Depravity

Well, last week we went over the doctrine of original sin, and the first point kind of helps us gather a little bit more about what original sin is. So the first point of last week went like this. It was about three-fourths of the first point: when Adam and Eve rebelled against God, our human nature was corrupted. So depravity, guilt, and penalty came to all humanity.

Every human being is now born in a sinful state. We are all born guilty and condemned before God. The references in Scripture for that are Romans 5:12 and Ephesians 2:3. But the three things that are in section one that we went over last week are depravity, guilt, and penalty. We're going to hit on depravity tonight, and then next week will be guilt, and then followed by penalty.

And when you think about this, we often associate what Christ did and what Christ accomplished. Right? He takes away our guilt. He pays the penalty of our sin, but we don't really think about what's the work of Christ in response to our depravity. So that's what we're going to kind of dive into today, where we often see that Christ provides the way from depravity. And so we know that from John 14:6, where Jesus says, "I am the," what? "The way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me," that Jesus said. So that's what we mean by saying that where Jesus says, "I am the way."

So a good definition — it's not going to be a perfect definition, but it kind of gives us an idea as far as what we're talking about here with depravity. Depravity is moral corruption. Another word that might just sum it up in one word is "lost." When we think about the lost, we're thinking about people who are depraved. Another phrase is someone who has no moral compass — someone with no moral absolutes. They're just wandering all over the place in this world with no direction. Their direction is their self, and that changes from day on and day out. It depends if you're sick, you get old, different things, and you're going way off the reservation. That is an example of being depraved.

You may think of a worldly wise man in response to his own depravity. I think about an example from the Lord of the Rings, where Gandalf the wizard says, "A wizard arrives precisely when he means to."

So when we think about that, that's like a worldly wise man in his own mind, thinking that he's trying to project his way — that he knows what he's doing, arriving precisely when he means to — but it's like an implied lie that we see there in that line. So that's where you're going to see that when you leave here. If you were to talk to people about specifically the lost, when we talk about depraved, it's going to come in all shapes and forms as far as what depraved looks like.

So we're going to dive into the Bible here in section one. So in the blanks here for section one, the truth that we're going to hit up here is the doctrine of depravity. Depravity is the first blank. The doctrine of depravity describes the effect of original sin on humanity because all of humanity fell in Adam. All men are now born with a fallen nature. Depravity describes this corrupt moral state that is inborn and common to all men.

So we have the doctrine of depravity is the first blank. The next one: depravity describes this corrupt moral state that is inborn and common to all men.

Look on the front here on your sheet at Romans 3, verses 10 through 12.

"As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one." This is also quoted from Psalm 14 and Psalm 53. Psalm 53 you see on the back of your sheet. But dear friends, this is a truth that is very hard to just kind of stop and think about.

And it's easy to think about this in terms of the other guy. But when you think about it as yourself, this is tough.

Imagine this for a moment, this truth here in these three little verses. Imagine this — we don't hear it taught much in our church. Imagine this without Christ — that there is no one righteous, no, not one.

And this is when you think about this world without Christ, depravity rises to the surface really quickly. And then we kind of head home with this, and you think about your world. It's easy to think about this world and around us. But when you look in the mirror and you look at your world and you think about Christ, these verses pierce the soul.

So today as American Christians, we try to learn about our depravity with rose-colored lenses, right? But since God is holy, depravity must be the effect of the sin of mankind. And this is for all living humans.

If there is a living human who is not depraved, there would be a chance for self-saving, right? There would be like a possibility and a probability of that person — who would not be depraved — to make it as being perfect. I have this conversation on Twitter every now and then when people think if you are basically good or you have some sort of innate goodness in you. I'm like, well, why don't you — when babies are born — put them in like a protection agency, surround them with loving care up until you protect them from the outer realms or whatever, and have this chance that we may have someone that's perfect and that can be this utopian society. But it's not possible. It's just not possible. We — all men and all women, boys and girls — are born with this nature. And this is a fact because God is holy.

So the first application for this section is: is man basically good? Why or why not?

Any comments on that? Is man basically good? If we apply our own standard to ourselves, we're certain of the truth. But if we apply the Ten Commandments to ourselves — yeah, that's a great point. It depends on what standard we hold ourselves to. And if we look to the Bible, the standard says no, man is not basically good. Mark 10:18 — this is when the rich young ruler — the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, verse 18, says, "And Jesus said to him," He's talking to the rich young ruler, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone."

Our standard — like what you're saying — of good is very poor. It's very poor. We like to compare ourselves to our environment. We like to compare ourselves to other churches, right? We like to compare ourselves to other families. And we like to look at ourselves in the mirror and say, "You know, I'm not that bad. I associate myself with this or that." But our standard for good is very poor.

Section two. Depravity is the lack — that's the first blank — depravity is the lack of original righteousness and holy affection toward God. Depravity is the lack of original righteousness and holy affection toward God.

And the rest of it reads: "God created man with a holy nature to fear, love, and trust God above all things. This orientation was lost in the fall of man. In place of this bent to God, man is now bent to self. Man's whole life — inward and outward — is now determined by a preference of self to God."

I'll read that sentence again: "Man's whole life, inward and outward, is now determined by a preference of self to God. Man is totally destitute of the love of God."

Man is totally destitute of the love of God.

I think most Christians — and so-called Christians, professing Christians — have heard the two greatest commandments that we have seen all throughout the Old Testament and also in the New Testament. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." This is contrary to self, is it not? Right? It doesn't say, "Love yourself." And so we keep this in mind.

On the back we have Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4 through 9. It reads, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God. The Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates."

This is also mentioned in Matthew 22, Mark 12, and Luke 10.

The law, right, like we said, is summed up in these two commandments to love. Think about this — commandments to love. These two statements are not the gospel, like we've just briefly gone over. They are commandments. They are the law. Some really attack God by saying, "Well, God doesn't force anyone to love Him." That is true. He does not force anyone to love Him, but He does command. He does command all men to love Him. And if they don't, they will spend eternity in hell.

It's not forcing, but it's getting pretty close. Like, it's not going to force, but that is the standard. That is the standard of eternal life — to be able to love God. If you fall short of that and violate it, you have just proven that you are depraved.

I think that's one of the objectives here of going over this doctrine — as you look in the mirror and you do some self-analysis, you need to be convinced that you are depraved.

It is very easy to get into this world and into this darkness and to think that it's normal and to think that it's comfortable. But we need to look in the mirror and think of ourselves as we were without Christ — that we are depraved, and how we desperately need Him.

The application for the second is: "How is love for God evidenced in my life?" How is love for God evidenced in my life? We're going to keep this question rhetorical for tonight.

But this is quite the question, isn't it? This question will put you in places where you need to explore various doctrines. Doctrine matters, right? And when we try to start to answer this question, our doctrine needs to be spot on.

Do you have any love for God? Or are you just coming to church out of your own self-interest? Or does being with the saints stir up your affection to live a holy life that is pleasing to Him? That will be an expression of love, that you would love Him.

Christian, I want to be able to encourage you tonight — as we put our faith in Christ, He is our elder brother who has loved God perfectly. Perfectly. And so when we put our faith in someone who has fulfilled this standard perfectly, we can rest in Him.

And so when that happens — and we're going to go through this on what that looks like and what that means — we end up loving God. We're going to get into some details with that on the order of that and regeneration and all that kind of thing. But we love Christ, right?

So if you're someone here that's listening and you're feeling discouraged — like you're thinking maybe you don't have any affections for God and love for Christ — I would encourage you to pray to God to reveal Himself to you, that He would reveal yourself and that He would cause you to have a desire and affections for Him.

So pray and dig into the Word. God will put us in desperate situations, painful situations at times, where He is the only answer. Oftentimes that happens.

Pastor has said, "I'd rather learn to obey and love God with my ears rather than with my tears." Right. And that's kind of what we're getting at when we want to be able to have eternal life. Right. We want to be saved. So just think about that.

Section three. We're going to move to the next section, which is depravity is not just being deprived of good. Depravity is more than deprivation. Depravity is the corruption — that would be the first blank — depravity is the corruption of man's moral nature with a bias towards evil.

Depravity is evil embraced.

I'll read those last few blanks again. Depravity is the corruption of man's moral nature with a bias towards evil. Depravity is evil embraced.

So put your eyes down a little bit lower there in John 3:19 through 20. In context here, this is just a few verses after what we just proclaimed on John 3:16.

It reads, "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed."

There's a book that R.C. Sproul wrote called The Lightlings. I don't know if any of y'all have seen that, but there's a little clip too — like a ten-minute clip that kind of narrates it. But anyway, there's this book where there's a story of a king who made these little lightlings that are like fairies in the story. And they're full of light. It's this king who made these lightlings, and they're full of light. Well, one day in this story, these lightlings decided that they would do what they wanted to do instead of what the king commanded them to do. And so immediately their light became dim, and they were filled with shame, and they became naturally afraid of the light, because when they were in darkness and they saw the light, it would expose who they were — that they had disobeyed the king.

And the lightlings began to live in the dark. They began to feel comfortable in the dark. And so everything around them made sense from a dark point of view.

And so that's kind of an illustration here of these verses — that for everyone practicing evil hates the light, there in verse 20.

And so just like the lightlings in the story, we too are immersed and surrounded in darkness. We naturally hate the light.

The application for section three here is: why is it so easy for humanity to do evil? Why is it so easy for humanity to do evil? Anyone?

It's in our nature.

Yeah.

We see it all over the place, right? It is so easy to point the finger when we see evil. In this world, every one of us is capable of doing that very same thing — whatever the depravity that we see on the television, on the Internet, whatever.

And it's so easy for humanity to do evil. Flip over on the back. And on the bottom left there is section three, Galatians 5:19 through 21.

"Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like — of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

Those are explicit, but it's not limited to this, as it says in verse 21 — "and the like."

So it's very easy when we think about some of this list here in Galatians 5. Hopefully you're here today and you're maybe thinking this is what I was — and it's not a current situation that you're in. And if you are, I would strongly encourage you to follow the command of Christ to repent and believe in Him, and to flee from that, as maybe one or two may jump out at you.

In fact, when we watch comedy — whether it's a stand-up or whatever, right — it's so easy for a comedian to profane the sacred. Right. That's like an easy win for a comedian. "Oh, I can't think of anything, so why don't I just profane the sacred?" And all of a sudden everybody loves that. And so you can kind of see that there is an appetite and there's a demand across the whole world. Doesn't matter what culture you're in — you just find something that's sacred and a comedian has got a ton of material.

So so far, right, this is through section three here — this is getting very discouraging. But I want to be able to keep nailing this home, because a lot of us today we just pass this on and we just don't think about this. If we're not sanctified by the Spirit, the evidence of our flesh will surface. And this is true for all natural-born mankind.

Read on the back here in First Corinthians chapter 6, verses 9 through 11. We're going to get a little bit of encouragement here in First Corinthians 6:9 through 11. "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor homosexuals nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God."

And such were some of you.

But you were washed.

It'd be great just to kind of sit there for a minute, right?

But you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified.

In the name — in the name, meaning like the banner, like the banner is over you — in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Man, what an encouragement that is.

And such were some of you.

In section four, flip back over on the front.

Section four reads: total depravity means that every part — that's the first blank — every part. Total depravity means that every part of man is corrupted by sin. Man's intellect is blinded, his affections are corrupted, and his will is enslaved. I'll read those first two again. Total depravity means that every part of man is corrupted by sin. Man's intellect is blinded, his affections are corrupted, and his will is enslaved.

The rest reads: total depravity does not mean utter depravity. Fallen man can always sink lower.

Right. Fallen man can always sink lower. We're going to read some scripture on this. Fallen man can always sink lower apart from God's grace. An evil man will spiral downward.

On the front here we have 2 Timothy 3:13: "But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."

Psalm 58:3. This is a verse that you'll need to have tucked into your arsenal when someone does not believe in this doctrine. Psalm 58:3: "The wicked are estranged from the womb. Those who speak lies go astray from birth."

Flip over on the back. Romans chapter 1 — you can find it on number four there. Romans chapter 1, verse 21 to 22: "Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools."

And then turn in your Bibles to Romans 3. I want to read verses 13 through 18, and I would like for you to see these verses in your own Bibles.

Romans chapter 3, starting at verse 13, going through verse 18 — we're going to see here God's word talking about total depravity, and it's going to go from head to toe.

And in this imagery that we're talking about here in Romans 3, starting at verse 13: "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. In the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes."

This is a very dangerous reality. What a blessing it is to be in a church that knows this truth and that we can surround ourselves with other saints and believers who have Christ as the way, the truth, and the life. Out there, there's a plethora of people — the majority of people — who live like these verses here, verses 13 through 18.

I do not want to surround myself with these kinds of people — with depraved, lost minds who have a throat as an open grave. How about exposing your children to someone who has a throat as an open grave? Someone with poison of asps under their lips — every channel you're clicking on, there's poison, poison, poison.

Give me back the church.

I mean, like, this is the reality of the world today, and about all mankind is depraved in this way, says God's word.

Flip over on the back. We have Ephesians 4:17 through 19.

"This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness."

This is the reality of them. This is the reality of the world. But we're not accusing — we have a heart for the lost, right? When we point that truth out, it's a both-and — we're evangelizing to the people who we're pointing out this is the reality of their situation. This should give us hearts and a desire to be able to long to go and talk to these people: "Hey, you have a throat as an open grave. Here's God's word. Here's the truth. Here's the gospel."

And so when we come to these truths, we don't live as they are. We live set apart. Okay, that's what Ephesians 4:17 through 19 here is saying. And so when we're faced with this reality of being in the world but not of the world, application four stands out here.

Flip back on the front: how can believers overcome depravity?

All right, we're coming face to face with this truth here. We're down to earth with what this truth means for us. As we live in this world, how can we overcome depravity? How can we overcome depravity in your own world — as you look in the mirror and as you interact with the world? How can you overcome depravity? What are your thoughts?

Amen. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet," right? "A light unto my path." "That I might not sin against Thee." Living a life that is pleasing to Him. Amen. I mean, I love being around people who are walking Bibles. I want to surround myself with people who remind me of Christ. And that's what we're looking at here. And this verse is not on your sheet, but 1 John 4:4 — I love 1 John when you're thinking about these kinds of things, of overcoming, about what the work of Christ does for me when I'm looking for my assurance of salvation. 1 John points to Christ in the reality of the light and the darkness confrontation. But 1 John 4:4 in this one verse says, "You are from God, little children."

The Apostle John here is not talking about the world. This is separate. 1 John 4:4: "You are from God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world."

That is such an encouraging truth as we confront the reality of depravity, as we look in the mirror, and also as we look at depravity in the world.

Section 5 starts out with depravity includes spiritual inability. That's the first blank — inability. Depravity includes spiritual inability.

Man's deprivation of the love of God and his complete embrace of evil renders him unable to love God and to keep His commandments. Depraved man cannot fulfill God's law and meet His approval.

I'll say that last part again: depraved man cannot fulfill God's law and meet His approval.

I'm going to pause right there for a second.

We don't hear this kind of teaching. We hear the teaching that God approves of us just as we are. And we don't want to hear a call to repentance — we want to hear God approves us. "God sees that I'm basically okay," or "God understands the decisions that I'm making," or "the circumstances of that case." No, no, no. Depraved man cannot fulfill God's law. That's the standard, as we said earlier.

Depraved man cannot fulfill God's law and meet His approval. God is holy. He has a very high standard.

And I'm going to continue reading here in the section: man's inability to love God supremely results from his selfish rebellion. Hence, inability is no excuse for sin. That's the next blank — excuse. Inability is no excuse for sin. Inability results from sin and is itself sin.

The fact that we are unable — this is missing the mark, right. We're not able to meet God's approval.

Depraved man cannot change his bent toward self and evil apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. Depraved man cannot change his bent toward self and evil apart from the work of the Holy Spirit.

Many critics — that you may be friends with at work or maybe even within family — may hear some of these truths and resist them a little bit. They may say something like this: "Since I'm not able, since I don't have the ability, God didn't give me the ability, it's not my fault if I sinned." Have you heard that?

"I'm not able. He didn't give me the ability. So therefore I'm not at fault."

Listen to that question just for a moment. Reflect on that question and think about the heart of that question.

The heart of that question is someone who is throwing up their hands and giving up. That is a depraved heart kind of a question, where the deflection — just like Adam and Eve did — is blaming someone else, and not taking responsibility for my own actions and for my own thoughts and for my own nature. We do also take responsibility in our inability.

It's hard to reason with someone who's dead set on being depraved, right. I mean, like, when we're going to hand out some tracts tomorrow — I mean, you've got to get used to being rejected. People are dead set on being depraved. And so sometimes I'll respond, and it may not be the right thing, but I'll just say — you know, if I come to the point where I'm just kind of tired of it — "You go ahead and keep going and being all you can be, and try your very best to please God all by yourself."

That's probably not the right way to do things, but that's kind of sometimes how I feel when I come to the very end of a conversation like that with someone who's dead set on being depraved.

Andrew Rappaport says in his book — on page 100, in the book What Do We Believe — we have some over here if you need one, if not we'll get some more. On page 100, in the section on depravity, Andrew Rappaport says this: "Total depravity is not total inability. A sinner is restricted but still is sovereign over that which God has placed man over. However, a sinner is limited and unable to change their course of life, prefer God to self, or live above sin, nor is he capable of performing any act fully acceptable to God."

I thought that was a good quote from the book What Do We Believe by Andrew Rappaport. But let's go to Scripture — Scripture trumps everything here.

Romans chapter 8, verses 7 through 8, you'll see on the front part of your sheet under section 5. "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God."

The application for section 5 is: why is earning our way to heaven a fallacy? Why is earning our way to heaven a fallacy?

Anyone?

It's stating that — I've got to do something. Yeah, it's stating that Christ is not enough, right.

Now — Abigail. Yeah.

That's true. We're not perfect, and even if it were measured with that, our bads will probably outweigh our good, right? If we really got to the jot and tittle of measuring ourselves to the law.

So as Jesus said in Matthew 19:26 — this isn't on your sheet, but in Matthew 19:26, Jesus says, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Flip on the back. And these verses here nail this and drive this point home. If this is holding you up about depravity — and for a lot of people it is this point here — these scriptures you should circle them, highlight them, memorize them, pray about them.

Romans 7:18 through 19 reads: "For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do I do not do, but the evil I will not to do, that I practice."

In other words, a little sin corrupts the whole vessel.

We — you and me — are a vehicle of destruction. Everywhere we go we are sinful creatures. It's amazing — I'm sure when you know in marital counseling it's said that when you get two sinners to come together, you're going to have issues. I mean, I think anyone can think about that, that this is very, very true — that we are each a vehicle of destruction, and we need Christ. That's why it's so crucial and so critical for Christ to be in a marriage, to be the head of the church, to be head of the family. And so it is so important, as we come to this truth, that just a little sin will corrupt our whole self and will make ourselves depraved.

The next verse is John 3:3 through 5. Thinking about this need for Christ, John 3:3 through 5 on the back of your sheet: "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?' Jesus answered, 'Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.'"

Born again is necessary. So like what I was hinting at a little bit earlier, about how regeneration — that rebirth — is necessary. It implies that our first being born is not able to enter into the kingdom of God. And so we must be born again, because that first birth will not make it. So regeneration must happen, and it's a miracle of rebirth that must happen.

Moving on to this next verse — 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 14: "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

Real quick on that verse — the phrase "for they are foolishness to him," and the next phrase, "nor can they know them," and the next phrase, "because they" — the word "they" in all these phrases modifies the phrase "the things." You do your prepositional phrases, you take them out and you do your structure, and you can figure that out. At first I was reading this and I was thinking, oh, but "they" could be misinterpreted as talking about mankind — but it says, "because they" — meaning the things of the Spirit of God — "are spiritually discerned." And so natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God.

These verses are so crucial. Put them in your arsenal to be able to nail down your belief in these truths here.

Moving on to section six. Flip back on the front. Section six reads: this spiritual inability that is part of depravity does not mean that men have no freedom. Freedom being the first blank. The sinner can choose less sin rather than greater. I'll read that — the sinner can choose less sin rather than greater. He can refuse to yield to certain temptations. He can do outwardly good acts, though with imperfect motives. He can even seek God from motives of self-interest, and thus open himself to divine influence.

And the last phrase — freedom of choice within these limits, right, we're talking about these boundaries of thought here that we just spelled out — freedom of choice within these limits is not incompatible with complete bondage of will. So the blanks there are freedom, less, motives, self, and bondage.

So think of a prisoner, right, when we think about the bondage of will. Think of a prisoner — he can do whatever he wants in prison, right. He can — there are going to be rules and different things, but the freedom of choice is still there for a prisoner. He's still in prison, though. He still has freedom to do what he wants, but he cannot see the outside of prison, unless someone from the outside sets him free in this illustration.

So turn back if you're on the front. Still, Romans chapter 10:10 through 13: "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, 'Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.' For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

That the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way, the truth, and the life — who is outside the prison. That's why He's the only Savior. That's why He's our only hope. That's why He's the only Savior of the entire world, as what we say.

So when someone is regenerated, their heart is changed. And as a result of this act of God, the heart is changed, the mouth speaks, and actions happen.

Just like repentance — we can say if you or I don't see someone — if you don't hear someone who professes belief in Christ, it's a pretty safe assumption that they are not regenerated. But if they do profess Christ and they do show evidence of Christ being within them — having a heart changed — we can discern that they would be saved. We wouldn't be determining that, but we would be able to declare that.

The next application for point six is: how important is our repentance and faith? We're going to keep this one rhetorical here — how important is our repentance and faith?

Meaning, if we don't demonstrate actions, if we don't profess Christ as our Savior, if we're not repentant and showing our faith, that is just an indication that you are going to go to eternity in hell.

And so that's not what saves you, but that's a sign. And so when you do self-examination and you think about whether you have repented or come to faith in Christ — you are in danger, by the authority of God's word, that you will be going to hell.

People, flip on the back, in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6: "But without faith it is impossible to please Him. For he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

Section — now flip back on the front — section seven: over against depravity, we must set redemption. We must set redemption, redemption being the first blank.

God's first question to man after the fall was, "Where are you?" This was not a question of Adam's physical location, but of his moral state. It was not asked in a threatening manner, but asked in love to invite Adam to repentance. Those are your blanks. And the last blank is: this question is for all of humanity, of whom Adam is the head.

So your blanks here are redemption, moral, love, invites, and head.

This is a great example found in Genesis chapter 3 of God pursuing a lost person — a depraved person. What a great question to seek out someone who's lost. That could be your opener. We talked about what's your opener. "Where are you today?" Just that simple question. Where are you? And then listen to them.

Everyone has a story — you could be there for minutes or hours. "Where are you?" What a heart that God had. And then His next question was, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" Found in Genesis chapter 3.

So even by hearing these words tonight, or listening to them some other time, maybe you're feeling convicted — where you have been, where you may be now. Because you did disobey what God told you not to do. We must know, like it says in Hebrews chapter 11, without faith it is impossible to please Him.

And then back on the front, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 through 5 — we covered this a few months ago in a Sunday sermon. What an amazing encouragement this is for me, and hopefully for you today.

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved."

The application for this truth is: praise God — that's the first blank — praise God for Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Praise God for Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.

Redeemer, meaning the one who bought you back with a price. It's just like when you go to pay for a loaf of bread at the store — you're going to exchange something in return for that bread. Christ gave His own life as a payment to redeem you. He — in exchange — Christ won specific individuals. It was an active payment, and He set people free. He set individuals free from depraved prison.

And He gave people a course. He said, "I am the way." And when you put your faith in Him, you are following Him. He says, "Deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Me." And so we move out in faith. It's nothing mystical. It's nothing that you have to do. You move out by faith, and you are saved by grace alone.

I want to close with this. I think one of the best — my favorite biblical illustration of this exchange of Christ being our Redeemer — I'm going to turn your Bibles to Matthew 27.

Matthew chapter 27. You know there's only 28 chapters in Matthew. So Matthew 27 — we're looking at it towards the end of Jesus's life.

In Matthew 27, we're going to start in verse 16 and we're going to go to verse 26.

I pray that the reading of this word will be an encouragement for all of us. Matthew 27:16 through 26. The Bible says, "At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, 'Whom do you want me to release for you, Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ?' For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over. While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message saying, 'Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of him.' But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death. But the governor said to them, 'Which of the two do you want me to release for you?' And they said, 'Barabbas.' Pilate said to them, 'Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?' And they all said, 'Crucify him.' And he said, 'Why? What evil has he done?'"

"But they kept shouting all the more, saying, 'Crucify him.'"

When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing — right, I'm just going to stop reading for a second — you can sense the dripping of depravity in these people. And we are no better.

"In verse 24, when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, 'I am innocent of this man's blood. See to that yourselves.' And all the people said, 'His blood shall be on us and on our children.' Then he released Barabbas for them. But after having Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified."

There's this song that our family knows, sung by a guy named Mark Cable — he was a singer in my years. He's got about maybe a hundred, maybe a couple hundred subscribers on his YouTube channel that he never updates. But he has this song called "Barabbas." Mark Cable — Cable with the C — if you want to check it out. I may have sent it to a couple of y'all when we hear similar types of teachings. But he sings this song called "Barabbas," and he sings in this song how Barabbas must have felt when the prison doors flew open and the guard says, "You're a free man now."

And he sings, "Oh, Barabbas, it should have been you. Oh, Barabbas, it should have been me too."

And so the application is: praise God for Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. And we can bank on these things. This is what God's word says, on the authority of God's word. We can have faith in it all the way through this life and into the next — that He has paid the price and He is sufficient, and we must respond with repentance and faith and go full out. We are all in for Him. And so let me pray for us and then we'll close out the night.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your word. Help us to understand depravity. And You have helped us by giving us Your word. You have given us Your Son. You gave up Your Son. You so love us that You gave Him to us, and we crucified Him. And so we do not understand it, and we need to be sanctified by Your Spirit because we are so depraved. We are totally depraved from head to toe. And so we do thank You for these truths. We thank You for Your grace, and we thank You for Your grace that we will be able to exercise this regeneration through the actions of faith and the thoughts of faith, our deeds of faith, and that we would only, only be possible through faith in Christ alone. What a blessing it is to be able to know this and to be able to dwell on these truths. We praise Your name. In Jesus's name, Amen.