Archive for the Total Depravity Category

Alistair Begg on Righteousness and How to Achieve It

Posted in Total Depravity, Works on July 10, 2009 by Harry

11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

  • From “A Charge to A Man of God, Part 2, A” based on 1 Timothy 6:11-12
  • Righteousness – conduct that is in accordance with God’s will and is pleasing to him
    • Brought about the transforming work of Jesus Christ
    • We are called to pursue by God what through the power of His Spirit is determined to produce
      • No concern that we are not good enough – it is not us working but God working through us
    • It is that which God engenders within us that He then calls us to pursue – because by nature we do not want to do His will
    • The fruit of righteousness occurs through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
  • The word of God comes and shines on our path: Do you want to be righteous – then read this book (the Bible)
    • 2 Timothy 3:16 “16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness “
    • To achieve righteousness – read your bible

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Spurgeon on Jesus

Posted in Dependence, Evil, Holy Spirit, Total Depravity, Trust on June 28, 2009 by Harry

spurgeonLOOKING TO JESUS. – HEBREWS 12:2

It is always the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus. But Satan’s work is just the opposite; he is constantly trying to make us look at ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates, “Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you do not have the joy of His children; you have such a wavering hold on Jesus.” All these are thoughts about self, and we will never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: He tells us that we are nothing, but that Christ is everything. Remember, therefore, it is not your bold of Christ that saves you—it is Christ; it is not your joy in Christ that saves you—it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, although that is the instrument—it is Christ’s blood and merits. Therefore, do not look so much to your hand with which you are grasping Christ as to Christ; do not look to your hope but to Jesus, the source of your hope; do not look to your faith, but to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of your faith. We will never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our deeds, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we are to overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by “looking to Jesus.” Keep your eye simply on Him; let His death, His sufferings, His merits, His glories, His intercession be fresh upon your mind. When you waken in the morning look to Him; when you lie down at night look to Him. Do not let your hopes or fears come between you and Jesus; follow hard after Him, and He will never fail you.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness:
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

- Morning and Evening June 28th a.m.

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Matthew 5:3

Posted in Matthew, Total Depravity on June 24, 2009 by Harry

bible

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

ESV Study Bible Notes:

  • The “poor in spirit” are those who recognize they are in need of God’s help. 
  • “theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
    • It belongs to those who confess their spiritual bankruptcy.

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Alistair Begg on Salvation and the Gospel

Posted in Salvation, Total Depravity on June 8, 2009 by Harry
  • From “On the basis of love, part A” – a study from Philemon
  • By nature we are not anywhere close to Jesus despite our superficial interest in Him, our knowledge of Him, or awareness of truth in the bible – by our nature we are blind to the truth that is conveyed in Jesus – we are dead in our trespasses and our sins, we are unable to do anything to rectify those circumstances
  • Unless the gospel is the good news of Jesus doing something for us that we are unable to do for ourselves – but that is what it is
    • The righteousness of Jesus is credited to the account of the sinner, on the basis of the fact that the penalty due to the sinner has been born by Jesus on the cross

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Alistair Begg on Human Nature

Posted in Salvation, Total Depravity with tags on June 7, 2009 by Harry
  • From “The Sound of Silence”
  • Every aspect of human nature is inadequate
  • Nothing but divine revelation can make us wise for salvation, can make Jesus known to us, and can draw us near to Christ.

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Spurgeon Morning and Evening June 7th a.m.

Posted in Regeneration, Total Depravity with tags on June 7, 2009 by Harry

spurgeonO YOU WHO LOVE THE LORD, HATE EVIL! — PSALM 97:10

You have good reason to “hate evil,” for just consider what harm it has already caused you. What a world of mischief sin has brought into your heart! Sin blinded you so that you could not see the beauty of the Savior; it made you deaf so that you could not hear the Redeemer’s tender invitations. Sin turned your feet into the way of death and poured poison into the very fountain of your being; it tainted your heart and made it “deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.” 1 What a creature you were when evil had done its utmost with you, before divine grace intervened! You were an heir of wrath just like others; you ran with the crowd to do evil. We were all like this, but Paul reminds us, “but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”– We have good reason, indeed, for hating evil when we look back and trace its deadly workings. We were in such a sorry state that our souls would have been lost if omnipotent love had not intervened to redeem us. Even now it is an active enemy, always looking for ways to harm us and to drag us to perdition. Therefore “hate evil,” Christian, unless you desire trouble. If you want to cover your path with thorns and plant nettles in your pillow, then fail to “hate evil”; but if you would live a happy life and die a peaceful death, then walk in all the ways of holiness, hating evil right to the end. If you truly love your Savior and want to honor Him, then “hate evil.” We know of no cure for the love of evil in a Christian like daily communion with the Lord Jesus. Be often with Him, and it is impossible for you to be at peace with sin.

Order my footsteps by Thy Word,
And make my heart sincere;
Let sin have no dominion, Lord,
But keep my conscience clear.

1. Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick;”

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But God . . . !

Posted in Ephesians, Grace, Total Depravity on May 4, 2009 by Harry

Ephesians 2:1-10

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

  • ESV study notes: Just when things look the most desolate, Paul utters the greatest short phrase in the history of human speech: “But God!”

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Spurgeon: Morning and Evening May 3rd a.m.

Posted in Temptation, Total Depravity, Trials and Suffering on May 3, 2009 by Harry

IN THE WORLD YOU WILL HAVE TRIBULATION.    0 John 16:33
Are you asking why this should be, believer? Look upward to your heavenly Father, and behold Him pure and holy. Do you know that you are one day to be like Him? Will you easily be conformed to His image? Will you not require much refining in the furnace of affliction to purify you? Will it be an easy thing to get rid of your corruptions and make you perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect? Next, Christian, turn your eye downward. Do you know what foes you have beneath your feet? You were once a servant of Satan, and no king will willingly lose his subjects. Do you think that Satan will leave you alone? No, he will always be at you, for he “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)“‘ Expect trouble, then, Christian, when you look beneath you. Then look around you. Where are you? You are in enemy country, a stranger and an alien. The world is not your friend. If it is, then you are not God’s friend, for whoever is the friend of the world is the enemy of God. Be certain that you will find enemies everywhere. When you sleep, remember that you are resting on the battlefield; when you travel, suspect an ambush in every hedge. As mosquitoes are said to bite strangers more than natives, so the trials of earth will be sharpest to you. Lastly, look within you, into your own heart, and observe what is there. Sin and self are still within. If you had no devil to tempt you, no enemies to fight you, and no world to ensnare you, you would still find in yourself enough evil to be a sore trial to you, for “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick. (Jeremiah 17:9)“– Expect trouble then, but do not despair on account of it, for God is with you to help and to strengthen you. He has said, “call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. (Psalm 50:15)“

  • note the last sentence “call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me”
    • We are not promised that our trouble will be removed, but only that we will glorify Him
    • Many think that the Christian walk will be trouble-free, but we are not promised this – Jesus said “in the world we will have tribulations” (John 16:33)
    • In trials our faith is tested and it can be the opportunity for our greatest testimony and ministry

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Truth For Life: Promise and Law *****

Posted in Law, Self-Audit, Sin, Total Depravity on March 15, 2009 by Harry

Galatians 3: 15 – 29
15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified.
16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.
18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was i put in place through angels by an intermediary.
20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.
22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

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Jeremiah 17:9 – the Human Heart

Posted in Jeremiah, Total Depravity on March 15, 2009 by Harry

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

  • A metaphor for the human will and emotions (cf. vv. 5–7). deceitful. Tortuous, uneven, and crooked like a bad road. desperately sick. Medically incurable (15:18; 30:12, 15; Job 34:6; Isa. 17:11; Mic. 1:9). who can understand it?
  • A rhetorical question expecting a negative answer.
  • However, this strongly negative assessment of the human heart is not intended as a description of the heart of a believer under the new covenant, where God promises to write his law on people’s hearts (Jer. 31:33; 32:40; cf. Ezek. 36:26; Rom. 5:5; 6:17; Heb. 10:22; 1 John 3:21).

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