Turn with me, if you will, please,
to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 6. But one in a certain place testified,
saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? For the Son
of Man that thou visitest him." Brother Buddy read this evening
and prefaced his reading with comments concerning one who told
him he did not believe God exists. Yesterday I had a letter from
a fellow who was challenging that, said he used to sort of
believe in God, but now he's an atheist and wanted to know
if I would please explain some contradictory things in the scriptures.
And I wrote him back as nicely as I could, but as firmly as
I could, and let him understand. The problem is not the imaginary
contradictions you think you have found in scriptures. That's
not your problem. Your problem is you despise what
you know is so. You hate God, and you refuse
the testimony of God concerning yourself. And that's the problem. That's the problem. Anyone who
has ever come face to face with what he is stands like David
before God Almighty in august wonder that he's still breathing
outside hell, much less the object of God's mercy. It is a wonder
to me. It is a wonder to me. You and
I both are in hell right now. And even a greater wonder that
we are the objects of God's grace. What is man? What is man? That thou art mindful of him,
or the son of man that thou visitest him. Thou madest him a little
lower than the angels. When God made Adam in the garden,
he made him a creature in physical limitation, somewhat less than
the angels. Thou crownest him with glory
and honor. God set Adam in the garden, though
somewhat less than the angels set him in the garden, and crowned
him with glory and honor above all his creatures, and set him
over the works of thy hands, so that Adam was made to rule
over all God's creation. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under his feet. That's God's purpose for man.
We look at man and we see his sinfulness, we see his corruption,
we see his depravity. But God's purpose, God's purpose
in creating man was to put all things, angels included, under
his feet in time. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under him. He left nothing that is not put
under him. But now, We see not yet all things
put under him seems to be a contradiction For unbelieving infidels. It's
real easy to find apparent contradictions It doesn't look to me like god's
put anything under anybody's feet But we don't see things
and understand things in scripture in the light of our carnal puny
brains But rather in the light of divine revelation We don't
yet see the purpose of god fulfilled. We don't yet see all things put
under his feet But that doesn't mean it's not done And that doesn't
mean it shall not be done ultimately in God's purpose. But now we
see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus. Blessed be God, everything is
being put under his feet, and it shall one day be put under
ours. Now with that being read, I want
to try this evening with brevity and simplicity. to set before
you the fourfold state of man as it is set forth in Holy Scripture. And man does exist in four states
in God's creation. First, let's go back to Genesis
chapter 1. And there we will see man in
his state of innocence. That original state, that original
condition of man in the garden before sin entered into the world.
Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26. Man is now sinful, depraved,
corrupt. My God, who needs any explanation
of that? Sinful, depraved, corrupt, vile,
base, wretched. ungodly, unholy, implacable. Man is sin, just sin. Nothing but corruption in us,
nothing but corruption coming from us by nature. But that's
not the way God made man in the beginning. It wasn't always that
way. Look here in Genesis 1 verse
26. God said let us make man in our image and after our likeness.
Now you can debate all you want about what all that means, but
man was made in the image and likeness of God. Man was made
like his Creator. Man was made as a representative
of God in God's creation. And let them, let men have dominion
over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and
over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in
his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and
female created he them. And God blessed them. Oh, how
God blessed them. And God said unto them, be fruitful
and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have
dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the
air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Man
was made upright, righteous, Holy without sin. Man was made
righteous before God. Adam had no sin, no inclination
towards sin, no corruption in his environment, no weakness
towards sin, no bent towards sin, no bias towards sin. He
was righteous before God. made upright in the image of
God. And when you think about man's
original creation, please be smart enough to laugh at the
science books, and to laugh at the teachers in your elementary
schools, and in your high schools, and in college, and in your graduate
schools, and the scientists who have perverted all reason in
the age in which we live, who would have you to believe that
mankind, when he first appeared on the earth, sort of crawled
out of a snake's belly, had slobbered all over himself and crawled
around looking a little bit like a beast, and he scratched and
clawed until finally he learned how to scribble something on
walls. There was no such thing as a caveman. Adam was created
in God's image with brilliance. He named everything that is. I mean, he named it. You raise
those beagles, I don't know whether you bother to name them or not.
Adam called, not Adam, God called every beast in the field. Parade by Adam. What do you want
to call it, buddy? Well, call that a lion. Call
that a cat. Call that a dog. Call that an
elephant. And they were Adam's house pets. He named them all. He named the stars. He named
all things in the earth. He named the fish of the sea.
So, boy, how did he know all that? I don't know, but he knew
it. He knew it, perhaps by special revelation, perhaps by far greater
brilliance and knowledge than we've ever imagined. But Adam
was no dummy. He was created in the image and
likeness of God with brilliance and given power, dominion over
everything, everything, everything. God gave him the whole creation. with just one condition. You
recognize that I'm God. That's all. That's all. At least
you can have everything in the garden. Everything's yours. Just
this one tree. This one tree stands as the symbol
of my authority and my dominion over you. You recognize that
I'm God, and the whole creation's yours. But as you know, it didn't
last long. Listen to what the wise man Solomon
said in Ecclesiastes 7.29. Lo, this only have I found, that
God hath made man, Adam, upright, but they have sought out many
inventions. When Adam sinned against God,
he plunged the whole human race into another state, into another
condition. It is a condition and state of
sin, depravity, and corruption. It's the state in which all men
are born by nature. It's the state in which we all
existed from our mother's womb. It's that state in which all
the human race was plunged before the world began. Not before the
world began, but before you and I had any time in existence in
this world. When Adam sinned, we sinned.
When Adam died, we died. When Adam was cursed, we were
cursed in him. This picture that is drawn in
the scripture of man in his fallen condition is not a pretty one.
It's not the picture given by educators. It's not the picture
given by moms and dads. We all kind of turn a blind eye
to our kids and they ask about your neighbor's kid to be a different
story. But yours is, this is, this is not how we describe ours.
It's not the picture given by psychiatrists and psychologists
and politicians, but the picture given in scripture is true and
accurate. And you know, it's true and accurate.
You know it. I don't care how much a man argues
against it, I don't care how much he suppresses the knowledge,
God has stamped on your conscience what I'm telling you. God has
stamped it so on your conscience that you cannot escape it, and
that's the reason you live in turmoil as long as you live in
rebellion to God. It's a true and accurate description
of us all by nature. We all know these things so. You turn, if you will, to Matthew
chapter 1. And I'm going to read some scriptures
before I get there. The psalmist David said, Behold,
I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. This is what he says. When my father's sperm and my
mother's egg met together in my mother's womb, I was a sinner. That's what he said. He said
the wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon
as they are born speaking lies. So that it is the nature of man
to be dishonest. It is the nature of man to be
deceitful. It is the nature of man to lie.
All men are a liar. The scripture tells us plainly.
You don't have to teach your kids to lie. You don't have to. Y'all got the youngest one in
the crowd, I expect, Becky. You and OJ. You wouldn't teach
that darling child to lie, would you? Wouldn't think about it.
But she already does. Well, sure they do. They come
forth from the womb speaking lies. They squall when there's
nothing to squall about. They're deceitful when there's
no reason to be deceitful. It's as natural to them as somebody
drinking water when they're thirsty. Look here in Isaiah chapter 1,
verse 2. Here the Lord God describes us all as he describes the nation
of Israel in their depravity. Hear, O heavens, and give ear,
O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought
up children, and they've rebelled against me. God brought you into
this world. God gives you life and breath.
You live and move and have your being in God Almighty. The ox
knows his owner, and the ass is master's crib. Sometimes we
say men are such beasts. I think you said that just a
little while ago. Such beasts. Pardon the beast. We apologize
to the beast. The ox knows his owner. The jackass
knows his master's crib. But Israel, you don't know, my
people does not consider. Our sinful nation, a people laden
with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors.
They have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One
of Israel to anger. They're going away backward.
Why should ye be stricken anymore? Why should I bother with you?
You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the
whole foot, heart faint from the sole of the foot, even to
the crown of the head, there's no soundness in it but wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores. They've not been closed, neither
bound up, neither mullified with ointments. Listen to our Lord's
words. He says, out of the heart. Out of the heart. Out of the
heart, the heart of man, your heart and mine, the heart of
all men and women by nature, out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts. Well, I thought those things
came from Playboy magazine. No, they come out of your heart.
The fellow who produces that's got a heart just like yours.
Out of the heart proceed murders. Out of the heart proceed adulteries.
Out of the heart proceed fornications. Out of the heart proceed thefts.
Out of the heart proceed false witness. Out of the heart proceed
blasphemy. Not out of Hollywood, out of
your heart! The heart. These are the things
which defile a man. Turn to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3, verse 10. As it is written, there is none
righteous. No, not one. There is none that
understandeth. There's no man, no human being,
no son, no daughter of Adam who's ever done anything right before
God. There is not one that understands
anything spiritual. There is none that seeketh after
God. Well, I believe he's seeking the Lord. No, he's not. Well,
I believe they're seeking the Lord. No, they're not. You'll
seek him when he seeks you, and when you seek him, you'll find
him. They are together. They are all going out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable.
That's a pretty good description of us. Unprofitable. Unprofitable. insofar as righteousness, insofar
as godliness, insofar as God is concerned, insofar as being
of any use to one another. All men are unprofitable. There
is none that doeth good, no, not one. Well, he's a good man. She's a good woman. Well, I know
my boy. He's good at heart. That's where
he's bad. Now, he might behave pretty good.
He might not be a drunk. He might not be a murderer. He
might not be an adulterer. He might not be a fornicator.
He might not be a dope head. But he's not good at heart. He's
evil at heart. It's just the outside that's
cleaned up. The throat is an open sepulcher.
Verse 13. With their tongues they've used
deceit. The poison of asp is under their tongues. are to their lips, whose mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness, that feed us swift to shed blood.
Turn him loose and we may not kill anything in his way. Like
that. Just turn him loose. You too. Me too. Just turn us loose. The only thing that keeps us
from behaving like wild, brute beasts is the restraining hand
of God Almighty. All men are such as this. Destruction
and misery are in their ways, the way of peace they have not
known. Because there's no fear of God before their eyes, no
fear of God. We are, every one of us, and
every one of our children, sinners, corrupt at heart, corrupt by
nature, corrupt by choice, and corrupt by practice. So vile,
so corrupt we are that the thoughts of the human heart are only evil
continually, so evil that we cannot and will not do anything
good. And the fact is, that's the way
you're going to be forever, unless God steps in. The scripture says,
Buddy, as the tree falleth, so shall it lie. What's hell going
to be? I don't know what all hell is
going to be. I'll tell you part of what it's
going to be. you're going to be turned loose to be what you
are with no restraint and no satisfaction amongst a whole
bunch of other folks just like you with no restraint and no
satisfaction just turmoil and godliness and blackness and darkness
and torment and the fire of your conscience tormenting you day
and night forever and ever that's total depravity We are depraved,
spiritually dead sinners by nature, incapable of changing our condition
or even wishing to change it. Man is so depraved that it is
utterly impossible for him to escape the wrath of God if left
to himself. But blessed be God, that which
is impossible with men is possible with God. Look here, here is
the evidence. Turn to Ephesians chapter 2 verse
4. Now here's the state of man in
grace. If I could write my life's biography
in two words, and I could tell of my life's
experience in two words, these are the two words that would
do it. I'm seeing, but God. I was on
my way to hell and loving every step, but God. I hated him, but
God. I would not come to him, but
God. And I'd forsake him right now
if he left me to myself, but God. But God, who is rich in
mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace
ye are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us set
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages
to come he might show forth the exceeding riches of his grace
and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are
you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. for
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them."
I can't tell you everything I'd like to tell you about this,
but let me show you four things from the book that describe this
state of grace. Oscar, if you and I are now born
of God, these four words describe us. These four words. Forgiven. Forgiven. Blessed is the man
to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Forgiven. That's what it
is to be forgiven. It's not only that we are forgiven
of past sins. We are forgiven of all sin, past,
present, and future. God will not impute sin to his
people. Well, how can that be? How can
it not be? He imputed our sin to his son.
He charged our sin to his son. He punished our sin in his son.
Now he will not impute sin to his own. Here's a second word. Justified. being justified. By faith we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus
Christ, when he died for our sins, justified us from all things
from which we could never be justified by the law of Moses.
And now believing on him, we have peace with God. Oh, glorious peace. There is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
No condemnation. No possibility of it. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather than it's risen again. Who's
even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession
for us? Jesus Christ, our substitute, has justified us from all things. What do you mean, justified?
Justified. You younger folks, Can't remember
the days when they didn't have computers. Used to be when Shelby
taught the bulletins, she'd type that thing in this right-hand
side over here, there'd be lines going this way and that way,
just to stop every which bit, every little bit. And she'd have
to mark it off, count the letters on each line, and space them
out to make this side come out even. If you hit a computer key,
it's called justify. And that means this side is exactly
the same space as this side. Exactly the same measurement
as this side, exactly equal the two sides are. Now this is what
it is to be justified. Here is God's holy law. It is. Here I am. Justified. Equal to all that the law of
God demands. Justified from all my sins, made
righteous before God Almighty. Justified. Here's the third word. The scripture tells us that every
believer, everyone who believes on the Son of God, is sanctified. Justification is righteousness
imputed to us, charged to our account. Sanctification is righteousness
imparted to us. The Apostle Paul writes to the
Corinthians and says, you are sanctified. All of the saints
of God are sanctified. In 2 Peter chapter 1, listen
to this. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, according as his divine
power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and
godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to
glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises, that by these you might be prayed partakers
of the divine nature. What is the new birth? It is
Christ created in you. It is that holy thing born of
God by the Spirit of God. It is God putting a holy nature
in you, sanctified. And here's the third, fourth
day, warfare. The believer, every believer,
the youngest and the oldest, men and women, the most inexperienced
and the most experienced, every believer is a man at constant
war with himself. I know that in me, in my flesh,
dwelleth no good. Yet, to will is present with
me. In my inmost soul, David Coleman, I love the law of God
and love Him. If I could, Bobby, I'd walk before
Him in perfect holiness, perfect holiness, without an error, without
a flaw, without a weakness, perfectly holy. But I can't do the things
I would. I can't, neither can you. Now
that's what I would do, but I can't do what I would because the flesh
lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh
so that you cannot do the things that you would these two are
contrary to one to the other. So that the believer constantly
struggles, the flesh will never surrender. But we are made to
be kings and priests unto God. Blessed God, the flesh doesn't
rule anymore. We're no longer under the dominion
of sin, but rather ruled by the Spirit of God within us. But
one of these days, the warfare is going to end. You who perish without Christ
shall remain forever in a state of corruption, depravity, sin,
and turmoil. But the believer, oh, the believer,
he shall escape all the consequences of sin. All of them. All the consequences of sin.
No more curse, no more condemnation, no more corruption. escape all
the consequences of sin, so that there is not even the slightest,
not even the slightest reminder of our former estate when we
enter into the state of glory, except that which causes us to
render praise to God and thanksgiving. My, what will that state be?
Look at 1 John chapter 3, I'll show you. I don't even pretend
to know much about it. But I know that in this blessed
state called glory, every chosen, blood-bought, saved sinner will
be with Christ and like Christ in all the perfection of his
manhood forever. First John 3. Behold what manner
of love. The Father hath bestowed on us
such things as he has found in this dumb heap called humanity,
of which you and I are a part, that we should be called the
sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, never could, never can, because it knew him not. Beloved,
not only are we called the sons of God, now are we the sons of
God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. Like him. This is what glory
is. Skip, it is to be perfectly conformed
to Jesus Christ. holy, without blame, before God. It is to be in perfect, uninterrupted
communion with God Almighty as His Son is. Oh, now that's glory, Paul. It is to be perfectly consecrated
to Him. Oh, that's glory. That's glory. That's glory. There'll be no more sickness. No more sorrow. No more death
in that day when Christ comes to make all things new and raises
us up in glory as we have borne the image of Adam. Oh, bless
God. We shall bear the image of Christ
as we have borne the image of the earthly So we shall bear
the image of the heavenly forever. Oh, may God now bring you into
a state of grace that you may be forever with us and with Christ
in a state of glory for Christ's sake. Amen.