"The Spirit That Dwelleth In
Us"
James 4:5
This is the universal
testimony of Holy Scripture regarding the nature of all men: "The spirit
that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy." Between the covers of the Bible
there is not a single honorable, dignifying word about the nature of fallen
man. The Word of God declares that man, by nature, is a fallen, depraved
creature, filled with and ruled by envy and lust. The spirit of humanity is
lust and envy. It is not capable of anything else (Gen. 6:2, 3, 5; 8:21; Job
14:14-16; Psa. 51:5;58:3; Prov. 21:10; Jer. 13:23; 17:9-10; Matt. 15:19-20;
Rom. 3:10-19;5:12; 8:7; Gal. 5:17; Eph. 2:3).
The history of man, as
it is recorded both in the Bible and in historical works, as well as that which
is reported in the daily media, is a history of
depravity, envy and lust. We all come from bad seed. And we all produce bad
seed. The source and cause of all sickness, sorrow, pain, suffering, and death
in the world is sin. And the source of all sin is the depraved heart of man.
Man's problem is not his environment, but his heart. Our problem is not the way
we were raised, but the way we were born.
Even the lives of God's saints, as recorded in Holy Scripture, is a
history of depravity. There is not a single man or woman mentioned in the
Bible, though loved of God, saved by God, and used by God, but what something
is recorded to show us that "the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to
envy." Noah built the ark, but he also fell in drunken stupor. Abraham had
Isaac, a child of faith, but he also had Ishmael, a child of unbelief. Moses
led
The most vivid
demonstration of man's depravity is every believer's painful awareness of his
own sin (Rom.
Don Fortner