Overview:
*Our Father, Adam, sinned

(Gen 3.6,7).

Thus causing sin and a curse to pass on all men.

(Rom. 5.12; Gen 3.17-18).

Therefore all men are sinners (Rom 3.23) and

as sinners we can do nothing to please God, or to merit His salvation

(Rom 3.10-18)

This post was provided by a guest writer, James Wood, who will soon be joining us more regularly.

What God, the Authority, has to say:

All we like sheep have gone astray;we have turned—every one—to his own way;and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

- Isaiah 53.6

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,there is none who does good.  The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,to see if there are any who understand,[a]who seek after God.

They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;there is none who does good,not even one.

- Psalms 14.1-3

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands;no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave;they use their tongues to deceive.”“The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

- Romans 3.10-18

…All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

- Romans 3.23

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…

-Romans 5.12

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins

- Eph 2.1-*

We need to ponder the superiority of God as our great reward over all that the world has to offer.

If we don’t, we will love the world like everyone else and live like every one else.

So take the things that drive the world and ponder how much better and more abiding God is: take money or sex or power or popularity. Think about these things.

First think about them in relation to death. Death will take away every one of them: money, sex, power, and popularity. If that is what you live for, you won’t get much, and what you get, you lose. But God’s treasure is “abiding.” It lasts. It goes beyond death.

God is better than money, sex, power, and popularity because…

It’s better than money because God owns all the money and he is our Father. “All things are yours, and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:22-23).

It’s better than sex. Jesus never had sexual relations, and he was the most full and complete human that ever will exist. Sex is a shadow, an image, of a greater reality—of a relationship and pleasure that will make sex seem like a yawn.

The reward of God is better than power. There is no greater human power than to be a child of the Almighty God. “Do you not know that we shall judge angels” (1 Corinthians 6:3)?

It’s better than popularity. Fame is a pipe dream if you are only known by human nobodies. But if the greatest beings know you, that is a popularity of another kind. The greatest popularity is to be known by God (1 Corinthians 8:3; Galatians 4:9). And when it comes to angels: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14)?

And so it goes on and on. Everything the world has to offer, God is better and more abiding. There is no comparison. God wins—every time.

The question is: will we have him? Will we wake up from the trance of this stupefying world and see and believe and rejoice and love? And suffer?

- John Piper, via Justin Taylor

Be sure to check back for more information on the “Who is God” video!

The Bible teaches that you and I prefer creation to the Creator, therefore we get stuck in what I call the cul-de-sac of stupidity most of our lives, chasing things that do not satisfy us, have never satisfied us, and don’t really have any hope of satisfying us, but we continue to pursue them anyway. So, although we’ve had gadgets, relationships, we’ve had all these things that the world says, “this is what satisfies you,” we’ve had those things, we’ve tasted at least the first fruits of those things and they didn’t satisfy us.

And here’s the lie. Here’s the demonic, wicked, evil lie that most buy in to: that more of what we already possess that does not satisfy us is somehow going to bring us joy and happiness. Are you tracking with that? That’s the cul-de-sac of stupidity. I have this. It doesn’t work. More of what doesn’t work might work. This is where a bulk of humanity is stuck–just driving around it over and over and over again…

…This is what alienation means. We are alienated from God. We just want His stuff. And we think that His stuff will somehow fulfill us, when the Scriptures clearly say that His stuff was given to you so that you might worship Him.”

- Matt Chandler, Colossians pt. 6

April 4, 210