Benefits and Drawbacks, Part 12

And what about Easter? Here in
this passage, a passage about sin and the utter depravity of
mankind, What about Easter? If you would
but allow me to get the plane off the ground, I promise I will
deliver and I will land the plane and I will show you that this
is every bit a message about Easter. If you remember, for those of
you who have been with us, we are in the context of Paul having
indicted not only the Gentiles, but the Jews. And it’s as if
he looks around and says, who else is there? The Gentiles,
all of those, all humanity who is outside of the Jewish nation
and the Jewish nation itself are all indicted as sinful. In desperate need of God’s grace,
Paul here in verses 9 through 20 brings it all under one heading,
all have sinned. All are sinful. All are in desperate
need of God’s saving grace. The entire world, all of humanity
is utterly sinful. They are utterly devoid of righteousness
that would enable them to stand before a holy God and desperately
in need of God’s in His mercy to save them. Pick back up, if you would, in
verse 9. We’ll carry through verse 20
once again. Where Paul, in summary fashion,
says, What then? Are we better than they? Not
at all, for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are
all under sin, as it is written. There is none righteous, not
even one. There is none who understands.
There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together
they have become useless. There is none who does good,
not even one. Their throat is an open grave.
With their tongues they keep deceiving. The poison of asps
is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery
are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now, we know that
whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law,
that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become
accountable to God. Because by the works of the law,
no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law
comes the knowledge of sin. We look at this for several weeks
on end. The we in verse nine points not
only it groups Paul in with the nation of Israel. Are we the
nation of Israel? Are we the Jews, the Israelites,
the Hebrews? Are we better than they, the
Gentiles? That would have been the argument.
Had the Jews only heard chapter one and Paul’s indictment of
the Gentile nation, that might have been their argument, except
chapter two enters in and indicts the Jews as well as being fully
in need of God’s saving grace. The advantages had become disadvantages
to them because they weren’t rightly employed. Paul says not
at all. In no way are we better than
them, for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are
all under sin. They literally are underneath
the weight and the effects and the guilt of sin. There is no
hope outside of God for all of humanity, both Jews and Greeks. And then Paul enters in to quote
these series of quotations from the Old Testament, not only the
Psalms, because they’re especially, as we’ll see today, there are
other quotations, but there are these five quotations that ultimately
produce what I suggested are these 14 indictments, 14 indictments
on all of humanity. Look again at verse 10, there
is none righteous, not even one. That was Israel’s big stumbling
block, wasn’t it? That there were actually some
that thought that they could live according to the law, that
they could live up to the standard of what the law called for, and
that in doing so, they would earn their justification, their
right to stand before God. Paul begins by saying there is
none righteous, not even one. The Lord Jesus Christ accepted. There is none who understands
spiritually and savingly. There is none who seeks for God. And although many times throughout
the Old Testament we saw that we are commanded to seek after
God and that if we seek Him, we will find Him, but there is
no one who is able to do that. The command is there. The ability
is not. All have turned aside. Together
they have become useless. They were designed to please
and glorify God, and they have become utterly useless toward
that end. There is none who does good,
not even one. Paul there talking not only about
He’s not talking about mere good deeds. He’s talking about saving
good. There is none who’s able to savingly
help himself or do enough good to commend himself to God. There is none. And then Paul
enters in as if he needs an illustration. He has made these grand statements
from Scripture. He has called all men, especially
Jews, to attention by that statement as it is written. And he issues
forth those first six. And as if he needs an illustration,
he goes to the human mouth. He goes to the mouth and he says,
you want an illustration of sinfulness, look at look no further than
the human tongue. And he says, beginning in verse
13, their throat is an open grave. It is likened to the putrefying
decay of a body. left for all the world to experience
the decay and the disease that is there. Their throat is an
open grave. With their tongues they keep
on deceiving. Their life in its totality is
a series of deceptions. The poison of asps is under their
lips. And that poison, as we saw, was
a deadly poison. It was a pestilence that is spread
by everything that they say. The lies and the betrayal, the
slander, all of those things. And yet, Paul is giving us almost,
he’s citing Old Testament scripture. But every person knows that it’s
true. It’s not like Paul even needed to say it. Paul is just
giving an account of what is true of every man, that we sin
tremendously with our mouths. Verse 14 caps it off when he
says whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness and that kind
of cursing. There isn’t just swear words.
It’s talking about what we do and how we treat others with
our words. We cut them and we bring them
down. We call down. Destruction and
misery upon them. We spent no little time on those
verses last week, and I’ll let them stand This week, I want
to go to the fifth citation this morning, which begins in verse
15. The fifth citation we’ve seen for thus far. The fifth
citation, which begins in verse 15, introduces Isaiah fifty nine
versus seven and eight, and it gives to us three additional
statements of indictment. Indictments, eleven, twelve and
thirteen. Listen to verses 15 through 17
once again. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in
their paths. And the path of peace they have
not known. Those three little verses basically
point to the sin of violence that is so common to mankind
It begins just on an individual level, strife and contention
between other individuals. Ultimately, that strife can grow
into entire societies, entire cities, nations, nations between
nations and even multiple nations between nations issuing forth
in world war. But it begins on an individual
level and it usually begins, interestingly enough, with words.
Those words that we have just studied in verses 12 through
14, those words issue forth ultimately in violence. Look first at verse
15, their feet are swift to shed blood. You almost get an eagerness,
a zealousness to go and to do harm to someone else. Their feet
are swift to shed blood at even the most minor provocation. Individuals have a tendency to
want to stand up for their own. Individuals have a tendency to
want to fight back. We want to take revenge on others
if need be. And others’ rights, others’ privileges,
others’ feelings mean very little in view of that in comparison
with ultimately pleasing our own desires and gratifying our
own vengeance. We care little about the feelings
and well-being of others. One pastor noted that since the
turn of the century, twice as many U.S. citizens have been
slain in private acts of violence. than have been killed in all
the wars of the entire U.S. history. Is that amazing? We
think nothing. The nightly news, if it has several
murders or deaths or unknown deaths, we think very little
of that. And yet we tally up by the thousands
and the hundreds of thousands, the deaths from war. And yet, if the truth were to
be mulled upon, There are more that are killed
through these private acts than through these world wars. Indeed,
our feet are swift to shed blood. But remember here. Jesus doesn’t
even or Jesus up the ante of what murder is, and I think that’s
what is in Paul’s mind here as well. When he says their feeders
are swift to shed blood, I don’t even know that he necessarily
means murder. Because Jesus himself, as I said,
ups the standard, clarified the standard of what murder is. In Matthew, chapter five, he
said this. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his
brother should be guilty before the court and whoever says to
his brother, you good for nothing. shall be guilty before the Supreme
Court. Whoever says you fool shall be guilty enough to go
into the fiery hell.” In other words, Jesus says, look, you’ve
got a murderous intent in your heart already. You need not even commit the
act to be guilty of it. 1 John 3.15 echoes that same
sentiment. Everyone who hates his brother
is a murderer. If you have this harsh, evil,
murderous intent, it’s as good as committing the act itself.
And you know that a murderer has eternal life, pardon me,
that no murderer has eternal life abiding on him. Call it
what it is. This hateful, venomous feeling
towards others is murderous. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Verse 16, destruction and misery are in their paths. They have this tendency to just
destroy and where wherever destruction is produced, misery follows.
We think of those wars and the destruction and the. Subsequent
misery that that brings. Where entire nations are reduced
to their knees and for years need to crawl out of Poverty.
Their path, that is their path through life is not only marked
with blood, but by the ruin and desolation that war and that
kind of fighting brings. This misery, this word misery,
it means in its basic meaning, it means to grieve or to make
someone else else to grieve or to lament. It refers to one who
is wretched. They are in an utterly deplorable,
utterly destitute condition. And all of that is done by a
fellow human being or fellow nations. Not only murder, destruction
and misery, but look at verse 17, the path of peace they have
not known, it’s almost need not be said. Except that it’s part
of the passage at hand. It’s part of the quotation that
Paul issues forth the path of peace they have not known. They
don’t even know how to go about establishing peace with God,
they certainly don’t know how to establish peace with others.
They walk around half bitter to begin with, and everything
that comes from that is strife. The best commentary on this verse
is Romans 8, Paul himself. Listen just briefly. Romans 8,
it says, for those who are according to the flesh, set their minds
on the things of the flesh. That’s what produces war. That’s
exactly what James said, right? But those who are according to
the spirit, the things of the spirit, for the mind set on the
flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and
peace because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God. For it does not subject itself
to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. And those
who are in the flesh cannot please God. They don’t know the peace
of God. All they know is the things of
the world. All they know is this and all
they know is that’s what they want and they’re going to get
theirs no matter what. James said it this way. You adulterous.
Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward
God? Do you love things more than
people? Then James says you’re an adulterous,
spiritually speaking, whoever wishes to be a friend to the
world makes himself an enemy to God. An enemy. The basic idea here isn’t even
a specific version or form of violence. But just the prevalence
of sin and the sinful tendency of violence among people, among
all of mankind, ultimately is an indicator of the utter depravity
of our natures. The tendency to fight, the tendency
to bicker, the tendency to seek our own. Great Scottish preacher Robert
Haldane said it this way, such is a just description of men’s
ferocity which fills the world with animosities, quarrels, hatred
in the private connections of families and neighborhoods and
with revolutions and wars and murders among nations. The most
savage animals do not destroy so many of their own species
to appease their own hunger as man destroys his fellows to satiate
his ambition, his revenge and his greed. How sad. How sad. But remember here. Paul is merely laying before
all mankind that this is a characterization of their life. This is how they
live. And it’s as if Paul says, let
me cap it off for you. Let me give you one great reason
as to why all of these things exist. There’s none righteous. There’s none who spiritually
understands. There’s no one seeking after God. With their mouths,
they sin at every turn, ultimately issuing forth in violence and
murder. Let me tell you why. Verse 18, there is no fear of
God before their eyes. This is the final indicting statement. And it comes from, obviously,
the final citation, Psalm 36, one indictment number 14. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. What Paul finishes with here. Is this great description? By
presenting to them the source of their sinfulness. The source
of their sinful mouths, the source of their sinful attitudes, the
source of their treatment of God. Where does it all come from? How could it have gotten this
bad? Bottom line is, he says, there
is no fear of God before their eyes. We’re absolutely destitute
of a right respect of God. The fear of God is not before
our eyes continually. The fear of God is not there
to restrain us from evil. The fear of God is not there
to restrain our lips from speaking evil. The fear of God is not
there to prompt us to seek him. The fear of God is just not there. They don’t love God. They don’t
love his character. They don’t love his law. They
don’t love his way. They don’t respect his authority. One commentator said this verse
indicates the root of their evil desires, their evil deeds, their
evil words. In fact, the very essence, it
is in fact, the very essence of their sinfulness. It is a
figurative way of saying that the fear of God has no part in
directing his life, that God is left out of his consideration,
that he is a practical atheist. Now, I don’t know who first coined
the phrase practical atheist. I know that Burkoff talks about
it. I know that Charnock spends no
little time developing this idea of practical atheism. What it
means is this. Regardless of what you say with
your mouth, if you live contrary to that, you are an atheist. It doesn’t matter what you profess
with your mouth. It’s what you profess with your
life. And if your life says that there is no fear of God before
your eyes. Then there is no fear of God
before your eyes, regardless of what you proclaim, regardless
of what you profess. This reverence for God. What it points to is is an internal
self distrust. You don’t trust yourself. You
know yourself to be a thoroughgoing sinner. You are absolutely fearful
of trusting in yourself. It leads to a tenderness, a gentleness
of conscience, a conscience that is eager to seek out the sinfulness
of self. It knows that it lives before
a holy God and it knows it doesn’t suppose that it might. It knows
that it sins against God and against fellow man every day.
This is the reverence that stands against that arrogance that is
spoken of in Scripture. Be not high minded, but reverent. As one said, it is the taking
heed lest we fall. It is a constant apprehension
of the deceitfulness of the heart and the insidious and powerful
corruption within. It is the caution and circumspection
which timidly shrinks from whatever would offend and dishonor God
the Savior. It isn’t cowering in the corner
Because of God, it’s cowering in the corner because of ourselves
before God. It’s because of our sinfulness. This depravity, this sinfulness
is a constant proof that we don’t fear God. If our
life is marked by sinfulness, if our life is marked by strike
with others, if our life is marked by a hatred, a detestation of
those things and those laws and truths that belong properly to
God, if that marks our life, then it’s because there is no
fear of God. There’s no reverence, there’s
no piety towards him, there’s no desire to please him. We’re
not afraid of his wrath because we don’t even believe that it
exists. It is a record, as one said, a reckless wickedness whereby
men prove that they are destitute of all proper regard of God. It is living as if there is no
God, that’s what it is. We are called. to look out, as Paul pointed
out in chapter one, to look out and observe life that proves
every day that there is a God, that He is a good God and a merciful
God, one who bears with us, one who is merciful towards us,
one who is good and benevolent. We are to seek that God, we are
to fear that God, that our lives are supposed to be different
because that God exists. And Paul issues forth a summary
statement in verses 19 through 20, and it’s very simple. Paul
has just quoted these five citations, issuing forth these 14 indictments
on all men. And it’s astounding that it’s
almost as if a Jew would say, are you really? Are you really
talking to us? Are you really indicting us,
Paul? Are you saying that these things
are true of us? Look at verse 19. Paul says,
now we know that whatever the law says and when he says when
he uses the word law there, he’s talking about the Old Testament
as a whole, because properly speaking, the citations that
he just quoted weren’t from the law technically, but he’s speaking
of the law in the context of the entirety of the Old Testament.
We know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who
are under the law. In other words, whoever hears
it just placed themselves beneath. the teachings, the commands,
and in this case, the indictments of the law. Scriptures have just been used
plainly to support Paul’s statement that all mankind is under sin. And in that sense, Jews and Gentiles
are likewise equals. But in this particular case,
he says that the Jews are even more acutely under God’s judgment
Because they had the law, they possessed the law, they had the
truth. And in that sense, it became a disadvantage to them
because they did not use that greater responsibility in a proper
way. We know, Paul says, that whatever
the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. For what
purpose? That every mouth may be closed,
that all the world may become accountable to God. Paul is desperate
to prove the sinfulness of entire humanity because he wants one
thing and one thing only for all men to step up to the law
court of God with a shut mouth. I have nothing to say. I am absolutely
100 percent guilty. He wants them spiritually bankrupt. He wants them to acknowledge
that. The image here presents a courtroom,
doesn’t it? A defendant in court who once
he hears the case and once he hears all the evidence, what
can he do but stand silent before not only his accusers, but before
his judge? And God plays all the parts in
this courtroom drama and these charges that are brought against
him there without answer. They are utterly and completely
without answer. As one said, the design of God
was that every mouth should be stopped, that all men should
be reduced to silence under the conviction that they had nothing
to say against the charge of sin. All men should be convinced
of guilt. All men. That was the design
of the law, wasn’t it? The design of the law was to
bring about a realization of sin. Paul’s main goal here is that
by proving to the Jews already having indicted the Gentiles
that they are no exception, that the entire human race lies under
God’s judgment. And he’s almost finished. But
one last time, he says to the Jew. We know that whatever the
law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every
mouth may be closed and that all the world may become accountable
to God, because by the works of the law, no flesh. Will be justified in his sight,
for through the law comes knowledge of sin. Paul wasn’t speaking contrary
to what God had said. God had said, if you live according
to this law, you shall be saved. You will stand before God just
and justified. What Paul is pointing to, though,
is the reality of the thing. God. And Paul both know full well
that no man can ever live up to the laws demands. No one can
ever live a life perfectly good and perfectly righteous in order
to earn himself a position before God, a holy God in heaven in
eternity forever. No way. By the words of the law
shall no flesh be justified. And now we’re nearing the airport.
I’m going to land the plane. And the question may be in your
mind, not only is this not an Easter message, but why even
on any occasion, why would you go over weeks after weeks after
weeks of telling us that we’re sinners? Well, because Paul did. Because
God did. But what I want to look at this
morning as we begin to close, as we draw near to the airport,
As we consider why on earth this message on Easter of all occasions. And in order to answer that.
I want to ask the question of. Why did Paul put these verses
here? That’s always the question we
need to wrestle with, isn’t it? Why here? Why now? And as one said, In more eloquent terms, I think
the necessity of the study of the nature of man and his condition
is absolutely paramount to any message of hope or salvation.
And if you look at the outlines that we provided some months
ago, you see exactly where Paul is. Paul has wrapped up in verse
20, his discussion of sin. And it’s only then in verse 321
that Paul opens up to a great new section. on salvation. But it’s only with the groundwork
laid that all have sinned. Remember, years ago, one pastor
quipped that we have people saved before they even know that they
need a savior. In our mind, we are so flippant with the gospel.
We want to tell them that God loves them and offers a wonderful
plan for their lives when the bottom line is the first thing
they need to hear and know is that they are sinners. J.C. Ryle said it this way, There
are very few errors and false doctrines of which the beginning
may not be traced up to unsound views about the corruption of
human nature. Do you hear what he said? You
need to start with your theology. If you want to use the big word,
you need to start with your anthropology, the nature of humanity. You need
to start, he says, with sin. Wrong views about a disease will
always bring with them wrong views of a remedy. Wrong views
of the corruption of human nature will always carry with them wrong
views of the grand antidote and cure of corruption. In other
words, if we don’t get it right here, if we don’t really understand
how desperate our condition is, what good does it do to preach
messages of salvation? In Romans 321 and following,
it does no good at all. Let me give you the biblical
account. I alluded to this several weeks
ago, and I realized that I left some people hanging. Let me take
you to our original condition. Our original condition as we
found ourselves in the garden, and I speak on behalf of Adam
and Eve. What the Puritans used to call
innocence or primitive integrity. We were in the garden in a innocent
state, primitive integrity. If you remember back to Genesis
chapter one, days one and two, where days were created, heavens,
seas, dry land, and God looked and said, it is good. Day three,
vegetation was produced and God looked and it was good. Day four,
sun, moon and stars. And it was good. Day five, birds
and fish. It was good. Day six, animals. It was good. Genesis 126 says,
Then God said, Let us make man in our image according to our
likeness. And in verse 31, it records God saw all that he had
made and behold, it was very good. Obviously incorporating
the creation of man and woman in that context. God created
humanity free of sin and free of a sin nature. whose purpose
was to exercise dominion over God’s creation and enjoy and
glorify God in perpetuity, as long as it lasted. Listen to what one Puritan described
the scene. See what a glorious condition
man was in when he entered into covenant with Him. He was placed
in the Garden of God, which for the pleasure of it was called
Paradise. He had his choice of all the trees, only one accepted. He had all kinds of precious
stones, pure metals, rich cedars. He was a king upon the throne
and all the creation did obeisance to him. Man, in his innocence,
had all kinds of pleasure that might ravish his senses with
delight and be as bait to allure him to serve his master and worship
him. He was full of holiness. Paradise
was not more adorned with fruit than Adam’s soul was with grace. He was the coin on which God
had stamped his lively image. Light sparkled in his understanding
so that he was like an earthly angel and his will and affections
were full of order, tuning harmoniously to the will of God. Adam was
a perfect pattern of sanctity. Adam had intimacy and communion
with God and conversed with him as a favorite would with his
prince. He knew God’s mind. He had his
heart. He not only enjoyed the light
of sun’s paradise, but the light of God’s countenance. But we know that Adam and Eve
didn’t live long in that condition in paradise. It was a probation
period, a test. There was an agreement, a contract,
if you will, a covenant. And then enters in the fall of
humanity and the cursing that follows in chapter three, verses
one through 13. This is a real story about real
people in a real garden with real consequences, a real disaster. It’s a sad but true tale of discontent,
unbelief, unfaithfulness, pride, rebellion. And in the cursing of humanity,
their fall was our fall. Adam was our representative.
His fall was our fall. His sin was our sin. His guilt
is ours. Guilt and his sentence is our
sentence, as I pointed several weeks ago, and I’ll do it more
slowly this Lord’s Day. There are four dreadful effects
of the fall. Of our garden representatives,
Adam and Eve. The first is that coming out
of the garden, we are inherently sinful. That’s where we acquired
our sin nature. And by virtue of progeny making
babies, sin is replicated throughout the entire race, generation after
generation, without exception. When God looked down in Genesis
six, five, the Lord looked and saw that the wickedness of man
was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. Inherently sinful. Coming out
of that, we are temporarily vexed. That’s where the pain in childbirth
came from. That’s where the sweat of the brow came from. That’s
where all of the frustration came from is from sin. When you
hear or read in the obituary that so and so died of natural
causes, no, he didn’t. That wasn’t by God’s design.
We are temporarily vexed, we are physically dying from the
moment we are born. We have a terminable disease.
From time to time, as I said, you’ll hear that someone died
of natural causes. That’s not the case. It’s inevitable.
It’s part of our fall, but that isn’t natural. That’s not how
God designed it. In chapter two, verse 17 of Genesis, God threatened
death in the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die.
God hints at death in 317 when he says all the days of your
life. Never before had Adam had to look at a calendar. Never
before had Adam had to realize that his days were numbered.
God pronounces death in 319. Till you return to the ground,
because from it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust
you shall return. Paul said it much more simply.
Check that. The writer of Hebrews said it
much more simply. It is appointed for men to die once. It’s just
part of life. As soon as you’re born, you’re
dying. And fourth, the fourth consequence,
not only inherently sinful, temporally vexed, physically dying, but
spiritually dead. We are born dead. Spiritually speaking. We are
born dead towards God, we have no inclination toward him, that’s
exactly what Paul was saying. There is none righteous. There
is none who spiritually and savingly understands. There is none who
seeks God. They are spiritually dead. Pelagius had this problem. Whenever
early church fathers had this problem, he couldn’t see. He
couldn’t see original sin, he couldn’t understand the effects
of original sin, and so he just denied it. He just said that
basically men are good. They are inclined towards God
and all we have to do is draw them in. The correct position
on that was stated by Jesus himself, who said no one. In John 6.44,
no one. Yeah, that’s what it says, and
it’s pretty complete. No one can come to me unless
the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on
the last day. And that is because they are
spiritually dead. Preaching on that same passage.
The great Charles Spurgeon said it quite eloquently when he said
it this when he said this. Through the fall and through
our own sin, the nature of man has become so debased and so
depraved and corrupt that it is impossible for him to come
to Christ without the assistance of God and the Holy Spirit. Now,
the reason why men cannot come to Christ is because his nature
is so corrupt that he neither has the will nor the power to
come to Christ unless he is drawn by the spirit. We declare upon
scriptural authority that the human will is so desperately
set on mischief, so depraved, so inclined to everything that
is evil, and so disinclined to everything that is good, that
without the powerful, supernatural, irresistible influence of the
Holy Spirit, no human will ever be constrained towards Christ.
That’s the truth. Inherently sinful, temporally
vexed, physically dying, spiritually dead. No wonder Paul said to
the Ephesians, you were dead in your trespasses and sins.
And he wasn’t talking about physical death. What is the nature, what is the
meaning of this spiritual death, where does it leave us? One pastor
said, whatever the nature of this disease, this original sin,
it was foreign to man as originally created, as we just read. It
was introduced in Eden and inherent by every natural born child of
Adam. Its effect is to mortalize man’s
body and corrupt man’s spirit. It is capable of transmission
from body to body by the mere fact of procreation and from
body to spirit as the individual matures, man inevitably returns
to the dust and unfailingly becomes a sinner. In original sin, therefore,
we have a case of acquired character which has been inherited. That’s
what Adam and Eve did for us. So you say, what are the implications
of that? Yeah, I understand that we’re sinful. I understand that
we have original sin. I understand those four things,
temporally vexed, inherently sinful, physically dying, spiritually.
I get all that. What does it mean? That just as Charles Spurgeon
said, we have a complete and utter inability to render ourselves
assistance. We can’t breathe life into ourselves,
we can’t approach God, we can’t reach out and grab God’s hand. We are in utter and desperate
need of God to breathe life into our dead bodies. Samuel Davies,
early American pastor, said it this way. Men are estranged from
God and engaged in rebellion against him, and they love to
continue. So they will not submit or return
to their duty and allegiance. There is a need of superior power
to subdue their stubborn hearts and sweetly constrain them to
subjection with the love of God and an implacable detestation
of all sin. For this very purpose, the Holy
Spirit of God is sent into the world for this purpose. He is
at work from age to age upon the hearts of men. That spiritual
death. That is the great feature of
mankind, isn’t it? That’s what leaves us utterly
helpful. And you know what? Jesus didn’t
offer Nicodemus much help at all, did he? He didn’t tell Nicodemus
to do anything. But Jesus gave him incredible
counsel when he told to him his desperate condition. Nicodemus
came to him, skulking towards him in the night, and Jesus knew
his heart. And Jesus looked to him and said,
truly, truly, unless one is born of water in the spirit, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God. Nicodemus didn’t understand it,
and Jesus clarified, do not marvel that I understand that I say
to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes
and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it
comes from or where it is going. So is everyone who is born of
the spirit. He didn’t tell Nicodemus to do anything. He just told
him that it was absolutely necessary that he be born again, that he
be regenerated. The God must move first in his
life and open his blind and dead eyes and he must awaken him spiritually
and savingly. Spurgeon again. Said evangelical
repentance can never exist in an unrenewed soul. We don’t bring
ourselves to God, God brings us to God, we are as helpless
to cooperate in our regeneration as we are to cooperate in the
work of Calvary. Sinner, unconverted sinner, I
warn thee that thou can never cause thyself to be born again.
And though the new birth is absolutely necessary, it is absolutely impossible
to thee. Unless God the Spirit do it,
do what you will and still at your very best, there is a division
as wide as eternity between you and the regenerate. The Spirit
of God must make you. You must be born again. The same
power which raised Jesus from the dead. Must be exerted in
raising us from the dead. The very same omnipotence without
which angels or worms could not have had a being must again step
forth. and do as great a work as it
did in first creation in making us a new as in raising Jesus
as Lord. And we’re nearing the airport.
This is a message about resurrection, because just as Jesus was dead
and in the grave in a very much worse condition, we were spiritually
dead and in the grave and utterly hopeless. But God. And without Without God’s intervention,
without God stepping in, without God regenerating us, we remain
dead. We remain hopeless. We remain
without God and without hope. In the world, Spurgeon concluded
when he said, in the salvation of every person, there is an
actual putting forth of divine power whereby the dead sinner
is quickened, the unwilling sinner is made willing, the desperately
hard sinner has his conscience made tender, and he who rejected
God and despised Christ is brought to cast himself down at the feet
of Jesus. Aren’t you thankful that God
has done that? In your life, if you know and
name the name of Christ as Savior, if God has begun that, it’s because
God moved first. And God’s not done. Peter recorded it this way when
he said, Blessed, oh, how very blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy,
has caused us to be born again to a living hope. through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Jesus Christ was
first, but he was never meant to be the only one whose resurrection
is celebrated. He was never meant to be the
only one upon whom was raised. Jesus Christ was meant to be
the first. And if he’s so worked in some of your lives this morning,
it’s cause for praise. But there’s a greater concern.
There are many. There are likely many even in
our midst who are still either trying to pursue God through
a course of righteousness, right living, living according to a
standard, trying to live well enough to please God. There are many in our midst who
perhaps don’t even know. They perhaps don’t even care. They live as if there is no God. And our great prayer this morning
is that God would be at work, that God would move in the hearts
of men and women and children and that they would see themselves
as utterly in need of a Savior, destitute sinners that without
God’s help are lost. God can save you. God, who raised
Jesus Christ from the dead, Did so not just as a symbol. He did
it because Jesus sacrifice was fully accepted. It was fully
accepted. God raised Jesus from the dead
as a mark that that salvation, that that. Active propitiation
for sinners was accepted by him. And if God is moving in your
heart, If you have no hope of salvation, if you have no way
of knowing where you stand in the grand scheme of eternity,
if you don’t know for certain that you stand before a holy
God in the righteousness of Christ, it’s available this morning.
If God is at work in your heart. God is calling to calling you
to repent of your sin. and to place your faith in the
only place you can for salvation. God has raised Jesus Christ from
the dead. How about you? Let’s pray. O merciful God, there is in a
single one of us, regardless of how long we have walked with
Christ, Who could ever say that we deserve what we have been
given in this salvation that you’ve bestowed upon us because
of your mercy? We thank you and praise you that
while we were dead in our trespasses and sins, Christ died for us. And ultimately, you awakened
us to that truth and to the fact that we were utter sinners and
in desperate need of salvation. Father God, if there are any
in our midst, that do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior,
open their eyes, grant them the grace to see that they are sinners
in need of that salvation. Father, having done so, may they
join us again and rejoice with us in what you’ve accomplished
in our own lives. We didn’t deserve it, but we
thank you for the salvation you’ve given. And it’s in Jesus’ name
that we rejoice, not only in his resurrection, but in our
own. In Jesus’ name that we pray.
Amen. you.