Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
Oh Friends, our Bit today is of overwhelming importance to all humans, especially believers. But first, let’s get a definition of the operative word ‘sin’ so that we’ll all be on the same page. Now, per the Oxford fellows, sin is defined as transgression; a transgression against divine law or principles of morality; such as kills the soul or is fatal to salvation. And in simple terms, a transgression is a violation or infringement of some law, commandment or order. So sin is basically a violation of God’s divine law. And we all know where it began. The Lord, after creating the Garden of Eden and the first man, Adam, gave him extensive use of all therein, except one tree. ‘And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest eat freely: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thou shalt surely die.’ (Gen.2:16-17) Yuh see Friends, from day one, the Lord laid down serious consequences for disobedience; eat of the forbidden tree and you’ll die. Then the Lord, in His LOVING kindness felt bad that Adam was alone, so He put him to sleep, took one of his ribs and made him a companion. ‘And Adam said, This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ (Gen.2:23) And from there, mih people, everything went downhill. The wily serpent talked the woman, Eve, into eating of the tree which God had expressly forbidden. So from the very start, Lucifer was up to his tricks. He calmly waved off Eve’s resistance about dying if they ate of the forbidden fruit. ‘And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods (God), knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons (body coverings). (Gen.3:4-7) And that’s where it all began mih people! Right at the very beginning our fore parents transgressed God’s order; they violated, infringed, disobeyed His specific command: Do no eat of the tree in the middle of the garden. And what happened? Their eyes were opened; their comprehension level increased, they now knew good from evil, realized they were naked, covered themselves up and hid from God. Hn! But notice that even though their eyes were opened, they still displayed poor judgement and understanding by trying to hide from God. Foolishly, many of us still try to do that today although we know it’s impossible. Anyway, God came looking for them. He called out to Adam; ‘Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he (God) said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord said unto the woman, what is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.’ (Gen.3:9-13) Oh mih breddren, can you detect a pattern there? The Lord gave a specific command, but they fell prey to the enemy’s lies and disobeyed the Lord, which opened their eyes, to evil and good, then foolishly they tried to hide, and when the Lord found out, Adam blamed Eve, and she blamed Beelzebub. Oh Friends it’s the same pattern of disobedience that’s so prevalent in these modern times. Our behaviour hasn’t changed one iota from back then, for we still fall to temptation, disobey, run and hide, then blame everybody but ourselves. That was the original sin, and we’ve been sinning since then, despite all the Lord’s efforts. It’s been bred into our souls, handed down from time immemorial. And the Lord made Adam, Eve and their descendants pay an enormous price for their gross disobedience; the most damaging curse ever. ‘And the Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; and upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it (he) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow (pain) and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow (toil) shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.’ (Gen.3:14-19) What a hefty price mih people! The scholars call it the Adamic covenant, whereby the serpent was cursed, with God promising redemption through the woman’s offspring. The earth was also cursed; sorrow, pain and physical death became part of our life experience, and labour became burdensome. Wow! To make matters even worse, God kicked out our fore parents from the lush garden, for He said: ‘Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep (guard) the way of the tree of life.’ (Gen.3:22-24) Yes Friends, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. (smile) I never envisaged getting that deep into the story, but the Spirit directed that if I was going to tell it, I should do it properly. So, God willing, we’ll continue tomorrow. Till then, Much LOVE!…to disobey the Lord…brings disastrous consequences…
Oh Friends, our Bit today is of overwhelming importance to all humans, especially believers. But first, let’s get a definition of the operative word ‘sin’ so that we’ll all be on the same page. Now, per the Oxford fellows, sin is defined as transgression; a transgression against divine law or principles of morality; such as kills the soul or is fatal to salvation. And in simple terms, a transgression is a violation or infringement of some law, commandment or order. So sin is basically a violation of God’s divine law. And we all know where it began. The Lord, after creating the Garden of Eden and the first man, Adam, gave him extensive use of all therein, except one tree. ‘And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest eat freely: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thou shalt surely die.’ (Gen.2:16-17) Yuh see Friends, from day one, the Lord laid down serious consequences for disobedience; eat of the forbidden tree and you’ll die. Then the Lord, in His LOVING kindness felt bad that Adam was alone, so He put him to sleep, took one of his ribs and made him a companion. ‘And Adam said, This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ (Gen.2:23) And from there, mih people, everything went downhill. The wily serpent talked the woman, Eve, into eating of the tree which God had expressly forbidden. So from the very start, Lucifer was up to his tricks. He calmly waved off Eve’s resistance about dying if they ate of the forbidden fruit. ‘And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods (God), knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons (body coverings). (Gen.3:4-7) And that’s where it all began mih people! Right at the very beginning our fore parents transgressed God’s order; they violated, infringed, disobeyed His specific command: Do no eat of the tree in the middle of the garden. And what happened? Their eyes were opened; their comprehension level increased, they now knew good from evil, realized they were naked, covered themselves up and hid from God. Hn! But notice that even though their eyes were opened, they still displayed poor judgement and understanding by trying to hide from God. Foolishly, many of us still try to do that today although we know it’s impossible. Anyway, God came looking for them. He called out to Adam; ‘Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he (God) said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord said unto the woman, what is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.’ (Gen.3:9-13) Oh mih breddren, can you detect a pattern there? The Lord gave a specific command, but they fell prey to the enemy’s lies and disobeyed the Lord, which opened their eyes, to evil and good, then foolishly they tried to hide, and when the Lord found out, Adam blamed Eve, and she blamed Beelzebub. Oh Friends it’s the same pattern of disobedience that’s so prevalent in these modern times. Our behaviour hasn’t changed one iota from back then, for we still fall to temptation, disobey, run and hide, then blame everybody but ourselves. That was the original sin, and we’ve been sinning since then, despite all the Lord’s efforts. It’s been bred into our souls, handed down from time immemorial. And the Lord made Adam, Eve and their descendants pay an enormous price for their gross disobedience; the most damaging curse ever. ‘And the Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; and upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it (he) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow (pain) and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow (toil) shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.’ (Gen.3:14-19) What a hefty price mih people! The scholars call it the Adamic covenant, whereby the serpent was cursed, with God promising redemption through the woman’s offspring. The earth was also cursed; sorrow, pain and physical death became part of our life experience, and labour became burdensome. Wow! To make matters even worse, God kicked out our fore parents from the lush garden, for He said: ‘Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep (guard) the way of the tree of life.’ (Gen.3:22-24) Yes Friends, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. (smile) I never envisaged getting that deep into the story, but the Spirit directed that if I was going to tell it, I should do it properly. So, God willing, we’ll continue tomorrow. Till then, Much LOVE!…to disobey the Lord…brings disastrous consequences…
SCRIP-BITS 