The 16 Fundamental Truths of the Assemblies of God
4. The Fall of Man
a. Man was created good and upright; for God said, "Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness."
b. However, man by voluntary transgression fell and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual
death, which is separation from God.
5. The Salvation of Man (sure would hate to just preach on the fall, and not conclude with the Good News!)
a. Man’s only hope of redemption is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
b. Conditions to Salvation:
i. Salvation is received through repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
ii. By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, being justified by grace through faith,
man becomes an heir of God, according to the hope of eternal life.
c. The Evidence of Salvation
i. The inward evidence of salvation is the direct witness of the Spirit.
ii. The outward evidence to all men is a life of righteousness and true holiness.
Let’s Talk About the Fall of Man . . .
AP 1/3/02 “Pasers-by Rob Dead Woman.” It’s a new year. Has the human condition
changed? On New Year’s Day 2002, passers-by robbed the body of a Las Vegas woman
killed after she was hit by three vehicles. Las Vegas police said the first two vehicles that
struck 42-year-old Lynette Spiller drove away. While Spiller’s body was pinned under the
third car, passers-by combed through her purse, wallet, and backpack. Detective Doug
Nutton said one person later gave police Spiller’s identification card, saying it had been
found elsewhere. Police said Spiller was jaywalking, but the drivers of the first two cars
could be charged with felony hit-and-run. The driver of the third car stopped.
I. Things started out pretty good – in fact, they started out very good.
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the
sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the
ground." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created
them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule
over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 29 Then
God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in
it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures
that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth
day.
Genesis 2:8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for
food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD
God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
A. Everything else that had been created was called “good,” until he created man. God then said it was “very
good.”
B. Think of how good things were:
1. Dominion over all of creation
2. Food was provided at no work or expense (24-hour buffet)
3. There was no guilt, shame, or sin – all was perfect . . . very good.
4. One Rule – one “no, no.”
5. Created in the image and likeness of God
a. Perhaps this was just too good
b. Reminds me of what I’ve learned about children placed in a therapeutic foster care environment. If
they are placed in a good home with lots of love, they will often try to mess the home up, so it is
more like what they are used to.
c. Since we were created in God’s image, this gave man the capacity to choose. There was the
potential that he would disobey. And disobey he did.
II. After a great beginning, things pretty much started going down hill.
Genesis 3:1 (NIV) Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to
the woman, "Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?" 2 The woman said to the serpent,
"We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, `You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the
middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’" (that seems fairly clear) 4 "You will not surely die,"
the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like
God, knowing good and evil." 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the
eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was
with her, and he ate it.
One day, my son Jonathan came home from preschool with a picture of Adam and Eve he
had colored. He began to tell me the story of creation, and it seemed as though he had
his facts down pretty well. "Adam and Eve disobeyed God because they ate the fruit God
told them not to eat," he explained. Impressed by how much he knew, I pointed to the
picture and asked, "What’s this place called?" Jonathan replied earnestly, "The Garden
of Eating."
A. Man fell and sin entered the world
B. What is sin?
1. G. Raymond Carlson, “sin is rebellion against the government of God. Sin is refusal to submit to the will
of God. Sin is defiance of God. Sin is an attitude toward the government of heaven. Sin, and only sin,
separates men from God.”
2. Simply, sin is the breaking of a law of God. Adam had one law to obey – and when he broke that one
law, sin and death entered into our world
III. We need to realize that this is not just a history lesson about Adam and Eve – it’s a story about you and
me.
A. Is there any question that things have continued to travel down hill? That all of man has fallen – that all
have sinned?
1. We read the news of a sniper stalking the highways and streets of our Nations Capitol
2. The images of the World Trade Center
3. On a personal level, we feel the pains of unforgiveness, greed, bitterness, envy, anger, lust, etc.
4. It’s no different for us than it was for adam
a. He had one law to try and obey
b. We, basically, have 10. Only 10 commandments, and not one of us has been able to keep just 10
little laws
c. Jesus even simplified all of the down to two: Love God, and love your neighbor, and we even fail at
that!
IV. When you mess up, the immediate temptation is to cover up
A. Adam and Eve tried to conceal their sin
Genesis 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves
together and made coverings for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he
was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9
But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" 10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid
because I was naked; so I hid." 11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree
that I commanded you not to eat from?" 12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit
from the tree, and I ate it." 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman
said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
B. You’ll notice something about the method Adam and Eve used in their attempt to cover their sin – it would
eventually wither and fade in time, leaving them – once again – naked before God. (They wither like the
plants in my office)
C. Our attempts at cover up are just as flimsy.
1. We attempt to re-define sin (Did God really say . . .)
a. Abraham Lincoln
b. “How many legs would a sheep have if you counted his tail as a leg?” Lincoln’s simple but brilliant
answer was, “Four. Counting a tail as a leg doesn’t make it one!” Sin is sin regardless of what you
call it or how much you try to deny it.
2. We would like to deny the reality of sin (guilt is a bad thing)
The movie Chocolat tells how a mysterious woman moves into a little, uptight French
town and opens a chocolate shop. Her chocolate is used to bring a kind of freedom and
joy to this repressed, guilt-driven town. In a newspaper interview, one of the stars, Lena
Olin, summed up the point of the movie: Don’t judge. Try to embrace, instead of reject.
Try to accept rather than deny people the right to be themselves. That’s all this film is
saying. What’s wrong with that?
3. We could try and get our “act together” and really “straighten up” this time. Reminds me of a dirty
towel
a. We may try to make the towel usable and presentable by cutting out the stains. (We try to cut out
lying, stealing, hatred, swearing, etc.)
b. You are left with a “holy” towel right (pun intended)
c. God still sees a stained towel. Not tricked.
(1) just as if I gave you this towel if you were a guest of mine, our righteousness is a mockery to
the wisdom and goodness of God
(2) Isai 64:6 (NIV) All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are
like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. 7 No one
calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and
made us waste away because of our sins.
V. There was and still is a consequence to sin – a consequence to the fall of man
Gene 3:14 (NIV) So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the
livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will
put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will
strike his heel."
16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."
17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, `You
must not eat of it,’ "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you
will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will
return."
21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, "The
man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take
also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." (Even with that act of mercy, man still lived too long. That’s why
God limited our years once again after the flood. The longer man lives, the evil his plans can become.) 23 So the
LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he
drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and
forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
A. As a result of their sin, Adam and Eve were banished from the beautiful earthly paradise
B. We, too, are banished, from the heavenly paradise
1. As we sin, and we all do, we are stripped of any right to enter the kingdom of God
Let’s talk about the salvation of man . . .
I. God presents a wonderful plan to regain what was lost — he presents to us salvation (Two parts – God’s
and ours.)
A. God’s.
1. A very beautiful verse is Genesis 3:21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and
clothed them.
2. Do you see God’s part.
a. He killed the first animal – perhaps a lamb.
b. Nothing had ever been killed before! Imagine the shock of this lamb as its creator slew it!
c. (This wasn’t his intention when we created his perfect creation.)
d. He skinned the first animal, draining it of its blood, and turning its coat into a coat for man.
e. He then put the covering on man
3. There was no instructions. God didn’t give Adam a bow and arrow, and tell him to go and make some
clothes. God took the proactive approach of killing, skinning, creating, and clothing the first man – to
cover his sinfulness.
4. God takes that same part in our salvation
a. He doesn’t give instructions or steps or formulas on how to be saved
(1) a Buddhist can follow a five-fold path to nirvana
(2) a Muslim can die for his faith in an act of jihad, and have a hope of acceptance by Allah for his
bravery
b. Romans 8:3, “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature,
God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he
condemned sin in sinful man”
c. Romans 8:5, “but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ
died for us.”
d. God’s part becomes clearer as we take a look at different words that describe his salvation
(1) Atonement: covering. Just as the skins covered the sins of Adam, so the blood of Jesus covers
our sins
(2) Propitiation: bring together, make favorable or acceptable
(3) Substitution:
(a) Jesus was punished in our place
(b) story of boys school the youth shared in Suriname
(4) redemption:
(a) to buy back.
(b) a christian lady lay dying. A minister called on her, announcing that he had come to grant
her absolution. “Absolution,” she repeated, “what is that?” “Forgiveness of sins,” he
replied. “Oh, how wonderful,” she said. “Please let me see your hand.” The minister gave
her his hand. She took it and looked for some time at the palm. Then she cried out,
“imposter! The one who has forgiven my sins has the print of the nail in his hand.”
(5) reconciled: to establish a close relationship between
B. Our part
1. We need to repent
a. Repentance involves the intellect, the emotions, and the will.
b. the intellect acknowledges the wrongdoing, the emotion regrets it, and the will says, “I will endeavor
to not do that ever again!”
c. 2 Corinthians 7:8-11
2. We need to exercise faith
a. Romans 10:9,10
II. What exactly happens when we are saved? How do we know its real? Inward and outward evidence
A. Outward
1. Adam saw the fur of the animal – there was definite outward evidence that he had been saved!
2. A Changed life
3. 2 Corinthians 5:17
B. Inward
1. Adam realized that God wasn’t going to make him live forever – working for his food and shelter for the
all of eternity, but that he would once again walk and talk with God in a heavenly paradise. His days
were going to come to an end
2. Also, the angel posted at the garden wouldn’t allow him to return to that place of sin and temptation.
a. What was easy at first, now became an impossibility.
b. So, with us, when saved – it becomes very difficult to do the things that never bothered us before!
3. The witness of the Holy Spirit
4. Romans 8:16
