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Series: Fourth Friday
Title: Total Depravity
Text: Genesis 3: 1-24
Date: September 28, 2018
Place: SGBC, NJ
The acronym T.U.L.I.P is
an easy way to remember five fundamental points of the gospel:
Total
Depravity
Unconditional
election
Limited
Atonement
Irresistable
grace
Preservation/Perseverance
of the saints
We have once again
returned to our fourth Friday children’s classes. Before we had a building we had this in our
home. The parents would watch a DVD
sermon from Pastor Henry Mahan’s TV broadcast, while I would teach the young
people, ages 19 and under in my office.
After the classes, I would then teach the lesson again in the first hour
on Sunday morning. The classes also
doubled as a mini-preacher’s school. One
of the men would teach the class on Friday night. We would record their message, I would listen
Saturday and offer feedback then they would preach it again Sunday
morning. We stopped the classes while we
were remodeling our new building.
So now we are resuming the
fourth Friday classes with a whole new crop of young ones. This time in our new building. Lord willing, each fourth Friday we will look
at each letter of the acronym T.U.L.I.P and then again the Sunday morning
following. So we are beginning with the
letter T.
Title: Total
Depravity
Proposition:
All men come into this world totally dead in trespasses and in sins, under the
curse of the law, in need of redemption, regeneration, and grace.
In order to see how all became depraved we must go back to the garden.
If we are to understand why we need Christ to redeem us and the Spirit of God
to regenerate us then we need to go back to the garden to see what happened.
Genesis 2: 8:
And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man
whom he had formed. 9: And out of the ground made the LORD
God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the
tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good
and evil…15: And the LORD God
took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16: And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden
thou mayest freely eat: 17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die.
GOD IS THE AUTHORITY
Everything Adam had, God freely gave him. God
created Adam and gave him life. He created a bride for Adam and married them. God gave
Adam a place to live, a profession and food that he could freely eat. There was
no sin, no corruption of heart or mind. Our first father and mother had fellowship
with God.
God gave Adam one command because God made man to glorify
him by worshipping and serving him. Therefore,
God told Adam in the day that he disobeyed, he would surely die.
We should take note that it was by the breaking of one command that we
perished and God has given only one command through which sinners are saved—believe
on Christ!
THE
DEVIL’S SUBTILTY
Genesis 3 :1: Now the serpent was more subtil
than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. 2:
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of
the garden: 3: But of the fruit
of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall
not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4: And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5: For God doth know that in the day
ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods,
knowing good and evil. 6: And
when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with
her; and he did eat.
The serpent
is the devil, satan. He is a created
angel, created by God. The devil
rebelled against God in heaven, along with a host of angels, and God cast them
out. So we are told that the devil “is more subtil than any beast of the field
which the LORD God had made.” He has
ministers who are “false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no
marvel; Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no
great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of
righteousness;” (2 Cor 11: 13-15) It could be that when
the Holy Spirit says through the apostle Paul that “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light”, that he is
telling us how the devil appeared to Eve in the garden. It could be that he appeared to her as an
angel of light so that Eve was deceived into thinking he was a messenger from
heaven. That is certainly how satan
makes his ministers appear to men he deceives in our day.
One,
we see the devil is tricky and subtle in that he first appeared to the woman—"he said unto the woman.” Satan did not come to Adam. He, first, came to Eve, the weaker
vessel. He knew Adam loved his bride. If he got tricked Eve into disobeying God then
he knew he could get the man. Religion
appeals to women. The false gospel of
will-worshippers is to give the woman authority over God: they say that the
church, the bride, has power over Christ, the husband, by telling sinners that
they must let Christ save them. Scripture
says of the devil’s preachers, “For of this sort are they which creep into
houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers
lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
(2 Tim 3: 6-7) Beware of preachers who use this method and who preach that the
sinner has authority over God, making the woman to be head over the man.
Two, the devil is subtle
by simply asking a question concerning God’s word. By this he got Eve to debate with him over
God’s word—"And he said unto the
woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And
the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the
garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” By this crafty method, the devil not only
got Eve to debate God’s word, he tricked her into adding to it and taking from
it. She added, “neither shall ye touch it”, which God never said. And she took away by saying, “lest ye die.” “Lest” means perhaps; God said in the day you
eat it, you shall surely die. Believer, especially you who preach, learn
that you do not have to answer every question that men ask about the
scriptures. Never debate the word of God.
When the devil gets you to debate scripture he has already beguiled you.
Three, satan uses his preachers
in the world today to do what he did here, to speak contrary to God’s word—"And the serpent said unto the woman,
Ye shall not surely die.” This was exactly opposite to what God said. How many times have you heard preachers read
the word of God then explain away the clear meaning, declaring that is says the
opposite?
Four, the devil beguiles with a message that makes you think that if
you obey God then God is keeping you from having an open mind, from being free
and wise. The devil said to Eve—"For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good
and evil.” Young people, you will have
friends say things like, “Don’t believe
all that stuff your preacher preaches to you! If you believe on Christ then you
won’t be able to have fun with us anymore!” They are saying that if you
obey God, by believing on the Son of God, then God is keeping your eyes from
being opened; keeping you from having an open mind; keep you from knowing the
ways of the world. We never are wise to
disobey God. It was by one man’s
disobedience that we all were made sinners.
Remember that!
Five,
the devil beguiles with a message which appeals to the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eyes and the pride of life—"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree
to be desired to make one wise,
she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat.”
Speaking by the Spirit of God
the apostle John wrote,
1
John 2: 15: Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. 16:
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17: And the world passeth away, and
the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
So as we see some of the
devil’s crafty methods we see why the apostle Paul said, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his
subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ.”
First, Eve simply gave ear to the tempter questioning God’s word. Then she debated with him, altering God’s
word. At last she disregarded God’s word
completely. Never even give ear to the
tempter. Look to Christ alone! He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No sinner can come to God our Father but by
faith in Christ Jesus the Lord. He alone
is all we need to find acceptance with God.
ADAM WAS THE FIRST REPRESENTATIVE MAN
Genesis 3: 6: And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one
wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her
husband with her; and he did eat. 7:
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were
naked;
When Eve ate nothing happened. It is because Eve was not the head and representative. God made Adam, the man, the head. Adam represented Eve and all who would be
born of him. In this case, it means all
the human race without exception because all are born of Adam.
Adam was not deceived as Eve was.
He knew what he was doing. When
Adam ate, he transgressed against God. As
God promised, Adam died. And because God
made Adam the head and representative of all mankind,
all died in Adam, including Eve.
Romans 5: 12: Wherefore, as by one
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned:
Legally we died before God because we transgressed the law
in Adam when he transgressed the law. Spiritually
we died because our nature is conceived of Adam’s corrupt seed in natural
generation. Physically Adam began dying
and his sin is the reason we begin dying the moment we are born. Unless
God intervenes in grace, all would die eternally by suffering the living death
that comes after judgment under God’s wrath.
So as God promised, when Adam our head at of the tree which God forbid,
dying, we surely died.
THE FRUIT
OF SIN
Genesis 3: 7:
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were
naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8: And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in
the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of
the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. 9: And the LORD God called unto Adam,
and said unto him, Where art thou? 10: And he said, I heard thy voice in the
garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11: And he said, Who told thee that thou wast
naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou
shouldest not eat? 12: And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with
me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13:
And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the
woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
What does sin make us do? We see it plainly from what Adam
and Eve did from the moment Adam disobeyed God.
One, sin makes us experience the sinfulness, the guilt and
the shame of sin in our conscience. As
soon as Adam sinned—"they knew they were naked.” Before, they were not ashamed. Their hearts and minds were perfect. But the
moment Adam sinned, sin entered, along with a wicked, corrupt mind, a
guilty conscience and shame.
Perhaps, I can illustrate this immediate sense of sin that Adam experienced. When I was younger, for some reason my
partner did not show up one morning, so I was duck hunting alone in Arkansas. I kept seeing ducks land in this one
hole. So I used a log to hide me and I snuck
up to a large area of water where a huge number of ducks were on the water, with
more landing by the minute. I was
excited. At the time the law stated you
could only take two ducks but only one if the first duck you shot was a hen. Migratory
bird laws are federal laws so people have done jail time and lost homes and vehicles
over breaking those laws. That morning, I
raised over that log and the ducks began to fly up off the water. I picked out a duck and fired, another and
fired, one more and fired. When the
smoke cleared, with three shots I had taken seven ducks. And three of those were hens. I had not seen a person all day; I was miles
from the nearest road. But immediately
when I saw I had too many ducks, I felt like there was a game warden behind
every tree in that creek bottom.
Now, I was a sinner before that happened. So it does not illustrate the magnitude of
what Adam experienced. But my story
illustrates the immediate sense of sin and guilt and shame that accompanied his
transgression. Before Adam sinned, they
were naked and knew no shame. After Adam
sinned, immediately sin made the thoughts of their heart wicked and they
experienced the guilt of sinning against God and shame entered in. That is what
sin makes us experience.
Two, sin makes us self-righteous by nature—"and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”
Immediately, as soon as sin entered,
they began trying to make a covering to cover their nakedness. Sinners do not have to be taught salvation by
works.
Due to sin, every sinner is religious by nature. Every sinner knows in his
conscience that he is guilty and in need of a covering. Sin deceives him into thinking he can make
that covering himself. But any covering
a sinner tries to make is no more than a fig-leaf covering. Any covering we make is never enough. Adam had covered his nakedness but as soon as
he hears God, it is not enough. He runs
and hides in the trees.
Three, sin makes our hearts hate God.
Immediately, their hearts became enmity against God—"And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden
in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence
of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the
LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I
heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid
myself.” Before sin entered, Adam
would have ran to God when he heard the voice of the LORD God. He had no sin before. His heart loved God before. But after sin entered, when he heard God’s
voice, Adam ran and hid. He had never been
afraid of God. But now, he saw his
nakedness, he was ashamed of his sin and transgression, he knew he was
guilty. Therefore, he was afraid of God
and tried to hide. That is what sin has
done to us.
Four, sin makes us blame others rather than confess our sins to be our
fault. Adam blamed his wife and he blamed
God. And Eve blamed the serpent. But neither confessed the sin was their own
fault—"And
he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree,
whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The
woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is
this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I
did eat.” Left to ourselves, we will do
anything to try to make a covering for our sins. But we will not confess our sins, owning sin
to be our own fault. Instead, we blame
others. We see it with our country’s
politicians, with criminals and with the culture as a whole. Everything is someone else’s fault: it is the
gun’s fault, it is the environment I was raised in, it is how my parents raised
me. But apart from God’s grace, we will
not confess our sin to be our own fault.
So we see the reason we are all sinners by birth and by choice is
because we all died in Adam. The reason we are self-righteous by nature, hate
God, are afraid of God and blame others is because we all died in Adam.
THE GOOD NEWS: CHRIST
IS THE LAST ADAM
Romans 5: 18: Therefore as by the offence of one judgment
came upon all men [who Adam represented] to condemnation; even so by the
righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men [who Christ represented] unto
justification of life. 19:
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of
one shall many be made righteous. 20: Moreover the law entered, that the
offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21: That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Adam was a type of Christ in that both were
representatives. Christ represented all
who would be born-again of him. It is by
the Son of God representing his people as a Man, bearing our sin unto death,
that Christ established the law for us, justifying us from our sins. All for whom he died, must be born-again of the
Spirit of God so that a new man is created within in righteousness and true
holiness. In this way alone can God’s
chosen sinners be brought back into communion with God and never perish.
God shows us this in the first call of grace in the garden back in Genesis 3: 9, “And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said
unto him, Where art thou?” Adam was not
seeking God. He would not have sought God.
But God always comes to seek and to save
his lost children whom he chose in Christ.
He makes us confess our sins like Adam was made to confess his
transgression.
God strips away all our fig leaf dead works and brings us to rest all our
care into Christ’s hand and God clothes us in the righteousness of Christ. We see it pictured in Genesis 3: 21, “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD
God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”
God took an innocent animal and slew it in the place of guilty Adam
and Eve. Christ Jesus, the Son of God,
is the Lamb of God. God the Father provided
his own Son who gave himself the Just for the unjust. That broken law of God had to be
honored. We broke it in Adam, therefore
Adam and all the rest of God’s elect who sinned in Adam, had to die in order
for God’s law to be honored in the carrying out of justice. But God provided us a Substitue to die in our
place in his Son. God made him sin for
his people, who knew no sin, that his people might be made the righteousness of
God in him. (2 Cor 5:21)
And notice, God did not merely make coats of skins, hang them up and
tell Adam and Eve they were hanging on the tree branch if they wanted to put
them on. No, God even clothed them with
the skins he made. That is how sinful we
are! God has to both make the covering
and put the covering on his elect himself.
God the Holy Spirit gives us life, gives us faith to believe on Christ
and, through faith, God imputes unto us the righteousness Christ has made
us.
Now, be sure to notice. Adam
sinned, Adam made a vain covering, Adam ran from God, Adam hid from God and
Adam blamed his sin on someone else. But
God sought Adam, God found him, God brought him to confess his sin, God stripped
him of his vain leaves, God provided the substitute to die in their place, God
made the skins and God covered them. So
it is with every elect child God saves: we did the sinning; God did the saving.
Rest in Christ and you shall be saved!
Amen!
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