THE TRUTH AND EXPERIENCE OF GOD’S SALVATION

Lesson 5

THE RESULTS OF MAN’S FALL - SIN (2)

II. The Result of Man’s Fall

A. The problem of sin – Rom. 3:23

2. Having a sinful nature, Satan’s poison is in us – John 8:44; Rom. 7:15, 17, 19-20

Burden to Impart:

In addition to being constituted sinners, we now have a sinful nature. Satan’s poison is in us. As a result, each of the three parts of man – the body, soul, and spirit – was affected by the fall. Our heart is incurably wicked (Jer. 17:9), our soul is darkened and blinded (Eph. 4:18), our spirit is deadened (Eph. 2:1), and our body has become a body of sin (Rom. 6:6).

Draw the three circles on the board (showing man’s body, soul, and spirit), and show in detail the sinful nature that came into our being as a result of the fall.

Memory Verse: “But if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that do it but sin that dwells in me” (Romans 7:20)

Facts to Teach:

1. Before regeneration, man’s nature is corrupted. His heart is “deceitful above all things, and it is incurable” (Jer. 17:9). His heart has been hardened (Eph. 4:18); the hardness of fallen man’s heart is the source of the darkness in his understanding and the vanity of his mind. Because men are full of poison, they even love darkness rather than light (John 3:19).

2. As a result of the fall, our soul (comprising our mind, emotion, and will) was corrupted, contaminated, and ruined. It was corrupted because it accepted the devil’s thought and word (Gen. 3:7).

3. Man’s mind has been darkened and blinded. His thoughts have been blinded (2 Cor. 4:4) and his understanding is darkened (Eph. 4:18). Man is even God’s enemy in his mind (Col. 1:21).

4. Concerning emotions, man should love the Lord God from his whole heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). But because of the sin nature, men became lovers of self (2 Tim. 3:2). In many cases we hate what we should love, and love what we should hate. The most ugly aspect of our being is our emotion, for we do not use it properly.

5. Man’s will seeks his own things, not the things of Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:21). Man has become very rebellious and does not know what it means to be submissive to the Lord.

6. Man’s spirit has been deadened (Eph. 2:1): it has become functionless and senseless, no longer possessing the ability to contact God.

7. Man’s body has become a body of death (Rom. 7:24) and a body of sin (Rom. 6:6), serving sin as a slave (Rom. 6:6). The body of sin is strong in sinning against God, but the body of death is weak in doing things to please God.

8. Satan’s poison has affected every part of man’s being: this sinful nature proves that man is just a son of the devil (John 8:44). Everything man wants to be he cannot be (Rom. 7:15, 17, 19-20). Who can save man from the body of this death (Rom. 7:24)?

[See Gospel Outlines by Witness Lee, Subjects 11, 12, and 16.]