Everyone is from a fallen nature. All of us are alike: we do evil. None of us continually does good; no one always does right and never sins. We have all fallen short of the glory of God; we have missed the mark; as it is written, "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Romans 3:10-18)
(And many other such testimonies as these: Isaiah 59:1-13, Isaiah 64:6-7, Psalm 5:9, Psalm 53:1-3, Psalm 36:1-4, Micah 7:2-3, Ezekiel 22:6-12) And even if we were to decide to do better today, we couldn't cover our past faults; and even if we declared, "I will change", it would only take us as far as our human strength will go; and aren't we becoming weaker and weaker day by day? For the weakness of death is at work in all of us. Besides, if our nature is evil, how can we reform ourselves? Wouldn't trying make us even worse? Can a dirty rag cleanse? Can filthy water make someone clean? What we need does not come from ourselves, nor is it within ourselves; as it says, “I know, O LORD, that a man's way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.” (Jeremiah 10:23) We know a lot about a thing by looking to its beginning: how do we measure up in the beginning? How were we as newborns? We were all once infants and how we were born is how we will be; if a donkey is born a donkey, it cannot later become a horse, can he? Of course not! So we are born human; but what kind of a human? If we were good, then we wouldn't need to be taught to do good, for we would just be good; however, we needed to be taught good from an early age; if we were already good, then we wouldn't need to be taught, because we would already be. We were all pure and innocent from an early age, for God has made us perfect; for as a child we were innocent because we did not know right from wrong; but the time arrived when the commandment came and sin became alive and we died; and sin lived in our stead. We became its prisoner, its hostage - we were sold as its servant; for just as there is not a man who does not come from woman, so there is not a man on earth who continually does good and never sins. And this is according to what we see and experience, isn't it? We all do that evil in which we know by nature; we all know evil naturally and without any effort do it: it is like blinking to us, it is as automatic as breathing. It takes all our effort to resist sin, and it takes even more effort to do good. We eat up iniquity; we drink down falsehood; we dwell in the tents of wickedness.
And does not God testify the same thing? As the LORD God says, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin Or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good Who are accustomed to doing evil.” (Jeremiah 13:23, Jeremiah 4:22) For we do not have any knowledge of God; if we knew God from the womb, perhaps we would be good, but we are born into ignorance, without any knowledge of God. One may say, "If I know evil, then I must know good." Yes, but even if it is so, we have not the power to execute the good that we know, for sin is always present with us; and the goodness that we will to do is not of ourselves - it is of God; and He is contrary to our nature: for we walk by sight, but He is unseen. If the knowledge of God brings righteousness, how much more does the power to execute it? So therefore, it is through the knowledge of God that we may obtain righteousness; as the LORD God says, " Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is this not what it means to know me?" (Jeremiah 22:15-16)
And then it says, " Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. " (3 John 1:11)
For without God, it's impossible to do good; as it says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) “And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:8) “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.” (Romans 7:18) For we have all inherited wickedness from one man, Adam; we've inherited our evil nature from the first man. In the Garden, he sinned against God, eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which was against the commandment of the LORD; and so since one man sinned, all became sinners, for all come from him; and as a result of sin, we die, even they who do not sin in the likeness of Adam's transgression. But someone might say, "Injustice! For if I were in the Garden, I would have obeyed." But such thinking is not wise, because it does not change a thing.
Do we need further testimony about our sinful nature? If we were good, then why does self-discipline exist? Is it against the law to love so much? Or against the command which says, "Do not do so much good"? But rather discipline is needed for mastering over evil thoughts, and murders, and adulteries, and fornications, and thefts, and false witnesses, and slanders; it is for these evils self-discipline exists, for these need to be controlled by ourselves; otherwise, if we cannot control ourselves, we will be controlled by others. That is why prisons exist. For what is a prison besides control from an institution? But you may say, "For sinners like them prisons exist, but not for me." However, the only difference between a prisoner and you, is that, you weren't caught - for you know you've done things worthy of imprisonment. As it says, “Like a city that is broken into and without walls Is a man who has no control over his spirit.” (Proverbs 25:28) For this is our nature: evil. It's effortless for us to do bad and takes all our energy to do good. We love wickedness and eat it up like bread; it's a delicacy to us, but yet it turns into venom within us; nevertheless, we eat it up, and sleep in it, and drink from its cup. We do not have self-discipline; we do not know the way to its door, so that we may knock and ask for it. We build up our own laws and our own rules as a safeguard around us, but we look at them and despise them. What is wrong with us? Only what I've been testifying to from the beginning: we are all subjected to the power of sin. But is it only I who testify to this? When we grow old, reaching a certain age, and we are not taught good, our parents are blamed. But why? People say, "I blame the parents for their child's behavior." Or they say, "Why didn't his parents teach him what is right?" But if we were born good, why would we need to be taught? So, we testify to ourselves about the nature we belong to: an evil one. For why would our parents be blamed if we were born righteous? In that case, our actions would be on our own heads! Even more we say, "I am only human." So we testify to ourselves and to others that we belong to a nature that is fallen and broken. This is our nature; just as it's an eagle's nature to fly or a penguin's nature not to fly; so it is our nature to be sinful; and we are incapable of changing ourselves or reforming ourselves by our own human effort.
If anyone claims they are not sinful, they show how utterly sinful sin really is, for they lie in regard to an obvious fact; as David said in the Psalm, " Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. " (Psalm 51:5-7)
And if that comes from King David a man after God's own heart, how much more does it apply to us? But he cries out to God, "Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow." For we must be washed by God for cleansing; we cannot cleanse ourselves. For we are filthy, how can we cleanse ourselves? As it says, "Who can make the clean out of the unclean? No one!” (Job 14:4) "'So is this people. And so is this nation before Me,' declares the LORD, 'and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.” (Haggai 2:14) We may think we are better than others by comparing ourselves with ourselves or measuring ourselves by ourselves, but we are without understanding. We think, "I am not in prison; I haven't killed anybody." Or even someone might say, "I would never do such a thing!" But you who condemn thieves, have you pirated movies? You who judge murderers, have you been angry and struck someone? " Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? " (Romans 2:1-3)
What then? Are we any better than the worse? Not at all, for we are all under the power of sin; and the one who breaks one law has broken them all; as it says, " For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, "DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY," also said, "DO NOT COMMIT MURDER." Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. " (James 2:10-12)
So sin is a living power within us, and it causes death - it's what makes us die in the end. It has its effect on all creation, for everything wastes away because of it. When people think about sin, they think about an instance of disobedience; which is true, but it's also a power and a nature and a law. It's what causes us to be weak, it's what causes our muscles to ache with agony, it's what causes everything to decay and wear out. We see what sin looks like by looking at death: it's gross, repugnant, a horrid stench, defiling anything it touches, corrupting much that is good. God shows us a tangible result of sin: death. If sin looks like this to our eyes, how much worse is it in the eyes of a holy and living God? And it's living within us! It's a cancer that does not submit to the control of the body - it spreads uncontrollably. It is without law; it does not obey anyone; it's a hazard. This thing which is causing death within us needs to be put to death, for it is killing us. It masters over us and never submits to our will; it enslaves us, making us its master; we follow behind sin in bonds; it is hostile towards God; it's acts are prompts of war against God, provoking Him to anger; all it's thoughts: wicked; it girds up it's loins to haste after evil; it never submitted to the law of God, for it is not able to - and will never be able to. It does not submit to our direction; it is an unruly animal within us. But surely, the desire to do good is in our minds, but in our bodies, we don't do what we intend to do. We see it every new year: we make a new year's resolution and say, "This year will be nothing like the last, I am going to do this and do that!" And we do "this and that" very well for the first few months, but the time comes when we inevitably go back to our old ways. We desire good in our minds, but we have not the strength in our flesh to carry it out; in our mind we want to do good, but in our flesh, we don't do the good we intend to do; we have good intentions, but the power of sin carries us away. If we did everything we wanted to do every new year, as time went on, we would be made more and more perfect, but in fact, we become more and more sinful, storing up wrongs and being wronged as a result; we sin, piling up more and more transgression into our accounts, which is a debt against us, storing up God's wrath for the day of wrath. For the more we toil, the more we sin; the harder we work, the more abominable we are; as the LORD God says, “The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame.” (Hosea 4:7) And who is omitted from such a thing? As it says, " Who can say, "I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin"? " (Proverbs 20:9)
For " Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins. " (Ecclesiastes 7:20)
As it says, " What is man, that he should be pure, or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in His sight; how much less one who is detestable and corrupt, man, who drinks iniquity like water! " (Job 15:14-16, Job 25:3-6)
And then it says, " If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared. " (Psalm 130:4-5)
And, "Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For in Your sight no man living is righteous.” (Psalms 143:2)
But someone may still say, "I am the product of my environment." But isn't righteousness stronger than wickedness, just as the right hand is stronger than the left? So if you were righteous, surely you could deliver yourself from your evil environment! Furthermore, God created the world, and afterwards, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31) But in regard to humans it says, "Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices." (Ecclesiastes 7:29) So God has created the world good and man upright, but mankind sought out evil. So the problem is with us. Yet someone may argue, "I am righteous, despite my unrighteousness. Is not God faithful to forgive?" However it says, "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." (Hebrews 9:22) And another may say, "I am good always." But what does the law say? " If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account. But if the sun has risen on him, there will be bloodguiltiness on his account. " (Exodus 22:2-3)
For the thief tried to hide his crime under the cover of darkness, so his punishment is more severe. Is that not what you do when you say, "I have not sinned"? You thief! Saying to yourself, "I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered with the dry." (Deuteronomy 29:19) Will that person, even if hidden from the eyes of man for a time, escape the light of the day of the coming of the Lord Almighty? The moon sets and the sun rises bringing forth the day, when he is caught, it is worse for that person than he who sins in the day and does not cover his transgression (for the light of God's Word declares everyone guilty); as the Lord says, " (the Pharisees) who devour widows' houses, and for appearance's sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation. " (Matthew 23:14, Mark 12:40, Luke 20:47)
For they sought to deceive, appearing righteous before men, but God knew their hearts. So we should quit trying to justify ourselves with our mouths. For we certainly cannot justify ourselves with our words, can we? As it says, “When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, But he who restrains his lips is wise.” (Proverbs 10:19) "For though I were right, I could not answer; I would have to implore the mercy of my judge.” (Job 9:15) The cloak we cover ourselves with is too short; our lies cannot deceive the living God, can they? "For He knows false men, And He sees iniquity without investigating.” (Job 11:11) So who can we rightfully blame? But it says, "The trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. " (Romans 7:14-24)
For the trouble is with me, and there is no iniquity with God. I am the problem. There is sin living within me! “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:19-20)