Salvation Army Doctrine #5

Hi, this is Bernie Dake. Welcome to The Salvation Army's Words of Life. Welcome back to Words of Life. I'm Bernie Dake.

And I'm Cheryl Gillum. At The Salvation Army here in Atlanta, Georgia, we're recording this series so that you can know what it is that we say we believe. And if you wanted to skip ahead or just see all of these in one place, you can visit us at salvationarmy.org forward slash doctrines. We'll also have all of these listed on the Words of Life page at our website, salvationarmysoundcast.org. This week, Colonel Dan Starrett discusses our belief in the fall of man from our original parents. This doctrine shares the truth about why we needed saving.

Yeah. When I'm talking to someone really just about becoming new in Christ, becoming a new creation, particularly from the vantage of a Salvation Army soldier, I think of this doctrine as giving everybody an out in a sense. I want them to know they're not alone. It doesn't matter what you've done that's gotten you to this place where you are really looking for a savior, looking for forgiveness.

And you don't need a reason. What you need to know is we believe that we were born into the world as sinners, and you've got to come to a conscious awareness of Jesus in your life and his willingness to forgive you. But that requires us to testify to that sin.

Just ask God for forgiveness. Right. Well, acknowledging it.

Yeah. So the Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are all depraved in our nature, right? But the gift of God is Jesus Christ, and through him and through our faith in him, believing that what he accomplished on the cross paid the debt for that sin, right? Then we have eternal life through Jesus Christ. We're reconciled to God.

So you're not alone. You're not the only person that's done wrong or faltered or feels that you are not really worthy of God's forgiveness, but you are. In fact, he encourages us to come to him, come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest, it says in Matthew 11. So I'm excited about this series because as Colonel Starrett will break this down for our listeners, you'll have a better understanding really of the grace that is there for all of us to receive from God. Then we realized we were naked. So we hid ashamed in what became human nature.

Was this long heart fall from grace because of lies? We are fallen. We are broken.

Do you hear us when we call? We are fallen. We are broken.

Can you fix us once and for all? Welcome to our continuing study of Salvation Army doctrine and its application in our life today. Let's look at doctrine number five. We believe that our first parents were created in a state of innocency, but by their disobedience, they lost their purity and happiness and that in consequence of their fall, all men have become sinners, totally depraved, and as such are justly exposed to the wrath of God. Just as God created the heavens and the earth, God created man and then woman in his image.

God placed them in his perfect paradise called the Garden of Eden and then daily sought to have fellowship with them. Man's creation is the crown of all of God's creation. Man is to love, worship, serve, and enjoy him forever. We were to live a long, caring, and harmonious relationship with God. But as man was given free will, man chose to make his own choices.

God wanted us to love him because we want to, not because we have to. Man's freedom was and is still misused then as it is today. Because of their deliberate choice to disobey, Adam and Eve sinned against God. These decisions caused their shame, fear, cover-up, hiding and excuse-making to God. They were also removed from the Garden of Eden, but something far more was lost.

They lost their unique relationship with God in the Garden of Eden. In consequence of their fall, all men have become sinners. Every single human born since the beginning of time of Adam and Eve have been born sinners.

Romans chapter 3 and verse 23, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The sin then and now has created our separation from God and placed us in need of a Savior. Sin has not only caused separation from God, but sin causes separation from each other. The sin that has created this turmoil, separation, loss of relationship, condemnation, the penalties, stripes, and so much more in our life. We think all sin did was get them thrown out of the Garden, but it has destroyed so much more and can use to do so.

I didn't even put in there the struggle and challenge of addictions. In Romans chapter 8 verse 1 verses 18 to 32 is a tremendous description which shares because of the sin of Adam and Eve that sin entered into human life and human nature as a result of sin and it's now born in each of us. Our tendency is to sin and we are born in sin.

David said in Psalm chapter 51 and verse 5, For I was born a sinner, yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. And without the forgiveness and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we would be left condemned to an eternity in hell as sinners. But we also lose the glorious privilege and blessing and opportunity to have the fellowship and love of God here with us now on earth. Sin has caused our entire being to be affected by sin.

That is what is total depravity. As a result of it, Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, sin entered the human race. Romans chapter 5 and verse 12 says, So death spread to everyone, for in everyone when Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Sin first affected Eve with pain in childbirth and Adam by intrusion into creation causing weeds, thorn, and endless work in a hostile sinful creation.

From thereafter they were banned from the Garden of Eden. What God had said was very good in both Genesis chapter 1 and 2 went to very bad and has continued that way until today. Immediately after leaving Eden, the book of Genesis turns into the most graphic, complete, and repetitive examples of sin affecting human behavior and our human nature.

How do you go from very good in Genesis 1 to Genesis chapter 6, 5 and 6? Listen to this, The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth.

It broke his heart. This must truly be one of the saddest recorded verses in Scripture. If you continue reading the book of Genesis, the sinfulness of man continued and it only increased and increased.

But it grew and expanded in nearly every chapter with every person and every event. Until finally God said in Genesis chapter 6 and verse 7, I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing, all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky.

Listen to this again, I am sorry I ever made them. That's what happened when sin came in and destroyed everything. So God sent the flood and destroyed it all except for Noah's family and the animals in the ark. Well, it says that we are justly exposed to the wrath of God and because of sin we are. Just as sinful man received the judgment of God then by being banished from the Garden of Eden, you and I are justly exposed to the wrath of God today. Because of our sinful nature and our sinful acts, we are exposed to the eternal judgment of God. We'll look at that in another doctrine. Without God providing a Savior that is a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God and has to be received by man, you and I are justly exposed to God's wrath without any sacrifice.

So here's your pick and choose. The world today wants to and makes fun of the fruit and the snake and all of that about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But people surely don't want to be confronted with what happened with the rest of it. And it's rarely ever told. We think it's just Eve gave him some fruit, he bit it, and they saw they were naked.

No, it went far beyond that. They got banned from God, separation, lost that relationship, and kicked out of the Garden of Eden. And people sure don't want to talk about their banishment from God and exposure to God's wrath today. That's the place of hell for us.

So be careful what you pick and choose when it comes to this. God bless you. The Salvation Army's mission, Doing the Most Good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit salvationarmyusa.org to offer your support.

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