THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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shedding of blood is no rem ission” (Heb. 9 :2 2 ). Reader, Are you under th e blood; are you clothed in th e righ teousness of Christ provided for you in H is death? Both are yours fo r the taking. “The g ift of God is etern al life th rough Jesus Christ our Lord.” The way out of Eden was th rough doubt and disobedience; th e way in is through faith and obedience. W ill you rem ain outside, or will you accept th e inv ita tion and come in? Matt. 11:28-30; John 6 :37 ; Rev. 22:17. How long the peace and pu rity of P arad ise continued, we do not know. Adam and Eve, made in the image of God, made for each other, in th e full enjoym ent of God’s HEART OF fellowship, and w ith THE LESSON au th o rity over all cre- T. C. H orton ated matter,. — were n o t left long in th e enjoym ent of th is felicity. Today, we view the tragic incident which term in ated the life of man in P arad ise and relegated him to a life of sin and suffer ing in a world burdened w ith God’s curse. Remember, we are n ow 'in th e Book of beginnings, and are confronted w ith th e g reat and grave problems of sin and salvation. We are studying the seed plot of the Bible. There are many difficulties in our way, bu t the main track is clear. God is no t th e au th o r of sin. Man is a free moral agent, sub ject to tem ptation, he vo luntarily fell and in th a t fall he involved the race. This is th e foundation of P au l’s arg u m ent in th e Book of Romans and in o th er epistles. There is no attem p t here a t dram a tic effort. The devil is introduced by th e statem en t of his subtilty. He is not personally seen; we are not told who he is, or from whence he comes. For some good reaon, God did no t see fit to unfold th e whole tru th concerning him un til the appearance of Christ who was
to become his Master. He is n o t cloven footed and horned, arm ed w ith a pitch- fork. He does n o t make his abode in saloons or dens of infamy. He is the prince of th is world, an angel of light, refined, cultured, esthetic, and has suc ceeded in blinding the eyes of all man kind to the tru th , and by his subtilty has made them believe a lie. He is the dom inant sp irit in all form s of error, and th e au th o r of all th e old and new fangled “ ism s” which have prevailed from Adam to Mrs. Eddy. He moved w ith ad ro it skill. He tempted Eve to doubt th e goodness of God. T h at is th e in troducto ry tem p ta tion in every life; to doubt th e love and th e goodness and the wisdom of God. Then we are prepared for every subsequent lie of th e devil. Note th e steps in th e tem ptation: (1 ) T hat God had purposely w ithheld th e fru it of th e tree from a selfish mo tive, th u s depriving Adam and Eve of some real blessing. (2) The attack upon th e Word of God, “Ye shall not su rely die.” (3) Arousing am bition in th e h e a rt of Eve, in doing which he makes God a liar. The whole Bible expresses th e desire of God and H is will th a t we become like Himself. Follow ing th e fall of Adam and Eve, we have presented to us the tru e picture of God, and every teacher should seek to get th e pictures of the Bible. God seeks, th e sinful pair. God misses th e fellowship w ith His crea tu res and seeks to resto re it. God is love, and He loves th is guilty pair. Can you h ear H is voice saying, “Adam, where a rt th o u ? ” He knew where he was, b u t He desires to aw aken Adam and bring him back to Himself. Their eyes are open; they knew good from evil, bu t w ithou t power to do the good, or to resist the evil. There is no picture in th e Bible more full of pathos th a n th a t of God coming to the rescue of these two and providing for them a way of escape. Hopeless, help less, degraded by th e ir sin, w orthy of
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