Man's Radical Corruption
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· 22 viewsWe have wicked hearts and we need new and transformed hearts by God.
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Introduction:
Are People Basically Good? Chapter Six: The Extent of Our Sin
“Lord, command what You will and grant what You command.”
That was a famous prayer from the church Father Augustine of Hippo. Augustine is asking God to grant grace to obey God’s commands.
In other words, in our fallen humanity, we are unable to obey God’s commands unless God grants grace to help a fallen sinner obey the commandment.
This sparked a debate in the 5th century called the “Pelagian” controversy. Augustine taught the biblical view of original sin, that in the Fall of Man, man became blinded, foolish, darkened, and enslaved to sin. That he lost his ability to choose righteousness because of sin.
On the other hand, Pelagius taught that Adam’s Fall did not affect us as much as Augustine taught. Instead, Adam made a mistake. Adam’s Fall affected only Adam and did not pass his corruption onto humanity. Man has free will and the ability to fulfill God’s righteousness on his own.
The early church condemned Pelagius and Pelagianism in the Council of Ephesus in 431 holding to the biblical doctrine of original sin. Because of the Fall of Adam, we all are guilty and have inherited corruption in Adam. Augustine, taught what the Bible taught..
The Bible teaches that Man is not basically good, but man is basically wicked and does not seek God.
This is a foundational doctrine of the Christian faith. If you don’t understand this doctrine, you will not understand the significance of the doctrine of God’s free and sovereign grace in salvation.
And this is what Jesus is going to teach us today in Mark 7:14-23.
Recap
You remember last week the Pharisees confronted Jesus and his disciples for not eating with unwashed hands following the tradition of the elders. We said that tradition is not wrong in of itself, it is wrong when it is elevated to equal status or even going beyond Scripture.
The pharisees were merely concerned with external righteousness while Jesus was concerned about true righteousness.
The pharisees were merely concerned about external worship, while Jesus was concerned about purity of heart.
The pharisees were merely concerned about upholding tradition, while Jesus was concerned about upholding Scripture, the Word of God.
And Jesus continues his discussion about where true defilement and corruption comes from.
As we look at this next section in Mark, which is really continuing the discussion where we left off last week, we will ask three questions:
Where does corruption come from? (vv. 14-18)
2. How is corruption manifested? (vv. 21-23)
3. Where can we be cleansed? (v. 19)
Scripture Reading:
And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Mark
I. Where does corruption come from?
I. Where does corruption come from?
Now if you turn to the news, the world will tell you corruption comes from the outside. It comes from a broken government. It comes from a lack of education or resources in impoverished communities. It comes from a failure of leadership. Or it comes from our surrounding environment. It comes from our family upbringing.
But Jesus goes deeper than this, Jesus says that corruption does not happen ultimately happen outside of us, but inside of us.
For the Pharisees, corruption comes from not upholding the tradition of the elders.
And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand:
You remember how popular Jesus was in Galilee. And he gathers the crowds and he wants to teach them a foundational and basic truth. He is summoning the crowds to listen and understand these basic truths.
Christianity is a listening religion. It is a religion that does not turn of one’s mind, but he says listen and understand.
There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”
Corruption or pollution does not come from eating certain foods, but corruption and defilement comes from within.
In other words, external acts do not make you dirty. What makes you dirty is a dirty heart.
Verse 16 “If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.” KJV. Notice in the ESV, there is no verse 16, because if you look at your footnote, verse 16 is not in the earliest manuscripts.
And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.
And Jesus would often dismiss the crowd and explain privately to the disciples. A Parable was a extended word picture to illustrate a spiritual truth. The disciples did not understand what Jesus was talking about. So they asked. The disciples were often slow in understanding just as we are.
And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
Jesus is pretty explicit here. He gives a mild rebuke to the disciples. Even as disciples we still don’t get it. Have you been with me for so long and you still don’t get it? Are you guys just as clueless as the crowds? What patience our Lord had with his disciples.
What comes in cannot make a person unclean? Why? Because it is expelled, eliminated CSB, draught KJV, sewer NLT. You eat something bad, your stomach feels bad, and then it goes into the toilet.
It is not the things on the outside that make you dirty because it is expelled.
Corruption comes from a sinful heart. The heart is the control center of the self. The heart is where the self wills, feels, thinks, acts, reasons. When the Bible speaks of heart, it is not thinking about a human organ, but the inner being or self where its personality, decisions, and thinking is manifested through the body.
When Adam fell, we inherited guilt and corruption. Not only we are guilty before God, we are corrupt before God.
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.
This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the Lord,
but those of blameless ways are his delight.
Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord;
be assured, he will not go unpunished.
But pastor I’m not that bad? I don’t hurt people or I try to be a good person.
“Original sin is in us like our beard. We are shaved and look clean; tomorrow our beard has grown again, nor does it cease growing while we remain on earth. In like manner original sin cannot be extirpated from us; it springs up in us as long as we live.” Luther
Sin can also be manifested in righteous deeds or external actions
We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Isaiah
You remember Augustine said, “Grant what you command?” Augustine taught that when Adam fell, he lost his free will. After the Fall, man does not have the ability to choose good, but he only chooses what is displeasing in the Lord’s eyes.
The debate not only goes back to the 5th century, but even the 16th century in the time of the Reformation. The Reformers taught that when Adam fell, we fell in Adam and also inherited his guilt and corruption.
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
The Reformers held the Augustian view of sin which really the biblical view of sin.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
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—
What does Paul mean that we are dead in sin? How did the Fall affect mankind? To what extend did sin affect us?
Luther wrote a book called the Bondage of the Will which he debated a humanist named Erasmas. Humanist stress the value and goodness of man and the progress of the human individual.
Luther, believed that man was inherently corrupt. This debate was even between the Calvinists of the 16th century and the Remonstrants, who were protesting against Calvinistic doctrine on free will. Jacob Arminius taught that with God’s pervenient grace, man is able to choose God and will the good.
The Reformers taught that man is unable to please God. He is totally depraved and dead in his sins. Man does not need God’s pervenient grace or assisting grace, but resurrecting life giving grace. The grace that makes dead people live.
Three views when it comes to man. 1. Man is good. 2. Man is sick. 3. Man is dead (borrowing from James Boice from the Foundations of the Christian Faith)
The humanist view, which was actually influenced by the Enlightenment. It believed in the power of human reasoning and progress.
But in the 20th century, even though society progressed, man is still utterly corrupt. There were two world wars, the holocaust, the cold war, the vietnam war, the korean war, and now the war on Terrorism. We just remembered 9/11. Man would use a passenger plane and fly it into a building in the name of religion.
This left people disillusioned and now people are no longer certain and hold to a more pessimistic outlook on life.
Yea, we have iphones and computers in our pockets, but has that really made us wiser or just addicted to mind numbing entertainment.
The other is man is sick. This would be the Catholic view. Or the Arminian few. We just need to take some pills of religion to cure our sicknesses. A pill of mass, a pill of confession, and the more religious pills you swallow, the healthier you will be.
I would argue that the Pharisees believe that their external traditions could actually make the righteous in God’es eyes. But Jesus goes to the very root and heart of the matter.
And then there is the Biblical view. That man is fallen. He is dead in his sins. Unless God’s grace radically intervenes and resurrects him, he will continue to suppress and ignore God.
This is often called Total Depravity or Radical Corruption or Pervasive Evil. It does not mean that man is utterly as evil as he can be, but this means that the Fall affected every part of us. It not only affected us physically, but emotionally, spiritually, relationally.
as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
What comes out of a man is what makes him unclean.
External or religious behavior cannot make you clean on the inside
That’s what the Pharisees believed. Avoiding certain foods, washing cups and pots before eating, makes them righteous in God’s eyes. Wearing certain clothing makes you righteous in God’s eyes. They were so offended when Jesus said this.
Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
Matthew 15:12-
Matthew 22:27-
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Matthew 22:25-27
No, Jesus goes way deeper than that. He goes to the heart. See, we often think about people and just think they may be Christian because they attend a church or serve in the church. But what is going on inside the heart? It is a heart that loves God or a heart that is just trying to please man?
2. A true Christian recognizes the evil within his heart.
A true Christian will recognize the corruption within his heart. The great saints of history realize how great their sin was before a holy God.
Luther was plagued in his conscience because he understood the holiness of God.
Even Paul said:
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
3. Sin issues comes down to heart issues.
Idolatry comes down to what we love most. What we treasure most. And in our fallen state, we treasure other things besides God. We are inclined to do evil, even if we do good things, because doing good deeds can be a manifestation of a love of self and self-salvation.
4. The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart.
Your whole life and direction will be determined by the orientation of your heart. Worship is what we love most with our hearts.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Think about the conflicts we have. It comes down to heart. We get in conflicts when are desires war against one another, whether in the home, or in the church or in society.
We must look at the heart.
Transition: Corruption does not come from the outside in, but from the inside out. The second question is…how is this corruption manifested?
II. How is corruption manifested?
II. How is corruption manifested?
Just how a volcano will eventually erupt lava, our hearts will eventually show in our external actions. Our hearts will leak out.
Because I have young children, I listen to a lot of Disney songs. Serene and Reverie like Sophia the first. Serene’s first favorite princess was Mulan. The gospel of Disneyland is follow your heart.
I know a lot about overcoming doubt
So many things they told me that I couldn’t do
I went and proved them wrong, so now I’ll pass along
These simple words I hope get through to you.
It doesn’t matter what they say
There’s only one voice to obey
And it’s that little voice inside
So let that be your guide
Then you can save the day.
'Cause you are stronger than you know
It doesn’t matter what they say
There’s only one voice to obey
And it’s that little voice inside
So let that be your guide
Then you can save the day.
It doesn’t matter what they say
There’s only one voice to obey
And it’s that little voice inside
So let that be your guide
Then you can save the day.
'Cause you are stronger than you know
Stronger than you know
Or this is taken from the Mulan soundtrack.
True to you heart
You must be true
To your heart
That's when the
Heavens will part
And baby, shower you
With my love
Open your eyes
Your heart can tell
You no lies
And when you're true
To your heart
'Cause you are stronger than you know
Stronger than you know
Do you that advice is radically anti-biblical? Because from our heart, flows sinful actions and attitudes.
Just how a volcano will eventually erupt lava, our hearts will eventually show in our actions. Our hearts will leak out one way or another what we really believe. Your actions will show what you believe and your beliefs will guide your actions. And those beliefs and actions flow from the heart.
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Corruption comes from the heart of man.
The Bible speaks of a fat heart, a hard heart, a deceitful heart. stubborn heart, adulterous heart, foolish heart.
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
“We are so entirely controlled by the power of sin, that the whole mind, the whole heart, and all our actions are under its influence.” Calvin
He also said that our hearts our idol factories. We pump out idols from our hearts.
Evil thoughts is the heading for 12 nouns. Our corruption is manifested in our sinful acts and our sinful attitudes.
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.
Let’s look at the first six.
A. Sinful Actions
1. Sexual Immorality “Porneia”—A violation of the seventh commandment. Pornei is where we get the word pornography from. It is a general term that encompasses all forms of sexual perversion outside of the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. It can be fornication, pre-marital sex, extra-marital sex, adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, pedophilia.
You don’t have to look very far to see that man’s heart lust after these things. Just turn on Netflix and I’m sure you will find something that appeals to sexual immorality.
I don’t have to give you statistics regarding porn use. Porn is often the most clicked and search thing on search engines.
2. Theft “Kleptomaniac”—A violation of the eight commandment. Theft does not necessarily always mean possessions. In our day and age, theft can take place when one steal intellectual property. In every class syllabus, there is usually a line that deals with plagerism, stealing intellectual property that belongs to another.
Theft “Kleptomaniac”—A violation of the eight commandment.
3. Murder—A violation of the sixth commandment. Jesus taught that murder does not only happen when you actually murder someone, but murder them in your heart.
Murder—A violation of the sixth commandment.
4. Adultery—A violation of the seventh commandment. A violation of the marital covenant. Engaging in sexual relations with someone who is not your spouse.
Adultery—A violation of the seventh commandment.
5. Coveting—A violation of the tenth commandment. Just being discontent with your life. You look on social media, and you wish you can go on that vacation. Or you had the better house. Or you had the boyfriend or girlfriend. Or you had more kids. Or you had more money. Or you had that popeyes chicken sandwich that you couldn’t get. It is the if only sin.
Coveting—A violation of the tenth commandment.
6. Wickedness—A general term that encompasses evil. Anything that is contrary to God’s revealed and perfect will.
6. Wickedness—A general term that encompasses evil.
Corruption is manifested in sinful actions which you don’t have to look to far to see that it takes place everyday, and in fact you may be guilty of some of these things. But if that is not enough, Jesus goes to our very motives and thoughts.
B. Sinful Attitudes
1. Deceit
The word can mean guile or deception. The word used of the serpent being very crafty.
2. Sensuality
Sinful lusts. Dirty minds. Engaging in the works of the flesh.
3.Envy “Evil Eye”
Jealousy. It is being sorrowful at other successes and not rejoicing with those who rejoice.
The Lord of the Rings is on netflix. Sauron is the evil eye that is searching for the ring that makes people corrupt and brings out their corruption.
4. Slander “Blasphemy”
We can say wicked things. We can use words to damage others as we studied in James.
4. Slander “Blasphemy”
5. Pride
C.S. Lewis called pride “The Great Sin.” This was the Sin of Satan. This was the Sin of Adam. This is the sin that replaces the love of God with the love of self. This is the sin that dethrones God from the heart and exalts self.
5. Pride
6. Foolishness
Fool does not mean someone with limited mental capabilities. But it means someone who lives as if God doesn’t exist (). It is to live in God’s world rejecting God’s plan and design.
6. Foolishness
Our corruption is manifested in our sinful attitudes and sinful actions. Do you see how contrary this is to the world’s message? Disney? The media. Jesus says that man is wicked.
All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Are People Basically Good? Chapter Four: The Reality of Our Sin
sin is not an external blemish, but something that goes to the very core of our being.
Are People Basically Good? Chapter Five: The Depth of Our Sin
In other words, we sin because we are sinners; it is not that we are sinners because we sin.
The problem is not someone else, but the problem is with me.
Let us not minimize the language of sin or shift our blame to others.
2. The church is a place where people confess their sin.
3. The church is a place where people demonstrate they have been given new hearts to put these sins to death.
III. Where do we get cleansing from our corruption?
III. Where do we get cleansing from our corruption?
The early church really dealt with the issue of food. What you eat or didn’t eat was a boundary and religious marker to identify yourself as belonging to the people of God.
Peter had a vision from heaven where God commands Peter to kill and eat unclean foods.
And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”
Acts
And the Lord is trying to teach Peter a lesson that food laws was pointing to something greater that can make us unclean sinners clean saints.
since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
Mark, writing to a Gentile audience, make this parenthetical comment. You remember Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the Law.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
The rituals, the cleansing, the sacrifices was only a shadow the reality. The outward cleansing and the outward signs were only to be reflections of what needed to take place within.
Circumcision was only a sign of what needed to take place on the inside.
And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
Deuteronomy
Because we are utterly unable to please God on our own because of our corruption and guilt, God has to do heart surgery. This is the promise of the new covenant.
“And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God: Because the enemy said of you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The ancient heights have become our possession,’ therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God: Precisely because they made you desolate and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you became the talk and evil gossip of the people, therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, the ravines and the valleys, the desolate wastes and the deserted cities, which have become a prey and derision to the rest of the nations all around, therefore thus says the Lord God: Surely I have spoken in my hot jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave my land to themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, that they might make its pasturelands a prey. Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I have spoken in my jealous wrath, because you have suffered the reproach of the nations. Therefore thus says the Lord God: I swear that the nations that are all around you shall themselves suffer reproach.
“But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home. For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. And I will multiply people on you, the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt. And I will multiply on you man and beast, and they shall multiply and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times, and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you will know that I am the Lord. I will let people walk on you, even my people Israel. And they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no longer bereave them of children. Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, ‘You devour people, and you bereave your nation of children,’ therefore you shall no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the Lord God. And I will not let you hear anymore the reproach of the nations, and you shall no longer bear the disgrace of the peoples and no longer cause your nation to stumble, declares the Lord God.”
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.
“Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.
“Thus says the Lord God: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock. Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
You must be born again. Only thee Holy Spirit can cleanse our wicked hearts and make us new.
And if we want new hearts, we need to look at God’s heart for us.
You must be born again. Only thee Holy Spirit can cleanse our wicked hearts and make us new.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
And only when we realize the corruption of our hearts, and that on the cross, Jesus was defiled, stripped of his clothes and shamed, hanging naked on a cross, treated as a corrupt sinner even though he had no corruption from within, we are made broken from within and ask God to intervene with His sovereign grace.
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
build up the walls of Jerusalem;
then will you delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Psam
Only the Holy Spirit can remake us, renew us, and give us new hearts to believe in God’s heart for us in sending His own beloved Son.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
The externals is not what counts before God. It is what happens on the inside. And only God can change what goes on the heart.
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.
Romans 14:
Conclusion:
Which illustrates the condition of man better? Man is drowning at sea, and God throws a life saver which man is free to choose to respond? If he does not hold onto the lifesaver, he will die because of his own choice.
Or man is already drowned at the bottom of the sea. And someone from the lifesaving boat jumps out of the safe boat and plummets to the bottom of the sea. Rescues the drowned man. Pounds his chest and pumps his chest with oxygen where he is made alive again. And is made able to be secured in the boat because not only he was rescued, but resuccistated and resurrected?
I think the latter communicates the gravity of our lost condition and the lengths and depths that God was willing to go to rescue us from our lost condition.
That is the biblical picture of man’s utter helplessness. And this is the biblical picture of God’s free sovereign grace. God removes a heart of stone, and gives us a heart of flesh.
He can even do that today because faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of Christ.
Let us pray:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
The Promise of a New Heart
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
A Renewed Heart
behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart,
but you shall cry out for pain of heart
and shall wail for breaking of spirit.
And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
Deuteronomy
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
Are People Basically Good? Chapter Four: The Reality of Our Sin
sin is not an external blemish, but something that goes to the very core of our being.
Are People Basically Good? Chapter Five: The Depth of Our Sin
In other words, we sin because we are sinners; it is not that we are sinners because we sin.
Are People Basically Good? Chapter Six: The Extent of Our Sin
“Lord, command what You will and grant what You command.”
How much has the fall of man influenced or affected human choices? In other words, does man still have free will?
Sproul, R. C. (2016). Are People Basically Good? (First edition, Vol. 25, p. 51). Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust: A Division of Ligonier Ministries.
Sproul, R. C. (2016). Are People Basically Good? (First edition, Vol. 25, p. 51). Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust: A Division of Ligonier Ministries.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Mark Recovering the True Intent of the Law (7:1–23)
Uncleanness and defilement are matters of intention and the heart, not the violation of cultic rituals and formalities.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Mark Recovering the True Intent of the Law (7:1–23)
Mark labors to clarify that the essential purpose of the Torah, and hence the foundation of morality, is a matter of inward purity, motive, and intent rather than of external compliance to ritual and custom.
The New American Commentary: Mark (3) Concerning Kosher Food (7:14–23)
The “heart” in the Bible is a symbol of the rational, intellectual, decision-making element in human beings and not the emotional, affectionate element.
Sinful Actions
Sinful Attitudes
Total Depravity, radical depravity, radical corruption, pervasive evil.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
“Original sin is in us like our beard. We are shaved and look clean; tomorrow our beard has grown again, nor does it cease growing while we remain on earth. In like manner original sin cannot be extirpated from us; it springs up in us as long as we live.” Luther
“We are so entirely controlled by the power of sin, that the whole mind, the whole heart, and all our actions are under its influence.” Calvin
MacArthur, John; Mayhue, Richard. Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (Kindle Locations 12492-12493). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
MacArthur, John; Mayhue, Richard. Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (Kindle Location 12492). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
MacArthur, John; Mayhue, Richard. Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (Kindle Location 12492). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
On the other side, Augustine argued that the fall seriously impaired the moral ability of the human race. Indeed, the fall of Adam plunged all of humanity into the ruinous state of original sin. Original sin does not refer to the first sin of Adam and Eve, but refers to the consequences for the human race of that first sin