If You Is What You Was Series

2 Cor. 5:17

INTRO: My wife, the English teacher, shutters at the thought of me preaching a message with a title like this. However sometimes it takes a strange title to make your point and get the attention of those listening. The full title would be “If You Is What You Was Then You Ain’t”. This is the first of a THANKSGIVING SERIES leading up to Thanksgiving. It is an attempt to prepare our hearts with gratitude so we can be thankful.

ILLUS: While sitting in the waiting room at the VA Hospital those waiting witnessed a man who was being refused treatment. Evidently the man had been in the military but not received an honorable discharge and his records showed that he did not qualify for VA benefits. He was refused treatments on the basis of his record that disqualified him. Likewise the unbeliever should not expect to receive the benefits of heaven because of their record as well. A record that disqualifies them from heaven and the glories of God.

I. THE OLD CREATURE

A. Sinner From Birth - All of Adam’s race has been given a part of his curse. His cures came upon himself and all his descendents after his rejection from the Garden of Eden. When God first created man He was pleased. Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Then sin entered the heart and life of His creation. Gen 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. What we call “The Fall of Man” took place with Adam’s disobedience.

That disobedience made a universal difference in mankind.

Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

David understood the condition of man… Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

As cute and cuddly and innocent as that newborn babe is…. The sad thing is that it is born in sin and with a need to be forgiven. Someone said, “But it hasn’t done anything wrong.” Friend it is not what you have done that makes you as sinner. You are a sinner at birth by the nature of Adam’s curse. From the time you are an infant the Bible tells us … Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf;

Paul spoke of the “Old man” when he spoke of his original nature saying …Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

B. Sinner by Choice - Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God Paul was not slack as he spoke about our willingness to sin. Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Rom 3:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. David commented on the subject as well: Ps 14:3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Isaiah even got in on the description saying: Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way Notice all the action verbs in those phrases that indicate action on the part of sinners… “are all gone”, “gone aside”, “ have turned”, “all together become.” Man chooses to sin because it is his nature to sin. The same reason a dog barks and a cat meows.

C. Sinners Regardless - There have been many attempts to correct man’s condition. When mankind thinks he can change himself and become better he uses many methods. Many self-help organizations have been established to perform just such feats. AA, Freemasonry, and Rapha’s 12-Step Program, just to name a few. All these ideas are an effort to make man’s condition better.

But all the efforts of man cannot change his nature.

2 Peter 2:22 …The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

He is what he is…. We cannot change that ourselves. Because.. “we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” We can make ourselves no better before God.