Psalm 51:5-7 Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.… I. MAN BY NATURE IS SINFUL. 1. Prove this by Bible testimony (Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21). 2. Every page of human history tells the sad story of man's natural corruption. 3. What we observe in others we have to confess to be even more true of ourselves. We know not only the fact of this tendency to sin, but its strength; for we have had to struggle against it in order to do good, and to abstain from evil. Any righteousness in man is the result of an effort to work up-stream against his own nature. 4. This has been the testimony of the best men in all ages (Job 42:6; Isaiah 6:5; 1 Timothy 1:15; Romans 7:23). 5. The same is testified to by highest reason. If you try apple after apple from every part of the tree, and all alike sour, you cannot but conclude the tree itself is bad. If you drink from a stream and find it brackish, day after day you conclude that the fountain itself is bitter. Now, when you observe man after man sinning day after day, in all ages, under every form of government and society, you must conclude that the troubles lie in the very nature of man. II. THIS CORRUPTION IS UNIVERSAL AS TO THE WHOLE RACE, AND TOTAL AS TO EACH MAN. Like leprosy, it may not be visible in the whole face or body, but being in the blood it is only a question of time as to when it will claim every part. Do not deceive yourselves. However you may manage to hold your inward corruption in check, it will sooner or later work out your total corruption, if not in this world, in the world to come. Death will remove all restraining motives and you will in eternity be left to the unrestrained operations of your sinful nature. III. WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR SINFUL NATURE. I do not believe that God's Word teaches that we were guilty of original sin in Adam. But the Word of God is clear that you are guilty and responsible for original sin by your own act. We have inherited sin; God does not condemn us for having inherited it, but for choosing to stand by the sin we have inherited, and refusing to give it up and turn from it when He calls upon us to forsake it and accept His abundant mercy in forgiveness, together with a new nature in Christ Jesus. (G. F. Pentecost, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.WEB: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me. |
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