Preached at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA on Mary 10, 2015.
Turn with me in your Bibles to Philippians 4:4-7. We will spend two weeks in these verses because I think they are extremely important for your Christian walk. Let us get right to work by reading our text, pray that God would open our hearts and then will we work through what God has revealed to us in His Holy Word.
Blaise Pascal, a French Mathmetician, in the 17th century said this: “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.” Do you agree with this? Our Founding Fathers did. In the Declaration of Independence are the famous words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” It is not only 17th century mathematicians and historical statesmen, but it is modern day therapy. Perhaps the most common question for social workers, psychiatrists, psychologist, and coffee shop counselors is “Are you happy?” There is something hardwired in every human being that craves for happiness. Every decision we make is oriented to what we believe will achieve greater happiness. Even the decisions that are difficult, are still made with the hope that when all is said and done things will be better then if we hadn’t made that decision. Unfortunately, because of sin, we seek happiness in things that will not ultimately produce happiness. I believe the parable of the prodigal son is a good illustration of this fact. The youngest Son requested his share of the inheritance and off he want into the world and “squandered his property in reckless living” until one day he found himself so broken to the point that he was coveting the food for the pigs. The youngest son’s pursuit of happiness independent of his Father left him ultimately broken and unsatisfied. This is a picture of all humanity in eyes of God. We are wired to seek joy, and absent Christ, we seek it in the troughs of pigs. Chief End of Man Changing gears, If I were to ask, according to God’s Word, what is the Chief end of man, what would you say? According to the Westminster Shorter Catechism the answer to that question is “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever.” Do you agree with this? Do you agree that, not only are you wired for joy, but God designed you to enjoy Him? Do you agree that you exist to have joy in God? When we hear of read statement like the Westminster Catechism, or some creed, we should always ask, what is the scripture behind it? We don’t just want to accept this comment wholesale just because some theologians in 1647 said it was so. We should be like the Bereans in the book of Acts who searched the scriptures to compare what is said to what we know to be true, namely, the Bible. So let us look at some text.
For those who see a relationship with God as being joyless, I say this, you don't know my God, and I would encourage you to take a good long look in the Spiritual mirror and ask some difficult questions about your salvation. For true joy is only found in God, all other joys are counterfeit. However, having said this, fullness of joy in God is not easy. Joy does not just show in at your doorstep with a little pink bow on it upon your conversion. To use a phrase from John Piper, we must fight for you, and you can see this in our text today. Command for Joy Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.” First we must recognize that this is a command. Paul is commanding the Philippian Church to rejoice. If joy came naturally for all Christians, a command would be unnecessary. Paul's command for us to rejoice tells us that joy is something that must be intentionally chosen. I wonder how often we think this way. Do you wake up each morning intentionally choosing to have joy in God. Do you implement practical things into your life that will produce joy in God? If not, why not? Most likely it is because you have never thought about it. You have never thought about Joy in God as something you work at. Most likely, you have wrongly believed that joy is based on circumstances, and you are just a passive in experiencing it. You see yourself as a victim of joy or joylessness. This is not how the Bible speaks of joy. Joy in God is something we must pursue. Second, we must recognize that joy is not optional. As I said, this is a command. Paul is commanding that early Church to rejoice. In fact we find this command of rejoice in the Lord in the midst of other commands: stand firm in the Lord, agree in the Lord, rejoice in the Lord, do not be anxious. A Christian life that does not have joy is a Christian life outside the will of God. Once again, let that sink in. Having no joy in the Lord is disobedience. We are commanded to love God. We are command to have joy in God. Pursuing Joy So this leads us to how, how do we have joy in the Lord? This morning I want to suggest five ways to pursue joy. First, we must recognize that apart from the Spirit of God in our lives, we have no hope for joy.
For those who are Christians, we must recognize that but for the Spirit of God dwelling inside us, we will never bear the fruit of joy. We cannot capture joy in our flesh, only by the Spirit of Christ that dwells in us. Therefore, step one is that we ask for joy in God. James 4:2 says, “ You do not have, because you do not ask.” We need to ask for joy, not in this world, but in the Creator of the world. Having said that, once again, this does not mean that joy will be produced in us in a passive way. Each fruit of the Spirit must be pruned to produce more. Second, we must have eyes to see Christ for who He truly is. Think about what produces happieness in your life. Is it not the value you see in something. I have happiness when I look upon my wife, for I see great value in her. I have happiness when I look upon my children, because I see great value in them. Likewise, we must see that true value of Christ. As we saw in chapter 3 of Philippians, we must see the surpassing worth of Jesus. We must stare into the face of Christ and be overwhelmed by the image of the almighty Sovereign God who hung the stars staring back at us. Third, we must recognize what Christ has done for us. Some of you may have heard this story, but several years ago I prosecuted a vehicular homicide case. It is a charge that carries 25 years in prison. The case was somewhat complicated, but like all cases that go to a jury trial, there were issues. There a few moments in life when time seems to freeze. Jury verdicts are one of those times, especially when 25 years of liberty on on the table. I still recall the look on the defendant's face when the verdict came in saying “We the jury find the defendant...not guilty.” In that moment there was nothing that could steal his happiness. I could have burned down his house, and he would have cared less. Why? Because he escaped punishment. He was free. This pales in comparison to what Christ has achieved for us of the cross. We deserve, not 25 years in prison, we deserve eternity in Hell. Because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus we escape eternal torment. We escape weeping and gnashing of teeth. We escape the unquenchable fire. We escape the out darkness. We escape the wrath of God. When we forget this, we undermine our joy. Fourth, we must see what is waiting for us. In Luke 10:20, Jesus said this to his disciples he had just sent out to do expand the Kingdom, “Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Our joy is not built upon our circumstances, it is built upon our destiny. These names are written, past tense, in this book. This book of life will be opened on the last day, the day of judgment. And all those whose names are in the book, we be ushered into the presence of God.
Conclusion So to summarize today. We are designed for joy. The source of of this joy is found only in God. As Christians we must not assume that this is automatic. We must fight for joy. WE must therefore, pray that God would help us see Christ for who he is, what he saved us from and what he saved us to. If we do this, I promise you that joy awaits.
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Preached at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA on April 19, 2015.
Open your Bibles to Philippians 3:17-21. Today we will pick up where we left off last week and continue our discussion regarding our destiny. If you recall, last week we saw that we, as followers of Christ, are to press on, and strain forward, for the goal of becoming like Jesus Christ. This goal is the preeminent, the supreme, the primary goal for all disciples of Christ. We, the servants, are to become like our Master. This is our purpose, this is our calling, this is our destiny. The reason that I say it is our destiny is because of what is found in Romans 8:29-30.
In verse 17 we see Paul say, “Brothers, join in imitating me.” If you were to have read this verse in isolation, you could have mistakenly thought that what Paul is saying is that Christians should aspire to be Paul, that Paul is the goal in which we press on, or strain towards. However, as we have seen, this is not what Paul means by saying “join in imitating me.” For Paul tells us that our ultimate goal should be to become like Christ, not Paul. In fact, this was a point of contention in the Church in Corinth.
Therefore, the question each of us must ask ourselves is, does the pattern of our life match that of Pauls? Are we entirely oriented around the person of Jesus Christ. Are we his slave? Do we preach Jesus at all times? Is He our Greatest Treasure? Is He our greatest goal? Does our manner of life, match the gospel that we claim to have embraced? Or does our life, instead pattern the world? Pattern of the World In our text, we see Paul give two options. You can join in imitating me, and pick up your cross and follow Jesus, or you can walk as enemies of the Cross. Those are your choices. You have to pick one of the other. There is no fence sitting when it comes to Jesus. So let us ask, who is an enemy of the Cross of Christ. First, we must realize that Paul is not talking about obvious enemies. He is not talking about people who hate Jesus, who deny God, who live radically sinful lives. Are these people enemies of Christ, yes, but that is not who Paul is talking about, because there is no need to warn Christians about those types of enemies. The enemies that Paul is talking about are wolves in sheep's clothing. Those people who calim to be Christians, but are not. They are the ones, that are covert enemies, and they are ones that have a potential to lead true Christians in the wrong direction. They are enemies that have their own examples of how to follow Christ, and Paul is telling the Philippians not to follow their example. So what do theses enemies look like? First, we are told their end is destruction. What does this mean? It means that they are not saved. This is important. In all local churches you will have the saved and unsaved. This is true for Philippi and for Cornerstone. Just because someone attends Church, it does not mean they are going to heaven. Here are some examples. IN Matthew 7, Jesus tells us directly that there will be some people in the Church who have never been saved.
The point I want to make is this, don't assume that just because some claims to be a Christian, that they truly are a Christian. You must use discernment before you follow them on facebook, purchase their book, read their blogs. My guess is that on judgment day, many “Christian” authors are going to be saying, “but Jesus, we wrote many books, and made a lot of money in your name.” and Jesus is going to say, “depart from me, I never knew you.” The second thing we see is Paul describing as enemy as someone whose God is their belly. Who are these people? Most likely these people are Judiazers. Remember them? These are the people who say they love Jesus, but tell everyone that you have to keep the Jewish traditions. One of those traditions were the dietary laws. These people said that unless you eat the right food, or unless you abstain from the right food, you will not be saved. Instead of serving Christ, they are serving their stomachs. They have placed their faith in tradition, not in Christ, and this is why their glory is their shame. They wrongly put confidence in the flesh to eat their way into God's presence, but in the end what that produces is nothing but the shame of their self-centered worship. Lastly, we see Paul describe enemies of the cross as those who set their minds on earthly things. Now this is where some of you will start to get uncomfortable, for God is speaking directly to you. What does it mean to set your minds on earthly things? Let's use some text to understand this?
Walk Life a Citizen of Heaven And Paul is telling us not to follow their lead, don't be lukewarm. Resist the temptation to purchase cheap grace. Refuse to be a friend of the world. Do not follow them into the pit of their destruction. Do not walk as an enemy of Christ, but instead walk as a citizen of Heaven. Live your life as if this is not your home, as if you are a sojourner just passing through. Do not put your hope in the things of this world, put you hope in God. Live as if you truly believe. Live as if Jesus is your greatest treasures. Live a life that is worthy of the Gospel that you have received. Live as if you have no fear. Live radically for Jesus Christ. Live like Paul lived who said, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” We must never forget what lies ahead of us and is spoken in verse 20 and 21, “the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” This is what we are moving towards, so imitate Paul's pattern of life and become what you already are. The reality is this, every Church has a culture. What will be ours? Will we be lukewarm? Will we be friends with the world? Will be be enemies of the cross, or will be imitate the pattern of Paul and walk like citizens of heaven. Preached at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA on April 5, 2015.
As everyone knows, today is Easter. Easter is the celebration of the singular greatest day in all of history. No day compares to what took place 2000 years ago when Jesus’ disciples went to the Garden were they had laid his body and found the stone rolled away, and they heard from the lips of Angels, “He is not here, but has risen.” In those words lie all hope. Some of you who sit here today, have “celebrated” Easter in your entire life, however you have never CELEBRATED Easter. Your celebration up to this point has been vanity, for you have not been struck in your heart by the words “He is not here, but has risen.” You have yet to experience the full and complete weight of that reality as it relates to you eternity.
To grasp the hope found in the resurrection, we must understand death. Death exists because sin exists. This is crucial to understand. Romans 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death.” Therefore, when kids ask, why do people die? The answer is because it is God’s punishment for our sin. It is the penalty for our rebellion. It is the consequence for rejecting the Author of Life. The next question is where did this sin come from? It came into the world through the first man, Adam.
What is interesting is that the first thing that physically died on this planet was not Adam or Eve. Yes, they died eventually, but not immediately. The first creature that died is found in Genesis 3:21.
From that point on we begin to see a pattern of animal sacrifices begin.
Why is this important? Why should you care about the animal sacrifice in garden , the lamb sacrifice of Abel, the ram sacrifice of Abraham, the Passover lamb sacrifice for Egypt, the consecration sacrifice of the Priest, and the yearly sacrifice on the Day of Atonement? The reason is because of Hebrews 10:1.
The Day of Atonement is just a symbol, it is an outline of the true object. This is also true for the Passover Lamb, the ram of Abraham, the lamb of Abel and the sacrifice in the Garden of Eden. Each of these things are a form of a greater reality. What is this greater reality? What is this good thing to come? Single Offering of the Body It is the good news of Jesus Christ. Look at verse 5, “Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me.” The good thing, the true substance, the object that cast the shadow is the body of Jesus Christ. This is why John the Baptist says in John 1:29, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Jesus is object that cast the shadow that we see in the Garden, with Abel, with Abraham, with Moses, and with Israel. All of these shadows point to the substance of the single offering of the body of Jesus Christ. This is the reason why Jesus came to earth...to die. He did not come to be a good moral teacher, or to lead a conservative political party. The Son of the Living God left the glory in Heaven to be the single sacrifice for all of humanity, to have his flesh torn apart and to bleed out so as to cover the shame of wretchedness, to die in our place, to cause death to Passover you, to atone for our sins. And the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cross is not like the shadow that was cast before it. The sacrifice of the Lamb of God has power. Jesus accomplished what no sacrifice accomplished before. The sacrifices of the shadow could not perfect those who draw near. This is why year after year after year these sacrifices of Israel continued, because they didn’t work. Look at verse 4, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.“ This was not their purpose. Their purpose is to point to Christ, for it is only the blood of Jesus that can take away our sins. Perfected for All Time Look with me at verse 12-14, “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Let’s read it one more time and let these words sink in. Once again, we see a single sacrifice. The death of Jesus happened one time and one time only. It is blasphemy to say that Jesus is sacrificed over and over again. What did Jesus do after he offered his body for sin? He sat down. Now compare this to verse 11, “And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.” But when Christ offers his body, instead of continueing to stand, what does he do? He sits down. Why? Because when Jesus offered himself the work was completed. It was done. There was nothing left to do to pay for your sins. The blood of Christ was sufficient to pay your debt to God. This is why Jesus cries out “It is finished” right before he dies on the cross. He had accomplished what he set out to do. Which is what? To perfect you. Verse 14, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” It is by the single offering of the body of Christ that you go from sinner to sinless. 1 John 1:7 says, “the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” It is not our blood and sweat that takes away sin. It is only the blood of Jesus that has this power. Ephesians 1:7, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” It is the blood of Christ that provides redemption, that provides forgiveness. It is grace alone. Romans 3:23, “or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” The one and only way that you are justified before God is through redemption that is found in the blood of Jesus. There is no other way to deal with your sin issue. The body of Christ is the only solution, He is your only hope, and his body is sufficient to pay for all your sins. Why is this important? It is important because some of you have been taught by false teachers. Some of you have sat in a religion that does not preach and teach Hebrews 10, 1 John 1, Ephesians 1, Romans 3. You have been wrongly taught that Jesus sacrifice was necessary, but that it was not sufficient. Do you hear the difference? Necessary and sufficient are not the same words. There difference makes all the difference. You have been wrongly taught that you have to atone for some of your own sins; you have been wrongly taught that Jesus’ blood didn’t perfect you for all time; you were wrongly taught that you have not been justified by grace. Instead you were told that you have to perform some penance to absolve you from your sins, whether that be hail Mary’s, the Lord’s Prayer, communion, confession, church attendance, etc. The Bible speaks of none of these things having the power to pay for your sin. No sacrifice that you perform can pay the debt that you owe God. The bible is abundantly clear that it is Christ alone; so stop attempting to earn your forgiveness, for you can’t. Instead find refuge in the single sacrifice of Christ The Resurrection is the Proof So what does this have to do with the resurrection? How is the empty tomb connected to the sufficient work of Jesus Christ on the cross? Everything.
No legitimate scholar debates the life of Jesus. It is almost universally excepted that Jesus existed. It is not a question of his existence. The question is, “Is He the Lamb of god who comes to take away the sin of the world.” That is what each one of you have to determine. Who do you say that Jesus is? If his bones lie in a tomb, then eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die, but if he has risen, and He has overcome our greatest problem, death, then I encourage you to listen to what he has to say. The Lord’s Supper Today we will celebrate the sufficiency of the body of Christ by remembering what he has done for us by eating bread and drinking juice.
This table is open to every follower of Christ. However, if you have not turned and placed your faith in the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice, then this table is not for you. However, I pray that by the Grace of God someday it will be. Preached at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA on December 7, 2014.
Turn with me to Matthew 4:12-17. Today we are beginning a new sermon series at Cornerstone Church, so for those who are visiting today, you picked a perfect opportunity to come. It is my hope that what you hear today will draw you back next week to find out more about what God has to say to you this Christmas season. The title of this sermon series is “The Weight of Darkness.” The purpose of this series is to help you feel the magnitude of what we are celebrating in Christmas. I worry that December, for many of us, becomes white noise, in that we have so much going on and so much familiarity when it comes to the Christmas season, that we fail to feel the eternal weight of the reality that God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. The text that we will use for the next four messages is Matthew 4:12-17. So let us read out text, pray, and unpack what it says.
Because most people do not believe this child is relevant to their life. They do not see how a man that was born 2000 years ago on the other side of the planet changes anything for them. This is why Christ is no longer in Christmas. People are rational creatures, they make decisions based on pros and cons. When looking to Christ they see no benefit, but only cost. God made us reasonable, therefore we pursue what we believe to be the highest reward. And for the world, Jesus is not the highest reward, therefore he gets tossed to the curb. The reason people do not see Jesus to have value is that they do not feel the weight of darkness.
God uses this the theme of darkness throughout scripture, from beginning to end. It is like a thread that weaves its way through each book of the Bible. If you have time, do a word study on darkness, it is very interesting. In general we all know what darkness is, it is merely the absence of light. If there is light, then there is no darkness. The more light that shines the less darkness there is. Perhaps some of you have been in a cave before and you or your guide turns out all the lights so that you can experience the darkness. Deep in the earth with no street lights, headlights, building lights, stars or moon, you experience full darkness and it is dark. You can almost feel the weight of the darkness. It is immediately uncomfortable. It is this contrast between darkness and light that God uses to help us understand the relationship that exists, or does not exist, between God and man. The analogy of darkness and light is easy to understand. For God is light and the absence of Him is darkness.
The reason for this darkness is sin. Because of man's sin, God has withdrawn from the world and therefore darkness reigns. This domain of darkness began when the in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God. To continue with my cave illustration, they followed the Prince of Darkness, Satan, into the mouth of the cave. And ever sense that moment, humanity has been stuck in that cave. Every child that has been born sense that time has been born in that cave, in the darkness. Here is the problem. You would think that we would want to come out of the cave and get out of the darkness and live in the light, but that is not the case. We love the darkness. Jesus says this plainly in John 3:19.
Darkness Produces Futility
One consequence of this darkness is futility. The word in the greek is mataioō, which means vanity, empty, foolish, useless, no purpose. A person who lives in darkness is all of these things. I want you to go back and think about standing in that cave again, with absolutely no light. Then I want you to imagine me asking you to bake me a cake. Could you do it? Absolutely not. You would wander around for hours looking for flour, eggs, milk, a bowl, a spoon, the oven. Measuring when be near impossible. You could spend weeks and weeks trying to make this cake and and you would fail every time. Why? Because you are in darkness. This is the reality of you if you live independent of Christ, the light. Jesus says that “apart from me you can do nothing.” Absolutely nothing. I don't care how much money you make, what mountains you have climbed, what degrees you hang on your wall, it is all worthless, apart from Christ. On judgment day all those things you have done independent of Christ will be burnt to ashes. Without the light of Jesus Christ, you are wandering around aimlessly, everything in your life is meaningless. Your marriage, your job, your home, your hobbies, your existence is empty, it is void. You are wasting your life. What is interesting is that everyone can feel it. We can all feel the longing for purpose. We want our life to have meaning. We don't want to be some random event in the cosmos. We want our lives to count for something. This can only happen if you walk out of the darkness and to the light of Jesus Christ. For it is only in laying down your life at the foot of the cross that you will have life, and have it abundant. It is only Jesus who can give you purpose. It is only Jesus who can lay out the plans He has for you, plans for welfare and not for evil, and to give you a future and a hope. As long as you live in the domain of darkness, as long as your foolish heart is darkened, everything you do, is eternally pointless.
Not only that but this darkness is oppressive. It is like a weight pushing down on our chest, suffocating us. This darkness produces in us, anxiety, fear, depression, and anger. We try to numb the pain with drugs, alcohol, food, jobs, sex, entertainment, money, and stuff. But these things are merely treating the symptom, not curing the disease. The pursuit of earthly pleasures just intensifies the darkness. The only thing that pushes back the darkness is the light of Jesus Christ. Darkness flees from his presence. If you are tired of carrying the weight of darkness in your life, cry out to God that he would shine the light of Jesus into your heart today. I want you to walk down memory lane and think about the worst you have ever felt. A time when you cried yourself to sleep, maybe even a time where you desired to die. Now imagine that pain magnified by thousands and experiencing it for all eternity. Meaning in a million years, you are not any closer to that pain ending. That is Hell. That is the outer darkness, and that is waiting for each and every person who chooses to love the darkness, instead of the light of Christ. Conclusion There are two ways out of this present darkness of this world. One way leads you deeper and deeper into the cave until you reach the dungeons Satan, the lake of fire. When you arrive, you are there forever. I wish this on no man. The second way out of the cave is through the blood of Jesus Christ. This is what his coming to this earth achieved for us. Emmanuel came to free us from the chains that imprison us to the domain of darkness, and place us instead in the Kingdom of the Beloved Son. A kingdom that is exploding with light and truth and joy and life, and this is why we celebrate Christmas. This is why the coming of this child is good news of great joy. This is why Jesus is relevant to your life. If you believe that you are currently living in darkness, seperate from God, do not wait for tomorrow, cry out to God and beg him to shine the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ into you heart right now. Beg him to open up your eyes to the reality of the darkness that surrounds you and the beauty that is Jesus. Plead with him to open up your heart to receive the Gospel seed so that you can bear fruit to His Glory and your good. Do not wait for tomorrow, for tomorrow you may wake up in Hell, and in Hell there is no hope. Preached at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA on October 19, 2014
Turn in your Bibles to Ephesians 2:1-3. Today I will jump right into reading our text, we will pray, and then we will study the scriptures.
Last week, I spent 45 minutes basically reading the Bible to you. If my counting is right, I quoted from 16 different books in the Bible, ten Old Testament and six New Testament. In one sense, it was one of the easiest sermons I had written, because it was just cut and paste. However, in another sense it was painstaking because the whole Bible points to the reality that God is sovereign over everything. I had to leave a lot of text on the cutting room floor. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that God is in control of all things, from the dice in Vegas to the hearts the Kings. It is all under his command. The reason for this is that, once again, God has a purpose, His glory.
With those two weeks under our belt, whether you are ready of not, we will step into the five points of the Doctrines of Grace: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. The easiest ways to remember these is the acronym TULIP. Today I am going to cover the doctrine of Total Depravity. The Beginning of Sin Total Depravity is about sin. So let us begin at the beginning of sin. Turn with me Genesis 3:1-6
After Satan’s fall, which Jesus speaks about in Luke 10:18, “"I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” Satan shows up in the Soverign Creator’s Garden and tempts Adam and Eve to disobey the Soverign God. Up until this point everything was, according to God, “very good.” The freedom of their will was a freedom from the slavery of sin. In that freedom, Satan tempted Eve and she took the bait. She then offered it to Adam, and he took the bait, and at that moment their eyes were open to good and evil, and they lost their freedom in God and exchanged it for slavery to sin. The Global Spread of Sin From that point on, everything changed. No longer was everything “very good.” Everything was very bad. Through the sin of Adam, sin spread everywhere.
The Totality of Sin If we turn back to Genesis and listen to God’s warning to Adam and Eve about disobeying him, what does he say?
The Desperation of Sin and the Praise of God's Glorious Grace So where does this leave us? Exactly where God wants us, at a point of desperation. I believe that there is one word that sums up our total depravity, wretched. This is one of the most important revelations any person can have. And this is why Satan hates it. Satan does not want you to know that your heart is desperately sick. He wants to drug you with the world's morphine of self-worth. He wants to keep your from the Great Physician. Satan loves to whisper in your ear, you are awesome. Tickling your ears in his hospice for Hell. And I am here today saying, I will not side with Satan. I side with God's Word. I side with Paul who said:
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