1689 London Baptist Confession (part 13)

Father in heaven we come before you this morning thankful for All that you have provided us all that you have done for us in Jesus Christ father the blessings that are ours how you have

Guarded us and protected us and kept us and How you will keep us even to the day of judgment

These promises are great and they are ours because of your word and we thank you and praise you for your word

Lord we would pray for the people of Texas this morning just seeing the

Devastation of the floods there pray that you would Save the physical lives of many that you might also save their souls

Lord would you bless our time this morning in Jesus name? We pray. Amen. Well last week we were talking about Well, what were we talking about?

Oh, yes now I recall Yeah, we had a great talk about the trees of life and of Good evil, and I'm sorry, but the door thing really bothers me

Because inevitably we're gonna have noise and this morning we're gonna be talking about sin

Which follows nicely upon Adam's fall? Who wants to define sin for me and please don't describe any personal experiences.

What is sin? Enter Failing to do what

God commands, okay Anything else

Rebellion against them. I you know, if I if I may say failing to do what he commands. Yes true

God says do this then we need to do that but rebellion. It's the other side right doing what

God says not to do So both are true There are fancier definitions which we'll get into anybody want to explain what the root of sin is and Having said this before what is the cause of all sin?

What's that? Self self will okay

Larry Unbelief and pride Okay, I like I like unbelief a lot

Pride is true, too, but that's a sin and it's rooted in unbelief. So, okay

Waldron says in summarizing that the biblical doctrine of sin the confession will act as our guide We will follow the general path indicated by the first outline blah blah blah blah, okay

The nature of the fall that is to say of Adam and Eve clearly reveals the essence or definition of sin the first sin consisted in the transgression of the law

Adam according to the confession violated both the general obligations of the law written on his heart and the specific and specially revealed command regarding the tree which

He disobeyed So sin is rebellion against or transgression of or disobedience to the law of God This suggestion is confirmed confirmed by the rest of Scripture the classic definition of the shorter catechism is thus fully

Justified and this is how the shorter catechism defines sin. Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God, so there's both the positive

Command that we don't obey and the negative Have us created a word houses for a word

Forbidation I Just I just like that word. It's for me. I don't know what

I can't you know, I guess Forbidment, I don't even know, you know, I'm just creating stuff So several practical observations if sin is negatively transgression transgress transgression of divine law that it may be described positively as autonomy

Being or desiring to be a law unto one's self You ever think of autonomy as a bad thing?

What is autonomy? Self -sufficiency,

I like that. It's it's kind of Yeah, but it's also self -rule

So I guess self -rule self -sufficiency if you kind of put those together. I think you have autonomy He Goes on to talk about the anti -law mentality and anti -authority attitudes of our day

Do we see that anywhere? Are there people that don't like laws and don't like I?

Mean if I if I may get real practical for a minute when people get you know I posted this on Facebook if you take a gas mask to a demonstration, what does that indicate?

You're ready for a riot. This is not you know, we're singing songs We're carrying signs. This is you know,

I'm ready for ready for action so Not a good thing

Let's see. So based on this definition of sin

Then another popular definition of sin cannot be correct. It is popular

Popularly said that sin may be spelled self SELF is

Sin self love or selfishness. Is it selfishness?

Do we like that? I mean, there's certainly an element of that to it, right, but I don't know if that goes far enough because Well, I just don't know if it does

Okay, I like that. He said that if that's your definition, then you could be a humanist because if the sin is essentially putting yourself before someone else

Then you could be selfless and it would have nothing to do whatsoever with God.

So That wouldn't be a sufficient Definition of sin there has to be if you don't have the

If you don't have God I was gonna say the God component if you don't if God isn't part of your definition of sin

Then you have a deficient Definition of sin so good point John There is one

Lord and one lawgiver To that master and Lord alone. We are accountable. So it has to include

God Mmm, we're gonna talk now about the fall and about Adam being our federal head pastor

Mike's talked about that quite a bit but he says the first result of the fall specified in the confession is representative sin

This is the concept that there was a solidarity and sin between Adam and all those Descending from him by ordinary generation in other words

Everybody who's naturally born is in Adam and subject to the sin of Adam Thus when he sinned we sinned in him.

This truth is most Contrary to fleshly wisdom it not only teaches that we are basically bad people but that we were born that way

I mean, I I enjoy baby pictures on Facebook and last night I was looking, you know at Facebook and I saw

Lulu boo looking at his great grandchild And what do you say anybody see it? He said

What's that? Well the joy of his heart, but he had one where he captioned it, you know our little angel and I'm like Lou Lou Lou How quickly they forget

That's a Viper come on get with the program That'd make a nice little

Facebook post right our little Viper And it and it really goes against the grain anyway, what because when you think about it

Why should we be held accountable for what Adam did? Right. Why is that our fault?

I wasn't there Why are we held accountable for what Adam did? Because he's our federal head.

Okay, okay

Where would we find out about federal headship? Romans 16 chapters should we pull up the 16 space dartboard and One of the earlier chapters

Getting Wama Okay, so what you want to narrow it down to the first ten

First seven, okay for seven. Okay, so now we're down to seven Romans 2 and 3 5 is correct

Romans 5 1st

Corinthians is not in Romans There'll be absolutely no augmentation, all right, no, we will we'll get to that in a moment here, but let me read just Romans 5

Verse 12 is where I'm going to start therefore Just as sin came into the world through one man and who is that one man

Okay, and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned

So what's our sin? Death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned we all sinned in Adam.

Our sin is essentially being created

For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given but sin is not Accounted where there is no law yet death reigned from Adam to Moses even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam Who was a type of the one who is to come?

Here's the point The point is in Adam Adam was our federal representative when he fell we all fell as a result of being in Adam you know, we were all on team

Adam and Then he fell. Well, everybody comes into the world still on team

Adam sadly I like this team Adam thing because we understand that from reality TV But what happens is some of us get to change teams

We get to change teams to team Jesus The second Adam the one who obeys and does not sin

Charlie you had another passage you want to read? Okay for as an item all die

That's what we do. We all die because of Adam sin and we are all in Adam there are people who teach that original sin only impacts

Adam and Eve, you know, it's just their sin and then we're accountable for our own sin What is that?

What is that tradition called? It's gonna come to me here in a minute. It was anyway,

I was condemned as heretical so there are still groups out there teaching it, but it is false because then

Nobody would be born with a sin nature and like we'd have to excise entire portions of the

Bible including Romans 5 Aryan ism

Aryan It's really close I mean yeah, no the

Aryans believe that Jesus was a Created being but I It doesn't matter.

It's not that important. I mean, it's just a heresy Heresy heresy 101

Okay, so We fill it

Adam, yes, it's a second representative and substitutionary work of Christ depends on the analogy with the representative of sin which is

Adam so again back to Romans 5 if we look at we looked at verse 14

Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses even over those who sinning was not like the transgression of Adam Who was a type of the one who is to come so Adam foreshadows?

What Jesus will do in this sense Adam is given a test we talked about it last week

He's given this period of probation Where he is to obey and what does he do?

He disobeys he falls he fails and so he plunges the entire human race into sin

By his own sin by his leadership he fails When Jesus is given his time of probation, which we know was about 33 years

Plus he perfectly obeys and thus all who are in Christ then

Get credit for what he did and so there's your Your analogy in Adam all fell those who were in Christ gain his perfection instead of sinfulness

He goes on to give Waldron does example of many leaders deeply influencing the lives of those they rule

Parents Kings pastors profoundly influence for good or evil their subordinates

Okay, fourthly the biblical teaching that men are conceived and born in sin can only be explained on the basis of the doctrine of solidarity and at Solidarity and Adam or representative sin, you know, why does

David say and you know, I was conceived in sin Why does he say that is he accusing his mom of sin?

No He's saying I was sinful even at the moment I was conceived it was my nature

Why did God determine that Adam would act for all of us? This is Waldron asking us

Why is the question? Why did he do that and the answer is because it pleased him to do so and he says someone may respond

But that's not fair Waldron says we may reply in the first place Who are you to tell

God that? Where do you find that question asked, you know, why isn't

God fair? Is there a place in Scripture where it says that? Romans 9 very good learning.

You've been sitting at my dinner table. I You know,

I I joke and it's not really a joke When I would talk to the kids and say where is this their reflex would be

Romans 9 because it's where all the tough questions come from Romans 9 I'm not going to go there just yet Secondly, we may ask is justification by faith alone and Christ alone fair if the idea of Original sin is unfair.

In other words that Adam being our representative head He fell and therefore all of us fell in him.

We are all born with sin natures if that is not fair, well, is it fair that Those who are in Christ Jesus then are justified are found to be

Perfect is that fair? It's the same principle one

Taking the place of many acting for many If it's not fair to for Adam to stand in the stead of all humanity

Then it is not fair for Christ to substitute himself for the elect for his people

The question is about that and the truth is it is fair and you know, basically here here's

You know a very common question Do you want God to be fair I don't want

God to be fair I want God to be gracious right fair is getting what you deserve

And if we get what we deserve we all wind up in hell Yes is

Adam's sin Imputed to her to us or is it an actual guilt? That's a good question.

I would say that we are I mean my first blush. I would say that we're actually guilty Yeah, I mean my first on first.

Let me just write that down because I think you know is I Want to say it's not just a that's it's an actual

Hmm Yeah, that's kind of a technical question, but I think we're actually Guilty.

Yes Yeah, I mean, I I think that's the general sense of If we look at Romans 6 1 what shall we say then are we to continue and sin that grace may abound?

by no means How can we say or how can we who died to sin still live in it?

Well, I I think and and it's really bothering me who is the guy who said that Didn't take my vitamins this morning

Yeah, the the whole idea of the fall not being imputed to us would leave us though think about it if that were true

That would leave us morally as babies Morally innocent now what it would not do is

It would not give us righteousness right and Righteousness because it's not just enough to be declared innocent.

We have to be declared Righteous we need the works of another so Yeah, I would say they would have a difficult time just saying

That baby should go to heaven on the basis of what you know, it would still have to be the

Imputed righteousness of Christ would be the only way that anyone can go to heaven. So yeah Well, yeah,

I wouldn't want to take the analogy too far, but I agree that certainly The sinfulness that the sin nature is handed down from generation to generation

So could we say, you know slaves to sin yes Yeah, I would agree with that born slaves

You know, it's interesting too because when Jesus says, you know whom the Son sets free shall be free indeed

You know and they say we've never been in slavery. Well, yes, you were you just don't know it, you know slaves to sin

Other thoughts before we move on here. Yes That's good

Ephesians 2 3 says by nature children of wrath So, you know, where did that come from?

Well It's your nature. It's what you were born with good. Yes scary.

Okay, right

No, I what I said was the root of Sin is unbelief Sin is though any want of conformity?

In fact, I think we're gonna get to that any one of conformity to the law so Both failing to obey and disobeying

Failing to obey positive commands and disobeying negative commands do not do whatever both of those would be sinful the root of sin in other words, what

What causes us to sin is our lack of belief our lack of faith even when as believers when we

Sin, why is it that we sin is because we don't believe enough if we really believed we wouldn't do it

We back up let's put it this way Ephesians 5 18 says what?

those of you who've memorized Ephesians 5 18 do not be filled with Wine for that is dissipation.

I mean I'm giving you the NAS version. So let's look at Ephesians 5 18 here for a moment and do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery not dissipation, but debauchery still bad

But be filled with the spirits so here here's

Paul's point when he's talking about this Let me back up even more to verse 15 look carefully then how you walk not as unwise but as wise

Making the best use of the time because the days are evil Therefore do not be foolish

But understand what the will of the Lord is and do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery

But be filled with the spirit Addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody to the

Lord with your heart What what we're talking about here is sanctification

He's talking to believers, and he says do not get drunk with wine But be filled with the spirits, so here's here's the point how do we resist sin by being

Filled with the spirits, how do we get filled with the spirit well by not being foolish by Having fellowship

By addressing one of you know encouraging one another with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs

Giving thanks always you know if you're thankful in verse 20 giving Thanks always and for everything to God the

Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ submitting to one another out of reverence in Christ if we're due or for Christ if we're living that kind of life

Then we're less prone to sin on the other hand if we are Subjecting ourselves to temptation whether it be

Drinking or whatever if we're if we're lowering our ethical behavior than we are more subject to sin so The more you know when the disciples said

Lord We believe help our unbelief. It's kind of the you know we have 10 % of the faith we need you know give us 100 % and that's kind of how we live we live in In between you know one and a hundred and the closer we are to a hundred the more we're trusting

Christ the more faithfully we are seeking him and focused on him the less subject we are to our

Remaining sin that's in us our desire to sin so I Don't know what what got me on that Any questions about that as I'm talking about sanctification even though sanctification has nothing to do with this

Okay back on topic The fairness aspect and I could read

Romans 9, but I've read Romans 9 a million times So moving on he says all this that brings us to the original or the issue of original sin

The statement they being the roots and by God's appointment standing in the room instead of all mankind talking about Adam and Eve Asserts that there were was both an organic or natural and legal or a federal headship between Adam and Christ So all men are in Adam they come in born in Adam and then later on some are given

Christ as head the Bible clearly enough teaches that both aspects the organic and federal exist and he says

He cites a couple passages here one of which we read Let's see the key biblical statements in Romans 5 and 1st

Corinthians 15 verse 20 Say nothing of Eve and make clear that it was through the one transgression and by the transgression of one

Romans 5 17 and 18 that the race fell This means that we sin not accidentally or contrary to our basic good dispositions

But that we sin because we are basically bad Actual sins are not mistakes or accidents.

They are the manifestations of our fundamentally evil hearts It's one of the things that I really appreciate about seeing how

Our grandkids are being raised If one of them sins against another one, they have to ask forgiveness

You know, will you please forgive me and then it's pretty funny to listen to him because the other one will say for what?

Like you have to you have to confess your sin. What was it you did wrong, right? You know for you know hitting you for stealing the toy for whatever they did, right?

Yes, I forgive you hug reconciliation all that now Let's just say they're running down the hallway acting like kids and they run into each other and knock each other down Do they then ask forgiveness?

Well, no, because they didn't sin there was no intent there. They just say sorry and they're on their merry way and this is the difference between What he's talking about here he says

Talking about The difference between sin and mistakes actual sins are not mistakes or accidents.

We can make mistakes We can you know have accidents. Those are not sins sins are manifestations of our fundamentally evil hearts

In fact, that is good. Let's look at Matthew 7 Verses 17 and 20 and would somebody read those verses please

Matthew 7 verses 17 and 20 now it's talking about false teachers, but it's just generally true a

Bad tree cannot produce good fruit. I don't care how you know ultimately good something is that an unbeliever does it it isn't going to count for them on Judgment Day because That good fruit comes from a bad tree

I mentioned this earlier, but he says any lack of conformity to the law is sin a a

Hodge says From its very essence the moral law demands absolute perfection of character and disposition as well as action

God requires us to be holy as well as to act rightly What's the difference between being holy and acting rightly?

Why does he say that God demands that we be holy as well as act rightly what's the difference

Andrew, okay.

So it's not just a matter of having the right actions It's the right matter of having the right motivation having the right mindset having the right

Dare I say heart set, right? Having a heart that is fixed on The glory of Christ on pleasing him

He says finally the term flesh in the Bible is often used a fallen human nature. It is specifically described as sinful

If our corrupt natures are sinful then of course even their first motions are also sinful

In other words, our first actions would be sinful Says the classic passage on this point is first John 1 8 to 10.

So let's read first John 1 8 to 10 So when we

Want to be careful on how I say this. How do we know that we still sin? Conviction by the

Holy Spirit, right? The Holy Spirit goes off on our heads and tells us that we're sinning. How else do we know?

The Word of God so That verse tells us if we say or that that passage says if we say that we have no sin, what are we doing?

We're lying I mean, it's so interesting to me when I when I talk to somebody and I ask them, you know

If they're doing X Y & Z Because I'm careful.

I mean, I don't know about you and I don't mean to like step up here on the platform of righteousness, you know here and exhibit my bronze medal, but If somebody says, you know, do you do you love your wife like Christ loves the church if I say yes

I think right away, you know, I should be thinking my first response to my own words should be what?

You're lying Steve. You're just lying. Don't say that. Don't be don't be stupid.

That's sinful If there's not some qualification there, you know

Steve You know is your giving sacrificial? Yes Well, my first thought should be

Maybe not as sacrificial as it could be. I don't know. Maybe I could you know Steve are you you know walk you by the

Spirit? Yes Well, sometimes I am, you know, sometimes I'm not

Everything about our lives should be a matter of what you know when we think about our spiritual lives We should be constantly kind of holding ourselves up to the 2nd

Corinthians 13 5 model and saying, okay Am I really in the faith and I don't mean to say am

I a believer or not? But am I really obeying am I fully obeying the answer is probably not

I I would like to think that Most of the time there should be some qualification.

So if somebody says to me, you know, yes, I'm doing that I'm always gonna be like Offering them an opportunity to kind of modify it a little bit because I find it very hard to believe what somebody says

I never I never lie really Okay, I always do those kind of things are difficult to to say

But And and just in line of that 1st John 1 8 and 10 if we say that we had no sin,

I Perfectly keep whatever law it is. I'm gonna say that that's probably not true.

I Never lose my temper really not even in your mind. It's kind of hard to believe

Not even when I cut you off, you know coming out of the parking lot or whatever. You never but what?

Waldron goes on to say here about 1st John 1 there as he says what he's specifically addressing in 1st

John is the The claims of Gnosticism that is to say higher knowledge of the day.

They were against the law They were anti -gnomians that claimed to be above sinning

And John's point is that such claims in Themselves manifested the unsafe condition of those who made them in other words

If you say that you have no sin what you're really telling me is you don't understand what sin is You don't understand how depraved you are.

You don't understand how Holy God is Waldron says one mark of genuine

Christianity was ongoing confession of and cleansing from sin Why because you continue to sin even though you don't want to Sometimes you might be sinning more sometimes you might be sinning less but there's that You're still going to sin and he goes on talking about the final paragraph of the confession talking about sin

Says it's a safeguard against two errors perfectionism and Pharisee ism

It shows the standard of Christian behavior remains perfection Yet no

Christian attains this standard in life And this guards he says the humble

Christian against the bondage of feeling that because he still struggles with sin He is a second -class Christian Or perhaps no

Christian at all. It also exposes the Pharisee ism the perfectionism which concentrates on external conformity to God's law and thus avoids

Really confronting its own depravity. So here's the point. There are two extremes in Christianity writ large one is to say

Because or that we must be perfect We ought to strive for perfection.

We're to strive to put off sin right and put on righteousness That's sanctification.

But anybody who says they've achieved that Probably is incorrect

Because nobody's going to achieve perfection on the other hand the idea of not caring about your sin is just as wrong

Or just kind of How can I say this if You're indifferent to your sins.

You ever meet anybody who's indifferent to their sins. I have

If you meet somebody who sins and they just kind of shrug then what they don't really get it

The idea that You know again and going back to Romans 6 shall we sin that grace may abound all the more and the answer is no

So the idea that sin is something that's shruggable. That's Something that we should not care about is not the biblical model.

How should we deal with sin? first John tells us He says we should confess and I'm going to be talking about this in just a little bit

But to confess is homo legeo to say the same as to say the same as God to look at our sin and To view it exactly as he does now will we do that?

Probably not But the objective should be to get as close to the same view of our sin as God does and how does

God feel about our? Sin, he looks at our sin. He goes. Oh, that wasn't bad. I've seen worse But but I've heard people say that You know, well,

I know there are people that are worse than me I'm doing pretty well if we understood, you know,

I think We it would be good to spend me. We'll just close here in the Psalms Let's look at Psalm 51 two classic

Psalms Dealing with sin Psalm 51 have mercy on me.

Oh 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. This is not

Somebody who's shrugging at their sin. This is somebody who understands what they've done For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

I see it I feel it and then what does he say in verse 4 against you you only have

I sinned and done What is evil in your sight? So that you're so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment

He understands the gravity of his sin. David does let's look over at verse or at Psalm 32 again,

David Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts. No iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit

For when I kept silent in other words when I didn't confess My bones wasted away

Through my groaning all day long for day and night your hand was Heavy upon me.

My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I Acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity

I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin

Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.

You are a hiding place for me You preserve me from trouble you surround me with shouts of deliverance the difference between Understanding the gravity of our sin and not understanding the gravity of our sin really is a mark of a genuine

Christian We get it. We understand it. We hate our sin. That doesn't stop us from sinning, but we we go to the

Lord and and Confess our sins we agree with them. We grieve over them. We confess them.

We repent of them and We have that forgiveness any thoughts or questions about it or generally about the nature of sin

Yes, Charlie. I think that's a great illustration of just That the flaw of Roman Catholicism, right?

Which says that by taking the sacraments by going and having the bread by having the cup

By being baptized by being married all these different sacraments they have going to confession That you actually get righteousness infused into you that is it

You know from heaven as it were from the crucifixion to into you so that you are made righteous and then you can lose that righteousness and That's why they have last rites, right when you're on your deathbed

They come and they give you the last rites why because that's the last sacrament and if you don't get that last sacrament guess where You're going when you die

You're going to purgatory to pay for the sins that Jesus already paid for but that righteousness hasn't been infused to you.

See that it's just such a a Mess that it makes of the

Bible and of the gospel That's why we say, you know

Is the Roman Catholic Church a church not in the true sense? No, it's not

Can people get saved out of or in the Roman Catholic Church? I suppose but it won't be because of the system because the system is blatantly

Erroneous, I mean, it's blatantly blasphemous. It denies the sufficiency of Christ's death

So any other quick thoughts before we have to go? Yes, Brad Can can children well

Here's the here's the the thing. They are Innocent in the sense that children when they're born there

They're guilty of Adam's sin, but they're innocent in the sense that they don't know the difference between their left and the right hand

They have no Cognizance of good and evil. They're unable to discern those things, but do they sin?

Well, let me put it to you this way, you know who teaches your three -year -old how to be selfish You know, do you do you take them to selfishness class?

You know, or do you sit around the table and say, you know what kids here's how you're selfish It's inherent in them they they know how to do this we're all about self from the moment we're self -aware

You know self comes number one. So They could be we could we could put it this way that they are

Morally innocent even though they're positionally guilty if that makes sense They're innocent in the sense that they don't have the capacity to choose righteousness or sin they just You know, it's not it's not it's not in their ability to do that, but they are still morally culpable before God And that's why

We would say this that they need just as much Because if you don't say that then they don't need the righteousness of Christ to get into heaven and they absolutely do need that So, all right.

Well, let's close in prayer father Thank you for what your word says about sin how

Left to our own devices we would be without hope we would be in Adam until the day of our death but that Thanks be to God that you

Transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light that you Brought us into your own family

Even Changes from being sons of disobedience as it was saying Ephesians 2 into Your children what a blessing what a magnificent blessing that is

Lord. We praise you for that and just pray that you would Remind us again and again

Of the great blessings that are ours because of the finished work of Christ Jesus. We pray these things in Jesus name.