When God created Adam and Eve they were in perfect harmony with God. Their thoughts were pure, their aims holy. But through disobedience, their powers were perverted, and selfishness took the place of love. Man’s nature became so weakened through sin that it was impossible for him, in his own strength, to resist the power of evil.
The human race was taken captive by Satan, and would have remained so forever without God’s intervention. It was Satan’s purpose to frustrate God’s plan in creating the human race, and fill the earth with suffering and heartache. Then he would point to all this evil as the result of God’s work in creating man.
In their sinless state, Adam and Eve held joyful communion with their Maker. But after their sin, they no longer found joy in holiness, and they tried to hide from the presence of God. That is still the condition of a heart that has not been made new by Jesus. It is not in harmony with God, and finds no joy in spending time with Him. The sinner can never be happy in God’s presence. If he were permitted to enter heaven, it would have no joy for him. He would be like a fish out of water. To him, heaven would be a place of torture; he would long to be hidden from Him who is its light, and the center of its joy.
In this lesson we will discover why we, as sinners, need Jesus and what must be done in order to experience His power in our lives.
1. What is the natural attitude of the mind toward God?
Romans 8:7
2. Why is it impossible for the ‘natural mind’ to understand God’s Word?
I Corinthians 2:14
Note: The natural man always remains the same. He is what hereditary tendencies, nationality, education, and circumstances have made him. But when the natural man is changed by the grace of Christ, then the transformation is seen in the new man with a new heart, new purposes, and new desires.
3. What is the struggle of the carnal mind?
Romans 7:18
Note: What evidence do we have that we are still operating with the carnal mind? The inability to do that which is good and which we know we should do. “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” Galatians 5:17.
4. What does the Lamb of God take away?
John 1:29
5. What connected heaven to earth in Jacob’s dream? And what was Jacob’s response to his dream?
Genesis 28:12; 16-17
6. What were the angels of God ascending and descending on?
John 1:51
7. How many ways are there to God?
John 14:6
8. What must take place before the times of refreshing?
Acts 3:19
9. What two gifts does God give?
Acts 5:31
10. What is the purpose of repentance?
2 Timothy 2:24-26
11. What does God guarantee will draw all men to Him?
John 12:32-33
12. What must our eyes be focused on if we are to finish the race victoriously?
Hebrews 12:1-3
Christ’s death proves God’s great love for man. It is our pledge of salvation. To remove the cross from the Christian would be like blotting the sun from the sky. The cross brings us near to God, reconciling us to Him. With the relenting compassion of a father’s love, He looks upon the suffering that His Son endured in order to save the race from eternal death.
Without the cross, man would forever be separated from God. On the cross of Christ depends our every hope. From it shines the light of the Savior’s love, and when at the foot of the cross the sinner looks up to the One who died to save him, he may rejoice with fullness of joy, for his sins are pardoned. Kneeling in faith at the cross, he has reached the highest place to which man can attain.