What happened in the garden? We all know that Adam and Eve broke God's command. They took the forbidden fruit; and God drove them out of the garden. We are all familiar with the history of the fall. But what does the fall of Adam have to do with us? What really happened in the garden? In order to find the answer to that question we must turn to the Word of God. What does God tell us in his Word about the fall? In Romans 5:12 he tells us that "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
WE ALL SINNED AGAINST GOD IN THE GARDEN. By God's own design and appointment, Adam was the head and representative of all his race, so that whatever Adam did we did in him. This is what the Word of God says, "By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. . .By one man's disobedience many were made sinners" (Rom. 5.18, 19). When Adam took the fruit of that tree which God commanded him not to eat he mounted an assault against the throne of God. He attacked God's throne, his dignity, his majesty, his character, and his Being. That's what sin is. It is an attack upon God. It is a denial of God's right to supremacy and dominion. In Adam we launched an attack upon the very God of heaven. In Adam we all sinned against God:
AT THAT VERY TIME WE BECAME SINNERS. When Adam lifted up his heart in rebellion to God, we all became sinners. His heart was blackened. He died spiritually. And in him we all died. Sin is not something that we learn. Sin is not something we catch from our neighbors. Sin is not even something we do. Sin is what we are by nature. It is the nature that we inherit from our father Adam, Since the fall of Adam, all men by nature are sinners, guilty, condemned, spiritually dead sinners. David said, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Ps. 51:5). "The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies"(Ps. 58:3). In Adam we all died spiritually; and every son of Adam is born in spiritual death, under the curse of God's holy law and justice, with a decided bias toward sin.
All of this simply means that MAN BY NATURE IS TOTALLY DEPRAVED AND INCAPABLE OF DOING ANYTHING TO SAVE HIMSELF, OR EVEN TO CONTRIBUTE ANYTHING TOWARD HIS SALVATION. Man is not spiritually weak. He is dead. Man is not on probation. He is condemned. The will of man is not free. It is bound, bound by his own evil nature. Man is so sinful, so evil at heart that everything he does is marred by sin. Selfishness, pride, and sin are the root causes of all that man does. Even our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in the sight of a holy God; and the plowing of the wicked is an abomination to God.
THE ONLY HOPE FOR FALLEN, GUILTY MAN IS IN A SUBSTITUTE. Our only hope of eternal salvation is that God himself wiil provide a substitute, who is able to fulfill righteousness for us as a man and satisfy the justice of God by dying in our place. Blessed be God! He has provided such a Substitute in the Person of his own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. Now, God will both forgive and save sinners for Christ's sake.
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