I am going to tell you something you already know – one day you are going to die. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 9:2, “It is the same for us all, since the same event (speaking of death) happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.” It does not matter how good of a person you are or how bad of a person you are, we all share a common fate in this world – death. Death comes to every one of us and there is nothing any of us can do to avoid it.
In fact, the Bible tells us not only will death come to every one of us, but that all our deaths have already been determined. The Bible says in Job 14:5 that a man’s “days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass.” That means that God has decided the length of our lives, that God alone knows how many months we shall live, and that we are not given a minute longer than what God has already determined. Hebrews 9:27 says, “it is appointed for man to die once.” That means each one of us has a chosen, preselected, prearranged, and predetermined appointment with death, again for which God has already determined, and none of us knows when this event will take place. And again, that also means this death is inescapable. Our appointment with death is not something we can avoid; it’s not something we can cancel. You may ask, why do we die?
There are two answers for that question. First, the reason we die is because of sin in the world. The Bible says in Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all man because all sinned.” Many centuries ago a man named Adam and a woman named Eve disobeyed God’s command to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. When they did, they disobeyed God, and they sinned. When they sinned, sin entered the world, which is why there is sickness, disease, war, cancer, Alzheimer’s, Dementia, ALS, Low Back Pain, Headaches, Arthritis, Heart Attacks, tumors, Multiple Sclerosis, Myasthenia Gravis, and many other terrible things. When Adam and Eve sinned, the world and all that was in the world, including humanity, was cursed.
And secondly, we die because the penalty of sin is death. The Bible says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death.” Sin is why we die. Sin is why, as soon as you are born into this world, your life-clock is counting down to whatever day God has determined and appointed for you to die. And it all goes back to the disobedient actions of two people – Adam & Eve. You may ask, why are our sins based on what Adam & Eve did?
Again, there are two answers here. First, it’s because we are all reproductions of them. According to Acts 17:26, from Adam, God made every man from every nation. Each man’s roots are traced back to Adam. So, when Adam and Eve sinned, the curse of sin continued with each one of us. The blood of Adam is the same blood that flows through our veins today.
Therefore, because our bloodline can be traced back to Adam, we are all sinners. That’s why the Bible says in Romans 5:19, “by the one man’s disobedience (Adam) the many were made sinners.” Again, Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, and so death spread to all man because all sinned.” Also in Romans 3:9, “For we have already charged that all, both Jew and Greek are under sin.” And in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In other words we fall short of God’s glory because of sin. Scripture is also clear in saying that none of us are righteous (Romans 3:10), which simply means none of us are good, and the reason for that is because of sin. So the Bible is clear on this issue: we all are sinners.
This leads us to our second answer. Aside from being related to Adam, all of us are sinners because we are law breakers; and we are all law breakers, because we have all disobeyed the moral laws of God. What I mean is this: Everyone one of us are sinners because we are idolators, we have all lied, we have all dishonored our mothers and fathers, we have all coveted, we have all not kept the Sabbath holy, we have all committed acts of adultery, we have all committed acts of theft, and we have all murdered. This is who we are.
If you don’t believe this, ask yourself this: Are you an idolator? If you have ever loved anything more than God, then you are. Do you keep the Sabbath day holy? Have you ever used God’s name in vain? Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever murdered someone? If you have ever had anger in your heart for another person, you have. Have you ever committed adultery? If you have ever looked upon someone with lustful thoughts, you have. Have you stolen? Have you ever coveted your neighbor’s things?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you have broken God’s law and have sinned against God. That is why none of us are righteous before God. This is why none of us are good in God’s sight. And this is why our good works simply cannot get us into heaven. No matter how hard we try, we cannot help but break God’s law.
We are not inherently good. We are not inherently righteous. We are, however, inherently disobedient and evil and wicked and godless. And we are those things because we have all broken God’s moral law called the Ten Commandments. This is why we need saving. This is why we need a Savior. This is why we need Jesus!