HOW
DID WE BECOME SINNERS?
"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." Romans 5:12
By
the sin and fall of our father Adam, we all suffered a threefold loss of righteousness.
And until righteousness is recovered and restored to us, we can never be
accepted in the presence of the holy God.
1. WHEN ADAM SINNED IN THE GARDEN, MAN LOST
HIS RIGHTEOUS NATURE. Man before the fall was much more than an innocent
creature. He was holy, righteous, good and well-pleasing to God (Gen. 1:31).
But after the fall man was guilty, sinful, corrupt, repulsive to and condemned
by God. And that which was true of fallen Adam is true of all the fallen sons
of Adam. Every faculty of man's being is corrupted, defiled, twisted and
deformed as the result of the fall. We lost all natural, moral, spiritual
goodness in the fall. Fallen man has a perverted heart, corrupt will and vile
nature. There is no righteousness, goodness, or possibility of goodness in any
of us by nature. In our flesh "dwelleth no good thing".
2. IN THE MOMENT ADAM SINNED WE ALSO LOST
ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS IN GOD'S SIGHT (Rom. 5:19). Because Adam sinned, he was
put out of the garden, separated from God. And we, being made sin, are by
nature separated from God (Isa. 59:2). Man is so far separated from God by sin
that he cannot, of his own will and by his own works, return to him (I Tim.
6:15-16). Unless God himself intervenes to bridge the gulf between himself and
fallen man, we must be eternally separated from him in hell. Having broken the
law by sin, we have no legal righteousness, no legal grounds of acceptance with
God.
3. AND FALLEN MAN HAS NO
UNDERSTANDING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (Rom. 10:1-3; Isa. 64:6). When man had righteousness
before God he understood that he had it only by the gift of God in creation.
And he never gloried in his righteousness. But ever since he lost
righteousness, man has thought he has righteousness, pretended to have it, and
boasted of it as a grounds of acceptance with God. He even attempts to cover
his nakedness in sin by the fig leaf apron of his own works, and expects God to
approve of his deeds. (Gen. 3:7; Luke 18:11-12).
GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH of DANVILLE - GRACE FOR TODAY RADIO
MESSAGE #591
2734 Old Stanford Road - Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438
Donald S. Fortner, Pastor -Telephone 606-236-8235 - Email grace@mis.net