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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadR.A. Torrey Collection: Torrey, R.A. - What Bible Teaches (about Man): 03 Present Standing Before God Men
TOPIC: Torrey, R.A. - What Bible Teaches (about Man) (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 03 Present Standing Before God Men
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Ch 03 The Present Standing Before God of Men Outside Redemption
I. THE PRESENT STANDING BEFORE GOD OF MEN OUTSIDE OF THE REDEMPTION THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS. Rom_3:9-10; Rom_3:22; Rom_3:23 — "What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one .... for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Psa_14:2-3 — "The Logo looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. The), are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Isa_53:6 — "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Logo hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." 1Jn_1:8; 1Jn_1:10 — "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us .... If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."
First Proposition: Outside of the redemption in Christ Jesus there is no difference in the standing of men before God: for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; there is none righteous. Rom_3:19 RV — "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it speaketh to them that are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God."
Second Proposition: Every mouth is stopped and all the worm brought under the judgment of God. (Compare to <19D003> Psa_130:3 — "If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquity, O LORD, who shall stand?" and to <19E302> Psa_143:2 — "And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.") Gal_3:10 — "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." (note the context, verses 13-14) Rom_2:12 — "For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law."
Third Proposition: All who are of the deeds of the law (i.e., outside of the grace of God in Jesus Christ) are under a curse. 1Jn_3:8-10 — "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil; whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother."
Fourth Proposition: All who have not been born of God (i.e., all outside of the redemption in Christ Jesus) are, in reality, children of the devil.
The doctrine of the universal Fatherhood of God is utterly unscriptural and untrue. It is true all men are his offspring, or stock, or race, or nation in the sense of being His creatures, having our being in Him, and made in His likeness (see the context, verses 28-29). But we become His sons or children by faith in Christ Jesus ( Gal_3:26 RV; Joh_1:12 RV).
II. THE PRESENT CONDITION OF MEN OUTSIDE OF THE REDEMPTION THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS Eph_4:18 RV — "Being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts."
First Proposition: They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, hardened in heart. 1Co_2:14 "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
Second Proposition: The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. Jer_17:9 RV — "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is desperately sick: who can know it?"
Third Proposition: The natural heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Gen_6:5; Gen_6:12 — "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.... And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." Gen_8:21 — "And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth: neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done." Psa_94:11 — "The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that the), are vanity."
Fourth Proposition: The entire moral and intellectual nature of unredeemed man is corrupted by sin. Tit_3:3 — "For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures; living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another." Eph_2:3 RV — "Among whom we also once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind." Col_3:5; Col_3:7 — "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.... In the which ye also walked sometime, when ye lived in them."
Fifth Proposition: The outward life of unredeemed men is vile and detestable. Rom_7:5; Rom_7:8; Rom_7:14-15; Rom_7:19; Rom_7:23-24 "For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sin, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death .... But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin is dead .... For we know that the law is spiritual: for I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I .... For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do .... But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Compare to Rom_8:2 — "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death," and Rom_6:17 RV — "Ye were servants [the Greek word means slaves] of sin.") Sixth Proposition: Men unsaved by Christ are the slaves of sin, in helpless and hopeless captivity to the law of sin and death. Eph_2:2 — "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience."
Seventh Proposition: Outside of redemption in Christ, men are under the control of Satan (the prince of the power of the air). Eph_2:3 — "And were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."
Eighth Proposition: They are by nature children of wrath. Rom_8:7-8 RV — "Because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be; and they that are in the flesh cannot please God."
Ninth Proposition: The mind of the flesh is enmity against God: it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be: and they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Eph_2:1 — "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins."
Tenth Proposition: Men outside of Christ's saving power are dead through their trespasses and sins. 1Jn_5:19 RV — " We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the evil one."
Eleventh Proposition: The whole world, the whole mass of men who have not received Christ, "lieth in the evil one" — rest in his arms, in his power, in himself.
The present standing or condition of men outside of Christ as pictured in the Bible is dark and hopeless. One word will express it — lost, utterly lost. This is very different from the conception of man that is popular in novels, on the lecture-platform, and in many pulpits today· But it is accordant with the facts. The more one has to do with men and women, and the more one comes to know the depths of his own heart, the more convinced he becomes of the truthfulness and accuracy in every line of this hideous and repulsive picture· The nearer one gets to God, the more fully he sees the truth of this picture; the fact that one has an exalted opinion of human nature, and his own nature, does not show that he is living near God, but far from God. Compare Isaiah's, Job's and the psalmist's conception of self and man when they were brought face to face with God: Isa_6:1; Isa_6:5 — "In the year that King Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. · . . Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts." Job_42:5-6 — "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee: Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Psa_14:2-3 — "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one."
Evidently those who live nearest God and see things most nearly from His standpoint have the poorest opinion of self and human nature.