DEPRAVITY

The Fall of Man

Depravity: the state of being morally bad or evil: to be corrupt or sinful.

Adam and Eve spiritually died when they sinned. That death spread to their descendants.

Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—”

Ephesians 2:1 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins”

Psalm 58:3 “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.”

Ephesians 2:3 “among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

To be spiritually dead is to be cut off from life.

John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

See Genesis 3:8, 24...

To be spiritually dead is to be unresponsive to the things of God.

1 Corinthians 2:14 “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

John 8:43 “Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.”

To be spiritually dead is to only produce rottenness and decay.

Genesis 6:5 “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”

Isaiah 64:6 “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

James 1:14–15 “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

How Far Did We Fall?

See Romans 3:9-20...

We have defiled minds and consciences.

Titus 1:15 “To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.”

See Romans 1:28-32...

We are willing slaves to sin and Satan.

John 8:34 “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”

Proverbs 5:22 “The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.”

John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (see Ephesians 2:3)

John 3:19 “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

We are incapable of obeying God’s law or doing any good.

Romans 8:7 “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.” (See Romans 3:19-20)

Jeremiah 13:23 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.”

We have seen that all of us are born in sin and are by nature spiritually dead. We have wicked and evil hearts. We have a defiled mind and conscience. Our wills are enslaved to sin and Satan. We are incapable of doing any good. We are incapable of understanding or accepting spiritual truth. Our righteous deeds are filthy. We don’t seek God, but we run from Him. We are sinners and lawbreakers. We are God haters.

Because of our great sin and sinfulness, apart from Christ, we have no hope.

Psalm 130:3 “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” (see 2 Corinthians 5:10, Matthew 12:36, John 12:48, Hebrews 4:12-13, Revelation 20:11-15)

Ephesians 2:12 “remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

Because of all of this and more, we can only come to God if He takes the initiative. He must work a miracle.

John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 3:3 “Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.””

Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.””

1 Corinthians 3:5–7 “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”