The Fall
A Sermon on the Fall
Originally preached March 5, 1953
Scripture
Sermon Description
Suffering and pain surround humanity. In this sermon on the fall, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains what God’s word says about the fall and sin. Contrary to many erroneous contemporary views, sin and evil are not eternal principles, nor is sin simply the lack of good. Rather, sin and evil are the result of humanity’s willing rebellion against God. This rebellion brought sin into a perfect world. The Bible gives this story in the first chapters of Genesis in which the serpent deceived Adam and Eve and lured them into temptation. This is not simply a myth used to illustrate the human fall into sin, but it is God’s revelation of a true historical event. In their original state, people had no natural desire to sin, but sin entered from outside through the temptation of Satan. This fall did not change the essence of people, but it changed their relationship with God. Now that humanity has fallen and is estranged from the fellowship of God, all have lost their original righteousness, and their nature has been utterly corrupted. This is why humanity and the world are in such a dire need for the Savior, Jesus Christ.
Sermon Breakdown
- The sermon starts by examining man's original state before the Fall as described in Genesis. Man was made in God's image, in fellowship with God, happy and carefree.
- The sermon then looks at various theories that try to explain man's current fallen state like dualism, evolution, man lacking knowledge, etc. The sermon rejects these in favor of the biblical doctrine of the Fall.
- The sermon argues that Genesis 3 should be taken as literal history, not allegory or myth. It cites other biblical references that refer to Genesis 3 as history.
- The sermon then breaks down the steps of the Fall in Genesis 3: the serpent tempting Eve, Eve doubting God's word, Eve lusting after the fruit, Eve eating the fruit, and Adam also eating the fruit.
- The sermon argues that the Fall came from outside of man, not from within his nature. Man had free will to choose to obey or disobey God.
- The sermon outlines the results of the Fall like: man becoming conscious of his flesh, guilt, fear of God, spiritual death, expelled from Eden, toil and sweat, moral perversion, and physical death.
- However, the sermon notes that man did not lose all his faculties at once after the Fall. His decline was gradual. Some consequences were immediate like condemnation and loss of righteousness. But physical death and other declines happened over time.
- The sermon sums up by saying that after the Fall, man is like a ruined palace where God once dwelt. Man lost his original righteousness and fellowship with God.
Great Biblical Doctrines
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.