2. Sovereignty of God
This is a functional idea about God’s
Ruling
Reigning
Ownership
It brings together the attributes as these are the things that make Him
sovereign. God is good, wise, holy and these things come to bear as He
rules, leads and governs.
Definition: God plans and carries out His perfect will as He alone knows
is best, over all that is in heaven and earth, and He does so without failure
or defeat.
Sovereignty is a statement about God’s CONTROL over all things in His
PLAN and His EXECTUING that plan.
How wide? - over all heaven and earth
How successful is God in this plan? - without failure or defeat
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3. Scriptural support for the sovereignty of God
This is the summary song that Moses gives to the people from God,
when they go after other gods and they will then I want them to
know who I AM.
Deuteronomy 32:39:
See now that I myself am He!
There is no god besides me.
I put to death and I bring to life,
I have wounded and I will heal,
and no one can deliver out of my hand.
The rest of the verses state that whatever comes against God He
will defeat it.
Notice in verse 39 a “Feature” of God’s rulership
Spectrum verses: The two sides of the spectrum are announced and
God is in control of both edges of the extremes and obviously
everything in between. God is alpha and omega, in all moments
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4. Deuteronomy 32:39
Look at the parallelism in the verses:
Puts to death
Gives life
Who wounds
And heals
We often like to think of God’s sovereignty in terms of One who
gives life and One who heals. However in these verses we also
learn that God is the One who puts to death and He is the One
who wounds. God is saying I rule over both edges.
This is often not taught in our evangelical churches today and
therefore there is a need to go slow and let this sink in.
It is imperative that we take people back to God’s word!
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5. 1 Samuel 2
This is the prayer of Hannah as she dedicates Samuel to the Lord.
Remember Hannah was barren and promised that if God gave her a
son she would give him back to the Lord.
READ 1 Samuel 2:1-7 for the context and verses 6-7
1 Samuel 2:6-7: (Her song of thanksgiving to the Lord)
The Lord gives both death and life;
he brings some down to the grave but raises others up.
The Lord makes some poor and others rich;
he brings some down and lifts others up.
The Lord brings both:
Death
Life
Down to the grave
Raises others up (reference to resurrection)
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6. The Lord makes:
Poor
Rich (Deuteronomy 8:17-18)
Brings down
Lifts up
Just think of this in terms of those who are poor. What poor person
out there could God not snap His fingers and provide for them?
Which must mean that God purposely chooses not to give what He
could give in order that they be poor.
Isn’t God in control of both poor and rich?
Well move that over to life and death. Every single death that
occurs is ordained by God. If anyone dies couldn’t God sustain
them an hour, day, week or even a year longer.
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7. Reader’s Digest story of guy killed one night driving car from a
stray bullet shot on a lake
Anyone who is killed, could God not stop the bullet, the car or the
bomb.
Illustration: The Communist that tries to kill the Vietnamese man
who will not deny Christ
Doesn’t God govern over all things?
Every person that is conceived God does it and every person who
dies God ordains it.
Isn’t that what the sovereignty of God means based on these verses
in the Bible?
Do an internal check of your own heart right now and see if you are
pushing back against this truth!
Why is this so hard for us to accept about God? Discuss as a group
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8. Isaiah 45:5-7 (What is the theme “I AM GOD”)
"I am the LORD, and there is no other;
Besides Me there is no God
I will gird you, (Cyrus) though you have not known Me;
That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is no one besides Me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other,
The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating calamity;
I am the LORD who does all these.
Introduction: We can see that from these verses it is clear that God is
distinguishing Himself as the one and only God and there in no other
besides Himself. As a matter of fact this is what constitutes God
being God.
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9. By the way as part of the historical background Isaiah is talking
about King Cyrus in these verses who is going to be used of God.
I am God and there is no other:
the One who forms light
and creates darkness
The verb for create is “bara” in the Hebrew and can only be
attributed throughout the Scriptures as something that God Himself
does and does alone.
The word for darkness is “raah” in the Hebrew and is the most
severe word in the OT for evil and destruction.
Amos 3:6 “…If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done
it?” (Isaiah 31:2 - disaster is the word for “raah”)
Here again we have a spectrum of light and darkness
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10. God is the subject of the verb “bara”
God causes:
Well being - this is the word “shallom” in the Hebrew and means to
make whole and everything is right.
Ironically the strongest verb bara (create) is matched up with the
strongest noun (calamity)
And the weaker verb “causes” is matched up with the noun, which
is well-being
Put this together in our study of the sovereignty of God.
God creates evil but He is in no way evil Himself. Let me even go
further in this thought process in the Bible, God ordains sin and yet
is in no does He sin in doing so. God is the primary cause of good
and evil. (Job 1-2)
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11. Isaiah 45:5-7 (Hebrew parallelism)
Forming light
Creating darkness
Causing well being
Creating calamity
I AM THE LORD WHO DOES ALL THESE
Ø 1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from Him and
announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness
at all.
Ø Psalm 5:4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in
wickedness; No evil dwells with You.
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12. The Spectrum of God’s Sovereignty
And everything
in between
Life
Death
Wound Heal
Raise up
Down to grave
Make Poor Make Rich
Forms Light Creates Calamity 0
13. Daniel 4 (One of strongest statements on sovereignty)
The words of King Nebuchadnezzar who was a pagan king.
Daniel 4:29-30
‘Twelve months later he was walking on the roof of the royal
palace of Babylon.
The king reflected and said, 'Is this not Babylon the great, which I
myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power
and for the glory of my majesty?’
Daniel 4:32
and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling
place will be with the beasts of the field You will be given grass to
eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until
you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of
mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.’
Conclusion: God say to Nebuchadnezzar you are king at this
moment but God gives the kingdoms of the world to those He
chooses
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14. But then after seven years of eating grass, his beard growing and
fingernails not being cut, his reason returns.
Daniel 4:34-35
But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes
toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the
Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever;
For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
But He does according to His will in the host of heaven
And among the inhabitants of earth;
And no one can ward off His hand (Rom.9, Jer.18)
Or say to Him, 'What have You done?’
Discuss with the group - What does this mean?
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15. King N. talks about the dominion of God being everlasting as
compared with his which is temporal
The phrase “are nothing compared to Him”(cross ref:Isaiah 40)
Doesn’t this mean:
That they add nothing to God even with all their power and prowess
and might.
The nations do not add or take away from the all sufficiency of
God.
In context it means that they are able to do nothing in terms of
being able to accomplish their own will in lieu of God’s will.
(Eph.1:11)
Daniel 4:35 - No one can keep God from accomplishing His good a
pleasing will.
No one can question His wisdom, justice and authority!
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16. Psalm 135:5-6
For I know that the LORD is great
And that our Lord is above all gods.
Whatever the LORD pleases, He does,
In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.
What in this verse distinguishes God?
Answer - God does whatever He pleases
How wide is the sovereignty of God? And How deep?
There are no qualifications to these statements. Such as, God can
only do this as long as human beings are stubborn in their hearts.
Psalm 115:3
But our God is in the heavens;
He does whatever He pleases.
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17. Proverbs 21:1
The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD;
He turns it wherever He wishes. (Think about this when you are in
a situation where someone else has control)
Illustration: Bruce Ware’s house for sale
Remember the 10 plagues that God sent against the Egyptian
people via His servant Moses. Wouldn’t you think that after all
these hardships the people of Egypt would hate and want to kill the
Israelites? But look what happened.
Exodus 12:35-36
Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses,
for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and
articles of gold, and clothing;
and the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the
Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Thus they
plundered the Egyptians.
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18. Romans 9:11
for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything
good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would
stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls,
The foundation for this is God does what He pleases
Romans 9:14
If God loved Jacob based on what Jacob did and He didn’t love
Esau because there was something about Esau, then you remove
the grounds for the complaint in verse 14.
The only reason verse 14 makes sense is because someone would
read it and think this looks unjust.
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19. Illustration:
R.C. Sproul - “the locust of astonishment”
We worry about the problem of evil but this is not a problem
for God, we all deserve condemnation.
No matter how bad someone may suffer in this life, it is pale in
comparison to what we actually do deserve.
From God’s perspective the problem isn’t evil the problem is
goodness. How can God show kindness to those who do not
deserve it.
Marvel, marvel in the fact that God chooses to show His
mercy.
God is in control of everything in life. And may we never
question the justice of God in anything He may please to do.
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20. Proverbs 16:33 - The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision
is from the LORD.
Matthew 6:26 - Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And
not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.
(NKJV)
Proverbs 19:21 - Many plans are in a man's heart, But the counsel
of the LORD will stand.
Isaiah 46:10 - Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, 'My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure';
Jeremiah 32:27 - Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is
anything too difficult for Me?”
Genesis 18:14 - “Is anything too difficult for the LORD?…”
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21. Two kinds of issues
Mechanical - How does divine sovereignty, God’s control over
everything that happens mesh with human freedom?
How does this work that we are free and yet God is in control of
everything?
Unless you hold the belief that there is no human freedom in
Scripture
Very few over the course of church history have argued for the
view above
Moral issue - How can it be that if God is sovereign and in
control of everything that He could hold us accountable for evil?
And God Himself is always praise worthy, we get all the blame
and God gets the praise, so how can this be?
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22. Retreat 2009 - Saturday night session
ØPray and Prepare (see next page)
ØWhat is God teaching and revealing?
Ø What verses do I need to study and/or memorize?
Ø What truths do I need to share in my sphere of influence?
Sovereignty Definition: God plans and carries out His perfect will as
He alone knows is best, over all that is in heaven and earth, and He does
so without failure or defeat.
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24. “Compatibilist” Texts
This means two things that need to be brought together in
convergence.
One is the sovereign control of God, He is ordaining, He is
determining, He is causing to bring about certain things but that
sovereign ordination of God doesn’t cancel out human free action
and responsibility.
Instead that sovereign action of God is compatible with and doesn’t
happen separate from responsible human action.
So these two things are compatible – Divine Sovereignty and Free
Human Responsibility
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25. Genesis 45:4-8
You remember the story, there was seven years of plenty and
seven years of famine.
So when the brothers went down to Egypt to buy food the one that
they appeared before was in fact there brother Joseph.
The brothers sold Joseph as a slave hoping that he would have a
painful death.
They had no idea that he was promoted, God had given him those
dreams, and now he was second in command in all of Egypt.
Then in Genesis 45 Joseph decides to reveal his true identity to his
brothers.
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26. “Then Joseph said to his brothers, . . . ‘I am your brother Joseph,
whom you sold into Egypt.
Question – is this true?
Did his brothers sell him into Egypt?
Yes indeed they did, they plotted it and carried it out and did
exactly what they wanted to do.
First of all they wanted to kill him but Reuben was there and kept
them from doing that, but when the caravan came along they
decided that was better because they could make some money and
also be sure he would have a painful death as a slave.
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27. Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you
sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life . . .
Now stop and think, notice is does not say this “don’t be angry
with yourselves for selling me into Egypt for God took what you
did and turned it into good.”
Instead it says that God sent me, this is the language of past tense
or past action to indicate what God did and what they did. The
brothers selling Joseph into Egypt was God’s sending Joseph into
Egypt. It was not using what they did for some good purpose.
Now here is the question – when you have two activities that
converge in bringing about what happens:
Ø The brothers selling Joseph into Egypt
Ø God sending him to Egypt
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28. Now the question is would one of the two actions be more
ultimate or primary? Or does one of the two weigh in heavier than
the other in explaining what happens.
7 God sent me (notice who gets dropped out of the equation all
together in this verse – the brothers are no longer mentioned
because God’s purpose is fulfilled in what they did)
before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep
you alive by a great deliverance. (It looks like a stronger weight
given to God’s action than the brothers)
8 Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; (This
verifies what we thought in verse 7 that God has the ultimate
action here) and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of
all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.’”
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29. In an ultimate sense what happened to Joseph can’t be explained by
what happened according to your jealousy and anger and vengeful
action toward Joseph in selling him into Egypt.
Basically what this means is that the brothers carried out God’s
ordained will.
God sent Joseph through the brothers selling him.
Question: If that is the case then on judgment day can the brothers
of Joseph hold up this passage from Genesis 45 and say “we can’t
be held accountable for this because we didn’t send Joseph but it
was God and therefore we are off the hook.”
Is that going to work? Answer - No way
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30. And the reason we know this is because in Genesis 50 when Jacob
dies and the brothers are left with Joseph they are worried because
the father is gone so what is Joseph now going to do with them?
So they plead with him to forgive them and Joseph responds “you
meant it for evil but God meant it for good.”
It is very clear that God’s sending Joseph to Egypt through the
brothers selling Joseph to Egypt does not in any way absolve them
of responsibility.
God is praised for the action that He does for the people and they
are blameworthy for the action they did in selling Joseph down to
Egypt.
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31. Isaiah 10:5-7, 12, 15
“Woe to Assyria, (this starts out with a warning like, you are in big
trouble Assyria, you who are what?) the rod of My anger, and the
staff in whose hands is My indignation
Do we get the point?
Assyria you who are carrying out My will, My rod in My
hand doing exactly what I ordain you to do, now you might ask
how
can Assyria be in trouble with God for doing what He has ordained
them to do?
(a) I send it against a godless nation (who is this? It is Israel), and
commission it against the people of My fury, to capture booty and
to seize plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets.
(The next verse is critical in understanding what is going on here)
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32. 7 Yet it does not so intend, nor does it plan so in its heart, (what
does that mean?, do you see the point of it? They are being
commissioned by God to do the very things of God but they do
not see themselves as the instrument of God) but rather it is its
purpose to destroy, and to cut off many nations . . . (Assyria is
selfish and arrogant and they are doing this entirely for their own
benefit, they have no idea that as they do this they are carrying
out the very will of God)
12 So it will be when the Lord has completed all his work on
Mount Zion (this means the work that God ordained Assyria to
do) and on Jerusalem, He will say, ‘I will punish the fruit of the
arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his
haughtiness . . .
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33. 15 Is the axe to boast itself over the one who chops with it? (who is
the ax? Answer – Assyria, who is the One who chops with it?
Answer – God)
Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it?’” (who is the
saw? Answer – Assyria, who is the One who wields it? Answer –
God)
Assyria is raised up by God and given the military prowess that
they have, used and ordained by God to carry out this work to
bring judgment against His own people then when they have
finished it, God then holds them accountable for what they did.
Not so much for the work they did but for the intent of the heart in
which there was pride and arrogance and selfishness.
They are judged for what they did even though they did exactly
what God ordained them to do.
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34. Acts 2:23; 4:27-28
2:23 “this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and
foreknowledge of
God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put
Him to death . . .
4:27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against Your
holy servant
Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along
with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
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35. 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to
occur.”
It is incredible to think that all we read about in the gospels, the
betrayal of Judas, the trial before Caiaphas, the people that a week
before on Palm Sunday were throwing palms down in front of
Him and declaring Him to be the Messiah, and now a week later
are crying out for Him to be crucified, the Romans, Jews, and
Herod all fulfilling exactly what God had ordained to occur.
The point is that given the weight of the evidence which is in
Scripture then we must hold in one hand that God is entirely
sovereign over all things that happen.
On the other hand that sovereignty of God does not cancel out our
free and moral responsibility in doing the things that we do.
Therefore these two things must go together in some respect.
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38. What is sin?
Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act,
attitude or nature.
We all know that sin is harmful to our lives and that it brings pain
and destructive consequences to others and us.
However, it much more serious than what it does to others
because it is a direct contradiction, violation and rebellion to the
very holiness of God.
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39. Scriptural support for the definition of sin
1 John 3:4 - Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness;
and sin is lawlessness.
James 4:17 - Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and
does not do it, to him it is sin
Romans 14:23 - “…and whatever is not from faith is sin.
Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
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40. Biblical evidence for the doctrine of sin
Ø Genesis 6:5: "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually.”
Ø Jeremiah 13:23 (NIV): "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the
leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to
doing evil.”
Ø Romans 3:10-11: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one
understands; no one seeks for God.”
Ø Romans 8:7-9: "For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to
God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those
who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the
flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to
him."
Ø Ephesians 2:3b: "[We] were by nature children of wrath, like the
rest of mankind."
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41. Ø 1 Corinthians 2:14: "The natural person does not accept the
things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not
able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."
Ø Genesis 8:21 - The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the
LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on
account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth;
and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done
Ø1 Kings 8:46 - “When they sin against You (for there is no man
who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to
an enemy, so that they take them away captive to the land of the
enemy, far off or near
Ø Psalms 51:5 - Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in
sin my mother conceived me.
Ø Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is more deceitful than all else And is
desperately sick; Who can understand it?
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42. Ø Romans 7:18 - For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that
is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the
good is not
Ø1 John 1:8- If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving
ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Summary Point:
Man is not basically good - Man is bad, evil, wicked and corrupt
Even though we learn in Genesis 1:27 we were created in His
image something went terribly and tragically wrong in Genesis 3
when Adam sinned.
From that time until now - man is not a sinner because he sins,
rather man sins because he is a sinner!
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43. Romans 5:12-21
The Scriptures teach that sin causes a two-fold problem in our
lives. By the way these two sin problems are what all people
inherit from Adam.
1. We have inherited condemnation – our original guilt and
condemnation is not rooted in our first individual sinning but in our
connection with Adam and his sin. Since we are regarded as
having sinned in Adam then we are subject to the same punishment
as Adam. This imputed sin is the ruin of our standing before God
in which we are reckoned as guilty in the courtroom of God.
Romans 5:12 - Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into
the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men,
because all sinned
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44. The Scriptures teach that sin causes a two-fold problem in our
lives. By the way these two sin problems are what all people
inherit from Adam.
2. We have inherited corruption – Because of Adam’s sin then
we all enter the world with a sinful or fallen nature. This sin
nature, which we have inherited from Adam, manifests itself in
our thought, ways of speaking and behaving such that we violate
the moral commands of God. We are not sinners because we sin
rather we sin because we are sinners!
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45. The point of this Scripture is HUGE because in my corrupted
condition and my sinful behavior I have a much deeper problem.
That problem is rooted in my union with Adam, my father in
whom I sinned, was condemned and died. We need to see where
in this paragraph Paul is writing to show us that it is our
connection to and with Adam that is our main problem.
Romans 5:15 – “…by the transgression of the one many died…”
The one here is Adam
Romans 5:16 – “…for on the one hand the judgment arose from
one transgression resulting in condemnation…”
Romans 5:17 – “For if by the transgression of the one, death
reigned through the one…”
Romans 5:18 – “…through one transgression there resulted
condemnation to all men”
Romans 5:19 – “For as through the one man’s disobedience the
many were made sinners…”
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46. Now that we understand the two-fold problem what is the solution?
Ø The problem of our condemnation in Adam, God remedies
through justification in Christ.
ØHis reckoning to us the righteousness Christ solves the problem of
our legal guilt and condemnation before God.
ØIn other words if we are to stand before God and be declared “not
guilty” then we must have the righteousness of Someone else.”
ØThat someone else is Christ and His righteousness is imputed to us
by grace alone, through faith alone.
Ø This event is outside of me and is judicial - (declared righteous)
Ø This event happens in an instant
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47. Now that we understand the two-fold problem what is the solution?
The problem of our corruption God remedies through regeneration
by the Spirit.
And the problem of our moral defilement and habitual sinning is
solved by His purifying us by the work of Spirit. This process is
what we call sanctification.
Ø This event is inside of me and moral
Ø This event happens progressively over time
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48. Five Observations from Scripture regarding sin
1. Sin affects every human.
Romans 3:23
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
1 Kings 8:46
There is no man who does not sin.
Psalm 143:2
And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight
no man living is righteous.
1 John 1:8
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the
truth is not in us.
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49. 2. Our rebellion or hardness against God is total, that is, apart
from the grace of God there is no delight in the holiness of God,
and there is no glad submission to the sovereign authority of God.
Romans 3:9-11, 18
What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already
charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written,
“THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS
NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS
FOR GOD . . . THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR
EYES.”
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50. John 3:19-21
This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and
men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were
evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come
to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who
practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be
manifested as having been wrought in God.
Romans 1:18
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness.
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51. 3. In his total rebellion everything man does is sin.
Romans 14:23
Whatever is not from faith is sin.
Hebrews 11:6
And 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 seek Him.
Romans 7:18
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for
the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
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52. 4. Man’s inability to submit to God and do good is total.
Romans 8:5-9
For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the
things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the
things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh [literally: “the
mind of the flesh”] is death, but the mind set on the Spirit [literally:
“the mind of the Spirit”] is life and peace, because the mind set on
the flesh [literally: “the mind of the flesh”] is hostile toward God;
for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able
to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the
Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit
of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
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53. John 3:5-7
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of
water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be
born again.’”
Romans 6:17-18
But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you
became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which
you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became
slaves of righteousness.
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54. Ephesians 2:1-5
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you
formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to
the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working
in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived
in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the
mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But
God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He
loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us
alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).
Ephesians 4:17-18
So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no
longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of
God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the
hardness of their heart.
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55. John 6:44
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him;
and I will raise him up on the last day.
1 Corinthians 2:14
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for
they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because
they are spiritually appraised.
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately
[incurably] sick; who can understand it?
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56. 5. Our rebellion is totally deserving of eternal punishment.
Ephesians 2:3
Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh,
indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by
nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
2 Thessalonians 1:8-9
[God will] deal out retribution to those who do not know God and to
those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay
the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the
Lord and from the glory of His power.
Matthew 25:46
These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into
eternal life.
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57. In summary:
Total inability means that apart from the grace God, our hardness
and rebellion against God is total, everything we do in this rebellion
is sin, our inability to submit to God or reform ourselves is total,
and we are therefore totally deserving of eternal punishment.
It is hard to exaggerate the importance of admitting our condition to
be this bad. If we think of ourselves as basically good or even less
than totally at odds with God, our grasp of the work of God in
redemption will be defective.
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