Doctrines of Grace - Part 3

All right, team.

Well, shall we?

It looks...

Well, in our last time together,

!

Eternal election unfolds in history by seeking out and saving those elect beloved.

As Good Arrow Smith observed,

election having once pitched upon a man in whatever dunghill God's elector hid,

election will find them out and bring them home.

This morning, it is ours to consider our condition in which electing grace finds us.

And as Arrow Smith's descriptive dunghill alerts us,

what we will discover about our condition is neither flattering nor fortuitous.

As unflattering as our condition is,

it is something that we must soberly assess.

For a right diagnosis of the ailment is critical for an appreciation of the required cure.

We will not grasp the glories of our salvation if we have not plumbed the depths of our plight.

If grace is to move us from the misery and wreckage of our fallen condition

to the majesty and wonder of fellowship with God,

we must take sober stock of the severity of our state.

The sinfulness from which grace rescues us is the dark backdrop

of the gleaming splendors of grace,

like the black velvet upon which the sparkling gem is placed.

It affords a perfect display and illuminating measure of the surpassing marvels of grace.

And so some measure of the depths of our devastation is rightly comprehended

in a consideration of grace and the doctrines of grace.

To this end, we'll offer both a portrait and a story.

For our journey this morning will take us to the pathology lab.

What is this malady we have contracted?

What is its nature?

And it will take us to the forensics lab.

How did we contract this deadly disease?

What was its origin?

So we first turn to the portrait.

Our fatal pathology, a scriptural portrait.

One important caveat, our portrait of humanity aims to concentrate, not be complete.

And the scriptures say many things about the grandeur of humanity.

Uniquely fashioned in the image of God,

endowed with many sparkling communicable divine attributes,

the psalmist exalts in marvel that humanity was made but a little lower than the angels

and crowned with glory and honor.

Psalm 8.5.

So be aware that while our portrait takes up the darker hues,

these are not the only colors suited to a complete picture,

simply those most pertinent to our study,

which asks,

in what condition and with what natural prospects does the rescuing grace of God encounter us?

What, on this question, is the testimony of Scripture?

Ah, from the very doorstep of humanity,

in the initial generation of the offspring of our first progenitors,

fratricide opens the lurid drama, Genesis 4.

The first recorded boast is that of deadly revenge against a boy,

again, Genesis 4.

And swift is the descent of the generations,

plunging to the moral nadir,

eliciting the damning epitome,

quote,

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,

and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,

Genesis 6.5.

Quite a lot of superlatives in that moral resume.

Notice the intensity and extent.

Not merely wickedness, but great wickedness, it says.

Well, surely only in isolated cases.

No, great wickedness was in all the earth.

Oh, but surely such great wickedness was only episodic or intermittent.

No, it says it was continual.

Oh, but surely there were some moments of goodness,

at least in intention.

No, every intention was only evil.

So, the deepest, most inward recesses,

in the deepest and most inward recesses of the heart,

there was no good to be found,

even in the tiniest germ,

even a grain of mustard seed sized good.

No, every intention,

quote,

every intention of the thoughts of the heart

was only evil continually.

Like those philosophers' turtles,

it was evil all the way down.

A near all humanity consuming deluge,

weeded out the worst of the wickedness,

but not the root of the wickedness.

For the poison shoot instantly sprang up

in the single extended family spared.

We step backward with covering veil

upon the recrudescence of the shameless shamefulness.

To catalog the horrors of human hypostasy from God's holiness expressed in his laws

is too dismal a tale to tell of wickedness and its attendant woe.

The totality of the turpitude.

Let us instead record and reflect upon some of Scripture's assessments.

Says the preacher,

The hearts of men are full of evil

and madness is in their hearts while they live.

Ecclesiastes 9.3

The prophet Jeremiah echoes this verdict.

The heart is deceitful above all things

and desperately corrupt.

Who can fathom it?

Such melancholy judgment scattered across the sacred page

are as numerous as pebbles on a beach.

But rather than catalog them,

perhaps more fruitful to our errand

is to pick up one or two

and examine them more closely.

Take Psalm 36.

It opens,

Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart.

There is no fear of God before his eyes.

For he flatters himself in his own eyes

that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.

Now this is not a description of the superlatively wicked,

the particularly flagitious outliers,

This is simply mankind apart from the grace of God.

Quote,

Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart.

It is as if transgression itself,

violation of God's law,

whether written in his conscience or on tablets,

are the very oracle or guiding voice

in the depths of his heart.

Terrifying.

If the fundamental orientation for humanity

is to be fear of God,

to recognize and respond to his great worth,

that is not even on the sinner's screen.

There is no fear of God before his eyes.

What then is before his eyes?

Man flatters himself and his self-flattery.

Quote,

For he flatters himself in his own eyes.

And what does he flatter himself with?

His wickedness.

Quote,

That his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.

That is,

Man flatters himself

That his sin is not detectable.

I will not be held accountable for this.

And that his sin is not detestable.

My transgression is really not so bad.

This self-flattery is really,

of course,

delusional.

And this theme reverberates through the scriptures

that our sin makes us delusional.

The apostle forcefully expounds the theme in Romans.

When we fail to acknowledge God

and honor him,

that is,

ascribe to him supreme worth,

that is,

worship,

we yield his rightful place in our worship

to created things.

And as the apostle explains,

we quote,

Exchange the truth of God for a lie.

125.

Literally,

in the Greek,

the lie.

The lie.

The lie of our misplaced worship

has a spreading,

distorting effect.

We are caught in the grip

of a delusional field.

Self-deception

becomes our whole ecosystem.

Delusion.

The great habitat for humanity.

And not only does,

sin make us delusional.

It makes us manic addicts.

Let's take up another pebble from the beach.

The graphic image of the calamity of our corruption

given by Jeremiah.

Jeremiah.

He likens our running after our idols

to a camel or wild donkey

in heat.

In heat.

Quote,

Who can restrain her lust?

2.

2.

2.

2.

2.

3.

Hopeless, for I have loved foreigners, and after them I will go.

Verse 25.

In poetic irony, we imagine our idols serve us,

but in our insatiable lust, we serve them.

Our cravings are inexorable.

They have us in their grip.

We are enslaved.

The case is, quote, hopeless.

It is a fatal attraction.

The apostle echoes this chilling dynamic.

When we fail to rightly direct our worship to God

and turn instead to created things,

we are soon given over to them.

Romans 2, pass him.

Our desire for them becomes inordinate and uncontrollable.

They ensorcel and beguile our hearts,

and we're swept away.

They have us.

We are enslaved.

We are under their dominion, their tyranny.

Romans 6.

As Jesus expresses it,

he who sins is a slave to sin.

John 8.34.

Yes, what is Jesus' testimony in this matter of the heart of man?

For, as John 2.25 tells us,

he himself knew what was in man.

Here is his sober assessment.

For from within, out of the heart of man,

come 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.

Mark 7.21-23.

And Jesus' whole ministry was based upon this knowledge

that people were captive to their sin,

and that they needed to be set free from sin's tyranny over them.

The apostle sums up the matter thus.

None is righteous.

No, not one.

No one understands.

No one seeks after God.

All have turned aside.

Together, they have become worthless.

No one does good.

Not even one.

Their throat is an open grave.

They use their tongues to deceive.

The venom of asps is under their lips.

Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood.

In their paths are ruin and misery.

And the way of peace they have not known.

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Romans 3.9-18.

Well, we certainly have enough material here

to shape some theological reflection.

What are the conclusions from the pathology lab?

Well, one thing to note with alarm

is the pervasiveness of sin's contaminating taint.

Sin's sway is utterly comprehensive,

reaching every aspect of our being

with its corrupting contagion.

Not one faculty is left unaffected

by its blasting, withering mildew.

Let's take swift inventory of our fallen faculties.

Consider the sin-stricken deployment of our minds.

How we perversely use our intellect

to doubt, distort, deny, and defy God and His Word.

How our cunning serves to weave alibis and evasions.

Contributes the awful artifice of re-narration,

calling good evil and evil good.

Where the light of God's illumination

graciously shines into the windows of our understanding.

We pull the shades and scurry for cover,

lest our lies and crimes be exposed.

Consider our sin-wounded will.

How we steal it against intrusion of God into our lives.

Our will bars the doors against God's summons.

We are like the auditors of Stephen, the first martyr,

who, quote, stopped their ears and rushed together against him

and stoned him.

Acts 7, 57.

The damning description of the sacred page is

stiff-necked.

An adamant determination not to budge with respect to God.

Consider our sin-altering affections.

How devastatingly disordered they are.

Our hearts are the arena of a panoply of disordering replacements.

A chaotic jumble of perverse preferences and distorted desires.

A violent vandalism has befallen the shalom

that should harmoniously reign within.

And it is not just a distortion,

but an inversion.

We hate what we should love

and love what we should hate.

The flesh will ever flock to its fatal fancies.

The pearl of great price will be trampled underfoot

as we run to the mires that we would wallow in.

We have an unalterable taste for sin.

Consider our sin-infected imaginations.

Our flesh-animated imaginations furnish us

with a dress rehearsal for our sins.

Here, our unborn iniquities spawn

like orcs out of the slime.

Germs of sin that yet lie slumbering in the soiled soul.

In our imaginations,

swelling with pride like Lucifer,

we would ascend to the place of the Most High,

usurping His throne and offices.

In twisted mockery of Christ's prophetic office,

we spread lies instead of embracing His true revelation.

In unholy parody of His priesthood,

we ceaselessly forge idols,

defiling the altars of our hearts.

In pathetic parody of His kingly office,

we proclaim our puny selves as sovereign

over against the Almighty God.

Consider, finally,

our sin-corrupted conscience.

How out of tune with God's holiness and will it has become.

It's no longer reliable.

It is a trumpet that gives an uncertain sound.

Conscience is not dead, but distorted.

Its power is impaired.

It does not prevail as it should over man's soul.

Its voice is faint and fading.

Its eye unclear and ever-clouding.

Thus, luridly and lamentably,

is the comprehensive corruption suffered by sin.

I've sought to avoid theological jargon,

but suffer me one, I hope, helpful clarification.

The term total depravity

is an infelicitous moniker for this reality,

but this is what the term aims to affirm.

Sin's damage of us is total

in the sense that no part of us

has been shielded off from its taint and corruption.

Like a drop of poison,

it pervades the entire cup of water.

Mind, will, affections, imagination,

conscience, instincts, intuitions,

every aspect of our being.

This melancholy conclusion

brings us to the theological consequences

of this reality

for our prospects of salvation.

Three, in particular,

are worth emphasizing.

The first is rather obvious,

but worth stating.

The sheer folly

of the hope of salvation

by our own righteousness.

The lawyer who questioned Jesus,

what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Jesus lets him answer

as to Scripture's testimony.

Oh, you shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength,

and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

You have answered correctly,

says Jesus.

Do this and live.

Luke 10, 25 through 28.

I've often wondered

if Jesus ever encountered him again.

I fancy Jesus might have asked him,

Oh, remember me?

Remember that conversation?

How's that perfect obedience from the heart

on the two great commandments going for you?

You know,

with this,

the standard for salvation,

sobriety dictates human hopelessness.

Any locomotive to heaven

isn't running on human steam.

No.

I mean,

can't you hear the apostles' voice

echoing from Romans 3?

No one.

No one.

No, not one.

And not only will we never deserve salvation

through our obedience,

we will never even desire it.

And this is the second theological consequence

of our sin pathology.

We will never,

by our own initiative,

cooperate with God's saving work.

We will oppose it.

Our inveterate rebellion

arrays us in battle formation

against God as enemy,

sworn enemy.

Far from seeking to restore

lost communion with God,

our maker,

we seek to kill him

if only we could get our hands on him,

which is precisely what we did

when he came down

from heaven

for us

and our salvation.

As the apostle insists,

to be in the flesh,

that is,

our sinful humanity,

is to be,

quote,

hostile to God,

Romans 8, 7.

Quote,

for the desires of the flesh

are against the spirit of God

and the desires of the spirit

are against the flesh

for these are opposed

to each other.

Galatians 5, 17.

Jesus channels this hostile spirit

against God

into the voice

of the vineyard tenants

in his parable

representing all of us.

This is the heir.

Come,

let us kill him

and then the inheritance

will be ours.

Mark 12, 7.

Okay,

yes,

you acknowledge

there is hostility,

but surely humanity

can repent

or at least

some can repent

and simply believe

the gospel.

We can get out of things

like that.

Well,

yes

and no.

Let's formulate

our answer

as our third

theological consequence

of our sinful pathology.

We can come to Christ

exercising repentance

and faith

in the sense

that we are capable of it

and indeed

the gospel invites

and commands us

to do so.

But

we just can't

bring ourselves

to do it.

As the apostle

told the Athenians,

God commands

all people everywhere

to repent.

Acts 17, 30.

To come to Christ

in repentance

and faith

is not only

an invitation

but an obligation.

And yet,

Jesus tells us,

no one

can come to me

unless the Father

who sent me

draws him.

John 6, 44.

It is

an utter

impossibility

for anyone

to come to Christ

apart from

God's drawing.

Now,

to clarify

this inability,

it does not

consist

in any

physical

defect.

When we speak

of our will

being bound,

it is not

that our

freedom of

choice

is taken

away from

us.

The sinner

is exercising

their free

choices

again and

again and

again.

It is just

that their

choices

are invariably

and monotonously

for the,

to them,

delectable

doings

of darkness.

forgiveness.

It is a

moral bondage

of their

own

unrelieved

preference.

It's not

that their

will cannot

turn to

Christ

as if

their will

were somehow

like a

soldered

wind vane.

Can't turn

at all.

There is no

malfunction in

the mechanism.

No,

it freely

turns

whichever way

the wind

blows.

But in

the case

of the

unregenerate,

that wind

from the

heart

always

and

unrelievedly

blows

in the

same

monotonous

and

unrelieved

direction

toward the

delights

of the

flesh

and away

from the

delights

of the

spirit.

This

is the

plight

of the

sinner.

They will

always

prefer

their

sin

to

the

Savior.

The

sinner

will

never

repent

on their

own.

And so

also

with

belief.

There is

no

deficiency

in the

faculty

of the

mind.

It

can

entertain

the

thought

of

Christ

as

Savior.

But

that

thought

has

no

appeal.

It

is

threatening.

It

convicts

them

as a

sinner

in need

of a

Savior

as

possessed

of a

deadly

malady

and in

need

of the

great

physician.

It

challenges

their

self-perceived

sovereignty

over their

own life.

Christ

would

strip

them

of their

scepter

to which

they so

fondly

cling.

As the

birth of

the true

king

threatened

King

Herod's

pretensions,

sins,

so the

sinner

will

reject

any

rival

to

their

throne.

And

notice

again,

this is

a

moral

bondage,

not

really

intellectual.

Our

stakes

and

prejudices

jaundice

our

judgment.

Imagine

with me,

if a

judge

was to

rule

in a

case

in which

she

owned

the

majority

stock,

in the

arraigned

company,

she

would be

required

to

recuse

herself

as her

stakes

and

interests

would

sabotage

any

just

judgment

in the

case.

This is

intuitive

to us

all.

But

this is

the

case

of

every

son

of

Adam

and

daughter

of

Eve

in

their

natural

state.

The

issue

is one

of

nature,

fallen

versus

regenerate.

The

nature

of

a

sheep

has

an

invariable

preference

to

feed

on

herbage.

It

desires

not

to

consume

carrion

like

the

lion.

To

do

so

would

require

a

change

in

its

nature.

As

Jeremiah

vividly

puts

the

matter,

can

the

leopard

change

his

spots?

Then

also

can

you

do

good

who

are

accustomed

to

doing

evil?

Jeremiah

13

23.

If

there

is

hope

for

salvation,

nothing

less

than a

new

nature

is

required.

Once

we

understand

the

severity

of

our

fallen

condition

and

recognize

that

it

was

with

us

from

birth,

David

confesses

we were

brought

forth in

iniquity

and

conceived

in

sin.

Psalm

51.5

Grasping

that,

we

naturally

ask,

if

sin's

been

with

us

from

birth,

where

did

it

come

from?

Here

we

move

from

pathology

lab

to

that

of

forensics.

How

did

we

contract

this

malady?

so

too,

a

forensic

plot

line,

the

biblical

story.

Well,

might we

say with

Thomas Adams,

iniquity

can

plead

antiquity.

The

story

begins

with

Adam

and

the

birth

of

that

ruinous

rebellion

against

God,

which

has

come

to

characterize

so

universally

the

human

race.

There

is a

worm

at the

root

of the

whole

human

family

tree

that

spoils

every

piece

of

fruit

that

it

bears,

every

leaf

extended

from

its

branch.

What

was

this

all

spoiling

ruinous

root?

Through

what

portal

did

it

make

its

entrance?

the

apostle

answers

Romans

5

12

quote

sin

came

into

the

world

through

one

man

and

death

through

sin

so

that

death

spread

to

all

humankind.

But

how

we might

naturally

ask

could

the

sin

of

one

man

be

so

faithfully

consequential

for

all

humanity.

This

was

due

to

Adam's

pivotal

role

as

covenant

head.

God

did

not

enter

into

covenant

with

Adam

simply

as a

private

individual

with

only

his

own

interests

at

stake

but

rather

as

the

representative

of

all

humanity.

Adam

created

in the

image

of

God

was

made

in

an

original

state

of

righteousness

from

which

he

might

advance

to a

state

of

confirmed

righteousness

by means

of a

perfect

obedience

to the

stipulations

of the

covenant

of

works

do

this

and

live

highlighted

in the

prohibition

concerning

the

tree

of the

knowledge

of

good

and

evil

by

this

means

Adam

and

all

his

posterity

could

advance

into

the

state

of

blessedness

and reward

in

perfect

union

and

communion

with

God

but

as

with

his

prospective

success

so

also

would

his

failure

be

imputed

to

his

posterity

did

you get

that

George

Swinnick

wonderful

Puritan

takes

up

the

metaphor

of

a

voyage

of

our

race

piloted

by

Adam

always

helpful

to

unpack

these

truths

with

metaphor

Swinnick

writes

God

formed

man

to

be

his

viceroy

and

equipped

him

with

all

the

abilities

needed

for

such

a

voyage

this

is

Adam

he's

speaking

of

Adam

God

formed

Adam

to

be

his

viceroy

and

equipped

him

with

all

the

abilities

needed

for

such

a

voyage

as

the

grounds

for

the

covenant

of

works

Adam

set

forth

fully

furnished

with

skill

and

richly

laden

with

all

the

fortunes

hopes

and

happiness

of

mankind

Satan

raised

a storm

before

Adam

had

scarce

launched

out of

sight

the

vessel

through

the

unfaithfulness

of

Adam

the

pilot

ran

upon

a rock

and

miscarried

what

what a

depressing

sight

to

Adam

to

behold

himself

and

all

his

posterity

sinking

into

the

bottomless

ocean

of

destruction

and

misery

through

his

unfaithfulness

and

treachery

God

to

be the

first

of

should

our

fates

pivot

on

Adam's

piloting

was

Adam

just

constitutionally

clumsy

a pilot

of the

ship

of

humanity

did

we

simply

get a

raw

deal

in

terms

of

our

representative

no

doubt

God

chose

the

best

of

the

best

to

be

the

federal

head

of

our

race

and

would

any

of

us

have

the

hubris

to

imagine

that

we

would

have

done

a

better

job

in

Adam's

place

and

we

must

remember

that

Adam

was

singular

not

simply

in

his

role

as

covenant

head

but

also

in

his

capacities

for

they

were

pristine

and

unfallen

there

was

nothing

in

Adam's

God

given

nature

that

made

his

fall

inevitable

no

inherent

design

flaw

no

hairline

fracture

let

alone

any

fatalistic

divine

determination

in his

nature

that

would

make

his

fall

physically

necessary

or

unpreventable

and thereby

somehow

excusable

Adam's

sin

was at

once

entirely

possible

yet

at the

same

time

an

utterly

inexplicable

inversion

of the

orientation

in which

he was

set

much

conjecture

has gone

into

explaining

how it

could be

that Adam

would have

sinned

Aquinas

thinks

the

fountain

head

was

pride

which

led

to

a

covetousness

for

God

likeness

that

was

expressly

forbidden

Luther

thought

the cause

was

unbelief

even

to

entertain

the

serpent's

temptation

required

illegitimate

equivocation

!

over the

truthfulness

of God

and his

word

in any

event

Adams

was a

self

determined

rebellion

against

his

creator

and

lawgiver

and a

displacement

of the

covenant

intimacy

a commitment

to an

untruth

a dissonance

that distorted

his natural

orientation

of dependence

on God

as creator

and so

inexplicably

a

perfidy

was

perpetrated

in

paradise

by our

covenant

head

and all

humanity

was

with him

plunged

into

judgment

his

condemnation

was

imputed

to us

his

kin

and the

corruption

that

ensued

in his

nature

was

transmitted

to us

his

posterity

this we

must think

to be

calamitous

news

indeed

that

Adam's

condemnation

and corruption

is ours

by

solidarity

with him

but

this

divine

principle

of

solidarity

and

imputation

not

only

made

for

extended

condemnation

and

corruption

by the

unfathomable

glorious

purpose

of God

it also

makes

for

acquittal

and

redemption

for a

number

that no

one

can

count

for

there

is

for

there

is

a

second

Adam

Christ

the

righteous

who

also

stands

as

representative

of his

people

for

whom

he

acts

and

whose

victory

like

Adam's

failure

is

imputed

to

his

own

the

dismal

extended

impact

by

solidarity

of

Adam's

headship

to

all

his

own

makes

for

the

glorious

extended

impact

by

solidarity

of

Christ's

headship

to

all

his

own

as

the

apostle

brings

out

the

parallel

for

as

by

a

man

came

death

by

a

man

has

come

also

the

resurrection

of the

dead

for

as

an

Adam

all

die

so

also

in

Christ

shall

all

be

made

alive

1st

Corinthians

15

21

and

22

the

covenant

framework

of

God's

dealing

with

humanity

which

makes

for

the

bad

news

of

the

first

Adam

also

makes

for

the

good

news

the

gospel

of

the

last

Adam

but

the

apostle

forbids

us

to see

this

parallel

as

one

of

symmetry

the

grace

of the

second

Adam

is

out

of

all

proportion

to

the

curse

of

the

first

Adam

Paul

in

the

process

of

comparing

the

two

pointing

out

their

similarities

he

cannot

but

fall

into

contrasting

them

quote

but

the

free

gift

is

not

like

the

trespass

for

if

many

died

through

one

man's

trespass

much

more

has

have

the

grace

of

God

and the

free

gift

by

that

grace

of

that

one

man

Jesus

Christ

abounded

for the

many

and the

free

gift

is not

like

the result

of one

man's

sin

for

the

judgment

following

one

trespass

brought

condemnation

but the

free

gift

following

many

trespasses

brought

justification

justification

for

if

because

of

one

man's

trespass

death

reigned

through

that

one

man

much

more

for

those

who

receive

the

abundance

of

grace

and

the

free

gift

of

righteousness

they

themselves

reign

in

life

through

the

one

man

Jesus

Christ

Romans

5

15

through

17

much

more

indeed

amen

and

amen

with

this

account

of the

turpitude

of the

condition

which

God's

electing

love

finds

us

we

take

up

Lord

willing

in our

next

study

how

the

grace

of

God

meets

and

masters

this

woeful

state

with

an

all

overcoming

rescue

so

hopefully

see you

next

week

we

have

time

friends

I've

tried

to

leave

a

good

bit

for

this

challenging

subject

in case

anyone

has a

comment

a

praise

or a

question

or a

query

or a

cavil

whatever

yeah

yeah

Tyler

praise

do

do

do