WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS
Sin and temptation – the desire to go our way, not God`s way - are deep within our nature.
Our studies in sections 1 and 2 were bright and encouraging ones.
They were about God Himself and the wonderful plans that He has for the earth.
But then in section 3 we had to face the fact that we humans have not co-operated willingly with our Creator.
Most of the time we have disobeyed Him in major and tragic ways, and even people with good intentions fail sometimes.
The Bible calls this disobedience `sin`, and we have seen how sin has resulted in death.
However, one man has succeeded where all the rest of us failed.
That man is Jesus, and in the next few sections we hope to see that through him God offers to save all who really do want to be part of His plan to fill this earth with His glory.
But first we must face the facts about this human nature of ours.
We saw how the first human pair were tempted and chose to please themselves rather than God (Gen 3).
Then their oldest son Cain killed his brother Abel (Gen 4). Within a few more generations human behaviour had become so bad that all mankind were destroyed by a flood, one family only being saved (Gen 6).
The urge to please self had become so strong that it was the ruling principle in human life.
Of course, in order to survive, men and women need courage and determination, and these qualities are a gift from God; but when they oppose the laws of God they lead to sin.
That is the situation that we find ourselves in now – we all have this resistance to the laws of God deep inside ourselves: we want to live our lives our own way.
In the New Testament the Apostle Paul tells us how much he wanted to please God, but he described his experience this way –
`I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate . . . So I find a law, that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand;
Wretched man that I am ! Who shall deliver me from this body of death ? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord !`
It is a good idea to carefully read for ourselves what he says in Romans 7:16-25. In a later study, God Willing, we shall learn more about the way that God has opened, through Jesus, for us to escape from `this body of death`.
But for now, let us get very clear in our minds about this human resistance of ours to the will of God, and how strong it is.
Back in the Old Testament, this is what Jeremiah says about human nature `I know O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself.
It is not in man who walks to direct his steps` (Jer 10:23). In other words, we might think we know what to believe and how to live, but unless we go about it God`s way we shall go astray.
Later in his book he gives us the reason for this – `The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it ?` (Jer 17:9).
Jeremiah knew this better than most people. He had to force himself to be a prophet of God when he didn`t want to be (Jer 1:4-10).
He tried to give up because he was ill treated (Jer 20:9-11), but he had to continue.
And although he spoke God`s messages and warnings to his own people in Jerusalem for about 40 years, they refused to listen.
At last because of their unbelief they were taken captive to Babylon, as Jeremiah sadly recorded in chapter 52.
Jeremiah`s countrymen loved to think that they could please God and have their sins forgiven by performing rituals and ceremonies.
People still think that today. This was also the case when Jesus was here. The religious leaders at that time had made hundreds of rules that covered every detail of life.
Some rules for instance concerned how people should wash before eating. People were taught that if they failed to keep these rules they were `defiled`, (meaning `not acceptable to God`).
Jesus said that what `defiles` us is not what goes into our mouths but what comes out of them ! (Matthew 15:17-20).
Then he went on to say - `Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander`. It`s a big problem, but we can look forward to discovering the solution !
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What The Bible Says
