when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the
spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.3 All of us also lived among them
at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and
thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.4 But because of his great
love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,5 made us alive with Christ even when we were
dead in transgressions\u2014it is by grace you have been saved.6 And God raised us up with
Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,7 in order that in the
coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his
kindness to us in Christ Jesus.8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith\u2014
and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God\u20149 not by works, so that no one can
boast.10 For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which
God prepared in advance for us to do.

One of the things that goes along with working through our
confessions and the testimony is that you sometimes find yourself
spending a lot of time dealing with the same topic as you work
your way through a section.

This is where we find ourselves right now as we deal with the topic
of sin and our fallen nature. Now this isn\u2019t a problem because in
our reformed theology we have a very heavy emphasis on our sin \u2013
we believe that it\u2019s only when we understand the depths of our sin
that we can truly appreciate the richness and the beauty of grace\u2026

The difficulty \u2013 however \u2013 is that when we tackle the topic of sin
over a longer period of time \u2013 what we hear over and over again is
just how sinful we are. That people are fallen and bad and horrible
and wretched.

And the by-product is that we begin to feel some tension\u2026some
resistance to the theme because we\u2019re these fallen and bad and
horrible and wretched people. This topic holds a mirror to our lives
and we\u2019re confronted with our own sin\u2026

But even then \u2013 it doesn\u2019t seem quite right\u2026I mean, aren\u2019t we
supposed to see some sort of filthy, broken monster when we look
at that mirror\u2026devoid of any redeeming qualities\u2026

I don\u2019t think so \u2013 and that\u2019s where the discomfort and the tension
come from when we talk about sin \u2013 because we understand the
theoretical rightness to our theology of sin \u2013 but a practical
wrongness when we think about ourselves and our brothers and
sisters\u2026

This brings us to our conversation this evening \u2013 again about sin \u2013
and what I\u2019d like you to notice right off the bat is that in our
testimony what we say about sin is not that it\u2019s who we are right
now\u2026

This is a common theme that we find in storytelling, in literature,
and in movies\u2026the examination of who a person is when they lose
something that defines them.

For example \u2013 Superman 2 \u2013 the one from the 1980 with
Christopher Reeve. In this Superman movie what we see is
Superman deciding to give up his powers in order to marry Lois
Lane \u2013 no faster than a speeding bullet \u2013 no leaping higher than tall
buildings\u2026

what would the world be like without him\u2026and that\u2019s the movie\u2026
we find out that in his heart he retains his goodness and
character\u2026but without the power there\u2019s something less\u2026

Now that\u2019s the same discussion that we have when we consider
sin\u2026we don\u2019t have superpowers but we do have amazing grace\u2026
and when we talk about sin we\u2019re really talking about who we are
without it\u2026

We find out that apart from grace we are guilty sinners \u2013 guilty
because we have transgressed God\u2019s command in the garden of
Eden \u2013 guilty because we bear the judgment for what we\u2019ve done \u2013
sentenced to death \u2013 Paul tells us \u201cdead in [our] transgressions and
sins.\u201d

It tells us we fail to thank God\u2026we step out of that relationship\u2026
we think upon ourselves as the provider and creator of all things\u2026
the constant message of Scripture is that when the people stop
thanking God \u2013 they\u2019ve usually replaced God \u2013 with something
else or with themselves\u2026

We confess that we break the Law of God\u2026we do the things that
we\u2019re not supposed to do and we don\u2019t do the things that we are
supposed to do\u2026apart from grace we lie and we steal and we cheat
and we lust and we covet\u2026forget about the 600 or so laws that the
Hebrews held to \u2013 we Gentiles can\u2019t even keep 10\u2026

We ignore our tasks \u2013 now I\u2019m not talking about church tasks here
\u2013 again this is apart from grace \u2013 we ignore what God put us on
earth to do \u2013 as caretakers and stewards of the creation \u2013 people