and placed him on this earth that there was a warm, intimate relationship between man and his creator. The rules were few. "And the L o r d God command ed the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowl edge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.’’ Then man was told by Satan: "Ye shall not surely die.” Man was now faced with his first and most im portant decision. Some have objected that God made man with the ability to disobey Him. But this objection has never been seriously considered by thinking men and women. If man had no freedom of choice then he would be nothing but a puppet. Freedom of choice places him "a little lower than the angels.” We all know the decision our first parents made. They deliberately, with full knowl edge of the consequences chose to disobey God. This disobedience was what brought sin into the world. In a sense, goodness and badness as we define them have nothing to do with our basic relationship with God. We can be morally correct and yet stand condemned in God’s sight. We read in the Bible, "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obey ing the voice of the L o r d ? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stub bornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the L o r d , he hath also rejected thee . . .” The day man rejected God’s clear-cut command, that day man died spiritually. Before man sinned he had warm fellowship with God. After he sinned man instinctively knew he was alienated from God. The Bible says, "And they heard the voice of the L o r d God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the L o r d God amongst the trees of the garden. And the L o r d God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid.” Need we wonder why our hearts are infinitely lonely when we do not have a right relationship
with God? Can any of us say, "I have no sin” ? Has a single one of us never disobeyed God ?» Listen to what the Bible says again. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” We have seen that according to the Bible sin is disobedience to God’s commands. We’ve seen that sin separates man from God. We've seen that sin is universal. None of us dares go around with a holier-than-thou attitude. In God’s sight all are equal. When we acknowledge that we are sinful in God’s sight we are not placing ourselves in a special cate gory. We’re merely being honest and doing some thing that only pride keeps every man from doing. All have sinned and the wages of that sin is spir itual death and this death is separation from God. How can man be right with God? Since sin is universal how can man become right with God? Excepting Judaism and Christianity, the religions of the world are all attempts of man to reach God. Judaism and Christianity are unique in that God comes to man instead of man to God. God- is the initiator here. In the Bible the prophet Isaiah records God’s call, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the L o r d : though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Again we read: "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever be- lieveth in him should not perish, but have everlast ing life.” "But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” To gome to God on His terms is to merely ac cept His provision for salvation. That’s why God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. He came to explain to man about God in a way man could readily understand. And He came to die on the cross. The Crucifixion wasn’t an accident or a defeat. This was God’s supreme plan of redemption. Man is not saved by self-denial or good works or CONTINUED
THE KING 'S BUSINESS
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