Before we can even try to understand what God has done in Salvation, we must first truly understand our condition as human beings born on this earth. I feel compelled to at least touch on this doctrine for I believe that many Christians sometimes either forget their natural state before God saved them or they simply don’t remember being that ‘bad’ of a person before being saved. It is not that we have to dwell on our depravity, our flesh, our sin nature but to ignore or forget about it would absolutely rob our heart of joy and worship before the Lord.
To see how this all started, we have to go back to the book of beginnings, Genesis.
In Genesis 1 & 2, God reveals to us how He intended and declared all of creation to be: good. But what is good, really? This is not simply ‘good/better/best’ as Christ pointed out to the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18-30, although everyone would agree that a world without bad things happening such as death, murder or disease would be a better place. However, the word ‘good’ implies something richer and more meaningful. When God declares creation to be good, he declares it to be right-standing with Himself. Since all of creation, including Adam & Eve, declared good in his sight, there was no separation between God and man. Man, at this point, was simply created into a relationship with God. God’s intention is that man and woman would then be born and by the very nature of being born, we would have been born into a perfect relationship with our parents, with all humans and with God. In creating Adam & Eve, our original parents, God gave all humans a heart that continually worships non-stop. Ecclesiastes 3:11 declares that God set eternity into our hearts so that we would always long to worship and that we would seek out that worship in an ever-filling, ever-loving, ever-glorious, everlasting God that would fill our bottomless hearts forever and ever.
Sounds great, doesn’t it?
So what happened.
We all know the story of the disobedience of Adam and Eve: Eve was tempted by Satan into breaking the only commandment that God gave us while Adam watched and did nothing.
But let us have the Apostle Paul explain what our original parents did and because of that, what every human has been born into doing automatically:
Romans 1:18-25 (CSB) For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.
We have all exchanged the truth:
- All love comes from God
- All good things come from God
- God is our provision
- God is all sufficient
- the fullness of joy is in God alone
- the path of eternal life is in God alone
- true peace is in God
- there is no one greater than God
… for a lie:
- love can be fulfilled in created things
- good things can come from created things
- Created things can provide for me
- Created things will sustain me
- the fullness of joy comes from created things
- the path of eternal life is in created things
- peace can be found in what we do or in our situation
- that God cannot be the greatest
Adam & Eve exchanged the truth of God and exchanged it for something not God. We have exchanged God’s plan for perfect peace and righteousness and exchanged it for our own peace and self-righteousness.
With that horrific exchange, our universe is now broken. Sin, death, disease, suffering, torment, pain, anguish and hurt were introduced into our world through just one man.
And because our God is right-standing, holy and blameless, there is a cataclysmic divide between God and man because of sin.
It is God cannot stand the sight of sin and doesn’t want to deal with it, it is the very nature of God that doesn’t allow for the presence of sin.
Yet, being born of Adam, we continuously sin–in hearts, thoughts, actions, and what we fail to do.
It is by nature we are idol factories.
It is by nature we are children of God’s wrath.
Ephesians 2:1-3 (CSB) And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.
It is by nature and choice that we war against God and continuously blaspheme his holy name.
Every single person born of a man has fallen way short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23 (CSB) For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
Because of our sin nature, we cannot do good in the sight of God but we only have the ‘free will’ to continue to do sinful things.
Romans 3:10-12 (CSB) as it is written:
There is no one righteous, not even one.
There is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away;
all alike have become worthless.
There is no one who does what is good,
not even one.
For our sin nature, it is quite just for our righteous, holy, and blameless God to rightfully condemn us and rightfully take our lives and we would not be in the right for us as creation to demand from the Creator, “Why!”
Daniel 4:35 (CSB) All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing,
and he does what he wants with the army of heaven
and the inhabitants of the earth.
There is no one who can block his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?”
Furthermore:
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death
For us being born, we are destined to die.
Is there any hope for our weight of sin? Who can be so powerful enough, yet able and willing enough to save me? The world cannot. It has failed and constantly fails within itself. People cannot because they’re infected with sin as well. Inanimate objects? Are we even asking that question?
Then who can save me from this body of death? Christ Jesus is his name!