All right, well, chapter six. I'm just gonna read the first section. That's the only one I plan on talking about anyways tonight. God created humanity upright and perfect. He gave them a righteous law that would have led to life if they had kept it, but threatened death if they broke it. Yet they did not remain for long in this position of honor. Satan used the craftiness of the serpent to seduce Eve who then seduced Adam. Adam acted without any outside compulsion and deliberately transgressed the law of their creation and the command given to them by eating the forbidden fruit. God was pleased in keeping with his wise and holy counsel to permit this act because he had purposed to direct it for his own glory. So, I always like to remind us of this whenever we move into a new chapter, just toss out the order of the confession. I know we've talked about it a lot, but the fact that it begins with the scriptures, then moves to our belief about God and the Trinity, and then talks about God's decrees to create, and then it talks about creation, and then, of course, providence. There's just this logical flow of thought, and now, since we've talked a lot about in the decree, and even in creation, and in providence, we've talked about the fall, Now we're gonna get to, really, the fall and sin. If you remember in chapter five, the last chapter we just did, these words were there. The almighty power and searchable wisdom and infinite goodness of God are so thoroughly demonstrated in his providence that his sovereign plan includes even the first fall and every other sinful action, both of angels and humans. So then this passage we just read almost repeated that, right? Right at the end. And so this thing continually confirms itself and the more you go through it, it's amazing how consistent it is and how it's like a building block. You know, you can always, you might be middle of the confession and you can go back to the first three chapters or so and find how it props itself up. And so I always like just to keep pointing that out because it's important. But now we look at this specifically the fall That first phrase, God created humanity upright and perfect. And again, I point you back to chapter four because we had this discussion where it says, after God had made all the creatures, he created humanity. He made them male and female with rational and immortal souls, making them suited to the life lived in the God for which they were created. They were made in the image of God, being endowed with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. They had the law of God written in their hearts and the power to fulfill it. Even so, they could still transgress the law because they were left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject to change. So it's important, I just read that, because it's important to remember all that. Because we talked about humans were created, well, we talked about in righteousness, and we had that long discussion about what that meant, and here it says they were upright and perfect. And I think, No matter what those words themselves actually mean, which they are important, but humanity was created the way God wanted them to be created, and they were able not to sin. And they were able not to die. And they were able to obey or disobey, right? And that's what the confession is going through great pains to point out. And of course, we know because of the fall, And what Romans 5 especially says about the sin of Adam being passed down to all of us, we are not in this same state. And I don't believe that Jesus' death on the cross reset this and put us all back in the garden where now we can not sin and not die. Because we are dying, right? We're all gonna die. And of course, we know that faith in Christ changes all that and makes it as if we never sin and we will never die. Um, but it's just important to keep that in mind. Um, but it is, I think, good to see that this is what God says. He created humanity and our confession holds us up. He created them upright and perfect. He said he created them. He said they're good and they're perfect. Not in the sense that God's perfect and they're righteous. Not in the sense that God's righteous because only God is, Perfectly and eternally all those things, but they were perfect in the way that God wanted them to be and they were upright They had no sin and they had the ability not to sin But It says he gave them a righteous law that would have led to life if they had kept it but threatened death if they broke it Now this is why I said we're gonna talk a little bit about covenant because I and especially the next chapter, but there's a lot of debate here. What's really going on in Genesis chapter two, and we're gonna look at Genesis chapter two, but where it says, God gave them a righteous law that would have led to life if they kept it, but threatened death if they broke it, right? We refer to this as the covenant of works, but a lot of people don't believe there's a covenant here. They don't think that that's what was going on. God didn't make a covenant of works, with Adam and Eve, but of course we believe that they did because all the components necessary for a covenant are there. Really, there's three components. A stipulation, a promise, and a threat. So, if we look at Genesis chapter two real fast, That's where our confession points us back to Genesis 2. This is where this covenant was put into place. Chapter 2, the confession points to 16 and 17, but I think we should go back to 15 and start there. The stipulation, the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it. I think that's part of the stipulation. They were to work it and they were to keep it. And the Lord commanded the man saying, you may eat of all the tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, right? So there's the whole stipulation. Here's this garden. You have to work and tend it. And if you don't, I mean, But here's the main part of stipulation. And you can have of everything out here except this one tree. You have to abstain from this. Do not eat of it. And then here comes the threat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die, right? And then people will say, well, OK, but there's no promise there. But I think, one, there's some things that have to be assumed. If you eat of it and die, then obviously that means if you tend the garden and don't eat of it, then you're going to live, right? So I don't think it, you know, you'd have to be able not to think logically to not see that. Also, the whole idea of the tree of life and the presence of the tree of life that was in the garden, we got to assume, and we talked about this some when we talked about this before, we assumed that if they would have just tended the garden and never eaten of the fruit that was forbidden because they already were keeping everything, every law that was in their heart, they were keeping. But then this one positive law, this one stipulation, do not eat this tree. If they would have continued to be not sinful and did what God said, then we assume they would have partaken of the tree of life and lived forever, right? I think that's what later the discussion within the Godhead says, now they're like us, lest they partake of the tree and live forever. So that's why we do believe there is a promise there. And also, there's several places, one place in particular in the New Testament, where there's just very strong wording that if people, if one can keep the law, of God that gives you life, right? And this was the words of Jesus in Matthew 19 and 17. That coffee dried out my mouth and my tongue is sticking to the roof. You want some water? No, that's good. I already drank too much water. Where is that? Did I say 17? And Jesus said to him, why do you ask me about what is good? There's only one who's good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments, right? So there's just plenty of implication that this definitely was a covenant. This is the covenant of works. I mean, this is what God instituted for mankind. Stipulation, the promise of life, but the threat of death if they broke it, right? Does that make sense? That's why we call it the Covenant of Works. If Adam would have done what he's supposed to, then we assume he would have achieved eternal life and live forever. Right. That's right. And I'm trying to think what's that word, the suzerainty well, which came along later, but it's still kind of that a being of super authority makes a covenant with someone of lesser authority, and there's both sides of the covenant. I mean, I think I talked about this Sunday, the beauty of the covenant of grace is that really, Abraham doesn't have a side. He's supposed to have a side, but he doesn't, because God took, God walked the middle Sacrifice and he took everything upon himself and swore upon himself as Hebrew says Growing up I would hear the argument. Well if I was in the Garden of Eden I wouldn't have seen him. Adam was created sinless, but with the ability to sin. Yeah, and the ability not to sin, which we don't have. We have the ability to sin, for sure. Right. I may have ever seen Hosea 6-7. Yeah, read that. But like Adam, they transgressed the covenant. There they dealt faithlessly with me. That's saying that there was a covenant with Adam. That's exactly right, yeah. Now some people will try to say, oh, with Adam there, that's the name of a city. Yeah. Or what translation? Hosea 6-7. My Bible's calling it the Edenic covenant. Edenic covenant, yeah. Same thing. The Edenic, because it's with Adam, and it's the covenant of works. They do that with Adam. What's that, Hosea 6-7? Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of, like I say, there's a lot of, I guess, argument around that passage, but it seems pretty clear. I mean, even some people that we would probably respect the writings of, Right. So John Murray, he didn't agree that this was a covenant. Well, it just seems when you take that there was a covenant of works, well, there was a covenant of redemption, and then a covenant of works, and a covenant of grace, man, it just puts the whole Bible together. And you've got to deal with how does the new covenant fit into that? which again, that takes us back to the study of covenants, but yeah, I don't know how, and like I said, I never heard about this growing up. Nobody ever talked about it, but when I started reading and studying about it, I was like, why would we not talk about this? I mean, it makes so much sense because when you get to New Testament, you're reading Romans chapter five. If that wasn't a covenant, I mean, then what was it? I mean, why are we all sinful like Adam If he didn't represent it, I mean, it just makes so much more sense. Well, and the truth is, not everybody, but a lot of people who denied this being a covenant of words, they deny that because they don't want to accept what all that would then mean about us being totally dead and depraved in our sin. Because you can go back and say, well, that wasn't covenant. and Christ repaired what was in the garden, so now we can, yeah, and now we can choose, yeah. We can choose like Adam could. Because you have to, yeah, Pelagius. And I've seen people have pushed, and you asked, do you believe that it's possible for a human to be sinless? And people, if they're going to be consistent, they'll say yes. They'll say, I don't think anybody is, but I think it's possible. But if you accept this as a document of work, they're going to be singing Mary, Did You Know in a minute. I know they are. That or Frosty? All right. So it keeps going. Yet, even though they were created in the state they were created in, they did not remain there long in this position of honor because Satan used the craftiness of the serpent to seduce Eve, who then seduced Adam. But they didn't stop there. The writers of our confession keep saying, keep going. Adam acted without any outside compulsion. and deliberately transgressed the law of their creation and the command given to them by eating the forbidden fruit. So there's even a little hint in this, I think, of showing a lot of grace to Eve because Adam is totally responsible. Eve was seduced and tricked. Adam didn't even have to be seduced and tricked. That's basically what they say. Adam just did it. He did it willingly, deliberately, transgressed, and I think that's I think that's consistent with how the Bible paints it, that, hey, Adam tried to blame Eve, but God blamed Adam. It's kind of like, I know this is not true, but I'm going to believe it anyway. Yeah. That's right. Oh, me. So God was pleased in keeping with his wise and holy counsel to permit this act, because he had purposed to direct it for his own glory. We had talked about this before. And again, I point you back to chapter five, because it says the same thing. That God had determined that he would use the fall, and it was going to be part of his decree. We talked about that when we looked at those big words there for a few weeks, about when did God decree the fall. But what we determined that no matter what you believe, what order he decreed it in, he did decree it. And it is part of his decree, and it is part of his plan. And I think at the end of the day, all we can do with that is bow in awe of it, that I don't know how it works. I mean, there's a lot of words been written about why evil exists, why did God do this, why did he allow it. And I have a difficult time seeing the difference in saying God allowed it and he decreed it. I mean, if it's allowed, it's because it's been decreed. And so I do understand the second causes that a lot of evil and wickedness that happens is because of the second causes. So because of the way God decreed mankind and the world in the fall, he's not responsible for the evil acts that men do, but he decreed that men are able to do evil acts. And then he used those evil acts to for his own good and for his glory. But I can't explain all that. I like that the confession doesn't try to spend a lot of time spinning its wheels there. It just kind of lays the fact out there. He purposed to direct it for his own glory by his holy council. And they used that phrase to permit this act, which was, I mean, he does permit the fall because he decreed it. Anyways, we'll keep going through this. But this is what I was talking about. Let's read this part two and then we'll be done. You know, this moves us on into Romans 5 in the New Testament. But by this sin, our first parents fell from their original righteousness in communion with God, and we fell in them. And through this, death came upon us all. and all became dead in sin and completely defiled in all capabilities and parts of soul and body. And that last sentence is just a definition of depravity. What is depravity? It just means that we are dead and completely defiled in all capabilities and parts of soul and body. It doesn't mean we've sinned in no absolute worst way that anybody could ever sin or even that we can sin or we sin worse than anybody else. It just means that every bit of us is completely defiled. And I mean, that's why we need Christ. And that's why we need redemption. And it's when I struggle when people hear this and read and think through it and still don't believe that depravity is a biblical concept because, well then what? I mean, what about you did Christ not need to redeem? What part of you did not need redemption? And I think most people would say, oh, all of me. Okay, well then everything about you is defiled. Even your decision making is defiled. your capabilities of believing, all that's broken and defiled and needs redeemed. And of course, I know I don't have to convince all that, but it's important to point it out. Any part of that you want us to discuss? we were totally depraved, then everything else has to fall into place in the doctrines of grace. Because once you're totally depraved, you can't do anything. But because he kind of called himself like a possible three-pointer, which I'm like, that only works the best for me. doors for false doctrine. Absolutely. Well, and you have to do something with the fact that the Bible says we are dead in our sin and trespasses. Right. And what I've seen done with it, even when I was in seminary by a very prominent former Southern Baptist president, he said, dad doesn't mean dead like you've been really dead. Yeah. It's kind of like Christ wasn't really, when he was crucified, he wasn't really dead. You know, he was. Creation wasn't really Well, and they have to, you end up going back and doing something again, kind of like what I think Pelagius did, which was, well, the cross changed something. Yeah, we were dead, but because Christ died, now it's almost like he made it so we're able to choose, which is kind of, at least semi-Pelagian, that we've got a disprovenient grace sorta, that because Christ died now, We were dead in our sin, but we've been raised at least enough to make this decision. And that's the thing that kills me. You're always trying to get it back to it's about your decision instead of God's. But if you go down that road, then that really changes salvation in the Old Testament as well. Yeah, absolutely. Well, it just changes the whole. To me, and I think you're right. The reason I'm saying this, I believe you're correct. Think total depravity. If you really understand total depravity, you can't deny the rest of it. Because there's no other way that you can be brought to life and regenerated. And you have to deal with that. Without an outside source. Yeah. And even your ability to believe and make a choice had to be instigated and you had to be given life. Corinthians is very clear the first chapter of 1st Corinthians, or maybe the second chapter dead Carnal people cannot understand the things of God. They're spiritually discerned So you got at least be made spiritual now unless you're gonna believe that some way God regenerates people makes them spiritual gives them eye to see I see and ears to hear then they got to make a choice and I just think you're starting to add things that aren't in Scripture anywhere But You know, we still call people to faith in Christ and call them to believe and call them to repent and tell them to decide on Jesus because you've got to make a choice. But we know that they're not making that choice. It's just like saying, I can tell I can tell anybody Jesus loves you. They'll either believe that or not. I mean, if they're if they don't believe in God, they don't believe that. I don't like saying that, but I wouldn't be mad if I hear somebody tell random people, Jesus loves you. I mean, that's either going to matter to them or it's not. But I didn't see the apostles doing that. I don't see Jesus ever doing that. God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that whoever believes in him would not perish. Yeah Yeah, because that's right Which is an interesting point because you can say that what do you think? Yeah, your choice is not gonna send you to hell you're already going But, I mean, like I say, when you're doing evangelism and you're just talking to somebody about faith in Christ, you just tell the gospel. meeting with people to make decisions before it's too late. Because he knew that the only people who would really hear are going to be those that God's wakening up to. On the flip side, you also have Jonathan Edwards, who most scholars believe he delivered sinners in the hands of an angered God, almost in a monotone voice. There wouldn't have been a lot of has been very just delivered and matter of fact. He probably read. He probably just read it. Right. But yet the second grade, the first grade awakening sprung from that. And so it's the word that has the power. It's the gospel that has the power. The delivery method is not as important as the message itself. And that's the problem with non-communist is they believe that there's a double predestination, but they also believe that we come kicking and screaming against our will, and we don't have any free will, but our will would never accuse Christ, and so. Yeah, and that's just a misunderstanding of what we believe, and it's not accurate at all. Right. But like I say, yeah, which we know. Like I say, a lot of things I didn't agree with.