
term, that every aspect of man has been touched by the fall.
The fall of Adam affected every atom of the earth, every atom
of man, animal, mineral, plant. Everything dies. Now the enormity
of the problem must be stressed when we talk about this subject
of total depravity. God's description of the problem. When we look at the enormity
of the problem, we find out that there was no one. Adam could
not fix the problem. We in fact have him say nothing
to That he even thought that there could be a repair. He couldn't
we know that But we move through the channels of men and and Abraham
Could not fix it though. He it is said of him that He
had faith and by Moses The law could not fix the problem Moses
brought the law off Mount Sinai those tables of stone and read
them to Israel, and there was no repair of the problem in that. It was only an identification
issue that once you have that as the standard, there is no
way that we can come out and say, well, we're doing pretty
good. Isaiah couldn't fix the problem, though he was a great
prophet. John the Baptist couldn't fix the problem. Peter, James,
and John, the Apostle Paul could not fix the problem. As great
of preachers as they were, there was only one preacher, one man,
that has ever walked the face of this earth that could deal
with the issue, and that is the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you'll turn with me to the book of Revelation, Revelation
chapter 1 and verse 5, excuse me, Revelation chapter 1 and
verse 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him,
to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.
And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant
John, who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony
of Jesus Christ, and of all the things that he saw. Blessed is
he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy,
and keep those things which are written therein, for the time
is at hand. John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace
be unto you and peace, from him which is, and which was, and
which is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before
his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,
and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings
of the earth, unto him that loved us, Now here it talks about the
enormity of the problem because the greatness of the mending
of the problem, what was required to fix the problem, what was
required to put us in good standing with God Almighty again after
it was lost in our father Adam. The scriptures tell us here in
Revelation chapter one and verse five, it says, unto him that
loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Now the enormity of the problem
is demonstrated here in this passage of scripture because
the only way that sin could be taken care of is not by man and
not by the law and not by self-righteousness, the only way that that could
be mended, taken care of, and there could be a reconciliation,
to be reconciled to God, is that Jesus Christ must shed his own
blood. That's how great a problem it
is. One from heaven, the Son of God, God the Son, had to come
and take care of the issue. So, with that kind of problem,
We should know by nature that we can't take care of it, but
we can only see that as God saves us by His grace, gives us the
new birth, and we're able to see the enormity of the problem
and the price that was paid. It was His own blood. The description
of the problem is paramount throughout the scriptures. Over and over
and over we find ways that the God of heaven used his prophets
and his preachers of old to share with us the problem. So if you
would turn with me to the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter
13. In Jeremiah chapter 13, we have
this wonderful passage of scripture that shares with us and there
isn't a person that has ever been saved by the grace of God
that would deny this. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that
are accustomed to do evil. The problem is so enormous. It
is serious. And as much as someone may try
these things, and a leopard's not going to even try that. It's
out of his realm. So may ye also do good that are accustomed to
do evil. Jeremiah chapter 17, Jeremiah
chapter 17, we read there this passage of scripture that gives
us some insight into the seriousness of this problem of total depravity,
complete and total ruin by the fall. There wasn't just a little
wreck, it was a serious issue, death. came when Adam sinned,
and it passed upon all men. We don't have to commit one sin
to have the promise of death hanging over us. The soul that
sinneth it shall die, but we're going to die whether we were
committed one sin. That's just the justice that
God has decreed. Jeremiah 17 and verse 9, the
heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked
who can know it. That word desperately could be
translated incurably wicked. There's no way that we have the
cure for it. Only God has that cure, and that's
why we need the Savior, the Lord Jesus. In Psalm 10, Psalm 10,
as we look at a few verses that share with us the great problem
of the fall and how it affected every human being. Psalm 10,
and there in verse 4, the wicked, through the pride of his countenance
will not seek after God. God is not in all his thoughts. The true God is never in the
thoughts of natural man. We had a God. We had a God by
nature, and it's not the God. It's not the God of heaven. We
might even had a Jesus, but it's such a different Jesus than is
declared in the scriptures. This Jesus, is a savior that
can and actually save his people from their sins. It's a serious
problem, we need a serious remedy, and his name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. In the Psalms again, Psalm 14,
in Psalm 14, we have these words left for us that we might meditate
upon them and we just look at them and we find out there's
a problem. And person that knows the gospel,
that knows Christ, knows these great truths has been revealed.
Christ by the Holy Spirit has been born again. When they hear
these words, they know exactly it's the truth. They don't argue
with it. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children
of men, Psalm 14 verse two, upon the children of men to see if
there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone
aside. Now this is not man's commentary
on the problem. This is God's commentary on the
problem. He's the one that looked down. That word Lord is capital
L, capital O, capital R, capital D, and the translators left us
that configuration of the word Lord for us to understand that
this is Jehovah. This is Jehovah God. And he looked
down, and he says, as he looked down and looked at all men, They're
all gone aside. They're all together become filthy.
There's none that doeth good No, not one and this is brought
up in the book of Romans as the Apostle Paul was used to since
the thought synthesized so much under this heading of totally
gravity found there in the book of Romans this verse is also
found there the fall of Adam affected every Adam Nothing was
left undone. Nothing was left untainted. It
was all covered The very earth groans as a result of this so
sin had its great effect the description from various points
of view the scriptures give us a number of points of view about
the fall and about the condition that man's in And I thought it
would be interesting to look at the condition that a farmer
notices when he's out in the ground and he's planting. And
the scriptures share with us the problem not only with the
ground but with the seed and the harvest is nearly zero. So in the book of Isaiah chapter
5, we have a passage of scripture that deals with this. A farmer's
view of the fall, Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 5 verses 4 and
5. Isaiah chapter 5, excuse me,
verses 4 and 10. I'm sorry, verses 4 and 10. What
could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done
in it? Wherefore, when I looked that
it should bring forth grapes, brought forth wild grapes. And
down there in verse 10. Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall
yield one bath, and the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah.
Ten acres is going to yield a very small amount, a gallon of wine. You could say it's ten gallons
of wine, but if ten acres yielded 10 gallons of wine, we have wasted
our time. There is nothing there that is
productive. We've lost a great deal. So a farmer, in describing this,
is we get wild grapes, and then the 10 acres of a vineyard shall
yield just such an insignificant amount of wine, and the seed
of a homer shall yield an ephah. It didn't get a hundredth of
your seed back. That's a terrible crop. We had
famine, we had blight, we had insects, we have all the things
that prohibit this grain from growing, and it's evidenced by
the natural man's fall. The fall of man, the fall of
Adam, was so serious. Now, if you're a doctor, or you
know a doctor, or you ever wanted to be a doctor, we find that
in the book of Isaiah, again, Isaiah chapter one, The scriptures
share with us here a view of a doctor as he examines the patient
that came in. And this is a natural man that
comes in. He is examined. You know, he's
done the best he can. He's got a little bit of clothing
on or whatever. He's come in for an exam for
the doctor. And here's what the doctor says,
from the sole of the foot, even unto the head, there is no soundness
in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have
not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
From the sole of the foot unto the head, there is no soundness,
wounds, What would you think if you went to the doctor and
they came back with this report after a CAT scan or a C, whatever
that is, where you get into that hollow tube. They came back and
said, you don't have one sound organ in your body. We'd know
he's really sick. Well, God says that through his
prophet. that spiritually speaking from the sole of the foot to
the head there is nothing. The walk is crooked, the works
are crooked, the mind is crooked, the eyes are dead and blind,
the ears can't hear, the mouth can't speak. It is such a serious
problem and there is only one way to cure this problem and
that's the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. During the study
of the book of Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 14, would you turn back
with me there for just a moment Leviticus chapter 14 and here
if you've ever had the desire to be a builder you want to be
a builder all right we have here in Leviticus chapter 14 and verse
44 Leviticus chapter 14 and verse 44 Moses as he wrote the book of
Leviticus by inspiration of God as he was the secretary It says
then the priest shall come and look and behold if the plague
be spread in the house It is a fretting leprosy in the house
It is unclean and he shall break down the house the stones of
it and the timber thereof and all the mortar of the house,
and shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place."
Can you imagine what you would feel like if you just built a
house and the inspector come and said, this thing is going
to be dismantled and hauled off because it is in such terrible
condition? You've got leprosy in the house. My goodness. Break down the house,
destroy the house, get rid of the house. It is in such sad
shape. And that's the builder's view
of natural man as it's described in the scriptures when leprosy
takes over, when leprosy, the sin of leprosy, or leprosy, a
type of sin, takes over us. our bodies, our minds, our souls
in the fall, we have no alternative but to be taken down, dismantled,
and hauled off to a place that is unclean. Except for the grace
of God, we would be dismantled, hauled off, spiritually speaking,
and left. If God should count iniquity,
who shall stand? So we are in desperate need of
those desperate measures and that is the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Another thought that I wanted
to bring in with regard to the doctor, there is only one place
that this discussion will ever happen, and that is the word
death. You may have heard me say this
in the past, but it just keeps coming up. Religion does not
believe that man is totally dead, totally depraved. There is some
quality in him that can be worked up. If we could just get that
person to answer the call of just as I am. If we could just
get that person to sign a card. If we could just get that person
to make a decision for Jesus. A friend of mine told me about
reading a book recently and in there it said that our Compass
is a hundred and eighty degrees out from God and He is not going
to turn it around. It's up to us My goodness, we're
lost in there's nothing in us to turn it around We're thankful
that God turns the needle around and attracts us to him but the
book of Ephesians chapter 1 or chapter 2 in verse 1 it says
who were dead in Trespasses and said we have a problem folks.
The farmer says we have a problem. The doctor says we have a problem
The builder says we have a problem. The shepherd says we have a problem. He has a whole flock. There are
sheep that are going astray. They will not follow their shepherd. This is so serious. Their lives depend upon them
following the shepherd and yet they will not follow the shepherd.
My people have been lost sheep is what we read in the book of
Jeremiah. In the book of Matthew, chapter
10, verse 6, would you turn there with me? Matthew, chapter 10,
and verse 6, as the Lord Jesus says a few things about this
great problem, in the book of Matthew, chapter 10, and there
in verse 6, he's telling his disciples, go rather to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. That's a serious problem. They
don't have a shepherd. They're lost. They're blind.
They're dead. They're ring-streaked and speckled. They have no hope in themselves
and the lost sheep. The scriptures talk about a fruit
grower in the Bible and fruit will not endure. If you pick an apple, and you
just leave it for a short time and it's got a rotten spot on
it. Now they've got many ways. Right here in the Dalles we have
some of those orchardists have developed a way of keeping fruit
fresh enough to ship to Japan and it's fresh for two weeks.
Yet, it's going to show that it is in the stages of death. It will rot eventually. Figs, very evil, cannot be eaten. My, my. It goes on and on and
on. So our real problem is depravity,
total depravity. There's not a bone in us that
is healthy. And we are in so desperate need
of that solution that was laid out in the book of Revelation,
chapter 1. And there, in verse 5, with regard, has cleansed
us from all our sin by His own blood. That's our only hope,
is that He would take care of the issue, and He did that very
thing for all His elect. He shed His own blood for His
sheep. He knew exactly who he was dying
for on the cross as he represented his family, Adam represented
his. Adam knew exactly who was going
to die in this fall. That was everyone ever born would
fall. And the Lord Jesus as the second
Adam He has knowledge of, in fact before the foundation of
the world, He had their names written down in the Lamb's Book
of Life. They were graven on the palms of His hand. He has
them as pictured by the high priest with those stones with
the 12 tribes of Israel, graven on them, there was not one stone
for the Philistines. There was not one stone for the
Hittites or the Hivites. There was only stones for the
12 tribes of Israel. That's who the high priest was
representing and we find the Lord Jesus Christ being a great
high priest This one, he knew exactly who he was representing,
he was not caught off short, he was not laying down his life
a ransom for all, and then hopefully some would come to him, but he
laid down his life a ransom for many, he paid the price of many,
a number that no man can number, and those that are sinners by
nature and practice and choice He comes and gloriously saves
by His grace through the preaching of the gospel and we're willing
to make those sacrifices as that sinner woman did to wipe His
feet with our tears and to wash His feet with our tears and to
wipe them with our hair and to pour that great precious ointment
on His brow and upon His feet. Those wonderful examples of the
sacrifices that God's people will make and expect nothing
in return, not for a position, not for a reward, but because
we just love the Lord Jesus Christ. Adam was not deceived. She, Eve
was. The interesting thing about this
too, that when Eve ate that fruit, nothing happened because Adam
was the responsible party. Now when he sinned, things really
went down quickly. thoughts that have been brought
out from the scriptures over and over time and time again.
This is really a dividing line. Total depravity or partial depravity. Total death or partial death. And there have been those that
have fought for partial death throughout the centuries and
have burned alive. They have drowned. They have
killed. They have thrown over. They've
thrown asunder. They've cut asunder. People who
say no, Jesus Christ died for a specific group of people, and
they cannot choose God, but He has chosen them. So, Totally
Pravity. T is for Totally Pravity. Thank you, and Lord willing,
we'll meet again, and we'll go over number two.