02/19/06

Man is a Created Being

Romans 5:12-13

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin not imputed when there is no law.)  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam.”

Man because he is man, is born into this world, which is flawed by sin.  Adam in his wonderful lack of thinking has caused a curse of dying to be upon all creatures and things.  This earth was designed for the perfection of man’s innocence.  In I Corinthians 15:20-49, it talks about Adam having been made a living soul, become a living being form the dust of the earth.  He was earthly, and natural.  Zechariah 12:1, “The burden of the word of the Lord against Israel, thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.”  The word “forms” is the Aramaic term, “yatsar”.  It is used in Genesis 2:7, to express how God, “Yatsar”, formed man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into him life.  Zechariah 12:1, the term “Spirit” is the Aramaic term, “ruwach”, which can be used to say, wind, breathe, animation, vigor, disposition, mind, and spirit.  When it is used as “Yatsar Ruwach”, it defines the nature of original creation.  Man, Adam, chose by his sin of unbelief, and his sin of disobedience to partake of the fruit of the tree of good and evil.  The state of sin is then judicially imputed to all men as moral corruptions and guilt, which is then inherited giving us a loss of any righteousness and a proneness to do evil.  There are many names for this:

• "Sin"--Romans 6:12, 14, 17 and Romans 7:5-17

• "The Flesh"--Galatians 5:17, 24

• "Lust"--James 1:14-15

• "Body of Sin"--Romans 6:6

• We are called, "Children of Disobedience", and "The Children of Wrath"--Ephesians 2:13

In our world today, where is hope of a future found?  A common statement in American society today is, “All Paths Lead to God!”  I wish I could disagree with this statement, but I cannot.  The statement is a true one according to the vastness of scripture found in the Bible.  I disagree with the implication, which people have insisted upon us as to attempt to incorporate vast religious beliefs into one for the whole of the world.  The results of the decisions one makes concerning these paths, is what can lead to death, heal and eternal separation from God.

The pronouncement of everyone being capable of defining their own path to God, also allows for their own actions to be self-defined as well.  This comes down to the idea of what ever is right in our own eyes is acceptable, and whatever we worship is also acceptable as well in our society.  Man was designed to worship something.  Today, we know man either worships the creation or the creator of the creation.  We see this in the worship of rocks which the rock—gems—or stone have a mind or way of their own, the imagination of evolution in which there is no God, and in the worship of angels or some created being or living/non-living things, but not toward God.

Many people in our day and age would like to conclude the final authority is themselves.  The human weakness is we have no real power, control or choice in this matter of authority or death.  We attempt to manipulate, work our way into the good graces of God, or to have influence into the lives of other people, the end result is we die anyway.  Many pay homage to the times of creation, or the defining of the natural laws, which contain the creation, only to delude themselves from the creator who made them.  They pat themselves on the back for the good job they have done not being as bad as others.  This presents, the ”real problem” of the human condition.  The denial is of the complete inability to meet God on his righteous and holy terms.  All of us desire to worship, but not all of us want God to worship.

God was very angry with Adam for his Sin of Unbelief and Sin of Disobedience.  The curse God placed on those involved was on the serpent the Devil, Eve that was Adam’s wife, and Adam.  The ground became cursed, and grew thorns and thistles, and the perfect life, which God created in the beginning was not so perfect anymore.  The final statement God made was, in Genesis 3:19, “…till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to the dust you shall return.”  It was here the curse of physical death was made on man, and all who came from him.

Job stated it best in Job 16:22, “For when a few years are finished, I shall go the way of no return.”  Death has always been known as the “Great Equalizer”.  The saying being, “Death comes to us all with open arms.”  None of us can escape its power, or influence, because if this nature of being created and under the curse of Adam’s sin.  Paul said to the Romans in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…” Ezekiel 18:4 goes on to say, “…the soul that sinneth, it shall surely die.”

Man is Incapable of Rectifying Himself

We begin to see the nature of Man’s sinfulness when we see it in the light against the backdrop of God’s standards.  Paul with all his training, skill and knowledge as the Pharisee of the Pharisees was not trying to be politically correct.  He was not trying to fall into the good graces of people (Galatians 1:10-12), who had itching ears to hear only what they wanted to hear—(II Timothy 4:3-4).  He was not afraid of being under the scrutiny of his peers in stating what the gospel represented.  There are many people with their enticing words, vain philosophies (Colossians 2:8), which magnify man and his derelict poise trying to become great in the eyes of men (Job 9:5-22).  The vain deceit, which leads man into thinking he can do things without a God of creation (Job 7:17-21 and Job 38:1-3).  Attempting to pull themselves up by the bootstraps, only to live godless lives thinking they can do it themselves (Ezekiel 16:63).  They follow the traditions, and rudiments of this world and not after Christ.  Yet, the finally tally about it is this, “Every man is right in his own eyes, abut he Lord ponders the heart.” According to Proverbs 30:12.  The nature of sin and what man does with it becomes apparent with the backdrop of god’s principles (Isaiah 40:18 and Isaiah 46:5).  Most people do not have all of these at once, but many times combinations of them, and they say, “It is not me, because I don’t fit them all.”

Sin’s nature consists of the attempts to isolate (Job 31:33-34) and escape the scrutiny of its peers or from being pinned down to our inescapable behavior.  It is lazy an attempts to take the easy way out (Job 11:20), including punishment or retribution (Romans 2:3-5).  It attempts to twist the normal to suit its own desires and premonitions of desires.  It is arrogant and prideful.  It will denigrate itself, its goals to whatever suits its own spirit and desires (Hebrews 2:3-4).  It is said, this is true only because we are only human.

Sin Separates Us from God

During the rise and fall of empires, there have been questions, which have plagues man.  Whether we are attempting to be good in our own eyes, find a God beyond ourselves, or down right the scourge of the earth: these are but some of the questions plaguing Man during the centuries of his existence.

• What is man's true purpose in life?

• What is right and wrong?

• What is man's true nature?

• Is there a God or are we just set here on this planet going nowhere?

• If there is a God, what is our relationship to him?

We, as the wonders of our humanity are dead in our trespasses and sin.  Yet, in Ephesians 4:18-19, it gives to us several things concerning man’s sin nature, and his state of existence.  These are: having his understanding darkened, alienated from life, ignorance, blindness of heart, and working all unrighteousness with greediness.  Paul in Romans 3:23 says this about us the human race, “For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  John in his writings of I John 2:16, describes man’s sin nature as comprised of three elements, “For all that is in the world, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world.”  The universal sinfulness of man is the fact there is not a man, which does not sin.  We see this also mentioned in I Kings 8:46, Isaiah 53:6, and Psalms 130:3.  Job saw the totality of man’s iniquity in Job 15:14-16.  God repented of having made man on earth because man’s imagination of his heart was continually evil in Genesis 6:5-6.  The Psalmist called them “estranged from the womb”, in Psalms 58:3.  In Proverbs 22:15, it uses the term, “bound” to describe the connection of foolishness in the heart of a child.  This nature of sin runs so deep the Psalmist referred to some sins as “hidden” and “presumptuous” in Psalms 19:12-13.

Price for Sin

There are great men of renown, who have attracted nations, and empires, abut never acknowledged the God who created them.  Man’s nature is not one of performance of great and wonderful works for the glory of a gracious God.  Man’s sin nature is selfish, self-centered, and self-acclimated, which the knowledge of his nature gathers things unto himself for himself at all times.  I wonder with al the gathering of the Pharaohs, Kings, Emperors, if they were able to really take with them into the next world any of their belonging?  When we remember or see the rotting corpse of men like: Mussolini, Lenin, Buddha, Confucius or even the mummies of the great Pharaohs, what really has been left to see of them?  The statement, “All Paths Lead to God!” begins to take on a new meaning and texture.  Hebrews 9:27-28, do tell us of this and the nature of the results: “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sis of many.  To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”  Yet, God defines himself the results of this separation in Exodus 32:32-33, “Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book, which You have written.  And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Who ever has sinned against Me, I will blot out of My book.  Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you.  Behold, My Angel shall go before you.  Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.”

Others try to render the Gospel of Jesus Christ into some useless state of information, as if he is less than his status (Galatians 1:7-9).  Being just a prophet, or Satan’s brother, or a good man, but not the God of Creation.  All of this is just to provide to us a way to become a self-proclaimed deity (Isaiah 47:3-4), in which we can attempt to work our way into the good graces of a Holy God.  It is this sin nature, which makes us inadequate (Jeremiah 20:18) and incapable of meeting this God as an equal (Jeremiah 3:24-25) on our own abilities, skills, and powers (I Peter 4:17-19).  Are we just on this junket of a planet going nowhere, to do nothing, and for no reason or are we really to worship the God of creation.

Isaiah was a prophet of old.  In his thoughts about the relationship between God and man, has this to say about man’s greatness of existence, in Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all like unclean things, and all our righteousness are like filthy rages; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.  And there is no one who calls on Your name who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities.”  Isaiah understood the fate and ability of man.  He had seen God, and in his own cleansing realized the iniquity of himself, and feeling truly undone.  Jesus Christ himself, in John 3:18-21, talked about the nature of man and the finally condemnation concerning this awesome God’s atonement for man: “He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that he light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Sin separates us from God.  In Deuteronomy 29:20-22, the Lord said, “The Lord would not spare him; for then the anger of the lord and His jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the Lord would blot out his name from under heaven.  And the Lord would separate him form all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in the Book of the Law, so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, would say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sickness which the Lord has laid on it.”  And as Christ mentions in Matthew 25:32, judgment will be the separation of the sheep and goats.  Or Jude 18-19, “How they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts.  These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.”

The Law Condemns Man in His Sin

The law was given to us not to just guide for us into living, but to convict us of our sins.  The end result of sin is always judgment, and after judgment there is death.  We must begin face to face with God himself.  Revelations 20:15, is this final tally to our lives.  We get this one chance, in this fleeting moment of time to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, and if not then after this the judgment.  As it says, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.  And there was found no place for them; and I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things, which were written in the books.  The sea gave up the dead, who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one according to his works.  Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.  This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

The Law Was Given To Convict of Sin

The law of nature displays for us the workings of God and his eternal power.  This speaks so no man can be without excuse, as written in Romans 1:20-21.  The moral difference of things can be found by natural light.  This law binds all men at all times.  It can be concluded this is what is term, “Conscious”.  We as human beings have the capacity of being influenced by the moral relations of things.

As we see in Romans 3:9-20, the law was given to convict man of sin before God.  The Psalmist, in Psalms 19:7-9 had a different point of view of us all, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandments of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”  Paul sent on to say in Romans 7:12-13, “Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.  Has then what is good become death to me?  Certainly not?  But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceeding sinful.”

The Law as we have seen is in conjunction to the behaviors of man, and Christ said it was out of the heart man will be judged.  When we look at the law, we see these segments of the law, which God set down for us: commandments, statutes, precepts and the law.  We will come down to the final tally, how can we even begin to conclude our own righteousness, when so great a length of judgment has been laid on us to fulfill?  We can only conclude as Romans 3:10 says, “As it is written, “There is none righteous, no not one, “ And in Psalms 14:1-3, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘there is no God.’  They are corrupt.  They have done abominable works.  There is none who does good.  The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God.  They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.”

I John 3:4 tell us, “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.”  The Old Testament had the prescription of worship in “Ceremonial Law”.  The law could never make you perfect.  Hebrews 10:1 goes on to tell us, “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.”  So we can see that the law was not to make us perfect nor could it as we would so like to think or ponder.

The Judicial law directs the civil policies of the people.  This is shown in Exodus 18:21 as providing judges, Exodus 22:9 the judge condemns, Deuteronomy 17:8-11 weighs the facts, Ezekiel 44:24 controversy shall stand in judgment.

The Moral law is the revealed code of conduct for man as revealed by God.  This moral law binds all men the same until the end of time.  We see its perfection as we read earlier by the Psalmist, in Psalms 19:7-9.  The law will remain until all is fulfilled in it, Matthew 5:17-18.  The law is holy and spiritual as we saw before in Romans 7:12-14.

Paul as a Jew of Jews, and a Roman citizen knew this demeaning mentality very well when he wrote to the Romans saying: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.”

“Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lust of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchange the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.  Amen…who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”--[Romans 1:18-31]

The Bible makes the ideas of judgment abundantly clear.  In the section Death and Judgment we have gone into greater detail.  Yet, Paul to the Romans in 3:9-20 makes this concept of the law and judgment clear: “What then?  Are we better then they?  Not al all.  For we have previously charged both Jew and Greeks that they are all under sin.  As it is written, ‘There is non-righteous, no, not one; there is non-who understands; there is non-who seeks after God.  They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is non, who does good, no, not one.  Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit.  The poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.  Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.  There is no fear of God before their eyes.’  Now we know that whatever the law says it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and the entire world may become guilty before God.  Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

[Reference: Colossians 2:4-9, Proverb 30:12-14, II Timothy 3:1-9]

[Continued: Death/Judgment]