All Have Sinned

If on this occasion I can say something to enable you to see the fullness of the truth expressed in the Sabbath-school lesson that you have studied and recited, I shall be satisfied. I do not know whether in this hour I shall get beyond the first verse of your Sabbath-school lesson. It will make no difference if I do not, because to know the truth, with its consequences, that is expressed in that verse, is to know everything. Indeed, all the verses that follow but express the consequences of the truth of that verse.

That verse reads: “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:12.

Whosoever believes that, and grasps the fact there stated, is prepared to understand the fullness of the salvation that the Lord Jesus brought to the world. And whosoever does not so grasp that which is stated in this verse as to recognize it constantly, cannot grasp, in its truth, in its sincerity, the salvation that Christ has brought.

All have sinned: and death came by sin. But all of us have sinned as the consequence of that which was brought to the world,—because of our being in that vortex into which the world was plunged by the sin of that “one man” to whom God gave the world in the beginning. “By one man sin entered in the world.” When sin had so entered by that one man, it was impossible for any of his, of themselves, to rise above that which he had entailed. It was impossible for any of us to receive from him more than he had. And after he had sinned, sin only was that which he had. Consequently, he sunk the human race under the power of sin—in the sea of sin; and because of that sin we all have sinned; and so death has passed upon all. When that one man sinned, death passed upon him; and he never could draw any of us, any of his posterity, higher than he was. Consequently, when he became subject to death, by sin, we all became subject to death, because, being thus crippled, we all have sinned.

But it is the great problem, to begin with, to get mankind to realize that each one is the subject of death,—that only death is that which belongs to us, as we came into the world, and as we are naturally in the world. If each person in the world would hold upon his heart, would hold in his very consciousness, the truth that death has hold on him,—that to death he is subject, as expressed in the Scripture, though not in our translation: “Death is their shepherd,”—that death is the watchman over all mankind,—that death is to each one as a shepherd herding his flock,—there would be a universal readiness to believe the gospel. But by thousands, even of the people who fear the Lord, and who have a heart to serve him, that truth is not recognized, and by the vast multitudes of people it is not believed at all. And that is why the gospel is allowed so little place in the lives of men.

The deception of thinking that they have life in themselves has been for ages, and is still, the bane of mankind. This deception is couched in the conception of the immortality of the soul. Vast multitudes of the human race, and indeed the whole human race, naturally, as it is, have come under the power of that deception—of thinking that they have life themselves so certainly that even the Lord himself cannot deprive them of it. Through the deception in which they are involved, they have come to believe that a part of themselves is “immortal,” and, logically enough, that, therefore, it is “a part of God”—and then the conclusion, “How can God destroy a part of himself?” By that argument they convince themselves that the Lord himself could not destroy them, if he wished to.

The whole human race is naturally under that deception. And the way in which they came under this deception is precisely the way in which they came under the deception of sin. It is a part of the original deception: yea, rather, it is the very kernel of the original deception. For what was it that the deceiver said to the woman, to get her to depart from God into sin? What was it?—“Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be like God.” You will be like the divine, and not subject to death. That was the original proposition in the original deception that brought us under sin; that was the original deception into which the race went by that “one man,” by whom came sin and death; and it is not strange that this deception of men’s thinking that they have life in themselves should be as widely disseminated as is sin. The two things came in together; and they belong together forever.

But the Lord spoke otherwise. Before this deceiver spoke, the Lord had said: “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Gen. 2:17. And this was the truth. It was the truth when he spoke it; it was the truth the day they ate of the tree; and it is the truth forever. And the only reason that Adam and Eve did not die in the very hour that they ate, is that Jesus Christ stepped in between, and took upon himself the curse of sin, and its penalty of death. And this he did in order that mankind might be delivered from the death into which they had been plunged by that “one man.” Therefore, since the Lord Jesus stepped in between, and himself received the stroke of death that must come upon the man the day he sinned; and since the Lord Jesus did this solely in order that the man might have the opportunity to receive life instead of death, it became essential, and in the gift of Christ that day it was given, that the man and all mankind should have sufficient space in which to breathe to allow them to live long enough to fix each his choice of life or death.

That is the origin, that is the source, and that is the philosophy, of the life which now we have in the breath that we draw moment by moment. It all lies solely in the gift of Christ: it is indeed Christ, and only Christ. Each person to-day and ever is directly indebted to Christ for the life which he has in the breath that he draws moment by moment.

But now, this which we have, which mankind call life,—this is not in reality true life. The Scripture has defined it: the word of God has named it, not in a figure, but in a statement of truth in answer to the ever pertinent inquiry, “What is your life?” And you know the answer. “It is even A VAPOR, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” James 4:14.

This life which we have is truly only a vapor. It is given merely as a breath,—“for a little time,”—in order to extend to us the opportunity to seize upon life indeed. Without this life which is but a vapor, we should have no opportunity, man himself anywhere never would have had any opportunity, to partake of life indeed. Surely, if it were not that this life, even though it be truly a vapor, were given us, mankind would never have had any opportunity to breathe at all after Adam sinned. And let it be repeated, for it cannot possibly be repeated too often, this breath itself is given us by the gift of the Lord Jesus; and for the breath drawn moment by moment, every soul in the world to-day, and ever, is dependent upon the gift of Christ, which he made when man had sinned.

The word that Jesus spoke, therefore, is literally true,—true in every sense,—when he spoke of himself as “the living bread which came down from heaven,” and “giveth life unto the world.” For all the life that the world has to-day, is because the Lord Jesus gave himself to receive the stroke of death that otherwise must have come upon the man at the beginning, because of the sin that he had sinned. And, in another place, Christ himself said: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Oh, that tells the whole story again! When did Jesus come, in the meaning of that text? When was his coming? When was he offered? At what time was the offering of Christ made? He is the Lamb “slain from the foundation of the world.” The offering of Christ, in its very substance, was when, in the beginning, the man had sinned, and had become subject to death because of the sin. Then and there Christ gave himself: there he set himself forth as the offering. Though not actually appearing in flesh, as afterward, though not actually dying the death, yet there he gave himself: the gift was as certainly made then as it is now. Consequently, when he came thus at the beginning, he came that mankind might have life; because just then mankind needed life.

Adam and Eve needed life from that day in the garden; for if Jesus had not then offered himself, if he had not then thus “come,” death would have come to them the day that they sinned. But the Lord Jesus came and gave himself, and thus took upon himself all that was to fall upon them, or upon us, that Adam and Eve might receive what was better. And in the nature of things, they must have breath to enable them to live long enough to give them time to choose that which God had brought,—the gift of himself, which is life. consequently, at that point he came, that mankind might have life. Then, whosoever will take the proper advantage of this breathing space, of this life which is but a vapor, which is given to us solely that we may choose that which is life indeed,—life eternal,—receives life more abundantly. At the moment when the man had incurred death, He came that we might have life, even life enough to allow us to breathe, in order that we might make use of this breathing spell of life in such a way that we should have life more abundantly, even the life which is eternal substance, even as the fullness of the life of God.

So, you can see that this life which all men have for the mere passing moment, is not real life: it is “even a vapor.” And this death that we meet when that vapor “vanisheth away” is not real death: it is a sleep. Only that life which is the life of God is life indeed; and only that death from which there is no resurrection, from whose power there is no possible deliverance,—only that is death indeed. This life which is but a vapor, and this death which is but a sleep, form for mankind a valley of decision between the life which is life indeed and the death which is death indeed. And this life which is life indeed, is the life, and that death which is death indeed, is the death, referred to in the gospel of Christ, in the word of God, in calling us unto himself, and in giving the gift to deliver us from the curse under which we are: “I have set before you life and death. . . . Choose life that you may live.”

So, then, death has passed upon all men: death is the master, death is the sovereign, death is the shepherd, of the human race. But thanks be to God, who gave his only begotten Son; and blessed be the name of the only begotten Son, who gave himself, that we might have life, and that the death might not fall upon us without our deliberate choice.

And behold! in the abundance of his mercy and the greatness of his grace, God gave not merely a single breath to breathe; not haply an hour in which to live; but has given to everyone in the world, time upon time, time upon time, hour extended upon hour, day upon day, of this breathing spell, so that, if by any means in the long-suffering of God, each one might receive the gift and lay hold upon life indeed, instead of receiving death indeed at the last, as that which he has fixedly chosen.