1 00:00:00,100 --> 00:00:05,700 We're going to be reading from the 103rd Psalm just one verse 2 00:00:06,100 --> 00:00:14,000 Psalm 103 verse 14 here. The Bible says, for God himself 3 00:00:14,500 --> 00:00:21,400 knows our frame. He is mindful that we are but 4 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:26,700 dust the psalmist. David once said, I have been 5 00:00:26,700 --> 00:00:33,800 young and now I am old Old. That's Psalm 37 and verse 25. 6 00:00:34,700 --> 00:00:38,600 And every person who lives a full life or anything close to, 7 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:45,600 it goes through a time of Youth, some people have an especially 8 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:51,800 traumatic Youth and others have an especially sheltered Youth 9 00:00:52,500 --> 00:00:55,200 and most have something in between. 10 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:02,400 Some people are deprived of any education in spiritual things. 11 00:01:03,300 --> 00:01:07,900 And others are blessed to be exposed to the word of God, and 12 00:01:07,900 --> 00:01:12,300 the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, early in their lives. 13 00:01:13,100 --> 00:01:17,600 And some of them are taught to love God by people who love God 14 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:22,800 themselves. And some of these are led to 15 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:26,500 love God as well. And to make the decision to 16 00:01:26,500 --> 00:01:31,300 honor and serve him. In time most of these people, in 17 00:01:31,300 --> 00:01:37,700 fact, I'm going to say all of them experienced a crisis, they 18 00:01:37,700 --> 00:01:41,900 realize that they are not as good as they understand. 19 00:01:41,900 --> 00:01:45,600 They should be. They failed to live up to the 20 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:49,400 standard that God seems to set in his word. 21 00:01:49,500 --> 00:01:53,800 Some of them think that others succeed at that but they know 22 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:59,800 that they do not My father was a person like that. 23 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:04,600 I don't know if any of you knew him, he was by my judgment. 24 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:07,700 A very good man. I loved him very much. 25 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:16,100 He was raised to follow Christ. But he came to the conclusion. 26 00:02:16,100 --> 00:02:21,500 He told me before he died, when he was a teenager that he just 27 00:02:21,500 --> 00:02:27,100 wasn't good enough. And he chose to handle that, 28 00:02:27,300 --> 00:02:31,600 like many others have in a very unhealthy way. 29 00:02:33,700 --> 00:02:36,000 A tommen way, but a very unhealthy one. 30 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:41,800 Some people delude themselves into thinking eventually that 31 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,700 they are good enough by focusing on the ways that they feel that 32 00:02:45,700 --> 00:02:51,500 they're better than others. These become Hypocrites others. 33 00:02:51,500 --> 00:02:59,400 Like my father for 18 years. Give up and walk away and leave 34 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:03,000 the church behind and try to live without God. 35 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:08,100 Others determined that they will go ahead and continue going to 36 00:03:08,100 --> 00:03:12,100 church and hope that somehow things will get better. 37 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:16,000 Maybe they'll get hit by a truck when they're having a good day. 38 00:03:17,100 --> 00:03:22,000 Or maybe they'll just eventually cross that line that they 39 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:26,300 recognize, they haven't crossed yet and eventually get as good 40 00:03:26,300 --> 00:03:30,300 as they need to be or somehow some way everything will work 41 00:03:30,300 --> 00:03:34,200 out. These become devoutly religious 42 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:39,000 but generally miserable people. Well, I believe that the 43 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:43,200 underlying problem in all of these cases is a failure to 44 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:48,000 appreciate the Human Condition and perhaps to appreciate that. 45 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,400 God understands The Human Condition. 46 00:03:52,100 --> 00:03:55,300 And so, for the duration of our study, I want to consider what 47 00:03:55,300 --> 00:03:57,500 the Bible teaches on this matter. 48 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:01,200 I want to begin by considering two popular. 49 00:04:01,300 --> 00:04:06,100 Diaz about the human condition that I reject is untrue. 50 00:04:06,500 --> 00:04:09,800 One of these is a secular and atheistic idea. 51 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:13,800 And the other is a religious idea that actually professes to 52 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,500 be the biblical and Christian won. 53 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:21,600 The first is, what we'll call evolutionary progress. 54 00:04:21,700 --> 00:04:27,200 This is the secular atheistic concept of The Human Condition, 55 00:04:27,300 --> 00:04:30,200 but although it is secular atheistic, that doesn't mean 56 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:34,100 that. No, Christian holds to it, many 57 00:04:34,100 --> 00:04:39,300 times Christians inadvertently mistakenly borrow ideas from 58 00:04:39,500 --> 00:04:42,100 other worldviews. And so it may be that there are 59 00:04:42,100 --> 00:04:45,800 many people who believe in Jesus Christ, but they've embraced 60 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:50,100 this notion. And this notion says that in one 61 00:04:50,100 --> 00:04:56,500 way or another humanity, is getting better naturally and 62 00:04:56,500 --> 00:05:01,200 will eventually get as good as it can possibly be, and then it 63 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:04,400 will go extinct and will be replaced by something that's 64 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:08,800 even better than it. Now, this idea has philosophical 65 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:12,600 and even scientific problems that make it Unworthy of 66 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,500 acceptance by anyone. But if you believe in God and 67 00:05:16,500 --> 00:05:20,800 the Bible, Then this notion is even more unacceptable because 68 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:24,800 it runs completely contrary to Biblical teaching. 69 00:05:25,500 --> 00:05:30,600 According to the Bible Humanity was created by God in a way that 70 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:35,700 he judged to be very good. So he said in Genesis 1 and 71 00:05:35,700 --> 00:05:39,200 verse 31. When he observed, that something 72 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:43,100 was not good. As in Genesis 2:18, he 73 00:05:43,100 --> 00:05:45,900 immediately improved the situation. 74 00:05:46,700 --> 00:05:51,800 Now, in these contexts, the phrases, very good and not good, 75 00:05:52,100 --> 00:05:59,300 refers specifically to how man was suited to accomplish God's 76 00:05:59,300 --> 00:06:05,500 intentions and plans for him in Revelation chapter 11 verse 4. 77 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:11,300 The Bible says, worthy are you, our Lord, and our God to receive 78 00:06:11,300 --> 00:06:16,400 glory, and honor and power for you created all things. 79 00:06:16,500 --> 00:06:21,800 And because of your, will they existed and were created. 80 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:26,600 The implication of this passage is that God created the world 81 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:32,600 for his glory and honor and because he wanted to create it. 82 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:37,400 One translation says, it was created for his pleasure. 83 00:06:38,100 --> 00:06:43,800 Thus all things including human beings, find their purpose in 84 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:48,600 God's purpose for them. God determines whether we are 85 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:54,000 very good or not, good, or we could say that whichever of 86 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:57,700 those describes us. Depends on whether or not. 87 00:06:57,700 --> 00:07:01,600 We are fulfilling God's intention for us. 88 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:07,000 One of God's Express purposes for Humanity, was for them to 89 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:11,800 fill the Earth according to Genesis 1 and verse 28, which is 90 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:16,000 why God said it was not good. That man should be alone. 91 00:07:16,300 --> 00:07:21,700 On Genesis 2:18 when he was alone specifically when he liked 92 00:07:21,700 --> 00:07:25,600 to counterpart with whom he could reproduce, he was not 93 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:29,600 capable of accomplishing. At least that part of what God 94 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:32,700 had purposed for him and created him to do. 95 00:07:33,300 --> 00:07:36,200 Now my point in all of this is to show that God created 96 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:41,200 Humanity in such a way that once there was male and female, he 97 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:46,000 could say it is very good. When you consider the rest of 98 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:50,500 Genesis 1 and verse 28, you'll find that God's purpose is for 99 00:07:50,500 --> 00:07:56,500 Humanity on the whole included that they be the image of God in 100 00:07:56,500 --> 00:08:01,600 the world and that they rule the rest of creation and use the 101 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:05,600 rest of creation to promote the glory of God. 102 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:10,600 The idea of being God's image Bearer has something to do with 103 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:14,400 how we are made specifically with the combination. 104 00:08:14,500 --> 00:08:18,300 Things that make us different from every other part of 105 00:08:18,300 --> 00:08:25,300 creation things, like personal Consciousness at this Podium is 106 00:08:25,300 --> 00:08:28,900 a good Podium. So far as podiums go, it's doing 107 00:08:28,900 --> 00:08:31,500 precisely. What a Podium was built to do. 108 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:36,000 Holding up my notes and allowing me to stabilize myself while I'm 109 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,100 standing up here. But this Podium would not make a 110 00:08:39,100 --> 00:08:44,300 good image, bearer of God. Because it lacks personal 111 00:08:44,300 --> 00:08:48,500 Consciousness, it doesn't have the ability to think, or to 112 00:08:48,500 --> 00:08:52,200 speak, or to develop a relationship with really 113 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:55,600 anything around it. But we have personal 114 00:08:55,600 --> 00:09:00,100 Consciousness, and intelligence, and language, and volition, and 115 00:09:00,100 --> 00:09:05,600 moral reasoning, and creativity. The capacity to bring together, 116 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:11,000 colors, and words, and musical notes, and make something 117 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:13,900 beautiful. Just like God. 118 00:09:14,700 --> 00:09:19,600 We are His Image bearers, we have the capacity to feel 119 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:25,800 things, good and bad painful and joyous and all of this combined 120 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:31,600 in a physical body that can make other versions of itself that 121 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:36,000 can reproduce. According to its own, kind these 122 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:40,400 qualities. Make humans very good because 123 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:45,600 they enable us to know, God and to reflect the Character. 124 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:49,500 And at least some of the qualities of God in the world, 125 00:09:49,900 --> 00:09:53,900 to receive the love of God and to understand it, and to love 126 00:09:53,900 --> 00:09:57,200 him. Back in return to grasp, certain 127 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:02,200 aspects of God's glory with our minds, and then to ascribe That 128 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:07,900 Glory to him with our lips and with our lives, that's to 129 00:10:07,900 --> 00:10:13,700 worship to understand the rest of creation and through time and 130 00:10:13,700 --> 00:10:18,500 through Annotation and study to understand it, more and more, 131 00:10:18,500 --> 00:10:23,900 and more, and to take hold of it and to harness it and to utilize 132 00:10:23,900 --> 00:10:28,500 it for its own good purposes. And all of this, so that we 133 00:10:28,500 --> 00:10:35,000 might enjoy a very special, kind of fellowship with our Creator. 134 00:10:35,300 --> 00:10:41,700 God made us very good in all of these ways from the very 135 00:10:41,700 --> 00:10:44,500 beginning. God made us just the way. 136 00:10:44,700 --> 00:10:49,400 He wanted us and rather than getting better, if such a thing 137 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:52,400 is even possible to get better from very good. 138 00:10:53,400 --> 00:11:00,200 The Bible teaches that man has failed to maintain that. 139 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:05,000 Very good condition. And rather he has gotten worse. 140 00:11:06,100 --> 00:11:09,700 The idea of evolutionary progress that humans are much 141 00:11:09,700 --> 00:11:15,100 better now than they ever were before and whatever problems you 142 00:11:15,100 --> 00:11:17,900 or anyone else has in. This moment are just the 143 00:11:17,900 --> 00:11:22,000 accidents of being born at that particular point in the Stream 144 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:25,300 of evolutionary development. And if you're not, please just 145 00:11:25,300 --> 00:11:29,000 wait. If you're not fit, you'll die. 146 00:11:29,900 --> 00:11:33,400 Something will come along and topple you over and and you'll 147 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:38,500 go extinct, but if you are fit, you'll survive and eventually 148 00:11:38,500 --> 00:11:41,700 you'll die, but something better will come along. 149 00:11:42,900 --> 00:11:47,900 This idea, whatever it generates in the human soul, is at the 150 00:11:47,900 --> 00:11:51,800 very least, contrary to the Bible and I reject it and I 151 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:53,900 encourage you to reject it as well. 152 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:58,000 There's another idea about the human condition and this claims 153 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:00,100 to represent the teaching of the Bible. 154 00:12:00,100 --> 00:12:06,300 In fact, it is often called the Christian doctrine of man, it is 155 00:12:06,300 --> 00:12:10,200 summed up. In the words, total depravity 156 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:14,700 and occasionally, you'll see the word Hereditary Stuck in the 157 00:12:14,700 --> 00:12:18,700 Middle to make it total, hereditary depravity and those 158 00:12:18,700 --> 00:12:21,700 who add this, word are emphasizing that. 159 00:12:21,700 --> 00:12:25,400 This condition originated with Adam and Eve. 160 00:12:25,500 --> 00:12:29,300 The father and mother of humanity and has passed from 161 00:12:29,300 --> 00:12:34,300 them on to all other humans. We've inherited it. 162 00:12:34,700 --> 00:12:39,200 In fact, many times, the word heredity is used to emphasize 163 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:42,500 that this condition is supposedly even present in in 164 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:48,100 infants even from the mother's womb as some of the Creed say, 165 00:12:49,100 --> 00:12:54,700 Now, the idea of total depravity is not that all humans are as 166 00:12:54,700 --> 00:12:59,400 bad as they possibly could be. Everybody knows that's not the 167 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:02,200 case. If it was, this room would be a 168 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:06,500 whole lot different, we'd be fighting like dogs over a bone 169 00:13:06,500 --> 00:13:09,100 and most of us would not survive. 170 00:13:09,300 --> 00:13:13,700 Half an hour together. Nobody affirms that every human 171 00:13:13,700 --> 00:13:17,500 being on Earth is as bad as they possibly could be. 172 00:13:17,500 --> 00:13:21,000 That's a misrepresentation. Of total depravity. 173 00:13:21,100 --> 00:13:26,100 Neither is it that humanity is getting worse all the time. 174 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,100 Anyone who knows history knows that's not the case. 175 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:35,200 Rather total depravity is the idea that human beings have a 176 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:40,500 nature, that is utterly turned against God and his will. 177 00:13:40,700 --> 00:13:44,800 So that it is impossible for humans in their natural 178 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:51,100 condition to do any thing that is truly good or to seek after 179 00:13:51,100 --> 00:13:56,100 God or to exercise faith in him. Even if they were told the truth 180 00:13:56,100 --> 00:14:00,400 about him, Of course, the people who affirmed total depravity 181 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:04,800 would agree with the Bible that God has revealed himself to 182 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:08,600 everyone through Creation. In fact, some of them would go a 183 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:12,900 step further and argue that God has put an innate knowledge of 184 00:14:12,900 --> 00:14:17,000 himself into all people, but because people are totally 185 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:22,700 depraved, they hate God by their very nature, and they are 186 00:14:22,700 --> 00:14:25,700 irrevocability bent away from God. 187 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:30,400 Unless their nature is Hinged through the miracle of the new 188 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:36,600 birth or regeneration. Now, all of those terms and 189 00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:41,300 words are biblical terms, even the word depravity can be found 190 00:14:41,300 --> 00:14:45,900 in some English translations of the Bible, but I deny that the 191 00:14:45,900 --> 00:14:51,400 concept is biblical There many passages, we could consider to 192 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:56,700 show that but I want to show you four examples of real people. 193 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:00,900 We read about them in the book of Acts and everyone would agree 194 00:15:00,900 --> 00:15:04,300 that when the Bible describes them in the areas were going to 195 00:15:04,300 --> 00:15:07,300 focus on. They were unregenerate. 196 00:15:07,700 --> 00:15:10,700 They were lost people. They weren't Christians. 197 00:15:10,700 --> 00:15:15,200 And yet, the Bible describes them as people who loved God. 198 00:15:15,900 --> 00:15:20,400 And they were seeking God. And it shows how they turned to 199 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:24,600 faith in God without any evidence of some miracle being 200 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:29,400 wrought to change their nature. The first is the Ethiopian 201 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:33,600 nobleman in Acts chapter 8. The eunuch when he's introduced, 202 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:38,400 the Bible tells us that he did not know who Jesus was nor did 203 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:41,900 he understand virtually anything about God's plan to save 204 00:15:41,900 --> 00:15:44,600 Sinners? But he did, love God. 205 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:48,900 He was returning from Jerusalem to, which he had travelled at 206 00:15:48,900 --> 00:15:55,400 Great expense, and Peril for this, sole stated purpose to 207 00:15:55,400 --> 00:16:01,400 worship acts 8 and verse 27, we see him move from a state of 208 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:06,900 unbelief to saving faith in Christ, but there's no reference 209 00:16:06,900 --> 00:16:11,300 or even implication of some miracle being worked on his 210 00:16:11,300 --> 00:16:14,700 nature, all that the Bible says was necessary for this. 211 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:18,300 And to believe in Jesus, was that he should hear about him? 212 00:16:19,300 --> 00:16:22,100 Next consider the case of the Philippian Jailer. 213 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:26,000 Here was a man who was worse off than the Ethiopian. 214 00:16:26,900 --> 00:16:29,500 He didn't even know who the true God was. 215 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:34,200 He was a polytheistic Pagan and when we first meet him, he 216 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:36,500 appears to be a rather cruel, man. 217 00:16:36,900 --> 00:16:41,100 But he witnessed some things in the world around him, that 218 00:16:41,100 --> 00:16:44,900 caused him to question his former positions. 219 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:48,900 And without any indication of a miracle being performed on his, 220 00:16:49,100 --> 00:16:55,000 Sure, he asked the question, what must I do to be saved? 221 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:59,500 Acts chapter, 16 and verse 30 and he's told in verse 31 to 222 00:16:59,500 --> 00:17:03,700 believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ and then after hearing 223 00:17:03,700 --> 00:17:08,900 the word of the Lord, spoken to him in verse 32, the Bible says 224 00:17:08,900 --> 00:17:12,500 he believed, and he was baptized verses 33. 225 00:17:12,700 --> 00:17:16,500 And 34 earlier, in the same chapter, we read about a woman 226 00:17:16,500 --> 00:17:20,099 named Lydia. The Bible does say of this woman 227 00:17:20,300 --> 00:17:25,200 in the course, of her story that the Lord opened her heart Acts 228 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:29,700 chapter 16, verse 14. And yet before the Lord opened 229 00:17:29,700 --> 00:17:33,700 her heart, whatever it was, that that meant the Bible describes 230 00:17:33,700 --> 00:17:38,900 her as one who feared and worshipped, God, and who tried 231 00:17:39,100 --> 00:17:43,500 very hard to obey God's Commandments even in a culture 232 00:17:43,500 --> 00:17:46,100 that was generally disinterested in him. 233 00:17:46,900 --> 00:17:51,600 And as a woman who prayed and who listened when people spoke 234 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:57,000 about God, that would be absurd to accuse a woman like that of 235 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:01,500 hating God. Even before he opened her art, 236 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,400 and I think that the most reasonable way of reading the 237 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:07,100 account, is that he opened her heart through the preaching of 238 00:18:07,100 --> 00:18:10,600 Paul, rather than, by a miracle being worked on her nature, 239 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:14,500 which he evidently didn't need any way, finally, consider the 240 00:18:14,500 --> 00:18:17,600 case of Cornelius and I Chapter 10. 241 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:22,200 When we meet Cornelius, he is according to an angel who I 242 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:27,300 suppose was a fairly good judge of things in need of words by 243 00:18:27,300 --> 00:18:30,200 which he and his household should be saved. 244 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:34,700 That's acts 11 and verse 14. In other words he was not a 245 00:18:34,700 --> 00:18:38,700 regenerate man but all the same, the Bible describes him as a 246 00:18:38,708 --> 00:18:44,200 devout man and one who feared God with all his household and 247 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:46,500 gave many alms to the Jewish people. 248 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:50,800 Oh, and prayed to God, continually acts, 10, and verse 249 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:52,800 2. This is what the Bible says 250 00:18:53,100 --> 00:18:56,100 about him later. The Apostle Peter is led by the 251 00:18:56,100 --> 00:18:59,800 Holy Spirit to acknowledge that, this man practiced 252 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:03,800 righteousness, Acts chapter 10, and verse 35, and it was 253 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:06,800 unreasonable to think that God would not be pleased with him 254 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:11,200 for that, even though he was not Jewish this man wanted to hear 255 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:14,800 about Jesus and he wanted to know how to be truly right? 256 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:17,900 With God. So much But even though the 257 00:19:17,900 --> 00:19:22,900 preacher was Prejudiced and cruel and dismiss it, he was 258 00:19:22,900 --> 00:19:26,000 willing to work through that in order to lay hold of the 259 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:28,400 message. Now, my point in all of these 260 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:32,000 cases is to show that according to the testimony of the Bible. 261 00:19:32,900 --> 00:19:37,500 Whatever The Human Condition is, it's not total depravity. 262 00:19:37,500 --> 00:19:43,600 There are people in this world who could be described as 263 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:48,400 utterly turned against God. The imagination of their heart 264 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:51,700 is only evil continually their heart is deceitful above all 265 00:19:51,700 --> 00:19:54,100 things and desperately wicked there. 266 00:19:54,100 --> 00:19:58,100 Like a man full of sores from head to toe in their wickedness 267 00:19:58,100 --> 00:20:05,000 and they're evil and their Brokenness but not Not everyone 268 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:08,500 has allowed themselves to reach that state. 269 00:20:08,700 --> 00:20:12,300 Whatever is true of all unregenerate people. 270 00:20:12,300 --> 00:20:16,700 It is not that they hate God and can do nothing else. 271 00:20:16,900 --> 00:20:20,700 It is not that they are incapable of believing his word 272 00:20:20,700 --> 00:20:22,800 though. It were told to them unless some 273 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:25,100 external power. First moves them into that 274 00:20:25,100 --> 00:20:29,100 capacity. So what is The Human Condition? 275 00:20:29,100 --> 00:20:33,000 According to the Bible, I'm going to describe the condition 276 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:37,500 with the Following this. And I use that word because I 277 00:20:37,500 --> 00:20:42,900 think it's a biblical term in Romans 3:23, the Apostle Paul 278 00:20:42,900 --> 00:20:49,000 says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 279 00:20:49,500 --> 00:20:53,800 I suggest that there is a sense in which the Deeds of Adam and 280 00:20:53,800 --> 00:21:00,300 Eve did impact all Humanity. There is a sense in which we 281 00:21:00,300 --> 00:21:05,200 fell in their fall. But there's also a sense in 282 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:11,100 which we contribute further to our own fallenness through our 283 00:21:11,100 --> 00:21:13,800 own actions. And then, there is also a sense 284 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:19,100 in which the fallenness of the world where we live shapes our 285 00:21:19,100 --> 00:21:23,300 condition, as well, to see the way in which Adam and Eve 286 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:25,900 impacted us. I would direct us first to 287 00:21:25,900 --> 00:21:30,300 Romans chapter 5 verse 12. The Apostle says, therefore, 288 00:21:30,300 --> 00:21:34,700 just as through one man, sin entered Did the world and death 289 00:21:34,700 --> 00:21:40,100 through sin and so death, spread to all men, because all of sin, 290 00:21:40,300 --> 00:21:44,100 the text goes on to say, by the transgression of the one, the 291 00:21:44,100 --> 00:21:48,600 many died and through the one who sinned the Judgment arose 292 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:51,900 from transgression, resulting in condemnation, by the 293 00:21:51,900 --> 00:21:55,800 transgression of the one death reigned through the one. 294 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:58,700 And through the ones transgression, there resulted 295 00:21:58,700 --> 00:22:03,000 condemnation to all men, through the one man's Disobedience. 296 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:06,900 The many Many were made sinners now, read all of these simply to 297 00:22:06,900 --> 00:22:12,200 show that Adams Disobedience his sin, had an impact on the 298 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:15,700 condition of all Humanity. We know that it wasn't total 299 00:22:15,700 --> 00:22:21,000 depravity to learn what it was. We should look back at Genesis 300 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,900 chapter 3 and read about it directly. 301 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:27,300 Genesis 3, beginning in verse 16. 302 00:22:28,500 --> 00:22:34,100 Then to Eve God said I will greatly multiply your pain in 303 00:22:34,100 --> 00:22:38,700 childbirth in pain, you will bring forth children that your 304 00:22:38,700 --> 00:22:42,200 desire shall be for your husband and he will rule over you. 305 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,900 Then to Adam, he said, because you have listened to the voice 306 00:22:45,900 --> 00:22:49,900 of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded 307 00:22:49,900 --> 00:22:51,700 you saying you shall not eat from it. 308 00:22:52,100 --> 00:22:56,200 Cursed is the ground because of you in toil, you will eat of it 309 00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:58,100 all the days of your life, both thorns. 310 00:22:58,300 --> 00:23:01,500 Thistles, it shall grow for you. And you will eat the plants of 311 00:23:01,500 --> 00:23:03,800 the field by the sweat of your face. 312 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:07,400 You will eat bread until you return to the ground because 313 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:11,100 from it, you were taken for. You are dust and to dust you 314 00:23:11,100 --> 00:23:14,900 shall return. Then the Lord God, said, behold 315 00:23:14,900 --> 00:23:19,100 the man is become, like, one of us, knowing good and evil. 316 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:23,200 And now he might stretch out his hand and take also from the Tree 317 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:27,400 of Life and eat and live forever, therefore the Lord God 318 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:30,300 sent him out. Um, the Garden of Eden, he drove 319 00:23:30,300 --> 00:23:33,000 the man out. And at the east of the Garden of 320 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:37,900 Eden, he stationed, the cherubim and the Flaming sword, which 321 00:23:37,900 --> 00:23:42,300 turned every direction to guard. The way to the tree of life 322 00:23:43,100 --> 00:23:46,700 without giving an exhaustive, exposition of these texts. 323 00:23:46,700 --> 00:23:50,100 I would suggest that from them, we learned that the Human 324 00:23:50,100 --> 00:23:52,500 Condition in our state of following. 325 00:23:52,500 --> 00:23:58,700 This is one of ignorance. And weakness by which, I mean, 326 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:03,100 physical weakness and the in capacities that come from that 327 00:24:03,900 --> 00:24:10,700 instability by which I mean moral instability and deception. 328 00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:17,900 Now the first two of these are hereditary that is they pass to 329 00:24:17,900 --> 00:24:24,100 all humans and they impact us from birth as the result of Adam 330 00:24:24,100 --> 00:24:27,300 and Eve sinned. I should say that. 331 00:24:27,300 --> 00:24:29,000 Even if Adam and Eve had never sinned. 332 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:32,500 I suppose that babies would still have been born ignorant 333 00:24:32,500 --> 00:24:35,300 and wheat that just seems to be how reproduction works. 334 00:24:35,700 --> 00:24:41,400 But because of Adam and Eve, some babies will never grow out 335 00:24:41,900 --> 00:24:46,300 of the ignorance and weakness with which they came into this 336 00:24:46,300 --> 00:24:54,600 world and those who do never grow as far or as fully as they, 337 00:24:54,600 --> 00:25:00,400 otherwise would have. All human beings are ignorant. 338 00:25:01,100 --> 00:25:05,300 That includes me. It includes every one of you and 339 00:25:05,300 --> 00:25:09,900 everybody in the world. The Bible says that God knows 340 00:25:09,900 --> 00:25:14,400 all things. First John, 3 and verse 20, most 341 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:20,300 humans know some things but no human knows all things. 342 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,600 We are all ignorant. We're born ignorant. 343 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:26,300 In fact, we're born. So ignorant. 344 00:25:26,500 --> 00:25:28,700 It. And with such a limited capacity 345 00:25:28,700 --> 00:25:33,800 to understand and to grasp what is going on around us that for a 346 00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:37,500 while we're justified by our ignorance. 347 00:25:37,700 --> 00:25:42,000 But eventually that passes for most people eventually, most of 348 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:45,900 us reach a state in life, where we have enough, knowledge, and 349 00:25:45,900 --> 00:25:49,500 enough reasoning ability, including moral reasoning, 350 00:25:49,700 --> 00:25:52,800 because we are made in God's image, that we can distinguish 351 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:55,600 between good and evil. And even though we're still 352 00:25:55,600 --> 00:26:01,700 ignorant, Aunt, we're no longer justified by ignorance knowledge 353 00:26:01,700 --> 00:26:05,500 is important. We cannot be what God made us to 354 00:26:05,500 --> 00:26:10,300 be without knowing some things. In fact, the mandate to have 355 00:26:10,300 --> 00:26:15,800 dominion over the Earth, seems to imply that our growing in 356 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:21,100 knowledge, is a part of fulfilling our purpose in God's 357 00:26:21,100 --> 00:26:24,800 Eternal plan. And yet it's difficult to learn. 358 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:31,000 For all of us, some of us struggled to learn math, some of 359 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:35,100 us struggle to learn English or language or literature or 360 00:26:35,100 --> 00:26:38,000 history. Some of us might not struggle in 361 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,700 one of those areas, but we struggle in another and even 362 00:26:40,700 --> 00:26:48,100 when we excel in learning, we always run into some point in 363 00:26:48,100 --> 00:26:51,600 life when we struggled to learn anymore. 364 00:26:51,700 --> 00:26:55,900 It's hard. Even all of the things that we 365 00:26:55,900 --> 00:27:01,000 opted to know, we will never reach a state in which we know 366 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:06,100 all things. Ignorance can be improved, but 367 00:27:06,100 --> 00:27:09,100 it can never be overcome completely. 368 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:12,800 Ultimately, it is just a part of the human condition. 369 00:27:13,700 --> 00:27:17,200 Physical weakness is another thing that distinguishes us from 370 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:22,000 God With God, all things are possible but with man many 371 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:25,600 things are impossible says Jesus in Matthew, 19. 372 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:29,900 And verse 26, we lack the capacity, or the energy, or the 373 00:27:29,900 --> 00:27:32,900 focus, or the stamina to accomplish them. 374 00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:37,500 Of course, we can get stronger, but the great Paradox of life is 375 00:27:37,500 --> 00:27:41,800 that as we get older and stronger, we also become more 376 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:46,900 conscious of our weakness. I'm stronger now than I was when 377 00:27:46,900 --> 00:27:52,100 I was two months old. But I'm also getting closer to 378 00:27:52,100 --> 00:27:56,100 the ultimate manifestation of my weakness, the weakness that 379 00:27:56,100 --> 00:28:00,700 results from my fallenness and eventually, I'm going to get so 380 00:28:00,700 --> 00:28:05,800 weak that I can't go on living. And I'll die. 381 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:09,400 And the same thing will happen to everybody else in the world. 382 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:13,300 There are lots of people in this world who are stronger than me 383 00:28:13,500 --> 00:28:16,800 in many ways, but they too are weak. 384 00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:24,100 All humans are weak and All Humans will eventually die and 385 00:28:24,100 --> 00:28:28,400 it's just part of being a human that our muscles, our eyes, our 386 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:30,700 minds. Begin to falter. 387 00:28:30,700 --> 00:28:34,400 We get tired, we get hungry, we get sick. 388 00:28:34,700 --> 00:28:37,200 There's certain things that we want to do and there's certain 389 00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:42,900 things that we need to do, but we find we cannot do them. 390 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:48,300 And then there's instability now when I speak of instability as I 391 00:28:48,300 --> 00:28:51,900 said I'm talking about moral instability and I'll explain 392 00:28:51,900 --> 00:28:56,300 this further but this is something that we do not inherit 393 00:28:56,500 --> 00:29:01,600 from Adam and Eve this comes from our own sins and to some 394 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:04,700 degree from the sins of others in the world around us and 395 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:08,400 against us as we live in a fallen system. 396 00:29:08,900 --> 00:29:13,800 In James chapter 1 verse 8, the Bible says, There is such a 397 00:29:13,808 --> 00:29:20,500 thing as a double minded man and a double minded man is unstable 398 00:29:20,700 --> 00:29:25,400 in all of his ways are the word double-minded. 399 00:29:25,700 --> 00:29:33,300 Literally means a to sold man. He has two souls in him. 400 00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:40,600 His heart is not fully fixed on God, there's something else that 401 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:46,300 pulls him in another Direction. And this person is extremely 402 00:29:46,300 --> 00:29:52,600 unstable and an unstable person. Is someone who is bent downward? 403 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:58,800 Prone to fall someone who has the tendency to Tumble. 404 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:04,200 If this person yields to the pull of what seems natural, 405 00:30:04,500 --> 00:30:10,100 they're going to fall down. An example of moral instability 406 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:15,700 would be same-sex attraction. This is the Temptation that lies 407 00:30:15,900 --> 00:30:18,800 at the foundation of the sin of homosexuality. 408 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:24,100 Now, when I was a boy, I Heard lots of Christians, very 409 00:30:24,100 --> 00:30:28,800 foolishly called same-sex attraction, a choice. 410 00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:33,500 It is, of course, a choice who you have sexual relations with. 411 00:30:34,700 --> 00:30:37,500 But it's not a choice who you're attracted to. 412 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:40,800 There are lots of factors involved in that and some of 413 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:45,100 them are very Elusive and mysterious and it's possible for 414 00:30:45,100 --> 00:30:49,100 people to do things or to have things done against them that 415 00:30:49,100 --> 00:30:53,600 cause their moral sense to be warped and therefore their 416 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:57,700 appetites, which are perfectly normal and natural and given by 417 00:30:57,700 --> 00:31:00,500 God in order to help us accomplish what we were made to 418 00:31:00,500 --> 00:31:02,500 do. Those become warped too. 419 00:31:03,700 --> 00:31:09,000 The word pervert is a strong word and an ugly word. 420 00:31:10,300 --> 00:31:12,600 And nobody would like it to be applied to them. 421 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:19,900 But in reality, all Sinners, all people who reach a state of 422 00:31:19,900 --> 00:31:24,300 moral reasoning and spend enough time in this world that they 423 00:31:24,300 --> 00:31:27,000 deliberately choose to do something. 424 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:33,400 Contrary to the will of God become perverted in one sense or 425 00:31:33,408 --> 00:31:38,500 another. Our affections move away from 426 00:31:38,500 --> 00:31:43,300 the will of God to something else, something base and earthy 427 00:31:43,300 --> 00:31:48,400 and sometimes demonic and those can be sexual affections or they 428 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:52,700 can be any other kind of appetite or longing or desire. 429 00:31:52,700 --> 00:31:58,400 It can be that the desire for praise and for friendship, and 430 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:04,100 for popularity, the Bible says that as Sinners, we develop 431 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:10,300 Coordinate desires, evil desires, Colossians 3 and verse 432 00:32:10,300 --> 00:32:16,000 5 and these cause us to be bent downward. 433 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:22,500 And in that condition it becomes a great struggle not to fall. 434 00:32:23,500 --> 00:32:29,200 Finally deception is a part of the human condition to be 435 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:35,000 deceived is to be led astray by a lie and I believe that every 436 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:39,600 one of us is almost certainly deceived about something even at 437 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:44,300 this very moment and this is because we're ignorant and we 438 00:32:44,300 --> 00:32:46,800 live in a world that's full of lies. 439 00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:50,400 We live in a world that in a very, real sense is under the 440 00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:53,100 sway of the devil at this present time. 441 00:32:53,300 --> 00:32:57,100 Jesus said that when the devil speaks a lie, he speaks from his 442 00:32:57,100 --> 00:33:01,700 own resources for he is a liar and the father of it, John 8 and 443 00:33:01,700 --> 00:33:05,000 verse 44. So I would say it is impossible 444 00:33:05,100 --> 00:33:08,400 for any one of us. However, smart and clever, and 445 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:13,200 shrewd, and, and watchful. We think we are to go through 446 00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:16,400 life and never be deceived about anything. 447 00:33:18,100 --> 00:33:22,000 It might be something small. As what time it is, you might 448 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,600 look at your watch and it's off by five minutes, but that's 449 00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:28,700 deception your off. You don't know as much as you 450 00:33:28,700 --> 00:33:31,000 think you do. You've been LED astray. 451 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:35,900 You see this is the very important point. 452 00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:41,200 You do not have to hate the truth, to be deceived. 453 00:33:41,500 --> 00:33:45,600 Now, if you do hate the truth, you will be deceived. 454 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:49,100 The Bible says that the one who hates the truth, and there are 455 00:33:49,100 --> 00:33:53,300 people who hate truth. There are people who Embrace 456 00:33:53,300 --> 00:33:57,400 ignorance and they Embrace weakness, and they Embrace 457 00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:00,900 instability and they allow those things to Define. 458 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:05,300 Who they are as a person, and they hate the truth. 459 00:34:05,700 --> 00:34:09,100 Because the truth, challenges them in all of those areas. 460 00:34:09,199 --> 00:34:13,400 And the Bible says, if you hate the truth, then God will give 461 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:18,100 you a deception, even a strong delusion, so that you should 462 00:34:18,100 --> 00:34:22,800 believe the lie and be condemned 2nd Thessalonians 2, 11 through 463 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:24,400 12. Now, you might be troubled by 464 00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:28,600 that but don't dare to challenge God over that because all he's 465 00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,000 given that person is what the person wanted. 466 00:34:31,300 --> 00:34:34,000 Didn't love the truth. They hated the truth. 467 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:35,900 So he gave them a lie. That's what they wanted. 468 00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:42,900 But not everyone hates truth and even those who love truth and 469 00:34:42,900 --> 00:34:48,699 who are seeking after it can be deceived ignorance, weakness, 470 00:34:48,699 --> 00:34:52,699 instability and deception. These are not just the problems 471 00:34:52,699 --> 00:34:55,600 of the people out there, they're not. 472 00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:58,500 Just the problems of people in false religion and in 473 00:34:58,500 --> 00:35:04,800 denominationalism, they are The Human Condition for everyone in 474 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:07,100 the world. And if you will become 475 00:35:07,300 --> 00:35:11,400 Christian, then God will. At once begin to deliver you 476 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:15,600 from all of these things, he will give you knowledge. 477 00:35:15,900 --> 00:35:19,700 He will give you strength. You say even physical strength. 478 00:35:19,700 --> 00:35:22,400 Yes. According to his will, if he 479 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:27,500 needs to bless you to enable you to do, what he wants you to do. 480 00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:30,700 The Bible says those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their 481 00:35:30,700 --> 00:35:34,100 strength, they shall Mount up with wings as eagles, they shall 482 00:35:34,100 --> 00:35:37,100 run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. 483 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:42,800 Thank God can give you whatever you need to be useful to the 484 00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:45,600 purposes for which he has called you. 485 00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:50,200 He'll straighten you out. If you're crooked, he'll 486 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:53,500 enlightening, you to the truth and drive the deception of the 487 00:35:53,500 --> 00:35:58,000 lives away, and ultimately he will Deliver Us from all of 488 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:01,300 these things completely in the resurrection. 489 00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:07,100 But until that day, the Deliverance is Progressive and 490 00:36:07,100 --> 00:36:10,900 partial. In other words, we will continue 491 00:36:10,900 --> 00:36:15,100 to deal with ignorance and weakness and instability and 492 00:36:15,100 --> 00:36:17,500 deception. Of Our Lives. 493 00:36:17,500 --> 00:36:23,900 Even as a Christian, you need to know that and you need to know 494 00:36:23,900 --> 00:36:31,100 that God knows that so that you can receive for great blessings, 495 00:36:31,900 --> 00:36:35,900 four blessings that will protect you from those unhealthy 496 00:36:35,900 --> 00:36:42,400 responses to the realization of your own problems for great 497 00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:46,100 blessings that will keep you from pretending that you're 498 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:49,100 Better than you are for great blessings. 499 00:36:49,100 --> 00:36:52,100 That will keep you from giving up and walking away and 500 00:36:52,100 --> 00:36:57,300 embracing your fallenness and letting that just decide who 501 00:36:57,300 --> 00:36:59,600 you're going to be until it, takes you to hell. 502 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:03,700 For great blessings that will keep you. 503 00:37:04,700 --> 00:37:08,700 From becoming a miserable. Albeit religious person. 504 00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:15,800 Number one, knowing The Human Condition and knowing that God 505 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:21,300 knows it will keep you hopeful. You must never think that you 506 00:37:21,300 --> 00:37:25,900 are so ignorant. So weak, so broken. 507 00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:30,000 So deluded that God cannot save you. 508 00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:35,600 If you are willing to turn to him, the passage that we read to 509 00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:40,200 introduce the lesson belongs to a Psalm of praise to God. 510 00:37:40,500 --> 00:37:43,500 God for his graciousness, I want you to listen to it. 511 00:37:43,500 --> 00:37:45,300 It's context. These are some of the most 512 00:37:45,300 --> 00:37:48,400 beautiful words ever written in history. 513 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:54,900 Psalm 103 verses 8 through 14. The Lord is compassionate and 514 00:37:54,900 --> 00:37:59,200 gracious, slow to anger. And abounding, in loving 515 00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:03,800 kindness, he will not always strive with us, nor will he keep 516 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:06,600 his anger forever. He has not dealt with us, 517 00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:10,000 according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our 518 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:12,000 iniquities. Equities for as high as the 519 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:15,700 heavens are above the Earth. So great is his loving. 520 00:38:15,700 --> 00:38:20,100 Kindness toward those who fear Him as far as the East is from 521 00:38:20,100 --> 00:38:23,000 the West so far. Has he removed our 522 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:30,500 transgressions from us just as a father, has compassion on his 523 00:38:30,500 --> 00:38:34,800 children. So the Lord has compassion on 524 00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:38,600 those who fear Him and you might say, how can that be? 525 00:38:39,300 --> 00:38:42,800 How can God? Feel that way towards someone 526 00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:53,900 like me. to such a worm as I Verse 14 says, for he himself 527 00:38:54,100 --> 00:39:01,700 knows our frame. He knows what we're made of, he 528 00:39:01,700 --> 00:39:08,500 is mindful that we are but dust God created us. 529 00:39:09,900 --> 00:39:15,900 He knows where we are. And when he made the gospel, he 530 00:39:15,900 --> 00:39:22,300 made it for us to come to where we are and bring us to something 531 00:39:22,300 --> 00:39:26,200 better. He has the power to save us from 532 00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:29,400 our fallenness and make us all that. 533 00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:33,800 We need to be to be very good again. 534 00:39:35,100 --> 00:39:38,600 Number two, knowing The Human Condition and knowing that God 535 00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:43,600 knows it will keep you humble. The Bible says that in order to 536 00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:48,400 enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, to have God rule over 537 00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:51,700 you and accomplish your purpose in life. 538 00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:58,000 You must be poor in spirit. Matthew Chapter 5 and verse 3. 539 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:04,800 That is humble Brokenhearted. If we deceive ourselves into 540 00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:08,100 thinking that God's work in US is finished. 541 00:40:08,700 --> 00:40:11,600 If I say, you know, I've been doing this for a while. 542 00:40:11,700 --> 00:40:15,000 Several years now and I finally reached the stage. 543 00:40:15,100 --> 00:40:21,600 I have nothing left to learn. My weakness is not so great. 544 00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:26,100 I'm not broken anymore. I have it all figured out just 545 00:40:26,100 --> 00:40:28,800 right. I see through all of the 546 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:32,800 falsity, 's and lies and and delusions around us. 547 00:40:32,900 --> 00:40:36,600 And if everybody else was just like me, then they'd be all 548 00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:42,000 right, as well. If that's the way I think. 549 00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:47,200 Then God can never complete his work in me. 550 00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:52,300 I've shut him out. I tell you a number three. 551 00:40:53,500 --> 00:40:58,100 Knowing The Human Condition and knowing that God knows it will 552 00:40:58,100 --> 00:41:04,000 keep you merciful. Jesus taught us to pray that God 553 00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:09,500 would forgive us as we forgive those who sin against us. 554 00:41:09,700 --> 00:41:14,400 Matthew 6 and verse 12, he taught us that we will be judged 555 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,800 with the same standard with which we judge others. 556 00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:21,800 So we should be merciful and patient and forbearing as much 557 00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:27,200 as we possibly can be because those against whom we are 558 00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:32,600 inclined to pass judgment. They're made of the same stuff 559 00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:36,600 we are. They have the same condition we 560 00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:42,500 have remembering that will Empower us to love our enemies. 561 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:50,300 Even as God has loved us. I think about how Jesus 562 00:41:50,300 --> 00:41:56,300 interacted with his disciples. He told them over and over and 563 00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:58,600 over again. I don't know how many times I've 564 00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:03,200 never counted that he was going to die and he would rise again 565 00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:06,700 on the third day. And yet when he did, they didn't 566 00:42:06,700 --> 00:42:10,400 believe it. And he appeared to them and he 567 00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:13,200 let them touch him and they still didn't believe it. 568 00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:20,000 And yet he continued and continued he didn't abandon 569 00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:22,700 them. He was patient with them. 570 00:42:24,500 --> 00:42:28,000 Because they were ignorant and they were weak. 571 00:42:28,500 --> 00:42:31,500 You remember, when they were with him in the garden and he 572 00:42:31,500 --> 00:42:36,700 asked them to watch and pray with him and they did, how do 573 00:42:36,700 --> 00:42:39,500 you respond to do? You say, why did I ever waste my 574 00:42:39,500 --> 00:42:44,000 time picking you stupid men? You worthless men. 575 00:42:45,100 --> 00:42:48,100 Why did I think that you would be there for me when I needed 576 00:42:48,100 --> 00:42:50,500 you? What's wrong with you? 577 00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:58,700 No. when he was suffering, he saw them and he said, The spirit 578 00:42:58,700 --> 00:43:02,300 is willing. But the flesh is weak. 579 00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:08,800 He knows our frame. That we are but dust and so he 580 00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:13,200 is merciful to us. And we ought to be merciful to 581 00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:19,400 one another. and finally, To know the Human Condition. 582 00:43:20,600 --> 00:43:23,700 And I know that God knows it. Will keep us faithful. 583 00:43:23,900 --> 00:43:27,100 Remember faithfulness is not flawlessness. 584 00:43:27,100 --> 00:43:30,400 It is the Relentless pursuit of the will of Christ. 585 00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:34,000 It's not a decision. You make it one moment. 586 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:37,700 It's not signing a card praying, a prayer, taking a dip, and then 587 00:43:37,700 --> 00:43:43,500 it's all over. It's a new lifestyle, The Human 588 00:43:43,500 --> 00:43:45,900 Condition reminds us. Why? 589 00:43:45,900 --> 00:43:51,400 We must be justified by faith. We're not ignorant enough and we 590 00:43:51,408 --> 00:43:56,100 don't have it within us to offer God Perfection James who said in 591 00:43:56,100 --> 00:44:00,000 James 2 and verse 10 for whoever keeps the whole law. 592 00:44:00,100 --> 00:44:04,700 And yet stumbles in one point has become guilty of all them 593 00:44:04,700 --> 00:44:12,500 said in chapter 3 and verse 2. We all stumble in many ways. 594 00:44:13,600 --> 00:44:15,800 We're not perfect. None of us. 595 00:44:16,100 --> 00:44:20,100 And truth be told we're not even perfect in the ways that we 596 00:44:20,100 --> 00:44:24,500 sometimes feel that we are. Maybe you are tempted to say no. 597 00:44:24,500 --> 00:44:26,600 Listen, I know my life is in shambles. 598 00:44:26,700 --> 00:44:30,300 I've got lots of problems, but at least when I come here this 599 00:44:30,300 --> 00:44:34,400 morning and I do this, it's perfect. 600 00:44:35,800 --> 00:44:37,600 Probably not as much as we think. 601 00:44:39,500 --> 00:44:44,600 Probably not as much as we think. if our hearts were laid 602 00:44:44,600 --> 00:44:51,000 bare, We'd probably see, even here, I fail. 603 00:44:52,500 --> 00:44:56,600 Even here, I Stumble in many ways. 604 00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:03,300 It's so important here to realize that the gospel is not 605 00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:08,400 about God giving us a second chance to do what we failed to 606 00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:12,000 do before. Because if we had one, we would 607 00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:16,500 fail again. And the same, the third time, 608 00:45:16,500 --> 00:45:18,700 and the fourth, and the thousands. 609 00:45:19,700 --> 00:45:25,700 The gospel is about saving us out of a fallen State. 610 00:45:25,900 --> 00:45:31,300 The only hope of justification we have is by pardon and when we 611 00:45:31,300 --> 00:45:34,100 are faithful to Christ, God, grants us. 612 00:45:34,100 --> 00:45:38,600 Perpetual part. Listen to First, John 1 and 613 00:45:38,600 --> 00:45:44,100 verse 7. If we walk in the light as he 614 00:45:44,100 --> 00:45:47,500 himself is in the light, what does it mean to walk in the 615 00:45:47,500 --> 00:45:50,500 light? This is the Relentless pursuit 616 00:45:50,500 --> 00:45:53,600 of the will of Christ to know it and to do it. 617 00:45:53,700 --> 00:45:58,000 This is allowing the light of God's word to bathe your whole 618 00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:01,600 life. In Illuminating glory to expose 619 00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:06,300 every ugly nasty, hurtful broken, shameful embarrassing. 620 00:46:06,300 --> 00:46:10,500 Thing about you. How can you allow that to 621 00:46:10,500 --> 00:46:13,900 happen? How can you not cover up some of 622 00:46:13,900 --> 00:46:16,600 it? Because if you walk in the 623 00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:20,800 light, as he is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ, his 624 00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:26,000 son cleanses you from all sin. The light is what enables you to 625 00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:29,900 know how to grow, how to get better. 626 00:46:30,500 --> 00:46:34,400 It exposes the areas where you need to improve. 627 00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:37,800 This is not talking about a rebellious person. 628 00:46:38,500 --> 00:46:41,700 It's talking about a person who has submitted to Christ and he's 629 00:46:41,700 --> 00:46:44,700 trying to learn and to do his will, he's ignorant. 630 00:46:44,700 --> 00:46:47,400 He's weak. He stumbles, he's unstable, he's 631 00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:53,600 deceived, but he persists, in faith, in Christ, He does not 632 00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:58,500 Embrace his human condition. He gives it over to God to 633 00:46:58,500 --> 00:47:02,100 complete his work in him. And the Bible says that such a 634 00:47:02,100 --> 00:47:06,700 man is right with God, not because he's perfect, but 635 00:47:06,700 --> 00:47:09,900 because God makes him right by the blood of Jesus. 636 00:47:11,300 --> 00:47:15,900 Through his faithfulness. I dare say that a person who 637 00:47:15,900 --> 00:47:20,700 recognize who fails to recognize The Human Condition and that God 638 00:47:20,700 --> 00:47:24,000 knows it too cannot and will not be faithful. 639 00:47:24,700 --> 00:47:29,500 A person in that situation will either become proud or else 640 00:47:29,500 --> 00:47:32,900 despair of any hope. And that person may get to a 641 00:47:32,900 --> 00:47:37,700 point where they do hate God. And they reject him altogether. 642 00:47:39,200 --> 00:47:47,400 but if you love God right now, And you know who you are. 643 00:47:49,500 --> 00:47:51,900 Know that he knows who you are too. 644 00:47:53,500 --> 00:47:58,800 And he still loves you. And come to him with your 645 00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:04,300 ignorance and your weakness and your instability and your 646 00:48:04,300 --> 00:48:08,400 deception and your Brokenness and your fallenness. 647 00:48:08,700 --> 00:48:13,600 And let him love you. And through Christ transform, 648 00:48:13,600 --> 00:48:19,600 you into something greater. And ultimately, Very good.