WEEK 4 What is wrong with us?

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1 WEEK 4 What is wrong with us? What? o What is wrong with us? The depravity of man o This is not a typical Reformation topic o But it one of the key doctrines that permeates the period of the 16th-Century o Justification answers the question: Now does a sinful man get right with a holy God? o Without sin, there is no need for justification or salvation o One of the prayers prayed over each novice was as follows: o The Reformers had to deal with the topic of sin - They had to wrestle with its extent - They had to figure out how to extinguish its effect - Because sinfulness is what kept man separated from God s holiness Renaissance Humanism o The 16th-Century was heavily influenced by Renaissance Humanism - It was a period filled with optimism about the future - It tended to see sin as a small problem - Man was inherently good and could get better The most distinctive feature of Renaissance Humanism was its spirit of playful optimism; it bread an excitement about possibilities for the future. Humanists took for granted that human beings were created to do good: their outlook and conduct could be transformed by the persuasive power of poetry and rhetoric or by reading the Bible aright. Diarmaid MacCullough, The Reformation: A History o Desiderius Erasmus - One of the foremost humanists of the day - Heavily influenced by Origin - They both took a dim view of the depravity of man

2 Origin had even suggested that, in the end, God envisaged that everyone, including the Devil himself, would be saved and returned to paradise. Diarmaid MacCullough, The Reformation: A History - The writings of the ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, were treasured by the humanists - We become righteous by doing righteous deeds. Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics Luther has a different view on God s justice and the original sin than Erasmus: a human being becomes, according to Luther, not righteous, because he acts righteously, as Aristotle thought, but only when a human being is justified (which presupposed conversion), one can act righteously. T. H. M. Akerboom, Erasmus and Luther on the Freedom of the Will - Luther decided to take on Erasmus and his Aristotelian theology Wrote his Disputation Against Scholastic Theology - It contained another 97 theses 40. We do not become righteous by doing righteous deeds but, having been made rightous, we do righteous deeds. This in opposition to the philosophers. 43. It is an error to say that no man can become a theologian without Aristotle. 44. Indeed, no one can become a theologian unless he becomes one without Aristotle. 50. Briefly, the whole Aristotle is to theology as darkness is to light. 75. The grace of God, however, makes justice abound through Jesus Christ because it causes one to be pleased with the law. 76. Every deed of the law without the grace of God appears good outwardly, but inwardly it is sin. - Luther s take: - Our best efforts on our best day are sinful - Sin enslaves and overpowers us - Our sin nature, while not preventing us from doing good deeds, does keep us from doing righteous ones - But Erasmus argued that sin did not enslave us - He would say that men are free NOT to sin - Posse non peccare the ability NOT to sin - We lost this as a result of the fall Ken Miller Presented by MOMENTUM, a ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX

3 - Now, all that we do is tainted by sin When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Romans 5:12 NLT o Totally depravity (total inability) - This is a statement of intensity - As a result of the fall, sin has infected all of man - It doesn t mean man does only evil all the time - Depravity renders us incapable of righteousness - R. C. Sproul refers to it as radical corruption It is not something that merely taints an otherwise good personality; rather, it is that the corruption goes to the root or core of our humanity, and it affects every part of our character and being. The effect of this corruption reaches our minds, our hearts, our souls, our bodies indeed, the whole person. R. C. Sproul - The Reformers saw sin as a huge problem - Our depravity leaves us incapable of righteousness - Without righteousness, we are separated from God for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 ESV For the wages of sin is death Romans 6:23 ESV Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. Ecclesiastes 7:20 ESV As the Scriptures say, No one is righteous not even one. Romans 3:10 NLT For in Your sight no man living is righteous. Psalm 143:2 NSAB - Erasmus labeled our problem as that of spiritual sloth - We re basically lazy - Righteous living was in our grasp - Man could choose NOT to sin - But the Reformers believed all man did was tainted by sin No devotion better pleases Mary than the emulation of her humility Would you please Peter and Paul? Then emulate the faith of the one and the charity of the other Would you imitate St. Francis? As it is you are arrogant, avaricious, and contentious. Control your temper, despire lucre. Overcome evil with good. Erasmus, The Enchidirion 2017 Ken Miller Presented by MOMENTUM, a ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX 3

4 - According to the Reformers, man has a serious sin problem - This is NOT about behavior, it s about being (ontoloty) When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Romans 5:12 NLT By our very nature we were subject to God's anger, just like everyone else. Ephesians 2:3 NLT You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Colossians 1:21 NLT - Man s heart is wicked (Jeremiah 17:9) - Man is spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13) - Man is alienated from God (Ephesians 4:18) - Man has been spiritually blinded (2 Corinthians 4:3-4) - Man prefers darkness over light (John 3L19) - Man has no spiritual discernment (1 Corinthians 2:14) If sin is not much of a problem, Christ need not be much of a Savior, and we do not need much grace. Only if I see my plight is so bad that I cannot fix it myself will I find true freedom in Christ, for only then will I stop depending upon myself and depend on Him. Michael Reeves & Tim Chester, Why the Reformation Still Matters from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. 2 Corinthians 11:4 ESV So what? o Are we sinners because we sin? o Or do we sin because we re sinners? o Is it our facts of sin that condemn us? o Or is it our inherent, sinful self? - We are now non posse non peccare (no longer able NOT to sin) - Everything we do is tainted by sin We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Isaiah 64:6 NLT Ken Miller Presented by MOMENTUM, a ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX

5 The effect of Total Depravity on a person is his total inability to freely choose to come to Christ and be delivered from his sins. The unregenerate person is free to choose to do whatever he desires to do, but he will choose to act in a manner that is consistent with his sinful, fallen nature. In other words, no unbeliever left to his sinful free will, will ever choose to become a Christian. for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. As the Scriptures say, No one is righteous not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one. Romans 3:9-12 NLT God looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God. But no, all have turned away; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one! Psalm 53:2-3 NLT Christ Chapel Bible Church Doctrinal Statement We believe that man was originally created in the image and after the likeness of God, and that he fell through sin, and, as a consequence of his sin, lost his spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins, and that he became subject to the power of the devil. We also believe that this spiritual death, or total depravity of human nature, has been transmitted to the entire human race of man, the Man Christ Jesus alone being excepted; and hence that every child of Adam is born into the world with a nature which not only possesses no spark of divine life, but is essentially and unchangeably bad apart from divine grace. he [God] saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:5-8 NLT 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. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved Ephesians 2:1-5 ESV o made us alive syzōopoieō to quicken, to make one alive - God must give us new life - We are dead and helpless - Man, in his sin, is not seeking God - The Holy Spirit must give new life first - He must regenerate us 2017 Ken Miller Presented by MOMENTUM, a ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX 5

6 I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. John 3:5-6 NLT Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. James 1:18 ESV For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. John 5:21 NLT Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God s people, who are set apart by faith in me. Acts 26:18 NLT o Total depravity demands total dependency - We can t save ourselves - Our inability makes us reliant upon God s ability - Even our ability to place our faith in Christ is a gift from God made possible by the Holy Spirit - We must have our blind eyes opened - We must have our dead hearts enlivened - We must have our sin-enslaved wills set free Don t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living. Romans 6:16-18 NLT Ken Miller Presented by MOMENTUM, a ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX

7 HOMEWORK: WEEK 5 WHY IS GRACE SO AMAZING? We all know the old hymn, Amazing Grace. But do we believe it when we sing it? Do we fully understand the significance of the words, Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see. This week we are going to be taking a look at the grace of God and the role it plays in the salvation of men. We tend to take grace for granted. Some of us may not even fully understand what the grace of God is. For the Reformers, grace was hugely significant. Without it, there would be no chance for sinful men to ever be made right with a holy God. His grace is underserved and unmerited. Grace is a gift of God, manifested in the life, death and resurrection of His Son. In the days of the Reformation, the term grace was not new or revolutionary. The Catholic Church fully believed in and taught the grace of God. Where the conflict arose between the Reformers and the church was the addition of the word, alone. One of the five solas of the Reformation was sola gratia grace alone. The saving work of God made possible through the sacrifice of His Son is totally His doing. We bring nothing to the table. No works. No effort. No merit. No credit. Read Ephesians 2:1-10. How does this passage describe the condition of all men prior to coming to faith in Christ? According to verses 4-6, what did God do for us? Look at verses 8-9. What do they rule out as a possibility in terms of our salvation? Take a few minutes to consider what you think Paul was trying to say by using the term, dead when referring to man s pre-salvation condition. Write down your thoughts: 2017 Ken Miller Presented by MOMENTUM, a ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX

8 2 Now, read Galatians 5:3-4. Paul is addressing believers who have bought into the idea that they must be circumcised to be truly saved. What does Paul warn them about adding this work to salvation? What do you think he means by fallen away from grace? Read Galatians 5:6-11. Once again, how does Paul describe the pre-salvation condition of men? According to these verses, what part, if any, does man play in his own salvation? Skip down to verses As we learned last week, we inherited the sin nature of Adam. We are born sinners. So we are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. It is our nature. So, according to these verses, what did God do for us? Four times in verses 15-18, Paul uses the term, free gift. What do you think he is referring to? Why is it so important that we understand that the gift is FREE? Finally, read Acts 15:1-5. Paul is dealing with an issue in the early church where the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem were expecting the Gentile converts to be circumcised. See how Paul responds to this misunderstanding regarding the gospel, but give special attention to his words in verse 11. What do you think he is saying in this verse and why is it significant considering the context? Be sure and read the attached article on sola gratia Ken Miller Presented by MOMENTUM, a ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX

9 Reformation 500: Sola Gratia to a World Who Needs It By David Bordy One of the most important things people need to understand when contemplating the 5 Solas is that they harmonically and eternally fit together, as parts of one divine plan for the redemption of God s people. To illustrate this, let s use the analogy of sin being a debt we cannot repay. Soli Deo Gloria is the thank you card for the debt-clearing check we ve received and cashed. Solus Christus is the One who alone can WRITE the check that will pay all our debts. Sola Scriptura is the actual paper on which the check is written (because there are many phony checks out there). Sola Fide is how we CASH this amazingly generous check we ve been given. Sola Gratia, however, is the only means by which we RECEIVE this check. The problem is in this nothing-comes-for-free world, people are naturally mistrusting of a totally FREE gift. The more generous the gift, the more we mistrust its free-ness. If you walk up to random people on the street and tell them you want to give them a free check worth $1 Trillion, how many of them would take you up on it? How many of them would even believe your check would clear? How many of them would believe it is given with no strings attached? My guess is not very many. But that s exactly what we re dealing with here. History around the time of the Reformation saw a church teaching that Christ writes the check for the first half-trillion and your works in this life (or purgatory, wherever) should cover the rest. The problem is that check just won t cash. Here we need only to turn to the classic text of Ephesians 2:8-9: For by GRACE you have been saved [Christus] through faith [fide]. And this is not your own doing; it is the [free] gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast [Deo Gloria]. The truth is our works are a bad check that no amount of lip-service from our mouths can handle. We like to be people who forge our own destiny; who earn everything we possess. But the problem is that we simply don t have enough spiritual collateral (and WAY too much spiritual debt) in our sin to cash the check that will make us righteous and sinless again. Imagine this was a restaurant debt. YOU ate the food. There s no denying THAT. But the waiter brings the bill and there s NO WAY you can pay. You could wash dishes forever in the back and still not scratch the surface of paying for all the food you ate. Then comes Jesus, the owner of the restaurant. For reasons of His own grace and glory alone, He pulls out His own limitless MASTERcard (get it?) and pays for your entire bill. Not only THAT, but He informs the manager of the restaurant to bill any future dining expenses to His account as well. The cost of all those meals added up would total over $1 Trillion dollars. Now you re beginning to understand a little better what Christ did for us in our sin. Now imagine that you, seeing this incredible gift of generosity, leave a $5 bill on the table to do your part. First, that would be an offense to the gift-giver/debt-clearer who has already paid it all. Second, it s a ridiculous notion at the face of it, because $5.00 wouldn t even come

10 close to even putting a dent in that mountainous debt you owe. And so, it is with our works. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6). Even the good things we do are an offense to God a stench in His holy nostrils, because they are tainted be our sin. The logical. conclusion, then? Grace ONLY grace. There s no other reason why a debt-free Christ would come to earth and painfully pay all of our debts. why a pure-white Jesus would absorb all of our stains and give us His pure white. why a perfectly healthy Savior would take upon himself all our spiritual sickness and death, the readily-earned cancer eating away at our souls. What other reason BUT grace would there be for doing such a thing? In fact, in leading up to those famous Ephesians 2 verses (8-9), Paul precursors it (in verses 6-7) by saying this: and [God] raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His GRACE in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Therein lies the reason what gratia simply isn t enough. Only SOLA Gratia can be the reason why this miraculous gift of salvation has been provided to us. Understanding this confirms two truths for the Christian. The first is, to borrow from Matt Maher, Your grace IS enough. The pressure s off and we can have no reservations about receiving this gift as free and lovingly given. The second truth is how bottomless the divine bank account of grace is, from which the check for our salvation was written. The amount of God s infinite grace can never be exhausted, which is not only the comfort that makes our blessed assurance blessed in Christ but also the motivation for not wanting to accumulate additional debts of sin in the future. In a world of making deals, this is the best one around a deal so good, it is a gift. When one experiences a great deal, especially one involving something good being limitless, many people will want to take advantage of it because most such gifts are only available for a limited time. And such is the case with the gift of Christ s salvation from your sins. You don t have to do anything but take it. God s grace took care of the rest. His Spirit will enter you and continually work out the process of your sanctification, making you more like Him and its all FREE. If you accept that check, paid for you on the cross, today you will one day have the privilege of standing face-to-face with your Savior, King, and Friend, Jesus Christ and on THAT day, you will truly see what makes the Amazing Grace we sing about so amazing. Read more at