The salvation of a soul from sin is a work of great proportion. It is a work of God o behalf of man. Nothing greater has ever been done for you and me. The writer of the book of Hebrews speaks of this work, which is all of God, as “so great salvation.” Before anyone can have a clear concept of this gift of eternal life, he must understand the scriptural view of man as a sinner. A weak view of man’s sin and guilt always results in a weak concept of salvation. When a man sees himself as God presents him a sinful rebel against God without any merit in himself then it must be admitted that he cannot save himself.
If, on the other hand it is thought that man posses some sort of ability, however small it may be, the results will be a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps: type of salvation. An ugly picture of man as a sinner is presented in the Bible. It is anything but attractive or acceptable to the unregenerate kink. The unsaved man rebels against the idea of his inability to make some contribution to his eternal welfare that salvation is all of God’s grace plus nothing. We want to do something to have a small part in our salvation. But the scripture will have none of it. It is unmistakable in its stand and view of mankind. Let’s look at some bible facts.
I. The Origin of Sin in the Human Race
1. Sin existed before the appearance of man in Satan. Then the devil succeeded in getting Adam and Eve to do what he had done. Act independently of will of God.
2. Both the privileges and restrictions had been made very clear to man, Genesis 2:15-20.
a. The privileges and opportunities were many.
b. They could be summarized as the will of God for man.
3. There was only one restriction placed upon them, verse 17. Disobedience to this command would result in death.
4. The issue confronting our first parents was their relationship to the expressly revealed plan and will of God to obey it or not obey it. That was the question.
5. Satan first brought into Eve’s mind doubt concerning the goodness, justice, and love of God. implying that God had no right to place restrictions upon man, Genesis 3:1-3
6. The devil then proceeded to any outright denial of the judgment of God. this is the way of Satan works, verse 4.
7. Eve disregarded God’s command and will for her life. She gave to Adam, and he ate also, and they sinned, verse 6
II. The Results of that Sin
1. The moment they broke God’s command and acted independently of His will; three forms of death took place. Genesis 2:7
2. First was spiritual death: it was immediate, they were separated from God.
a. They hid themselves from the presence of the Lord.
b. They revealed sinful hearts as they accused someone else for their sin.
3. Physical death became a reality: Genesis 3:22, Genesis 5
4. Also subject to eternal death: Revelation 21:8
III. The Grace of God Toward Man
1. First, God sought after the man. Man does not seek after God. “There is none that seeketh after God.” Genesis 3:8
2. This search also reveals God’s justice. Sin must be judged. Listen friend, your sin will be judged.
3. In verse 7, the righteousness of God is also apparent. God would not accept man’s attempt at human works to cover his nakedness. It took the blood. Hebrews 9:22.
4. Romans 5:12, sin entered the world by one man who committed one sin. The result was death, not only upon the one who committed the sin, but upon all men.
5. That sinful heart, that corrupt nature which Adam received when he sinned. He passed on to his children and they to their children and the process goes on and on.
6. You are a sinner by nature today, and you are a sinner by choice. Ecclesiastes 7:20, Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:10, 23.
7. All men are born in a state of separation from God. they are spiritually dead insensitive to the things of God, without God and without hope apart from Calvary.
IV. Man’s Estimate of Himself
1. Between God and man there is a great chasm caused by sin. But in spite of this man continues to believe that he is in possession of some sort of righteousness.
2. He refuses to accept what God says about him. Oh, he knows he is not all he should be, but not as bad as God says.
3. Their fig leaves were totally unacceptable to God, not because they did not cover their nakedness, but because they were produced by the sinner.
4. By the time they decided to sew those leaves together to hide their shame form God, they were already dead spiritually. They had lost their relationship with God.
5. From that day to this, man has been seeking to make himself acceptable to God and it cannot be done.
6. Every attempt however small it may be is just another evidence that the sinner does not really believe he is one.
7. Christians are guilty of this sort of thinking too. We compare and measure ourselves not by God’s word, but by someone more guilty than we are.
a. In contrast to the thief, we are honest.
b. By comparison to so and so we are pretty good.
V. God’s Estimate of Man
1. What is God’s verdict against the world of men? Guilty. Luke 19:10, John 3:16-20, 36, Romans 3:10-18.
2. No amount of human effort can change this condition. Only the work of Christ at Calvary can make saints out of sinners.
3. That is why the gospel will never be respectable to the man outside of Christ.
4. The gospel is offensive to the unsaved because it strips them of all room for ride and human accomplishments. It takes away the possibility of self-deliverance.
5. Since Adam, every human work has been rejected by God. what then is the answer?
6. The answer is the Cross! Romans 6:23, 10:9-13
