Why is mankind a fallen race that is totally disobedient to God?
Mankind is a fallen race because Adam rebelled and ate in Genesis 3, bringing sin into the human experience. That rebellion produced total disobedience to God, and its consequences include six thousand years of human suffering, degradation, corruption, evil, and wickedness, as the Genesis account shows.
Les explains that Genesis 3 gives the account of sin and all its horrendousness making its appearance when Adam rebelled and ate. If you can understand that chapter, you can understand why mankind is a fallen race, totally disobedient to everything God says. As a result of the fall, there have been 6,000 years of human suffering, degradation, corruption, evil, and wickedness, and it all began back there in the garden. Les then points out that God comes to the conclusion in Romans chapter 3 that this is the problem, and the only remedy is the remedy God Himself has provided—which flies in the face of human reasoning. Looking at the verses ahead, Les notes it is not a pretty picture; that is what God sees whenever He looks at a human being still in old Adam. That is where He saw the teacher, where He saw the listener, and where He still sees every lost person. Such a person is an opulent sepulcher, the mouth is full of cursing, and there is no fear of God. Paul says 'we know,' speaking of solid ground, basic scriptural fact, not wishful thinking or something only a theologian could dream of.