Tonight, we're going to start with, here he comes. Raise your hand if you didn't get one of those.
I know we're pretty short. Plenty extra. Yeah.
I would say the main reason is that we need to be humbled first to understand just how bad our condition is before you ever will be open to talking about election.
That's like my, I learned it that way.
And I think a lot of times when people will try to share about election with me, it would be like, come on, I'm not that bad.
Like, come on. Like, I seem to think that sin wasn't as bad as it actually was.
And so a few quotes for us.
And these men likewise believed in what we're talking about.
But Augustine in the fourth century, the whole humility of man consists in the knowledge of himself.
Yep. So the more you actually learn about you, the more humble you will become through God's eyes. Right.
And Calvin said, man is never sufficiently touched and affected by an awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God's majesty.
It is evident that man never attains a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God and come down after such contemplation to look into himself.
So we all think much of ourselves. Right.
But when compared to God, we tend to shrink and be very, very small.
That's what Calvin's saying.
We need to humble ourselves.
If you want to look on your sheet, your handout here.
Each week I'll begin with an example, a quotation.
This was Spurgeon.
And so and so one of the things that I guess experientially confirmed this truth for me.
So I will tell you from the beginning, but your convictions have to come from Scripture first and then your experience after that,
because your experience doesn't trump what's what's true and what lasts forever.
But what happened to me was I read these things in the scriptures and then I began to kind of think about how I saw them in my life.
And one of those realities is I'm aware of what God's pursuit of me before I was a Christian.
I could see God tracking me.
I could see him following me and pursuing me.
Yeah, even though I was pursuing and doing my own thing, he was he was on my track.
He was going to and he was going to catch me.
He was going to run me to ground when he was ready to.
And that's something I'm like thankful for because he didn't have to do that.
And that's what Spurgeon said.
So something I want you to think about is trace back the steps of your life and look at all the ways that God has shown you grace
and all the ways that he has put people in your life.
He's put Bibles in your life.
He's put a church in your life.
Maybe parents that have taught you about Christ.
This is what Spurgeon did.
So let's read this together.
He said one one weeknight when I was sitting in the house of God, I was not thinking about the preacher's sermon for I didn't believe it.
That's a nice start, right?
The thought struck me.
How did I come to be a Christian?
I sought the Lord.
But how did you come to seek the Lord?
The truth flashed across my mind in a moment.
I should not have sought him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek him.
I prayed, thought I.
But then I asked myself, how came I to pray?
I was induced to pray by reading the scriptures.
How came I to read the scriptures?
How did I read them?
But led me to do so.
Then in a moment I saw God was at the bottom of it all.
That he was the author of my faith.
And so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me.
And from that doctrine I have not departed to this day.
I desire to make this my constant confession that I ascribe my change wholly to God.
So I hope that that's encouraging to you to begin to think about, well, how did this happen?
You keep looking back and you see that God was underneath every little bit of what was going on in your life at the time.
So, let me see here.
When we talk about these things, we're looking at them, most of us, from a post-Christian perspective.
Most of us are believers in here.
But we have to look back and see what our condition was before we were in Christ.
And for a lot of us, we might have become a believer at a very early age.
So that's awesome.
Don't go any further.
Right?
Some of us will testify.
Like, that's awesome.
But if we look back, we don't really realize how bad our condition is until we see it in hindsight.
And let me give you an example.
So I had that lung transplant.
I knew I was pretty sick.
I knew I was very sick, actually.
But I didn't realize how close to death I actually was, though.
And after the transplant, the surgeon said to me,
well, no, actually, he didn't say it to me.
He said it to my family.
He's like, those are the worst set of lungs I've ever seen.
And I don't know how he was alive on those.
I had no idea.
Like, how he was still breathing on those.
And so, you know, so thankful the Lord spared me.
But what I have the impression of, if you're like me, you tend to think sin is bad.
Sin is not desirable.
Sin is, you know, to be walked away from.
But it is really, really bad.
Like, it is, like, so bad beyond our minds.
And I think most of my early Christian life, I thought, yeah, sin's bad.
I'm a sinner.
Yep.
And I never really knew how much the Scripture actually had to say about it.
Until the doctrines of grace or Calvinism or Augustinism, whatever you want to call it, whatever label you want to put on it.
My personal favorite is what John Newton called it, the doctrine or the gospel of amazing grace.
That's what we're just going to call this.
It's pretty easy to remember, right?
It's the doctrines of amazing grace.
And so I look back on my simple condition now and I see just how bad it actually was.
And so if you don't realize how low you are, you're never going to be really willing to respond to anything from God.
Like, until you really realize how bad it is.
So, but one of the go-to passages for sin in the Bible, which we have been through on Sundays, is Romans chapter 1.
And this idea that God gave us over to our sin.
So let's just read this quickly.
For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him.
But they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
All right.
Now, as we're going along tonight, think about, like, the anatomy.
Have any of you kids had anatomy in your classes yet?
A few of you have.
Okay.
Well, the human body, right?
So think about, like, a spiritual anatomy.
The mind, the heart, things like that.
But you see right here, it kind of says this idea that our foolish hearts were darkened.
Claiming to be wise, there's the mind idea.
Right before that, futile in our thinking.
We became fools.
We exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Therefore, God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who was blessed forever.
Now, that is like the essence of what sin is.
It's taking your love and your worship, the failure to fulfill the great commandment to love God and giving it to idols, giving it to the things of creation rather than the creator.
And we all have done it.
I could give you a list of mile long, the stuff that I have worshipped and put my value in that have let me down and destroyed me.
So that's a great example.
We worship and serve the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever.
For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions.
And jump forward to 28.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
OK, so this idea of giving them up, if you were here on Sunday, we were doing Romans 9.
It's God saying, all right, deal with the consequences of your sin.
It's giving him over to all the terrible things that follow our rebellion.
So it's an act of judgment for him to just go, OK, go do it.
And that's what in essence what we're saying.
So so in the doctrines of grace or Calvinism, whatever it is, we use this phrase total depravity.
Right. We've heard that phrase.
Anybody know what depravity means?
Biblically speaking, anybody?
I don't care.
Ty, we give a shot.
No, what you're eating.
It seems like a syndrome of corruption.
Yeah.
And you get a depravity of the worst it could possibly be.
Yeah.
So back on history, we talk about the worst we could possibly be.
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
That's all we're talking about.
Literally.
Look at that last verse, that debased word.
That's the word we're going to look at.
That's what depravity is.
Other translations may actually say depravity.
Let's just look at MacArthur here to define it for us.
He says, a godless mind is a depraved mind whose predetermined inevitable disposition is to do the things that are not proper.
The basic meaning of a dakamas, which is depraved, is that of notwithstanding the test.
And the term was commonly used for metals that were rejected by refiners because of impurities.
See that to the connection.
These impure metals were discarded and a dakamas.
Therefore, came to include the ideas of worthlessness and uselessness.
That's what we just read, right?
In Romans, it became worthless, became useless.
In relation to God, the rejected mind becomes a rejected mind and thereby becomes spiritually depraved, worthless and useless.
The mind that finds God worthless becomes worthless itself.
It is debauched, deceived, deserving only of God's divine wrath.
So, important to remember this.
Like, the reason, and this is hard, okay?
So again, it's humbling for me.
Before you were in Christ, you are worthless.
That's what this just said.
And the reason why is because we were created, again, we're going back to the beginning, in God's image for a purpose.
That purpose was, again, to walk with Him and to reflect His holy character in all that we do and to have that special relationship with God, to bring glory in Him in all our lives.
And so, sin has flipped that.
It means that you have not fulfilled your purpose of being created.
Therefore, you are depraved, right?
These metals have these impurities that are discarded.
Also important to remember, don't let anybody tell you if you are in Christ that you are depraved.
You're not.
There's a change that happens, okay?
Now you're accounted as God's family.
Now you're accounted as adopted, valuable, loved, cherished.
Alright?
So, and we have that.
We're having that image restored in us, as it says in the New Testament now.
So, we're learning.
We're following Christ and becoming more like Christ in the process.
So, I think, before we go further, pause for like maybe two minutes.
Any questions?
Hard words.
They suck.
But, how it is.
I mean, you saw it right there, right?
The Lord is talking about the mind.
Do you need to pray?
Just a word to pray.
But, he's referring specifically to verse 28 in this one.
It talks about being a debased mind or a depraved mind.
We're just taking the word depraved.
Yeah.
So, when you said that we're no longer depraved as a believer,
you're not speaking specifically of the mind being something different,
but rather something more fundamental.
Sure, yeah.
I was just giving you a biblical example where depravity is found in the Bible.
But, really, it's applied to our whole being as fallen people.
But, yeah.
But, the mind is corrupted for sure.
So, yeah.
But, as believers, what is our mind doing now?
Being transformed by the renewal of our mind.
So, it's changing.
So, this also should invoke pity and brokenheartedness for those who are around us, right?
Because, if they knew Christ, they could have that image restored again, right?
So, that's what leads us to share with other people.
But, yeah.
We're going to get to...
When we do the saving work of the Spirit,
we'll talk more about why missions and evangelism are so important
and why this is actually, like, fuel behind going, not a hindrance to it.
So, yep.
Let's walk through this first,
because it's important to go through the Scripture first.
Then I have just some other stuff for you on the PowerPoint.
But, for now, I want you to think about that anatomy idea.
You know, as I do this...
You know, let's do this first.
It's more important than going through that.
But, alright, so man is not sick.
Man is not injured.
He is dead spiritually.
Alright?
And there's a lot of Scriptures that say these things.
I just picked a few.
But, point number one, really,
as a result of Adam's transgressions,
men are born in sin
and by nature are spiritually dead.
Therefore, if they are to become God's children
and enter His kingdom,
they must be born anew by the Spirit.
So, think about that connection.
You've heard the phrase being born again.
You have to be born again
because your condition is dead.
Like, that's the point.
It's connecting the two.
Same thing as, like,
there's a need for us to be regenerated by the Spirit.
Let's just...
Let's just pick two of these.
This is the idea of original sin, right?
That Augustine kind of coined.
Let's look at Romans 5 there.
Just as sin came into the world
through one man
and death through sin.
And so death spread to all men
because all have sinned.
And then Ephesians 2.
You were dead in your trespasses and sin,
to which you once walked,
following the course of this world,
following the prince of the power of the air
and the Spirit that has not worked
in the sons of disobedience.
So...
But...
That's so important
because dead means corpse.
Dead means useless.
You can't do anything.
Like...
I may have never been to a funeral before
and seen the corpse there like I have.
They can't do anything.
I can't say,
hey, jump up and fix yourself.
Put yourself together.
You know,
my grandmother just went to be with the Lord
a few...
Like last summer.
And I couldn't say,
come on, Mildred,
just stand up.
Get yourself together.
You know?
She would have slapped me silly
if she had heard me say that.
But...
The corpse can't do anything.
That's the connection.
You need to be born again by the Spirit.
So...
And a dead person has no ability
to do anything for themselves.
Now, our spiritual senses
are likewise darkened.
Okay?
So think about your senses.
Sight.
Feel.
Touch.
Those sort of things.
As a result of the fall,
men are blind and deaf
to spiritual truth.
Minds are darkened by sin
and hearts corrupted by evil.
We just read that in Romans 1.
We just read it.
But to give you a few more,
I mean, right out of the gate,
right in Genesis,
the Lord saw the wickedness of man
was great on the earth
and every intention,
every intention
of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually.
Right?
That's the heart.
Look at Jeremiah 17.
We all know this one.
The heart is deceitful above all else.
Desperately sick.
Who can understand it?
Don't follow your heart.
Right?
So that's the heart.
Then Jesus talks about how
all sorts of evil
proceed from the heart of men.
Look at 1 Corinthians there.
The natural person,
or the person without God,
the person that's without Jesus,
the natural person
does not accept,
does not accept
the things of the Spirit of God.
For they are followed to Him
and He is not able
to understand them
because they are spiritually discerned.
Yeah.
So,
if you look at Ephesians,
oh shoot,
I have the wrong,
wrong one on here.
It's the right chapter,
wrong verse.
I found it in my bed.
I apologize.
But it says,
don't walk as the Gentiles
do in the futility
of their minds.
See that?
Like our minds
are directed towards them.
The darkened
in their understanding,
alienated from the life of God
because of the ignorance
of the image
and the hardness
of their heart.
So,
just look at that kind of language
that's there.
So yeah,
there's a lot of other verses
that kind of go with this.
But,
this is the scary one.
This one scared the death.
You know what?
I mean,
when I first read it,
I was like,
wow,
I never thought about that.
But,
before in Christ,
we're in bondage to Satan
and slaves to sin.
Right?
It's not made up language.
Before sinners are born
to God's kingdom
through the regenerating
power of the Spirit,
they are children
of the devil.
Satan.
And under his control,
they are slaves to sin.
Alright?
What?
You,
so,
in the context of John 8,
y'all know what's going on
in John 8?
Anybody remember
what's going on in John 8?
Jesus is arguing
with the crowd.
He's arguing
with the Jews
who were there.
And they're
giving him
a lot of stuff
and
they're rejecting him.
They're rejecting
his words.
They're rejecting
his truth.
And I don't want you
to think about it.
Like,
you could have one person
share about Christ
with your friends
or your family.
Who would you want?
Jesus,
probably,
right?
He himself.
So he's standing there,
the Son of God,
and he's talking to them.
They're going,
nope,
nope.
So this is what he says to them.
He says,
you are of your father,
the devil.
And your wills
do your father's desires.
Wow.
He was a murderer
from the beginning
and nothing to do
with the truth
because the truth,
because there is
no truth in him.
When he lies,
he speaks of his own character
for he is a liar
and the father of lies.
2 Timothy,
he's talking about
sharing,
you know,
the good news
with unbelievers
in verse 26
and hopes that,
right,
they may come to their senses
and escape the snare
of the devil
after being captured
by him
to do his will.
I mean,
we all have like
made these connections
like they're everywhere
and Jesus,
I tell you the truth,
truly,
everyone who commits sin
is a slave
to sin.
And then Titus,
we ourselves
are once foolish
to disobedient,
slaves
to various passions
and pleasures.
Right?
So,
that's not language
that no one likes to hear.
I'm,
you know,
and again,
I'm looking at it
in Christ now,
like,
oh my gosh,
I had no idea
it was that bad.
Like,
I had no idea
that I was that
ensnared
by sin.
Alright?
Important to know,
when we use the phrase
total depravity,
it's different
than using the phrase
utter depravity.
Okay?
There's a reason
why we use that.
Tolerance means
that all our faculties
have been corrupted
by sin.
But,
through God's grace,
we are able
to do some things
for good.
Right?
We are able
to do some things
that somewhat
look like
the image of God,
but those are
distorted still.
Utter depravity
means that we are
as evil as we could be
all the time.
And that's not the case.
Like,
there's restraints
on us.
Right?
You see
utter depravity
inch a little bit
further
with,
you know,
police going away
and,
like,
the authority
of the state
going away
and people
just can do
whatever they
want to do.
You're seeing
that go a step
further.
There was
restraints on them.
So,
utter depravity
is different
than total depravity.
This one doesn't
need a lot of
explanation,
but,
like,
how bad is it?
everybody.
Because you may
think,
deep down,
like,
I know I'm bad.
I know I'm really bad,
but I don't think
I'm that bad.
Like,
it puts us all
under the same
umbrella.
It does.
Sin's reign
is universal.
All men
are under sin's
power,
and consequently
all are guilty,
none are righteous,
none are even one.
We read this morning,
I think,
TJ read
Psalm 130,
if you,
O Lord,
should mark
iniquities,
O Lord,
who could stand?
Right?
Like,
are any of you
ready to face
God's judgment
on your own,
apart from Christ?
Like,
no,
we could not stand.
We would just
perish before Him.
And,
so,
we all know,
I think that's
a pretty commonly
accepted one,
that we're all
under the same
curse.
But,
there was a
rabbi
many years ago
who wrote
a book called,
some of you
are all
enough to
remember this,
why do bad
things happen
to good people?
Remember that?
Krishna?
What's his name?
Well,
as humbly
and as gently
as I can say
this to him,
it would be
because there
are no good
people.
That's what
this says,
right here,
right?
no one is
righteous,
not even one,
no one understands,
no one seeks God,
all have turned
aside,
all have become
worthless,
as we just read,
no one does
good,
not even one.
Alright,
so that's
the condition
we all find
ourselves in.
And our mind
is hostile
to God.
See that in
Romans 8?
The mind
that's in the
flesh,
right,
is hostile
towards God
and will not
submit to God's
law.
Won't.
Won't do it.
Alright,
so this leads
to the next
and last point
which is
controversial,
right?
Men,
being blind
in death
to spiritual
truth,
are unable
of themselves
to repent,
to believe
the gospel,
or to come
to Christ.
They have no
power within
themselves to
change their
natures or
prepare themselves
for salvation.
So,
is it like,
excuse me,
some of you
say,
well,
yeah,
of course,
I couldn't
say myself,
duh,
but I kind
of met God
halfway,
right?
Like,
I used my
abilities and
my goodness
that was in
me and all
and my free
will and I
met God
kind of halfway
and then he
did his part.
well,
no,
what we're
saying here
is that
you couldn't
even prepare
yourself for
it.
Like,
you were so
low.
Really
motivational,
right,
people?
Like,
just enough.
I feel like
I'm getting
hammered,
you know,
I feel like
I'm getting
roasted here.
So,
and this is
important,
no man can
come to
faith in
Christ unless
God grants
him repentance
resulting in
faith.
Jeremiah,
y'all know
the song
Jesus
Painted
All,
the leper
spots the
heart of
stone.
What about
the Bible?
What about
that?
Can the
Ethiopian
change his
skin or
the leper
his spots?
And also,
you can do
good who are
accustomed to
doing evil.
So,
yeah,
like,
again,
when you have
no power,
I have no
power to
change myself.
I can't
just reform
myself and
prepare myself
for God.
I'll give
you another
one.
You see
that in
2 Corinthians
there,
that blinded
the mind,
Satan,
the God
of this age,
has blinded
the minds
of unbelievers
to keep
them from
seeing the
light of
the gospel.
And then
2 Timothy,
you've got
the second
part,
God may
perhaps,
grant them
repentance,
leading to
a knowledge
of the
truth.
They may
come to
their senses
and escape
the snare
of the devil
who have
been captured
by him
to do
his will.
So,
this idea
that God
has to
grant it,
it has
to come
from God
himself.
Those are
just a
handful.
Like,
people told
me this
stuff,
I'm like,
yeah,
I don't
believe it,
whatever.
they
started
saying,
what about
that one?
What about
that one?
And I
was like,
ah,
they're
drowning
me in
scripture
here.
So,
I guess I'm
just going to
have to
bow the
knee and
say,
man,
I am
more,
I was
more
wretched
than I
ever dreamed
I was.
Like,
it was
much worse.
Like,
the surgeon
being like,
I don't
know how
you were
alive.
Like,
that's
crazy.
Worst
pair of lungs
I've ever
seen.
Isn't it
weird I
want to
actually see
them?
I mean,
they got
rid of
them before
I was
conscious.
But,
we were
not just
bad,
we were
really,
really bad.
So,
any questions
before we
move on
to the
next section
of this?
About how
bad we
are?
We were
really bad.
That's
really only
understandable
in the
context of
how good
God is.
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
Standing
on our
own,
we can
justify
all kinds
of good
behavior.
But,
that's not
what we're
talking about.
Nope.
No,
no,
look,
listen,
you may
be very
good compared
to some
people you
know.
Right?
Like,
that's a,
you hear the
gospel people,
most people,
but that's
changing now,
most people
have some
morality,
they're like,
some sense
of right and
wrong,
and they'll
say,
well,
I'm not
that bad.
Nobody's
perfect,
right?
I'm like,
yeah,
you have no
idea how
ironic that
saying is.
You're right,
no one's
perfect,
and the
standard is
perfection.
You're not
there,
and I'm
not either.
So,
it's,
so yeah,
only after you
contemplate who
God is do you
actually see this
first.
Probably could have
it a whole other
week,
just talking about
how great God
was,
and then we
showed up here,
and we're like,
oh man,
we're done.
Colin,
in his
institutes,
writes something
like,
like if you
look down at
the ground,
and you can
see things on
the ground,
like rocks,
dirt,
whatever,
down near your
feet,
and very,
very clear,
right?
Like your vision's
very clear.
You can see it
perfectly,
unless you have
this bad eyesight,
like me.
And,
he compares that
with looking at
your earthly
righteousness.
Like,
as long as I'm
focused on earth,
it's good.
He's like,
as soon as you
gaze,
like straight into
the sun,
your vision just
blurts,
right?
He's like,
that's what it's
like to compare
your righteousness
to God's.
Like,
you can't.
And,
your righteousness
is skewed
at that point.
So,
you know,
but yeah,
only after you
have contemplated
the face of God
and come to
look into
yourself.
Anybody else?
We're all
family here.
I know nobody
came here
to hear from me,
but I'll say
that I
oftentimes
don't feel
a great draw
to get into
the Word
or to pray,
but what I've
learned is
that if I
open up the
Psalms
or go to
the last few
chapters of
Job,
start contemplating
God and
His holiness
and mightiness,
it doesn't take me
long to be very
affected and
really want to
pray.
Yeah,
turn the light
to the roof.
so I think
that illustrates
to a great point
that even
in my
redeemed state,
the reality
is that
the old man
is still
within me
and those
same things
that are
described in
Scripture
about the
lost and the
depraved,
praise God
that I'm not
relieved with
them,
but at the same
time,
those things
are still
so present
in me
knowing the
holiness and
greatness of
God is the
only way
that I can
see myself
as I am
and the
Lord.
That's good,
brother.
Yeah,
knowing what
God's known in
your life,
I agree with
you.
That's awesome.
So,
I heard Aaron
Menekoff at
Mount Vernon.
We were at
that conference.
What was really
funny was,
you know,
I was preaching
on election
that Sunday
and he taught
on election
at that
pastor's
conference.
His main
goal was
that all
doctrine is
practical and
all doctrine
affects us.
It's not like
there's doctrine
and there's
practical.
Look at all
in Mary together.
And he said
these discussions
on what we're
talking about
are in-house
conversations.
There's conversations
you mainly
talk to about
with your family
and they get it
because they're
your family.
Right?
That's kind
of what
the goal
of this is.
And Jay,
why is that?
You brought
up a really
good point.
Why?
Why is it so
hard to focus
on God?
You can focus
on a lot
of other
things easily.
Why?
It's so hard
to think about
God.
It's like
we've had a
stroke spiritually.
I can't do it.
We need help.
It's like
loving
of pride.
Because he's
holy.
He's so
other
from anything
else in our
daily lives.
I think
about it
as long as
maybe
a little bit
we see more
of our sin
and then more
of his
greatness in it.
It can be a little
overwhelming.
Yeah.
Very overwhelming.
Yeah.
And that way
to be careful
not to get
it away.
Because we
have to develop
this sense
of unworthiness
where we're
fearful to draw
near to God
through Christ.
But yeah,
it's just
self-evident.
Why is it so
hard for us
to do what
God calls us
to do sometimes?
And why is it
easy to do
other things?
I could focus
on other
things for hours
and just lose
myself in it.
But when it
comes to God,
what is it
that makes
us just turn
off sometimes?
And we need
that extra
help by the
Spirit to
really engage
our minds
and engage
our hearts.
It's just
self-evident.
Again,
we've had
something go
wrong spiritually,
right?
Even as
believers,
we have to
fight it.
Anything else?
All right.
Let's get
into some
other fun
stuff.
Oh,
sorry.
I guess
I'd also
choose to
have
believers
there
to
still
sin
in us
that
first
step
because
if
we
didn't
still
it
wasn't
still
sin
in us
then
we
wouldn't
have
that
issue.
we
were
in the
process
of
becoming
perfect.
We're
not
there.
This is
sanctification.
But thank
goodness,
though,
unlike Rome,
Rome puts
sanctification
before
justification.
You know that?
So only
once you've
reached a
certain state
of perfection
or holiness
then is
right for
God to
justify you.
So God
helps those
who help
themselves.
that's
just not
what
Romans 5
teaches
at all.
We were
justified,
right?
Then
sanctified.
So to
give you a
few things
here,
over how
has sin
affected the
will of
man?
because we
use the
term free
will like
like crazy.
You know,
we hear it
in culture,
we hear it
from non-Christians,
we hear it
from Christians.
What does it
mean?
My youth
pastor,
well,
actually,
I was already
out of high
school,
but he was
a new youth
pastor when I
was a freshman
of college,
and I was
going to
school close
to home.
So I
helped out
with the
youth because
I was kind
of a young
believer.
I know a
lot more
than these
schools.
So I'll
come here
and try
to help
these younger
people out.
But he's
the one who
introduced me
to all of
this.
And I
loved him
and I
couldn't
stand him
because he
would just
shoot down
what I
believe just
by saying
some things.
But one
time he
was just
sitting back
on the desk
with his
kind of
smug face,
kind of his
feet propped
up, and he
was just
like,
so what is
free will,
Clay?
And I
was like,
I don't
know,
I heard
a movie.
So,
he's like,
all right,
go figure
that out,
then come
back before
we continue
this.
So,
I just had
to wear it.
But in
short,
the will
is the
faculty or
the power
of making
choices.
Okay?
There's a
difference
between choosing
something and
willing something.
All right?
our will
is what
governs our
choices.
Right?
It controls
what choices
we make.
Our wills
do.
So,
let's go
back over
this a little
bit.
So,
there's
arguably
more,
but there's
three major
controversies.
So,
you had to
see the
scripture
first.
All right?
Now,
we're going
to look at
some church
history.
Not enough
just to have
church history.
But there
was a
major
controversy
around
1418,
the early
part of
the church
where
Augustine
was the
primary
influence
at that
time.
He coined
the term
original sin.
You've
heard that?
Like we're
born in a
fallen sinful
state.
Thinking about
what David
said and
others.
And he
wrote a
prayer in
his
confessions.
And it
basically said,
Lord,
command what
you will,
but grant
what you
command.
Meaning like,
Lord,
you've
commanded us
to do
this,
but give
us your
grace to
do it.
We need
your grace
to be
faithful to
you.
We need
your grace
to keep
your
commandments.
Right?
And so,
yeah,
it makes
sense to
us.
But there
was a
British
monk
named
Pelagius.
This is
like Romanized
Britain time.
And he
had an
issue with
that.
He was
like,
God
wouldn't
command us
to do
something
if we
couldn't
do it.
And it
just started
this huge
controversy
in the
church.
And he
was the
one who
talked about
the idea
of man's
will being
free.
Alright?
So look at
the Augustinian
view versus
the Pelagian
view.
Alright?
The
Augustinian
view,
we're going
to go
from left
to right
here.
Adam's sin
affected the
entire human
race.
That's what we
just read out
of Romans 5,
right?
Pelagius
said sin
affected only
Adam.
And he
coined the
phrase like
tabula
rosa,
right?
The clean
slave.
You're born
a clean
slave,
untainted
by sin.
Adam messed
up,
but you
don't have
to mess
up,
right?
That's kind
of what he
was basically
saying.
In short,
Augustin
taught man
was born
into a
state of
sin and
spiritually
dead,
right?
That's what
we just
read Ephesians
to.
He said,
no,
man is
born into
a state
of righteousness
and spiritual
life.
Clean
slave.
Alright?
Now here's
the deal.
Third,
man could
not
live or
do any
spiritual
good apart
from God's
sovereign
grace.
Then Pelagius
said,
man could
live and
do spiritual
good apart
from God's
grace.
None of
us would
probably go
that far,
right?
But basically
if this is
true,
the man
doesn't need
a savior.
He needs
a teacher.
He needs
some moral
assistance.
He needs
a life
coach.
He's got
the ability
within himself
because he's
not falling,
he's not
tainted.
So he
just needs
a teacher
to help
him.
Like,
yeah,
go that
way,
buddy.
Do this.
Live that
way.
And man
has the
ability.
He could
do it
on his
own without
Christ's
grace.
But eventually
the church
kind of
anathemaed
and kicked
Pelagius out
of the
official
accepted
church
at that
time.
Probably
for good.
Augustine
also taught
this about
the will
of man.
This is
important
because you're
like,
I make
choices
every day,
so aren't
I free?
Like,
I do this,
I want to
go home
and do
what I
want to
do and
go to
bed.
Well,
some of
you.
And so,
but this
is what
he defined
it as.
Free will
is the
faculty or
power by
which choices
are made.
Right?
Now,
he made a
distinction
between
earthly choices
and spiritual
choices.
moral
liberty,
the ability
to use
that faculty
of free
will to
embrace the
things of
God.
Does that
make sense?
Right?
After the
fall,
moral
liberty was
lost,
but free
will remained.
Meaning,
like,
yeah,
I can still
make choices,
but those
choices don't
include the
things of
God.
It's like
we can't
do things
spiritually.
But we can
make decisions
every day
but we're
kind of like
the walking
dead,
really.
We don't
have that
ability to
make any
spiritual good.
So he
equated that
with moral
liberty.
That was
lost after
the fall.
Right?
But not
until
regeneration
occurs and
man's,
is man's
moral liberty
returned.
Alright?
Now,
so when we're
born again,
that's restored.
Right?
God saves us.
He gives us
a new heart.
Puts His
spirit within
us.
Writes His
law in
our hearts.
And so,
so then,
after regeneration,
that moral
liberty is
restored where
we can freely
love God
again.
Alright?
So we're
not robots.
We're not
puppets.
We'll shoot
that,
we'll beat
that to
the ground.
Okay?
That's not
what this
is.
I think I
mentioned
that very
few people
that I
respect that
are on the
other side of
this debate
at all.
But one,
I think most
of us would
have a measure
of respect
for BCS
Lewis.
Right?
He won't
the very
few.
But we
would call him
more of a
writer and
literary guy
versus a
Bible teacher
and theologian.
But he
made a good
argument.
He said,
for love,
I'm paraphrasing,
for love to
be love,
it has to be
offered by
both parties.
Right?
You can't
force somebody
to love you.
You can't
impose your
love on them
and say,
love me.
It has to be
freely offered
by both parties.
Therefore,
he saw,
like God's
election or
God was
forcing his
love on
somebody who
didn't want
it.
I would
say,
I agree
with you,
C.S.
Lewis.
Like,
for love
to be
loved,
it has to
be freely
offered by
both parties.
Are we all
on board
with that?
You know
what the
problem is?
Anybody?
Are you
thinking about
a fallen
man?
He doesn't
have the
ability.
He won't.
He won't
love God.
Like,
cannot and
will not
love God
unless God
does something
first.
Unless God
gives him
a new heart.
And so
that's what
he basically
is saying
in the idea
is he gives
him back
moral liberty
after he's
born again.
That's
restore so
we can
freely love
God,
freely obey
God,
freely walk
with him.
Hey,
girls,
this is the
chart I
tried to
draw you
in the
back of
that
napkin.
Didn't
work out
real well.
So,
yeah?
there he
is.
Yeah,
I mean,
you can
just shoot
it out
all night.
Yeah,
it's all
over the
place.
We love
because he
first loved
us.
Exactly.
I want to
take credit
for this.
I think it
was out of
one of
R.C.
Spurl's
books a
long time
ago.
But look
at this.
Pre-fall,
Adam and
Eve,
we were
able to
sin and
able to
not sin.
They
sinned.
So then it
goes to
the fallen
depraved
condition.
Able to
sin,
unable to
not sin.
That's
like all
we can
do.
Regenerate.
This is
where we
are right
now.
We're able
to sin and
we're able
to not
sin.
We can
do both.
We can
choose to
please God
and obey
His commandments
with a
loving heart.
And we
can choose
to go back
to our
vomit.
As the
scripture
says.
To which
He promptly
kicks us
back out
of love.
But glorified,
which we're
all going
towards.
Able to
not sin.
Unable to
sin.
Yay!
Can't wait
until we
get to
that point.
Whoa.
Put the
plagianism
down.
Step
away.
I don't
know who
put that
in there.
All right.
So this,
so in
the
Reformation,
Luther
wrote a
book called
Bondage of
the Will.
Anybody
heard of
that book?
I worked
my way
through
about
maybe
halfway
of it
and I
let a
prim bar
and I
never
finished
reading it.
So,
Rome was
getting their
clock
cleaned
by the
reformers.
Needless to
say,
they were
losing a lot
of support.
And so
they got
their top
deologian,
their number
one guy,
Desiderius
Erasmus.
And they
said,
hey,
we want
you to
take an
aim
at Luther.
like,
go after
his
teaching
and like,
you know,
he did
some
valuable
things.
He actually
wrote a
Greek New
Testament
that he
actually
pointed out
to the
Pope,
hey,
the Latin
Volgae
actually has
some errors
in it.
It's not
consistent with
the Greek
and the
Pope's
like,
yeah,
thanks,
thank you,
good,
go sit
down,
in short,
kind of
dismissed it.
But yeah,
he pointed
out that the
Volgae had
many errors
in it.
Some people
say,
the Bible
had errors
in it.
Yeah,
it did.
Well,
a certain
translation
of it did.
Not the
original
language
that we
have.
But,
what's really
funny is that
Luther loved
Erasmus'
Greek New
Testament.
He used it
all the
time.
Then he
used his
own work
against him
in this
debate,
which is
really
funny.
If you
know anything
about Luther,
he was not
like a nice,
quiet,
polite guy.
He was more
like the guy
you might see
in a tavern
with a beer
and a turkey
leg.
That's kind
of more of
his personality.
bull in a
china closet.
Not real
refined.
That would be
more like
Calvin's
personality.
So what
Erasmus did
was that he
took what
Pelagius taught,
but he just
took it a step
further.
Right?
Alright,
man's not
born clean.
He's born
sinful,
but he
hasn't lost
all his
ability yet.
He still
has some
ability left
in order
to cooperate
with the
grace of
God.
Is that
right?
Follow that?
He just
took it
a step
further.
So man
is sick.
That's
basically what
you could
equate it
to.
Man is
sick and
he needs
a physician.
That physician
shows up and
says,
hey,
take my
medicine,
take my
remedy,
and you
can use
your free
will at
that point
to say,
okay,
I'm on
board,
like
Satan.
Get this
done.
So that's
where most
people,
probably in the
evangelical church
probably fall
right?
Most of
us,
that's
why I
grew up
kind of
thinking,
I'm really
sick and
Jesus is
going to
give me
my
medicine,
I'm
going to
get
better.
So that's
the controversy.
It's called
the,
in history,
it's called
the monergism,
synergism.
So monergism
meaning God
alone,
and synergism
meaning like
two parts
working together
to achieve
something,
right?
So meaning
God and
man working
together to
achieve
salvation,
right?
So look at
point number
one,
Luther,
man's
fall into
sin brought
spiritual death
to man,
and he
taught the
same thing
that Augustine
taught.
Luther was
in fact an
Augustinian
monk before
he went
to teach
theology at
Pittenberg.
And then
Erasmus said
man's fall into
sin disabled
man's spiritual
ability,
okay?
So it
impaired him.
It didn't
wipe him
out.
So basically
sick as
opposed to
dead.
sin.
Number two,
man's will
is in
bondage to
sin and
must be
set free
by sovereign
grace.
So it's in
bondage to
sin,
meaning it
only can
sin,
which is what
we just read
a bunch of
scriptures about.
He said,
no,
it's free.
Man's will
is free to
embrace sin
or the
things of
God.
It can go
either way.
then thirdly,
salvation is
completely the
work of God
alone.
And salvation
is achieved by
God's work and
man's exercising
of free will.
So it's
synergistic.
So,
Luther really
did win the
day.
He quoted
so many
scriptures in
bondage to
the will.
Think about
what he's
saying.
He's saying
your will
is in
bondage and
needs to
be set free
by God.
But I
couldn't resist.
Like, if
y'all know
him, he's
very sarcastic.
He actually
addressed Erasmus
at the end
of the book,
just for fun.
He's talking
to Erasmus.
He goes,
it is sad
to have to
remind a
theologian
like you
of these
things.
As if you
were a
pupil instead
of one who
ought to be
teaching others,
I owe you
a small
thanks,
for you
have made
me far
more sure
of my
position by
letting me
see the
case for
which free
choice put
forward with
all the
energy so
distinguished
and so
powerful a
mind,
but with
no other
effect than
that to
make things
worse than
before.
So he
basically is
saying,
thank you for
challenging me
on this,
because you
really,
you know,
when your
belief is
challenged,
you either
retreat on
that belief
or you dig
in deeper.
He's like,
yeah,
I'm sure,
because like,
this may
look stupid
pretty much,
and Luther's
teaching on
the bonds
of the
will carried
the day,
really.
Yep.
So the
next,
any questions?
One last
controversy
here.
I'll hold
off.
All right,
so the
next one,
the one a
lot of people
know about,
was the
Calvinist
Arminian
controversy,
1618.
What's the
connection
between Calvin
and the
year 1618?
Anybody?
Oh,
come on.
Think
timeline.
When did
Calvin live?
1618?
He did.
He was
dead a long
time ago.
So,
so why is
it called
that?
Shoot,
he died in
the 1500s.
I don't
remember the
exact date.
Like,
mid to
late 1500s.
So,
so,
but the
people that
he taught,
the people
he had
influence on,
were the
people who
responded to
Arminius.
Does that
make sense?
So,
that's why
it's called
that.
So,
Calvin didn't
like sit
down one
day and
like,
you know
what,
I'm going
to write
up my
theology
in five
points.
So,
he didn't
actually
work that
way.
This was a
response to,
what Arminius
thought.
So,
Arminius
wrote these
points to
basically state
this
surferiology,
what he
believed the
scripture said,
and he put it
forward,
and they took
those scriptures
at the
Senate of
Dort,
D-O-R-T,
if I don't know
the funny name,
and they
examined them,
like the
Dutch
church examined
these scriptures,
the Dutch
Reformed
church at that
time.
Oh,
they examined
his writings,
excuse me,
then they
responded by
saying,
no,
not okay,
and here's
where they
kind of
landed.
So,
let's just
go from
right to
left this
time,
but basically
Arminius was
taking up
the same
position that
Erasmus,
man is sick,
but his
will is still
somewhat free,
and has some
ability to
choose God,
as where they
said no,
like man's
will is
completely
enslaved to
sin,
completely
and totally
depraved.
Alright,
conditional
election.
So,
no one wants
to fight the
idea that
God chose,
right?
We see that
all in the
Bible.
So,
people want
to say,
then,
what was
the condition
in which God
chose or
didn't choose?
And,
we did the
whole sermon
on that
a while back,
two sermons
on it,
but,
what he
would say
is that
God used
his foresight.
They looked
down in
time and
said,
hey,
you know
what?
That Ty
Burnett,
he's a
silly boy,
and he's
going to
do some
bad things,
but you
know what?
One day,
he's going
to place
faith in
me,
so therefore,
I'm going
to choose
him.
So,
that was
the condition.
Like,
faith was
the condition
by which God
chose,
right?
That's what
they're going
to say.
Like,
he,
they'll
want to
try to
use the
word foreknowledge.
That word
has nothing
to do,
like,
you know,
this ability
to,
it's not
foresight,
it actually
has to do
with,
like,
relational
knowledge,
like,
God knew
who those
people were,
who he
was going
to elect
and choose.
So,
that was
the condition,
that condition
was faith,
but what
we'll look
at in a
few weeks
is that
faith itself
is a gift
from God.
and,
actually,
what we
taught on
is actually
election is
unconditional.
We read that
right in
Romans 9,
like,
that his
purpose,
his election
might stand.
Universal
atonement,
Jesus died
on the cross
for every
single individual
ever to walk
the earth,
period.
He died
for you,
he died
for Mother
Teresa,
he died
for Hitler,
he died
for Stalin,
he died
for your
best friend,
he died
for them all.
We would
say no.
He died
for the
elect,
he died
for his
people,
he died
for the
ones that
the Father
shows,
right?
So,
it's a
limited
atonement.
I think,
notice I said
tulip,
T-U-L-I-P,
you know,
limited
atonements
can be a
bad phrase,
but we'll
just say
this,
like,
Christ's
atonement
was limited
in one
way or
another.
If you
believe that
it was
meant to
save everybody,
then it's
limited in
its power,
because it's
not going to
save everybody,
and we know
that.
Scripture
says that,
and we see
it all
around us.
So it's
limited in
its power,
if it's
not going to
save everybody,
or it's
limited in
its extension.
That's what I
believe.
That's what I
think Scripture
teaches,
meaning that
it saved
exactly who
it was meant
to save,
Christ bought
us with
His blood.
That blood
is precious,
not just
like wasted
and thrown
around on
everybody,
right?
He gets
what He
died for.
He gets
His people.
He gets
the reward
of His
suffering.
Yep.
I had a big
problem with
that one back
in the day.
I was like,
no.
two.
And there
are a few
Scriptures that
may seem to
say contrary,
but like using
the simple
hermeneutic of
let me use
the 50 to
understand the
two or three,
not the other
way around,
and that kind
of worked
for me.
I understood
it at that
point.
Then we get
into the work
of the Spirit.
Arminius
taught that
when the
Holy Spirit
calls,
you hear the
Gospel,
right?
You hear the
Holy Spirit
pulling on you,
that man
has the
free will
to reject
it or
receive it
on his own.
Like to
reject it or
deceive it
on his own.
As where
the Calvinists,
I'd say,
I guess taught,
no,
God's grace
is irresistible.
He makes it
irresistible to
the elect.
And He makes
it irresistible
to those
that the
Father gave
Him.
And He
overcomes
all resistance.
real quick.
How many of
you know
the Scripture
in Acts,
you stiff-necked
people always
rejecting the
grace of God?
Well,
that verse.
That's a quote
from the Old
Testament,
I think.
Yeah.
So there it
is,
right?
We can
reject God's
grace right
there in that
verse.
Well,
it might be
said of me
at one point,
I rejected
the grace of
God too,
right?
And you
too.
But there
was a moment
where God
said,
enough.
And He
overcame
that resistance
in your
will.
And He
regenerated
your heart.
And He
was hunting
you down
day and
night.
And that's
what you
see in
the Scripture,
right?
You don't
see God
being like,
come on
guys,
please follow
me,
somebody.
You see
Him hunting
down people.
He's like,
that guy,
that guy.
Paul,
Saul of
Tarsus,
you're mine.
You don't
have a choice
in the matter.
Right?
That's what
you see.
You don't
see God
being a lonely
old man,
calling people,
to himself,
just hoping
somebody will
take up the
Gospel.
Alright?
So then,
Arminius
consistently,
okay,
and if I
think
philosophically,
logically,
he thought,
oh,
okay,
if man's
free will
is that
God comes
and he
initiates,
the man
responds
with his
free will.
And God
is not
going to
take that
faculty away.
Free will
is so
valuable to
God,
right?
Then he
consistently
taught that
that same
free will
can lead
you to
damnation.
You can
walk away
from the
grace of
God.
You can
lose
your
salvation.
That's
pretty scary.
But he's
consistent.
He's being
consistent.
Like,
yep,
you can
choose it,
and you
can
unchoose it.
You can
come to
grace,
and you
can fall
away from
grace.
So today,
you know,
Methodists,
Wesleyans,
they consistently
believe that.
That's true.
It's consistent.
But what we
have today is
a new theology
that nobody
would agree
with in the
past.
It's like,
yeah,
you initiate
it,
but then God
finishes it
for you,
right?
He's not
going to
let you
go no
matter
what you
do.
That's
not what
is
consistent.
Both
Wesley,
Arminius,
and Calvin
would disagree
with that.
So God's
not going to
take that
away from
you if
that's
what's
so valuable.
But,
if it
started with
God,
it's going
to finish
with God.
See that?
Hey,
that sounds
like a
Bible verse.
Yep.
Yep,
author and
finisher of
faith,
right?
And,
and another
one.
Yep.
He started
it,
he finishes
it.
And man,
I'm so
glad for
that one.
Because I
think I'd
be unsaved
every day.
And that's
what some
traditions teach.
That's what
Rome teaches.
That's what,
in short,
Methodists
teach.
And again,
that's what
Rome taught.
I'm not
trying to go
along with
that.
But like,
no,
no.
God keeps
you.
Like,
He saved
you.
He shows
you before
the foundation
of the world.
His son
died and
shed his
blood to
cover your
sin and give
you his
righteousness.
And the
Holy Spirit
applies that
work to
you at
the moment,
right,
that you're
born again.
And then by
God's Spirit,
He keeps you
until the end,
until you
breathe your
last.
Like,
you may
struggle,
you may,
your faith
may go like
this a little
bit,
you know.
Hopefully it's
kind of going
more like
this,
but we
were persevered
until the end
and we are
saved.
All right?
All my
Irish friends
sent me this
about a few
years ago.
the five-point
baconists,
you don't like
Calvinism.
Bad people,
already elected,
completely atoned
for,
overwhelmingly
called,
never falling
away.
Yeah.
And Spurgeon
said,
I have my
own private
opinion that
there is no
such thing as
preaching Christ
and Him
crucified unless
we preach
what nowadays
is called
Calvinism.
It has a
nickname to
call it
Calvinism.
Calvinism is
the gospel
and nothing
else.
So,
Nathan was
at
Turret
McConnell.
I'm not going
to know that.
He worked at
Turret
McConnell for a
while.
They are not
Calvinists there
at all.
He had a lot
of stuff all the
time.
He said,
okay,
that's okay.
Make fun of
me.
And I
heard two
professors
laughing,
kind of,
ha,
ha.
Isn't this
so stupid
that so many
people think
that Spurgeon
was a
Calvinist?
And he
wanted to
be like,
no,
he did.
He had a
book call.
Yes.
Calvinism is
the gospel.
It was the
name of the
book that he
wrote.
So,
yeah,
just really
funny.
But,
this is what
we can talk
about for a
minute.
But how
has the
depth and
severity of our
sin magnify
the work
of Christ
in the
gospel?
What do
you think?
That's
critical.
This is why
this is
applicable.
This isn't
just theory.
Anybody?
Does the
question make
sense?
I have a
problem writing
questions.
People don't
understand.
I have to
reword it.
I think
the
parable.
People
will
forget it.
Sin was
greater.
Yeah.
Yep.
I think
like the
original
intent in
the
garden.
Ty's
reference of
this morning
back in
chapter 2,
the design
was that the
glory of the
Lord would be
over the
earth as the
waters cover the
sea.
And like,
I just think
of how if
that is God's
greatest
pursuit in
this world,
and we've
broken it,
we've
rejected that
plan,
then like
any credit
to restore
and to make
things fulfill
their purpose,
and to credit
man with any
of it,
when the only
thing we have
credit for is
the disruption
and the
rejection of
the Lord
is a
beautiful
man.
I think
it's
mind-boggling
to think
that the
restoration of
God's purpose
could be
credited to
ourselves.
I think it
just gives a
lot of hope
that if God's
purpose is to
glorify Himself,
He will do
it through
saving sinners,
and not
because of us,
but despite
us.
Yes,
despite us.
Yep.
For me,
kind of going
back to what
Jeff said,
I hear about
the tendencies
that we
have to not
want to be
in the Word
or not
seek the Word,
I think for
me a lot
of times that
comes from
the
place in
seeing my
sin for
what it is,
and seeing
it for
how depraved
that it
really is,
how much
it screams
in the
face of
God.
The
contrary to
me,
if I'm not
seeing that
and walking
in that
truth,
then I
don't
put the
value on
what Christ
is on,
and continue
just seeking
for it,
worshiping
that.
for us
to
understand
this,
we
have all
rebelled
against God,
and we've
done so
directly and
indirectly.
You know what I mean?
of that.
Like some
people say,
you know what
God,
I know you're
there and I
don't care.
I want to give you
the birds,
I'm going to do
what I want to do.
I'm going to live
my life and be
the captain of my
own destiny.
And you quote the
poem, right?
So some people do
that, but I
don't say most
people live in
rebelling to
God in an
indirect way,
meaning that they
don't think about
Him.
They treat Him
as if He's not
there, which is
to say that God
is small, that He's
insignificant, that
He's not important,
and He doesn't
have the right to
rule over your
life.
And so no matter
what we do, we
then rebel
towards God.
But when I
asked that question
about how is
understanding our
sin, the
greatness of our
sin, magnify the
work of Christ, I
think about what
John Newton said.
He said,
and in his old
age, my memory
is nearly gone,
but I remember
two things.
I'm a great
sinner in Christ,
and that Christ
is a great Savior.
So the greater
our sin, the
greater the Savior.
That's kind of
the point of
this.
So if Pelagius
was right, Christ
wasn't that great
of a Savior.
If Erasmus was
right, Christ
wasn't that great
of a Savior
either.
He was like,
yeah, a little
bit, not really.
But if we are
really fallen, like
we just read in
the Scripture,
then man, he
is like an
incredible Savior
then.
Like, we have
to have one
because our
condition is that
bad.
We have to have
somebody that
great to save
us.
This is what was
written on his
tombstone.
John Newton,
once an infidel
and libertine,
a servant of
slaves in Africa,
was by the rich
mercy of our
Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ
preserved,
restored,
pardoned,
and appointed
to preach
the faith
that he had
long labored
to destroy.
Yeah, I feel
that, you know,
very much so.
But we'll have
some close by
Newton in the
future here.