The sermon by Eric Bechler, based on the Second London Baptist Confession of 1689, explores the doctrine of original sin and its effects on humanity. Adam and Eve are seen as the root of mankind, with their sin being imputed to all their descendants, leading to a corrupted nature and a state of guilt before God. The sermon discusses the theological concepts of imputed sin and corrupted nature, drawing on biblical passages from Romans, Psalms, and Jeremiah to illustrate humanity's inherent inclination toward sin. Two views on Adam's representation of humanity are presented: the realistic viewpoint and the representative or federal headship viewpoint, with the latter being emphasized. Jesus Christ, born apart from ordinary generation, is highlighted as the sinless redeemer who liberates the elect from sin's bondage, bringing salvation and righteousness. The sermon concludes with a focus on the grace and mercy of God, who offers redemption through Christ.

Our reading this morning from the Second London Baptist Confession of 1689 comes from again chapter 6 of the Fall of Man of Sin and of the Punishment Thereof. Paragraph 3 this morning, They being the root and by God's appointment, standing in the room instead of all mankind, the guilt of the sin was imputed and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by ordinary generation, being now conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death, and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free. This week we continue our review of chapter 6 of the London Baptist Confession of the fall of man of sin and of the punishment thereof. Paragraph 3 expands the thoughts we touched on last week with respect to our sinful nature coming from Adam and Eve in the fall. We'll speak about imputed sin, corrupted nature, or sin nature, and the only way to be free from the slavery of sin, Jesus Christ.

I hope that you'll come away with a better understanding of how it is we are so affected by Adam's disobedience by the fall. Beginning here, it says they. Of course, this is Adam and Eve being the root. Adam and Eve are the first parents. Everyone, everyone is related to them.

The picture here is a tree with Adam and Eve as the roots and mankind as the trunks and branches of that tree. They, Adam and Eve, were not born. They were created in Genesis 1 27. Adam from the dust of the earth, Genesis 2 7, and Eve from the rib of Adam in Genesis 2 21 and 22. Their posterity would not be created, but would come from ordinary generation by having children.

Further in the paragraph we read, and by God's appointment standing in the room instead of all mankind, the guilt of the sin was imputed and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation. Again we touched on this last week. How do we understand that the guilt of the first sin of Adam and Eve passes on to all of us even from conception? Paul speaks about this happening in his letter to the Romans. In chapter 5, I'll read 12, 18, and 19 again.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous." Steve Farish from the Founder's Journal comments on these passages. I'll read from his comments here. Protestant theology thus teaches that the effect of Adam's first sin has on all his progeny is twofold.

One, it causes them from the moment of conception to be corrupt by nature. And two, It causes them from the moment of conception to stand guilty before God as sinners. The first of these two effects means that from the moment of conception every human being inherits from his or her parents a nature that is inherently inclined away from God and towards sin. This is precisely the understanding David seemed to have when he declared in Psalm 51.5, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Now David here did not mean that the sexual relations by which his parents conceived him were sinful.

Rather, he understood that even from conception his heart was corrupt. The prophet Jeremiah would in fact declare, the human heart is by nature so corrupt that it is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17.9. All of us who have stood perplexed and shocked over our own capacity for sinfulness are able to relate to these words of David in Jeremiah.

The apostle Paul calls this natural inclination of the human heart away from God and towards sin the flesh. We see that in Romans 7, Galatians 5, and Ephesians 2. Many other modern theologians employ the term sin nature the corruption of heart all human beings inherit as an effect of the first sin in the garden means that we lack the ability to do spiritual good. As the apostle Paul makes so clear in his singing indictment of humanity in Romans 3, 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, in the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Paul does not mean that a person living apart from Christ is unable to do any good in any sense at all, but what he does mean is that our human hearts by nature are so corrupt that we can never, apart from regeneration, willingly do any act at all for the highest good, which is the glory of God. Those deeds that may appear good and indeed are constructive for the well-being of human society at some inferior level, miss the pure measure of all true goodness, the conscious delight in and love for the infinitely glorious God.

That has been smothered at the corruption of our hearts and manifests itself in none of our thoughts, our affections, or actions prior to regeneration. We see this again in other scriptures from Psalm 58.3. The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. And in Job 14.4, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean, not one.

So this is what has happened because of the fall. But we turn back to the question, why? How do we understand that Adam and Eve really represent all of mankind, That they are standing, as it says, in the room instead. There are two views to this. One, the realistic viewpoint or natural headship.

The other is the representative viewpoint or the federal headship. From what I've read it seems that most reformers have found more support and more scriptural support for the federal headship viewpoint. This is what I'll focus on this morning. Once again I'll turn to Steve Farish and his comments about the representative viewpoint. At his creation, Adam stood as the whole human race, and every human descending from him by ordinary generation had interest in his spiritual obedience or his failure to obey.

For his righteousness, they would have life. For his sin or disobedience, they would have death. In him, Adam, as the representative head of the human race, God invested the spiritual states of the entire race in such a way that when Adam sinned that first sin, God counted that sin to be the sin of all human beings of all times. Put another way, we could say that as a function of Adam's representative headship, God has imputed Adam's first sin to all human beings so that we are conceived in our mother's womb guilty of sin before God. It's not just that human beings incur guilt before God for the actual sins we commit.

It's also the case that we stand guilty of sin before God from conception, because the Lord imputes Adam's first sin to all of us, his progeny. In his commentary on Romans, B.H. Carroll articulates this revealed truth. Race, the human race, race responsibility rested on Adam alone. It could not possibly have rested on Eve because she was a descendant of Adam to some degree, as much as we are.

Paul's assertion given by divine revelation in harmony with exegetical deduction from the Genesis narrative is this, according to Carol, God created just one man and in that man was the whole human race, including Eve. That clearly involves the conclusion that Adam's sin and my sin, though both violations of divine law, are different in two ways. Adam didn't have that inherited depravity. God made him upright. Whenever I commit a sin, I don't commit that sin from the standpoint of Adam.

I commit it on account of an evil nature inherited from Adam, and that sin is not after the similitude of Adam's transgression. In the light of that, a second distinction arises. If I commit a sin, the race is not held responsible for my sin, because I am not the head of the race. Consequently, the race does not stand or fall in me. In Romans 5, Paul again sets forth Adam as the type of Christ, and just as sin, condemnation, and death come through one trespass of Adam, so righteousness, justification, and life come through the one act of righteousness of Jesus.

Adam was the representative head of all humanity in the covenant of works, And Christ was the representative head of the elect in the covenant of grace. We see this viewpoint also supported by Paul's letter to the Corinthians in chapter 15, in verses 21 and 22, for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." In 1st Corinthians 1545, And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit. And from verse 49, and as we have borne the image of the earthy, so shall also we bear the image of the heavenly.

One other point here to bring to your attention in our paragraph, it uses the phrase ordinary generation. There is a reason for this. There is one person, one descendant from Adam and Eve, who was not born by ordinary generation. Do you know who he was? Jesus Christ.

Jesus was born from the seed of the woman, not the man, and conceived by the Holy Spirit. Thus the corrupted nature that is carried over and imparted to all the Adam's descendants by ordinary generation was not imparted to Christ. Jesus was sinless. Jesus was perfectly obedient and perfectly righteous. Finally from Romans 3 we read, none is righteous, no not one.

No one understands, No one seeks for God. No one is righteous. We all deserve death. We all deserve eternity in hell. This is justice.

Yet our paragraph this morning ends in the phrase, unless the Lord Jesus set them free. Praise God for his grace and mercy. For the elect he brings salvation. He gives us a new heart. He dwells in us his Holy Spirit.

And we read from Ephesians and Thessalonians, Ephesians 2, 1, and 3, and you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as others. And in 1st Thessalonians 1 10, and to wait for his Son from heaven whom he has raised from the dead even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come. It is Jesus who has quickened us. It is Jesus who has delivered us from the wrath to come. Amen.