The Sinfulness of Us All Lesson 6
You can’t leave home without it .
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness,
we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John 1:6-10
Review: How well we know God determines what we believe about the Bible
How well we know the Bible determines what we believe about God
“An unknown God can neither be trusted, served, nor worshipped. Something more than a theoretical knowledge of God is needed by us. God is only truly known in the soul as we yield ourselves to Him, submit to His authority, and regulate all the details of our lives by His holy precepts and commandments.”
Arthur Pink
1. Is God unchanging? Yes
Ps 102:25-27
25 Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
26 They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will change them,
And they will be changed.
27 But You are the same, And Your years will have no end
God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth, perfections, purposes, and promises
Do your conversations with God matter? Yes
Matt 7:7 Ask , and it will be given to you;
James 4:2 you do not have because you do not ask
2. Is God Omniscient? Yes
Isa 46:10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
Does God have emotions? Yes
Isa 62:5 And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride , so shall your God rejoice over you.
3. Is God absolutely sovereign over any and all events at all times in all places, including salvation? Yes!
Isa 46:10 I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
Eph 1:11 (He) works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
“Nothing – no evil thing or person or event or deed – falls outside God’s ordaining will.
Nothing arises, exists, or endures independently of God’s will. So when even the worst of evils befall us, they do not ultimately come from anywhere other than God’s hand.”
Mark Talbot, 2006
Do we make decisions and choices that have impact and consequences for which we are responsible? Yes!
Deut 30:19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death,
blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
Josh 24:15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
4. Is it possible for us to know how these things can all be equally true? No!
5. Why Not?
We are the finite and the corrupt attempting to fully comprehend the infinite and the perfect.
6. Is it possible for us to know for certain that these things are true? Yes!
a. The veracity of Scripture
b. The being of God
Isa 55:8-9
8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Deut 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God,
but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, ...
Ps 50:21 You thought that I was altogether like you ....
1 John 1:6-10
I. Three False Claims of Unbelief
A. The Dark
6 “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness... we lie
...and do not practice the truth.”
“I can have fellowship with God and other believers and still hold on to the sins that I like.”
B. The Deceived
8 “If we say we have no sin... we deceive ourselves
...and the truth is not in us.”
I don’t sin because:
...there’s really no such thing as sin. People feel guilt because they invent an unnecessary morality.”
...although there is sin, I don’t participate in it.”
...I used to sin but I reached a level of sinlessness by virtue of superior knowledge.”
Gal 6:2-3 For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
2 Tim 3:13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
C. The Denigrating
10 “If we say we have not sinned... we make him a liar
...and his word is not in us.”
“I’m don’t sin because I’m not sinful. I am basically good”
What has God said about our sinfulness?
1 Kings 8:46 "When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin),...
Ps 14:2-3
2 The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
3 They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way;
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
The Truth About Sin
Gen 6:5; 8:21 Man’s sinful inclination is intrinsic
Psalm 51:5 That sinful inclination exists and is evident from birth
John 3:19-20; 8:43 Man hates truth that exposes him as a sinner. He can only hear his father the devil.
Rom 3:10-18; 8:7-8 No one seeks God. Man is by nature hostile towards God. He can’t obey God.
1 Cor 2:14 Spiritual truth is foolishness to unregenerate people
Mankind is depraved beyond cure
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?
1. In his predisposition Gen 6:5; 8:21
2. In his understanding 1 Cor 2:14
3. In his will Rom 8:6-8
4. In his nature Rom 3:10-12
5. In his slavery John 8:34
John 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
Rom 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
“When we speak of man's depravity we mean man's natural condition apart from any grace exerted by God to restrain or transform man. There is no doubt that man could perform more evil acts toward his fellow man than he does. But if he is restrained from performing more evil acts by motives that are not owing to his glad submission to God, then even his "virtue" is evil in the sight of God.
The terrible condition of man's heart will never be recognized by people who assess it only in relation to other men. Romans 14:23 makes plain that depravity is our condition in relation to God primarily, and only secondarily in relation to man. Unless we start here we will never grasp the totality of our natural depravity.”
John Piper
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“It is not just that some parts of us are sinful and others are pure. Rather, every part of our being is affected by sin – our intellects, our emotions and desires, our hearts (the center of our desires and decision-making process), our goals and motives, and even our physical bodies.”
Wayne Grudem
What does “Total Depravity” actually mean?
“This Biblical doctrine asserts that there is no aspect of our humanness which has not been affected by the taint of sin. Our intellect, emotions, will, and physical bodies, have been corrupted by the Fall.
‘Total depravity’ does not mean that people individually, or humanity as a whole, are as bad as they possibly could be, or that no apparent good in any sense can be done by unbelievers. It does mean however that in the natural fallen state we are born into we are unable to do any spiritual good that will please God and we will not, in fact cannot, turn from ourselves to God by virtue of our own ability. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The fact is, that man is a reeking mass of corruption. His whole soul is by nature so debased and so depraved, that no description which can be given of him even by inspired tongues can fully tell how base and vile a thing he is.
C.H. Spurgeon
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The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.”
Malcolm Muggeridge
Our rebellion against God is total
Rom 3:9-10, 18
9b ...For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
10 As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
John 3:20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
In our total rebellion, everything we do is sin
Isa 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells;
Rom 14:23 ...for whatever is not from faith is sin.
Our inability to submit to God and do good is total
Rom 8:7-8
7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.
8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
Eph 2:1-2
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air,
the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
Our rebellion is totally deserving of eternal punishment
Matt 25:46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment
Mark 9: 43 ...rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched —
44 where 'Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.'
2 Thess 1:9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
Jude 7 ...suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Why Does It Matter?
“If the case be such indeed, that all mankind are by nature in a state of total ruin,…then, doubtless, the great salvation by Christ stands in direct relation to this ruin, as the remedy to the disease.”
Jonathan Edwards
“The Christian answer—that we have used our free will to become very bad—is so well known that it hardly needs to be stated. But to bring this doctrine into real life in the minds of modern men, and even modern Christians, is very hard.”
C. S. Lewis
III. The Christian Hope
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
A. Faithful - because he promised
Isa 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD,
"Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.
Jer 31:34 For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
B. Just
Rom 3:24-26
24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, ....
26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
III. Conclusion
A. The disaster of self-deception
Matt 7:22-23
22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
B. Let God be true
Rom 3:3-4
3 For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?
4 Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.
C. Revel in your forgiveness as a child of your father
Ps 25:18 Look on my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins.
Ps 86:5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive
And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.
“As He who called you is holy, so must you be holy. If you are living in sin, you are not called; but if you are truly Christ's, you can say, "Nothing pains me so much as sin; I desire to be rid of it. Lord, help me to be holy." Is this the longing of your heart? Is this the substance of your life toward God and His divine will? Again, in Philippians 3:13-14 we are told of "the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Is your calling an upward call? Has it refined your heart and focused it upon heavenly things? Has it elevated your hopes, your tastes, your desires? Has it raised the constant tenor of your life, so that you spend it with God and for God?”
C. H. Spurgeon