1 The First State of Man

1-The First State of Man
BH Clendennen

Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Now, first of all what proof is there that the likeness and image of God in which man was created signified that the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost each brought forth their own nature in him? First, from the means and the manner of redemption. Nothing so demonstrates the true nature of our fall as the nature and manner of our redemption. Now, in the wisdom of God we're not allowed to see the true nature of the fall until the redemption of Christ was a reality. No doubt this was the reason that Moses was not allowed to write more about the nature of the fall or what that fall implied. Now, the time was not yet come for the full revelation of the fall so it was to be as much a secret to its true nature as the nature and manner of redemption was then. At that point, redemption was then only partially declared by enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Now when the seed of the woman, showed itself to be the Son of God, united with our human nature then the nature of our fall and what we fell from and what the seed of the serpent in us is, manifest themselves in the same degree of certainty.

It seemed good to divine wisdom to conceal the mystery of our redemption for many ages. So it was necessary then to keep the nature and degree of our fall a secret until the time when our redemption came to be fully known. Now the religion of the Jews was suited to that state of things and times to which they lived. But when the Son of God became incarnate, and showed forth the nature, manner and necessity of our redemption through His blood and His life received from Him, then the nature and degree of our fall was fully revealed. Everything He told us of the nature and necessity of a new birth from above was also a story of our first birth in paradise. It's absolutely necessary you understand this. For the nature and the greatness of our redemption must show the nature and greatness of the fall. Now, these things, the first and second birth, have such a necessary correspondence as they cannot be denied. But the very fact today we have so much ignorance about salvation, you have men of such renown as Mr. Graham saying hat a good Hindu or a good Muslim would be saved, you understand, it's because we lost sight of what happened in that fall.

Now, if redemption restores man to divine sight, surely this is proof positive that before the fall that man had such a sight. Now, if God Himself takes our nature upon Himself to redeem us, and it can be said that nothing else can redeem us, then there could be no greater proof that the divine nature existed in man before the fall. Now you have millions of people believe that once man is saved he can never be lost. But what do you think Adam fell from for goodness sake? It's an absolute doctrine of Scripture that in the fall man became so depraved that the only possible redemption for him was for the Son of God to become incarnate and taking man's fallen nature upon Himself. Now, if this then is the only remedy, does it not show us then the disease? This shows what it was that man lost in the fall, namely the birth of the Son of God in His Spirit. Therefore only a new birth of that Son in man could redeem him. That's as plain as any Gospel that could ever be preached. But when man loses sight of this, then that man begins to invent ways or think ways that he might be saved. Because what man fell from, then this redemption of Christ, becoming man and bearing our sins, and then giving us His own nature is the only possibility of redemption. Now if man had lost less, a less power could have redeemed him. If he had lost something else, the restoration of that something would have saved him. But he lost the life of God and only that life of God can save him.

It is an undeniable doctrine of the Gospel there can be no salvation of mankind but in the name and by the power of the Son of God. Since this salvation is effected by the Son of God being united to man's fallen nature and so raising His own birth and life in it, does this not plainly tell us what was lost in the fall was the birth of the Son of God in the soul? Secondly, the truth is expressly taught in the Holy Scripture. The new regained birth is plainly taught in the Bible when it's said that we must be born again. We are born of God and we are born from above. These Scriptures expressly tell us what birth we've lost. It's only saying that the first birth is to be restored that the living image of the Holy Trinity is brought forth through man again. The Apostle Peter tells us what the new birth is. It's being born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God. That is the eternal Word, or the Son of God. He is the Word of God. Which, divine Word being in man as a seed, is to restore by degrees the first birth of the Word of the Son of God to bring him back to God. Now, this is absolute proof that this was the state of man the soul, in its creation and this birth was then in it, and so was the image of God in that man. The death Adam died was losing the holy life of God. I want to impress this very strongly on you because there is so much confusion that we believe anybody that is sincerely very religious can finally be saved. But you understand there is no redemption apart from the birth of God's Son into that human. That is what was lost.

The word redemption simply means being brought back to. What are we brought back to? The place Adam lost-where God's life in us is manifested through us. Therefore, nothing can restore man but the new birth of this life which is to progressively restore the image of the Triune God in that man. The Bible said we will awake in His image. Those people who continue, and overcome in this life will awake in His image.

Now, third, the Holy Ghost is given to be the sanctifier or renewer of the holiness in the soul. He is to be this Sanctifier in such a manner that all operations of the soul so far as they are without Him and unruled by Him are unholy. Nothing of this flesh can be holy in the sight of God. That rules out every other religion. It's not the works of the flesh because all the works of the flesh whether you call them good or not are unholy in the sight of God Almighty. Now, how could our thoughts and operations be unholy in themselves? That is needing the sanctification and renewing of the Holy Ghost unless the Holy Spirit had first existed in Adam? Think of that. If that had not been true, then it could not restore us back to where we were. If the Holy Ghost had not come in us at our creation, that is in Adam, then we could no more be unholy without Him than the beasts are. We'd have no more desire to be renewed by Him than the beasts are that never had that Holy Spirit. But since there is now no sanctification for us but by having the Holy Ghost as a free gift from God, then it is absolute proof that before the fall man had this holiness. That's what he must be redeemed back to. The holiness of the first creation consisted of this, that the Holy Spirit arose forth in man just as the birth of the Son of God did. Regeneration is progressive in the believer and for this progression, the Holy Spirit is imperative. Only He can do this. We are justified by Christ's death but we are saved by His life, progressively working in us by the Holy Spirit. So be filled with the Spirit is not a suggestion, ladies and gentlemen, it is a command.

Fourth, these same great truths are revealed to us by our baptism and the form of that baptism. We need not be ignorant as to what this new birth is. The form of the baptism declares plainly it is to regain the first birth of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost in us. The first birth in creation made us images of the nature of the trinity in unity. The form in baptism is never really apprehended until it's understood to have this great meaning in it. The Scriptures teach us there must be a birth of the Spirit of God in us, and that baptism, the appointed sacrament of this new birth is to be done in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Now, can there be any doubt the baptism is to signify the renewing of the birth of these three within that man? That can't be done by just merely going to church or being religious. There must be this miracle of God's birth within us. This was the holy image created at first, when God said "Let us make man in our image after our likeness." That is so make it that we may see ourselves, our own nature in that man. Nothing can do that but Christ's death, burial, and resurrection being made real in our lives. Nothing can save a man except that birth from above. What a wonderful agreement we have between our creation and our redemption. How beautifully our first and second birth answer to and illustrate one another. These considerations taken from the plain Word of Scripture, doctrine, declare and prove the image from which man was created was such that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost could see themselves, in a creaturely manner in that man. Second, they reveal that by Adam's sin this image of the trinity was so broken that the birth of the Son of God and the Holy Spirit was no longer in that man. The only holiness is the life of God and that's what was lost and there must be a restoration. For that to happen, One who knew no sin, carried our sin, had to die our death, and then give us His nature. That is the only way. Third, in an awesome act of love, the Son of God united Himself to it, to our fallen nature, to recover and restore to it all that was lost. The moment this revelation is clear and we can see we can only be saved by God's Son taking our nature upon Himself, so uniting with to us, that His life or birth could be in us as at the beginning, that we become again the perfect living image of the Trinity of God. To know the true Christian religion we must understand the dignity of man's original state. He was created in the image of God. In the fall he lost the holy life of God, and that can only be restored by the redemption of Christ. We can know nothing of the nature of Christianity until we see the nature of our first estate in creation and our present state by the fall. As this knowledge is in some degree necessary, it is in some degree obvious to every man. Every man has this consciousness in himself that a perfection of all kinds of virtue, becomes him. This consciousness causes him to put his best foot forward and put on the appearance of all the virtue he can. Why is this so? It is an inward testimony of his own mind that perfection was his first state-that's where he fell from. Because this nature once had this perfection, he can never lose the idea of it or quit pretending he still has it. Every man carries in the depth of his own being a strong proof of all these truths that have been revealed in Scripture. The condition in which the Word of God represents man to be by the fall is that of a hellish nature showing itself in every man more or less by its fruits. That is what every man must be forced to admit before he can be saved. Every man since the fall is a living witness to these truths. To deny them is to prove them. We could not tell a lie or resist the truth if we did not have this dark enemy to truth hidden in our bosom. The greatest good any man can do to himself is to acknowledge this inward deformity and not try to conceal it.

First, because this root of a dark life within us which is the nature of hell with all its elements of selfishness, envy, pride and anger must somehow be discovered to us and felt by us before we can feel the groan under the weight of our disorder. Repentance is mere words until we see much of the deformity of our inward nature and to some degree be frightened by it. There must be some kind of an earthquake within us. Something must rend and shake us to the bottom before we become aware of the state of the death and cry out for the mercies of God. Now only the preaching of the Word of God can produce such a state. When you have a pulpit that doesn't declare that, because it's a lower form of life, we fill the pulpit with men who have never been born again. A lower form of life cannot teach a higher form of life. You must be born again. Ladies and gentlemen, no matter how religious, has there been a moment in your life when you knew you were raised from the death of sin? If not, you are not a Christian. Jesus said you must be born again. Father make this truth real to every heart listening today. Amen.