Depravity Quiz (Part 1)

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

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Apostle Paul said, but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

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In short, if you like smooth, watered down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry.

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It is Tuesday, that means my name is Mike Abendroth. And my name is Steve Cooley.

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That's right. I struggled with that for just a moment. I said to Steve, we need to figure out a funny way to start the show, and then we couldn't think of a funny way, so.

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Could we talk maybe about Beth Moore? Would that be funny? I don't know, Joyce Meyers? That would be hysterical.

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Today on No Compromise Radio, to get your attention, we are going to talk about a doctrine, a deadly doctrine, a dreaded doctrine, a, what's another word that starts with a

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D? Doofus? Doofus doctrine. Well, there's our funny intro right there.

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There is our funny intro. A doofus doctrine. Well, I'm trying to twist that.

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One of my favorite new words in life is torque, and I'm going to try to torque that in, but I don't think that fits in.

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No, no, you really can't. Look, when we're playing word association, you just throw a D at me, I don't know, you know, you just kind of, you get what you get.

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What is a good topic to talk about is my question with Steve earlier. It was, even though it was a silent question, but I was thinking about the show.

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Today, we're going to talk about total depravity. We've talked about it before, but today we're going to discuss it in quiz form.

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And we are quite convicted here that if the Bible talks about something with regularity, it would be important for us to discuss it as well.

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It's not one time show, 218 shows ago, and then we're forever done with total depravity.

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Well, for example, I mean, would we just briefly mention on one show, God's sovereignty, just one time on that, or one time on the death and resurrection of Christ, just one time on, no.

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There are some doctrines, as you said, that are repeated throughout scripture. And so why wouldn't we focus on them as often as the

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Bible does? I concur. Steve, why do you think the Bible so regularly teaches the state of man without God?

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Well, first of all, because it's true. Secondly, because I think, and I argue this all the time,

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I think maybe one of the most interesting things to me about Christianity is if you were going to make up a religion you would never make up one that had a doctrine like total depravity.

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You would make one up that says man is good. He is really good.

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That is true. If I was going to make up religion, Steve, I thought about this the other day, I'd probably make up a religion where that I'm pretty good, that I could have lots of wives in heaven, all kinds of celestial sex, you know, and all that stuff.

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And it was delivered by maybe an angel on some gold tablets to confirm my inward suspicions.

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Oh, good for you, Joe. Seriously, it's perfectly crafted. I don't know why women like Mormonism, but I know why men like it.

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Well, women like Mormonism because, believe me, you don't often hear about the idea of having plural wives in heaven.

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That's just not something, this morning we're going to talk about polygamy in heaven. They just don't talk about that.

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Where's the religion that talks about polyandry? Women are from Venus, so it must be in Venus.

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Yeah. All right, this is an anthropology quiz specifically about the depravity of man.

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And so I'm teaching a class, and so is Steve, actually, at Bethlehem Bible Church on Calvinism.

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What does the Bible say about Calvinism? Is it true? Is it not true? And so I've been giving quizzes out to the people, as you know from last week, the

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Calvinism Introductory Quiz, and now we're going to have a quiz on total depravity. And I pulled this quiz,

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Steve, off the internet from a guy named Randy Seiver. Now, it could be

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Seiver or Seiver. I think he played tight end for the San Francisco 49ers. Did he make that catch in the end zone, number 80?

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Yeah, Randy Seiver. Okay. Seiver the receiver. And so I'm going to ask the question, and then we can figure out the answer.

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All right, so true or false? That's what they are, and remember, all good, true, and false questions need to be answered with this in mind.

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If any part of the question or statement is - False. Then they're - False.

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Four, it's all false. There you go. What's the German word for false? Falsch. My favorite phrase, nein, nein, nein, falsch, falsch, falsch.

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I read something the other day, Steve, and Nietzsche said that success is a liar. And I thought that was really insightful.

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People think that numbers are up, attendance is up. So often, churches think God is blessing them because they're receiving success, but often that is a liar.

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I never knew that Nietzsche was anti -church growth. Oh. And a lot more.

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I still want one of those shirts that on the front, it says, you know, God is dead,

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Nietzsche, and on the back it says, Nietzsche is dead. Yeah, I would love to have one of those, yeah. I'm not a big t -shirt person.

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The only t -shirt that I'll wear that's a quote -unquote Christian t -shirt is No Compromise Radio. That's the only one

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I'd wear. Because they're sweet. Well, I wouldn't want to wear a shirt that said, bench press this, got

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Jesus. I saw one the other day, actually, that said, Jesus is my personal trainer.

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I thought that was a new show on A &E. I can't even make that up, you know. Maybe I should get some

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Beth Moore shirt or something I could wear in my own tent of meeting. All right.

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This is bad. You know No Compromise listeners, it's bad when I only got about three hours sleep in the night and Steve is controlling my mind like a puppeteer.

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And so whatever I say that's not very biblical or funny today, you can blame Steve -o. I'm pulling the strings, but what else is new?

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You know, so. Number one, when we say that every person is totally depraved, we mean that everyone acts as badly as they are capable of acting.

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That is 100 % false. Why would that be? Is everybody as bad as they could possibly be?

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No. No, I mean, you know, we were talking a little bit before the show, you know, it's the idea, well, everybody's

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Charles Manson. No, that's not what total depravity is. It means that sin has so infected our thinking and every part of our being so that nothing we ever think or do is completely unhindered by sin.

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There's always kind of that sort of sin infection going through us.

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Well, when I look at Matthew chapter five, Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount, and by the way, I always love it when liberals say,

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I so love the Sermon on the Mount. You do? You really love the

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Sermon on the Mount? Oh yes, the ethical and moral ramifications. We could all live under them like Gandhi.

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And then I'm thinking to myself, okay, then everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to as a wise man who built his house on the rock.

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Yeah, you like that part, but what about the other part? Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

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The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and slammed against that house and it fell and great was its fall.

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I don't think they really like that part. When it comes to the words of Jesus, period, they like the

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Jeffersonian version where they just cut out everything. It's kind of like the Thomas Jefferson scissors, just cut out what you don't like.

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Here's what they really like that he said, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Now, what they wouldn't like is the idea of loving others as much as you love yourself because the first commandment for liberals is love yourself.

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The God of self. Jesus said in Matthew five, that was a nice rabbit trail there. Thank you.

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I love rabbit trails. I learned a new word the other day speaking of rabbit trails. You're really going to rabbit trail.

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I've never heard of this word before although it's very easily understood, cherubic.

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Cherubic, angelic. I thought it was my Cherona, cherubic.

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Jesus said, so that you may be sons of your father, but he's talking about loving your enemies, who is in heaven for he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

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And so Jesus there talking about what we would term common grace, how God is showing his love of creation, his love of what he has made.

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And he gives rain and sun and health and taste buds and intimacy and success and all kinds of things to unbelievers and part of his common grace is also the restraint of sin.

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Not everyone is as bad as they could be. That's right. I mean, when we see evil in the world,

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I mean, evil does exist and we go, that is someone really acting fully according to their nature.

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You know, we just recently passed the anniversary for 9 -11. When we see something like that, we go, okay, there is someone who was acting as evilly as they could possibly act.

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But by the grace of God, most of us, even apart from salvation, don't act as badly as we could.

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That's true. So here on No Compromise Radio, when you hear the word total depravity, we do not mean total in the sense of extreme, turned all the way up, as bad as you could be.

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Rather, we mean total with regards to the mind, the will, the emotions, everything that makes you a person.

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You are totally unable, maybe total inability, as some theologians say, it's better.

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Total corruption that you have been in Adam for the fall. He is your federal head, therefore you're a sinner.

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And also you have added to that by your own personal sin and you are depraved to the extent that God would call that total depravity.

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Good, and that's question number one. Now, we're gonna have a nine -part series today, but we don't have to do every question.

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So let's just try number two, though. So see, Randy's just our launching point. This is Cape Canaveral, and then off we go.

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All right, when we say that every person is totally depraved, we mean that no one is able to do good, even in the estimation of other people.

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True or false? That is false again. I mean, even there's this great big hoo -ha debate about the

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Ground Zero Mosque and Imam Rauf and all that, and people say, well, he's a good man. Well, in the estimation of other people, he may be a good man.

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If you set the standard low enough, everybody's good. If the standard is simply, well,

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I don't steal, I don't kill anyone, I'm basically an honest person, well, then everybody's good in that sense.

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Especially when you think of the bell curve theology that's out there, you find somebody who's not as good as you are, and you think, okay, well,

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I'm better, and therefore, that's the way God sees me. I like to think of this bell curve theology,

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Steve, as what I'll call Dr. Robert Thomas theology. And Dr. Robert Thomas was and is a professor at Master's Seminary, and he would give a quiz every day in New Testament Introduction, as you know by experience and you know by both kinds of oida and gnosis.

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Yes, I was blessed by those quizzes. Yes, and Dr. Thomas would have maybe five or six questions, and many times,

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I got zero out of five or six. And then I was so hoping to have other students share with me, and I would want them to also be theological miscreants, and I wanted, you know, misery loves company, and so I wanted other people to do poorly so I would be in the crowd.

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Well, even if every other person got zero out of six and got an F for the quiz,

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Dr. Robert Thomas would not change his standards. No, he would not, because he did not grade on a curve.

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And similarly with God, his curve is infinite righteousness, infinite holiness, infinite justice, and we cannot compare ourselves with God because if, excuse me, with other people, because if we do, we will not notice our need for a

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Savior. I'm quite convinced, Steve, that until people understand the depth of their sin, the nature of their sin, and who they sin against, they'll never give any thought about having a

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Savior like Jesus Christ. Well, I had somebody ask me once, you know, why is it that your church is not, you know, giving books to poor kids in school, you know, because that's what

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I do kind of thing, and it's because they value something as good.

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They see something as good, and it may be good, but it doesn't erase the issues of total depravity, and it's not,

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I digress, but it's not really what the church ought to be about doing that sort of thing. Well, Steve, wouldn't you say it's true that if somebody gets convicted of murder, they're standing before the judge during sentencing, and then the judge says to the murderer, who's been convicted by a jury of his peers, and the evidence is there, they've got him on video surveillance, and the judge says to the murderer, would you like any last words?

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Would you like to express regret to the family that's here? You know, why should I be lenient in my sentence?

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And then the murderer says, well, I am true that is a murderer, but I don't think you should judge me on that.

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I was really nice to my mom. I cut her lawn. I actually stood in line and didn't cut when

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I was getting my prescriptions refilled. I gave some books to some of the kids down at the school there for the after -hour

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English class, and I say yes or no, sir. I helped old ladies across the street.

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I always drove the speed limit. I wouldn't block traffic by...

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Nevermind. See, you're doing what I do. We just get off track. Okay. Number three.

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So how are you doing out there in total depravity land? I think they're probably doing pretty well.

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Yeah, I think they're two for two. Yes, two for two. Because they're all good. God helps those who help themselves.

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Preach it. When we say that every person is totally depraved, question three, true or false, we mean that sinners do not truly have a will.

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Well, let me think about that. They do not have a will. I'm going to have to say that's false. What was that robot's name?

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That robot's name? Danger Will Robinson. Danger Will Robinson. It was Robot. Was it?

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Yeah. No, it wasn't. That was the name of the robot in Lost in Space? Yeah. You've got to be kidding me.

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Who was Will Robinson? That was the kid who owned the robot or spent the most time with him.

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He was the robot's little buddy. Little buddy. Well, that robot also had a twin that we never really met because it was backstage in case

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Will Robinson's robot got destroyed. And his name was Free Will Robinson. Well, that was a long setup.

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Sorry, that wasn't the robot's name. But when people are diagnosed with the terminal condition of total depravity, do they just walk around and puppet -like, robot -like, non -emote?

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What do they do? Well, when they're diagnosed with total depravity, that's just the normal state of man, but they have a will.

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They make decisions. They're fully capable of making decisions. They just make them in accordance with their nature.

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So not having a new nature, everything they do is displeasing to God. I mean, what does the

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Bible say in Hebrews? That apart from faith, you can do nothing that pleases God.

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That's right. Listen to this keynote set of verses for the doctrine of total depravity,

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Ephesians 2. And I'll only read the first one. Let's just read the first verse. And you were dead, he said to the church at Ephesus.

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They're now alive in Christ, but you were dead in your trespasses and sins.

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And so they were dead, although they were alive. What does that mean? They were walking, talking, feeling, sinning.

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Making decisions. All kinds of things, yes. But they were dead in their nature, dead to God.

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They were not alive to God. They were numb and dead and did not want Him at all. But like Steve said, they still had a will.

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But remember this, No Compromise Radio Land, for once and for all, that the will and the nature cannot be separated.

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You will make decisions based out of your nature. And whatever you please to do, you will do, according to Jonathan Edwards.

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And he's right. What the nature pleases, the will does. And we're talking about not the decision to say

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I like coffee or tea, although that has some interesting ramifications. You only do what you please there as well.

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But we're talking about ability to make a decision to do something with your will that says,

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I hate my sin and I now love Jesus. Can people do that on their own? No. I mean, if we could, then

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Jesus might say something in John 3, like, you must choose to be born again.

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He never says that. The Bible is not a multiple choice option.

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God's salvation has a distinct flavor to it. And that flavor is God -centered.

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Would you say that God then likes these quizzes if the multiple choice thing is out?

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Is this true false thing okay? He loves them. Question number four.

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So in review, you do have a will if you're an unbeliever, but that will is bound to sin.

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It's enslaved. And that's why you need somebody who's greater than your bound, enslaved will.

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And his name is Jesus, who has a perfect will that always does what the Father, always pleases the

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Father and what the Father wants. And that's why the New Testament talks about sinners being set free, being freed from bondage and these kinds of images, because as an unsaved person, you are enslaved, you are ensnared, you are in chains, as it were, to sin.

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And isn't it interesting, Steve, that as your doctrine of total depravity becomes more biblical, your thankfulness that God would save you from such a state increases.

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Right. I mean, if you chose God, then you're like, you know what, I did a pretty good thing when I did that.

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It was one of the best decisions I ever made. And when you realize what your true condition was, you just think, man,

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I was going totally the wrong direction but God intervened and changed everything.

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I mean, we were down on the bottom of the ocean, not somehow trying to come up with our own idea of escape, but we were basically shark food.

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Weren't we? We could do nothing. Chum. We were chum. And that's no doofus doctrine either.

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The chum, we could have a little acronym, CHUM, C -H -U -M. The chum of depravity.

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Choice, no. Humanism, no. Umbrage, yes.

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I don't even know where you're going with. Okay. All right, no, no, no, it's my turn.

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I say these things and you respond and then I correct you when you're done. Nein, nein, nein, falsch, falsch, falsch. You can tell this is fun radio.

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This is WVNE at its best. And I'm pulling the strings. I mean, Alistair Begg, John MacArthur, R .C.

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Sproul. Yeah, you can listen to the theological giants or you can listen to us. Number four, when we say that sinners are totally depraved, and we do say that, we mean that God is not pleased with even the best and most upright actions that they can perform.

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That he's not pleased with even the best and most upright actions they can perform.

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Well, I mean, again, I think we get into Hebrews. I knew you were gonna do that. I just wrote that down. You've already talked about Hebrews.

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Hebrews 11. That's right. And I think it's maybe about verse six and it talks about without faith or apart from faith, let's get the exact translation.

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See what ESV says. Let's see how well they translate it. I'm a little, you know, a little mild here. ESV will either do it perfectly or they'll do it.

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And without faith, it is impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

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Well, so, you know, I mean, maybe it's a bad translation. Maybe it should be, and without faith, it is unlikely that you will please him.

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A slim chance that you will please him. No, it says impossible. Apart from believing in Christ, you cannot please him no matter how good what you do you think is.

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Yes, Father, I know that you have loved your son. I know you have granted to him a mediatorial access to you and that he's the great high priest and he's the sacrifice as well.

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He is the instrument by which there's been all of creation made. He is deserving of glory, laud, and honor, and so are you.

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But, you know, we don't really care about him. We're gonna do other things that make you feel good.

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And we know that you've told us honor the son and therefore honor the father, but we have other ways to do that.

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And that's being good and that's being a social activist and that's helping the poor people. Can you imagine how foolish that is?

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You can do nothing good until you first bow the knee and honor the father by trusting the son.

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I mean, it really is like making an offering of strange fire before the

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Lord, you know, that somehow we're going to do other than what we were instructed to do and God's gonna be happy with that.

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And isn't that the nature of sin? I am my own God, as SOS Johnson would say,

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I am the God to me. Yeah, well, I mean, can you imagine? I mean, let's just put it on a human level for a moment.

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Let's say, you know, as a child, you know, your dad asked you to go out and mow the back lawn and you go outside and, you know, you do something else.

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You move some trees or, you know, some wood around or whatever, and you go, well, you know, I didn't do the back lawn, but I did move that pile of lumber from there to there.

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You think your dad's gonna go, great job, son. Love that. Yeah, I hate your son with a holy passion and try to kill him on a regular basis, but my arms are too short.

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Yet, I don't lose my patience when I stand in line at Walmart when it says 10 items or less and the person in front of me has got 11.

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Blessed art thou among men. Today has been introductory quiz on total depravity.

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Your homework assignment is to read Ephesians chapter two and Ephesians chapter four and no compromise, listeners, you will find very quickly that man is depraved and that your only hope is this risen savior who by his goodness and kindness laid down his life for sinners like you.

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That's how you can tell real love is when God lays down his son in a total depraved person's place like yours.

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And so we wanna encourage you to believe and take God's word for it. And he raised him on the third day and it's only by believing in his finished work that we can please

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God in anything that we do. We just can't make our own standard. We have to go with God's standard.

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Info at nocompromiseradio .com. See you next time. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE its staff or management.