As I was carefully considering the second chapter of Genesis, I spent a long time thinking about Genesis 2:17 and its implications:

“. . . but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.”

The LORD God issues a commandment to man, the creature. OBSERVE:

• Man is obligated to obey all God’s commands;
• Our God is a God who issues commands and God’s commands MUST be obeyed
• Disobedience to God’s commands results in death
• God has authority over man and man is subject to God.

QUESTION #1: How many times did Adam sin before he was condemned?

ANSWER #1: Adam sinned one time and, as a result, he was condemned.

Comment: Note that the first time Adam sinned, he was condemned. Adam’s first sin made him a sinner. And this is the same for you and me. The first time that we violate any one of God’s commandments, we earn His condemnation.

How are you doing so far? Have you ever disobeyed ONE of God’s holy commandments?

And the news gets worse! According to Romans 2:5, “Because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” As we sin more, we store up more of God’s wrath against us, and He will pour out that wrath upon us on the day of judgment.

Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.” What we see from all this and many more passages throughout the Bible is that God has a holy hatred of sin and all sin invokes His wrath and merits judgment. DEATH. JUDGMENT. WRATH. CONDEMNATION.

Adam failed to obey the Lord’s commandments and so he fell and was cast out of the garden of Eden and plunged the world into sin. Likewise, we have also violated the Lord’s commands and have rebelled against His holy Law, and we have done that willfully and intentionally. We are obligated to obey God’s commands and we fail to obey, and our rebellion and disobedience merit death. How, then, can anyone escape the terrifying and righteous judgment of the Holy One of Israel? Is there any escape for sinners like us? How can God’s wrath against us be satisfied?

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ, the heaven-sent Son of God, has lived the sinless life that we were obligated to live but could not and on the cross, Jesus Christ has died the death that we deserved and has thus satisfied the wrath of God for all those who place their faith and trust in Him. The Lord God has made “Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).” No matter how rebellious you have been and no matter how good you think you have been, you can find salvation and rescue at the cross. If you will place your faith in the Lord Jesus and bow the knee to Him, He is willing to save you. The Son of God is willing to save anyone who will bow down to him and confess Him as Lord.

Like Adam, you have sinned at least once. Will you escape the wrath of God and come to faith in Jesus?

SDG       rmb       7/9/2019