Because men have sinned and violated God’s righteousness, they are not only condemned under God’s judgment, but they are also children of wrath (Eph. 2:3) under God’s wrath (John 3:36). People live in the lusts of their flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts; thus, they contradict God’s righteousness and daily incite God’s wrath. Today God’s wrath is waiting to explode on men like thunder ready to roar. God is waiting in order to give people the opportunity to repent and be saved. Unless men repent, eventually God’s wrath will burst forth.
The fruit of sin is death (James 1:15; Rom. 6:23a). Because men have sinned, according to the law of God’s righteousness, it is reserved for men to die once (Heb. 9:27a). That which is placed before the impenitent sinners today is simply death. If people are not willing to repent, they have no alternative but to wait for death under the wrath of God. When death comes upon men, that is the bursting forth of God’s wrath on them.
According to what God has reserved for men, all must die once and after that face judgment (Heb. 9:27). Although men have been condemned already under God’s judgment, they still must suffer judgment again after death. This judgment is to carry out God’s condemnation. God already has condemned men according to His righteousness; yet because of His love, He has not carried out His condemnation. God desires men to repent, and He also gives them the opportunity and is waiting for them to repent. If people would not repent, eventually they will enter into death and suffer God’s final judgment, which will be the judgment before the great white throne (Rev. 20:11-13).
After suffering God’s final judgment, men will suffer the penalty of eternal fire and perish in the lake of fire for eternity (John 3:16; Rev. 20:15; 21:8), where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:48).
The foregoing points reveal the condition of man before God after Adam’s fall.
Through the fall of one man, Adam, the forefather of the human race, sin entered into the world (Rom. 5:12) and was passed on in man from generation to generation. Hence, men are brought forth in iniquity and are conceived in sin (Psa. 51:5). Because they are born sinners and because their nature is corrupt, people do not need to learn how to sin; rather, to sin is something inherent, something which grows out from within them. The seed of sin is in a person at his birth, and at a certain time it will grow out from within him.
Men are not only brought forth in iniquity but also constituted of sin. Through Adam’s disobedience the many were constituted sinners (Rom. 5:19). Sin became the constituent of man. Men were not created sinners, but constituted sinners. An element not created by God was injected into men and constituted them sinners. Sin is not just an outward deed, but even more an inward element in man’s constitution.
Because man is brought forth in iniquity and is constituted of sin, the imagination of his heart is evil from his youth (Gen. 8:21). Furthermore, man’s heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked, and incurable (Jer. 17:9), being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice, and full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malignity (Rom. 1:29-30). Hence, the heart is wicked to the core and hopeless. Moreover, this wickedness does not spread inward from the outside; it stems from within. People may look good on the outside, yet they are actually evil on the inside. When it becomes necessary, all the wicked things will be let out from within them (Mark 7:23).
Man is brought forth in iniquity and is constituted of sin. Furthermore, his heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Hence, nothing good dwells in his flesh (Rom. 7:18). On the contrary, it is filled with wickedness, lusts, and evil impurities that came from Satan. In the Scriptures this flesh is called particularly the body of sin (Rom. 6:6) and the body of death (Rom. 7:24). It is altogether powerless in doing good, yet it is very active in committing sins. The works of the flesh, such as fornication, uncleanness, and sensuality, as listed in Galatians 5:19-21, clearly issue from within the flesh. Who can do the good that he wills? Is it not true that to will is present with man, but to do the good is not (Rom. 7:18b)? Because nothing good dwells in man’s flesh, the good that man wills, he does not do; but the evil that he does not will, this he practices (Rom. 7:19).