Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / From Creation to Corruption Msg 1122 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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From Creation to Corruption Msg 1122 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Philosophers can be terribly confusing. What they call deep and profound,
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  Speaker 1: we often feel is sort of dull and vague. One
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  Speaker 1: wag put it best. Philosophers are people who talk about
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  Speaker 1: things they don't understand, but they make it sound like
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  Speaker 1: it's your fault. Well, not always. Not always. Sometimes they
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  Speaker 1: are amazingly on target In fact, they have a way
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  Speaker 1: on occasion of saying something so succinctly that you can't
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  Speaker 1: think of a better way to put it. Like the
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  Speaker 1: age-old axiom, wherever there is a thing, there must have
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  Speaker 1: been a preceding thought. And where there is a thought,
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  Speaker 1: there must have been a thinker. Take the place where
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  Speaker 1: you sit right now. Just look around. It reflects thought.
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  Speaker 1: Someone had in mind that someday in the future you'd
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  Speaker 1: be sitting there. And whatever his title or whatever his
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  Speaker 1: training or hers, the goal in mind was to somehow
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  Speaker 1: cause you to feel comfort and to be more relaxed
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  Speaker 1: where you're sitting. And so there was planned a design
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  Speaker 1: that would make it possible for you to sit where
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  Speaker 1: you're sitting And for you to enjoy the setting in
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  Speaker 1: which you find yourself. The thing that you enjoy is
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  Speaker 1: the seat that you're sitting in. And as you look around,
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  Speaker 1: it reflects thought, which since there was thought there, there
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  Speaker 1: had to be a thinker. Or take a walk with
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  Speaker 1: me out into the out of doors and let's look
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  Speaker 1: at some cars. Let's find a new one. And while
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  Speaker 1: you're standing there admiring the beauty and the sparkle of
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  Speaker 1: that new automobile, let's imagine my walking up to you
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  Speaker 1: and saying, you know, there are folks who believe that
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  Speaker 1: this car is the result of someone's design, but I
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  Speaker 1: know differently. Let me tell you what really happened. Many,
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  Speaker 1: many centuries ago, iron and glass and rubber and plastic
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  Speaker 1: and fabric and leather and wires came up out of
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  Speaker 1: the ground. And each substance fastened itself in the right
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  Speaker 1: place to another substance and holes evolved just at the
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  Speaker 1: right places. And then both suddenly, not suddenly, it took
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  Speaker 1: a long time, found themselves threaded. And there were nuts
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  Speaker 1: that were also threaded to match the threaded bolts. And
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  Speaker 1: gradually everything sort of screwed up tightly in place.
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  Speaker 2: And.
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  Speaker 1: Amazingly, the upholstery sort of wove itself together and by
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  Speaker 1: and by there were seats in front and back. And
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  Speaker 1: you see these towers? They became round over the years
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  Speaker 1: and they found themselves the right size metal wheels and
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  Speaker 1: they sort of popped on and they filled themselves with
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  Speaker 1: air and it began to roll down the street. And
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  Speaker 1: one day, many, many years ago, centuries really, Some people
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  Speaker 1: were walking and they found one of these things under
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  Speaker 1: a tree. And somebody looked at it and thought, how amazing,
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  Speaker 1: let's call it an automobile. And you know what? These
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  Speaker 1: little automobiles have an amazing way every year of changing
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  Speaker 1: to meet the demands of the public. That's really called
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  Speaker 1: auto mutations. And in the process of time, each year
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  Speaker 1: they begin changing. to become more and more adept to
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  Speaker 1: where we live. Right about now you would want to
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  Speaker 1: disengage yourself from my presence, wouldn't you? You probably would
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  Speaker 1: like to call my wife and ask if I've been
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  Speaker 1: feeling well lately. I would be called a lunatic if
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  Speaker 1: I believe that auto's evolved. The auto is the thing
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  Speaker 1: and it reflects thought. And for there to have been
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  Speaker 1: thought given to the design of the automobile, then there
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  Speaker 1: must have been a thinker. The amazing thing about all
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  Speaker 1: of this is multiply that by hundreds and hundreds of
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  Speaker 1: times and you find yourself in touch with the universe,
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  Speaker 1: which God said he made. In fact, he was bold
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  Speaker 1: enough to say in the first sentence of the Bible,
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  Speaker 1: he created the heavens and the earth. Only ten words
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  Speaker 1: in the opening sentence of our Bible, representing only seven
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  Speaker 1: words in the Hebrew Bible, and yet that sentence has
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  Speaker 1: become a watershed of controversy. Because people far more brilliant
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  Speaker 1: than we have cultivated the idea that really it wasn't created,
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  Speaker 1: it was the result of, and then we're off into
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  Speaker 1: the theories and imaginations of man. And they believe that
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  Speaker 1: so firmly that skeptical scholars, when they are read Genesis 1,
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  Speaker 1: verse 1, respond as one, I quote, the verse may
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  Speaker 1: be characterized as a veritable treasure house of myths. And
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  Speaker 1: a reputable geologist, another man of letters, responds, the statement
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  Speaker 1: is a joke, an absolute impossibility. Now, why? Why? Why
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  Speaker 1: would bright minds, why would brilliant men and women who
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  Speaker 1: have paid their dues in the educational circles of our
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  Speaker 1: world come to the creation of a world where And ultimately,
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  Speaker 1: verse 27, the creation of mankind and reject it. After all,
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  Speaker 1: there are people of research and scholarship and facts. They'll
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  Speaker 1: tell you they don't believe in blind chance. They don't
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  Speaker 1: accept such things. Things have a reason. And wherever there
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  Speaker 1: is a reason, there must have been a reasoner. But
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  Speaker 1: when they come to the universe and mankind who fills it,
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  Speaker 1: it's just too much. Can't be created. Why? Well, I
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  Speaker 1: think perhaps it's simply too simple. Secondly, it requires in
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  Speaker 1: their minds the belief in a thinker, a supreme being
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  Speaker 1: greater than they. And it is a leap in the dark,
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  Speaker 1: as it were, too great a chance to embrace such
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  Speaker 1: a thought. But it's at that very point I find
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  Speaker 1: those who deny creation so illogical. The existence of our
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  Speaker 1: world and mankind defies all mathematical calculations of chance. This
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  Speaker 1: was driven home to me in a book entitled Man
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  Speaker 1: Does Not Stand Alone. A. Cressy Morrison wrote the book.
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  Speaker 1: noted scientist and former president of the New York Academy
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  Speaker 1: of Sciences. In it, he gives a marvelous illustration to
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  Speaker 1: talk about the mathematical calculations of chance involved in a
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  Speaker 1: universe like ours. And I quote, if I were to
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  Speaker 1: take 10 pennies and mark each one with a number,
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  Speaker 1: one to 10, and place them in your pocket, I
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  Speaker 1: would ask you to give your pocket a good shake.
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  Speaker 1: If I were to reach in and pull out penny
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  Speaker 1: number one, I'd have a one in ten chance of
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  Speaker 1: doing so. I'd put the penny back, and for me
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  Speaker 1: to reach in your pocket and draw out penny number two,
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  Speaker 1: I would have a chance in a hundred. Putting the
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  Speaker 1: penny back, if I were to reach in and draw
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  Speaker 1: out penny number three, my chances would jump from one
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  Speaker 1: One to a thousand. One in a thousand. If I
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  Speaker 1: were able to continue doing the same in successive order,
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  Speaker 1: right up to number nine, do you know what my
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  Speaker 1: chance would be by the time I got to number
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  Speaker 1: ten and pulled it out of your pocket? One in
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  Speaker 1: ten billion. If I did it, you would say, the
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  Speaker 1: game is fixed. My answer, you're right, and so is creation.
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  Speaker 1: It's fixed. It's fixed. Now, my interest isn't in defending creation.
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  Speaker 1: My interest is simply in declaring the creation of man.
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  Speaker 1: Reading it from what the scripture says, going far back
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  Speaker 1: into the misty flats of those earliest hours of time,
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  Speaker 1: we come to that epical moment when God, having made
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  Speaker 1: all the other things in their kind, made mankind. If
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  Speaker 1: you have your Bible open to Genesis 1, you will
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  Speaker 1: see a repeated phrase. Verse 11, after their kind. Verse 12,
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  Speaker 1: after their kind. Again, verse 21, after their kind. 24,
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  Speaker 1: after their kind. And 25 mentions twice, after their kind,
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  Speaker 1: after its kind. Meaning what? Meaning according to each individual species,
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  Speaker 1: in keeping with each distinct kinds of flesh or types
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  Speaker 1: of material or matter. In other words, in God's mind,
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  Speaker 1: there were categories created. These great chunks of creation are
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  Speaker 1: spelled out in quick order in Genesis 1. And each
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  Speaker 1: one has a distinctive about it. It's according to its kind.
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  Speaker 1: The fowls of the air and the fish of the
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  Speaker 1: sea and the beasts of the field. Each one according
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  Speaker 1: to its kind. In fact, 1 Corinthians 15 says that
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  Speaker 1: very thing. when according to its kind it was created.
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  Speaker 1: Hold your place right here in Genesis and look at
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  Speaker 1: 1 Corinthians 15, verse 39. It's terribly important that you
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  Speaker 1: look at this verse, comparing it with Genesis 1. 1
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  Speaker 1: Corinthians 15, 39. We'll look back and forth on a
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  Speaker 1: couple of occasions, so hold both places. All flesh is
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  Speaker 1: not the same flesh. But there is one flesh of
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  Speaker 1: men and there was another flesh of beasts and another
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  Speaker 1: flesh of birds and another flesh of fish. It's a
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  Speaker 1: different texture. It's a different makeup. It's a different kind.
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  Speaker 1: It's a different species. And you can't mix them together
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  Speaker 1: and maintain a position on creation. Not only the Old
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  Speaker 1: Testament stating it, but the New Testament reaffirming it, in
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  Speaker 1: spite of the theories you have imbibed in your education.
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  Speaker 1: Each one has its own kind. Now, verse 45, 1
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  Speaker 1: Corinthians 15. So also it is written, the first man,
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  Speaker 1: ha protos anthropos, The first in the category of mankind,
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  Speaker 1: ha protos anthropos. The first in mankind species. The first man, Adam,
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  Speaker 1: became a living soul. The last Adam, that would be Christ,
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  Speaker 1: became a life-giving spirit. Now, back to Genesis 1. Look
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  Speaker 1: at verse 26. He's created all the other things. And
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  Speaker 1: now he comes to that epical moment when he creates mankind.
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  Speaker 1: Then God said, by the way, it's very interesting in
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  Speaker 1: the philosophical axiom I quoted earlier. It works in reverse
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  Speaker 1: order here. First is the thinker. And God said, that's
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  Speaker 1: the thinker. Here's the thought. Let us make man in
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  Speaker 1: our image. You see the Godhead speaking with one another.
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  Speaker 1: Our image, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Let
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  Speaker 1: us make man in our image according to our likeness.
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  Speaker 1: That's the thought. Verse 27 is the thing God created man. Interestingly,
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  Speaker 1: where there is a thing, there must have been a
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  Speaker 1: preceding thought. And where there is a thought, there must
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  Speaker 1: have been a thinker. In this case, the thing is man.
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  Speaker 1: Forgive me, but for the illustration were things for a moment.
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  Speaker 1: The thing is mankind because there was a thought from
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  Speaker 1: God who said, let us make man in our image.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, the man will be unlike anything I
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  Speaker 1: have created. No other created being has a heart to
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  Speaker 1: love me. No other created being has a mind to
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  Speaker 1: know me. No other created being has a volition to
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  Speaker 1: obey me. No other creation has a destiny of eternity
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  Speaker 1: like this creature will have. We'll make him distinct. He
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  Speaker 1: will have the image of God stamped on him. There
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  Speaker 1: will be a capacity within this creature to love and
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  Speaker 1: know and obey me. And so the thinker acted and
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  Speaker 1: he created mankind. I noticed some things about this creation
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  Speaker 1: that seem important even to today. First, I observed that
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  Speaker 1: mankind is unique because this species is the only one
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  Speaker 1: created in God's image after God's likeness. Second, I noticed
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  Speaker 1: that this mankind species is superior. No other creature was
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  Speaker 1: told to rule over anything. Verse 26, however, states this.
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  Speaker 1: Let mankind rule rather to trample down, to dominate, to master,
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  Speaker 1: to prevail over. Those are strong words. This creature will
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  Speaker 1: dominate the world in which he finds himself. It isn't
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  Speaker 1: wrong to go to the moon. It's wrong not to.
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  Speaker 1: It isn't wrong to use the resources of this world.
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  Speaker 1: It's wrong not to. Not to abuse, but to use.
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  Speaker 1: It isn't wrong to take charge of the creatures that
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  Speaker 1: live on this world, not to abuse them, but to
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  Speaker 1: control them. It's wrong not to. Mankind is commanded to
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  Speaker 1: rule over the world in which he is placed. It
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  Speaker 1: goes all the way back to Genesis 1, 26. And
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  Speaker 1: it's repeated again in 1, 28. After the fact, verse
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  Speaker 1: 28 says, God blessed them. Look carefully. He blessed them.
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  Speaker 1: And he said to them, be fruitful and multiply and
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  Speaker 1: fill the earth. And again, he repeats, subdue it and
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  Speaker 1: rule over the fish of the sea and the birds
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  Speaker 1: of the sky and over every living thing that moves
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  Speaker 1: upon the earth. Now, here was man told to reproduce
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  Speaker 1: and told to rule. In fact, chapter 2, verse 15,
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  Speaker 1: he's told to keep a garden beautiful. The Lord God
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  Speaker 1: took the man and put him into the Garden of
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  Speaker 1: Eden to cultivate it and keep it. Work isn't a curse.
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  Speaker 1: Work is that which was created in a context of innocence. Now,
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  Speaker 1: the anxiety of dealing with people is a curse. The
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  Speaker 1: sweat that comes to our brows because of the wrongdoing
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  Speaker 1: of others and our own selves, that's the curse. But
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  Speaker 1: in a context before there was ever sin, work was created.
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  Speaker 1: The earliest occupation was landscaping. It was horticulture work. It
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  Speaker 1: was to make the garden, to keep the garden beautiful,
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  Speaker 1: to maintain it, to cultivate it. And man was given
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  Speaker 1: one negative command. Now that's amazing. Listening to the liberals today,
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  Speaker 1: you would think that God is absolutely out to lunch.
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  Speaker 1: I mean unfair, brutal if he comes down on man.
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  Speaker 1: He's continually negative it seems. Not so. He had one
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  Speaker 1: negative command. The tree of the knowledge of good and
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  Speaker 1: evil that was in the garden. Verse 17. The tree
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  Speaker 1: of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.
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  Speaker 1: For in the day you eat from it, you will
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  Speaker 1: surely die. Interesting how the Hebrew words it, dying you
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  Speaker 1: will die. I suppose we could make that walk on
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  Speaker 1: all fours if we pushed it. Dying spiritually, the moment
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  Speaker 1: you eat, you will begin to die physically. Would Adam
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  Speaker 1: and Eve live forever had they not taken of the tree? Yes, indeed.
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  Speaker 1: And because they took of the tree of the knowledge
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  Speaker 1: of good and evil, they introduced to this world of
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  Speaker 1: ours death. and all that precedes it in the way
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  Speaker 1: of disease. But this was a non-negotiable command. Don't eat
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  Speaker 1: of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter 3 is familiar to most Bible students. Certainly it
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  Speaker 1: is as it relates to the temptation in the garden,
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  Speaker 1: and its culmination is at verse 6. Look at chapter
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  Speaker 1: 3 of Genesis, verse 6. When the woman saw that
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  Speaker 1: the tree was good for food... and that it was
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  Speaker 1: a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was
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  Speaker 1: desirable to make one wise. Now look carefully. She took
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  Speaker 1: from its fruit and ate. And she gave also to
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  Speaker 1: her husband with her, and he ate. Circle the words,
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  Speaker 1: she took from its fruit and ate, and her husband
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  Speaker 1: with her ate. That's where the trouble began. Up until then,
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  Speaker 1: there was innocence coursing through the bloodstream of mankind. There
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  Speaker 1: was a constant communion with their creator. There was the
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  Speaker 1: blessing and delight of walks with God, of the joy
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  Speaker 1: of his presence. There was an other person awareness and
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  Speaker 1: there was no self involved. But at this moment, depravity
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  Speaker 1: entered the human bloodstream. Depravity intercepted innocence and maintains its
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  Speaker 1: control over our minds, which are now veiled and clouded,
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  Speaker 1: our emotions, which are fragile, our wills, which are rebellious,
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  Speaker 1: Instead of loving God, we fight with him. Instead of
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  Speaker 1: believing what he says, we reject his truth. Instead of
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  Speaker 1: wanting to do what he would have us do, we
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  Speaker 1: delight in doing what we want to do. And instead
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  Speaker 1: of facing it, we cover it up. It all goes
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  Speaker 1: back to this first scene. Let me show you. Verse 7.
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  Speaker 1: Then when? Immediately after they had eaten. Then what? Then
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  Speaker 1: the eyes of both of them were opened and they
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  Speaker 1: knew that they were naked. Now I think that's an
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  Speaker 1: amazing thing. I think it's amazing because it implies up
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  Speaker 1: until then they did not know which is the truth.
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  Speaker 1: They did not realize that they were existing without clothing.
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  Speaker 1: They lived in perfect innocence. They enjoyed the delights and
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  Speaker 1: intimacies of marriage. They enjoyed an innocent nakedness in the
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  Speaker 1: presence of one another. Totally comfortable, totally at ease, totally secure.
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  Speaker 1: Until now. And immediately after eating from the fruit, they became,
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  Speaker 1: get this, self-conscious. For the first time. And realizing their nakedness,
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  Speaker 1: they did the most natural human thing one can do.
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  Speaker 1: They covered up. Verse 7. They sewed fig leaves together
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  Speaker 1: and made themselves loin coverings. But their hiding isn't over.
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  Speaker 1: It's just begun. They heard the sound of the Lord
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  Speaker 1: God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
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  Speaker 1: I love that phrase. He's coming down the trail to
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  Speaker 1: meet with his creation. But he doesn't find man and woman.
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  Speaker 2: Why?
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  Speaker 1: Because the man and his wife hid themselves from the
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  Speaker 1: presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
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  Speaker 1: Notice something. As a result of becoming self-conscious, there was
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  Speaker 1: an immediate cover up and then there was a hiding
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  Speaker 1: from the creator. It still goes on today. The scene
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  Speaker 1: is different, but the principles are the same. And the
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  Speaker 1: Lord God called and said to the man, where are you?
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  Speaker 1: I don't know why, but people have the strange idea
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  Speaker 1: that God really didn't know where they were. Sort of like, Adam,
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  Speaker 1: where are you? Come on. He knew where they were.
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  Speaker 1: His question implies, why are you where you are? What
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  Speaker 1: are you doing there? You never hide from me. And
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  Speaker 1: before Adam answers, look at what he says. Where are you? Well,
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  Speaker 1: Adam does respond. I heard the sound of you in
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  Speaker 1: the garden and I was afraid. That's a new one.
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  Speaker 1: Because I was naked. That's another new one. I, I.
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  Speaker 1: He hadn't talked like that before. So I hid myself.
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  Speaker 1: God answers, who told you you were naked? Seems so
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  Speaker 1: strange to us today because we've never known innocence. Are
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  Speaker 1: you aware when you're naked? I hope to shout. You
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  Speaker 1: know every button that's missing. You know every zipper that
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  Speaker 1: won't stay zipped. You know every hole in your pants
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  Speaker 1: or in your shirt. And you are consciously and constantly
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  Speaker 1: aware of the zipper and the button and the hole.
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  Speaker 1: Every time you're in public, you can't think of anything
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  Speaker 1: but the ripped pants or the hole in the shirt.
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  Speaker 1: Or the torn zipper or the button that's pulled loose. Why?
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  Speaker 1: Because we are self-conscious creatures. Any hint of nakedness brings
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  Speaker 1: shame and embarrassment. That's why he says to Adam, who
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  Speaker 1: told you you were naked. And now before an answer,
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  Speaker 1: have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded
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  Speaker 1: you not to eat? Trouble has entered the home of
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  Speaker 1: Adam and Eve. Created in innocence and beauty, they now
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  Speaker 1: find themselves distant from the one who made them. Because
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  Speaker 1: at this moment in time, depravity, the presence of sin
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  Speaker 1: has invaded their lives. God confronts them and there is
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  Speaker 1: this unforgettable dialogue between God and Adam and Eve and
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  Speaker 1: the serpent that follows. He says, did you eat from
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  Speaker 1: the tree? And the man said, the woman whom you
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  Speaker 1: gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree.
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  Speaker 1: And I noticed how he preceded I ate with all
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  Speaker 1: of that other stuff. That's also very common. Rather than. Yes,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: guilty as charged, he says. Now, God, if it hadn't
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: been for the woman you gave me, I probably would
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: still be pure. But because of what you did and
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: she did, I ate. Then he faces the woman. The man,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: the Lord God said to the woman, what is this
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: that you have done? She said, the snake, the serpent,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: he ate. Deceived me. And yes, I ate. We will
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: do anything on earth to keep from saying I am responsible.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: No one else. In fact, we love substitutes. That came
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: to my mind when I found an interesting ad in
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: a newspaper. Something called rent a jogger. For $ 1. 95, the
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: ad promises, rent me and I will jog for you
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: at least one mile each day, weather permitting, for the
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: next year. A customer gets a suitable framed certificate attesting
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: to the world that your jogger is securing for you
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: the benefits of a healthful glow, extraordinary stamina, an exciting
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: muscle tone, and power-filled sense of total well-being. Rent-a-jogger is
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: the idea of this man, 45-year-old stockbroker from the Queens
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: in New York City, who is also the guy who
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: runs for you. Believe it or not, within several days
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: after the ads appeared, 322 people sent him $ 1. 95, which
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: more than paid for the ads. Those idiots, I can't
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: believe them. Rent a jogger. When it comes to wrong,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: we'd like to rent a center. We'll do anything to
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: keep from saying I have sinned. We'll cover up. We'll hide.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: We'll rationalize. We'll point to somebody else. We'll find a scapegoat.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: We'll do anything but say I ate from the tree.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: They finally said it. And the curse that fell has
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: left us in a desperate set of affairs. Desperate. Webster
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: says depraved means marked by corruption or evil. Perverted. Crooked.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: It's important that you understand this is an internal disease.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: You can't detect it from the outside. People don't look depraved,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: most people. Most of us do a masterful job of
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: covering up. But never doubt it, underneath, deep down inside,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: there is this disease that eats away at us and
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: creates in our thoughts, in our words, and in our actions, sinfulness.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: One theologian describes it this way. This doctrine has suffered
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: from many misconceptions. For the average person would define total
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: depravity by saying that it means that man is as
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: bad as he can be. However, if we adopt that
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: as an acceptable definition, immediately our theology is brought into question.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Because we know men who are not as bad as
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: they can be. We know many who are good men,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: kind men, generous, moral men, men who contribute much in
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: the home and in the community. Rather, and this is
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: a good word, rather, the doctrine of depravity says that
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: man is as bad off as he can be. There
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: is a vast difference between being as bad as one
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: can be and being as bad off as we can be.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: Addison Leach said it best of all. If depravity were blue,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: we'd be blue all over. Cut us anywhere and you'll
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: find blue. Cut into our minds and there's blue thoughts.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Cut into our eyesight and there are blue sights. Cut
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: into our hearts and there are blue emotions. Cut into
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: the realm of our hidden world and there is blue
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: all over us. If I could put on a screen
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: the thought life of those who are hearing this message
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: right now, pick any one of us, present speaker included,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: there would be a scandal in this place. The tragedy
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: is we don't look like it. We look good. We
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: look clean. We're among the beautiful people. I think we
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: look better than our world has ever looked physically. But
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: there's something deep within that is depraved. It's called our nature.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: That's why you can't clean up your act. That's why
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: you can't handle your lust. That's why you can't say
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: no to certain temptations. That's why you fight, fight, fight
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: with all kind of promises before God. And yet you
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: can't seem to turn it off. You can't seem to
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: keep your promises. Cain couldn't either. Born to Adam and Eve,
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: his brother followed named Abel. Cain kept the fields. His
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: brother kept the sheep. And there was a conflict between
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: the two of them because of a requirement from God.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: Cain was rejected. Abel was accepted. Cain hated his brother Abel.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: Chapter 4. Look. Verse 8. Cain told Abel, his brother,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: about it. And it came about when they were in
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: the field. Genesis 4, 8. When they were in the field,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: Cain rose up against Abel, his brother.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: His brother.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: His brother. And killed him. Why? Mentally he was veiled
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: and darkened. Emotionally he was fragile. Volitionally he was stubborn.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Spiritually he was dead. Physically he was prone to illness.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: And he took a knife and he slit the throat
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: of his brother. As he had often seen Abel kill
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: the sheep. I don't know if you watched the television
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: docudrama some time back. It was called Into Thin Air.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: It was a tragic story of a young collegian in
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: Canada who decided to go to school in the United
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: States and drove the family Volkswagen van down to Colorado,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: or that was his plan. The family was a little
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: concerned about the condition of the car and warned him
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: he may have some fuel pump trouble, and he seemed
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: secure at that problem and went on his way. But
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: the tragedy increased in that they lost contact with the boy,
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: and as time passed, it became obvious that wrong had occurred,
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: and they even ultimately realized the boy must have been killed. Indeed,
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: he was. The murderers were finally caught. And there is
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: a remarkable scene toward the end of this drama where
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: the guilty murderer sits in the office of the FBI
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: investigator and is answering questions rather calmly during this interrogation.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: And when he gets to the actual killing, it is
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: incredible how cool his remarks seem. He makes a statement.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: And so we killed him. Flashing back is the scene
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: in the van where the boy is bound and gagged
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: in the back. And you see them as they drag
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: the boy out into the snow. Back to the FBI room.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: And so we killed him. Back to the scene. One
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: man has a knife and stabs repeatedly into the chest
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: of the boy. Flashback. And so we killed him. Flashing
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: back to the scene on the slopes as they drag
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: him to a rapid moving stream and a waterfall and
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: they dump him. Red fills the whole stream and he
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: goes over the waterfall and his body floats down. Flashback.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: And so we killed him. We killed him. The worst
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: thing one can do when listening or watching such a
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: program is to say, how terrible a man and how
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: much better I am. Because in the heart of every
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: one of us is the same murder. We may not
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: stab with a knife, but we stab with our mouth.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: We stab with our thoughts. We stab with our looks.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: We stab with our actions. We kill, we murder, we deceive,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: we deny, we reject, we kick, we batter. And all
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: the while we look and cluck our tongues at a
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: man who says, so we killed him. It's only a
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: difference of degrees. But for the grace of God, I
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: could have confessed to the same thing. And so could you. Why?
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: Chapter five, verse one. This is the book of the
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: generations of Adam. In the day when God created man.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: He made Adam in the likeness of God. Verse three.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: When Adam had lived 130 years, he became the father
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: of a son in his own likeness. Look, look. Verse 1,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: in the likeness of God, that's Adam. In Adam's likeness,
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: that's Seth. When Adam gave birth, when Eve gave birth,
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: when there was the joining of the two of them
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: and the womb giving forth life, it was in Adam's likeness. Why?
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: Because depravity had intercepted. And it will never give the
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: ball back. Never. Not on this earth. In his own likeness.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: And they named him Seth. Now tragedy upon tragedy is
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: that the disease has spread. It isn't limited to the
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: Old Testament. It isn't limited to the family of Adam
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: and Eve. In fact, Romans chapter 3. Please turn. New Testament.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: First century A.D. Romans 3, 10 through 18. You will
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: read news that is as relevant as this morning's newspaper.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: You can see the sites as I read the record.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: Romans 3, 9. What then? Are we better than they?
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: Not at all. For we've already charged that both Jews
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: and Greeks are all under sin as it is written.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: Now listen to your biography as I read you mine.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: There is none righteous, not even one. There is none
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: who understands. There is none who seeks for God. All
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: have turned aside. Together they have become useless. There is
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: none who does good. There is not even one. Their
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: throat is an open grave. And their tongues, with their tongues,
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: they keep deceiving. The poison of asps is under their lips,
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: their way. And the path of peace have they not known?
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: There is no fear of God before their eyes. A
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: cartoon in a recent New Yorker magazine read, as a
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: man was watching television for a business report, closing averages
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: in the human scene were mixed today. Brotherly love was
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: down two points. Self-interest gained a half. Vanity showed no movement.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: And guarded optimism... slipped a point in the sluggish trading. Overall, really,
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: nothing changed. Why? Why? In our enlightened age, in this
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: modern America, with all of the niceties of life, what
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: do you mean nothing changed? We mean depravity is still
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: with us. In fact, Romans 5 verse 12, as through
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: one man sin entered into into the world and death
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: through sin. Note that there was a king named sin.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: There was a queen named death. Both of them rule
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: over mankind. And it says, so death spread to all
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: men because all sinned. And now here's our problem. Here's
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: our problem. We suffer from the same disease. A book
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: 20 centuries old isn't out of date. It just tells
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: us our story in ancient terms, but still true, still relevant.
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: I've talked to you about where you live and where
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: you've been living this past week. I've told you my
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: life story. We've got the disease. That's the root problem, depravity.
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: We've got another problem. That root problem yields fruit, sinfulness,
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: sinful thoughts, sinful words, sinful actions. Our problem is, furthermore,
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: there's nobody on earth who can help us. Show me
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: one person who isn't in the category of a sinner.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: And I want to go to him. I need help.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again. I was thinking
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: about that not long ago to give you some idea
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: of the depth of my thoughts. And I decided to
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: go down to the library and do some study on
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: Humpty Dumpty. I will never forget the librarian's face when
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: I said, have you anything in the research stacks on
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Humpty Dumpty? She just stared at me and I thought
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: I'd put it another way. How about the etymology of Humpty?
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: That didn't help either. But I found some interesting things.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: I found that it was never connected with an egg.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: Never an egg. That was added later. Why an egg?
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: Why an egg? I discovered that perhaps it was put
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: together by a rather creative colonial teacher in those ancient
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: days of our United States when children sat on hard
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: oak benches and learned the ABCs. Because in the age-old
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: New England primer, there was a quaint couplet, not unlike
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: Humpty Dumpty, that reads, In Adam's fall, we sinned all.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: Xerxes the Great did die alone. And so must you
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: and I. It was used to teach children the letters
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: A and X. Who knows but what some teacher thought
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: of a rhyme that would even teach more letters. For
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: after all, King Sin and Queen Death still reigned in
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: the 17th and 18th and 19th centuries. We need help.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: We need somebody to put us together again. Verse 17,
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: chapter 5 of Romans. If by the transgression of the one, Adam,
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: death reigned through the one, Adam, much more those who
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: receive the abundance of grace, this is the good part,
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through one.
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Is that good news? Is that a great message?
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: There's the one to whom you can turn. You won't
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: find anybody on earth who qualifies as a sinless sacrifice.
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: It takes perfection. That's why he was virgin born. Guarded
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: from sin. God intercepted the birth process, placed in Mary's
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: womb the embryo, perfectly designed to provide the sinless sacrifice.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: The Lamb of God who would take away the sin
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: of the world, the thinker, put together the thought. And
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: then the thing was born, a little babe in Bethlehem's manger,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: who went to the cross, having lived a perfect life,
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: and satisfied all the righteous demands of a holy God
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: against sin, when once for all, he placed them on him.
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to give you a revised edition of
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: Humpty Dumpty. Jesus Christ came to our wall. Jesus Christ
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: died for our fall. He overcame queen death. He dethroned
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: king sin through grace. He put us together again. Isn't
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: that great? That's not bad for a theologian to write
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: up something like that. The best part, he put us
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: together again. He blended us. He picked up the pieces.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: He found the mess, the scrambled eggs, and he unscrambled.
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: to put it in the terms of a philosopher, wherever
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: there is a sin, there must have been a preceding sinner.
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: And wherever there is a sinner, there must be a Savior.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: And there is. And there is. May we bow together, please?
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: Just for a moment, just for a moment. Eyes closed.
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: See the darkness inside your head with your eyes closed.
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: That's your condition spiritually without Christ. Now you can open
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: your eyes and think everything's light and cheery and beautiful
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: and bright, but the truth is you're all darkness within.
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: You need grace. Amazing grace. That would come to a
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: wretch like you and like me and forgive you. Because
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: you're lost and you're sinful. He has come and he
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: waits for you to let him in. He came to
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: our wall and he died for our fall. He came
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: to put us together again. Believe in him now. Don't
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: put this off. Right there, right where you're sitting. Don't
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: delay another minute. Say, Jesus Christ, I take you now
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: as my own. Cleanse me. Forgive me. I need you.
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: I need your grace. And he'll come. How sweet is
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: the sound our Father that saved a wretch like us.
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: We once were lost, but now we're found. We were blind,
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: but now we have sight. Thank you for Christ who
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: came to our wall and died for our fall. We
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: take him now. We reject him no longer. And we
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: come in his name for his sake.
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: Amen. The preceding message, From Creation to Corruption, was copyrighted
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: in 1985, 1987, 2005, and 2011, and the sound recording
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: was copyrighted in 2011 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: use is strictly prohibited.