Sovereign Grace Bible Church
These are the sermons and teachings of Sovereign Grace Bible Church in Biggsville, Illinois. We exist to fulfill the Great Commission through the Great Commandment within Gospel Community.
Sovereign Grace Bible Church
The Radical Corruption That Makes Grace Necessary
The concept of radical corruption challenges our cultural narrative of self-sufficiency and innate goodness. This powerful teaching explores the uncomfortable yet transformative truth about our spiritual condition apart from Christ – we aren't merely sick or struggling, but spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins.
Through a careful examination of Ephesians 2:1-5, we unpack both total depravity (sin's corruption of every aspect of our being) and total inability (our complete helplessness to save ourselves). These doctrines aren't new or trendy – they represent historic Christianity dating back through figures like Charles Spurgeon and the Reformers to the apostles themselves.
The reality of our radical corruption explains why we naturally follow "the course of this world" and why our hearts consistently deceive us. As Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it?" We distinguish between free agency (making choices according to our desires) and true free will (which sin has corrupted), helping us understand why Jesus said we must be "born again."
Far from leading to despair, understanding our radical corruption actually produces profound gratitude. When we grasp that we were dead – not just drowning – in our sin, the amazing grace of God shines brighter than ever. Those two powerful words in Ephesians 2:4, "But God," become the most beautiful phrase in Scripture. He saved us not because we were lovable or because we took the first step, but because He is "rich in mercy" and loved us with a "great love."
This teaching reminds us that church isn't a social club for the well-behaved but a hospital for the spiritually sick. We all come to the cross on the same level – as children of wrath made alive by grace alone. Let this reality deepen your worship, strengthen your resistance to temptation, and fill you with gratitude for the God who saved you when you could not save yourself.
Good morning. Go ahead and turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians, chapter 2. Ephesians, chapter 2, and we'll be focusing at the beginning here on the first three verses of Ephesians. And we are in our second of our acronym right. We have the acronym GRACE for this series that we're currently in. We began last week with God's sovereignty and election, and this week we have radical corruption, and that's to do with what is true about you and I from the moment of our conception.
Speaker 1:Now, some people would look at these doctrines that we're teaching and would say they're controversial or hard to understand or can even be offensive at times. And I would point you, primarily in my heart and mind, to the man that I've probably learned the most from in all of my ministry, who on March 18th 1861, began a five-week series through the doctrines of grace to establish the Metropolitan Tabernacle on a scriptural and solid doctrinal foundation, and that was Charles Spurgeon. And so we follow footsteps that are much greater than ours, much bigger than ours. This is not new, it's not fancy, it's not trying to be trendy. This is actually old, historic Christianity that we're going to go through in this series. So we began with God's sovereignty and election. That was him being in control of all things and how. That's a good thing for you and I. Well, if you didn't believe all the way at the end of last week, you definitely will by the end of this week as we see our desperate need, our total inability to save ourselves. It creates this gratitude and worship and thankfulness to God for the fact that he would save us when we are unable. So you'll see, in your slides I actually have the first five verses highlighted there in Ephesians 2.
Speaker 1:We'll read the first three and then we'll dive in. This is God's holy word. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Now, as you get to these words, it's very easy to become uncomfortable or confused. That's a natural human reaction. When it says you were dead, we kind of look at that and we say no, I have been alive, I will have. You know, I am breathing and I have always been breathing for as long as I can remember. So what does it mean to be dead in trespasses and sins? So what we're going to do is we're going to actually go through the rest of your slides almost to the end, and then we'll pop back here and go, verse by verse, through this kind of like last week.
Speaker 1:So if you look at your second slide there it says what is radical corruption? Let's define terms here. When we say radical corruption, we mean two things Number one, we mean total depravity, and number two, we mean total inability. So total depravity refers to the extent of our corruption. It's the idea that sin corrupts every aspect of humanity and taints everything that we think, say and do. The word depravity comes from a Latin word that means to be in a state of corruption or distortion, the idea being here that no aspect of our personhood has escaped the corruption of sin. One of the things that we very clearly want to differentiate here, make a distinction, is we're not saying that we are utterly depraved, we're not saying that we are as sinful as we possibly could be, because you'll say look, I saw someone today and I didn't kick them so like that's proof that I don't sin all the time. Right, and we would say, yes, it is. That is God's common grace to all of human beings, that you and I have a conscience, that we have a civil government, that there are rules and regulations God has established to restrain the natural sin that is within us.
Speaker 1:And one of the thought experiments of our day and age has been the idea of what if, for 24 hours, there was no rules, there was no accountability. What would the world do? Would they just say, okay, let's go get some tea and sit down and relax by the fire, because there's no rules for this day? Is that how humanity naturally responds? Is that what the movies say, as the people are trying to think creatively about how the world would react to that. And you and I know from the youngest age that sin is the most effective and efficient with no accountability and no publicity. And no publicity when there's no vision line of anyone else to see my sin, and I don't think there will be any consequence of it. I am so much more likely to do it, even today as a Christian. How much more so if I did not have the Spirit of God living within me. You see, we all know that this is true. We all know sin ruins everything, and that has to do with my life as well.
Speaker 1:But we don't want to just stop here at total depravity. Radical corruption also includes total inability. So the total again refers to the extent of our inability. We're not mostly unable, we are totally, completely unable to save ourselves. There are no aspects of our mind, will or soul which are free and able to choose righteousness on our own. And that will probably plug a little bit where you say okay, I need some explanation if I'm going to believe that, because I make choices all the time. We'll get to that in just a moment. I want you to see this radical corruption explained in Scripture Romans 3, 10 through 12 and 18 is just going to give us a little smattering of this.
Speaker 1:As it is written, none is righteous, no, not one. No one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside Together. They have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. There is no fear of God before their eyes, and that truly is the essence of choosing to sin. Why, in the dark, are we more likely to sin? Well, because we create this idea, this creative caricature where we say God can't see me in my room by myself with the lights off. God doesn't know what happens in that building over there because my friends don't go over there. My social media account is private and so those that are not my friends can't see it, and God is not my friend on Facebook. We, we have this crazy concept that we choose to believe. That logically makes no sense, and it's because there's a lack of fear of God. The world is defined by this. There's no one that is righteous, no one understands, no one even seeks.
Speaker 1:Okay, all of this comes back to the concept of original sin, because we have to understand where is this spring of corruption coming from? Original sin. We're going to point in two directions, and then we'll go to the scripture. That will explain this a little bit. Number one is the imputation of Adam's guilt and the transmission of Adam's sin. So the first aspect here is the imputation, which is to be covered by something else, to be credited, to be counted as or to be blamed as something else. So through Adam's sin, we have all been declared guilty, stand condemned and rightfully received the punishment of death.
Speaker 1:Let me go, pauline, on you for a second, you'll say to me but that's not fair, I wasn't at the Garden of Eden, I wouldn't have ate the fruit. And I would say to you, number one, adam was the strongest of us, he was the most pure. He walked with God daily. He had every pleasure completely fulfilled in life. He had every pleasure completely fulfilled in life. He had no aches, no pains. He had perfect understanding of things. He named all of the animals, the original names.
Speaker 1:And you're gonna tell me that guy was a nincompoop, like that guy was like the seven. Okay, I'm a 10. I got this. I would have done better. And in that again we underestimate our weakness. No, no, no, no, no, no, you and I would have done worse.
Speaker 1:Okay, how many generations are we away from what God called very good Many? And did Adam have sin at the time that he was tempted? No, he had no sinful nature. And also to that you'll say how is it fair that one man's sin covers me? To which I would respond no one is upset when I say one man's death will save you for all of eternity. No, it's like, oh, that's not fair. Like Jesus only died one time. Like he only died one time, there's only so much blood, like I don't know if it's going to cover everybody, like I don't agree with this. It's not fair.
Speaker 1:God Ain't nobody arguing with God about the imputation of Christ's righteousness covering us. It's called justification. No one's arguing against that. But we will argue against this guilt thing. I don't like being called guilty but you call me righteous and I'll take that all day. So we have this imputation of Adam's guilt, this covering of Adam's guilt, but we also have the transmission of Adam's sin. So not only are we declared guilty, but we are now born with a sinful nature that's handed down to us by Adam and all who followed my favorite way to prove that is actually going to Genesis, I think it's five, where it says and Adam begat a son in his likeness and you know what the rest of the chapter says and he died, and he died and he died. The chapter's called and he Died. I'm pretty sure that's the title of the chapter.
Speaker 1:Now, why is that important? Well, because now, second paragraph. There, our nature is inherently at war with God. It produces only unrighteousness and is controlled by the passion of our lusts. That's why you can see like small children, and like the one sees a toy, the other one has, and you can like see this like they're almost trying to restrain themselves, and if they see you watching they'll restrain more. But even sometimes, when you're watching, they'll still like creep over and like hit them on the head and grab the toy real quick. Why? Because they're controlled by the passion of their lusts. You and I wrestle with that daily. Even as a Christian, I wrestle with the passion of my lust because this flesh is tainted by sin. So where does this come from Scripturally? Again, you don't want my opinion, you want God's word.
Speaker 1:Romans, chapter 5, verses 12, 18, and 19. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man okay, how many men? Yeah, one man and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned, one man sinned, all sinned. You say it's not fair. I say we go back to last week. Who are you, old man, to sit in the judgment seat against God? Well, what's created? Look at the creator and say what have you done to me? I wanted to be a sled and you made me a table. Hopefully not Verse 18,. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. Look at that. Good news. One guy messes up everyone is Good news. One guy got back on the boat and said I can fix everything. That's amazing, verse 19,. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's talk about identity real quick. Okay, most of you in this room will identify as a Christian. Right, my life is all for God. This whole thing is for him. He has saved me, redeemed my life from the pit, whatever he wants he can have because I am his. You and I will look at this with our legalistic mindset and our very terrible interpretation skills and we'll say, okay, yep, well, I know it says that technically, one man's obedience made me righteous, but I don't feel righteous. So I'm going to say I probably need to kick myself a little bit and go through a bout of anxiety and depression, worrying about my performance right now, because I, as a human being, am very tempted, as are all of you, to judge my justification, that is, my salvation from the penalty of sin, by my sanctification. How much am I currently being saved from the power of sin in my life If I am at a good day right, I haven't yelled at my kids.
Speaker 1:Once my wife was having a hard time and I just loved her through it. At work I stubbed my toe and no one would have even known. Like I have just had an angelic day. On those days someone says you're righteous in God and you're like I know I am. You ain't gonna tell me, man, like I use self-control like seven times a day.
Speaker 1:What do we do on the bad days? What about the days when you fail? What about the days when you fail again and again? Does God still forgive? Then? Our justification is static. It stays. That means that when one man was obedient, when Christ was obedient to the point of death, you and I are secure forever. So I can be the biggest idiot in the entire world and God's love for me doesn't change. My security is not moved, and thank God for that, because I can go through seasons where it feels like I wake up with the stamp failure on my forehead. Thank God he does the work.
Speaker 1:Now you'll say, well, it's really just the sin outside me. That's the problem. If the world didn't tempt me, I'd be fine, right, if there was no Satan and there was no world system with all their flashy stuff that they got. I'd be good let's read Jesus' words in Mark, chapter 7, verses 20 through 23. And he'll explain to us what defiles a man, what makes a man corrupt Verse 20,. And he said what comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within the person, out of the heart of man, come what Evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness All these evil things come from within and they defile a person. See, jesus was proving a point there, because they're arguing about food at the time and they're like you can't do that food because that food's dirty and that will make you unholy in God's eyes. And Jesus says you missed the entire point here. What is inside of you is what's defiling you. These acts of worship on the outside are for training your heart from the inside. They don't replace. You can't do the stuff on the outside without fixing the inside. Because then Jesus looks at you and I and says you whitewashed tomb, you're full of dead man's bones, got a nice shiny white outside Actually. What's really funny? Actually I'm looking around the room and I've counseled multiple of you on this.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's just get the whole party involved here. Sunday morning worship service is not a time for you to gather with other people and to look your absolute best and be on your absolute best behavior and have all of your T's crossed and your eyes dotted. And the kids are super well behaved and there was no arguments on the way to church. That is a lie. It's not true. This is not a social club and if it was, I would be the first one kicked out. This is the dressiest I get. You guys know me. I wouldn't fit in.
Speaker 1:The church is not a social club. It's a hospital. It's where sick and dying people come to get healing from God and we return the favor with worship. Not that God needs our worship, it's actually good for us. Not that God needs our worship, it's actually good for us. You and I are healed through being grateful. Everyone is welcome at church, because church isn't for the people that did all the right things yesterday. It's for the people that have put their faith and trust in Jesus, no matter how many wrong decisions they've made.
Speaker 1:You come in here stinky. You come in here sad. You come in here crying and having a fit for all I care and we will hold you and we'll carry you to the foot of the cross and say he is the answer. There's nothing else. We have nothing else to give you. My personality will not fix it. Growing this church to 500 people won't fix it. The only fix is Jesus Now continuing my Pauline argument. You'll say to me but what about my free will, dan? I choose things all the time. I can choose God.
Speaker 1:This is where we have to define terms, because we get free will and free agency mixed up. So let's define the terms. Man's free will is the ability to choose all of the moral options that a situation has to offer. Original sin has robbed us of our free will. We have no natural ability to discern and choose God's way because we have no natural Godward inclination. Okay, so you might still be arguing with me saying no, no, I choose things still Like.
Speaker 1:I wore this shirt and I came here at this time and we were three minutes early, and that was totally intentional. Man's free agency this will help you out. All humans are free agents. What that means? We make our own decisions according to what pleases us within the bounds of our personal sense of right and wrong and whatever internal inclinations we may feel. So here's the issue. The issue is not that you're not a free agent. You are naturally. You have a free agency about you because you're human. You think through things, you have logic and discernment, maybe a little bit of wisdom, and you use all those things and you make decisions and you live your life. You decided you wanted to wear that instead of that because it's more comfy or it's pretty, or whatever. We do that all the time, but man's free will is not perfectly free. Let me give you a great example that might help you. That can only happen because we live in the 21st century.
Speaker 1:I was sent a well, it's either a funny or a sad video, depending on your temperament currently this week, and in the video there were these two gentlemen in the front seat of a car. They got pulled over by a police officer and the police officer comes to the door and says license and registration please. And the person in the driver's seat starts freaking out on. The police officer Says how dare you? I do not identify as a man, I identify as a cat. I'm not kidding, this is legit. And so the police officer's trying to work through this with them and says okay, fine, is that your owner? Then, is he your owner. How dare you call him? He? That's not a, he, that's a whatever. Okay, fine, let's do this the hard way, guys. And so he looks at them and says so, a cat is not legally authorized to drive a vehicle, so I'm going to have to take you to the pound and you'll have to get all of the up-to-date shots and we'll have to update your tags, and your owner can pay $150 to come pick you up, would you like that? And it's this hilarious, like reality check moment where the person in the driver's seat looks over to the person in the passenger seat and says what do we do? It's this beautiful thing.
Speaker 1:Now, here's what I'm trying to prove you, and I will argue free will, like people do with identifying today, like I can identify as whatever you want you're like. You could choose to think, you can choose to feel, but that doesn't change you. Same thing here with salvation, same thing with your nature. You can think all you want, you can feel all you want. You cannot change. That is why Jesus said you have to be born again.
Speaker 1:We go to John, chapter three. And why is Nicodemus so confused? It's not because Jesus is using word pictures, it's because what he is saying is profound. The whole of me has to go away and a whole new me has to come back. And again, we know from the letters to the Corinthians that what is spiritual cannot be understood by the world. The world lacks the capacity to understand the Bible, to understand spiritual truth. They have been blinded by the devil. They are unable to see, they have deaf ears, they are mute, unable to engage.
Speaker 1:Now a helpful explanation of free will would go into what's called. Oh wait, we got to hit this first. Sorry, sorry, sorry, I got to hit myself. Got to continue my Pauline argument. You'll say to me but, dan, I've been told to follow my heart. I've been told to follow my heart. I've been told that my feelings are validated and I must do whatever feels right to me. And we would say Jeremiah 17, 9,.
Speaker 1:The heart is deceitful above all things. How many things? Yeah, that's not just some or most, that's everything. Right, as we say. That's the expanded version of everything, like where you include this earth thing. We got it all.
Speaker 1:The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? The verse after that says only God can understand it. That's it. So we look at our hearts right and so this is great for like marriage counseling, family counseling, life counseling. We get into a spot and we feel something and we're like we can feel it and we have to say I can't trust this feeling. Why? Because my heart will lie to me and say you don't deserve this. You need to get even, you need to fight back, you need to talk about that person negatively because they did mean things and we say no, no, no, I can't trust my heart. My heart is a terrible litmus test. If it was a compass and I wanted it to point true north, it would point south. It's the opposite of what I need. My feelings will lie to me and point me in the opposite direction because it's desperately sick.
Speaker 1:Now man's free will. This may help a little bit for understanding. It's called the fourfold state of man's free will. Number one is before the fall. So before the fall, this is Adam and Eve. Man was able to choose God but was changeable and could fall from grace. Now, post-fall. So after the fall of Adam and Eve, man is unable and unwilling to choose God. Under grace means once we're saved. When we're saved now, man has a renewed but imperfect ability to choose God.
Speaker 1:Everyone that has a hard time with legalism or being self-deprecating and detrimental. Go ahead and highlight the word imperfect there. That will be very helpful. Okay, yeah, all five of you smiled at me. Okay, the last one's in glory. This is what we hope for. Is that one day man will have a perfect and unchangeable ability to choose God. That is our blessed hope is that this life is not forever. This one's temporary. I'm going to where I'm supposed to go.
Speaker 1:I am a pilgrim and all of this sin you'll say all of this sin, talking negativity, it's weighing me down. What's the point, we'd say the point of that negative feeling is to help you to get lodged a little bit more loose from the things you're desperately holding onto in this life, whether it be possessions or people power, whatever it is. God is graciously wrenching you away from the idols you continue to hold on to in this life and reminding you your hope is not in this world. You're a pilgrim passing through.
Speaker 1:If you and I started a road trip across the United States and we're traveling through the states and we get to Missouri and we're going through, and halfway through someone says man, something just terribly awful has happened in Missouri and it's 125 degrees. It's going to be awful. As you drive through there, your car is going to barely make it. Also, your air conditioning doesn't work. We'd be like, oh my gosh, this is awful. I don't know if it gets much worse than this. But you know, what you and I can hold on to Is that our cross-country road trip isn't just Missouri, it continues and we'll get on the West Coast and we could run into the water for all I care.
Speaker 1:But the point is, you and I have to look at life that way. When life is terrible which it will be sometimes God is reminding you to depend on him and on eternity. So let's go all the way back to Ephesians, chapter 2, and now we're ready to receive God's word. Here it says and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, we'll stop there. What does it mean to be dead in trespasses and sins? To be dead in trespasses and sins Again.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you've heard those gospel calls before where someone's like you're drowning, someone's throwing out a life raft and they're trying to save you. Votie Bauckham is one of my heroes in life and he had the greatest response ever, which was people are like. You need to just reach out and grab it. And Votie Bauckham looked at everybody and said dead men don't grab. Like, let's let that sit for a second. Dead men, don't grab. See, you and I? Here's the deal, you and I.
Speaker 1:Again, it's like your prayer life. Again, I always tell you if you're praying a lot, that's showing that you're dependent on God. As soon as you get overly pragmatic with your life and you're like, no, I can figure this out, and that your prayer life starts to go down. Why? Because we're depending on God less to get our job done, to get life done, to succeed in this life. Similar sense here you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked.
Speaker 1:You and I will look at that and we have options here. You and I can say number one to be dead in trespasses and sins could mean people just need help, right, they need medicine, they need encouragement, they need love and that will fix all the things. Now we can't do that. But here's what happens whenever we begin to pray for somebody, we don't say god, could you just help them a little bit, could you? Could you just pick them up a little bit and just like, just help them a little bit. Could you just pick them up a little bit and just give them that little push. What do we say? God, please save them. You see, once we become desperate in our prayers, we all of a sudden believe God's sovereign. We're like God, you gotta do this Before that we become pragmatic and problem solvers who say how can I get you in the right corner where I could shove the gospel down your throat and get you to say, yes, you and I can't save people, only God does that.
Speaker 1:Why? Because we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Greatest thing I want you to think of when you think of dead and trespasses and sins means we're unable to respond. A dead body you could kick it, you could cry over it, you could do whatever you want it's unable to respond. Which is why and you and I I did not, I don't think, fully believe this until I had, like a meeting with somebody who was definitely not a Christian and I presented the gospel and it was the first time I felt really confident. I had like said it persuasively and clearly and concisely and I was like I nailed it, we did it. And the person was like, yeah, but like what about my skateboard and the person was like yeah, but like what about my skateboard? And I was like, oh, no, what happened? No, no, I threw the ball, you hit that's, that's the goal. I threw it right down the middle and you threw the bat away. You can't do that. You and I don't believe this. Until we get to that moment and we say I presented the gospel to somebody and they acted like I spoke Swahili to them, like I said I'm starting to believe this. Now I got it. Okay, I got it, but I'm dense.
Speaker 1:So it took me that long and that many failures to really understand people are dead in their trespasses and sins. So in which you once walked verse 2, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Okay, so what does sin look like in this world? Well, by golly, satan's had a couple thousand years at least, if not more, to build like a tycoon of roller coaster options and fun funnel cakes for you to enjoy in this sinful carnival called the world system, and by golly, he's gotten really good at it. So here's what happens you and I are walking in this world and the devil can't make me sin. He can't like grab me, control me and pick me up, and there you go, you did it. He can't do that. But what can he do? He can know the sin in me better than I know it and he could put something on the other side of me that, like a magnet, will pull me directly to it.
Speaker 1:That's the world system. That's every advertisement and entertainment you've engaged with this last week. That's every conversation, communication you've had this last week, every situation you've put yourself in. There is temptation all around you, and you and I don't realize that as well. Until we have this doctrine down pat and we say, oh, no, no, no, the course of this world, the system that's all around me, that I cannot escape, right? You can't run into the woods and build a cabin and get away from the world system. It doesn't work like that. It is being run by Satan. He is the one that is organizing it and orchestrating it in a terrible symphony.
Speaker 1:Now that spirit is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Now, the first time I read that I was like man. Those people sound bad, like these sons of disobedience and later on, like those children of wrath, I was like those are bad people. I don't know who those are, but like you were dead and like those people are over there, those sons of disobedience. That's you and me, and really, in the Greek, what it's trying to do is a person characterized by this. That's all it's trying to say the wrath portion and the disobedience. It's a person characterized by this, so similar to like if someone steals something, we'd call them a burglar or a thief. We're being called disobedient people, children of God in this moment.
Speaker 1:Verse three here, among whom we all once lived. Who Was it? We all, yeah, we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature, children of wrath like the rest of mankind. Children of wrath like the rest of mankind, all of mankind, according to God, are naturally children of wrath. That means children under God's wrath. We said that in John's gospel, like a year ago we talked about how, if we understood the gospel appropriately, we would walk around seeing that over every single person there's this boiling cauldron of God's wrath hanging over their head, waiting to pour over them. And you and I have to care enough to say they're not promised tomorrow. So I need to see that and have some urgency and reach out to them with the gospel. This also helps to create an even playing field. You and I are very good religious critics. We're fantastic at it.
Speaker 1:The sins I don't struggle with, you probably struggle with. And so let's say that you have a problem with whatever over-talking. Right, you're in a conversation and you're a terrible listener and you just talk and talk and talk and the other person tries to talk and you In that moment if I'm a better listener, I've never struggled with that. Don't elbow each other. I will look at you naturally in my soul and say, wow, really, at your age, in your maturity, you can't sit there and listen to somebody. Really, you know what I won't think of the fact that I struggle with this thing over here, that you would do the exact same thing with me. Be like, really, you struggle with that.
Speaker 1:I think it was Jonathan Edwards that said it, but others have said it many times that it is much, much easier John Owen definitely said it. It's much easier to point out a thousand sins in someone else's life than it is to put one to death in our own life, and you and I need that reminder. We need that reality check, that I am really good at criticizing everybody else and I'm very bad at constructively not destructively constructively looking at my sin and putting it to death. And this is where we get to the best part of the text, verse four. But God so when you and I were dead and we had nothing and we were disobedient and children of wrath following our passions, god, in spite of you and I. Why? Because he was rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, not because you and I were the lovable teddy bear, but because he chose to love.
Speaker 1:We've talked about that with marriage counseling before, in sermons of the husband that says like I don't love my wife anymore, and we say it's a command, like that was the end of the conversation. I don't want to hear any. It's a command so you can obey God or you can sin. Those are your two options. No, no, she treats me this way. Okay, I don't think you understood. It's a command Like husbands, love your wives. There's no disclaimer, there's no qualifications, there's no. Well, actually, it is just a simple, explicit command from God Love your wives. God chose to love you and I Even verse five when we were dead in our trespasses, when I had nothing to offer God, he gave me everything, and he gave up everything for me to have everything with him.
Speaker 1:What did he do? He made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. He didn't just like pick us up and put us in a safer spot. He didn't save us and say, okay, now you can go ahead and be the guy that watches the gate at heaven and we'll throw food out to you every now and then. No, no, no, he made us alive together with Christ. You and I are one with Christ, and that is why we can look at this and say by grace, you have been saved. What is grace? Grace is unearned favor. So let's end with application. We have two applications. Those are your last two slides. You'll say to me okay, all the people in my community are spiritually dead. Then of me, okay, okay, all the people in my community are spiritually dead. Then, like Bigsville, surrounding counties, illinois, iowa, all spiritually dead. They're just hopeless. So what do I do then? Here you go.
Speaker 1:Number one we offer Christ as the sufficient savior for sinners. He is more than enough, and we offer him to the world that way. Number two we point sinners to the faithfulness of God and his covenant through Christ, that God made a promise in Genesis 3, and look how he's already fulfilled it. When we point people sinners that are unrepentant in their sin, to the faithfulness of god, it changes them. Number three we rely on god to gather sinners to christ, and not ourselves or our systems. Number four we call to sinners, as responsible moral agents, to turn to god in righteousness. We don't act like they're just completely irresponsible, like they have nothing to do with this, like they die like you know, it's not their fault. No, no, no. They are responsible people that choose to disobey God daily.
Speaker 1:Number five we submit to God's word in the matters of salvation. We don't understand. So that would be like you and I looking at this doctrine and perhaps you're still in a spot where you say I'm halfway there, that's okay, that's called growth. You and I sit in the uncomfortability and we give it over to God and say, when I cannot understand, I know the God who made all of these things. Number six we have confidence in God's word as the sovereign instrument of new life. So when God says that by his word he saves people, you and I choose to believe that and say no, no, no, it's not by me being overly convincing or having a really good testimony that I've like organized and memorized. It is by God's word, and God's word alone. Now, personally, how do you and I respond? As a Christian, how do I respond?
Speaker 1:Number one we confess our sins and repent to our great God, this renewal of relationship. So, again, my standing with God is unchanging, but my relationship with God in a temporal sense can be distanced, and so I want to create this closeness between me and God, and regularly confessing and repenting of my sins creates that. Number two we have faith in Christ as we see how great our sin is, and the older and wiser you get, the more you see. Oh, my goodness, that was really bad. We have this, like this growth curve that God lovingly gives us, where, when you're first a Christian, you like don't think you sin that much. You're like, you're like I'm doing pretty good and you're like talking to like some like really old wise guys, and you're like, yeah, like so how's the battle with sin? It's like it's awful, it's terrible. I suck at everything, like I don't even know what to tell you, man, like I definitely I mean I'm not there Like I, I can't stop sinning, it feels like. And so, while we see this progression in sanctification, this progression in growth, as we grow more holy, we're able to see more.
Speaker 1:The way I always have described it is it's like a staircase. God only allows you to see the next stair level of your sin at a given season. Because if he showed you the whole staircase, you and I would just quit, be like yeah, okay, yeah, no, there's no point, I got nothing, I'm all done. But if it's god's desire for me to make 10 steps in my lifetime, he's gracious to me that he only shows me the one step at a time. And here's what's really funny is you and I will have momentary forgetfulness, just like not sure what happened, because we'll overcome that step. And we're like on a mountaintop, like dude, I finally did it, I overcame it, I stopped doing that, let's go. You're like I'm pretty much sinless right now and within a week the next step hits you in the face and you're like, oh no, we're back here again. It's like working out, like you never get done with a workout, and you're like, yes, I did it. And then you're like the next day like, oh no, it's still here, like I didn't outrun the treadmill to where it went away. I still have to do that.
Speaker 1:Number three we pray for the Spirit's grace. As you and I see our sinfulness more and the world's sinfulness more, we see our desperate need for the Holy Spirit to grace us to live this Christian life, to be effective in evangelism to this community and to save the souls of those we love and know. Number four we remain watchful against temptation. This is very important because, again, we talked about you and I can get lulled. You and I have to remember our sinfulness and see I need to stay alert against temptation. Number five we engage in spiritual battle against sin and Satan, against temptation. Number five we engage in spiritual battle against sin and Satan as we learn the doctrine of sin and the doctrine of our depravity. It helps us to be able to engage in spiritual battle. And number six we thank God, the Father, for the grace that set us free.
Speaker 1:As you grow in the Christian life, my prayer is that this doctrine will grow in your heart, not in a destructive way but in a constructive way, and as you see more and more of your sin, that will drive you closer and closer to the cross and grow your gratitude so much more for how much he actually saved you from. We're like a person with an unknown amount of debt. Someone just said it's a mountain of money you owe. And then one day God paid the whole mountain and we're like, oh, he paid a mountain's worth. Thank goodness, that had to be like a billion dollars or something. And then, like 10 years down the road, you realize, oh, no wait, it was more than a billion. And 30 years down the road you're like, oh my gosh, I think it was more than a hundred billion, and so and so on and so forth. That should drive our hearts to thankfulness.
Speaker 1:God, thank you that you saved me. Will you pray with me? Father, we come before you and we are just reminded of how amazing your grace truly is. Lord, we brought nothing to the table. We brought only our sin and our shame. We brought dirty rags to you, and yet you gave us a white robe of righteousness. You covered us with your oh, lord, we owe you everything. Please help us in our weakness to make much of you, and may you be honored and glorified in this congregation and in this community, and may your will be done and may we be known as a people who live on mission for you, showing a dying world their desperate need for a savior. In Jesus' name, we pray amen.
