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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
umph of Jesus Christ, whose aton ing death crushed Satan, while a t th e same tim e He was made to, feel all th e agony th a t sin had caused th e world. Here we find th e first announcem ent of th e gospel of redemption. Sadness and sorrow were to be m an’s lo t and finally th e death th reaten ed as a resu lt of th e ir disobedience would come upon them , and formed from th e du st of th e earth , they would re tu rn to du st again. Surely “ th e wages of sin is d eath .” The E nd of Sin. Sin is a h ard p ath b u t man had chosen it. He m ust he sent pu t from th e garden of innocence and ease to win his way to manhood again through toil. It is sad th a t th e story of Eden' should end in sorrow b u t sin always brings sorrow. “The way of tran sg res sors is h a rd ” and “ the way of the wicked an abom ination unto th e Lord.” P au l in his le tte r to th e Galatians points th e m oral of th e story of Adam and Eve when he says “ Be not deceived, God is no t mocked, for whatsoever a man sOweth, th a t shall he also reap .” Obedience produces happiness, b u t dis obedience brings fo rth sorrow . God never leaves us w ithou t some ray of hope, however, and th e la st half of the memory verse for th e lesson gives us th a t. I t is tru e th e “wages of sin is death,— BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL L IFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, OUR LORD.” We earn etern al d eath ; etern al life comes as a g ift or no t a t all. There is only One who can give it for He alone has earned th e rig h t to it. He earned it a t Cal vary fo r us. Thanks he to God for His unspeakable gift! “W hile we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” This, and n o t th e sad resu lt, may he th e end of our sins. Christ, Our Redeemer offers us a way hack to P aradise. Are you still under th e curse of sin or have you etern al life th rough Jesus Christ, our Lord?
den were two trees; th e tree of life whose fru it gave imm ortality, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil, whose fru it gave in sigh t into m atters which God did not w ant man to know. God forbade man to touch th e fru it of th e la tte r tree under penalty of death. This shows God’s loving care of man expressing itself in a law which pointed o u t h arm fu l things and forbade them . The first man and woman, of th e ir own choice, disobeyed God and ate th e for bidden fru it. Thus they sinned against God and incu rred th e penalty of eter nal death. How did it happen? Satan in th e form of a serpen t tem p ted Eve to doubt God’s word. T h at is ju st what he is doing today— trying to fill your m inds w ith doubt concerning th e Word of God, try ing to get you to doubt th a t th e Bible is God’s word. God said “Ye sh all no t eat of it, n eith er shall ye touch it, lest ye die” and S atan said, “ Ye shall no t surely die.” F ill your h earts w ith God’s Word th a t you may he able to recognize th e lies of Satan. The F olly of Sin. Adam and Eve received th e know ledge of good and evil which th e ser pen t had prom ised, b u t it did no t give pleasure fo r they were lo st sinners, separated from God by th e ir sin. “W hat shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul.” They had vo luntarily cu t themselves off from God th rough disobedience. Then came th e excuses. Each trie d to throw th e blame on someone else. Are we today, anything lik f Adam and Eve? Do we no t try to p u t th e blame for our m istakes on someone else, oftentimes? There are always penalties to sin. The serpent lost his erect position and was made to craw l and ea t du st; and th e hum an race and th e serpent race were to hate and in ju re each other. Men were to crush th e serpen t’s head and serpents were to sting m an’s heel. This is th e first foreglimpse we have in th e Bible of th e suffering and tr i
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