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This coming week we are called to examine ourselves with a view to our worship next Lord's Day. The coming week is to be for us a week of spiritual self-examination. It is to be such, because we look forward to the administration of the Lord's Supper. And the Lord gave clear instruction in I Corinthians 11 that attention to the Lord's Supper is only to be in the way of proper self-examination. "For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." And as Scripture makes clear, the only worthy approach unto Christ is the approach that finds in Him all our salvation, all our righteousness. If you come with any righteousness of your own, you stand condemned. Christ did not come to save the righteous, but to bring sinners to repentance. Those who are healthy need not a physician, He said, but those who are sick. And therefore the subject that we consider together from the perspective of Lord's Day 3 of our Heidelberg Catechism, is a very fitting subject for this preparatory service.
Lord's Day 3 speaks of our misery. It speaks of our sin. It speaks of the origin of that sin. It reminds us that God created man good, but man cast it all away. And it points us to the truth of Scripture that we stand inseparably related to that first man Adam. If we are to examine ourselves properly, therefore, it is necessary that we consider Adam, our relationship to him, and the effects of his fall into sin with respect to us. We must, in other words, hear Bible doctrine concerning Adam and his fall into sin. Not a few in our day smile with contempt over that doctrine. Many preachers long ago ceased explaining Adam to their flocks, and consequently there are very few who are able to explain his significance in relation to us. "If only we know Jesus," they say. "We don't need that doctrine about creation, about Adam, about original sin, about total depravity. What we must have is Jesus, the sweet and loving Jesus. Give us Jesus! Keep your doctrine!" Such talk, however, is wicked to the extreme. It is the talk of the sinner, still standing in rebellion against his Sovereign Lord, and despising His Word.
Just think, the Almighty God saw it necessary to reveal to us His entire Word from Genesis to Revelation, and to establish His glorious gospel upon the foundations of the first chapters of Genesis. That Word is rich in doctrine, true doctrine, God's doctrine. But now comes sinful man and boldly claims that he has no need for all this doctrine and particularly the doctrine concerning sin, and that he will be quite content with just one little portion of God's Word, that which speaks of a loving Jesus. Do you understand, beloved, what those who take that position say to God? They say that God made a mistake. He didn't need to give us all these Scriptures. He might just as well have given us a gospel that we can write on our hand, that we can learn by heart in less than five minutes. All we need to know is how much He loves us. I trust that you can see how wicked is such a position. But such a position is also very foolish. And as we come to Jesus, even in the Lord's Supper next Sunday, God willing, we must recognize what is involved in coming to Him.
Behind the simple gospel call, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved," lies a world of doctrine. Behind that call lies the sovereignty of God and the truth of His creation of those who shall believe. Behind that call lies the doctrine of the fall and of original sin. Behind that call lies the doctrine of the necessity of salvation. Behind that call lies the doctrine of God's counsel and the anointing of Christ. Behind that call lies God's truth. And the simple fact is: You cannot understand the gospel, unless you understand God's truth as He has revealed it in its entirety. Now don't misunderstand me. I don't say that you cannot believe, unless you have come to a theologian's understanding of the truth of Scripture. I don't even say that you cannot understand the gospel, until you have acquired a Protestant Reformed understanding of God's Word. I don't say that. What I say is that you cannot come to Christ, until there is a willingness to receive the whole of His Word, and to humble yourself before all of God's doctrine. You cannot know deliverance in Christ, unless you know your misery. And therefore, don't ever listen to such wicked and foolish talk from those who would reject the biblical doctrine of our sin and misery. Don't even give ear to those who cry for a feel-good religion. If they cannot stomach the doctrine of Adam, if they are unable to take to themselves the truth of Scripture concerning their own sin and depravity, neither will they come to Christ.
You and I, are called by the gospel to come to Christ. And next Sunday morning, as the elements of the Lord's supper are on the table before us, we shall stand once again before the call to come to Christ. For that reason, we very appropriately stand before the truth of Scripture today and consider:
OUR FALL INTO SIN
I. THE FALL
II. THE EFFECT OF THE FALL
III. THE REASON FOR THAT EFFECT
I. OUR FALL INTO SIN IS TRACED TO THE FALL OF OUR FIRST PARENTS, ADAM AND EVE, IN PARADISE.
THE ACCOUNT OF THE FALL IS PRESENTED LITERALLY IN GENESIS 3
Behind that fall, of course, is the fall in the angel world. That is something that Scripture does not develop at great length simply because it is not relevant to us and therefore is not necessary for us to know. But what the Bible does reveal is the fact that Satan, one of the heavenly creatures that God had created, and himself a very prominent angel, had risen up the heavenly places and conceived of a plan to thrust God from His throne, and to rule instead of God. He rebelled. And not only did he rebel, but he gained a following and led a rebellion against God. But as any rebellion against the All-powerful God is bound to fail, so Satan's plan failed. He was exposed in his pride, exposed as a liar, the prince of darkness before the God of truth and light.
But what we must remember in connection with man's fall into sin is the fact that as Adam stood in Paradise there was already an enemy of God with whom he had to contend. Because Adam stood as the friend servant of the living God, and therefore of God's party in the world, Satan was not only the enemy of God, but also of Adam. As the enemy, therefore, Satan appeared in the garden. He came, exactly as revealed in Genesis 3. We simply shrug off those who do not want to believe this account. We have here the historical record as given by God Himself. What can we say to those who refuse to believe God's Word? Satan came in the form of a serpent, as the instrument most suitable for his purpose. That serpent was not as we know it now. That the serpent is now a reptile, who crawls on its belly and is one of the most abominable creatures known to man, is evidently due to the curse that was pronounced upon him by God. But originally that serpent was the most intelligent of the animals. We read in Genesis 3:1 that he was the most subtle of all the beasts of the field. And given the fact that the woman was not even surprised at the serpent's capability to speak to her, it is likely that the intelligence of that creature included the capacity to speak.
I will not consider in detail today the historical account of the fall. Suffice it to say that the devil approached the woman with a subtle argument, calling the truth of God into question. The argument essentially ran like this: "God did not forbid you to eat of every tree in the garden, did He? There is no harm then in eating of all these trees around you. How could there possibly be harm, then, in eating of the one tree?" You see, beloved, the essence of the devil's attack to this day is always the subtle insistence that there is no harm in violating God's Word. That is always what he would have us think. "There isn't any harm in violating God's Word. Why, this is just a little matter. Why, this is actually good for you." That is always Satan's argument. That is why the devil is the master deceiver, who deceives the whole world. That is why men call evil "good" and "good" evil. They learned it from the father of lies.
But still more, as the devil led Eve through the steps which would lead to her fall, and consequently to the fall of him who was the head of the human race, he led her to the point of making God Himself to be the liar! God had said—not directly to Eve, but to Adam; and not as Eve represented it, but God had said, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." But we read this in Genesis 3:4,5: "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Apart from the question of whether it was even proper for the woman to enter into a discussion at all with the serpent about these matters, one thing is very clear. When the serpent contradicted God, and made His Word out to be a lie, there was no room for discussion any longer. That is always true. The truth of God is not debatable. And again, the moment you begin to deliberate upon the advisability of keeping the commandments of God, the minute you begin to look at God's Word from the viewpoint of "what's in it for me," you have put self above God. If we cannot believe God's Word unconditionally, simply because it is the Word of God, we do not believe it at all. And if we will not obey God's Word unconditionally, and that for God's sake, regardless of the consequences to ourselves, we cannot possibly keep His precepts.
The woman gave herself to the lie of Satan. Not only was the lie introduced by the deceiver. It was embraced by the covenant creature. And with eyes darkened by the lie, the woman looked upon the tree and made her own judgment. She saw nothing any more of God's Word in that tree. All she saw was "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." And "she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Such was the first sin, the one act through which all sin entered into the world, and death through sin.
WHAT WAS THE SERIOUSNESS OF THIS SIN?
We might say that on the surface of it this act was very minor. And when we consider that this sin of Adam brought upon the whole human race the eternal wrath of God, we might even allege that the punishment is altogether out of proportion to the sin committed. But we would certainly be wrong with such a superficial view of this matter. We must remember Adam's position. We must remember the position in which he stood to God, in which he stood to the world, and in which he stood to us. Then we cannot minimize the seriousness of his sin.
Adam stood as a special creature, one created in God's image, and who stood, therefore in a covenant relationship to God. As the king of the creation under God, Adam represented his Creator in the world. He had dominion over the whole earth, but only as the servant of the living God. Adam might not rule according to his own free will. He was obligated to rule according to the ordinances of God. He must love the Lord his God with all his heart and mind and soul and strength. That was the law of his life. And that law came to focus in those two special trees which God placed in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
That last tree was not created in order that man might have a stumbling block and fall, but in order that his calling be always before him as an antithetical calling, a calling in which he must serve God, not only by saying "yes" to Him, but also by saying "No" to Satan. The Word of God in that tree was, "Thou shalt not eat of it." It is true, that command was entirely the will of God. There was no earthly reason why man should not eat of that tree. The fruit of that tree was entirely good, as was clearly seen. It was not poisonous, not at all. But the Word of God was connected with that tree. Because of the command of the sovereign God, man was to abstain from eating of that tree. And Satan clearly recognized that the sovereign Word of God was connected with that tree. If Adam resisted and refused to eat of that tree of knowledge of good and evil, he would show that he, as the king of creation, would bow in obedience to the will of His Sovereign Creator. But on the other hand, if Satan should come and connect his own word with that tree, in contradiction of God's Word, and man should bow before the word of Satan, man has delivered himself and the whole creation with him, to the prince of darkness.
On the other hand, the tree of life was the tree given him by God to strengthen him in the battle. As such, Adam might eat of that tree and be strengthened with the grace of God. God made it very easy for man to live in the garden. God made it very easy for man to enjoy His fellowship forever. If the case had been such that they might only eat of one tree, and not of all the others, their calling would have been far more difficult. But they might eat of all the trees of the garden, except one. And the tree of life was given specially as a means of grace to them, to strengthen them in their calling, and that they might constantly realize that their life was dependent upon God's giving them life. But you see, this made Adam's sin all the greater. The essence of the sin was rebellion against God and His Word! Man decided that he, not God, should be the sovereign. Man decided that Satan's Word was more desirable than's God's, and that to serve as sovereign of the creation under Satan was his choice. This was no little sin, therefore, beloved. The sovereignty of God was at stake! And where that sovereignty of God is at stake, the one who opposes Him must die.
Do you understand that? Whenever you and I sin, that is exactly the
horrible nature of our sin. Every single sin is an attack upon the sovereignty of God! Let
us remember that, as we spend time in self-examination in this coming week. Let us
remember the seriousness of our sin. Every sin cries out for death! Every sin calls for
the Holy God to declare His sovereignty and to reveal His righteousness by executing
justice against the sinner—against me, against you. That is the seriousness of your
sin and mine.
II. THE FALL HAD A DEVASTATING EFFECT.
IT HAD A DEVASTATING EFFECT UPON ADAM, FIRST OF ALL.
Man because of his sin was guilty. He became an object of God's wrath. As far as his relationship to God is concerned, Adam became guilty, worthy of and obliged to receive punishment. This punishment was inevitable. Man must die! "The day that thou eatest thereof," God had said, "dying thou shalt die." That literally was the punishment man must receive. "Dying thou shalt die." So that immediately, as a guilty sinner, Adam entered the process of dying. His every heart beat brought him closer to the grave. Every breath became a moment robbed from his existence. His very body began immediately to enter the aging process, pulling Adam toward the grave. Still more, and much worse, he died spiritually. He became most miserable and wretched. Why? Because he lost fellowship with the living God, in Whom alone is life. Adam died spiritually. The moment he sinned he was dead in trespasses and sins. His nature was immediately totally depraved, incapable of doing any good, incapable of willing to do any good.
Now, my emphasis today is not going to be on Adam's totally depravity. That will be the focus in our treatment of Question and Answer 8 of the Heidelberg Catechism. But the point here is that man not only became guilty by his fall into sin, but he immediately fell under the punishment of that guilt, spiritual death. He became corrupt. His very nature was polluted with sin.
BUT NOT ONLY WAS THE EFFECT OF THE FALL EXPERIENCED BY ADAM AND EVE; IT REACHED UNTO THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE.
That is why we speak today of "Our Fall Into Sin." Because of Adam's fall, man has become guilty, worthy of condemnation and death. You hear what I am saying, don't you? You and I have become guilty, worthy of condemnation and death. We are guilty because of Adam's sin.
Still more, we are corrupt. We are conceived and born in sin.
That is exactly what we read in Psalm 51:5. That confession of David was very personal,
indeed. He spoke of himself. But he spoke of himself as a member of the human race. There
was nothing in David that made him any worse than you or I. His confession must be ours.
"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." That
is no excuse. That is our condemnation! That is the punishment for our guilt! That is
exactly why we need a Savior! That is why we need to be born again, given life again, new
life in Christ Jesus.
III. THE REASON THAT ADAM'S FALL HAD SUCH AN EFFECT UPON US MUST BE CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ADAM'S FALL AND OUR GUILT WOULD NOT BE SO DIFFICULT TO RECEIVE, IF ONLY WE ALL HAD, IN VERY FACT, COMMITTED THE SAME SIN AS ADAM.
It would be easy to understand how I, how we and all men, are just as perverse and wicked, just as dead in sin and misery, if only we all had personally committed the same sin. If we still had the same chance as did Adam, if we still lived among the trees in Paradise, if God came to each of us with precisely the same command with which He came to Adam, and if, then, we just as willfully committed the same act of rebellion and ate of that tree of which we may not eat—I say, then we could receive the sentence that we are guilty, worthy of death, worthy too of our sinful nature as the punishment for our guilt. Then our personal sin would be the cause of our personally miserable condition. To say that we are guilty, dead in sin, would even be somewhat acceptable, if only it came as a result of our own individual sins. But to say that we are born dead in sin, to say that even the infant child, who has not yet been able to commit any sin, is still guilty, corrupt—that is a very difficult doctrine to receive. For we have not sinned as Adam. We were not born in Paradise, but in a world of sin. The whole fall of Adam was finished some 6,000 years or so before we were even born! And yet we are told that we bear his punishment, for we are born in sin and misery, death and corruption. How can that be?
I can well understand how this doctrine of original sin is so despised by the world. I can even understand how those in the church, those in whom the Spirit has not worked the light of spiritual understanding, so fiercely oppose and hate this doctrine. Why should I be damned for something I didn't even do?! I can understand when there are those who reject this doctrine. But let us understand, this is not my doctrine. This is not the teaching of some man. This is what Scripture, this is what God declares of you and me. Will you accuse God of injustice, when that cute little baby is killed by God? when that little baby is found by God dead in trespasses and sins, condemned? Will you accuse God of injustice? Scripture teaches us that such is exactly the case. We read it in Romans 5. Death, death was inflicted upon those who did not sin after the similitude of Adam's transgression! Isn't that terrible? But that is Scripture. That is the Word of God. What shall we say then? How is that possible?
THAT IS POSSIBLE—AND THAT IS THE EMPHASIS OF THE CATECHISM—BECAUSE GOD CREATED THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE ORGANICALLY IN ADAM. ORGANICALLY.
What a tremendously important concept this is for us to understand—the organic conception of things. True understanding of so much Bible doctrine hinges exactly upon this. Whether you speak about Adam's relation to the human race, and therefore the effects of his fall upon the human race, whether you speak about Christ's relationship to His people, whether you speak about the true of the Church and the relationship between the generations of believers and salvation by grace, infant baptism, the gathering of the church throughout the ages, election and reprobation, even the truth concerning Scripture, its authority and inspiration—it is impossible to understand the truth of God's Word without understanding the organic conception of things. And one element of that truth stands before us here with respect to the relationship between Adam and the human race. The Bible teaches, even as we read this morning in Romans 5, and as we learn from Psalm 51 and many other passages in Scripture, that God created Adam not merely as an individual. He created a race, an organism, from which the whole human nature would develop and be maintained by generation. Adam and Eve, our first parents, bore the whole human nature. There was no other human nature than that which was created in Adam. And there never would be any other human nature than that which God created in them. And since Adam and Eve corrupted that human nature, therefore we are all born in sin and iniquity. That is the organic line of the explanation of total depravity.
Still more, Adam was not only the father and bearer of the human nature and the human race, but he was created the head of the human race in the legal sense of the word. That is clearly expressed in Romans 5. Just as Christ is the Head of the elect, and just as His righteousness is imputed to all who are legally in Him, so in the same way the guilt of Adam's sin was imputed to all men over whom he stood as the head. "Therefore as by the offense of one, judgment—not corruption, but judgment—came upon all men to condemnation." Do you submit to that truth, beloved? Oh, I know, sin is only too real. We cannot deny sin. And the people of God, bowing before the Scriptures, have no criticism of total depravity either. You don't. The people of God don't. They know only too well in their own nature that they are corrupt. They know too that sin is not merely in the act, but that it is a fundamental corruption. That too. You know that, don't you? We in whose hearts God has written His Word have no criticism of the truth of total depravity, even as that truth presses upon us personally.
But, beloved, neither must we have any criticism over the way God created the human race. Don't ever say, "I cannot be and I do not want to be responsible for the sin of Adam!" You are responsible, whether you like it or not! And God holds you responsible for Adam's fall. Do you accept the statement of Scripture that we are the clay and God is the Potter? Do you submit to the truth that it was entirely God's prerogative to determine how He should create man, and that He did so as an organism? You must. Sin always aims at self-determination and self-rule. Sinful man, you and I included, will never submit to the truth that God is the Potter and we are but the clay—unless God gives us to see that such is way He created man, in order that we might be saved. For as in Adam all sinned, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. That's the gospel! That is the gospel that we must lay hold of, when we return to God's house next Lord's Day, if it is His will: "That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 5:21).
So in this week, as we prepare to come to the Lord's table next Sunday,
God willing, what shall we say of ourselves? Shall we lay claim to some personal goodness?
Shall we deny our relationship to Adam? Understand well, such denial is nothing less than
the rejection of God's sovereignty! It is a changing of the ordinances of God. It is
rebellion the nature of which was announced by the Liar in the first paradise: "You
shall be as God, knowing good and evil." Shall we criticize the preaching that
exposes our sin? Then we cannot come to the table of the Lord. For He came not to save the
self-righteous, but to bring sinners to repentance. If we are to find our salvation in
Jesus Christ alone, if in Him shall be found our only comfort, then this must be our
humble confession: Our nature is become so corrupt that we are all conceived and born in
sin. And in this week, we must see our sins. We may not try to cover them up. We may not
deny them. We must stand before God and confess them and repent of them and turn from
them. Then we shall say, "My only comfort in life and death, is that I am not my own,
but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, Who with His precious blood has fully
satisfied for all my sins.
Amen.
Preached: 1) Randolph PRC 7/14/96 (pm) Preparatory
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