00:00:00.000All right, listen guys, I get it. Many of you are unable to financially support this ministry
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00:00:42.200Jesus said, man cannot live on bread alone, but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of
00:00:47.300God. You're listening to Daily Truth. An unbeliever today, at the level of the heart,
00:00:54.840every intention of his heart is only evil continually that is a theologically true1.00
00:01:02.000statement and it will be true in every time in every place every culture every generation0.98
00:01:07.100that is the accurate biblical description of an unbelieving man at the level of his heart that
00:01:14.400doesn't mean that outwardly he can't do good things doesn't mean that outwardly he can't walk
00:01:18.900a sweet old lady across the street it doesn't mean that outwardly he can't even die for his comrades
00:01:23.700in a battle, in a glorious sacrificial death, you know, fighting as a soldier. It doesn't mean
00:01:29.800those things. But what it means is this, at the heart level, what he cannot do is anything that
00:01:35.380is pleasing to God. We spent probably way too much time on that principle in Hebrews chapter 11,
00:01:43.160right? Man cannot please God without faith, for without faith it is impossible to please him.
00:01:47.740Or Romans chapter 14 says anything that does not proceed from faith is sin.
00:01:53.180And I define faith week after week after week as saying to do something in faith is to do it with a reliance on God's grace.
00:02:01.260Acknowledging God's grace is the source of every good and perfect gift and and with an aspiration, a goal, a commitment to God's glory.
00:02:10.640So relying on God's grace and committed to God's glory, meaning that to do something in faith is not only, not merely to do something outwardly that aligns with the moral will of God, the law of God, but also at the inward level, your heart, your motives, you are acknowledging that you couldn't do anything if it were not for the grace of God.
00:02:31.160and the thing that you're doing you're not just trying to benefit your fellow man but ultimately
00:02:36.420you want to have your good deeds shine before men so that your ultimate aim they might glorify your
00:02:43.320father who is in heaven you're doing it with a motivation with a recognition of i can't take my
00:02:49.320next breath apart from the grace of god and everything that i do i don't want to just make
00:02:53.720the world a better place for the sake of making the world a better place i don't want to only love
00:02:57.960my neighbor. I want to love my neighbor, but first and foremost, love the Lord my God with all my
00:03:02.900heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength. Everything that I do, whether I eat
00:03:08.080or drink, let all that I do glorify God. An unbeliever cannot do that. An unbeliever can keep0.99
00:03:14.840his wedding vows. He cannot cheat on his taxes. He can love his country. An unbeliever can do a lot
00:03:20.940of good things outwardly, but he cannot do any of those things in faith with a reliance on God's0.98
00:03:28.080grace and a desire for God's glory. And therefore, anything that does not proceed from faith is sin.
00:03:34.540Without faith, it is impossible to please him. That's the doctrine of total depravity. Total
00:03:39.120depravity, just for the record, for anybody who's new to reform theology and Calvinism,
00:03:43.240if you haven't found out by now, I am a Calvinist. Now it gets a little bit confusing, right? If you
00:03:47.840stick in this church for a while you'll be I thought he was a Calvinist well I'm a Calvinist
00:03:50.980and I'm also post-millennial which kind of throws a wrench in the gears because it's like I'm really
00:03:55.120hopeful and also pessimistic at the same time so so you have to kind of work through that a little
00:03:59.560bit I think I like to call it the sweet spot the perfect balance to each his own some of you would
00:04:03.820reject it but all that being said total depravity which is one of the Calvinist points is not hear
00:04:10.380me, it is not the same as utter depravity. Total depravity is not the same as utter depravity.
00:04:18.680We do not believe that the Bible teaches that people made in the image of God, even though
00:04:23.540that image has been tarnished by sin, even though man apart from Christ is fallen, even though every
00:04:29.440single element of his being, his reason, his conscience, his moral compass, every single part
00:04:37.180of him. He, even his flesh, his body in a physical capacity, everything has been marred by sin. But
00:04:42.700we believe that the curse of sin, that it tarnishes the image of God, but it does not utterly destroy
00:04:48.360the image of God. So that a vestige of the image of God remains not just for the Christian, but for
00:04:53.900all people, all people, man, woman, adult, child, black, white, Christian, non-Christian are created
00:05:01.500in the image of God. The imago Dei. The image has been tarnished, but the image still remains
00:05:08.040intact. And because of that, people are not, as image bearers of the living God, even under the
00:05:14.040curse of sin, people are not utterly depraved. Totally depraved, yes. Utterly depraved, no.
00:05:21.440Utter depravity, what's that? Utter depravity is you are doing as much outward evil. At the level
00:05:26.980the outward manifestations and behaviors and actions and not just thoughts or feelings or
00:05:31.860intents or motives, but outwardly in speech and deed, you are doing as much evil as you possibly
00:05:39.740can all of the time. Not just every intention of your heart, but every action with your body
00:05:47.060is as much evil as you possibly could all the time. That's utter depravity. We do not hold or
00:05:53.840affirm a doctrine of utter depravity when it comes to our anthropology, our view of man.
00:05:58.860We do, however, hold to what I believe is a thoroughly biblical doctrine of total depravity.
00:06:05.240Not that we're doing every outward evil we possibly can, but at the level of the heart.0.65
00:06:10.520God in his mercy is restraining our actions, but at the level of the heart, the unbeliever,0.97
00:06:17.180every thought, every intention, all of the time, continually, is bent on evil.0.99
00:06:22.640And evil specifically defined being not wanting to ever acknowledge God's grace,
00:06:28.720not wanting to ever bring him glory, which is immensely evil.