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naked; an d I hid m yself. (11) A nd he said, W ho told th ee th a t thou w ast nak ed ? H a s t th o u eaten of th e tree, w hereof 1 com m anded th e e th a t th o u sho u ld est n o t e a t? (12) A nd th e m an said. T he w om an th o u g av est to be I. W hat Is Sin? No b etter definition of sin comes to me th an th a t given in th e W estm inster S horter Catechism— ‘(Sin is any w ant of conform ity unto or transgression of th e law of God.” No- I j ESSON tic» how tru e it is to EXPOSITION th e facts related in J. H. H u n ter our lesson. Sin is dis obedience t o G o d ’ s command, either neglecting to do some th ing God has commanded us to do, or doing something God has commanded us no t to do. Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3 :4 ), rebellion against God’s ju st government, anarchy, Bolshevism. II. How Sin E n tered th e Human Race. God placed man in charge of th e garden of Eden, placing only one restriction upon him which was th a t he m ust not eat of th e fru it of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the penalty for disobedience being death. The commandment was simple and plain. There was no room for mis understanding. As man owed all his surroundings to God, and even his very existence, th e re was nothing a rb itra ry or u n ju st in God’s command. . Nothing else occurred to th e man and the woman un til an outsider suggested it. The serpent len t him self to S atan th a t the la tte r m ight carry out his nefarious designs. See Revelation 20:2. There need be no difficulty about th is if we remember th a t th e demons when cast out of the demoniac of Gadara entered into th e herd of swine (Mark 5:12, 13), and th a t Satan entered into Jud as the tra ito r (John 1 3 :2 7 ). It is interesting to find th a t th e serpent is so universally linked up w ith the beginnings of the hum an race in ancient trad ition . Nearly everyone has seen somewhere a picture of th a t old Babylonian seal showing a man and a woman on eith er side of a
w ith m e, she gave m e of th e tree, an d I did eat. (13) A nd th e LORD God said u n to th e w om an, W h a t is th is th a t th o u h a s t done? A nd th e w om an said, T he se rp en t beguiled m e, a n d I did eat. tree, and a serpen t behind the man. The serpen t first insinuated a doubt as to w hat God had really said, verse 1. And the German “ scholars,” and th eir B ritish and American echoes, surely did th e devil’s work for him in casting doubt and suspicion upon the Word of God, when th e re was no honest ground for so doing. As doubting God’s word in th e first place led to disobedience, and culm inated in disaster, so it has acted ever since down to our own day. German scholarship discredited th e word of God, th en proceeded to b reak every moral law th a t God had u ttered , and tu rn ed Europe into an inferno. I t is a simple statem en t of cause and effect. If th e church does not introduce a New E ra by elim inating from h er pulpits, and colleges, and sem inaries, preachers and professors who are doing the devil’s work (unconsciously, perhaps; b u t doing it ju st th e sam e) th e re is d isaster ahead for her as there' was for our first parents. The tem pter attacked th e woman, not th e man. Look up 1 T imothy 2:13, 14 in th is connection. W ill it Justify th e -conclusion th a t Adam, realizing w h at his wife had done and its conse quences to her, deliberately chose to suffer w ith h er? W hether th a t be tru e or not, it is tru e th a t th e Second Adam did so th a t He m ight redeem His bride from the curse and consequences of sin. F rom insinuation Satan advanced to definite denial. God had said, “ thou sh alt surely die.” Satan said, “Ye shall no t surely die.” Then Satan impugns God’s motives, boldly asserting th a t God is jealous of m an's becoming as He is, hence H is sel fish prohibition. The Word declares th a t God will w ithhold no good thing
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