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shalt surely die." That is, to take to
yourself the authority to produce
the
knowledge
of what is good and
what is evil - to decide what
you
think is rigbt and what is wrong,
will result in death.
"The wages of sin is death" (Ro–
mans 6:23). God was preaching the
gospel to the man. There it is! The
very fact that God said, "In the day
that thou eatest thereof .. ." shows
that the man was
allowed
to do it,
that the man was a free moral agent,
that the man himselfhad to make the
choice. God designed tbat you and I
choose
whetber we will obey His law
or not. Animals don't make a choice.
Animals have instinct.
God ordained that you and I must
make a choice. And if we choose the
right way to live, according to that
law which God set in motion to pro–
duce happiness and contentment and
a full , thrilling, enjoyable life, we can
bave it. But if we're going to choose
to live the other way, if we are going
to take to ourselves to decide what is
right, if we are going to do what is
right in our own eyes-there is no
other way that is right but God's
law- and we shall automatically
choose to transgress God's law–
we' re going to have suffering, sor–
rows and curses. That's what man–
kind has always done.
The Flrst Lle
To continue: "Now tbe serpent was
more subtle than any beast of the
field which the Eterna! 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 tbe fruit of the tree
wbich is in the midst of the garden,
God has said, Ye shall not eat of it,
neither shall ye toucb it,
lest ye die.
And the serpent sa id unto the
woman, Ye shall
not surely die"
(Genesis 3:1-4) .
"You shall not surely die"- there
was the fi rst lie that we have any
historie record of.
It
was not told by a
man, but by the devil. "You will not
surely die." "You're an immortal
soul." Or, "You have an immortal
soul that won't die." Tbat's wbat the
devil said.
24
Continuing: "For God doth know
that in the day tbat ye eat thereof,
then your eyes shall be opened, and
ye sha/1 be as gods,
knowing good
and evil."
In other words, it is the preroga–
tive ofGod to determine what is right
-and what is wrong. Why? Because
God created and put in living motion
the spirituallaw that is the way that
is good-that produces good-and
the transgression of which automati–
cally produces evil results. To create
and put into living action can only be
done by the Creator. But for any but
God to decide- to assume the knowl–
edge of what ·is good and what is
evil-is to assume and arrogate to
himself the prerogative of God-to
elevate himself to be as God! Satan
tempted the first humans to intellec–
tual vanity-to produce the
knowl–
edge
of what is good or evil by their
own minds.
"And when the woman saw that
the tree was good for food"-she
used her own judgment and didn't
obey the law of God- she used her
own human reason- " ... 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"-the first human
sin!
The Commandments Broken
Analyze exactly what happened. God
is the One we obey. Do you realize
that's one of the definitions of God?
Whoever you obey is your god.
Whatever you
serve
is your god.
It
might be your automobile. Maybe
it's an idol. Whatever it is, that's
your god.
Adam and Eve had another god in
place of the true God- they obeyed
Satan-they broke the first com–
mandment. Tbey dishonored their
only parent. How? In Luke 3:38
Adam is called the "son of God,"
because God created him. Adam was
the son of God by a direct creation.
Adam was not God's son by begettal
or birth.
Adam not only dishonored bis only
parent, but he also broke tbe tenth
commandment. Tbere was
lust
when
the woman saw that it was good for
food and desired to make one wise;
vanity, egotism and pride entered
into ber heart.
Lust is what usually causes a per–
son to have an inordinate desire to
have something that is not legal. Lust
causes you to steal, and Adam and
Eve broke the eighth commandment
by stealing what was not theirs.
Four of the Ten Commandments
were broken in the original sin.
And in otber ways
every one
of the
Ten Commandments was actually
broken in that very first sin.
How Dld Caln Sin?
Consider their first son. Genesis 4,
beginning with verse 6: "And the
Eterna! said unto Caín [their elder
son], Why art thou wroth? and why
is thy countenance fallen? If thou
doest well," God said, "shalt thou
not be accepted? and
if
tbou doest
not well,
SIN
lietb at the
door."
Notice what sin was in those days
- in the days of Caín! "Caín talked
witb Abel bis brother: and it carne to
pass, when they were in the field,
that Cain rose up against Abe! bis
brother, and
slew him."
And the Eternal said unto Caín,
"Where is Abe! thy brother?" And
he replied, "1 know not." He lied and
broke another one of tbe command–
ments. That was sin, too.
He was a murderer. Sin did líe at
tbe door.
Caín broke the sixth and the ninth
commandments. Every one of these
commaodments was known from cre–
ation, because God had revealed
them to Adam. He thus revealed
them to mankind at that time. But
humanity has rejected tbem.
ldolatry Commltted
Before Abraham
Notice Joshua 24:2, "And Joshua
said unto the people, Tbus saith the
Eterna! God of Israel, Your fathers
dwelt on the other side of the flood in
old time, even Terah, the father of
Abraham, and the father of Nachor:
and
they served other gods."
Idolatry
was a sin in the days
before
Abra–
ham, and that was 430 years before
the law of Moses!
Now tu rn to Genesis 35: l-4:
(Continued on page 38)
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1979