Answers Bible Curriculum 2nd Edition Unit 3 Lesson 23
This week in Sunday school, we’re stepping out of Genesis to consider the issue of man’s heart on a broader biblical basis. Is man’s heart basically good, evil, or neutral? Does the doctrine of original sin absolve man of responsibility or compromise the justice of God? And if man can only be saved by the merciful intervention of God, what is the point of calling on anyone to forsake sin and embrace Jesus Christ? Join us as we consider these crucial questions and more!
We will be looking at many biblical texts for this lesson and will not have a main passage.
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all right great well let’s get started good morning and welcome to Sunday school very excited to hear about or at least read about for the bullen’s the ordination service that’s happening later at Calvary today that makes me think of something that I’ve been meditating on a little bit from Ephesians 4 talking about why does God give gifted men to the church specifically talking about pastors and teachers but I think it applies to both elders and deacons but why does God give them they are gifts but why it’s so that everyone in the church might use their gifts to build up the body they are specifically given for the equipping of the Saints for the work of service so praise God that we have the elders and deacons that we do may God raise up more and I and I pray that you would be appreciating and benefiting from these men and their wives just as God this was God always designed for them to do all right well today we’re talking about the hearts of man we broach this topic in our last few lessons when we talked about Adam Eve Cain and Abel and in these and in Genesis 3 and in Genesis 4 we see flagrant unbelief and disobedience in both the first couple and in Cain but the question is are all people like them are all people basically evil at heart or are they basically good or are there some of each with the right training can we change what is in someone’s heart for good or for evil our people blank slates just waiting for input are there bad apples are there good eggs use a couple of different phrases and when I speak about the heart understand what I mean heart is just a figurative term to describe once in her purse it’s the seat of desire thought and will your causal core your inner man the Bible uses the term heart synonymously with the term mind or soul or even self so what is in man’s heart if you ask most people in our culture whether they are good or evil they will probably quickly declare themselves to be pretty good they won’t say they’re perfect but they’re still good and if you bring up the example of say cane they would say oh he was a terrible person I would never do that I’m not like cane at all and not only do people think of themselves as basically good but they have great hope for their fellow man if we can just educate him properly they say show him that his racial prejudices are groundless show him how good it feels to treat others kindly show him how bad other people feel when we make fun of them or mistreat them etc then he’ll realize he wants to be a good person deep down he’s good and he wants to be good or if we can just get people to communicate better understand each other then they’ll see they’re not that different they’ll stop being in conflict they’ll stop fighting they’ll stop going to work we’ll have world peace people just need to communicate better they need to learn how to communicate better or if we can just get people to self-actualize get people to realize what it is that they really want and then help them achieve their dreams and they’ll stop acting out in these detrimental ways a self actualized person will be a happy peaceful and productive person have you heard these kind of ideas this is what so frequently circulates in our society but what really is man and what is in man’s heart let’s see what the Bible has to say in response to this this and these questions the Bible is the only totally trustworthy Authority and actually has a lot to say about the heart of man now to investigate our question this morning were not going to be sending one passage in depth as we often do in our Sunday School lessons but we’re going to be looking at a number of different passages to come up with a overall view of what the Bible has to say on this topic here is our plan of attack for today’s lesson first going to look at well first identify what the Bible really says is in man’s heart well secondly deal with objections to what the Bible has to say about the heart and then third we’ll ask and answer some application questions when it comes to how do we talk to others about what is in their heart well let’s pray as we begin hello God this is a very important truth this is a profound question to answer what is in man’s heart what are we deep down god I pray that you help me to be able to explain what your word says clearly and accurately helpfully and God I pray that you would work in the hearts of those who listen today that they might be sanctified Lord even that they might be saved if they don’t know you and I prayed that we would appreciate not only what you’ve done for us if we are saved Lord we would appreciate just how far away from you we are because of what happened at the fall even in our condition god I pray you inhale it they explain this truth well in Jesus name Amen alright so what is in man’s heart have Adam and Eve brought a curse on all mankind in this area a great place to go to help answer this question it’s the book of Romans we’re gonna go to a number of pastors today but what’s starting in Romans chapter 5 so please take your Bibles in turn there Romans 5 verses 12 to 21 remember that the book of Romans is written as an introduction to Paul’s ministry and his gospel message and it’s given to Roman Christians who never met Paul personally before our section here in chapter 5 Paul has just explained that Christ died to save us while we were helpless and enemies of God and has accomplished full reconciliation for those who belong to him and that has a lot to do with what he says next and verses 12 to 21 so follow along with me as I read that now Romans 5 verses 12 to 21 therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned for until the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed when there is no law nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam or was a type of him who was to come but the free gift does not like the transgression or if the transgression although but if by the transgression of the one the many died much more to the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ bound to the many the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned from the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation and on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification drift by the transgression of the one death reigned through the one much more those who received the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ so then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men for as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners even so through the obedience of the one that many will be made righteous the law came in so that the transgression would increase but where sin increased grace abounded all the more so that as sin reigned and death even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord all right now that passage is filled with profound details and implications but we’re going to focus on details of the text that have to do with our question the heart of man notice a few things about there’s critical text from Romans with me notice in verse 12 who is the one man mentioned we have Adam he is the first one who sinned and he is the one he’s referred to directly as add in reverse 14 as a result of Adam’s sin this passage delineates three effects that spread to the rest of mankind and notice what those three effects are there’s first physical death verse 12 and 14 say death spread to all men and death reigned because of the one man Adam death spread to all men but then there’s not just physical death but spiritual death because notice verse 19 says the many were made sinners they have a new condition of being a sinner what we can also call spiritual death and then the third effect we see this in verses 16 and 18 that is condemnation judgment we see the Frasers judgment resulting in condemnation or a transgression that resulted in condemnation now there are these three effects physical death spiritual – condemnation but which people experience them or maybe ask more simply which people did not experience these effects of Adam’s sin and the answer is nobody apart from Christ of course but notice verse 12 says death spread to all men because all sinned and verse 18 it says through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men so this applies to everyone now notice to whom Adam is contrasted in this passage and that’s Jesus Christ if being in Adam resulted in such negative effects or what did the effects of being in Christ well notice there are three at least there is justification verses 16 to 19 justification is being declared righteous being legally declared righteous before God righteousness in verses 17 to 21 this is a new condition in contrast to being a sinner they are made righteous and then life in verse 17 it says they will reign in life and the end of our passage talks about eternal life so you can see there’s actually a pretty direct contrast between the effects of being in annum and effects of being in Christ in Christ you are justified legally declared righteous you have a new condition as righteous and you gain lights and notice that these effects are also Universal for those who are found in Christ with the word all and many being used again so then the teaching of Romans 5 is pretty straightforward when it comes to man’s heart in Adam all people are sinful people who will die and be condemned by God bring it up in this life here we go all people are sinful people who will die and be condemned by God and why why are they like this notice is because all became sinners through Adams disobedience through adamson man was changed now this sobering truth is echoed throughout Scripture and you can see these other scriptures listed on the slide Romans 3:23 famous verse what does it say for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God this is essentially the same as what Romans 5 says all people again a universal declaration are sinful sin do errs who are condemned by God they do not reach God’s righteous and glorious standard they fall short but of course it’s not just Paul in Romans in Romans 5 Romans 3 a few feet just a few chapters after the account of Cain and Abel listen to what God says in Genesis 6:5 Genesis 6:5 it tells her Genesis says then the Lord that is Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually now understand when God makes this observations this is right before the flood and God really emphasizes man’s evil in this verse it’s a three-fold emphasis God says man’s wickedness was great on the earth it was high magnitude and every intent of the thoughts was evil it was a comprehensive sinfulness and it was going on continually it was unceasing now this doesn’t leave room for much exception does it every thought of man was all evil all the time the Bible says this was the state of mankind after Adam sinned not a very hopeful picture is it but maybe man was different after the flood well do you remember the chronology of Genesis we know that soon after the flood there’s the rebellion at the Tower of Babel and pridefully tries to make a name for himself of a tower in a city it’s that argues against the idea that man’s heart had become better but also consider what God says to Noah after the flood when no offers sacrificed to God and this is in Genesis 8:21 Genesis 8:21 we read Yahweh smelled the soothing aroma he always said to himself I will never again curse the ground on account of man or the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth I will never again destroy every living thing as I had done so isn’t it the same thing in Genesis 8:21 even after the flood God identifies the state of man’s heart as harboring constant evil except here God also says that this evil intent is even evident from that person’s youth even little kids Harbor and show forth continual evil I think some of you parents can say Amen say now King David in Psalm 51 goes even further in this psalm of confession Psalm 51 is a psalm of confession and repentance after David had committed adultery and murder remember that with Bathsheba in this Psalm of confession and repentance David records this insight in psalm 51:5 david says behold I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me now don’t misunderstand this state David’s not saying that his mother conceived him in an act of sin that she committed adultery or something like that no that’s not the idea and even if that were true that wouldn’t have anything to do with David’s own sin mammy this Psalm was about David’s own sin nor was David saying that sexual intercourse is sinful or shameful no God created sex before the fall as part of the fulfillment of his initial command be fruitful and multiply part of God’s blessing part of the companionship of marriage the physical union of marriage is a good thing and it is to be honored and enjoy just as Hebrews says David is instead saying something else David is telling us in this Psalm and in this first when he became a sinner and when was that as soon as he began to exist when he was conceived that’s when he became a sinner there’s no time and David’s existence when he was not a sinner right at his conception he says I was in sin this by the way is a great verse to support the truth that life begins at conception because if David was a sinner as soon as he was conceived then David must have had also life in personhood a mere clump of cells could not be a sinner but a person can’t and David says he was even at his conception back to the main point David confesses he was a sinner King David he was a sinner before he as soon as he began to exist and if this was true of David who was said to be a man after God’s own heart and what does that mean for the rest of us for all mankind for you and me and finally to round out our little survey right now there’s what Jeremiah 17:9 says this is another famous first Jeremiah 17:9 the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick who can understand it I noticed that Jeremiah refers to the heart not so in so his heart or sinner’s hearts but the heart referring to what the heart of man the heart of all people the inner being of us all he says it’s deceitful and desperately sick in fact Jeremiah says that the inner person of man is so deceitful and so perverted that no one can understand it that makes sense right if you knew that someone was a deceiver and you tried talking with him how could you really know what was true the your deceitful heart Jeremiah says prevents you from even fully understanding the extent of its deception and wickedness have you ever seen this about your own heart before you came to Christ no one Jeremiah says can unravel the twisted sick heart of man that is except the one who’s mentioned in the next verse Jeremiah 1710 what we read I Yahweh search the heart I test the mind even to give to each man according to his ways according to the results of his deeds so there is one who perfectly understands the human heart and can unravel all its deception and that’s God what’s sobering however is that God doesn’t search the heart simply to understand what will God do with that information he will judge he will judge every person’s heart including yours including mine so let’s bring this all together what does the Bible say is the origin and extent of sin when it comes to humanity Bible tells us sin or originated with Adam and then passed to all men therefore man is physically dying completely sinful and totally condemned by God this is man’s state make make no mistake the sins of Genesis 3 and 4 are not just a couple of bad examples rather they are the first manifestations of a malady sickness a disease common to all mankind really what we’re talking about here is the doctrine of original sin now last week I referred to the fall as the original sin which is technically true but when we refer to the doctrine of original sin we’re referring to something a little a little different not the first event of sin doctrine of original sin refers to the inherited sinfulness that we all have as descendants of Adam that sin condition this biblical doctrine declares that every person is born with a sin nature what’s a sin nature that’s an essential deep-rooted condition that moves a man to rebel against God even from birth a Bible is clear as a result of the fall this is what we all have now – this biblical assertion someone might raise a few objections and let me see if I can anticipate some of those some one might say for instance wait if my condition is inherited from Adam and my condition forces me to sin does that mean I’m not responsible for my own choices after all I can’t choose anything different I’m forced to sin how would we respond to that but do this we must respond first by saying that the Bible clearly declares that God is just and he’s rightfully able to hold all men accountable for their choices before you even if those may I can’t understand why it is that God is able to hold them accountable so that’s one thing to realize first of all it’s also useful to clarify the nature of man’s inability this sinfulness which we would characterize which the Bible characterizes as total depravity a radical corruption a total sinfulness it’s useful to clarify what this inability that comes from this condition actually is and we can do so by way of explanation from the great American theologian Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards when the most brilliant minds who ever lived American theologian from the 1700s he comes up with a good ear he’s come up with a good explanation for describing our inability go something like this you’re being a sinner is not like being bound to a chair with a chain where even though you might want to get up you can’t because of the external constraints holding you down Edwards calls what this state would be has natural inability that’s not what we have we’re not like we’re chained to a chair rather you’re being a sinner is well described as you simply being bound by what you being a sinner is being bound by what you love you see every man is compelled to do whatever he wants to do given the chance every person will do whatever he loves unless prevented by an external force and this is obvious right you’re motivated to act by what you love you do what you want but here’s the problem as a result of the fall what does man want man has a new chief love and it’s not God man loves and worships himself and thus he loves and worships idols and he loves all evil therefore man is not externally compelled to commit sin he is internally compelled because of his self-love and idolatry Jonathan Edwards calls this moral inability do you see the difference moral inability is worthy of judgment and even unbelievers recognize this even unbelievers recognize that those who love to do evil deserve punishment consider a man who steals because he’s desperately hungry receives some sympathy you might say well you know he didn’t really have any other choice but a man who steals simply because he loves stealing he receives no sympathy because his desire is clearly wicked save that kind of heart that kind of desire that kind of person deserves punishment and that’s what we are as those born as lovers of evil we all just lis come under the judgment of God now someone else might say yes I sinned but I’m not that bad I mean I’m not not like Cain or Judas I can do good things sometimes so I think you’re going too far with this doctrine of original sin I’m pretty sure that I don’t sin constantly how to respond to this again there are many ways we could respond to this statement first of all someone makes this objection you have to respond the Bible says otherwise you may feel a certain way but the Bible is more trustworthy than your feelings and based on what the Bible says more trustworthy than your corrupt and deceitful heart the second of all we must remember what sin is sin is any departure from the perfection and holiness of God sin is not simply murderous and it’s not simply muddled tree it is any deviation from God’s perfection unless you do good deeds exactly the way that God would do them including with an appropriate trust thankfulness and love to God then your deeds and your life is imperfect which means they not only are not righteous but they are actually sinful because you have misrepresented and dishonored the goodness of God God is all good God is all perfection he calls us to be like him but we aren’t we’re never as perfect as he is it’s probably for this reason that the scripture says in James 2:10 James 2:10 for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point he has become guilty of all you see unless you keep the whole law you are a law breaker you are incapable of obeying any of God’s commands you say no I’ll just focus on one community and I’ll actually obey that one but don’t you see that all the other commands are tied to it if you don’t do it in exactly perfect way and not only if you’ve broken that law but you’ve broken them all because the law is summed up with being like God you know that term sin and I remember different terms to describe sin in the Bible transgression iniquity wickedness etc but the term sin itself one of its definitions is simply missing the mark it’s like a target and unless you hit exactly the bull’s eye you’ve missed the mark and that’s what we all do you may come closer or seem to come closer than others but you still miss the mark you fall short of God’s standard which is perfection that’s what sin is you see in Adam even the good we do the suppose a good we do is imperfect and therefore God can’t accept it it’s reprehensible to him we have to confess the same thing that Isaiah does on behalf of sinful Israel in isaiah 64:6 Isaiah says and I say 64:6 for all of us have become like one who is unclean and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment and all of us wither like a wheat like a leaf and our iniquities like the wind take us away you see if you are merely in Adam but not in Christ you do sin constantly in thought word indeed every moment you fail to obey perfectly to imitate your righteous creator I would lead to men the amount may not seem that bad and may not have committed particularly heinous sins but God searches your heart it’s not what Jeremiah says he meticulously examines every one of your works and God’s assessment of you according to scripture is the same as it was for Belshazzar in Daniel 5 the Amanda unrighteous king of Babylon God says to him as he says to you you have been weighed you have been measured and you’ve been found wanting so none of us are truly good not even a little good now someone else might say wait a second that’s not fair why should I suffer the consequences of Adam’s sin I wasn’t even there I didn’t choose him as my representative how is it just that I should inherit his sin and the consequences of it well this too is the question we could respond to from multiple angles but I’m gonna choose – first of all God is the one who appointed Adam to be the head of the human race God not only instituted the system of headship gods or but God also specifically created the person who would serve in the role of representative of head so everything God does is perfectly wise just and good so God’s installation of Adam as the head of humanity must then have been a perfectly wise just and good thing for God to do to reject the idea of headship in this sense which reject Adam as your human head would be to demand an account of God of his wisdom which is always falling and of course the height of arrogance god I don’t think you should have done that the Bible is clear that God always does what is right and is not obligated to explain himself to any of us moreover God does not leave us in the dark as to why he has done what he has done both in creation and in Redemption it’s all about his glory it’s to enjoy and show forth his satisfying glory in the gospel of Jesus Christ so the choice of Adam as our failing head was perfect for God’s glorious purposes in salvation and consequently for art will to make good so we can’t contradicts we can’t demand the next one Asian for God for why he chose this system of headship Hawaii chose Adam it was perfectly wise forgot to do so but there is a second reason the second angle first finding this question speaking of salvation God second of all is pleased to use a similar system to save us from our condemnation and this we saw in our beginning passage right well it’s not just as Adam was our head that doomed us with his curse so Christ becomes for believers a new head a new leader and representative that bears the curse for us and bears the Kris Russ and instead gives us his righteousness Adam passed on his sin to all those who are in him but Jesus passed on his righteousness and salvation to all those who we have a problem with Adam acting as a representative then we must also have a problem with Christ acting as our representative but who would want not to have crisis their representative especially in the face of such clear testimony in the Bible and in life of our sinfulness surely no one would want to refuse the benefits that come from being in Christ but before we can take Christ as our representative we must realize the horrifying curse we are under as the result of our first head Adam we all are sinners we all are doomed to die and we all are under God’s condemnation is eternal condemnation this truth and I think you can already see this has profound implications for our society this means that many efforts from government officials educators and health professionals they are doomed to fail because they assume something about man that is completely untrue they assume that man is innately good but that man can be made good with enough man-made training it’s just not not the case sidenote this truth also shows us that many of the messages from our media entertainment are completely silly how many times have movies cartoons and music encouraged us to follow our hearts be true to ourselves let our feelings guide us yes looking at you Disney those messages might work if man were naturally good at heart but in light a man’s true state these mottos are simply naive invitations to embrace our own folly and depravity now there’s one big problem though that we haven’t addressed yet and that is well we are sinful dying condemned sinners what do we do how do we make the switch and receive Christ as our head and receive his benefits make him our representative rather than really staying in Adam well Genesis 3 and 4 don’t give us much hope because from Adam and Eve’s interaction with God and Cain’s interaction of God we see that man is so sinful that when given the opportunity to confess this sin to turn from sin and to come to God for mercy what will man do he won’t he won’t come to God but alack chily run from God blame God or treat God as an enemy so our situation in Adam men is completely wretched and desperate we are so sinful that we not only rebel against God continually sinning continually but we’re so committed to our sin that we will never on our own choose to repent and be saved none of us will ever come to God and say you know what I need your help I need you to save me now we love our sin and ourselves too much that we will never do that so what hope is there for us what hope is there for you if you are in rebellion against God well we hear about that hope and Ephesians chapter 2 of course many other places in the Bible but if you ever want to talk about man’s inability to repent and what God did about it then it’s probably no better to pass this to turn to than this one visions to 1 to 9 so emphatic about man about God Ephesians 2:1 and 9 it says and you were dead in trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind or by nature children of Wrath even as the rest but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ by grace you’ve been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not as a result of works so that no one may boast now in this passage verses 1 to 3 describe our state very depressingly we look at look at these descriptions we are dead in trespasses and sins the dead thing is not able to do anything it’s dead we were trapped in the world’s pattern dominated by the Prince of the power of the air it’s another name for Satan we’re enslaved by the lust of our flesh ruled by our various desires and in our nature in our core being children of Wrath inheritors of Wrath how many ways does God need to make clear that we were completely doomed and helpless so implication in Adam if you’re strictly an Adam how many people will choose to repent and seek God 0 no one will because they’re dead but some people are nonetheless saved and how is that because of what you see starting in verse 4 first with that very very profound phrase but God the reason that some men can be saved is because God graciously intervenes even at a heart level God makes them alive he shows them undeserved favour he opens their eyes to see a reality as it really is to see the beauty of God in Christ that they might pants and believe so that they might have fame it’s just as Jesus explained to Nicodemus in chapter 3 he says Jesus says to be saved a man must be born again that’s become such a common term that we often don’t think about the metaphor but do think about it how can one be born again what child can ever accomplish his own conception could a child ever say to his parents I want you to conceive me no baby doesn’t even exist how can he cause himself to exist but that’s precisely the point no child can do that and so it is spiritually God must cause spiritual birth by himself God must provide the life-saving seed as first John says salvation is completely of God God calls God draws near God regenerates that his gives new life God sanctifies God gives faith he causes a new love for him to arise in our hearts and he grants us repentance as 2nd Timothy 2:25 sets and why do it this way so that God will get all the glory isn’t that what Ephesians 2:9 says this is so that no one will boast God does it all God shows himself to be totally worthy of the utmost worship as he displays his unfathomable patience mercy and power by accomplishing salvation on behalf of undeserving sinners he does what we could never do but we were so desperate to have him do for us so behold then God’s great kindness and power in Sovereign Grace sovereign electing grace this is cause us to praise God with man salvation is impossible but what did Jesus say to his disciples with God all things are possible Matthew 19:26 God has to do it all because original sin has made us radically depraved I know able to accomplish salvation on our own but this brings about a second question if salvation is all of God which the Bible is clear that it is and if salvation will never happen unless God accomplished it accomplishes it then what should we tell them believers is there any point and urging them to turn to Christ if they can’t do anything and God must do it all well of course of course there’s a point though God does do all the work he uses us as the means as we pray as we declare the truths of the Bible with others as we urge them to repent and believe God will through those means not because he needs them but because he’s chosen to use them we’ll draw his elect ones to be saved you know it’s it’s a common objection from those who don’t want to believe in the sovereignty of God in salvation that believing in that will kill evangelism it will destroy any motivation to evangelize because you say Oh God has to be the word but actually it’s the opposite the sovereignty of God in salvation is the only reason why we can pursue evangelism that’s the only reason that we have hope and evangelism because if you understand the heart of man as we’ve tried to understand today you know that he’s radically depraved and will never choose God but if you know that God is sovereign in bringing those whom he has chosen unto salvation then you know that your work is not in vain you know that when you go out to declare God’s Word and declare the gospel that some will respond because God is out Bert if kind of not aware no one would respond God’s sovereignty and salvation is the foundation for evangelism not a hindrance to it you know you see a really interesting intersection of God’s sovereignty in salvation and heartfelt urging to trying to believe in Jesus’s own ministry in Matthew 11 Matthew 11 verses 25 to 230 we hear this from Jesus this is Matthew 11 verses 25 to 30 consider how he brings these two ideas out these two truths God’s sovereignty and salvation but a heartfelt urging to all men to turn and believe Matthew 11:25 at that time Jesus said I praise you Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent have revealed them to infants yes father this way was well pleasing in your sight all things have been handed over to me by my father and no one knows the son except the father nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the son wills to reveal him come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light so do you see that Jesus immediately switches from thanking the Father for only saving those whom the son chooses to reveal himself to to tenderly inviting sinners listeners to come to him and faith Jesus had no problem doing that in fact he does something similar in John chapter 6 we won’t read there we won’t read what’s there but in that chapter Jesus tells the Pharisees that no one will come to him unless God first draws him and then he tells the crowd that he’s the bread of life in which they must come and choose to believe and so we do the same we proclaim the eternal gospel urging those who do not know Christ to repent to turn from their sins and believe trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior knowing all the while that only those that God himself draws will actually be able to do so they actually will do so and so I can make the same appeal to you today that we all should do to any of you listening today who have come to church yet still have not repented of your sins and received Christ as Savior and Lord you are called by God to repent and believe turn away from your love of self your love of the things of the world these things that cannot save your love of sin and embrace the God that loves sinners enough to die for them in their place I do not say to yourself maybe I’m not elect maybe God didn’t choose me don’t worry about what you cannot know what you do know is that God has called you to believe you are responsible to come to him and obey God’s call so come Oh BAE repent he will not refuse anyone who comes to him with a broken and contrite heart in fact maybe the stirring you feel in your heart or that paying in your conscience is in fact the Lord drawing you so respond to that call embrace the Lord’s call no longer cling to the deceitfulness of Synanon to comfortable lives of the world these can give you no true gain no lasting joy no security from the wrath to come instead come to the God who is he invites you to come he called you to come he commands you to come come to the God of life so that your sins might be washed away is that you might be saved from the eternal anger of God against all sin and uncleanness and don’t hide in church attendance religious works rituals even your own baptism if you’ve never repented if you’ve never turned away from your sin if you’ve never given the throne of your heart to Jesus you do not yet know him and you need to come God calls you to come now to those of you who are in Christ I hope that these truths cause you to praise God afresh he has done what was impossible for any of us to do salvation was impossible for us we were going to rot in our sin and burn forever and God’s just judgment we love wickedness but God had mercy on us and why on us particularly we don’t know we cannot tell but instead of giving us what we deserved what we ourselves wanted no sinners don’t want God and they would rather perish in judgment because they love themselves and their sin but God intervened he gave us a new heart a new desires and he’s bringing us to eternal joy with him in Christ are you moved by those truths in light of such grace from God will you not lay aside your besetting sins will you still cling to the world and the other entanglements of life in the face of such a reality will you give up all because of what God has done to make disciples to see others know God and grow in his wonderful truth that’s why he’s called you to do consider what he’s done for you to sum up today’s main points in contrast the beliefs of many in our culture all men are evil at heart continually sinning doomed to die and under God’s just condemnation they will suffer the eternal anger of God and sinfulness is so severe that he’s actually unable to repent unless God supernaturally intervenes unless God saves him man is completely lost God has mercifully chosen to save by grace or remnants and he uses his believers as ambassadors of his gospel we declare we’ve been called to declare the same message that Jesus and the Apostles declare and we trust God that God will use it in us to save whomever he has mercifully chosen I have a couple other application questions but before I get to those what questions do you have on today’s lesson yes in the back hey God from the heart what’s the connection between the fever sorry okay not the whole question but I think I’ve heard most of it your question is if we all have this in nature from Adam this corrupted heart what about all right from the nature the sinful nature what about for believers God has caused to abate from the heart God has given new life and God has regenerated that’s a great question I think the answer that question is we have the old nature with us the sin nature and that’s that’s why in Romans 7 Paul will talk about how even even though he desires to do good even though he is committed to doing good he still sins so we still do have the old sin nature with us we can still sin and it is trying to master us again but the new nature we’ve been given in Christ the Holy Spirit the the life of God in us is more powerful it is it liberates us from that old nature so though it is in us it is defeated God has given us by his Spirit the ability to not sin this is why the Bible can talk about our change of state in terms of slavery we were slaves to sin but now we are slaves of righteousness and this doesn’t mean we don’t sin anymore we still do have the capacity for sin because we are we still have that fallen nature from Adam but we’ve gained a new nature in Christ which overcomes that nature and so that is why we will be characterized if we truly truly know the Lord by righteousness by increasing sanctification so to try and sum it up some of my answer briefly we never lost the old sin nature it’s still there and that’s why we’re still tempted to sin that’s why we still do sin but God has given us new life and a new nature in Christ which is able to overcome that old nature and that’s why God calls us to sanctification that’s a good question other questions and praise God for that truth right and what a wonderful thing that we are no longer under the power of sin you may have often heard theologians say talk about what Christ has delivered us from in terms of the different aspects of sin he’s delivered us totally from the penalty of sin that’s a done deal he is delivering us from the power of sin it no longer rules in our lives but one day he will deliver us from the presence of sin will no longer be around sin we’re no longer be tempted to sin you’ll no longer have a sin nature will be glorified and we will enjoy the righteousness of God and His glory forever here are two other application questions I want to mention to you I have to do with what we’ve talked about today if someone doubts that all people are sinful from conception what evidence could you offer in response hopefully from today’s lesson you you know to go to the Bible someone says I don’t think I’m a bad person or I know some good people go to Romans 5 go to Psalm 51 go to Jeremiah 17 say look I understand from your perspective it may feel that way but God’s trustworthy Word says this but it should actually be more obvious even from looking at the world around us me just look at the newspaper you consider society or just visit a playground visit a nursery someone’s house with young children and it will become clear pretty quickly that all people are sinners even from birth even from the youth no one has to teach a child to lie steal to throw a tantrum they just know how to do it it’s part of the sin nature and it’s what we’re all born with so there’s evidence all around that we are indeed suffering from original sin one more question if saying is passed to all of Adam’s descendants why then is it important to affirm that Adam and Eve were the original parents of all people hopefully you see the implication here as well this biblical doctrine of original sin and the radical depravity that goes with it it hinges on the fact that hadn’t been he for real people and that the fall was a real event that actually occurred and Adam and Eve were not the parents of every person then what the Bible says doesn’t make sense why are we all sinners could there be a group of people who did descend from Adam why would why would should they be why should they be given a sin nature why should they inherit the curse of Adam this is because of Adam and Eve were real people and they are the first men and women and we are all the descendants from them and therefore we’ve inherited corruption but just as Adam and Eve were real Jesus really came and accomplished salvation so that those in him are really saved from Adam’s curse and corruption and saved unto God well that’s all for this week if you have other questions please email me next week we move on in the book of Genesis we’ve talked about creation talk about corruption next time talk about catastrophe that first monumental and sobering display of God’s holiness and man’s wickedness the flood judgment will have a couple of different lessons on the flood so I look forward to talking about that very important section of Scripture with you well it’s closing prayer when the Lord God as so many things are in the Bible this is both a sobering lesson but also a joyous lesson sobering Lord and tragic because we see Wow desperate our state really is Lord we were so far away from you we would never have come to you we only loved ourselves we were corrupt in every way but God so joyous because all of that you overcame you intervened in our hearts you sent your son Jesus Christ to provide redemption to pay the penalty of our sins once and for all and to reconcile us to you the Father he has accomplished them for all of those who are your chosen we thank you for your mercy toward us God he never deserved it and what we know and I hope we’re coming to know even more or just how sinful we really are lord we ought to be our breasts the same way like the tax collector did in the gospel Lord who cried out God have mercy on me the sinner I am the sinner I am a well known even the worst sinner what our hearts should all be able to testify that well we know just how how evil our desires have been how imperfect our works how hypocritical our lives lord I pray that knowing at Calvary no one listening today will continue in a life of hypocrisy God that you would be so gracious as to work in their hearts to repent to come to you in salvation and then to continue in sanctification Lord please do this for the sake of your own glory you do all things well and your glory is so wonderful and worthy glorify yourself and showing mercy to more people even those at Calvary today in Jesus name Amen thank you all look for to seeing you next week