Know Your Enemy: The Flesh Examined by the Worst of Sinners | 1 Timothy 1:15

ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church

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So today, we're going to continue harmonizing and examining the flesh with its interrelated doctrines, particularly in light of what the chief of sinners himself says.

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And as you all know, or might know, that is the Apostle Paul. I want us to recall how

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John Owen explains that the physical body and its members are the seat and instrument of that corruption and depravity of our natures, of the flesh, in other words.

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It's primarily the body, the flesh. The flesh itself consists primarily of our physical bodies and members, but also includes our senses and central appetites or lusts, which also take place in our minds, right?

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And because our senses are what connect our minds to our bodies.

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So it's all connected and all of this is tied to the flesh and how it affects us.

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And this is why we still have sensual and sinful thoughts, even as believers, because of our flesh.

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And our fleshly sensual desires regularly tempt us to commit sinful thoughts, words, and actions.

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All three. So we're not exempt from any of those sins just because we're born again.

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Those are all sins that we commit and that we have to repent of and mortify because of our flesh.

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Our flesh pervades, in a sense, every part of our being.

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And also because one of the primary ways that the world and the devil attack and tempt us is through our flesh, our senses.

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So we must guard our minds and our senses. Just like the psalm says,

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I will set no vile, no wicked, no unclean thing before my eyes.

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Because if you live according to the flesh, you must and will die.

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But if by the spirit you are putting to death, mortifying, putting to death the practices of the body, the soma, you will live.

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Right? And in my previous sermon, furthermore, we saw that there is a significant amount of confusion surrounding the flesh.

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What it means and what it is and what it entails. How to deal with it.

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All those things. Even amongst influential evangelicals and church leaders.

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And I had also asserted that our physical bodies are not good.

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I mentioned that last time, which does need some explanation because we need to make proper sense of that.

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Because there are some, like Joshua Harris, who I referred to again last time, who persistently misinterpret

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Scripture to claim that our bodies are neither bad nor corrupt. That they are still good and cite passages like 1

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Timothy chapter 4. And let's turn to that passage now. 1 Timothy chapter 4, starting in verse 1.

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So in 1

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Timothy chapter 4, starting in verse 1,

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God's word says, But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith.

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They will apostatize. Paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.

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By the hypocrisy of liars who have been seared in their own conscience, cauterized, burned to a crisp.

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Who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which

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God created to be shared in with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

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For everything created by God is good. And nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.

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For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. So here we see a big sort of conundrum, right?

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This is one of the issues that we have to deal with today. Because here it says, for everything created by God is good.

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Now our bodies are created by God, right? So then that means they must be there for good.

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So how do we make proper sense of this? How do we tie this together? Or did

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I just drive us into a ditch yet again? Have no fear.

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Have no fear. The sound principles of hermeneutics are here to help us guide through this.

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So we need balance. We need balance to deal with these matters. There is no doubt that God clearly condemns asceticism here, right?

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Clearly condemns it. Because these devilish practices, these devilish doctrines claim that marriage and certain foods are themselves evil.

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That they themselves are evil. And which is an affront.

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It's an insult to God's character, right? And this should start ringing some bells.

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It's kind of similar to when we insult or undermine the power of God in regeneration.

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Because when he changes us, he makes us new creations who do good works and who are able to do good.

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So we cannot undermine his ability to change us for the better. And in the same way, we cannot undermine

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God's power to create good things. Right? Amen? So, because God himself is good, right?

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And created these good things for us to enjoy with thanksgiving and prayer.

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Now, however, many religions, like the

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Church of Rome, practice this kind of asceticism described here.

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Monasticism or monkery, to use Luther's phrase. Vigils, that's when you stay up all night.

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And, you know, fastings and flagellation, that's when you whip yourself. You know, you basically whip yourself and you cause yourself to bleed and stuff like that.

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And forbidding their priests from marrying. And these ascetic practices and others, like the sale of indulgences back in earlier days and even now, are a false form of denying the flesh.

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And they kindled and led to the Protestant Reformation itself.

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These doctrines of demons are what led to the Reformation. Martin Luther, the reformer himself, our good friend, the

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German reformer, says this. Regarding this verse, This must have been at the instigation of the devil, as was foretold by St.

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Paul in this passage, saying that there shall come teachers giving heed to seducing spirits, forbidding to marry.

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This has been the cause of so much misery that it cannot be told. And has given occasion to the

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Greek church to separate from us. And has caused infinite disunion, sin, shame, and scandal.

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Like everything that the devil does or suggests. Now what are we to do?

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Can't say amen, you ought to say ouch, right? And it gets worse here, so stay tuned.

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It gets worse. Because there is still, this is still true of Rome and her priests today.

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Many, if not most of them, are homosexuals and pedophiles.

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And perverts. And don't think that this is only happening in remote, you know, third world countries somewhere out there.

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Here's a local news headline from our local paper. El Paso Catholic Diocese releases names of 30 accused priests in church sex abuse scandal.

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30 priests that were abused in church sex abuse scandal.

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30. And that's just the ones they know about. Including David Hawley.

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Who was one of the most notorious sexual predators who wore the cloth. This is a direct quote from the article in that paper.

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Who was also part of the Boston Globe investigation up in the

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Massachusetts area. That was an investigation featured in the movie Spotlight. And just be careful with that movie because it is disturbing.

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It is not Christian, but it does have shed some light on those very disturbing reports that came out.

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From the sex scandal up over there in that area. With the Roman Catholic priests.

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And in 2018, the Las Cruces Catholic Diocese released the names of 28 clergy.

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Who were credibly accused of sexual misconduct with a minor. Pedophiles.

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The list included clergy who served in Las Cruces and were accused of misconduct elsewhere.

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Because that's what the Church of Rome would do. They start getting in trouble. We'll just ship you off somewhere else.

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We'll ship you off to another city, another state, another country. We'll sweep everything under the rug.

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Problem solved. No, these guys leave a trail of destruction.

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This is doctrines of demons. This is what Paul was talking about. Exactly what Paul foretold, like Luther said.

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This is what's happening even now. It is no wonder then that God condemns these practices as doctrines of devils.

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They fester into cesspools of perverts and perversion. Now, our other good friend, the second generation reformer,

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John Calvin, his comments on this verse are also very powerful. Still relevant and applicable for us in our day.

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He says, as soon as the purity of the worship of God is impaired, corrupted, distorted, there no longer remains anything perfect or sound.

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And faith itself is utterly ruined. The doctrine of faith is destroyed as soon as the worship of God is infected by such corruptions like these, like Rome's.

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The controversy is not about flesh or fish or about a black or ashy color or about Friday or Wednesday, but about the mad superstitions of men who wish to appease

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God by such trifles, by falsehoods, and by contriving a carnal worship of him.

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They contrive for themselves in idol instead of God because God is worshipped in spirit and in truth.

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Amen. According to John 4, 24. Not according to these lies that are the devil's lies.

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So who will deny, Calvin continues, that this is revolting from the faith.

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Strong words, but amen to that. This in part is why it is so critical for us to have a biblical understanding of man, of the flesh, of mortification, as opposed to asceticism.

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Mortification is not the same thing as asceticism. One is good, the other is bad.

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And, of course, of true worship. We must worship God according to the truth of his word.

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That is also known as the regulative principle of worship in the Reformed faith, and our confession talks about that as well.

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So then, even though God is good, and created these good things for us to enjoy with thanksgiving and prayer, and even though God condemns asceticism as doctrines of demons, and even though God initially created everything good, listen to this.

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This is the distinction that we need to make. The fall and disobedience of our first parents, of Adam and Eve, as well as our own sin, has nevertheless corrupted us to the very core of our being.

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This is known as radical depravity. We have been corrupted by sin, by the disobedience of our first parents.

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Every single part of us is corrupted, including our bodies.

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Nothing is exempt from the corruption of sin in this life.

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And we'll see more clearly this distinction in Ecclesiastes 7 .29.

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If you turn with me there to the book of Ecclesiastes 7 .29,

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here we find in the book of Ecclesiastes much of God's wisdom.

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And in this passage highlights for us an important distinction that we need to know about man.

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Chapter 7, verse 29. See, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices, many schemes.

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They've turned against God. And this is all over the Scriptures, not just here.

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Romans 3, right? Romans, Isaiah, the Psalms, Isaiah. There is none that does good, not even one.

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Not even one. Proverbs 20, verse 6. Likewise says, many a man will call out his own lovingkindness, but a faithful man, who can actually find?

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Who can actually find a good man? And let us not forget that God, speaking through Paul, the chief of sinners, refers to our physical bodies as that mortal body of sin and death.

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That is why, church, that is why our bodies are not good.

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Yes, did God create them good? Yes, He did. But our bodies are stained and corrupted by sin.

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And that is why we must put to death, we must mortify our members, like Paul says.

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And we will dig into that more later on. We must put it to death, mortify.

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Put to death what is earthly in you, right? Okay, so very important to understand that.

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Now also, when I quoted John Bradford, the English reformer,

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I had made a joke about how self -debasing he was, to the point of demonstrating a complete lack of self -esteem.

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No self -esteem. These guys sound like, wow. They sound just like Eeyore, right, from Winnie the

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Pooh. I call it the Eeyore syndrome. You know, that donkey that he's just always looking down.

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He can't ever, you know, he says, well, I was so upset I forgot to be happy.

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That's what these men sound like. They just, they sound just like this. Wish I could say yes, but I just can't.

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You know, I'm just a filthy, wretched, vile sinner. That's what these guys say.

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And what else does he say? Don't worry about me. Go and enjoy yourself.

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I'll stay here and be miserable. Man, oh boy.

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Or worse yet, worse yet, we must be careful, beloved, not to wear the attitude that John Milton's Satan wore in his famous epic poem,

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Paradise Lost. Excellent, epic, I highly commend it to you all for your reading.

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It is an excellent, excellent poem. That one in Paradise Regained as well. A little hard to read because he uses very archaic language, but it's very, very good stuff.

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Richly rewarding. The moral of the story here is do not be like Milton's Satan, okay?

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Who says in one of his monologues, me miserable, me miserable.

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Which way shall I fly? Infinite wrath and infinite despair?

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Which way I fly is hell. Myself am hell. And in the lowest deep, a lower deep still, threatening to devour me opens wide.

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To which the hell I suffer now seems a heaven. Oh, then at last relent or ease up.

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Is there no place left for repentance? None for pardon left.

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Man, that's just no amen there. That's just ouch. Right, so does that sound, doesn't that sound almost exactly like what we read from these men?

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These pastors of old. You know, John Bradford who said, the sinful

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John Bradford, a very painted hypocrite. The most miserable, hard -hearted, and unthankful sinner.

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You know, like, oh me, oh my. You know, like just so down on themselves, you know.

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Jonathan Edwards who said, when I look into my heart and take a view of its wickedness, it looks in abyss infinitely deeper than hell.

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Okay, these men sound just like Milton's devil. There's something seriously wrong with that.

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Charles Spurgeon who said, there is tender enough in the saint who is nearest to heaven to kindle another hell.

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What did the devil say? Myself am hell? If God should permit but a spark to fall on it.

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In the very best of men there is an infernal and well nigh infinite depth of depravity.

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My goodness, I think they overstated their case just a little bit. Amen. We got to really have a balance here.

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We need to check ourselves and not fall into this dangerous imbalance.

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Okay, so turn with me now to 2 Corinthians 10. 2

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Corinthians 10, verse 13. In 2

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Corinthians 10, verse 13,

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God's word says, but we will not boast beyond our measure. This is going back to the issue of self -esteem.

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We will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the area of influence which

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God apportioned to us as a measure to reach even as far as you. For we are not overextending ourselves as if we did not reach you.

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For we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ.

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Not boasting beyond our measure in other men's labors, but having the hope that as your faith grows to be enlarged even more by you within our area of influence so as to proclaim the gospel even to the righteous beyond you and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the area of influence of another.

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But he who boasts is to boast only in the Lord, only in God.

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For it is not the one who commends himself that is approved, but the one whom the

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Lord commends. The one whom the Lord commends.

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Amen. So in other words, our aim, our goal, our chief end, as the catechism says, is not self -debasement.

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It is not to beat yourself up, but self -humiliation, humility, right?

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Not self -confidence, but God -confidence. Amen? Not self -esteem, but spiritual esteem.

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Spiritual esteem. Amen. So tying all this together, we had also asked about regeneration last time.

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Does regeneration somehow affect the flesh of believers now that we are born again and new creations?

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What is the source and seed of corruption in man and the extent, the influence, the dominion, and the power of the flesh, especially in born -again regenerated believers?

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We need to be careful to not overemphasize the power and extent of the flesh in this life of believers, in the life of believers, especially those who are in our

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Calvinist tradition. Because I just quoted you a sample, and this is just a sample of men who speak like this, who overstate and go to an extreme that is just unbiblical and dangerously imbalanced.

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Because there are counterpoint bookend doctrines that balance out our understanding and warn us when we overstress one end or one doctrine over the other, over another.

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That's how we test our doctrine. We say, hey, am I stressing something too much to the point of compromising something else, the other doctrine that balances it out?

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Just like this. Regeneration with the flesh. God's sovereignty.

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Man's responsibility, right? These are bookend doctrines that balance each other out.

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And we need to correctly understand both of them so that we do not fall into error or imbalance that will lead us astray.

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So there is a tendency, a very clear tendency, in some reformed, not all, but in some reformed and Lutheran writers to overemphasize human depravity and wickedness in believers, even after they have been regenerated and converted and made new creations by God.

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So then, are we believers who are new creations in Christ really as bad as these men say we are?

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Are we really? Is there really hell in us? Are we hell? Are we?

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Is the depths of our hearts an abyss of hell?

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That describes the abyss where the fallen angels are locked up.

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Are we really that wicked as believers? And I mentioned again last

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Sunday two extreme views of regeneration, the first being instant or entire sanctification, also known as perfectionism, which was started, well, a lot of it was promoted by John Wesley.

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This has serious problems and errors because this is an unbiblical view of sin and of the flesh, right?

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It is an overly optimistic or triumphalist view of sanctification, of growth and holiness, because we still stumble, we still fall, we still sin.

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We all stumble in many ways, like James says, right? We all stumble in many ways.

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We need to be humble about that and repent. Repentance, like Luther said, the believer should be marked by repentance, marked.

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It's a lifestyle because we sin. The second extreme is the belief that Christians are forgiven but don't really change after their conversion.

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They remain wicked, perverse sinners in constant rebellion against God. And that's what we've been reading from these men, right?

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This view undermines, it really insults and mocks the power of God in our lives and implies that believers never really mature or grow in holiness.

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It is an overly pessimistic, defeatist view of sanctification.

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It's that Eeyore, right? Oh, you know, things are never going to get better, so I might as well just be miserable.

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And the men I quoted above or previously obviously lean far towards the second extreme, this imbalanced view, along with Dave Harvey, whom

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I mentioned last time. He wrote a popular book on marriage called, When Sinners Say, I Do.

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And it's highly recommended in Reformed circles, in Calvinist circles, but look at what he says.

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Okay, look at what he says. We are all the worst of sinners. He's basing this off of 1

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Timothy 1 .15. So anything that we do that isn't sin is simply the grace of God at work.

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As the worst of sinners, I should be primarily suspicious and regularly suspicious of myself.

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My heart has a permanent tendency to oppose

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God and his ways. You see, your wicked heart and mine are amazingly similar.

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They both crave vindication and excuse. They want to insist that something else made us sin, something outside of us, beyond our control.

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Aha, our circumstances, okay? I mean, boy, when

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I read this, I was so disturbed. It's like, where is the hope?

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What happened to the power of God? Is there anything wrong with the picture that they're painting of us?

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Born -again believers, he's talking about you, you, you. All of you who are known by God, he's talking about us.

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Are we really this vile and bad? Permanently opposed to God.

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What sayeth the scripture? Because on the other hand, the apostle

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Paul, the chief of sinners, himself affirms the exact opposite of what

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Harvey claims in Romans 7. Believers sin, in other words, not because of their circumstances, but because of the law of sin.

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Paul calls it the law of sin, the principle of sin. Something that is outside of the believer.

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But which works through our flesh. What does he say?

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So now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

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For I know that nothing good dwells in me.

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But what does he say? He doesn't just stop there and say, okay, well, therefore, we're completely vile, wretched sinners.

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We have an abyss of hell in our hearts. No, that's not what he says.

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He continues. It is no longer I who do sin, but sin that dwells in me. For nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh.

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Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it.

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But sin that dwells within me. Amen.

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Romans 7, 17 through 18. Paul makes it clear.

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Amen. Amen, baby. We sin is when we are born again.

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Sin becomes an external problem now because we are made good by God. We are renewed and given a new heart.

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So we are therefore good. The problem, of course, is our flesh because our bodies are yet to be redeemed.

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Our bodies are still fallen. Our bodies are still corrupt. We have not received our glorified resurrected bodies yet, right?

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That ain't happening until the resurrection. So we must still struggle with sin because of our mortal bodies.

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Remember the question that I asked you all to meditate on. When we die and we leave our bodies, do we still sin?

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Do our spirits still sin? Think about that carefully, okay?

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Hopefully, this is becoming more clear now as we continue to unpack this. So then, believers do still sin.

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But not because their hearts are wicked and vile and abysses of hell.

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But because our unredeemed bodies and our senses can still be triggered by the law of sin that takes hold of our members, physical members, our sensual, sinful temptations, which is why we are called and commanded to die daily, right?

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Die daily. 1 Corinthians 15 31. Because we have, past sense and one sense, crucified the flesh.

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Galatians 5 24, which we covered a few weeks ago, right? So let's turn now to one of the main proof texts that these men use in our key text today.

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1 Timothy 1 15. This is where we will see everything either come together or completely fall apart.

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1 Timothy 1 15. Okay, so in 1

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Timothy 1 15, the Apostle Paul says, The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom

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I am the foremost. Okay? Of whom I am the foremost, the chief, the worst, the worst of sinners.

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Dave Harvey claims that Paul here is saying, in effect,

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Look, I know my sin, and what I've seen in my own heart is darker and more awful.

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It's more proud, selfish, and self -exalting, and it's consistently and regularly in rebellion against God than anything

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I've glimpsed in the heart of anyone else. Anyone else.

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Including what? Including Hitler? Like seriously, including unbelievers who are clearly not saved?

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You're worse than them. Look, this has to make sense, right?

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Something's not adding up. Hopefully by now this is becoming more clear.

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This sounds like the description, once again, of an unregenerate, unrepentant,

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God -hating sinner. Not like a born -again, blood -bought, redeemed believer who is being actively, progressively sanctified by the

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Spirit of God through His means, so that we more and more conform unto

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His word, His law, and more and more put to death, sin, mortified, like our confession and catechism say, like the

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Word says. And what does

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Scripture clearly say? 1 John 2 .4, Whoever says,

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I know him, but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

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Didn't Jesus say, if you love me, keep my commandments? How are we going to keep

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His commandments if our hearts are perpetually in rebellion, vile, wicked abysses of hell?

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And I hope the point is...

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Can I say case closed now? Amen? You know, so how then can a born -again

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Christian's heart be consistently, regularly in rebellion against God? Especially when

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God Himself promises to sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, all of it, and from all your idols

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I will cleanse you, and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit

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I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

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I will equip you to obey me and to love me, and I will make you good.

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Ezekiel 36. Ask yourself this,

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How can we delight ourselves in Yahweh so that He gives us the desires of our heart?

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According to Psalm 37 verse 4. How can He give us the desires of our heart if our heart is perpetually rebellious and constantly desiring sin, wicked, vile, evil?

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Just like Harvey and these men claim. Okay, this is just a sample. We can keep going for weeks.

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Beloved, on how diametrically opposed this understanding is to scripture.

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Now, let's turn to the passage in context and see what we find.

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Let's read 1 Timothy chapter 1 starting in verse 12. Let's get the whole context.

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See what else sticks out for us. Because the difficulty, of course, is that Paul here is calling himself the chief of sinners, present tense.

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He says, I am the chief of sinners. So we need to make proper biblical sense of that.

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Okay, so 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12. The apostle says,

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I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He regarded me faithful, putting me into service.

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Even though I was, notice the tense, I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.

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Yet I was, past tense, shown mercy because I acted, past tense, ignorantly and unbelief.

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And the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, more than abundant, with the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

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Amen to that. Gospel promise and indicative right there. That is gospel beauty right there.

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Verse 15. It is a trustworthy saying and deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners among whom

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I am, present tense, the foremost. Yet for this reason,

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I was shown mercy, past tense, so that in me, here's why, here's why.

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So that in me as the foremost, as the chief, as the worst of them,

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Christ Jesus might demonstrate all His patience as an example for those who are going to believe upon Him for eternal life.

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Okay? So He answers the reason right in this passage. That is our answer.

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The answer is clearly there. He's simply making the point that me being the worst of sinners, in other words, if God can save me, if God can save Paul, He can save you too.

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Amen? God can save any one of us because He has already predetermined to save us and He will do so because He is an almighty, all -powerful, all -sufficient

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God. It's His work that saves us, not ours.

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Amen? So notice previously in verses 12 -14 because Paul says,

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I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He judged me faithful, appointing me to this service, though formerly

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I was. He's not saying He is still a blasphemer,

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He is still a persecutor, and He is still an insolent opponent. Okay? This is the error of the pietists, of these imbalanced men who overstress their sinfulness, their wretchedness in order to come off as pious or holy.

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Oh, I'm just a wretched sinner. Oh, I'm just so sinful. And look at me,

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I'm so pious and sinful. It's like, no, you're not. No, you're not. You are undermining and insulting and mocking

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God's power to work in your life. So don't do it.

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Don't say those things because they are not true. They are false.

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Formerly He was. And get, again, the power of, look at how many times the apostle himself says, but I received mercy.

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I received mercy three times in this passage.

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And then was shown mercy, was shown mercy all through that passage.

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And the grace of our

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Lord overflowed, overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

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What is he saying? What do we sing in these hymns?

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Grace, grace, God's grace. Right? Grace that is greater than all our sin.

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Amen? God's grace is greater than all our sin and more powerful than all our sin.

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Both before, and notice too, both before and after he says he's the chief of sinners, he says,

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I received, I received, I was shown mercy. Past tense.

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Powerful stuff. Powerful stuff. And this passage had originally given me a hard time because, again, this is the passage that people pointed to defend this view that we're just wretched sinners.

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But notice also that God promises that he will remember our sins and lawless deeds no more.

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That is a covenantal promise sealed by the blood of his son given to us and sealed by the regenerating power of God's spirit working in us.

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So. If God forgives and forgets our sins, why then did

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Paul call himself the present tense chief of sinners? It is because God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

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Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

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So Paul was humbling himself because he is saying that God's apart from God's grace, he is the worst of sinners.

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But even so, as the worst of sinners, God can save you, too, because God's power is that powerful.

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So we boast then not in ourselves and in what we can do or in our ability to keep ourselves pure, because can we keep ourselves pure?

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No, we cannot. Not apart from God and his means. Right. We boast only in the

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Lord. Right. Only in the Lord, who himself makes us clean and washes us and cleanses us from all our sin.

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Matthew Poole's remarks. He's an old, old time from the from the older, older days, post -reformation reformed commentator.

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He has very instructing and edifying remarks on this passage. Speaking. He's speaking on behalf of Paul.

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I was a great one as any other sinner. Yea, the chief

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Paul, though converted, had his former sin. He had his former sin of persecution before his eyes.

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Persecutors are some of the chief sinners. Some will have the relative of whom to refer to the saving mention of which sinners brought to salvation.

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I am the great president. Having been so great a sinner, I have been and yet received mercy.

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Amen. So he's saying again, I am the chief of sinners because I was an insolent opponent, blasphemer and aggressor.

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That's why he's calling himself that. OK, we need to understand it properly. And there are, of course, numerous, a myriad of scriptures that refute this notion of I'm just a sinner saved by grace.

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You know, wretched, rebellious, God -hating sinner saved by grace. Such as Romans five.

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If you turn with me there. Romans five. And I want us to focus our attention on the tenses.

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The tenses of the verbs. Of the verbs that we see. Of the verb to be.

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OK? Was, is, now. Romans five.

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In Romans five, starting in verse eight. God's word says.

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But God, those two words by themselves are worth meditating on.

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Because he is saying something previously there. But God. Yes, are we sinners?

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Yes. But God shows his love for us. In that while we were, past tense, were still sinners.

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Christ died for us. Since therefore we have now, present tense, been justified by his blood.

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Much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

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Future tense. OK? So how much more does the blood of Christ justify us?

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To the point where we are now no longer sinners. That's what

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Paul is describing here. But wait. It gets better. There's more than that.

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OK? Continuing on in verse ten. For if while we were enemies.

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We were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Past tense. Much more now.

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Much more now. That we are reconciled.

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Present tense. Shall we be saved by his life.

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More than that. However, we also rejoice in God. Through our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Through whom we have now, present tense, received reconciliation.

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Fully. For as by the one man's disobedience. Adam's sin.

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We were made. The many were made sinners. So by the one man's obedience. The many will be made righteous.

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OK? And countless other passages. Clearly distinguish. Sinners from saints.

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Or the righteous from the wicked. There are countless passages that you can check out the notes. Afterwards.

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Everywhere from Psalms one five. Psalm one five. Proverbs eleven thirty one. And thirteen twenty one to twenty two.

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Ecclesiastes chapter nine verse two. Matthew nine verse thirteen. Mark two seventeen.

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Luke five thirty two and fifteen seventeen. John nine thirty one. Romans three seven.

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First Peter four eighteen. I can go on and on and on. And that's apart from all the other verses that we covered.

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OK? So let's get ready to close out this message with. A passage that we covered on last time.

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Second Corinthians chapter five. We have to. We have to keep in mind. What God.

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Emphasizes. In these. In his word. In these teachings. Yes we were sinners.

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Yes we. Were vile wretched and evil. But. Much. More. Now. We are justified.

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We are. Blood bought renewed saints. Amen. So let's. Bring this home.

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With second Corinthians chapter five. And verse sixteen. We read.

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So from now on. We regard no one according to the flesh. As unbelievers do according to worldly standards and values.

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Though we have known Christ according to the flesh. We no longer know him in this way.

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We are no longer wretched sinners. That way. Therefore. If anyone is in Christ.

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That is. Grafted in. Joined to him by faith in him as savior.

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He is. Present. Tense. A new. Creation.

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Reborn. And renewed. By. The Holy Spirit. Of God.

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The old things. The previous moral. And spiritual. Wretched fallen.

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Hell bound condition. Has what. Passed. Away.

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Done. Away with. It is. Done. No longer. A reality.

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But. Behold. Look. And.

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See. Behold. New. Things. Have. Now. Come. In. Its.

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Place. Because. Spiritual. Awakening. Brings us. A new.

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Life. New. Desires. New. Lifestyle. New. Peripetal.

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Like. 1st John. Describes. For us. This. Passage. Along with several others.

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Like I've listed. Clearly teaches us. That there are major. Obvious. Noticeable.

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Tangible. Internal. And. External. Differences. Between. Unbelievers.

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And. Believers. The righteous. And the wicked. Sinners. And. Saints.

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Between. Old. Man. And. The. New. Man. Now. I don't want to give us the impression.

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That all the reformed guys were this bad. Right. That they said bad stuff like this. And even the men I quoted are very good.

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They're generally very sound. But there are just. Sometimes we lose our balance. Okay. Anybody.

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This can happen to the best of us. We have to be very careful. But I will. Mention. One.

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That really took me by surprise. Samuel Rutherford. Samuel Rutherford.

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Who lived from 1600 to 1661. Unlike the other Christian men of the past that I quoted.

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This man was a Scottish Presbyterian pastor. And Westminster divine.

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That's an old word for theologian. He participated in the drafting of the Westminster confession.

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And the catechism. The shorter and larger catechism. And in the Westminster assembly.

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This man appears to have a better, more careful, more discerning grasp of what and where the seed of corruption truly lies in our lives.

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Okay. Look at what he says. In one of his letters. Sin. Sin.

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Sin. This body of sin and corruption embittereth and poisoneth all our enjoyments.

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Oh that I were where I shall sin no more. Now that.

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To that we can say amen. Right. This is good theology.

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This is sound doctrine. Because here this man is identifying the corruption lying where?

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This body of sin. It's our bodies of sin and death.

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Our mortal bodies that are the problem that we have to still deal with in this life. It's not that our spirits are our problems or that our hearts are the problem.

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It's our mortal bodies that we need to put to death. Amen. Amen. Good stuff.

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With that excellent teaching from Brother Rutherford here, let's go ahead and close out with prayer.

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Our gracious, precious Lord and heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your heavenly blessings that you have blessed us with in everything good that you have given us,

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Lord, through your son Jesus Christ and our union with him, Lord, as blood -bought saints who have been made good and renewed in our nature and in our hearts that you have renewed in us,

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Lord, and recreated in us, Father. We are so grateful for the reality, this new reality that we enjoy as saints, as good creations that you have remade and continue to remake and continue to work out our salvation in with fear as we do so in fear and trembling, knowing that you are the one who works in us and will bring us to perfection on the day of the

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Lord when he comes to make us perfectly whole and righteous and glorified when he gives us our new precious, glorious bodies like his body,

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Lord. We thank you so much, Father, for your blessings. We ask that you bless those who are going to be baptized today and that you would bless the testimony of our lives,

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Lord. Help us to be what you have described in your word, to recognize that and renew our minds accordingly, to know that you have saved us and you have made us new creations and that we now therefore live a life that pleases you, a life of sacrifice, a living sacrifice,

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Lord, as your word says, that pleases you in all things, Father, even when we sin, we know now to repent, we repent and we mortify and we put to death,

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Father, we confess our sins and we seek to be restored with those whom we've sinned against and with those whom we have.

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And first and foremost, with you as well, to be reconciled properly, Lord, we thank you, almighty, gracious God and heavenly

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Father. We approach your throne of grace as we get ready to participate in the Lord's Supper as well and we ask these things in Jesus' almighty, precious, heavenly name.

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Amen. sermons and ministries such as Semper Reformanda Radio and Thorn Crown Network Podcast, please contact us at thorncrownministries .com.