Sermon Cloud

Understanding Our Depravity 3

The Affects of Sin on our Will

Romans 1:18-32 and Various Texts

Grace Fellowship Church

June 21, 2009

Series 4 Sermon 3

Introduction

Have you ever been involved in a dispute between children or adults where at the beginning you only heard one side of the story?  A child or an adult came to you and told you about how awful the other person behaved and you soon find yourself in full agreement with the first party.  The adult needs to repent and the child needs to be punished.  You have your mind made up and think that you have all the answers and the right perspective about this situation.  The problem is that you have not heard the other side.  Turns out after all of the evidence is laid out and you have heard from the second party and some witnesses the child or adult that came to you first was the guilty offending party and they are the one that actually needs to repent or be punished. 

You see our perspective changes after we get more information.  It also may change when we get more information about a theological subject.  I pray that will be true for us as we continue to look at the doctrine of sin and try to come to terms with our own sinfulness and how that sin has affected us in all aspects of our lives. 

Last week I showed you that sin has affected our bodies and sin has affected our hearts and our minds.  The affects are so bad that our bodies get sick and die and our minds do not function the way they should and were intended to function.  Some of us have to work harder than others to learn and grasp certain concepts. Some of us have to work harder physically to do certain things while others seem to breeze right through it.  Some of us get sick more easily than others and some of us will live longer than others.  But because of sin we will all die.  We have that in common.  Because of sin our minds are limited.  And we saw that our hearts are desperately wicked and will work overtime to deceive us.

Two weeks ago we saw that Adam’s sin was imputed to us and we bear his guilt as his progeny.  So what we have established at this point are basically three theological conclusions about how sinful we actually are. 

1.  We bear the sin of Adam and we are condemned before God because of that sin.  Before we sin we are already sinners. 

2.  All humanity is conceived in this condition and has no hope of saving themselves.

3.  Sin has affected us in all of our faculties. 

This week I want to deal with how sin has affected our will.  There is a prevailing belief about the will that almost all people who call themselves Christians believe.  And much of what is believed today is because of perspective.  It is because only one side of the dispute has been presented. In most churches today what is taught and demonstrated is a classic semi-Pelagian view of sin and the will.  Pelagius lived between 354 AD and 420 AD.  He taught that although sin was definitely in the human race that it had not affected human ability to obey the commands of God.  I say that the church today holds to a predominantly semi-Pelagian view because most of the church does not believe this.  There are a few that do but are not of a big influence.  What is huge and what we are all familiar with, whether you know this or not, is the semi-Pelagian view.   This view says that sin has indeed entered the human race and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God but man still has the ability to respond to God and will do so if given the right message and right opportunity.  The mood and setting and message has to be just right.  If you can tug on the emotional heart strings you can often induce a response to the Gospel.

This group will not deny the need for the power of the Holy Spirit but will say that man has to make the first step in response. Let me illustrate how this is taught.  Typically it is not explained but rather lived out in methodology.  You have probably all been in a church service like this.  The preacher is finished with his message and the invitation or altar call has started.  He may use these exact words as the musicians are playing.  “If you take the first step out of your seat and down the aisle toward God, He will carry you the rest of the way.”  They may even be singing the semi-Pelagian theme song “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.”  The whole point of the service is to get people to make a decision of some sort. 

Many churches are centered around this understanding of how sin has affected humanity. It all comes down to understanding the term “free will.” The reason there has been so much debate in church history over this is because of several passages of Scripture that seem to contradict one another.  Passages of Scripture like Matthew 11:28 is one.

²⁸ "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

Also Isaiah 45:22.

²² "Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.

Acts 17:30.

³⁰ "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,

There is in Scripture a universal call and command for all people everywhere to repent of sin and believe the Gospel.  The Lord Jesus told His disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.  And so the Pelagian or the semi-Pelagian will say that because of these verses it makes no logical sense to deny free will and therefore man must have the ability to respond to the Gospel message. 

But then you have other passages that we have looked at over the past few weeks that show that man is utterly incapable of doing anything spiritually good before God including repenting and believing the Gospel unto salvation.  We have looked at Ephesians 2:1-3 that says we are dead in our sins and trespasses and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.  Listen as I read.

¹ And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, ² in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. ³ Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind , and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

We looked at Romans 5 that told us that all of us in Adam sinned and therefore death came upon us all and the condemnation of God as well.  We are all conceived in guilt before the Lord.  When the Lord God gave the command to Adam not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil He told him on the day that he eats of it he will surely die.  Did Adam die at that moment?  No.  But he died spiritually immediately and hid himself from God.  And in Adam all have died spiritually and will die physically as well and by nature we do what Adam did and hide from God.  That is why Paul says in Ephesians 2:4-5 this.

⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

If you understand this passage of Scripture and don’t just make a casual reading of it but understand it within the context of the whole Bible what you soon realize is that in salvation God has to perform a miracle and raise the dead.  Why?  Because in Adam all died. 

So now that we have what seems on the surface like a contradiction let’s deal with it.  We have in the first passages I mentioned a universal call and command to repent and believe the Gospel.  Then in the second group of Scripture we have God telling us that people are incapable of doing this.  Let me read to you Romans 8:6-8.

⁶ For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷ because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, ⁸ and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 8 clearly states that those in the flesh do not subject themselves to the law of God, that is to repent and believe, because they are not even able to do so. 

The Pelagian or semi-Pelagian will not deny these passages of Scripture.  They will overlook them or ignore them or do exegetical gymnastics to get around them.  But I want to deal with both because it is imperative that we wrap our minds around these passages and understand what our Great God and Savior is telling us here in his Word. 

Let me give you some reasons it is important to understand and deal with this seeming contradiction.  First, understanding what the Bible says about human ability and inability will inform us on how we are to evangelize the lost which includes our children who are not converted and our other family members and friends and coworkers and people we come in contact with.  Second, understanding these passages will instruct us on proper church methodology and what God requires and expects of us in church and worship.  Third, a proper understanding of these passages will take the focus off ourselves in our own salvation and put it right back on the Lord where it belongs. 

What this all boils down to is the human will.  Is it indeed free?  I want to first provide you with a couple of definitions of the human will.  The classic definition of the human will goes something like this.  “It is that thing in us by which we make choices.”  This definition although very popular and what most people believe is not helpful at all.  The reason is because it comes across as the will being almost this totally separate entity within us that makes decisions in a vacuum.  In other words nothing determines the choice the will makes but the will itself.  But that can’t be true can it?  Think about this for a moment.  You all made a choice about what you would wear this morning to church.  Your choice was made freely unless you are still a child or a husband.  You went to the closet and you chose an outfit.  And you did that freely, right?  Wrong. 

Your choice was limited by several factors.  You could have chosen a swimsuit but you were coming to church and as of yet I have not heard of having church in a swimming pool.  Although someone may come up with that.  So you were limited in what you could wear by your destination.  Also you were limited by the choices that you had.  You did not have access to anything else that you did not already own.  So you could not freely choose any garment that you wanted from any part of the world this morning.  So you were geographically limited in your choice.  Some of you ladies have limited yourselves even further because of the color of your eyes and hair and skin type and you know what colors look better on you and what is not your color and so if purple is not your color you probably did not have a purple blouse to choose from.  Also because of how you are made some things you would not wear so you are further limited in that capacity.  The choice just seems to dwindle out of this equation doesn’t it?  There is more.  We live in south Mississippi and its hot so none of you came in wearing winter clothing this morning so even what you can not control, the weather, has limited your choices.  And you all picked clothing that is culturally acceptable.  If you were in a tribe in Africa you may have decided between the old robe or the new one this morning if you had two. 

So even the basic choices that we make are limited by internal and external forces.  Jonathan Edwards wrote a book that most call the Freedom of the Will.  The title is much longer but we will stick with the modern title.  In it he argues against this definition of the will being “that thing within us by which we make choices.”  He said that we should define the will as that thing by which the mind chooses anything.  Now it does not sound very different on the surface but it really is night and day difference. 

What Edwards argued is that the will is indeed free.  Because if it were not free it would not be by nature a will.  Let me say that Jonathan Edwards was not a Pelagian nor was he a semi-Pelagian.  He understood what the Scripture said about human choice.  Human beings have a will that can choose.  But what determines what the will chooses is perception or how we see what we see. 

It’s like so called modern art.  You have this canvas that in my perception looks like a two year old got loose with a couple buckets of paint and sloshed paint all over that thing.  But to a person who loves modern art they have a magnificent piece of art while I see wasted paint and a ruined canvas.  What determines how we each perceive this same canvas with the same paint on it?  Perception.

What determines what you will eat today at lunch out of the choices that we have available will be your perception. 

So what informs the perception to inform the will what to choose?  The answer is in Romans 1:18-32.  Turn there with me and read along.  And if you will allow me to be a kind of running commentary as I read through it with you I want to show you a couple of things in the text to answer our question, “what informs our perception?”        

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

This removes the argument that to deny a will that operates in a vacuum is to deny human responsibility.  Paul will plainly show what informs our perception thus showing us what to choose but will not in any way shape or form remove responsibility from fallen humanity.  Look at verse 21.

21 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.

The word futile means worthless or useless.  Thus in their thinking they had everything wrong.  God has revealed Himself and they did not care.  Thus their hearts became dark.  Look at verse 22 because what happened in the futility of their mind they did not even understand that their thinking was wrong. 

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

What Paul is saying is that humanity is just living out its useless or futile thinking. They are choosing and doing what they perceive as right and good.  So what does God do in response?  Look at verse 28.

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.

What we have here is humanity apart from the grace of God.  God has to do absolutely nothing for man to be as sinful as they are.  He simply does not restrain man any longer.  He pulls back His grace and man becomes more and more sinful because of a debased or a depraved mind.  So what happens?  Look at verse 29.

29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

There are some key phrases here.  “futile in their thinking.”  “debased mind.”  And the result of this was being filled with all unrighteousness. 

So what informs perception is the mind.  The mind then informs the will what to choose.  So because of sin our minds are depraved and we are by nature futile in our thinking and therefore what our wills choose it does so because of our nature and what we perceive as desirable.  Remember Romans 6:6-8?

⁶ For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷ because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, ⁸ and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

What the Bible clearly teaches is that fallen, sinful man is incapable of doing anything spiritually pleasing to God because of his nature and spiritual condition.  Ephesians 2:3 says that we were indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind.  The Bible also teaches that man is responsible for repenting of this condition and their sin and believing the Gospel unto salvation. 

So let me review.  The will in and of itself is free.  We can make choices because we have a will.  But our will does not operate in a vacuum but acts according to what our minds perceive as right and good and pleasing.  But what tells the will what to choose is a slave to sin and only does what its master tells it to do.  That is the depraved mind and the desperately wicked heart.  This has been the case since the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden. 

So we have a dilemma.  The Gospel call is to repent and believe the Gospel but not one single human being is capable of doing this in their own strength not even a milipercent.  The reason they will not is because of the nature of this repentance and faith.  Coming to Christ means that we are ready to admit that our whole being is corrupt and even our thinking has been wrong.  We are willing to deny ourselves.  We fully embrace the truth of the Gospel and submit ourselves to God as His servant.  We are ready and willing to do all that is contrary to our nature. 

So what causes this great change?  It can’t be the will because the will acts only according to the perception of the mind.  By nature we are not repenters we are self righteous.  By nature we do not have faith we are faithless.  Something has to happen. 

If you take a lion who is a carnivore by nature and try to get him to eat hay, he may eat you but he will not eat that hay.  It is not that he is physically unable to eat it.  He can put it in his mouth, chew it, and swallow it. His digestive system will probably even digest it. But the problem is getting the lion to put the straw in his mouth.  To him the hay is detestable.  To us the Gospel is detestable. 

So that is why the Pelagian and the semi-Pelagian views are both wrong.  What the semi-Pelagians have done is make conversion or salvation a physical act which we are all capable of.  “Pray this prayer.”  “Repeat after me.”  “Come down the aisle and take my hand.”  “Make a decision.”  Salvation or conversion is not a physical act or of the flesh but is of the spirit. 

So what causes this great change?  What causes us to forsake ourselves and embrace God through His Gospel?  Where does faith come from?  How do we break through the prison bars of sin and embrace the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ? 

Turn to Ephesians 2:1-5.

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 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— 

Where does Paul get this from?  He gets it from the testimony of Scripture. 

The greatest illustration of this is the Lord Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus.  If the Lord Jesus is not there and commanding Lazarus to come forth then Lazarus is still dead.  So in salvation, which is calling the dead to life and the giving of a new nature, God has to act. 

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden they hid themselves from God.  But the Lord came and sought them out.  When God was about to destroy the world in a flood He sought out Noah who found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  When God was about to call out a people for His own possession through whom the Savior of the world would be born He sought out and called Abram.  When the Lord was about to make a great nation through the grandson of Abraham He came to him and changed his name from Jacob to Israel.  The Lord called the prophets.  And when the Lord Jesus came and walked this earth He chose twelve disciples to follow Him.  And as the Apostle Paul said, last of all, the Lord Jesus met Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus and struck him down to make the Apostle Paul out of him. 

The testimony of Scripture is that God is the God of intervening in the lives of humans to call to Himself a people for His own possession.  This is even the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ as well. 

Turn to John 3. Look at verse 3.

3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”   

Now Nicodemus did not understand this but he at least admitted his Pelagian and semi-Pelagian tendencies.  Look at verse 4.

4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”

Nicodemus was equating the new birth with a physical act.  If he could have repeated a prayer or walked down an aisle at this point Nicodemus would have been thrilled.  If he could have physically done anything it would have been soothing to his soul.  But what the Lord Jesus did was to show Nicodemus that he was incapable of doing anything pleasing to God in order to be saved.  Then the Lord Jesus showed Nicodemus whose hands salvation is in.  Look at verses 5-8.

5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus, just like you can’t control the wind you have no control over the action of the Holy Spirit of God in salvation.  But wait a minute.  Didn’t Nicodemus come to Jesus by night to find out about Him?  Look at verses 1 and 2.

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

So how did Nicodemus come to Jesus to even ask these questions?  Was it something within his nature that caused him to be curious?  Was it the miracles?  What was it?  People do come for curiosity sometimes.  We can see that in the whole ministry of the Lord Jesus.  They would come to see miracles and demand a miracle and the Lord Jesus would not put on a show for them and they left.  

But there was more in Nicodemus’ case.  He is mentioned two other times in the Bible.  Once in John 7 where he comes to the defense of Jesus and again in John 19 when he aids Joseph of Arimethea in the burial of Jesus.  Christian history holds that Nicodemus was martyred in the first century as a Christian.  So this man who approaches the Lord Jesus by night may have ended his life as one of the first Christian martyrs according to some early Christian tradition.  So it was not out of mere curiosity.

If all people are dead in sins and trespasses and are by nature children of wrath and are not able to do anything that is pleasing to God then how did he come to Jesus?  Are the Pelagians right when they say that all people have a God shaped vacuum and long to fill that vacuum with God and that is what everyone is seeking?  Or is Paul right when he says in Romans 3:11 that there is none who seeks for God?  Who is right?  Why did Nicodemus come to Christ?  Why did you come to Christ?  Why do your children come and ask you spiritual questions?  Why does anyone in the world get saved?  Turn over to John 6 and look at verses 44 and 45. 

44 No one (Not anyone.  Not you or me or Nicodemus or the disciples or anyone.) can come to me (here is the key word) unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—

If the Lord by His grace does not draw a sinner to Himself what you have is Romans 1.  You have a depraved mind and futile thinking that will only lead you to further sin and depravity ultimately to your destruction.  In damnation God does not have to act because by nature we will simply destroy ourselves. 

This is why the Bible says “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God.”  This is why the Bible says, “not only has it been granted unto you to believe in Christ but also to suffer for His name sake.”  This is why the Bible says, “Look unto Christ, the author and perfector of our faith.”  “He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son.”  That is Colossians 1. 

Folks this is what the Scriptures teach.  But what does our sin and depravity say?  It says that we should have some control over salvation right?  Sure.  This is our nature to be in control.  And if we indeed can be in control then we can quickly say a sinner’s prayer right before we die and get into Heaven and still have all the fun we want to have on earth.  But salvation is not in our hands.  It is completely in God’s hands. 

I want you to listen to our confession concerning this matter.  It is an accurate summation of the Scriptures. 

1._____ Those whom God hath predestinated unto life, he is pleased in his appointed, and accepted time, effectually to call, by his Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God; taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.

Did you catch that last phrase?  What the Pelagian or semi-Pelagian will say is that this view makes robots out of people.  And that would be true if the Bible taught that man’s nature was not corrupt because of sin.  Pelagius believed that man was a blank slate at birth and it was actual sin on his part that corrupted him.  But we know that the New Testament teaches imputed sin.  In Adam all sinned.  In Adam all died and all are under God’s righteous condemnation.   But when God changes the nature of a sinner and makes them alive to the things of the Spirit then that awakened regenerate sinner comes most freely and willingly to Christ who he or she now sees as the pearl of great price.  He or she now sees Christ as the most glorious of all possessions and we will happily and joyfully come to Christ. 

Remember when you were saved?  Remember how wonderful the glorious thought of Christ was?  Remember how great it was to know that your sins were forgiven and you were accepted by the Father?  Isn’t it an amazing thought to know that the Holy Spirit of God has taken up residence in you? 

So let’s apply this truth this morning.  If salvation is all of God then in evangelism we are not trying to set the right mood or even trying to be relevant.  We don’t have to act like the world or even look like the world.  In evangelism we point people to Christ.  We show them their utter inability to do anything of spiritual good before God that will be acceptable to him.  We declare to the lost that because the Lord Jesus came to earth, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for the sins of His people, and rose again on the third day God has commanded them to repent of sin and believe the Gospel.  And they can only do that as God gives grace and mercy to the sinner.  As the Lord draws the person to Christ they will be granted repentance and faith in Christ unto salvation. 

And this does not always happen immediately. This is why I believe you should not have altar calls or invitations.  Not only are invitations not biblical but they are the inventions of and the tradition of man.  And the most well done invitations place salvation in the response of the sinner.  It is voiced in the words of their hymns. 

“The Savior is waiting to enter your heart, why don’t you let him come in?... Time after time he has waited before.  And now he is waiting again. To see if your willing to open that door.  Oh won’t you let him come in.” 

The Bible does not say walk down an aisle and pray a prayer.  The Bible says seek the Lord while He may be found.  Acts 17:24-27.

²⁴ "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; ²⁵ nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; ²⁶ and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, ²⁷ that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

The reason the invitation system was invented was to get more responses.  It was to be able to keep track of conversions.  But in what seems like a good reason for having it you end up forgetting who is in charge of conversions and who gets the glory for them. 

What evangelists get the most calls for preaching?  The ones that can get the most decisions.  What preachers make it to the denominations spotlight?  The ones that can get the most decisions.  There is one particular denomination that experienced huge growth in the middle part of the 20^th century because of this methodology and today have swollen membership lists that are often three or four times the size of the attendance on Sunday.  A pastor who is boasting of a 5000 member congregation will have 1500 in attendance on Sunday morning.  If they have an evening service there will be even fewer.  In this denomination in order to be a member you must have made a public profession of faith in Christ, been baptized, and joined the church.  I read one evangelist’s website this week and he claimed over a million conversions under his ministry.  How can you claim this if you understand what the Bible teaches about the human condition? 

The only way you can claim this is out of total ignorance of the Gospel and the Word of God or you are involved in treachery. 

We are not in control of salvation.  Our Lord is in control.  This morning if you are not certain of your salvation and whether or not you have truly been converted to Christ than I urge you to get this settled.  I did not say you will settle it today.  What do you do?  The Pelagian would ask you whether or not you were sincere in your heart when you prayed the sinner’s prayer.  Did you mean it with all your heart?  But we have seen that our heart is deceitful above all things and can not be trusted.  So we can not turn to our own hearts for the answer.  So where do we turn?  To Scripture.

Listen to Romans 8:14-16.

¹⁴ For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,

You can be led by your own deceitful heart or you can even be led by the Law.  But neither one of these leadings is proof of salvation. Only those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.  And the Holy Spirit of God will bear witness of Christ to you if He dwells within you.  The Spirit will draw your heart not to the Law but will continually show you through that Law that you need Christ Jesus and Him alone for salvation.  This is what the Holy Spirit will testify to our hearts so that we know that we are children of God. 

The Lord Jesus said in John 15:26:  ²⁶ "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,

The Spirit of God will never remind you of a moment of decision.  He will not remind you of the worthless so called good works that you have done.  He will, if He resides in you will testify to your spirit and my spirit that Christ is that pearl of great price.  That Christ is our only hope and that we must hold on to Him.  As the writer of Hebrews said we must hold fast our hope and our hope is in Christ and this is what the Spirit of God will testify to us.

Do you have that testimony of the Spirit of God this morning?  Or are you trusting in a decision?  Are you trusting in what some preacher said the day you made that decision to never doubt because you were sincere of heart? 

If that is you this morning then what you must do is stop trusting in your decision or what the preacher told you and start looking unto Christ who is your only hope.  Turn to Him and live because He is God and there is no other Savior.  Seek the Lord while He may be found to give you the assurance of salvation that you so desperately need.  

Children if the Lord is dealing with you about your salvation this morning then go to your parents for help. Parents, if your children come to you for help don’t remind them of a prayer they prayed or even how well they behave.  Point them to Christ.  He is their only hope. 

Maybe this morning there is an adult here who is shaken in their security of salvation.  I or one of the elders would be happy to walk with you in the seeking of the security of your salvation.  The answer for all of us because of our sinful condition and the depravity of our nature is to look to Christ and Him alone for our salvation. 

Let’s pray.