The Total Ruin of Mankind

[0:00] with I am a sinner through and through. And that is something that our world does not understand. And that is something that our world hates to hear about what it is, who it is, people, humanity.

[0:18] The truth of the scripture is that we are sinners through and through. And that's what I want to talk to you about this morning from God's precious word.

[0:31] The title of the message that I'll bring this morning, The Total Ruin of Mankind. Now, beloved, I realize that it was the woman that took the water.

[0:45] I was looking for this. Thank you, hon. Where was I? The title.

[0:57] Oh, I realize that the last sermon, this sermon, and you've got to give me one more, and they're going to be heavy. They're heavy. And I have prayed and prayed for you, even as Greg has prayed and prayed for you, that God would make this truth as precious to you as the truth of the resurrection.

[1:18] This is truth this morning. I'll show you in scripture. You won't have to take my word for it. I'll show you. But this truth is about the very negative, awful reality of the nature of human beings so that your pastors share this nature with you, and you share this nature with every other person on the planet.

[1:44] That's what we have to talk about this morning. So let me get your mind kind of in this mode by asking, as I typically do, a couple of questions. The first is something, a question, that drives at the heart of the idea that people in the world do not want to think about sin.

[2:05] They don't want to use the word sin, and they don't want for sure to locate the problem of evil in themselves.

[2:15] And so they have the idea that circumstances cause them to do wrong things, or what you and I and the Lord would call sinful things.

[2:26] It's the circumstance that I was in. It was my environment. It was the other person or people that caused me to do the wrong thing. The best they'll do is say that it was wrong, and then they'll locate the wrong outside of themselves so that now I'm a victim.

[2:44] All right, that's the world that we live in, and we understand that. Now, the deep issue with that is people who live like that don't need a savior. They just need to get their act together.

[2:57] There's a big difference between how the Bible presents the issue of sin and evil from that of how the world thinks about it and presents it, and even how they prescribe to deal with it.

[3:09] So let me ask you then the question, are sin and evil real? To the world, the answer is sin is not real.

[3:22] Are sin and evil real? All right, here's how I'll answer that for us. If you have a friend, if you have a child, if you have a spouse, if you have a co-worker, a boss, or even a mirror, you have your answer.

[3:48] Now let me ask it in a little bit different way. Where do sin and evil come from? If you have a friend, a child, a spouse, a co-worker, a boss, or a mirror, you have your answer.

[4:11] Sin comes from within, not from without. No one has ever or will ever make you do wrong.

[4:21] People don't have that kind of power. Every time you and I sin, we sin from our heart by choice. And that's a problem.

[4:34] That is a big, big problem. In fact, Genesis 3 tells us it's the problem of humanity. If we don't get this issue correct biblically, we will miss the gospel.

[4:52] That's what's at stake. That's why this is weighing so heavy on us. From last week, this week, and again, you've got to give me one more week. I will not get to the curses today. Oh boy, we're so looking forward to coming next week and hearing about the curses.

[5:08] Well, we've got to deal with that before we can get to the great, awesome, miraculous news of what God has done to remedy the problem for us. A problem we could have never solved on our own.

[5:22] You and I see sin and evil in those people I had just mentioned and in ourselves. The Bible is the single source of truth about the origin and nature of sin as a human dilemma.

[5:41] But with most people, they don't like the Bible's answer that God's truth puts sin within us.

[5:53] They don't like that. I don't like that. I don't like it when God has to reveal something about my heart. It's hard. but I have learned to see it as a great grace of Christ so that I can confess it and I can be forgiven for it and I can repent of it and I can replace it with truth.

[6:17] Otherwise, I continue to live in that sin and I hurt the people around me through my pride and my selfishness. So we need to see what God's teaching us here this morning as a grace, a kindness, an undeserved favor of the goodness of God toward us.

[6:36] Now, what I've done in the last couple of weeks, last couple of sermons, is I've given you, first of all, sin's constitution. We dealt with its nature in verses 1 through 5 of Genesis chapter 3.

[6:51] Genesis 3 is the pivotal chapter in the Bible helping us to understand the nature of sin and where it came from. Then, I talked to us about sin's consummation in verse 6, chapter 3, verse 6.

[7:07] Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food. It was a delight to the eyes that the tree was desirable to make one wise. So she took from its fruit and ate.

[7:20] She gave also to her husband with her, Adam, and he ate. And I made the point last time of letting you know that before Adam and Eve actually bit into the apple. They ate the apple with their hearts.

[7:32] They sinned in their hearts before they actually sinned with their hands and their mouths. Now, I made a big deal of that last week, so if you weren't here, I hope that you'll listen to that.

[7:44] It's very important for us to understand where sin comes from. It comes from within. Today, we're going to talk about why that's true. Why is that true? So this third idea, then, that we'll deal with today, sin's consequences.

[7:59] Now, we will not touch all of the ways that sin affects our lives, but I want to give you some of the major ideas or concepts from the passage we'll be looking at this morning.

[8:13] So if you're not there, turn to Genesis chapter 3, if you would, please, and I'm going to read the entire context of what I'll be dealing with this morning.

[8:23] So we'll go from verse 1 over to verse 13. Now, the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God made.

[8:36] And he, that is the serpent, said to the woman, Eve, Indeed, has God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?

[8:48] And the woman said to the serpent, From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.

[9:01] Now, this is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve are in a state of innocence. There is no evil within them. And the serpent said to the woman in reply to her, telling him what God had put on the probation, he went right after her, and he said, You surely will not die.

[9:21] What a lie. For God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

[9:33] Good and evil. Now, I don't know how that would be a good thing. They only know good right now. I don't know how they thought knowing evil would be a good thing, but she's being deceived.

[9:48] Then the woman, in verse 6, saw that the tree was good for food. It was a delight to her eyes. The tree was desirable to make one wise, so what did she do? She took from it, and she ate, and she gave it to Adam, and he ate.

[10:02] The eyes of both of them were opened. What do you mean the eyes? Were they closing their eyes when they did this? He's talking about the spiritual aspect of their life.

[10:14] Spiritually, then, their eyes were opened, and they knew they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves loin coverings. Verse 8, Then they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God in the midst of the trees of the garden.

[10:36] Yahweh God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? And Adam responded, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.

[10:50] That's tragic, folks. That's one of the most tragic verses in all of Scripture. And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you not to eat?

[11:02] And the man said, The woman, the woman, whom you gave to be with me, she gave to me from the tree, and I ate. Then Yahweh said to the woman, What is this you've done?

[11:15] And the woman said, The serpent, the serpent, deceived me, and I ate. Now, right off the bat, because I'm going to move into this in a little bit different way, I want to let you know that as God asked these questions of Adam, notice, who did he single out?

[11:34] Adam. As God asks Adam these questions, it's not because God doesn't know. God knows where Adam is. God knows what Adam and Eve have done. This is a way of God bringing them to accountability.

[11:48] This is a way of God drawing them out and putting them in front of him and saying, Now, we're going to have to face off with this. I know all about it, but now I'm going to ask you.

[12:00] That's what God does with us. I'll deal more with that in just a little while, but right out at the front, let's make sure that the sovereign God of the universe has given his due. God knows what's going on.

[12:11] He's not confused or taken aback. He is confronting these two people whom he made and holding them accountable for what they've done. Now, verses 7 through 13 is where we're going to focus this morning.

[12:26] Verses 7 through 13 capture the essence of sin as a sole devastating force of evil. It thoroughly corrupts what it invades.

[12:42] Please, please hear my language carefully, beloved. I've chosen it carefully. Sin corrupts in a thorough going way everything it invades.

[12:56] Sin doesn't just come in and grab a little piece of you and say, well, I've got this sin pain right here in my right shoulder and it's just kind of located. Sin permeates every part of who you are as a human being.

[13:09] Head to toe, heart, mind, soul, all of you. The actions of God in these verses reveal his compassionate, saving nature.

[13:22] And I want to try to bring that out. the actions of Adam and Eve reveal mankind's corrupt, selfish nature.

[13:34] How did that happen? Why did that happen? And what does that have to do with us today? Why, why are we connected to what Adam and Eve did in the garden?

[13:47] Now, this is where the world starts to go, yak, yak, yak, yak, yak, yak, yak. We're not having any of that. You're not connecting me to something that happened all that time ago.

[13:59] I wasn't there. I didn't have anything to do with that. That's not fair. Wah, wah, wah. That's what we do. And the reason that we do that is because we prove what the Bible is saying about us and that what we're denying is because sin lives within.

[14:20] The only reason we yak like that and don't receive it is because sin lives within. Now, beloved, I understand, I know, dear ones, that this topic is hated by the world and it's an uncomfortable topic even for us who are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone.

[14:40] But this is in the scripture and as Greg and I try to exposit the word which means expose, we do it verse by verse. We don't have the luxury of skipping around.

[14:51] I could go to verses 7 through 13 and tell you guys, you know what, I just don't feel like dealing with that today. Let's just get through chapter 3. We'll just skip that and move on. In fact, let's skip 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.

[15:02] Let's just get to 12 where he starts dealing with Abraham and we'll be fine. I could do that and I hope all of you would get up and walk out of here and never come back. I don't have the luxury of being on soapboxes.

[15:14] We preach verse by verse through the scriptures and right now we're dealing with a topic that's very uncomfortable and very real. But we need to see what this topic is all about so we can understand why Jesus had to come.

[15:28] That's what we're dealing with. Our own fight against personal sin and the evil of this world are grounded in what happened to and even more importantly what happened in Adam and Eve.

[15:44] Adam and Eve reflect who we are. So verses 7 through 13 express consequences consequences we all personally experience due to the sin nature we have in common with Adam and Eve.

[16:03] Humanity please hear this now this is the teaching of scripture humanity is one race race not races that's an invention of the world the Bible tells us we are one race we have different skin tones in that race we speak different languages in that race we live in different geographical locations we have different cultures and traditions but we are one race we are the human race each of us can trace our sin problem back to this first couple our original parents we all come from Adam and Eve so the spiritual physical consequences of this relationship to our original parents invents how each of us were there in the garden with them in heart and soul in other words beloved let me say it this way we would have done the same thing had we been there we can't we can't you know shame them boy if I had been there I wouldn't have eaten that apple be careful be careful so let me talk about these consequences with you what are the corruptive consequences of this situation of sin that we all live with from the fall when we say the fall we're talking about Adam and Eve as it were falling from this state of innocence into a state of iniquity wickedness evil sin they fell into it they walked right into it so that's what we call the fall and it's not surprising that the first consequence that I'll outline is the consequence of corruption or depravity that's another word that we use to talk about this problem

[18:11] Satan lied and he lied in a murderous way so that all of us have been murdered by the devil because we're all going to die the result of sin is death on a spiritual and a physical basis Adam and Eve eventually died they were created immortal mortality means death death is coming you and I are mortal we're going to die that's not the way it always was rather than opening their eyes to greater freedom and fulfillment sin did to them what it always does to you and I it imprisoned each of them in the first hand knowledge of personal iniquity it became personal for them at this point Dr.

[19:00] MacArthur John MacArthur shared a really helpful analogy in my research and study for this week and I wanted to share it with you it's a great illustration to help us grab this concept of what they what Adam and Eve were before they sin and then what happened to them after before they sin they knew about evil they were warned about death so they knew about evil and death before they sin they knew about it now come over to this other side but what happened to them when they actually did it when they sin they knew about it before what happened here's the analogy or illustration that he used to help with this it's one thing for an oncologist a cancer doctor to know about cancer and to try and educate you about cancer but listen to this when you have cancer you know it in a way that the oncologist does not know he knows about it but now you have it and so now you know it in yourself that's the difference with

[20:15] Adam and Eve at one point in their life they knew about it at the next moment in their life they knew it experientially they knew it within their being that's the difference the Lord said this this is one of the things that God gave to them the only prohibition here it is from any tree of the garden you may surely or freely eat but from the tree of the knowledge of good and it for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die they knew the consequences going in so Adam and Eve went from being told to avoid evil and death to experiencing evil and death in themselves Eve was deceived about God's word Adam defied God's word and both of them chose to disbelieve God's word and that's the problem when they chose to disbelieve

[21:17] God's word it took them into the action of them eating from the forbidden fruit but they made that decision to eat in their heart before they did it the way for sin is the same with you and I before you and I speak sin before you and I do sin we've already decided to sin in our heart and I showed you that what last time and the time before I think I pulled up the verses to show you that to help us understand it so this is a very very devastating reality for these people the knowledge now that they have within themselves of being evil that knowledge was corrosive in every way to their souls and to their relationship with each other the personal experience of doing evil first against God and then against each other imprisoned them in iniquity forever sin did this let me show you sin opened their eyes to personal guilt and shut their eyes to

[22:28] God's goodness Satan lied he did not tell them the truth this is what sin does folks sin lies to us and if it didn't feel good and give us what we wanted we wouldn't do it I told you last week I used this illustration what if God had made it to where every time we sin we get this your eyeballs kind of shock you would be a lot more reluctant to sin wouldn't you now I will tell you what you would do you are going to find a way around it we are going to find medical doctors who could disengage that little place in us that God goes that that is what we do that that's our heart we want to get around the truth and we want to but you have got to get this into your into your heart you sin because you want to

[23:29] I sin because I want to you have never ever sinned that you did not want to sin in that moment the devil didn't make you do it God certainly didn't make you do it your spouse didn't make you do it your friends didn't make you do it you did it you chose to do it what I'm trying to help you see now is how Genesis chapter 3 tells you the source of that sin in you what is that all about how does the Bible label that why don't I'm using Brian's kids why don't we have to teach our kids to sin why don't we don't have to teach them I did not have sin lessons in my homeschooling I didn't give Suzanne a curricula to follow to teach our kids how to sin I just waited I think it was probably less than a week that's what we do as human beings send open their eyes to personal guilt and shut their eyes to

[24:43] God's goodness so our spiritual nature is characterized and dominated by sin do you hear me our spiritual nature is characterized by and dominated by sin here's another quote I wanted to share with you like Lucifer Adam and Eve fell so far that now there was nothing good in them and scripture after scripture tells us that there is no one who is good not one there is no one who seeks for God not even one you'll see that in Romans 1 you'll see it in Romans 3 you'll see it in the Psalms it's everywhere now the question begs at this point for us looking at these verses 7 down through 13 then what was in them what was in Adam and Eve if there was nothing good in them and here's the answer a thin nature the very same thing that separates you and I from a holy

[25:48] God so here so here is where the total depravity originated we're going to go all the way back now to where this problem for humanity started it started in the garden with Adam and Eve we are born corrupt because we are born with Adam and Eve's sin nature don't you pass down traits to your kids don't you do you if you have kids do any of your kids look like you and act like you do they have your mannerisms some of our folks have heard me tell this before on my wife now I am prohibited from using my wife in sermon illustrations I pay a heavy price if I violate that law amen that's true amen right unless I invite her to come up here and okay now you take your shot fair is fair now when we were naming our third our final child our son our youngest one

[26:54] I wanted to name him Jeffrey right and Suzanne's response was one Jeff in this family is a plenty thank you now so we named him Jared and guess what Jared was like as he grew up he's a clone an absolute clone of me his mannerisms the way he talks if any of you ever were around Jared the things he likes everything he and I just kind of went nanny nanny nanny see we pass these things on to our kids don't we they look like us they talk like us they act like us in many ways but there's something else that we give to our children and it's not so good and it's not funny at all we are born corrupt because we pass the corruption on unlike Adam and Eve you and I do not begin innocent in this world so that then later on we become corrupt when we do our first sinful act nope we are born in sin and then we enter the world with a nature of rebellion and sinful pride

[28:11] I want to give you what I'm calling the Tarzan paradox now this is deep the Tarzan paradox what in the world is that well think about the illustration of the Tarzan movies alright what was the deal with Tarzan well he was raised by apes wasn't he he was raised by apes not humans and so we can say since he was raised by apes and he wasn't around human beings locked away in the middle of a jungle away from all of that he never sinned there you go because he wasn't around apes apes don't sin they're animals and he was raised by the apes so Tarzan didn't sin or did he well was Tarzan born of apes was he an ape or was he human human so he had human parents didn't he which means

[29:14] Tarzan had a human nature sin nature now do the math if human beings come from monkeys we don't have a sin nature did the bulbs just go this is this is the satanic deception foisted on the human race this is why they preach and teach that you and I developed from monkeys if we develop from monkeys we don't have a sin nature if we don't have a sin nature we don't need a savior and all this nonsense about the creation of the world in Genesis and all of this sin in Genesis 3 is just that it's a myth that is designed to teach a principle about living try and be a good person but that's not what it teaches it teaches that you can't be a good person because there is no good in you that's what it teaches now you can see as a preacher while this is not a very popular

[30:25] I don't lead out with this I don't get invited to go somewhere and speak and lead out with this necessarily that has happened one time to me and I was faithful but it didn't end well and I didn't get invited back either this is the dilemma that we all face as we deal with our sin nature Tarzan didn't come from apes he came from human beings he had as much a sin nature as you and I if he was real just just an illustration all right so let me help is a disposition of human beings not animals not anything else us and it leads to a failure to conform to the moral law of God notice that sin is a disposition human beings have a nature that is oriented away from God sin does not just describe the bad things human beings do or fail to do more fundamentally it describes who we are as wicked people he flamber in his theology sin changed their nature of

[31:42] Adam and Eve from moral goodness to moral iniquity it changed their nature the very nature of who they are as human beings from personal cleanness to personal corruption it is this sinful spiritual nature that Adam passed on or we could say transmitted to his posterity posterity is a word that means succeeding generations or the descendants of one person so when we talk about your posterity we're talking about your descendants the successive generations that will come after you because you produced children Adam's posterity we are looking at him in this room and so scripture teaches us that we have inherited it has been transmitted to us in the way of his sin nature into our nature and you think about this it's a very very difficult thing to get your mind around it's a very difficult thing to receive but what we have to ask ourselves is is it true would you go to verse seven with me again in

[32:59] Genesis three and just look at this now look at what is being evidenced here in the way of corruption and the different consequences that we see happening because these people have changed fundamentally in their nature what's the first thing they do the eyes of both of them were open they knew that they were naked there is a knowledge now with these people that's different from before they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings that's the first act of trying to conceal the reality of their shame and guilt due to sin verse eight then they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and what did they do did they rush to meet him no they did the same thing you do when you have sin in your life and you don't want to deal with it you avoid God and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh

[33:59] God in the midst of the trees of the garden they hid themselves from God now friends I ask you again did God know that they sinned yes did God know where they were yes God is not having a problem God is going to find them and he's drawing them out notice what happens next Yahweh God called to the man and said to him where are you I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid afraid fear not fear of God not not a holy and high reverence for God in this moment but this is a terror I was afraid of you I was afraid of being seen by you confronted by you why why because I sinned is that what he says verse 10 because

[35:01] I was naked so I hid what's the big deal the nakedness is represented of the shame that he feels over the guilt of his sin I realize that I'm exposed you ever had a dream that you were out this is a nightmare for me have you ever had one of those where you're out in public and you're in your underwear or something and there's nothing you can do about it it's horrible isn't it you wake up with sweats and you go oh my goodness oh my goodness why because we understand the nature of being exposed we have laws in our country about exposure and what constitutes indecent and decent you can go to jail for indecent exposure there is an innate understanding of the shame principle that comes with nakedness and that's what they're feeling so they're trying to find ways to conceal the shame listen not deal with the shame they're trying to cover up the guilt not deal with the guilt does that sound familiar where's that come from we inherited their nature and so it makes sense that we would respond to sin in ways similar to our original parents they're hiding from

[36:32] God when you want to keep your sin a secret when you don't want other people to find out about your sin when you have made up your mind you don't want to deal with your sin before the Lord you feel the weight of that guilt pressing down on you God has written his law in your conscience all of us know right from wrong we know a godly morality from day one the Lord says that in Romans chapter two and so we feel the weight of that guilt folks 99% of the problem that people have when they come in for counseling is guilt their sin is weighing on them I had a phone call just this week from a person outside of our church and in another city trying to find a counselor that would be willing to sit down with him and talk to him from the

[37:37] Bible about the problems in his life I wrote back and asked him to outline for me a little bit of that so I could better determine how we could help him so he did that and most of what he talked about was the guilt that he feels and the regret that he feels due to sin in his life running from it and hiding and now I need to deal with it this is where so I hid and human beings have been hiding from God ever since we do not friends we do not seek God we seek sin God has to seek us and then he said God who told you that you were naked have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat now God knew the answer to that question already he's doing he's drawing

[38:40] Adam out he's making Adam confess and so what did he do look at this the woman yeah we're going to throw that right back on you God and then the same thing and then he said to the woman he went to the woman what is this you've done and the woman said the serpent nobody wants to take responsibility here these are the consequences of depravity of a human nature being changed from innocence to iniquity from loving God now to loving sin this is the spiritual nature I've been talking to you about and here's what theologians call it I want to give this to you the doctrine of original sin that's what theologians call what I'm talking about right now the doctrine of original sin is the way theologian have for centuries defined the issue of our inherent sinful guilt guilt before

[39:47] God based in the sinful rebellion of Adam as our representative the apostle Paul taught that all of humanity became sinners in Adam because Adam represented the human race when he sinfully rebelled against God's word in the garden you'll see places in scripture where it's described in Hebraic phraseology like this we were in Adam's loins when it happened it's just a way of saying we're his kin we were there with him as his kin as his posterity as those who would come after him because of Adam and Eve being our original parents all of the human race has to say that so here's what I've done from the apostle Paul just want to show you this because I got to move on I taken some clauses and some phrases from Romans chapter 5 where Paul deals with this he also deals with it in 1

[40:50] Corinthians 15 for those of you taking notes he uses Romans 5 to emphasize his teaching on our connection our spiritual connection with Adam's sin and our inherited or transmitted sin nature that we got from them Paul uses Romans 5 to the second Adam came to complete what the first Adam failed in now that's Romans 5 what I'm going to zero in on here now with you on the screen is just the first

[41:52] Adam and what Paul says the first Adam transmitted or how the first Adam affected the human race all of us you need to know this you need to see that this is scriptural so let me go to 12 through 19 the first thing that he deals with therefore just as through one man that's Adam all of these are Adam sin entered into the world so you can ask yourself what's the source of sin well you know from the first sermon the source of sin was not Adam and Eve who was it Adam and Eve did not invent sin who did Satan Satan is the source of sin Satan is deceiving Eve to sin so they're following through just as through one man Adam sin entered into the world the world here means the realm of humanity sin entered the realm of humanity through one man

[42:59] Adam in the garden that's when it happened and notice what came death to all human beings death through what does it say sin death is the penalty for sin for all of us and so what happened death spread to all men men here is mankind men and women because notice the passage what does it say how many sin sin in the sight of God all sin because we are all the posterity of Adam and Eve that's a fact of the Bible there's just no getting around it how about this verse 15 for if by by the transgression of the one Adam many died verse 16 for on the one hand the judgment of

[44:04] God arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation you know what it means to be condemned it means to be found guilty guilty how did that happen judgment came from the one transgression of Adam resulting in condemnation on the whole race verse 17 for if by the transgression of the one Adam death reigned through the one verse 18 you can see it right down here at the bottom of the screen so then as through one transgression there resulted what was the result of Adam's transgression on the human race condemnation to all men now I'm not making this up these are quotes from the scriptures and then finally verse 19 it's way down here at the bottom for as through one man's disobedience the many were appointed sinners what a word now we're not going to deal with that word appointed today

[45:14] I'm going to wait till next week to deal with that one that's imputation that's crediting to accounting to that's forensic terminology that's the terminology of the courtroom of criminality we'll deal with that another time the point is here as through one man Adam's disobedience the many the many of the human realm were appointed sinners now this is all from God's perspective this is a forensic perspective from God in other words God is the judge he's the one in the courtroom that is making the decisions and the decision is you are all criminals because you are all in Adam you all share in his sin nature so long before you commit your first sin you're born into it the reason that you commit your first sin is because you have a sin nature you don't become a sinner when you commit your first sin you're already a sinner by nature so this is important now folks

[46:22] I know this is just hang on with you look at this original sin does not refer to Adam's sin or to the first sin we commit but rather to the fact that Adam's guilt before God is our guilt before God by virtue of Adam's work of being a representative of the human race all right now let me move on and give you another one real quickly here we go from the corruption and depravity to the guilt and the shame that I've been talking about the guilt and the shame we see this in the passage so I hid in verse that was verse 10 verse 8 the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God by hiding among the trees that hiding is the result of guilt not perceived guilt true guilt we are guilty before the

[47:27] Lord as transgressors in Adam so as God confronted the couple he found the couple hiding from him and hiding interestingly from each other that's the whole fig leaf thing hiding from each other covering their nakedness was more about their inability to keep sin from corrupting every aspect of their relationship did you hear that word inability you and I are unable to save ourselves did sowing fig leaves on their naked bodies change their nature no what did it do it simply covered up the reality but it didn't change it did it it did not change it this is this is why so many of the diagnoses and remedies out there in the world about this issue fall desperately short of truly helping people because they are not pointed to the only source that can help change their nature that's a miracle we call it being born again born again if you're born again of a different parent say a parent without sin then you have a different nature we are born again in

[48:53] Christ the sinless one and being born again in Christ as the sinless one we now are his righteousness we are right standing before God we're given a new nature that's radical that's beautiful that's two more sermons away hang on I got to give you curses next week and then we get to the second Adam I promise oh I wish it was going to be Easter it'll be Easter in here anyway and then we'll do Easter again beloved I love you guys just hang on with me I know this is hard and my heart has cried tears for you this week praying foundation for the good news of the gospel so rejoice beloved there is hope there is the certain hope of Jesus so now right now though we got to deal with this guilt and shame so in all of this they have this inability they have this corrupt nature in their thoughts their attitudes their desires their actions thoroughly corrupt at this point in their life nakedness was no longer good it was one at one time it was good for them to be naked that was that was great no worries but rather now it's an occasion for sinful selfish exploitation they cannot be naked and not sin now stemming from the shame and guilt they felt they began blame shifting responsibility for their sin you see that here that's what

[50:35] I pointed out to you and when God the first thing he said well it was the woman then he confronted the woman and the first thing the woman said it was the serpent you see this is what human nature does now we're always trying to locate the problem outside of ourselves we blame shift constantly you get in an altercation of some kind verbal or attitudinal with another human being and one thing you don't want to do is you don't want to surrender your point as long as you make your point and so we go at odds and we hurt each other we hurt our spouse and our kids people close to us we blame shift when God confronted Adam in verse 11 Adam's answer in verse 12 was the woman whom you gave to be with me she gave me from the tree and I ate here's the interpretation Lord it's Eve's fault that I disobeyed you but Lord it's even more your fault that I'm in this mess my goodness how did we go from what

[51:40] God blessed them with to that this is cowardly it's selfish it's ungrateful it's blasphemous and yet it's very typical of what will characterize men and women in their sins toward God and each other until Christ invades and gives them a new nature so these people in a word are running from the truth they're running from the truth now I want to help us see this the woman what an answer the woman again how cowardly now it said like this let me say it in the positive way because there was a time in Adam's life when he said that and it was very different what about when you say it like this the woman wow was there a time in Adam's life when he had that reaction oh how things change honeymoon's over I'm looking at some honeymooners October right early

[52:41] October I always ask to see their rings because they're so shiny they shine the ring shine hang on to that the woman the woman boy that little phrase that little phrase has launched a thousand ships you remember that Helen Helen of Troy the woman with a face that launched a thousand ships now let's say it a little differently what if we said it like this the woman the woman well that little phrase has sunk all those ships right the power of women in the lives of men is formidable undeniable it makes or breaks the best of men but to be fair can't we say the same of the power of men don't men have the ability to bless or curse the women in their lives absolutely why is there even an issue with that because of your nature before

[54:00] Adam and Eve sinned this power to influence each other was just good it was only good in God's design it was under the control and influence of their innocence that is their knowing only the good of God and good from the Lord it was all good God said very good now here's what happened the fall the fall well let me get past the woman the fall replaced innocence with iniquity and this is our sinful bent our nature and what we do is we weaponize it we wield it for self advancement and we set it against the well being of others that's sin Adam is wrong he is tragically deadly wrong he's being sinful and blaming his wife for his own sin against the Lord and against even Eve because Adam sinned against Eve we tend to think because

[55:01] Eve went first that this is all her thing no no you're going to I'm going to show you that when God confronts he confronts Adam and says Adam this is your doing sir this all rests with you now again Adam did not make his wife sin but he was culpable God guys I'll show Adam Adam is under his own guilt Eve did not make Adam sin now let's ask the question and answer it real quickly what is guilt is guilt fact or feeling in other words is it a feeling or is guilt a statement of fact how are we going to answer that so I heard someone say yes that's right is guilt limited to something you feel a feeling that's hindering you in some way so that you should see it as your enemy so that you can try to overcome it dismiss it ignore it explain it away or is guilt a true state of being because you are a sinner by nature and that makes you culpable in the sight of

[56:13] God it makes you blame worthy in the sight of God it makes you truly guilty in the sight of almighty God guilt is a legal liability of culpability to punishment that's a great definition from Dr.

[56:29] Street so the answer to those questions is yes guilt is both a feeling and it is a state of being in other words we are guilty before the Lord before we ever commit our first sin we are guilty before the Lord because we are born in a guilty nature a sin nature before the Lord it weighs more heavily on us as we go through life doesn't it if you and I don't turn to the Lord Jesus Christ as our only remedy for this real guilt what it will do is it will corrode our lives like battery acid it will leave us to die in our sins unforgiven by Jesus Christ and bound for hell so there's a big issue with guilt culpable real guilt people people people people people are out in the world are trying to medicate themselves against the reality that they're guilty before a holy

[57:33] God and they're blind to it they try to do all kinds of things to get away from it the world of man's wisdom has no true prescription or cure for the sinful guilt we all bear did you hear me the world doesn't diagnose it correctly it doesn't understand spiritual guilt and it cannot cure it I can't cure it for you as much as I want to cure the guilt that my children bear from me transmitting it to them from my human nature I cannot save my kids I can't I can point them to the savior but I can't save them that's the truth all right I told you that the world fails to accurately understand this issue of guilt the world fails to accurately diagnose and prescribe the cure for this issue of spiritual guilt now here's an example of that failure I'm just going to this is a lengthy quote but

[58:35] I just want to read it and please try to follow along and hear this true example from a person I deeply respect Dr. John Street is the chair of the biblical counseling department at the master's university where I studied for my biblical counseling degree recently he is also a professor a teacher in the department an awesome teacher he is also the president of the board of trustees with the association of certified biblical counselors the organization that I'm a part of now in an interview about how our culture and many Christians think and deal with the issue of true guilt inherited guilt transmitted guilt he shared the following true story from his life just please listen to this and indulge me for a moment here's Dr.

[59:27] Street this this that is the war against true guilt his point is that he's coming from the perspective of the world is that war with true guilt it hates it it wants to do Adam and Eve it wants to sow fig leaves and cover it up and not deal with it this war against true guilt has become a problem because it's wreaking havoc on so many lives and so many families and people let me share with you a quick story he said I have a relative who's been well established in the medical field for a long long time and she's a nurse she tells the story of what happened to her when she was in a Christian hospital in the deep south where a young lady had come in she had gone to a Christian camp this young lady had gone to a Christian camp she ran off with a guy from the camp they had relations she got pregnant she's 17 years old her mom and dad found out obviously as a

[60:38] Christian family abortion was not an option so they took her to the hospital the OBGYN checked her out and said that she was healthy the baby was healthy etc but he could tell that the girl was overwhelmed with emotions and guilt and anxiety over the problem that she had and what she was going to have to do in bearing this child and bearing the shame of what she had done for the next nine months until the baby was born as a Christian she felt guilty because she was guilty so my relative the nurse was assigned to be her nurse and assigned to go to counseling sessions with her the OBGYN actually made out doctor's orders for her to go to a Christian integrationist psychologist there in the hospital pause for a moment a Christian integrationist psychologist is a person who professes to be a

[61:41] Christian but uses the wisdom of man in secular psychology to deal with the people that come and see him at best they'll throw Bible verses at you but they don't use the scriptures to help deal with the issue of the heart the problem of the nature that's creating the problem that this lady has this young gal so they have sent her now to this Christian integrationist they integrate they blend the wisdom of man and secular psychology with the Bible and think they have a better hybrid to help people this is the work of Satan going half God said since her parents could not go with her to these appointments her relative was able to go the nurse she sat down and in the second session with this Christian integrationist psychologist who he says I found out later was actually trained in Skinnerian behaviorism pause

[62:43] Skinnerian behaviorism is all about what you read in an intro to psych course that you might take in a junior college or a college level it's simply behaviorism it's how do I help you change the behavior what can I give you in the way of punishment and reward so that your behavior changes not your nature not your desires not your wants not your motivations but let me deal with your outward behavior one of the ways I can change your behavior is I can give you medication that makes you drool and makes you calm I worked in a facility for a number for a while with kids of all ages who'd been abandoned by their parents or lost their parents in heinous terrible crimes the state had taken these kids or people parents who couldn't deal with them sent them off to this place and it was razor wire around it was a complex where they went to school they had medical facilities the whole nine and I was one of the bouncers in that institution that right out of college with my psych degree that's the job

[63:53] I could get being a bouncer basically in a place like that they medicated those kids to the point where they could barely function that's how they dealt with their misbehavior how long did I last Suzanne six months I couldn't take it every day I left that place there was a great big huge there was a great big huge oak tree that I would pass out in the middle of a battlefield that was surrounded by civil war battlefields where we live up in upper Atlanta and I would pull off jump the split rail fence and go sit under that oak tree and bawl like a baby and pray for those kids and tell God I just don't know how much longer I can do this all we do is inject them and put them in bags and take them over and lock them up in five point restraints when they get out and we're not helping them and it was tearing my heart out all right skinnering behaviorism so now she's in her second appointment

[64:53] Dr. Streets found out this guy is a behaviorist and basically the therapist said to her you know what your problem is now listen to this your problem is guilt eureka that's right no he got it right when I was reading this I went oh my goodness I won't tell you anyway now now here's his now here's his counsel to fix the problem now you need to go out and have as many sexual relationships as you can until you don't feel guilty about it anymore my relative was sitting there in the chair and she heard this with her own ears and she just about fell out of her chair here's a guy professing to be a Christian and giving this girl who professes to be a Christian that kind of counsel the tragic effects of sin nevertheless here she's sitting pregnant the problem is not with the baby the problems with her sense of the sin that she bears in the shame of it he's basically telling her to go out and like allergy shots commit this sin until she doesn't feel bad about it anymore in other words inoculate yourself now the thing about this is the bible tells us that we can actually do this this can actually happen where you sin to the point that your conscience is seared over as with a hot iron and you don't feel anything anymore so the idea behind this is this somehow get rid of the feeling or the sense of guilt and then the question comes even though

[66:27] I don't feel guilty anymore am I still guilty before god and the bible says absolutely we are separation is another one separation from god and each other verse 8 i just read it to you this scene suggests a pleasant gentle stroll of ease and peace among companions in the cool of the day then they heard the sound of yahweh god walking in the garden in the cool of the day what a wonderful scene but the couple is absent they're not walking with the lord this time god is at a loss to know what's happened he's at a loss to know where they are no right that's not true i've already told you god knows what does god know everything everything nothing is hidden from his sight the lord god knows what needs to be done and the lord god moves into action left to themselves they'll hide and that's all they'll do they'll live in the guilt they'll live in the shame and they'll hide and that's what they'll do till they die physically but our god won't have that eve is devastated at being deceived it's fully on her now she gets it adam is devastated at his high handed rebellion he knows he's blown it in the biggest way you can look they are lost in sin they are terrified by it they're trying to hide their hearts from god now i want to ask you what does this simple gesture of god walking in the garden tell us about our wonderful god and here it is friends he seeks he finds he saves those who hide god knows what they've done he knows they will never seek him in this condition so what what does verse 8 depict about the relationship god has toward the couple what is this like from god's perspective the answer is this fellowship friendship faithfulness god doesn't abandon his own he seeks he seeks he finds and he's faithful isn't he friends we get it wrong characterizing unbelievers as seekers of god sin doesn't seek for god sin runs from god sin runs from holiness god is the seeker he's the finder and he's the savior separation requires reconciliation the bringing together but this separation was the plan and method of satan all along satan attacked eve when she was apart from adam i don't believe that adam was there when satan was deceiving eve i i believe he was fully culpable because the bible says that but i don't believe he was standing right next to her when all of this took place as adam came upon her eating the forbidden fruit of his own free will at that moment he took and he ate it in high-handed rebellion against the lord he wasn't deceived he just did it so adam's actions negatively affected his god appointed authority over eve and it marred his headship accountability toward god now on the issue of adam's accountability just think in terms of who it was that god sought out when he called on them in the garden for the first time who did he call adam not eve scripture tells us it was through that man that one man adam that sin invaded and fully corrupted human nature not through the serpent not through the woman through adam we see the effects of this inward separation in their behavior toward the lord throughout this passage they were afraid to be with god and they hid from god and each other it's the most clear it's most clear in the terms of the distance that adam and eve felt toward each other and toward the lord and i see this distance in the way that adam now views eve he was so quick to throw her under the bus when god confronted him boy what a change he's just gonna throw his wife under the bus deal with her she's the problem not me then i'll just say a couple words about this and i'm done condemnation and death i'm gonna do more with this one next week so we'll be done adam and eve face god's judgment and he face sin's consequences adam and eve face spiritual and physical death now folks our inner corruption our guilt our spiritual separation from god all of that leaves us under god's condemnation as sinners so he rightly judges us in our guilt as criminals because we transgressed his law that's what sin is sin is lawlessness we are spiritually dead and we will physically die due to sin the principle of sin not sins the principle of sin working in us in our nature now friends let me ask you this as i close this is so important beloved what will you do about your inner corruption that the bible has been describing this morning what will you do with your real guilt before a holy god when you die you're going you're going to face god and you're going to give an account to him for your life that you've lived the things you've said the things you've done the priorities of your life how you use the resources of your life people who are trusting in the lord jesus christ as their savior and lord they don't live any longer under god's judgment and condemnation nope christians will die but we have the certain hope that we will be received by god why because we are trusting in the lord jesus christ and in him alone to save us from ourselves i don't need to be saved from your human nature your sin nature i need to be saved from mine now let me ask you do you have a certain hope do you have a certain hope your soul is going to live on after you die whoever owns your soul now determines where your soul will be in the future does jesus own your soul of the satan what have you done about that sin nature let me encourage you flee to jesus run to him who seeks and finds and saves run to jesus friend run run to jesus let's pray dear lord and savior thank you for the truth as hard as it is to hear and to bear that though we are born in sin due to adam and the nature that he's transmitted to us in sin we have the hope of the lord jesus christ saving us from that sin and giving us a new nature his nature perfect and sinless before a holy god so that when you look at us because of our trust in jesus you see his perfect sinless life lived to your glory oh what a miracle we don't deserve it but you shower it on us because you love us because you are the god who seeks and finds and saves and we love you and we thank you for your goodness to us i pray for these souls here this morning that you will help them to settle in the deepest part of their heart the most important thing about who they are do they belong to satan or do they belong to jesus help us to sort that out by using the truth of the bible and help us to turn to you in faith thank you for these precious brothers and sisters and all the souls that are here today may you bless them in that truth and guide them to the lord christ in his name we pray amen