Westminster Shorter Catechism2

Q. 20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery? A. God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a redeemer. Do you know what it means to say that it is by God's grace? It means that we did not contribute anything to our deliverance. It had to be by grace because we were too ruined to rescue ourselves.

Q: What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell? A. All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under His wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever. In our WSC sermon series, we've been looking at the effects of the fall. We need to face this, even though it is not a pleasant subject. Our misery is sent by God as a judgment for sin.

If it is true that we all sinned in Adam and fell with him, it is also true that we bear, as Question 18 says, the guilt of Adam's first sin.

Today we will look at the condition into which we fell. In this reading, we see that God sentenced us to the estate of sin and misery. The present estate of sin and misery is God's judicial sentence experienced.

Look at what Paul says here about Adam's sin. First, he says in verse 12 that through one man sin entered the world. Sin was not in the world when God first made us. First we had to break from God. Sin entered by Adam because Adam was the one who ate the forbidden fruit. Romans 5:12 says that it was not only sin that entered into the world by Adam, but death. Death came as a result of sin… Just as there was no sin in the world when God made it, so also there was no death in the world.

Eating the forbidden fruit was that point of departure from God.

In exploring this question today, "What is sin?" I want to begin with what you all know. You all know that sin is doing wrong. We all have a conscience, and we know when we have violated it. Often, we may not want to admit that we have done wrong. Nevertheless, Romans 2:14-15 speaks about how even people who do not know God's written law show that they have a sense of right and wrong. They show this by accusing others of wrong while trying to excuse themselves.

Today we will look at how the fall, and all sin, is an act of our own free will. Free will means that your will and your actions are your own.

Just think what it must have been like for Adam at creation! He must have looked around at everything with wonder and amazement.

You can see how Deuteronomy 8 demonstrates that things don't just happen. His plan entails not only the miraculous, but also the ordinary things of life. It entails the great matters as well as the small ones.