This was the Sunday

2. The two key views or aspects of the cross
View #1 of the cross (We are perpetrators) inherited condemnation
Ø The view of the cross that focuses upon the significance of what
Jesus accomplished in relationship to how we would stand before
God. (Atonement, Propitiation, Justification)
View #2 of the cross (We are victims) inherited corruption
Ø This focuses upon the significance of what Christ accomplished
in relationship to the bondage that the powers of sin, death and the
devil have over us. The fact is we come into this world enslaved to
sin and here the cross presents to us the important work of Christ’s
death. It is His death on the cross which has redeemed and delivered
us from these evil powers. (Redemption, Ransom)

3. What is sin?
Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act,
attitude or nature.
We all know that sin is harmful to our lives and that it brings pain
and destructive consequences to others and us.
However, it much more serious than what it does to others
because it is a direct contradiction, violation and rebellion to the
very holiness of God.

4. Scriptural support for the definition of sin
1 John 3:4 - Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness;
and sin is lawlessness.
James 4:17 - Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and
does not do it, to him it is sin
Romans 14:23 - “…and whatever is not from faith is sin.
Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

5. Biblical evidence for the doctrine of sin
Ø 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.”
Ø Jeremiah 13:23 (NIV): "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the
leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to
doing evil.”
Ø Romans 3:10-11: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one
understands; no one seeks for God.”
Ø Romans 8:7-9: "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. Those
who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the
flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to
him."
Ø Ephesians 2:3b: "[We] were by nature children of wrath, like the
rest of mankind."

6. Ø 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."
Ø Genesis 8:21 - The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the
LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on
account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth;
and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done
Ø1 Kings 8:46 - “When they sin against You (for there is no man
who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to
an enemy, so that they take them away captive to the land of the
enemy, far off or near
Ø Psalms 51:5 - Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in
sin my mother conceived me.
Ø Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is more deceitful than all else And is
desperately sick; Who can understand it?

7. Ø Romans 7:18 - For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that
is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the
good is not
Ø1 John 1:8- If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving
ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Summary Point:
Man is not basically good - Man is bad, evil, wicked and corrupt
Even though we learn in Genesis 1:27 we were created in His
image something went terribly and tragically wrong in Genesis 3
when Adam sinned.
From that time until now - man is not a sinner because he sins,
rather man sins because he is a sinner!

8. Romans 5:12-21
The Scriptures teach that sin causes a two-fold problem in our
lives. By the way these two sin problems are what all people
inherit from Adam.
1. We have inherited condemnation – our original guilt and
condemnation is not rooted in our first individual sinning but in our
connection with Adam and his sin. Since we are regarded as
having sinned in Adam then we are subject to the same punishment
as Adam. This imputed sin is the ruin of our standing before God
in which we are reckoned as guilty in the courtroom of God.
Romans 5:12 - Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into
the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men,
because all sinned

9. The Scriptures teach that sin causes a two-fold problem in our
lives. By the way these two sin problems are what all people
inherit from Adam.
2. We have inherited corruption – Because of Adam’s sin then
we all enter the world with a sinful or fallen nature. This sin
nature, which we have inherited from Adam, manifests itself in
our thought, ways of speaking and behaving such that we violate
the moral commands of God. We are not sinners because we sin
rather we sin because we are sinners!

10. The point of this Scripture is HUGE because in my corrupted
condition and my sinful behavior I have a much deeper problem.
That problem is rooted in my union with Adam, my father in
whom I sinned, was condemned and died. We need to see where
in this paragraph Paul is writing to show us that it is our
connection to and with Adam that is our main problem.
Romans 5:15 – “…by the transgression of the one many died…”
The one here is Adam
Romans 5:16 – “…for on the one hand the judgment arose from
one transgression resulting in condemnation…”
Romans 5:17 – “For if by the transgression of the one, death
reigned through the one…”
Romans 5:18 – “…through one transgression there resulted
condemnation to all men”
Romans 5:19 – “For as through the one man’s disobedience the
many were made sinners…”

11. Now that we understand the two-fold problem what is the solution?
Ø The problem of our condemnation in Adam, God remedies
through justification in Christ.
ØHis reckoning to us the righteousness Christ solves the problem of
our legal guilt and condemnation before God.
ØIn other words if we are to stand before God and be declared “not
guilty” then we must have the righteousness of Someone else.”
ØThat someone else is Christ and His righteousness is imputed to us
by grace alone, through faith alone.
Ø This event is outside of me and is judicial - (declared righteous)
Ø This event happens in an instant

12. Now that we understand the two-fold problem what is the solution?
The problem of our corruption God remedies through regeneration
by the Spirit.
And the problem of our moral defilement and habitual sinning is
solved by His purifying us by the work of Spirit. This process is
what we call sanctification.
Ø This event is inside of me and moral
Ø This event happens progressively over time

13. Five Observations from Scripture regarding sin
1. Sin affects every human.
Romans 3:23
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
1 Kings 8:46
There is no man who does not sin.
Psalm 143:2
And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight
no man living is righteous.
1 John 1:8
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the
truth is not in us.

14. 2. Our rebellion or hardness against God is total, that is, apart
from the grace of God there is no delight in the holiness of God,
and there is no glad submission to the sovereign authority of God.
Romans 3:9-11, 18
What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already
charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written,
“THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS
NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS
FOR GOD . . . THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR
EYES.”

15. John 3:19-21
This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and
men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were
evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come
to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who
practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be
manifested as having been wrought in God.
Romans 1:18
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness.

16. 3. In his total rebellion everything man does is sin.
Romans 14:23
Whatever is not from faith is sin.
Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes
to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those
who seek Him.
Romans 7:18
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for
the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.

17. 4. Man’s inability to submit to God and do good is total.
Romans 8:5-9
For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the
things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the
things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh [literally: “the
mind of the flesh”] is death, but the mind set on the Spirit [literally:
“the mind of the Spirit”] is life and peace, because the mind set on
the flesh [literally: “the mind of the flesh”] is hostile toward God;
for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able
to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the
Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit
of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

18. John 3:5-7
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of
water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be
born again.’”
Romans 6:17-18
But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you
became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which
you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became
slaves of righteousness.

19. Ephesians 2:1-5
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you
formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to
the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working
in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived
in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the
mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But
God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He
loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us
alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).
Ephesians 4:17-18
So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no
longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of
God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the
hardness of their heart.

20. 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.
1 Corinthians 2:14
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for
they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because
they are spiritually appraised.
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately
[incurably] sick; who can understand it?

21. 5. Our rebellion is totally deserving of eternal punishment.
Ephesians 2:3
Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh,
indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by
nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
2 Thessalonians 1:8-9
[God will] deal out retribution to those who do not know God and to
those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay
the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the
Lord and from the glory of His power.
Matthew 25:46
These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into
eternal life.

22. In summary:
Total inability means that apart from the grace God, our hardness
and rebellion against God is total, everything we do in this rebellion
is sin, our inability to submit to God or reform ourselves is total,
and we are therefore totally deserving of eternal punishment.
It is hard to exaggerate the importance of admitting our condition to
be this bad. If we think of ourselves as basically good or even less
than totally at odds with God, our grasp of the work of God in
redemption will be defective.