We, the believers of Christ, were born in Adam in our natural birth with all his involvements. Adam fell before he begot any children. No child of Adam was born before Adam’s fall, so everyone who is a descendant of Adam is in the fallen man. This is why all of us need a transfer.
In Adam, we were of the old creation and were fallen. We also became sinners before God with sin in our nature (Rom. 3:23; 7:17). Romans 7 deals with this matter strongly, telling us that in our flesh, nothing good dwells (v. 18).
We became dead in our spirit because of sin in our flesh (Eph. 2:1, 5; Col. 2:13). We became God’s enemies by following God’s enemy, Satan (Rom. 5:10a; 8:7; Eph. 2:2). We were in the kingdom of Satan under his authority of darkness (Matt. 12:26; Col. 1:13; Acts 26:18a). We were loving the world, which lies wholly in the evil one and of which Satan, the evil one, the enemy of God, is the ruler (1 John 2:15-16; 5:19b; John 12:31). Whatever you love outside of and apart from Christ—whether good or bad, high or low, moral or immoral— belongs to the world. If you love your spouse outside of Christ, your spouse becomes a part of the world. If you love your education or your car, these are also parts of the world. The world lies wholly in the evil one, Satan.
We were also condemned by God under His wrath (John 3:18b, 36b). In these recent years there have been terrible natural calamities in the United States. There have been a number of great floods. Do you have the assurance the flood will not come to your place or to your home? People ask, “If God is love, why are there so many calamities on this earth?” Today the newspapers are filled with reports of stealing, killing, and calamities. This is because the entire world is under God’s wrath. Only God’s mercy holds God back to give a margin of time for man on this earth to repent. We are still here in this margin of time, but we do not know how much longer it will last.
In Adam we were sentenced by God to die, to perish in the lake of fire forever (Heb. 9:27; John 3:16b; Rev. 21:8). This is man’s destiny. This is why we need to give up the world and spend our time to preach the gospel to rescue fallen man from the lake of fire. Fanny Crosby, a sister who lived in the last century, wrote many hymns. One of these hymns (Hymns, #921) is concerning rescuing the perishing sinners. The first stanza and chorus of this hymn say:
Rescue the perishing,
Care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o’er the erring one,
Lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus the mighty to save.
Rescue the perishing,
Care for the dying;
Jesus is merciful,
Jesus will save.
We should be inspired by this matter. All the people on this earth are busy doing many things, but eventually they will perish. We need to have a heart to rescue the perishing, to care for the dying.
Due to our fall in Adam, we became flesh, not being subject to the law of God, unable to please God, and having no possibility of being justified by God (Gen. 6:3a; Rom. 8:7-8; Gal. 2:16b). We were walking according to the age of this world and according to the ruler of the authority of the air in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh, being the children of wrath by nature (Eph. 2:2-3).
The modern course of the world is an age. In the United States, it seems that nearly every decade is an age. The size and style of men’s ties have varied over the years. About thirty years ago, the ties were very wide. Then they gradually became narrower. All the modern styles match a particular modern age, the course of the world. We were walking according to the age of this world. This was the position we were in before we got saved. Thus, we needed a great transfer. This divine transfer is the totality of all the items of God’s dynamic salvation. God’s dynamic salvation is the transfer. This dynamic salvation rescues us from everything in Adam.