Depravity of man

The first transgression

Genesis 3:6–8 (KJV 1900)

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

I wanted to open with this text this morning simply because this is where we see the origin of sin.

The Serpent (satan) introduced Eve to sin.

He did so by debating with her and eventually she gave in to his deceitfulness.

She shared the sinful act with Adam and together they were immediately aware of their sin. The Bible says that their eyes were opened to their nakedness, and they tried to hide from God.

And this is the reality of sin—it separates us from God and brings shame.

This was the first sin of mankind against God, and this is where we as humans have become fallen creatures.

As the Apostle Paul says in Romans 5:12, sin enter the world through one man. That one man being, Adam.

In theology, we refer to the immediate results of the first sin as the Depravity of Man, the corrupt nature inherited from Adam. We are born with a sinful disposition.

But understanding our sinfulness is foundational to understanding our need for God’s grace.

In Wesleyan-Arminian theology, depravity shows the depth of our spiritual need and prepares us to see the beauty of grace and salvation in Jesus Christ.

Now, last week i started this series on, What we Believe with the subject of the sovereignty of God.

As we go along, I want you to notice how all the doctrines connect together and that they all matter.

I wanted everyone to understand that as a Wesley Armenian church, we believe in the complete sovereignty of God.

But we also believe that He gave us the free will to make choices that affect our salvation.

This subject today will touch on that again because the theologies are interlinked.

The first point today that i want to make is that everyone who is born is corrupt in nature,... and there are two verses I want to use for this. Romans 3:10-12 and Ephesians 2:1-5.

Romans 3:10-12, says

Romans 3:10–12 (KJV 1900)

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

This is not just about the outward sinful actions that we know we do,.. but it includes the condition of the human heart.

Sin has affected every aspect of our being—our minds, emotions, and wills—leaving us incapable of seeking God on our own.

You know there is one thing that I have noticed about some church doctrines.

Many of them that deal with the corruption of man is hard for people to accept.

The ideas that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and that we inherited a sinful nature from Adam are hard for people because they want to believe that they are basically good or that they can be good enough to please God.

And many Christians, believe that they can save themselves from sin by their own goodness.

And yet there is not one scripture that points to people being good after the fall.

I heard one preacher say, that “If you think about the doctrine of original sin, it is the easiest of all the doctrines to prove”.

This may be true. Just take a look at the condition of the world.

Evidence of it is all around us.

Question,...Does anyone know someone else that has never sinned in some way?

No, all have sinned. There is not one person in all our relations that has never sinned. Romans 3:23 says,

Romans 3:23 KJV 1900

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Sin is part of our nature because we are corrupted from the fall.

If you don’t believe the scriptures, the proof that the whole human race is corrupt can be found everywhere,

in the daily newspapers, on the evening news, in your daily contact with other people.

You can look at a small child and see the corruption of mankind working it’s way out many times.

Though they are innocent and cute, they show many signs of selfishness. Just look at how onary they can be, always looking out for self.

No one escapes the corruption of sin, regardless of their upbringing, culture, or efforts to be good.

Every person, by nature, is separated from God and in need of reconciliation.

All are corrupt by nature

Ephesians 2:1-5 describes our corruption another way.

Ephesians 2:1–5 (KJV 1900)

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Paul says that we are “dead” in sin and that we are “by nature, children of wrath”.

By nature he means, the state people are born into,

not a state they consciously choose or acquire through personal actions,

but something that is inherited.

So, Because of this inherited sin (the fall of Adam and Eve), every person is born with a sinful disposition and a tendency to sin.

A quote from Berkhof’s Systematic Theology says,

The contagion of his sin at once spread through the entire man, leaving no part of his nature untouched, but vitiating every power and faculty of body and soul.

Personally, if we think about ourselves, we will truly understand that we are all sinful.

And if you don’t understand that by looking at your own heart then there may be some narcissism there,.. because most people can see that they have had wrong tendencies.

In A.W. Tozer’s book Echoes from Eden he quoted a poet by the name Von Goethe who said,

“I have never heard of a sin being committed without knowing full well that I had the seed of it within myself.”

Echoes from Eden, 46.

A. W. Tozer

But if you are honest about it, we don’t like to admit that we have a sinful disposition.

It’s common for people today to shrug off their mistakes with the attitude, “Nobody’s perfect!”

While it’s true that nobody is perfect and everyone makes mistakes, people tend to take it too lightly.

The problem is that when it comes to their relationship with God, many people think they’re “good enough” because nobody’s perfect.

This mindset is actually a form of spiritual arrogance.

It’s the idea that, despite our flaws, we somehow deserve God’s approval based on our own goodness.

Depravity is in the heart. Jeremiah 17:9 states,

Jeremiah 17:9 KJV 1900

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

According to the Hebrews, the heart is the center not only of spiritual activity, but of all the operations of human life.

“Heart” and “soul” are often used interchangeably.

And here in Jeremiah, God says that the heart, the center of spiritual activity and operations of human life is deceitful above all things.

In fact it is because of sin that we have a distorted ability to discern truth and pursue righteousness. Even our best efforts are tainted. As the prophet Isaiah said in, Isaiah 64:6 :

Isaiah 64:6 KJV 1900

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.

So we are born in sin and we cannot do any good things without God. We are incapable of finding or seeking God.

A dead person cannot come alive and revive themselves. and so we ask the question...

If we are “dead” then how could we be otherwise?

This is a spot of separation in many theologies.

So far today we see that we as people are corrupt that we are depraved in our nature, Most mainline Christian teaching follow this same doctrine, but here is where we differ.

If we are dead in sin and cannot approach God or bring ourselves alive, how do we get saved?

Well, the first thing we must understand is...

The fact of depravity does not leave us without hope; instead, it prepares us to see our need for God’s intervention

Just because we by nature dead in sin and corruption we are not without hope.

This is where God’s work comes in. How does a person dead in sin come alive?

The simple answer to this question is, grace. In particular, Prevenient Grace.

Today, i want to say that God’s grace is the only thing that can take a person who is spiritually dead and make them alive. Amen.

But someone may ask, “What is Prevenient Grace”?

To that i would say that it is one aspect of God’s love for us in that God is seeking us for redemption.

This means that before a person can seek God, God must first have sought them.

And we see this in John 6:44 when Jesus said,

John 6:44 (KJV 1900)

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Prevenient means to “come before” to “precede”. It refers to the drawing of God that pulls us to Him.

Because mankind is “dead” spiritually, they cannot save themselves and they cannot come alive enough to go to God for help, and we don’t have the freedom of will to do so.

....Notice that i said that we don’t have the freedom of will to seek God and this is true. I mentioned last week where Paul said that we are slaves to sin.

As slaves to sin we don’t have the free will to seek God.

To fix this problem, God has to intervene so that we can have the choice to come to Christ.

But while prevenient grace reaches everyone, it does not force anyone to respond.

Instead, what it does is it restores human free will.

God seeks us by laying upon our hearts and minds the light and the will to seek Him in return.

and this is the work of the Holy Spirit. in John 12:32 Jesus said

John 12:32 (KJV 1900)

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

The Holy Spirit draws us and stirs within everyone a longing for God.

Not in some demanding way or coercive way but in a persuading way that calls us to make a decision.

There is an awakening in us,.. a desire for God.

Prevenient grace fulfills what Paul describes in Philippians 2:13

Philippians 2:13 (KJV 1900)

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

It is the gentle prompting of the Holy Spirit that allows us to seek God freely.

Let’s think about this in practical terms.

When a person comes to Christ—or when you came to Christ—you didn’t do it on your own.

The decision to follow Jesus was yours, but that decision was made possible because of God’s sovereignty and the work of the Holy Spirit through prevenient grace, the grace of God that goes before us.

Even while you were still in sin, God was already at work in your life, preparing the way for that moment.

Scripture tells us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, showing that God’s seeking always comes first.

God was already at work in your life getting you ready for that day.

Maybe it was through life circumstances, the words of a friend, the prayers of loved ones, or the still, small voice of God in your heart.

Whatever the means, it was God’s sovereign grace—wooing you, softening your heart, and lovingly drawing you closer to Him.

In our theology, prevenient grace shows God’s active pursuit of humanity, a pursuit grounded in His sovereignty and love.

God works in all people, even before they are aware of Him, making them spiritually receptive and free to respond to His call.

So, when you responded to the gospel, you were participating in the loving and gracious plan of a sovereign God who had been seeking you all along.

And this is the beauty of prevenient grace at work... and a awesome understanding of God’s love and work in our redemption.

God is glorified

If you think about this, you can see that this is a glory to God. To see that we as humanity are corrupt and depraved but that we are not left helpless and hopeless.

Scripture makes it clear that God intervenes in our hopelessness. And i already alluded to this truth but. Romans 5:6-8 beautifully captures this:

Romans 5:6–8 (KJV 1900)

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

God’s intervention in our lives while we were still completely in sin, in the face of human depravity. That is a demonstration of His character.

It shows that His love and grace are not dependent on our worthiness but are freely given because of His mercy.

This shifts our focus from total lostness and hopelessness....to hope in God’s power to redeem and restore.

When it comes to our human depravity, if we were only partially flawed, we might think we needed only a little help from God or that we can make it on our own.

But because our depravity is total—impacting every aspect of our being—we come to see that salvation is entirely God’s work and because of this we can say “all praise and glory to God”.

In Conclusion

I am reminded about a story I remember reading byfrom Max Lucado,

He said a person trying to save themselvs is like 2 men who try to jump and touch the moon.

One man jumps 3 feet

the other man is very athletic and jumps 5 feet.

The athletic man can celebrate his good works...

I mean, he jumped 2 feet higher than the other man...

but he his still ~240,000 miles away from touching the moon.

It is ridiculous to think that someone might try to jump up and touch the moon...

it is even more ridiculous to think that we might be able to be good enough on our own to save ourselves.

We cannot save ourselves and this is why we need God’s grace.

The doctrine of depravity, far from being a message of despair, is a message of preparation. It helps us see our utter need for God and makes His grace all the more glorious.

In our weakness, God’s strength is revealed; in our brokenness, His healing is magnified; and as Romans 5:20 says, in our sinfulness, His grace abounds all the more.

This is the hope of the gospel: that while we were dead in our sins, God intervened to make us alive in Christ.

Romans 5:20 (KJV 1900)

Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

There is ample evidence today in the world and in our own lives, to see the deprivation of the human heart. No one is righteous on their own. This is why we need Christ. Thank God for His grace that reaches out to touch us in our everyday lives in such a way as to draw us to Him.

What we believe

God is sovereign

All people everywhere are born with a sinful nature with the inability to reach God.

It was God’s sovereign choice to give us the freedom to choose.

But it was God’s grace that draws us to Him.

Today, I want to thank God for His grace. Amen.