The Sinfulness Of Mankind
To be Saved, We Must Recognize Our Own Sinfulness
You must realize and admit that you are a sinner according to the Scriptures.
Romans 3:23 tells us, “For
ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Again in Romans 3:10 we read the words “There
is NONE
righteous, No NOT ONE.” We are not sinners because
we sin, we sin because we are 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). Adam was that “one man” who committed the original sin. God had told Adam and Eve that they would die on the very day they
sinned. “But
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in
the DAY that
thou eatest there of it THOU
SHALT SURELY DIE.” (Genesis 2:17). Interestingly, Adam and Eve lived many years thereafter. How could this be? The
reason is because they died spiritually, NOT physically when
they sinned. Their perfect
relationship with God was over. They
now had the sin nature and were at enmity with God. The days of paradise in Eden were at an sudden end.
The Curse of the Sin Nature — All Humans are Born with it.
Romans 5:12 teaches us that Adam’s spiritual death has been passed down to all of humanity. This means we are ALL born spiritually dead. Adam and Eve would have lived forever had they not sinned. This is why each person MUST be born-again! The term “born-again” means “being born for the second time.” There is the physical birth and then there is the spiritual birth. We are born spiritually dead into this world without God. We are all born with a fallen nature, a natural tendency to sin.
The sin nature has been passed down to us from Adam. No one needs to teach a child how to lie, steal, cheat, etc. On the
contrary, children need to be taught NOT to lie, steal or cheat, etc. The only two individuals who were ever born into this world without a
fallen nature (sin nature) were Adam and Jesus Christ. Adam of course sinned and took upon himself the sin nature; Jesus NEVER
sinned, not even once. Adam’s love for
Eve superceded His love for God. He
chose to sin with Eve at the expense of facing the judgment of God. Adam became a sinner and died spiritually the moment he sinned. He would be a sinner from that day forward, even unto his death. The rest of mankind does not have a choice on the matter, we
all have that same sin nature because Adam chose to have it. We are all descendants of our great ancestral father, Adam;
therefore, we are all born with the same infectious curse of sin and death. We all have the sin-tainted blood of Adam. We are all born spiritually dead (the natural man). Jesus on-the other-hand NEVER sinned, not even once... “For he hath made
him to be sin for us, WHO
KNEW NO SIN” (2nd Corinthians 5:21). This was absolutely necessary if Christ was to offer Himself up as a
sacrifice for the sins of mankind (as of a lamb without spot or blemish). I will cover this more later. You
need to realize at this point my friend that you are a guilty sinner.
Man Cannot Save Himself
As sinners, we cannot do anything of our own effort to reconcile
ourselves with God—We must follow God’s plan of salvation. All of our GOOD WORKS CANNOT SAVE US... “For BY GRACE
are
ye saved THROUGH FAITH;
and that NOT OF YOURSELVES: it is the GIFT
OF GOD: NOT OF WORKS, lest
any man should boast” (Ephesians
2:8,9). The truth could not be any
plainer than this—you cannot earn your way to Heaven! You cannot brag about your self-righteousness to God because you have
no righteousness of your own to offer.
Adam and Eve could not make up for what they had done. All of their own good works could not get them out of the situation they
had entangled themselves in. They
had sinned and were bound for Hell. What
were they to do? Ah, but God in His
love had a plan to redeem mankind... Christ
who knew no sin became as sin so that we who knew no righteousness could obtain
Christ’s righteousness. Salvation
is God’s FREE GIFT, paid for by Jesus at the cross. No amount of good deeds can undo the bad we have done.
Committing Even the Smallest Sins Make Us Guilty of ALL
NOT
BY WORKS
of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us”
(Titus 3:5). Read the following
words spoken in Isaiah, “But
we are ALL as an unclean thing, and
ALL our
righteousnesses are as FILTHY
RAGS; and we all do fade as
a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away”
(Isaiah 64:6). God hates sin so
much that He can’t even describe it in words we would understand. So God instead tells us what He thinks about all the good things we
do—they’re nothing but filthy rags in His sight. Don’t misunderstand—God loves good works, but God hates when we trust
our self-righteousness to get us into Heaven. Salvation
is receiving, not giving. If
you are trying to please God with the nice things you do in hopes of making it
to Heaven someday, you're in for a horrible surprise! Why?
Because committing ONE SIN makes us guilty of ALL
in the eyes of God... “For
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet
OFFEND
IN ONE POINT, he is
GUILTY OF ALL”
(James 2:10). Whoa! That doesn’t sound too fair does it? The point is that a sinner is a sinner. Whether you sin once or a thousand times, you are still a
sinner in need of a Savior. Adam
and Eve sinned just once but that was enough to bring them under the
condemnation and judgment of Almighty God.
There is None Righteous
We are all sinners. God is simply trying to show you that your NOT as righteous as you may have thought you were. As a matter of fact; “There is NONE righteous…” (Romans 3:10). First John 1:10 declares that if we deny that we have sinned, we are calling God a liar. It is the LAW (commands of God) that show us just how wicked we really are, “...for BY THE LAW is the KNOWLEDGE OF SIN” (Romans 3:20). The law condemns us and points us to Christ.
As
with any court, ignorance is no excuse for the law. Cain killed Able before the
Law of Moses was ever given but God still
held him accountable. The Law
simply reinforces our moral conscience. Let’s
read the purpose of the Mosaic Law (which includes the 10 commandments) in
Romans 3:19, “Now
we know that what things so ever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and
ALL
THE WORLD MAY BECOME GUILTY BEFORE GOD. The purpose of the
Law of Moses was to reveal to Israel and to the rest
of humanity just how wicked we really are. No person alive can keep the whole
Law of God perfectly, NO ONE. The Law shows us our hopeless condition and then graciously points us to
the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Salvation
is in Christ, NOT ourselves. “Wherefore
THE LAW WAS OUR SCHOOLMASTER TO BRING US UNTO CHRIST, that we might be JUSTIFIED BY FAITH”
(Galatians 3:24). Keeping the
ten commandments will not save anybody! Being
a nice person CANNOT help you earn you heaven! Getting
water baptized simply won’t help! The
Law shows us our need for Christ’s work of redemption. The
Law was given to us by God that our sin might become “exceeding
sinful” in our own eyes. “...that SIN by the commandment might become
EXCEEDINGLY
SINFUL” (Romans 7:13). Having done it’s job, we must admit our
hopelessly sinful condition and turn to
Christ for our salvation.
The Reason Why People Become Self-Righteous
The problem that most people face is that they look and compare themselves with other people instead of God’s Word. “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are NOT WISE” (2nd Corinthians 10:12). This passage was written to Believers to warn them against comparing themselves with others. It is unwise to compare ourselves to someone else because everybody is totally different. Each one of us has been created in God’s own image, but very unique at the same time. There is no one else exactly like you nor will there ever be. We must be careful about comparing ourselves with others. This unwise practice has caused many unsaved folks to believe a lie! It’s very easy to view one’s self as being righteous if we COMPARE ourselves to our fellow mankind. Surely most people will look good in their own eyes if they watch the evening news. We hear of all the scandals and crimes being committed.
No doubt, there are some real sick people in this world. To be Scriptural, we’re all sick. All humans are born sinful and prone to wander into mischievousness. Even Believers sometimes can commit the most hideous of crimes if they wander out of fellowship with the Lord. All people need to trust Jesus Christ as personal Savior to be a Christian and then all Christians need to walk humbly with their God on a daily basis to stay out of trouble. Living the Christian life isn't hard—it's IMPOSSIBLE without the Lord's help. All the Bible knowledge in the world means nothing if you don’t WALK WITH GOD. You hear about all the crime and horrible things that people do and then conclude that your not so bad after all. However; if we will COMPARE ourselves to a Holy God and His perfect Word, we can only say as Isaiah the prophet, “Then said I, WOE IS ME! FOR I AM UNDONE; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5).
We read of a foolish man in the Bible who COMPARED himself to another man... “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as OTHER MEN are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 18:10-14). The Pharisee made the woeful mistake of comparing himself to “OTHER MEN.” The publican had his heart set on God alone.
