Man: Fundamentally Good Neutral or Evil

this morning comes from the book
of Ephesians, chapter 2. So if you’ll turn there, we’ll
read the text, we’ll pray for the Lord’s help in our study,
and then we’ll dig in. But firstly, a couple of brief
words. I don’t know if any of you recognize that tune that
Rachel was playing. That has been a song that I’ve been thinking
about a lot through this study, and so that was an encouragement.
Thank you, Rachel. As well, one other thing I wanted to mention
is that what I do up here, it’s pretty easy. One-off messages
on specific subjects that are on my mind that week is not anywhere
near as difficult as week-by-week exposition faithfully through
a book. Going to the original languages, dealing with the interpretive
issues, and doing that faithfully and to produce a sermon every
single week. So thank you, Pastor Ron, for
your faithfulness. We’ll read the text, we’ll pray, and then
we’ll dig in. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 3. And you were dead in your transgressions
and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course
of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air,
the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience,
among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts
of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. Let’s
pray. Lord, we come to you today as
the true and the living God, the one who hears the prayers
of your people, the one who, by the power of your spirit,
opens our eyes to see the truth of the gospel. And Lord, also
opens our eyes to see new things within the text, Lord, that we
did not see before. And so we come to you and ask
for your blessing. We don’t go to the gods of the nations that
cannot see, cannot hear. They do not hear the prayers
of their people. But you God, the true and the living God,
hear our prayer. And so we come before you and
ask for your blessing. It’s in your name we pray these
things. Amen. So I don’t know how many of you guys have seen
these billboards. It wasn’t a couple of weeks ago,
I was driving on a freeway and I saw this big billboard. It
was one of those pass it on billboards. It’s like an inspirational quote
by a celebrity to hopefully encourage people. And as I was looking,
it was the beloved Dolly Parton this time. And she said, on the
billboard, it said, find the good in everybody. Find the good
in everybody. And it made me really stop and
think about what was being communicated through that billboard. In one
sense, she’s not necessarily wrong. It’s good to recognize
that every single human being has been created in the image
of God and should be treated with some sort of dignity. We’re
all called to love our neighbors, we’re called to even love our
enemies, first and foremost because of our Savior, but also because
every single human being has been created uniquely in the
image of God. But my concern was with a different
message that this billboard might be communicating. I was worried
that perhaps there is an assumption underneath that most people passing
by this billboard would take a totally different message.
To say to find the good in everybody assumes that there must be something
in the everybody. There must be something good.
Perhaps people driving by might think, well, every single person,
if we were to just remove all trauma, all circumstances, all
different facets of their life experience, that deep down we
would find something good. And this brings us to the question
of the day. Is man fundamentally good, neutral, or evil? We must recognize that if man
is basically good or neutral, then we have to ask, what is
the origin of the evils that all of us admittedly experience,
that we both commit and experience on a daily basis? The tendency
of the natural man is to assign all blame of humanity’s evil
to either uncontrolled circumstances or an incurable sickness, removing
all responsibility whatsoever. In fact, in the 18th century,
there was a famous philosopher by the name of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
He planted the seeds for what would be later the French Revolution,
a movement that was very antithetical to the biblical worldview. And
he was famous for saying this. He famously said, man was born
free and he is everywhere in chains. In other words, Rousseau
saw that man is fundamentally good and that it’s the external
circumstances and societal limitations that brings about the evils of
society. In his case, it would be the French monarchy. But it
basically gives off the impression that man is basically good. And
as a result, he advocated that in order to remove the evils
of society, man must be liberated. He must be uninhibited in the
natural man, and the natural man should be given free reign
to do whatever he wants. One can imagine the damage that
Rousseau would do if he was teaching a parenting class here at Providence.
Others, such as John Locke, put forth a view of man as morally
neutral and like a chameleon, shaped according to the circumstances
around him. You see, it’s easy to blame others
than oneself for one’s own sin. Because when one identifies their
own natural unregenerate selves as the problem, there are major
ramifications on every single one of our lives. But if man
is fundamentally good or neutral, then the circumstances perhaps
are the source of the problem. And if the circumstances are
perhaps the source of the problem, then the solution is to remove
those circumstances which inhibit man. Recently, I read an article
from a California gubernatorial candidate, I believe the year
is 2026 that he’s running. And he said that his focus of his
campaign is to create positive, practical policies that actually
help people, not ideological crusades. And in one sense, it’s
fair to say that the ideological crusades of California have been
unhelpful. But it’s not because of the ideological crusade. It’s
because of the wrong ideology. Today, we need a Romans 10 ideological
crusade of gospel proclamation because the post-fall man is
fundamentally evil. We following Paul’s example are
called to tear down speculations and every lofty thing raised
up against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive
to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10 5. But you see,
if man is fundamentally good or neutral and not evil, then
the emphasis is not going to be on gospel proclamation or
prayer for revival or regeneration in the hearts of the people.
Instead, the focus then is on policies. And it’s not to say
that policies don’t have value, but it doesn’t deal with the
fundamental problem. If we think that policies can take away the
evils of society, we’re no more pulling off the leaves of the
weed, leaving it rooted, going to grow later, in order to uproot
the weed of the problem of evil in the society. We must go deeper. We must go to a more fundamental
solution. Circumstances only draw out what
already is in the heart. They don’t change the heart from
good to evil. This is the crisis of the hour.
It’s not circumstances. It’s not some incurable sickness.
But the evil heart that every single one of us is born with
and apart from God’s grace will remain that way. It has always
been the crisis of the hour ever since the Garden of Eden. and
man’s fall. What did Genesis 3 do? Well,
Genesis 3, the sin in the Garden of Eden plunged all of humanity
into a spiritual deadness. Genesis 6, 5, shortly after Genesis
chapter 3, where the fall in the Garden of Eden takes place,
God looks on the earth. This is before he judges the
earth with a flood. He looks on the earth and what does he
observe of man? Genesis 6-5, Then Yahweh saw that the evil
of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. In fact, interestingly
enough, even after God judges the world through a worldwide
flood, He notices and he speaks to Noah when he is working a
covenant with him. He says in Genesis 8.21, the
intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth. This doesn’t
mean that every single person is as evil as they can be, right?
Not everyone’s an Adolf Hitler. But it is to say that for anyone
who has not been transformed by the power of God, every single
action of ours is not oriented toward him, is oriented toward
self or something else in the worship of something else, and
is fundamentally sinful and evil. Whether you were saved at the
age of 5 or 105, this truth is still the same of you. Every
single one of us in this room today were born this way. And
my prayer is that with the Apostle Paul, that we will know what
is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of
His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness
of His power toward us who believe according to the working of the
might of His strength. Ephesians 1, 18-19. In fact,
if we were to consider who this really is written to, this text
is meant to be an encouragement to believers. This should encourage
us, even though it’s dark. It reminds us of what God saved
us from, and of the greatness of his grace in the gospel. Some
have used the illustration of a diamond. I don’t know if any
of you guys have gone jewelry shopping or ring shopping, but
if you take a look at a diamond and hold it, it’s pretty. But
it’s not as pretty as when they bring out the black velvet, right?
They place the diamond on the black velvet. It looks so pretty,
they shine the light on it. This is doing a similar thing.
This is the black velvet that shows the glory of the gospel
to remind ourselves what we have been saved from so that we might
have more hope as believers as we are walking with the Lord
this week. So in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 3, there are
four characteristics given about the unsaved man that prove that
man is fundamentally evil and remind us of believers what we
have been saved from. In these four characteristics, they don’t
matter as much as the meaning of the text. So these are to
help us take notes, but the text is what’s most important here.
The first proof that shows us that man is fundamentally evil,
I’d like to draw your attention to, is found in verse 1. It’s
that the natural man is spiritually dead. We read, and you were dead
in your transgressions and sins. Now, in order to understand where
we are at within this book, we must consider the broader context.
We must consider what is going on within the book of Ephesians.
The book of Ephesians is a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to
the believers in the church of Ephesus. And he’s writing to
them about the common salvation that both of them enjoy. He’s
writing about church unity. He’s writing about how to live
the Christian life and the greatness of salvation. In fact, if you
were to take the whole book of Ephesians and split it right
down the middle, you have two pretty clearly distinct sections. Chapters 1 through 3 speak of
the common salvation that they enjoy. Then the unity of Jewish
and Gentile Christians within the church. And then chapters
four through six describe how we are to live in light of this
salvation. Walk worthy in the manner with
which you have been called. That in light of the gospel,
this is how you as Christians should believe and operate and
live. But in order to even understand
where we’re at in chapter two, we need to consider, this is
within the salvation section, where he’s talking about salvation,
but we also need to consider chapter one briefly. The Apostle
Paul cannot contain himself in chapter 1. It’s amazing. He’s
rejoicing over the salvation that he enjoys with these believers
in Ephesus. And he talks about how the gospel
and salvation is a Trinitarian work. That is, it is a work of
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places and Christ. He praises God and
then he talks about what every spiritual blessing is. He begins
by describing the Father’s election. Just as He, verse 4, chose us,
the Father chose believers in Him, in Christ, before the foundation
of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. Speaking about God’s love and
adoption of believers. And he next goes to the Son’s
work of redemption that we see here in verse 7. In Him, in the
Christ, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
our transgressions according to the riches of His grace. Salvation
is an act of God’s grace and He cannot contain Himself. Redemption
meaning a payment of a price, specifically of Christ’s payment
for sin upon the cross. The technical term is propitiation,
the satisfaction of divine wrath. that every single one of us were
by nature children of wrath, and that Christ had satisfied
divine wrath for all that would come to know Him. And for us
as believers, this is an encouragement to us. If we’re doubting our
own assurance, whether or not we might be saved, we need to
stop looking at ourselves and look to the Lord Jesus Christ
and what He did, and be reminded that we aren’t saved by the strength
of our own faith, but in the strength of the object of our
faith, the Lord Jesus Christ and His power. But then he continues
that salvation is not only a work of the Father and the Son, but
also the Holy Spirit. We see here verse 13, “…in
Him, in Christ, you also, after listening to the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were
sealed in Him, in Christ, with the Holy Spirit of promise.”
The seal in the ancient context denoted both an ownership and
a protection of something. These believers are now owned
and protected, but more than this, he’s a seal. And the Holy
Spirit of promise who, verse 14, is given as a pledge of our
inheritance. He’s a pledge for what’s to come.
The very work of the Holy Spirit within the believer’s life should
prompt us to rejoice in the future that is before us. If God has
so delivered us from the domain of darkness into the light, to
be from the domain of sin into the domain of holiness, we now
can rejoice knowing that with that evidence, we can look forward
to the future and be excited for what is to come. But the
point that I want to show you and I really think helps set
the context for where we are at is the Apostle Paul’s following
prayer. So in verse 15, he talks about
giving thanks for the believers through their verse 16. And what
he ends up praying is that their eyes of their heart, verse 18,
having been enlightened will know what is the hope of his
calling. What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance?
Once again, we’re sealed, guarantee of that inheritance in the saints.
And what is the surpassing greatness? This is the key. The surpassing
greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the
working of the might of whose strength? His strength, right? God’s strength. And what does
he say? How does he compare it in verse
20? He says, which he worked in Christ by raising him from
the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavenly places.
In other words, what he’s saying is it took the very same power
to raise the Lord Jesus Christ in his resurrection that it took
to save you, who you believe by that very same power. And
so the question all of us should be asking as we come to chapter
two is how bad off really were we? How bad off were we if it
took nothing less than God’s own power that he used to raise
Jesus from the dead? And the answer is found in verse
1. And you were dead in your trespasses
or transgressions and sins. The Bible elsewhere describes
this as a hard-heartedness. that by nature we have hearts
of stone which must be turned into hearts of flesh by the power
of God. We must be born again in order
to see the kingdom of God, our Lord says to Nicodemus in John
chapter 3. In fact, if you’re looking to
look more deeply into that, Pastor Ron went through a three-part
study in the book of Colossians on that subject and I would highly
commend that to you. But these illustrations or analogies
must cause us to question as well, what say did you have in
your own birth? What say did you have in your
own birth? Well, none. It’s the same with this. This
being born again is a work of God, not of self. What about
this deadness? There’s a couple of illustrations
used by one of my favorite theologians. of how so often we’re portrayed,
the sinful man, as someone dying in a hospital bed, right? You’ve
probably heard this one before, maybe not. Dying in a hospital
bed, and all you have to do is reach out and grab the medicine
to make yourself better, the medicine of the gospel, but you’ve
got to reach out. And what this theologian said is that, that’s
not accurate. According to texts like Ephesians
2, a more accurate illustration would be that we would be at
the bottom of the basement, in the basement of the hospital,
in one of the freezers, with something tied around our toe,
pronounced dead, unable to save ourselves. Another illustration
is that, you know, you’re drowning, you’re spiritually just kind
of drowning, and all you need, Jesus has thrown out the life
raft, and all you have to do is just go up and grab it, just
grab it, grab it, grab it. But what this shows is that a
more faithful illustration would be that we are drowned at the
bottom of the ocean, and that the Lord Jesus Christ must dive
into the ocean, pull us up out of the water, throw us on the
land, and supernaturally resurrect us. Dead means dead. That’s what this text is saying.
And here we’re dead in our transgressions and sins. Basically, transgressions
denoting a breaking of a law, and sins not fulfilling a specific
standard, falling short of that standard, showing that God has
a perfect standard that He requires of all if they are to make themselves
righteous before Him. If we are to earn our own salvation,
all of us must live a 100% perfect life. And more than that, what
he’s saying is that you were dead, and we’ll see later, is
this is something that happens at birth. Before we have even
committed anything, we are born dead in these transgressions
and sins. This is a problem. This teaches the opposite of
the positive or neutral views of man, which sees self-change
as the solution. No one can save themselves. Back
in the 19th century, early 19th century, There was an Italian
physicist by the name of Giovanni Aldini. And I’m going to be quizzing
all of you on that name at the end of this. Just kidding. He
was a true enlightenment man. And he propagated the findings
of what’s known as Galvanism. And that’s Galvanism with a G,
not Calvinism with a C. And he, which basically is how
the muscles interact with electricity. how electric currents work through
muscle. And he worked through several experiments, but eventually
he started working on corpses. And he started to realize that
he could move eyelids, he could move facial muscles, he could
move arms and legs. And at one point, he even thought
that he might be able to resurrect the dead. But as all of you know,
living here in the 21st century, he was not able to resurrect
the dead. At the end of the day, these corpses were still dead. In fact, what’s interesting about
Aldini’s experiments is that they were so popular and people
were so excited that maybe we have achieved the actual physical
resurrection of the dead that Mary Shelley used his experiments
as her inspiration for writing the famous novel Frankenstein.
There are no real Frankensteins. I’m sorry if I let you guys down
on that. No matter how much they changed
the experiments or adapted them, the bodies at the end of the
day were still dead. As long as we have physical death
with us, we have proof that the effects of the Genesis 3 fall
still remain with us. We’re not getting any better.
Another philosopher, a little earlier than Descartes, his name
was Spinoza, saw that man was good insofar as he was guided
by his own reason. This is wrong. Another man, a
philosophical historian by the name of Burke, a little bit later,
saw that maybe not just the individual, because so often our reason can
be corrupted by self-interest, but maybe a corporate reason.
Maybe we can get better with corporate reason. This is still
wrong. We have not evolved any better
in terms of our morality. We haven’t. We haven’t gotten
any better in our growth and knowledge, even in our perceived
rationality with regards to our morals. As long as we humans
are still dying, we can be sure that these effects of the fall
still are the same. Sure, medicine can help life
expectancy, but unless your name is Enoch or Elijah, we’re all
dying. We’re all toast. No one denies
this absolute truth. There is absolute truth. That
it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment. Even ask an unbeliever, no one
can deny this. Hebrews 9 27. Divine revelation
and thousands of years of human history have proven that all
united to Adam in the fall are born into this sinful guilt and
corruption. Which means that man is fundamentally
evil. But how do we apply this to our own lives? How can we
be encouraged as believers here today? This is the bad news.
What’s the good news for us? Well, for those of us as believers,
we can be encouraged knowing that our salvation took nothing
less than a supernatural miracle. The Bible teaches an unashamed
supernaturalism. I’m not talking about the fake
contrived miracles that we see on televangelism. Or some sort
of people spazzing out on the floor barking like dogs. Or speaking
in some sort of spiritual gibberish. Should have bought a Honda but
I bought a Kia. Not that type of stuff, okay? This is an actual
supernatural work. The Bible said that God must
proclaim, let there be light into the darkened hearts of men
in order for there to be spiritual life. 2nd Corinthians 4. It took
nothing less than the omnipotent hand of our Creator to bring
about our own salvation. You might say, perhaps, well,
fallen sinners, I don’t know if they necessarily hate God.
And that might be true if you’re speaking of a God of their own
creation. A God that tolerates one’s own
sin and is dictated by one’s own sinful desires rather than
his own sovereign prerogative. But authentic regeneration changes
the sinner from a hatred of the true and holy God to a love to
Him and a love of sin to a hatred of sin. And every single time
we gather on Sunday mornings in Providence Bible Church, we
testify to the miraculous work of God in our midst. Praise Him.
Consider your own testimony. Why did you, if you think of
an unbeliever that you know for a second, why did you follow
Christ and they did not? Did you make a smarter choice
than them? Well, I sure hope you would say
yes. But does that mean that God saved you because you were
smarter than them? Of course not. That would ruin the gospel.
We’re not saved by our works or who we are. We’re saved in
spite of who we are. Okay. Did you make the more morally
correct decision? Well, of course, the more righteous
decision is to follow Christ. Does that mean that God saved
you because you were more righteous than the person who does not
believe? Well, of course not. So it’s truly unexplainable from
ourselves. This regeneration, this act of
God is something that He has done to us, not we have done
ourselves. We could never do it. We could
never earn our own salvation. And we could never come to Him.
And as we sang today, if He had not loved us first, we would
refuse Him still. This is what this text is teaching.
Afterwards, you know the experience. You wonder, why didn’t I follow
Christ sooner? But that’s because our eyes have been opened. If
we’re truly honest, knowing that we are born in trespasses and
sins, when we seriously consider our salvation in light of our
natural spiritual blindness, when someone asks us, why you? We can do nothing more than the
man born blind in John 9, what he said. Look, I don’t know the
details, but one thing I do know is that I once was blind, and
now I see. That’s the truth of all of us,
and that’s something to be celebrated every Sunday. The work of God
in our midst, a supernatural work. For consider your calling,
brothers, that there were not many wise according to the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen
the weak things of the world to shame the things which are
strong, and the base things of the world, and the despised God
has chosen the things that are not, so that He may abolish the
things that are, so that no flesh may boast before God. 1 Corinthians
1, 26-29 In fact, many of you probably
know by personal experience that this regeneration is so illogical
to the outside world around us that it gives unbelievers cognitive
dissonance. They have to try and explain
it away somehow. You know, why would someone forsake everything
for the cause of Christ? Why would someone leave sinful
inclination and turn to righteousness? Some, like Marx, dismiss religion
or Christianity as the opium of the masses. That’s sort of
because we have no hope, no future, we don’t know anything. There’s
no chance or meaning in the world. It’s sort of a mental drug to
find hope or security. But see, that doesn’t explain
why sinners would follow a holy God. Why would they follow a
God who’s holy that does not tolerate the sins that we naturally
love? It’s because God has supernaturally transformed our hearts. So the
first detail, the first characteristic, the first proof that man is fundamentally
evil is that every single one of us here in this building today
were born dead in our trespasses and sins or transgressions. Second
proof we find from the text is the natural man’s domain proves
that man is fundamentally evil. We read in verse 2, in which
you formerly walked according to the course of this world You
see, the life that is characteristic of those who have not been transformed
by the power of God in regeneration is one that just follows the
culture, follows the whims, wants to fit in more than anything,
looks for every excuse to pardon one’s own sin, leading lives
of pride, seeking full autonomy from God, any restraint as Rousseau
said. And see, the life of the unregenerate
or those who haven’t been saved individual is common experience.
They have the same goals, this selfish goals and selfish ambition.
They have the same hopes and dreams. They live their lives
the same way. They talk the same way. They
walk the same way. That’s why friendship with the world is
hostility towards God, James 4.4. That’s why our Lord said
in John 15, if you were of the world, the world would love its
own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you
out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Continue
reading. It’s not only according to the
course of this world, but it’s also according to the ruler of
the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons
of disobedience. The irony of the quest of the
natural man’s for personal autonomy is that you’re not autonomous.
You aren’t. You’re enslaved to sin. No matter
what. We, being created in God’s image,
were created to worship him. And our function to worship as
dependent creatures has not changed. God alone is independent. He’s
the I Am, Exodus 3.14. We are inherently worshippers
either of self, sin, others, or God. What this text shows
is that even those that claim personal autonomy, I’m going
my own way, I’m going to live my own life, I’m going to do
my own thing, are truly being dictated by Satan. The whims
of culture in the world are not just abstract. These are being
worked about because of Satan. In the great allegory of the
Christian life, Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, as Christian
and faithful are walking towards the Celestial City, they encounter
something called Vanity Fair, which the magazine stole the
name of that for a good reason. And they do not fit in because
of the fair’s appeal of wealth, pleasure, pride, and vice. And
when the townspeople try to sell Christian and faithful worldly
goods, the two respond that they only buy truth. The different
clothes that Christian and faithful wear, their speech, and their
refusal to buy anything from the sellers at Vanity Fair prompt
a cognitive dissonance in their minds. And they’re ultimately
thrown into the court of Judge Hategood. You see, they did not
fit in with the Vanity Fair because they both had the goal that they
were headed toward the Celestial City. Even though the natural
man walks in the course of this World Vanity Fair, we as believers
enjoy a richer fellowship with one another on our way to the
Celestial City. I look out at PBC and I see a
variety of different traits, backgrounds, interests, stages
of life, and yet all of us have everything in common if we’re
following Christ. You guys know the experience, right? Like,
if you were to go across the world and visit a church in a
different country, totally different cultural context, the fellowship
that you enjoy with them, even though you have nothing else
in common, can be even richer than that with some of your closest
family members if they don’t know Christ. You see, this change
of domain in the life of the believer has grown all of us
closer with one another and is so rich in our fellowship that
we testify again to every Sunday. But you see, the world’s different.
The world fits in with the world. The church fits in with the church.
And that’s why we’re not to have friendship with the world, the
ways of this world, Satan. So the second proof that we see
that the man is fundamentally evil is the domain of the natural
man. Third proof that we see in our
text is that the natural man’s dominion is evidence that man
is inherently evil or the dominion over the natural man. We read
in verse 3, among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves
in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and
of the mind. Once again, contrary to the over
promising and under delivering of sin, All are naturally spiritually
enslaved to sin. Jesus said in John 8, 34, everyone
who commits sin is the slave of sin. Now, it’s important to
distinguish this. We know that God is sovereign
in salvation. Ephesians chapter one showed us that. We also know
that man is naturally dead and enslaved to sin. But you might
ask, well, does that mean we’re operating as robots? And that’s
not true. That’s not a helpful way to think
about it. To be really vivid with an illustration,
you chose to come to church today, right? You chose to either have
the cinnamon Tehrani sauce or the raspberry Tehrani sauce in
your coffee this morning here, right? Thank you, Liz, Lila,
and Melissa for that. We’re free to choose what we
want. You are free to choose what you want, even born into
this world, but you’re not free to change what you want. We are
free to choose what we want, but not free to change our own
desires. You see, all of us follow what we love. We follow what
we love. We do not follow what we do not
love. And we do not naturally love the Holy God. It requires
a miracle. In fact, in order to change yourself
out of this slavery to sin by your own strength, you would
have a better chance of being a leopard and trying to change
your own spots, or an Ethiopian and trying to change your own
skin, than to free yourself from the bondage of sin apart from
God’s sovereign grace. Voltaire, another philosopher,
secular, 18th century, also instrumental in the French Revolution, claimed
that man had to learn evil and that it was out of his own mistaken
principles. In fact, this is wrong, by the way. Dom and I,
we were talking last week. Where are you, Dom? There we
go. We were talking last week about this. All in favor of honesty
at Providence Bible Church, say aye. Aye. Okay. Last week, we were talking about
parenting. And for all of you in here who
are parents, or maybe who have been a child at one point, how many… Do you have to teach
a child to lie? No. No, right? You know that. Of course not. Do you have to
teach a young man to be prideful? No. Young woman to be jealous?
No. These are the things that come
naturally to us. Is man fundamentally good, neutral,
or evil? So how we answer this question
also drastically impacts how we have of hope for fighting
sin, how we view that. Where is the hope of fighting
against sin? And as counterintuitive as it seems, we only can find
true hope when we have a realistic view of our own natural wickedness. And when one removes the responsibility
of their own sin, we lose all possibility of hope in fighting
that sin. He’s not a fornicator, he’s just high in libido. She’s
not a drunkard, she’s just an alcoholic. And once an alcoholic,
always an alcoholic, according to the ways of this world. I
refuse to believe that with the full force of divine revelation
in Ephesians chapter 2 to support me. There’s actually more hope
in the sinner recognizing their own deadness because it means
that when they are saved they are changed, born again and not
forever bound by the slavery to sin that we are all born with
by the power of Christ. What hope is there for man’s
present state if we’re merely the product of our own circumstances?
Or more, what hope is there if the natural man is just incurably
sick when he views his own evil heart being the product of an
incurable sickness rather than a curable sin by the power of
the gospel? If man is fundamentally good or morally neutral, then
sin turns into an incurable illness and there is no hope for any
of us. So the application to those of us who are believers
today should be that now from formerly being slaves of sin
and transformed to be slaves of righteousness, all of us should
put off the old man, knowing this that our old man was crucified
with him. in order that the body of sin might be done away with
so that we would no longer be slaves to sin, Romans 6.6. You
see, the transformation from spiritual death to spiritual
life means that now we as believers can say no to sin, whereas before
we couldn’t. Not because we were robots, not
because we wanted to follow the right thing, but we just couldn’t,
but because we didn’t want to. We didn’t naturally want to.
The fourth and final proof that we find from our text today about
why man is fundamentally evil is that the natural man’s destiny
proves that man is fundamentally evil. We continue reading. And were by nature children of
wrath, even as the rest. Notice what the text says. It
says we’re by nature children of wrath. It didn’t say that
we had become children of wrath. It says this is who we are. This
is the fabric of those of us born post-fall. All have this
problem, Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God. This is every single one of us.
All of us stand justly condemned from the moment we are born to
the moment we die apart from God’s sovereign grace in Christ’s
work. You see, it’s because of the worldview that views man
more highly than they ought, that he’s good or neutral. And
so often people question the doctrine of hell. Brian McLaren
is a contemporary example. He says this, I don’t believe
in a literal place called hell. I don’t believe people burn forever.
If I did believe that, I would probably question the cross and
forgiveness too. And you see, if you had that
more optimistic view, and you view that man is just the product
of his circumstances, or an incurable sickness, and fundamentally good
or neutral, one could kind of see where he was coming from
at that. The problem is with that, massive problem, is that
the Bible, even logic or personal experience, all of that prove
otherwise. It does not teach that the natural
man does not deserve eternal punishment. So often people will
question and they’ll ask, well, why do so many people go to hell?
And that’s the wrong way of looking at it. That’s the wrong question
because it comes from that worldview that man must be fundamentally
good or neutral. Instead, we should be asking, why is anyone
in heaven? Why are any of us allowed in?
Only the grace of God. Ask the Lord when we’re at the
marriage feast. Why am I a guest? Because of his grace. Well, if
you say, if God must move first, if He is sovereign over salvation
and I’m a slave to sin, then how is man responsible for his
own sinful predicament? I imagine an individual of someone
who did not follow Christ standing before the great white throne
of God. Bleeding their case before them, saying, Oh God, but you
know that unless you change my heart, I would never would have
chosen you. I was a slave to sin and could not act unless
you first acted. Why am I held responsible? And
I imagine God saying something, what this text illustrates, God
saying something along the lines of, you’re right. If I did not
choose you first, if I did not change your heart, you would
never have come to me. That part’s true. That part’s true. I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy and have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. But here’s my question to you.
Did you do what you wanted? Did you want to follow me? Or
did you want to follow your sin? And on that day, no man who did
not follow Christ will be able to say, I wanted to follow you,
but I didn’t. All will say, no, I wanted to
follow my sin. You see, just because God is
sovereign in salvation, and apart from His grace we would not be
saved, does not mean that individual sinners are not responsible for
sin. Romans 3.10-12, There is none righteous, no, not even
one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God.
None who seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together
they have become worthless. There is none who does good.
There is not even one. No one seeks God apart from His
own grace. It’s not as if we were robots,
that we’re slaves to sin, but we really wanted to follow Christ.
Like I had said, we didn’t want to follow Christ naturally, and
so we followed our own sin, and we stood justly condemned, responsible
for our own sins, because that was exactly what we wanted to
do. God alone saves, but he is also completely justified in
his judgment. Is man fundamentally good, neutral,
or evil? How we answer this question also
drastically impacts our own evangelistic efforts. Because you see, if
man is fundamentally good or neutral, then it would be much
more convenient to adopt a more pragmatic approach to evangelism. Pragmatic practices aiming at
seeker sensitivity rather than biblical fidelity. Believing
in Romans 10, that faith comes by hearing and hearing the word
of Christ proclaimed. It’s sort of a, all my friends
are heathens, take it slow, wait for them to ask you who you know
approach. It’s not like all have to waste their time in their
evangelistic efforts trying to find that secret key that just
unlocks the heart of the specific people. Have you ever thought
about that? Some people say evangelism is like trying to find that hidden
key in the hearts of the people. Just if you can find it, maybe
you can unlock it. No, we don’t save. We’re called to be faithful
to the Word of God. It’s not like every sentimental
Christian movie ever that says that man’s just a product of
his circumstances. Oh, if you just got rid of the trauma, the
circumstances. Deep down, they’re fundamentally
good. They really want God naturally. No, that’s not what this text
says. And that’s why we are called
to faithfully proclaim the gospel and trust God with the rest.
Today, if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, you do not
know Him personally for salvation, all four of these characteristics
are true of you. You’re naturally born spiritually
dead, and your trespasses and sins. You cannot save yourself.
You’re in the domain of the world. You walk like the rest of the
world. You talk like the rest of the world. Your life can be
characterized by as one of the world. You’re under the dominion
of slavery to sin. You’re not autonomous. You’re
being enslaved to sin. And your destiny presently stands
as being justly condemned before God’s law. But the good news
is that Christ came to seek and save that which is lost. Christ
came to earth as fully God and fully man, lived a perfect life,
and died a death for sinners like you and me on the cross,
so that all who trust in Him would not perish, but have eternal
life. He was rose from the dead on
the third day, and He’s seated at the right hand of the Father,
reigning as King of kings and Lord of lords, and is coming
to judge the living and the dead one day. But Christ also identifies
Himself as the friend of repentant sinners. Whoever believes in
Him will not perish. He even said the one who comes
to Him, He will in no way cast out. So if you haven’t, repent
and believe today. Trust in Him. See His grace and
salvation. Though regeneration is still
a miracle, God works through the proclamation of His word
to draw dead sinners to Himself. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return to the Lord,
for he will have compassion on him. And to our God, for he shall
abundantly pardon. And for those of you who are
believers today, remember where you came from. Understand that
man is fundamentally evil, and that the only thing we contributed
to our own salvation was the sin that made it necessary. Understand
that we are not saved because of ourselves, but in spite of
ourselves. Let us remember the grace of God first and have this
in the forefront of our mind. See the Lord Jesus Christ as
the friend of sinners as we seek to destroy sin in our lives and
live for Him. Not look first to our sin and
try and deal with it, but first look to Him and then out of the
overflow of our hearts like Paul, rejoicing in the truth of the
gospel, we kill sin. Let’s read the first 10 verses
of Ephesians 2 to understand the better context. And you were
dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked
according to the course of this world, according to the ruler
of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in
the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also formerly conducted
ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath,
even as the rest. but God, being rich in mercy
because of his great love with which he loved us, even when
we were dead and our transgressions made us alive together with Christ,
by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and
seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that
in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing riches of
his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace
you have been saved through faith. And this is not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. Not of works, so that no one
may boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand,
so that we would walk in them. Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
fast bound in sin in nature’s night. Thine eye diffused a quickening
ray. I woke the dungeon, flamed with
light. My chains fell off. My heart
was freed. I rose, went forth, and followed
Thee. Amazing love, how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst
die for me? Let’s pray. Lord, we come to you humbled
in the recognition, God, that we could never contribute anything
to our own salvation except for the sin that made it necessary.
Lord, naturally, fundamentally, we are evil. In Adam’s fall,
we sinned all. and stand justly condemned before
you. But Lord, you demonstrate your love to us in sending the
Lord Jesus Christ, and that while we were yet sinners, that you,
Lord, died for sinners like us. And so we ask, Lord, that you
would use these truths in our lives this week to remind those
of us as believers that we should put off our sin by your own power,
because of your grace, the supernatural miracle of salvation. And for
those who don’t know you, Lord, that they would turn and know
you. And know you, Jesus, as the friend of sinners. The friend
of those who repent of their sin and follow you. We love you
and we praise you. In your name we pray these things.
Amen.