The Gospel Project
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
Session 5 — Recap
• Main Idea: God’s Law for Life
1. God has set a moral standard that expresses His
character
2. God’s law teaches us how to relate to God and others
3. God asks for complete obedience, which is why we
desperately need His grace.
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• Introduction
1. Physical Leprosy
2. No feeling is not a good thing!
3. Spiritual leprosy
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• Introduction
• Spiritual Leprosy
• “More horrible than physical leprosy is spiritual
numbness—the inability to recognize our sin and how it harms
us and the inability to recognize God’s grace and how it
benefits us. Sin sears our consciences, leading us away from
life—in all its beauty and complexity. The end result is spiritual
death.”
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• Introduction
Three Main Points
• 1. Disobedience cuts us off from the Source of life.
• 2. Our best efforts to fix ourselves are in vain and for
our vanity.
• 3. Out best desires are insufficient to change us.
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• 1. Disobedience cuts us off from the Source of life
(Eph. 2:1-2; Rom. 6:23)
•
1And
•
23For
you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2in which
you once walked, following the course of this world,
following the prince of the air, the spirit that is now at work
in the sons of disobedience —
the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• 1. Disobedience cuts us off from the Source of life
(Eph. 2:1-2; Rom. 6:23)
1. We are dead in our trespasses and sins
2. How does this “spiritual deadness” manifest itself?
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• 1. Disobedience cuts us off from the Source of life
(Eph. 2:1-2; Rom. 6:23)
• How does this “spiritual deadness” manifest itself?
• spiritual deadness =
suppressing the truth of
general revelation + special revelation
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• 1. Disobedience cuts us off from the Source of life
(Eph. 2:1-2; Rom. 6:23)
1. We are dead in our trespasses and sins
2. How does this “spiritual deadness” manifest itself?
• General Revelation
– Nature
– Our experience of the world around us
– History
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• 1. Disobedience cuts us off from the Source of life
(Eph. 2:1-2; Rom. 6:23)
1. We are dead in our trespasses and sins
2. How does this “spiritual deadness” manifest itself?
• General Revelation
• Special Revelation
– History of God’s redemption story
– The Bible
– Work of the Holy Spirit
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• 1. Disobedience cuts us off from the Source of life
(Eph. 2:1-2; Rom. 6:23)
1. We are dead in our trespasses and sins
2. How does this “spiritual deadness” manifest itself?
• General Revelation
• Special Revelation
3. Our disobedience is offensive and rebellious.
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• 1. Disobedience cuts us off from the Source of life
(Eph. 2:1-2; Rom. 6:23)
• “Like a naïve person in Chinatown paying top dollar for a
“genuine” Rolex, our suppression of God’s Word has
made us spectators in the marketplace of sin. We have
become comfortable trading in counterfeit currency—so
comfortable that we are unable to recognize the voice of
God apart from His gracious intervention.”
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• 1. Disobedience cuts us off from the Source of life
(Eph. 2:1-2; Rom. 6:23)
1. We are dead in our trespasses and sins
2. How does this “spiritual deadness” manifest itself?
• General Revelation
• Special Revelation
3. Our disobedience is offensive and rebellious.
4. “The Wages of Sin”
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• 2. Our best efforts to fix ourselves are in vain and for
our vanity (Isa. 64:6)
•
6We
have all become like one who is unclean, and all our
righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade
like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• 2. Our best efforts to fix ourselves are in vain and for
our vanity (Isa. 64:6)
• “There is a common thread that runs through all of our
pain and all of our suffering…unworthiness. Not feeling
worthy enough to own the life you were created for. Even
people who believe they deserve to be happy and have
nice things often don’t feel worthy once they have
them…Your being alive makes worthiness your birthright.
You alone are enough.” - Oprah Winfrey
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• 2. Our best efforts to fix ourselves are in vain and for
our vanity (Isa. 64:6)
1. The problem is sin.
2. Every faculty is impacted by sin.
• Our heart is corrupted. (Jeremiah 17:9)
• Our mind is corrupted. (Titus 1:15-16)
• Our will is enslaved. (John 8:34)
• Our desires are perverted. (Proverbs 21:10)
3. We cannot save ourselves
1. Guilt
2. Shame
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• 2. Our best efforts to fix ourselves are in vain and for
our vanity (Isa. 64:6)
• The Gospel offers hope in Christ! (2 Cor. 5:21)
•
“That means that God treated Jesus as though he committed every sin that
was or will ever be committed, by every person, who would ever believe when
in fact he committed none of them. Hanging on the cross he was holy,
harmless, and undefiled. Hanging on the cross he was a spotless lamb. He
was never for a split second a sinner. He is holy God on the cross. But God
is treating him, I’ll put it more practically, as if he lived my life. God punished
Jesus for my sin, turns right around and treats me as if I lived his life. When
God looks at the cross, he sees you and when he looks at you, he sees
Christ.” - John Macarthur
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• 3. Our best desires are insufficient to change us (Rom.
3:10-12)
•
6We
have all become like one who is unclean, and all our
righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade
like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• 3. Our best desires are insufficient to change us (Rom.
3:10-12)
1. George Robinson’s story.
2. There is healing for spiritual leprosy!
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• Issues (What?!)
•&
• Implications (So What?)
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• Issue #1 – The Purpose of Evangelism
1. We are commanded: “19Go therefore and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to
obey all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am
with you always, to the end of the age.” - Matthew 28:1920
2. The Gospel should be lavishly shared with all!
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• Issue #1 – The Purpose of Evangelism
• Two results of calling sinners to repent & believe:
• 1. Salvation
• 2. Judgment
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• Issue #1 – The Purpose of Evangelism
•
14But
thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in
triumphal procession, and through us spreads the
fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15For we
are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are
being saved and among those who are perishing, 16to
one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a
fragrance from life to life. - 2 Cor. 2:14-16a
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• Issue #2 – Sanctification & Best Efforts
• 1. Attempting to earn God’s approval is futile
• 2. Sanctification is enabled by the Holy Spirit
• “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so
now, not only as in my presence but much more in my
absence, work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and
to work for his good pleasure.” - Phil. 2:12-13
Session 6 — Numb to the Word
• Implication — We need to be fighting sin
• “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” - John Owen
• How do we fight sin?
• Abide in Christ (Jn 15:4)
• Abide in the Word, His Truth (Jn 17:17)
• Abide in the Church, His Body (Heb. 10:24-25)
• Abide in Prayer, His Presence (Phil. 4:6-7)
Session 5 – God’s Law For Life
• Q&A Time!