Contents
Articles
-The Fall of Man
-Man's Need of
Salvation
-Receiving and
Growing in
Salvation
-The Assurance and
Security of Salvation
-What Do You Have
To Do Now?
Meetings
Page 33-36, Lesson 7, God's Full Salvation (Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, California, 1990)
MAN'S NEED OF SALVATION
Scripture Reading
Outline
I. The objective problem before God
A. Under God's condemnation
B. Under the wrath of God
C. Awaiting God's judgement
II. The subjective problem within himself
A. Deadened in his spirit
B. Ruined in his soul
C. Corrupted in his body
I. THE OBJECTIVE PROBLEM BEFORE GOD
As a result of the fall, man's first problem is before God, and it is objective. Objective means something having to do with us but outside of us. Do you remember the illustration of the child who disobeyed his mother and took in the poison (Ref. The Fall of Man - VI. Illustration)? His problem of disobedience to his mother was objective, having to do with him but not something inside with him. By disobeying his mother, he was now in trouble with her and would be punished. Because of our fall in Adam, our objective problem before God is very great, and we will soon face God's punishment.
Because of Adam's disobedience, or transgression, we have all come under God's condemnation (Rom 5:18a). When God created man, he did not created many men, but only one man. All men were included in this one man. So in God's eyes, when Adam sinned, we were included in this one sin, even though we ourselves may never have sinned in the same way. Because of this, when Adam was judged and came under God's condemnation, we were all judged and came under God's condemnation with him.
Because we were condemned by God in Adam, we are all under the wrath of God (John 3:36b). Because of Adam's sin, all men today are under the wrath of God and awaiting His final judgement.
Eventually, because of Adam's sin, man will be judged by God and cast into the lake of fire to suffer God's judgement for eternity (Heb. 9:27). The Bible tells us that God prepared the lake of fire not for man but for Satan and his fallen angels who followed him to rebel against God (Matt. 25:41).
But, because man was deceived and followed Satan to rebel against God by disobeying Him, man must now also suffer God's judgement in the lake of fire with Satan (Rev. 20:15).
Outwardly, and before God, this is the terrible condition into which man fell because of Adam's transgression. Rather than enjoying God's life and expressing Him, man has been condemned to die and to suffer Satan's judgement with him.
II. THE SUBJECTIVE PROBLEM WITHIN HIMSELF
Man's second problem resulting from the fall is subjective, that is within himself. Using our earlier illustration of the disobedient child (Ref. The Fall of Man - VI. Illustration), this is the problem of the poison that man took into him, not the problem of his disobedience. By taking in the tree of knowledge, man did not merely do something wrong which could be solved by God's forgiveness. He actually took in the very life of Satan. When this satanic life entered into man, his entire being was deadened, ruined and corrupted.
First, when the satanic life entered into man, his spirit was deadened. He became dead in sins (Eph. 2:1). Because man's spirit was deadened, it lost its function to contact God and to receive Him as life. Today, because man's spirit has been deadened, men have lost their ability to contact God, and so many do not believe in Him.
When the satanic life entered into man, it ruined man's soul for God's purpose. His mind, which God had created to know God, became darkened and blinded, unable to know him (Eph. 4:17-18a). His mind became filled with vain thoughts and foolish reasoning s that have turned him away from God and His purpose. His emotion, which was created to love God, was turned away from loving Him. Now, man's emotion loves anything and everything else but God and even hates Him (2 Tim. 3:2-4). Finally, his will, which God created for man to choose Him and obey Him, became rebellious and is one with the will of God's enemy, Satan. Because of this, man himself has become the enemy of God.
When Adam took the fruit of the tree of knowledge into him, the sinful life of Satan entered into his body and changed it into the sinful flesh. Now, the sinful life of Satan is in man's body (Rom. 7:17-18a). It is this life, full of lusts and every evil thing, that makes man's body a body of sin, so strong to sin, and a body of death, so weak to serve the Lord and to please Him (Rom. 6:6b; 7:24).
We can see from this that man was condemned by God outwardly, or objectively, and ruined by the satanic life inwardly, or objectively. Because this sinful life has entered into man, he has even become a child of the Devil (John 8:44; Eph. 2:2b). In such a pitiful and ruined condition, man is helpless to save himself and utterly hopeless. All that he has to look forward to is a life full of sin and God's eternal punishment in the future. This is the condition that all men, including you and I, fell into as the result of Adam's sin. It was such a horrible condition that caused God, in His love, to come to save us.