What's Wrong With Man 02

Q: What does the Bible say about man's condition?

The Bible teaches that man is dead in trespasses and sins due to Adam's transgression. The Bible, particularly in Genesis 3, reveals the dire condition of man following the fall. When Adam disobeyed God, he brought sin into the world, plunging humanity into death and total depravity. Paul underscores this in Romans 5:19, stating that through Adam's disobedience, many were made sinners. Ephesians 2:1 further clarifies that we are 'dead in trespasses and sins.' This means that by nature, all of us are separated from God, unable to please Him or seek Him on our own.

Q: How do we know total depravity is true?

The doctrine of total depravity is supported by Scripture, which indicates no good exists in man apart from God. Total depravity, a core tenet of Reformed theology, asserts that every aspect of humanity is corrupted by sin. Romans 7:18 points out that 'in my flesh dwells no good thing,' highlighting our inability to do good apart from God's grace. Furthermore, Romans 3:10-12 emphasizes that there is none righteous and no one who seeks God. This biblical evidence underscores the reality that our natural state is one of rebellion against God, confirming the doctrine of total depravity.

Q: Why is the concept of representation important for Christians?

Representation is crucial because Adam's sin affects all humanity, while Christ's obedience provides righteousness for believers. The concept of representation is fundamental in understanding salvation. As outlined in Romans 5:19, Adam served as our representative when he disobeyed God, resulting in sin and death entered the world. Conversely, Christ is referred to as the 'second Adam,' who represents those whom He redeems through His obedience and sacrifice. In Christ, believers are made righteous as outlined in Romans 5:19, emphasizing that just as we are reckoned sinners in Adam, we are made righteous in Christ based on His fulfilled work. This doctrine reassures believers of their secure standing before God, based not on individual merit, but on Christ's perfect righteousness.

Q: What does the Bible say about man's inability to save himself?

The Bible explicitly states that no man can come to God unless drawn by the Father. Scripture illustrates humanity's inability to save itself thoroughly. In John 6:65, Jesus declares, 'No man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father,' indicating that divine initiative is essential for salvation. Meanwhile, Ephesians 2:8-9 reinforces this truth by stating that salvation is by grace through faith, not of ourselves, emphasizing that faith itself is a gift from God. These passages collectively highlight that without God's intervention, no one can achieve salvation or approach Him in a state of righteousness.

You recall, if you were here
last Sunday, we began a study in this chapter that I said we
would finish today with regard to a question. And the question is a simple
one. And as we saw, it's a vital one, it's a foundational one.
And it's simply this, what's wrong with man? What's wrong
with you? Joe, I got to preaching on that and
there was so much wrong with him I couldn't do it in one message. But there's that much wrong with
me too. There's something wrong with us in there. It's evident.
Anybody that would deny that is a fool. And we are fools by
nature. We do deny that. But look back
at Genesis 3. We left off, I believe, in verse
7. But look at verse 6 again. When the woman saw that the tree
was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and
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." Chapters 1 and 2 of
Genesis, as you know, are the creation narrative, telling of
God creating the world and everything that's in it. And we're given
an account of that in some detail. And one thing throughout that
account that is encouraging and wonderful is to see that when
God made what he made, he declared that it was good. It's good. And we see that in chapters 1
and 2, his earth was beautiful and perfect, and his people,
Adam and Eve, were beautiful and perfect. But then we come
to chapter three, and as we saw last Sunday, Satan came to Eve
and spoke against God. She listened to him. He perverted the truth of God.
He suggested at first that perhaps God didn't mean what he said.
And then he out and out, when he saw that she quoted the word
of God and said, here's what God said. There's no question
about that. Here's what he said. And we can
do that, can't we? We have his word. Aren't you
glad that God gave us his word? We don't have to speculate about
what God says to sinners. We have the book. It is written. It is written. We saw how the
Lord Jesus, when he was attacked by Satan and tempted, he kept
saying, it is written. It is written. And that's what
Eve did. She said, here's what God said. He said, you may eat
of all the trees of the garden, but of that tree of the knowledge
of good and evil you shall not eat. or touch of it, lest you
die." And then Satan directly denied the word of God. He said,
you shall not surely die. And that's happening all over.
We try to identify Satan a little bit and learn a little bit about
our enemy. It's good to know something about your enemy, isn't
it? He's not our only enemy. We're our own worst enemy. But
Satan is a powerful enemy. It's good to know a little something
about him. We tried to identify him. He came as a beautiful creature,
didn't he? And he came suggesting that what God meant was something
that would be more appropriate for them, you know, more fair
to them. Surely he didn't mean that you
should be deprived of something in the garden. You're his chief
creation. You should have access to everything. And he's doing that from pulpits.
We saw that. Satan's not in the the dens of
iniquity in our age, he's standing in pulpits. And he's saying beautiful,
enticing things. That's why Paul was careful to
say, I didn't come to you with enticing words. That's how Satan
comes. And Satan inhabits this creature.
He inhabits people. He used Judas, didn't he? Satan
went into Judas Iscariot and used He's got something in us
that he can use, and that's what we're talking about. What's wrong
with man? Satan came to Eve. The scriptures
in 1 Peter 3, 7 refer to the woman as the weaker vessel. Learn
something about Satan here, too. His tactics are crafty, and he's
very wise. He's not all wise, as God is,
but he's wiser than you. And he knows what will get you
if God will allow it. He came to the woman who, as
I said, is described in 1 Peter 3.7 as the weaker vessel. Now, it would be very difficult
for me to define exactly in what sense Eve was weaker, especially
prior to the fall. But the scriptures help us with
that. 1 Timothy 2.11 says this, listen to it with me. Let the
woman learn in silence with all subjection. Paul said to Timothy,
a young preacher, he's teaching him now how it ought to be in
the church of God. He said, but I suffer not a woman
to teach, nor do you serve authority over the man, but to be in silence. Now, why? On what basis, Paul? Just because you don't like women? For Adam was first formed, then
Eve. God has an order. And Adam was not deceived, but
the woman being deceived was in the transgression. He understood
something of Satan's tactics, and Satan knew that his best
advantage was to deceive Eve and to get to Adam through her.
And this is the first, but it's not the only example in Scripture
where Satan used this exact same tactic. Does it mean that woman
is inferior to man? It doesn't mean that the woman
is more sinful than man. We know better than that, don't
we? It just means that Satan knows what he's doing. That's
what it means. And Paul knew that. And he tells
Timothy why he said what he did. It wasn't because he was a male
chauvinist. He had biblical reason to say
what he did. And we learn Satan's tactics
and we're wiser for it. We learn them from the word of
God. These are not my opinions about things. My opinions aren't
worth hearing. And the truth may not be popular,
but it is the truth. The Lord Jesus Christ said to
his disciples, Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst
of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents. I wonder why he used that example. Be wise as serpents. Don't let
Satan deceive you. Don't be caught off guard. He's
given us his word to teach us. And be harmless as doves. Don't use that wisdom like Satan
did to destroy, to kill. Use it to bless and to let grace,
let your speech be seasoned with grace. Use that wisdom that God
gives you to bless his people. And so Satan was crafty. But
we can't say in this garden experience that the devil made us do it.
That's what people like to say, isn't it? Adam, our representative,
willingly, knowingly sinned against God. And he plunged our race
into death when he did so. Satan eating the fruit wasn't
the problem. Adam ate the fruit. In spite
of all that God had given him and done for him, if we had any
real idea what happened when Adam bit down on that fruit,
it would scare us to death. In fact, if you ever find out
what happened, truly, you'll cry for mercy. I guarantee you
that. Now notice the wording of verses
6 and 7. This is important. Notice that
when Eve did eat, there is no immediate result mentioned. It
doesn't say Eve did eat and anything happened. It doesn't say. But
when Adam did eat, there is an immediate result in there. When
Adam ate, it says, and the eyes of them both were opened. Why is that important? Well,
this is representation that we speak of when we preach the gospel.
The doctrine of representation. God considers all men in two
men. And Adam is the first. It's a
vital and wonderful doctrine in the Word of God. In Romans
5.19, listen to this very carefully. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, He represented us when he became a sinner, I
became a sinner. I wasn't even born yet, but when
I was born, I was a sinner. By one man's disobedience, so
by the obedience of one, shall me be made righteous. You see that? Not given an opportunity
to be righteous, not set upon the righteous path. Many will
be made righteous. Our sin is reckoned in Adam,
and so our righteousness in Christ. That's representation. And that's
important because when Eve sinned, Eve wasn't my representative.
Nor was she her own representative. There's speculation about whether
Eve, if she would have been the only one to eat, would she have
died and Adam have gone on in righteousness? You can speculate
that if you want to, but it didn't happen that way. So why worry
about it? And there's no possibility it
could have happened that way. We saw that all of this is by
the grace and providence and purpose of God Almighty. It was the serpent that God made
that deceived Eve. and did all these things. God
was in control of this from the start. And why speculate about
what could have happened, what would have happened? That's what
religion likes to do. What would Jesus do? Let's find
out what he did do. And that's how sinners are saved,
by the preaching of that. And so, God deals with our first
representative, Adam, and he deals with us in him. And this is so important because
if God deals with us individually in our sin, then it would be
left up to us as individuals to pay for our sin. If there's
no representation, then you're left on your own, and you've
got to deal with your sin yourself. And as we've seen, Paul in Romans
3, by the deeds of the lost shall no flesh be justified. You're
going to have to have the righteousness of God by the imputation an impartation
of the righteousness of Christ, or you're not going to have righteousness.
So I'm thankful for this little phrase in the script, this little
turn of the wording here, that we could easily pass over. But
God help us not to, because it was Adam that represented us,
and it's the second Adam that represented me on the cross,
that represented his people. And I want you to understand
something very important about that. Adam did not make it possible
for you to be a sinner. Adam did not make sinnerhood
available to you. You became a sinner in Adam. So, everyone that Christ represented
on the cross is made the righteousness of God in him. It's not made
available to you. It's not made possible. When
you understand representation as it's taught in the Bible,
this nonsense about Christ's atonement making salvation possible
or available to whoever will choose it is seen to be just
that, nonsense. Listen to what Paul said in Hebrews
9.12. He said that Christ obtained,
having obtained, eternal redemption for us. he sat down at the right
hand of God. How could he say that if it was
just made possible? He didn't obtain it for anybody.
Paul couldn't say that. Listen to the wording of 1 Corinthians
15, 22, and this is unmistakable. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. All? All of Adam's race? Obviously not. There is a hell,
and it is populated, isn't it? We know that from the Word of
God. So how is it, in what sense, could all be made alive in Christ? In this sense only. All that
Adam represented died in Adam, and all whom Christ represented
live in him. You're not going to find an alternative
understanding of that verse. There's only one way that all
could live in Christ, and that's all that he represented, even
if it wasn't taught everywhere else in the Word of God. But
it is. Christ did not die for all sinners. Everyone that he represented
is made alive in him, and made the very righteousness There
is but one way to understand this. We know that not all sinners
are made alive in Christ, but all whom he represented, just
as Adam in his death. We mentioned briefly before Adam
and Eve's attempt to cover their sinfulness. Many women are still
doing this. Well, we've done bad, but we'll
do enough good to outweigh our bad. We'll cover up our bad with
our good. You don't have any good. There
is none that doeth good. No, not one. So forget about
that. Well, we'll go to church. We'll
get in a little booth, and we'll tell another sinner how bad we've
been, and we'll feel better about ourselves. He'll tell us that
everything's okay. Well, he may tell you that, but
God didn't tell you that. You might as well sew some fig
leaves together and wrap yourself up in them. That would be better,
actually. At least that was a direct approach
to their problem. It was foolish, but at least
it was in some sense honest compared to the nonsense that goes on
in religion in our day. 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. In spite of the fig leaves, they
ran from God. The fig leaves didn't accomplish
what they hoped that they might, covering their shame. And no
work of man can do that. They had enough sense still,
at that point at least, not to stand boldly before God in their
fig leaves. I believe we've lost that sense,
haven't we, Joe? Men will stand boldly, or at
least they pretend that they will, but I suspect, a man puts
on a good show in religion, but I expect when it actually comes
time to stand before a holy God, our righteousness won't give
us much comfort. In fact, I can say that on the
authority of the word. Revelation 6.15, it says, the
kings of the earth and the great men, these are the upper crust
now, and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty
men and every bondman and every free man, hid themselves in the
dens and in the rocks of the mountains. Why? They said to
the mountains and the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the
face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of
the Lamb. We're going to run scared just
like Adam did. With all of our self-righteousness
wrapped around us, it's not going to make us bold in that day.
For the great day of his wrath has come, and who shall be able
to stand? We know from the psalmist who can stand in his holy hill,
he that hath clean hands and a pure heart. I guess these great
men didn't qualify, and neither do you. The Lord came among them,
as he had no doubt done many times, walking in the garden
in the cool of the day. And he had done that before in
sweet fellowship and communion. But instead of enjoying the glory
of his presence, they were afraid and they hid themselves. Notice
that they hid themselves amongst the trees. It was that which
God had given them to enjoy. He said, Of all the trees of
the garden you may eat. And it was that which he had
given them to enjoy that became a false refuge for them. It's
still that way. Verse 9, And the Lord God called
unto Adam, and said unto him, Where are ye? Where are ye? Let me give you a sad thought
on this. Men, I'm speaking to the men
for a little while here now. Take responsibility for your
families because God counts you as the head of your house. He
didn't say, Eve, where are you? He's talking to Adam. He called
unto Adam and said, where are you? Paul exhorted the men in
1 Corinthians 16, 13. He said, watch ye and stand fast
in the faith. Quit you like men. Be strong. In other words, act like men. God counts you the leader in
your home. And in asking Adam, he was speaking
to them both. Now this is mercy that God would
call unto them in such a fashion. He doesn't thunder judgment upon
them. He calls in such a way that will cause Adam to consider
what he has done. God doesn't Ask Adam where he
is because he doesn't know where to find him. He's causing Adam
to think about what he did. And he still works that way.
The Spirit will do what? He'll convince you of sin. Oh,
he still works that way. He calls to sinners in this same
voice now. In Isaiah 118 he says, come now. And let us reason together, saith
the Lord. What about, Lord, your sins? Let's reason about your sins.
Adam, where are you? Though your sins be as scarlet, they'll be white as snow. You
come to Him. And though they be red like crimson,
they shall Be as wool. And where was Adam? Where was
he? I'm interested, aren't you? Because
he represented me. Wherever Adam was in the garden,
that's where I am by nature. Shame, we've seen it already,
haven't we? Shame, they knew they were naked. They were naked
before that, but now they knew it. And guilt, because they tried
to cover it up. They didn't want God to see what
they had done. Guilt. And now, something else. What? He ran. Why? He was afraid
of God. Fear. Fear. But why these things? Why was he ashamed and guilty
and fearful? Well, first of all, because he
was dead, as God promised he would be. What was it God said? In the day that you eat thereof,
you'll begin to die? That's not what he said, was
it? In the day that you eat thereof,
thou shalt surely die. And he did. Not physically, of
course. Yet, he began to die physically
on that day. The clock began to tick. He began
to breathe what was left of his breath on that day. But as the
scriptures declare all through, spiritually dead. Ephesians 2.1,
you hath he quickened which were dead, dead in trespasses and
sins. Colossians 2.13, and you being
dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened.
Quickened means to make a lie. God doesn't give you an offer.
He makes sinners alive. There's a difference. Having
forgiven you all trespasses. Now you see these outward things,
as terrible as they are, the shame and the guilt and the fear
that Adam never knew before, these are just a manifestation
of what happened to Adam on the inside. Shame, guilt, fear, and
self-righteousness. Adam was self-righteous, oh yeah,
and so are you, and so am I. Look at verse 10. And Adam said,
I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was
naked, and I hid myself. And God said, Who told you that
you were naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? Now that's a pretty
direct question, isn't it? I would categorize that as a
yes or no question, wouldn't you? Have you or have you not? Is that a yes or no question?
But look at the first words out of Adam's mouth. The woman. If that's not self-righteousness,
I've never seen it. And I've got news for you. I
see it every time I look in the mirror. I can recognize it when
I see it. And that's it, Joe. It wasn't my fault. It is my
problem, but it wasn't my fault. You know, you've heard that one.
Alcoholism, it's not your fault, but it is your problem. It's
your fault and it's your problem. God said, did you, did you eat
the woman? Oh my. And then later he asked
Eve, and what did she say? We're self-righteous now. That's
spiritual death. Did you sin? Did you eat? Did
you disobey me? It's a yes or no question. And notice he didn't just say
the woman, but he went on to say the woman whom you gave me.
Are you that messed up that you would blame God for your problems?
I'm telling you, you are. God's telling you who you are.
We secretly blame God for all of our problems, do we not? When
man is confronted with the truth that we are totally depraved
and that salvation is by free grace, what is our answer? Paul
said what it was in Romans 9.20. He said, Nay, but, O man, who
art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say
to him that formed it, Would you say this? Why hast thou made
me thus? If you didn't want me to sin,
you shouldn't have made me a sinner. Oh my goodness. Well, it's because
of a bad environment. Why did you have me be born where
I was born? It's a bad environment that's
my problem. I was hanging out with the wrong
crowd. I can't resist. Jack's going
to be here next week. If he tells you this story, just
pretend you've never heard it before. But he was head of a
school for a while in the church that he pastored before he came
to Laird Street there. And he said that he's told me
many stories about that school. It was a school where children
went that couldn't be in regular school. They ended up getting
some pretty rough kids there. And Jack was the head of the
school. And he had a mother call him up one day and said, Brother
Jack, I'm worried about Little Billy. And he said, Is that right? Well, what seems to be the trouble?
Well, Little Billy has just been acting terrible. I'm afraid that
Little Billy is hanging out with the wrong crowd at school. And Jack said, Who did you say
your son was? And she said, His name is Billy.
And Jack said, Madam, Little Billy is the wrong crowd. And so are we. We can't blame
it on who we've been hanging out with. It's not that I took
it, Adam said. The woman gave it to me. Instead
of saying, I took the fruit, he said, she gave me the fruit. Sin, all sin, is both our fault
and our problem. How big a problem is it? That's
what we're talking about. What exactly is wrong with man?
Well, as I said, we're dead to God by nature. Totally depraved. What does that mean? Well, it
means there is nothing good in you or about you. That's a shock,
isn't it? Well, I've done some good things
just this week. Have you now? Who told you they
were good? You thought they were, because
in comparison to what you consider your bad things, they seem to
be good things. But listen to what God says about
you. Paul said in Romans 7, 18, I know that in me, that is, in
my flesh, in myself as a natural man, born of Adam, without the
grace of God, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present
with me, as a believer, the flesh is weak, the spirit is willing.
To will is present with me, because the spirit is willing. Christ
said to those disciples that fell asleep, he told them to
watch in the garden there. The spirit is willing, but how
to perform that which is good, I find not. It means that you are incapable
of pleasing God, Hebrews 11, 6, but without faith it is impossible,
impossible to please Him. I thought God was happy that
I came to church this morning. If it's an act of faith in Christ,
then He's pleased with Christ and with you and Him. But apart
from that, it's impossible to please God. And faith, as we
know, is God's gift. The fruit of the Spirit, Galatians
says, is faith. Faith, not the fruit of your
flesh. It means you're incapable of pleasing God. It means you're
incapable of knowing God. 1 Corinthians 2.14, But the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. For two
reasons, as I've pointed out so many times, and we've seen
this in our study in Corinthians. Two reasons. First of all, they're
foolishness to you. You don't want to receive the
things of God. You have no taste for them. And then secondly, neither can
he know them. You don't have the ability. You
don't have the will or the ability to receive the things of the
Spirit of God. Why? Because they're spiritually
discerned. And as we've been saying, you're
dead spiritually. You who were dead in trespasses
and sin. It means that you are incapable
of coming to God. Well, I'm in bad shape, but I
can still... He says come, so surely I must be able to. By His grace, you'll come. But
you're incapable of coming to God, as you are. John 6.65, and
he said, Therefore I said unto you, that no man can come unto
me. That word can is pretty clear.
It just means you don't have the ability to come unto me,
except it were given unto him of my Father. That's pretty clear. It means that you, along with
all of Adam's race, the entire human race, Are L-O-S-T lost? Romans 3, 9. What then? Are we
better than they? You've been talking about the
heathen. Are we Jews better than the heathen? No, and no wise.
That's not very popular. Are we God's people better than
the heathen? Are we better than those who
are committing vile acts this morning? No, and no wise. For we have before proved, both
Jews and Gentiles, he proved it from God's word, didn't he,
that all are under sin. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understand
us. There is none that seeketh after God. Well, if you just
seek after God, guess what? You're not gonna until he comes,
seeks you out, by his mercy finds you and brings you to himself. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute iniquity, and blessed are they, the Lord
has to draw you unto himself. Blessed is that man whom the
Lord loveth and causeth to approach unto him. If you could approach
unto him of your own will and power, he wouldn't need to cause
you to approach unto him, now would he? There is none that
understandeth, there is 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. Now, salvation was an offer,
and some accepted that offer. Would God be able to truthfully
say there is none that doeth good? I'd say it's good to come
to Christ, wouldn't you? You're not going to do it without
Him. It means that if you're ever going to know, have fellowship,
and be with God, He's going to have to do something for you.
Did you ever notice in the scripture that when the Lord Jesus performed
a miracle, displaying and typifying his saving grace, he always recovered
folks that were beyond human help. The woman with the issue
of blood, she had spent everything she had. She didn't have any
money left. And the doctors that she had gone to hadn't done her
any good, they just made her worse. Then she went to Christ. And then Christ had mercy on
her. The leper, incurable disease. Lord, if you will, you can. Make
me whole. Men can't. I can't. I can't do
anything about it. But if you want to, you can save
me. I will. That's the kind of people
he saves. Hopeless sinners. Is that you? Lazarus. Lord, he's been dead
for four days. He's gonna stink this place up.
Lazarus, come forth! That's the word of power with
which he speaks salvation to the heart of the sinner. It's
creation power that has to save you. God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, who said, let there be light, and
there was light, has shined in our hearts. And if that powerful
voice of creation doesn't speak to your heart, you'll lay there
dead in sin and darkness forever. He'll have to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
in the face of a person, or you're not going to have life. He never recovered anybody from
a cold that I've seen in the Word of God. You know why? Because if he did, they'd have
said, well, I was feeling a little better anyway, you know. I think
I was getting over it. You don't get over leprosy, do
you? You don't get over four days dead. And if you ever come to the place
where you're not getting over your problem, if you ever can
answer this question, what's wrong with man, with one word,
everything, then you're in the place of grace right there. You know what the word salvation
means? It doesn't mean God gives you
a little hand up, a little help. Peter cried out when he was sinking
beneath the waves, Lord save me. And that's the cry that God
hears. What God does for sinners when
he saves them is shown in our text. God there in chapter 3,
he pronounces the curse upon them. In the next verses there, and
then in verse 21 it says this, unto Adam also and to his wife
did the Lord God make coats of skins. He didn't make it out
of fig leaves. He could have made a lot better
fig leaf apron than Adam did, but he didn't do that. He killed
an animal. He killed an innocent victim.
The first sacrifice was offered. The first blood that was ever
shed upon the soil of this earth was shed in the context of this
issue. What's wrong with man? After pronouncing the curse upon
them and promising them the Redeemer, the woman sees he'll crush the
serpent's head in due time. Christ will die for the ungodly.
But he showed them how that that Redeemer would save them. He
made coats of skins. And he took that pathetic attempt
to cover their shame and guilt away, the fig leaves. That won't
do. There's got to be a victim. There's
got to be bloodshed. And he took the coat of that
animal and he covered their sin instead of throwing them in hell
where they belonged and then in chapter 4 we see their son
Abel bringing a lamb before God and offering it as a sacrifice
to God the only remedy for what's wrong with you is that an innocent
victim must die in your place The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. And the Lord Jesus Christ has
to become, for your sake and in your stead, the soul that
sinneth. He got to become that. Because
it's only the soul that sinneth that shall die. And when He was
made sin for us, who knew no sin, God made us the righteousness
of God in Him. And that's the end. What's wrong
with you? Everything's wrong with you by nature. You're dead. You're depraved. You can't do
anything good. You can't do what preachers are
begging sinners to do this morning. Accept Jesus as your personal
Savior. You're in the same place as your
father Adam. Adam, from a condition of holiness,
he only had the potential to sin. And he had an easy choice
to make. and he fell. You're in a depraved
condition and preachers are giving you a choice to make. Are you
better than your father Adam? If you are, then God owes you
an apology. Did you know that? For not putting
you in the garden instead of Adam. What a blasphemous thought. God forbid that we even think
on such a thing for very long. Only to refute it and to say,
Your only hope is if God has mercy on you in Christ. Free,
sovereign, electing, distinguishing mercy. If you come to him like
that leper did and say, Lord, if you will, this thing hinges
upon your will, but if you're willing to save me, I know that
you can do it. Save me. Save me. He had never
turned anybody away that came like that. If you come like that,
it's because he has done what that psalmist said, that men
are blessed if he causes you to approach unto him. I'll rejoice with you if God
makes it so. Let's bow in prayer. Lord, we're thankful for the
truth. when we look into your word to see what's wrong with
us because it's evident that there is that there is a terrible,
terrible problem with us we find that it's even worse than we
could have ever imagined but we also see and rejoice that
there's hope in Christ Jesus that there is a second Adam who
reigns in righteousness, and who represented a people just
like our father Adam did, who came down to this earth as their
surety and a federal head, and did always those things that
please you. He did always that which was
right. When the serpent, the same serpent
came to him, the devil, and tempted him, He overcame. He said it is written
and he obeyed God. And he did that for me. What
a joy. And then we see our wickedness
again at the cross. How deep we are plunged into
depravity. We who say that we love God and
draw nigh to you with our lips, we showed the wickedness of our
hearts when we took you with our wicked hands and slew you
on a tree. And yet there also, by your grace,
we see that that same blood that stains our hands in guilt is
shed to cover the sins of those for whom he died." Oh Lord, give
us an interest in that. Give us a glimpse of the Lamb
that was offered for sinners. And that precious blood that's
able to wash away every spot and stain. And give us grace
to worship him this morning as our brother tells us about him. In his precious name we pray.
Amen. We've got about ten minutes and then
we'll start. Come back and sing a song or
two. You're dismissed.

What's Wrong With Man 02

What does the Bible say about man's condition?

How do we know total depravity is true?

Why is the concept of representation important for Christians?

What does the Bible say about man's inability to save himself?

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What's Wrong With Man 02

What does the Bible say about man's condition?

How do we know total depravity is true?

Why is the concept of representation important for Christians?

What does the Bible say about man's inability to save himself?

Sermon Transcript

About Chris Cunningham

Comments

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