left our story with the guilty couple banished from Paradise and restricted from returning to eat of the tree of life.
We discovered that it was the serpent who lied and deceived the woman.
Rebellion against the command or law of God did indeed bring about a broken fellowship with God , the loss of the image of God's moral purity , and the consequence of death.
We use the word "sin" to describe living out side of the authority or rule or boundaries of God. Sin includes any area of our lives including our thought life as well as our actions.
You see mankind was not created capable to decide for themselves what things are good.
Mankind is dependent upon God to know even what things are good.
Last post we saw that God came to Adam and Eve to begin the process of reconciliation.
God's justice demands that all insurrection against the will of God is punished by death.
Man's insurrection was an act of treason against the kingdom of God.
The choice to obey the voice of satan ( the angel Lucifer who had staged an unsuccessful coup attempt in heaven) meant that Adam had chosen the kingdom of darkness.
Things look hopeless for the human race.
But remember the animal skins?
And the promise to the woman about a man child to be born without a human father?
And this son would be able to rescue mankind from the kingdom of darkness and bring into the kingdom of heaven.
Before we discuss the rescue plan, I think many of you are not believing the truth about sin.
By that I mean how God thinks about sin, and how much we are under the power of death and sin even from birth.
Adam and Eve were created morally innocent, but they were not righteous in themselves. God had blessed them and told them to rule over the earth , to multiply the holiness of God on the earth by having children who would love and obey God.
In addition God had given the man authority over the woman and the garden to protect them.
Adam was to ask God how to live and never want to know how to live and not need God. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a test of Adam's relationship of dependence upon God and Adam's love for God as shown by his glad obedience to God.
Adam and Eve were righteous ( without blame) as long as they obeyed God.
It took how many wrong things before the couple had to leave the perfect paradise of the garden of Eden?
ONE! They ate some fruit from a tree they had been forbidden to eat thereof lest they die.
Allow me to return to the period of my life when I heard god call my name;
this is about age 4.
One day I heard my dad's angry voice talking with my sister; dad was getting ready to discipline my sister for something dad said she had done.
Someone had used something sharp and scratched on the front of a dresser drawer my sister's name ; this beautiful maple dresser had several drawers. One drawer was for my sister's clothing, another drawer was for my clothing.
My sister kept denying that she had done this. Then she was disciplined . She kept crying and said , daddy, I didn't do it. Now my dad was even more angry because he thought my sister was telling a lie. However dad realized she had already been punished.
Why would she tell a lie?
So my dad came to me and I was terrified. Dad asked me if I had done this. I didn't answer. Dad then said just tell the truth and you won't be disciplined. So I confessed that yes I had done this.
My dad was shocked. No one thought I could read or write.
My older sister had been teaching me to read and to write the alphabet. I was not yet in school.
Now let's think about this story. What was going on in my head that I would take a bobby pin and scratch and ruin the finish on the front of a dresser drawer ~ not my drawer - but my sister's drawer. Her name on her drawer.
What other choices might I have made? Well I could have asked for a piece of paper and a crayon and practiced writing my letters on paper. Or I could have scratched my name on my drawer; my name was shorter and easier to write. Or as soon as daddy started talking to my sister, I could've gone in the room and said , no , daddy , she didn't do it. I am guilty. Don't punish her.
So was this simply a childish mistake?
No.
Spilling milk is a childish mistake.
Thinking I could jump off a wall and fly like Superman is childish foolishness.
But I made the choice to let my sister be punished for something I did that was wrong.
Why did I do such a thing?
My older sister was always very kind to me.
Let's look at my story and think about what we learned from the Genesis account of sin.
After Adam's disobedience, Adam was no longer pure ; Adam had a sin nature. From now on Adam would not be capable of living a pure life.
Through Adam's sin, the default setting for all of mankind was set on self gratification and rebellion against the authority of God.
The Bible says that there is none who do right, no not even one.
Romans 3:10 (NASB) 10 as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
Romans 3:11 (NASB) 11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
So why did I do something like that? I was born in sin. I was born a sinner. I did a bad thing because I am not a good person.
But I didn't know that I had a black heart; it would be twenty three more years before I was rescued.
I would be surprised to learn of Someone Who was also punished unjustly for what I had done wrong.
But He chose to take my punishment; my sister didn't willingly take my punishment.
I would find out who had called my name and what He wanted.
Next blog look for how can the dead be raised to life?
What is the meaning of the first thing Jesus taught " repent and believe the gospel "?
Kept by grace alone.
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