III - Faithlessness

The sin of Adam and Eve was faithlessness, not believing God. Unbelief is a sin. The penalty for sin was, and is death. Death is the absence of life. God is Life. God leaves and Life is absent. We say a person is dead when we can no longer detect life. A spiritual death is just as real as a physical death. We are not a body with a soul; we are a soul with a body. The body is dead without the soul, and the soul is dead without the Spirit of Life.

(Genesis2:17b) “… for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

(Romans 6:23)  "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

God’s Word tells us that Jesus Christ was the Word made the flesh.

(John 1:14a) “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…”

We have life through the Word of God, Jesus Christ.

(John 1:1-4)  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. {2} The same was in the beginning with God. {3} All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. {4} In him was life; and the life was the light of men."

(1 John 5:11-12)  "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. {12} He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”

When God, who is life, departed from the presence of Adam and Eve, they died, because their souls became separated from the life that is God, and their spirit died.

(Genesis 2:16-17)  "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: {17} But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

Adam and Eve disregarded God’s Word. They believed the word of another, essentially stating by their actions that they believed God to be a liar. They hid their faith in the earthen vessels God had made, and manifested another.  As He promised, God’s Word did not return void!

(Isaiah 55:11)  "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void…”

The day that they ate, they died. God separated Himself from them. We no longer have record of God walking and talking with them in the cool of the evening.

(John 4:24)  "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

We cannot worship the Living Spirit with a dead one. Adam and Eve counted the word of another as more worthy than the Word of God. They forsook Truth, and God left. Their spirits died. They could no longer worship God. They passed this attribute down to all their descendants. Christ came to restore what sin took away.

(Romans 5:12,15)  "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned…For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many."

(Ephesians 2:8)  "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:"

Man’s spirit cannot be alive apart from God. The Father, The Word, and The Holy Spirit are one and the same.

(1 John 5:7)  "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."

(John 4:24)  "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

The Holy Spirit/God, who is Life, by virtue of His presence, quickens our dead spirit. When “The Word” is preached, It falls on the ears of men with lifeless spirits, and by virtue of its presence, quickens. What a man does after he hears and knows the Truth will determine his eternity. Men are in condemnation when they are born. Unless they trust God by faith, they will stay condemned. You do not escape the sinking ship by standing on the deck mistrusting the call to the lifeboats. You will surely perish if you do. You condemn yourself with your unbelief. This world’s ship is sinking. Will you be on it?

(John 3:16-18)  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. {17} For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. {18} He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Christ’s perfect work on the cross fulfilled the requirements of God’s perfect Law, and justified those who believe. God can once again walk and talk with His children. A dead spirit cannot commune with The Living Spirit any more than a dead body can commune with a living person.

(Ephesians 2:1)  "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins:"

You may still live in this world of sin, but you are no longer of this world, because those who believe are no longer “dead.” Worship is more than adoration. Worship counts worthy every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God! Worship is intimate communion. Christ gave His Life so men’s spirits could be restored by faith to this Divine communion. Believers must earnestly convey the Word of the Gospel to the dead that they might live!

(Galatians 2:20)  "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

A man born blind can never hope to understand color. No matter how intelligent he may be, without the sense of sight, he can only relate to his other senses. Faith is the gift of sight. It allows me to see with clarity what the “blind” can only surmise.

Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see!   -  John Newton