THE LOSTNESS OF MANKIND
Starting from the creation of Adam and Eve, we can see the lost condition of mankind escalate over and over again throughout the Bible.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they became separated from God. This brought about the lost state of mankind, a broken relationship from the Creator. The spiritual condition of the human being has been separated from their original innate nature in which they were created, body, soul, and spirit. Without the spirit we cannot commune with God; therefore mankind is lost and the lostness of mankind started with Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God’s commandment. This disobedient nature is the sin nature which has been passed down by the seed of Adam ever since.
The spiritual condition of mankind is separated from God. This is why God came into the Garden after Adam and Eve had sinned and said, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). God knew where they were physically, but their spiritual condition changed and God could no longer commune with them through the Holy Spirit and their innate spirit which dwelled in them before their disobedience. Truly when God said if you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will surely die; the spiritual condition was the first thing that died in all mankind from that point forward. The communion with God through man’s spirit was severed.
Left to ourselves in our lost condition, we no longer think God-centered thoughts but self-centered thoughts. We can see that mankind’s lost condition is self-centered without the thought of consequences. In the account of Cain and Abel, Cain did not like that Abel’s sacrifice was accepted and his was rejected. He took matters into his own hands and killed his brother because of it. The human race did not get any better; its decline can be seen within ten generations. Every imagination of mankind was evil continually, so God repented that He had made man and was going to destroy creation. Noah found grace in God’s sight. God reached out to Noah to guide them back into a relationship with Him. God was the missionary here as He reached out to save Noah and his family from destruction.
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD (Genesis 6:5-8 KJV).
After another ten generation, Abram, the descendant of Noah, was living in the city of Ur, a place which resembled worldly self-centered values – the lostness of mankind. But God again reaches down to guide man into a relationship with Him. We can see many examples of Abram’s lost condition; one is when he went to Egypt and deceived the Pharaoh by telling him Sarai was his sister and not his wife. Another example is Sodom and Gomorrah, we see Lot and his family taken in by the ways of the world, but God delivers him too.
This is the lostness of mankind separation from God, our Creator, which is confirmed in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 2:9-14, Paul writes through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that God reveals unto us (mankind) by His Spirit. The spiritual things of God whereas the natural or lost man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God because they are not spiritual discerned. In Ephesians Chapter 2:1-5 it says,
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 lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (Ephesians 2:1-5 KJV).
Again this scripture shows the lost condition of mankind for we all were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were walking in the world and its desires. We were disobedient and fulfilling the lusts of our flesh and our minds, but God has regenerated the believer and has quickened us or made us alive in the spiritual realm once again.
Paul also confirms the lostness of mankind in the book of Romans. In chapter 1:19-32, Paul tells us about the soul’s diseased condition: from unrighteousness, idolatry, impurity, and dishonorable passions to covetousness, malice evils of the heart, even the condoning of those who practice them. Paul concludes all are under sin and in need of the Saviour. For there is none righteous – no not one (Romans 3:10, Psalms 14:3). For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
The lostness of man is seen throughout the Bible both in the New and Old Testaments. It is the spiritual separation of mankind’s fallen nature since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God has been trying to bring His creation back into a right relationship with Him ever since. He has reached out from the very first missionary herald, “Where are you?” to Biblical examples like walking with Enoch, instructing Noah how to build an Ark to escape destruction, to Abraham and Moses in whom He called His people out of the worldly system to become children of God. He sent prophets, priests, and kings to save His people who continually backslide into idolatry and their fleshly desires. He finally sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who proclaimed that He came to save the sick and the lost and said, “except you repent, you will likewise perish” (Luke 19:10; 13:3). The Bible not only shows us the lost condition of mankind but the love, mercy, and grace of God Who acts as the missionary and calls out to His lost creation as an example to all believers the necessity of being sent to save the sick and the lost people of the world.

In Christ,
Greg