Lesson 2: Sin Separates Man From God
In the previous lesson, we
studied briefly the nature of sin. In this lesson, we are going to examine how
sin separates us from God and the consequences of being enslaved to one or a
multitude of sins.
We
learned that, in the beginning, after the fall of man in Genesis chapter three,
sin separated man from God. In other words, man allowed himself to fall prey to
Satans temptations and thus a wall of sin was built between himself and God.
Look at the simple illustration below. The lines to the left
and to the right of the word sin represents this wall of sin separating
man from God after the fall.
Before the Fall:
God
Man
After the Fall:
God
Sin
Man
Man
not only can be separated from God by sin, but also become enslaved to it. Paul
says, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey
it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto
sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and
your members as instruments of righteousness unto God, (Romans
Being
enslaved to sin is not caused by inheriting the sin(s) of your parents. God
made man a free moral agent since the beginning. In other words, God gave man
the capability to decide for himself either to serve the Lord or serve sin.
Compare and contrast the two illustrations of the temptations of Adam and Eve,
and Christ:
Now the serpent was more subtil
than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the
woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every
tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the
fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the
midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye
touch it, lest ye die. 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, 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,
(Genesis 3:1-6).
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and
forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be
the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and
said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the
holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the
temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of
God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge
concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time
thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It
is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding
high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of
the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him,
All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee
hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then
the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and
ministered unto him.
God holds each of us accountable for what we do here
on earth, whether it be good or whether it be evil. Paul
says, So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God,
(Romans 14:12).
If we
sin wilfully and die a sinner we will no longer have
that hope of eternal salvation. Furthermore, if we continue to put off the
opportunity to become a christian
and die later in life, there remains no more opportunity to be saved. The
scripture says, For if we sin wilfully after that
we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth
no more sacrifice for sins, (Hebrews 10:26).
Now
that you have come to a basic understanding of how sin separates us from God,
answer the questions below. Please cite scriptures to support your answers.
Send in your answers in the envelope that has been provided for you. We will
grade them and get back to you as soon as we can. This is to be done before
proceeding to the next lesson.
Click here to proceed to Lesson 3.