First Christian Church

By Bruce Humes

Pastor

Genesis 1:31 says, “Then God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

Verse 27 said that male and female were created on the sixth day in God’s image, meaning they were spiritual beings. This was a period of innocence. Adam and Eve walked in the garden and had great fellowship with God. We know from reading Genesis 2:15-17 that man was put in the garden of Eden to enjoy all God had provided except for “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die.” One command was given, and the consequence for disobeying it was death.

In Genesis 3:6-7, we read that the command was broken, and the eyes of both were opened, for they knew they were naked. In other words, they became consciously aware of right and wrong, good and evil. It had now been written on their conscience. A time of innocence was gone, and a time of conscience awareness of good and evil, knowing right from wrong, was entered.

In Genesis 6:5, we read about the condition of mankind after living in this period of conscious awareness of knowing good and evil, right from wrong, for about 1,700 years.The key here is that the “intent of the thoughts of his heart was evil continually. Only evil thoughts were on the mind and conscience of man.” If we read on we would see that God was grieved in his heart and sorry he created them, and with the exception of eight souls, he destroyed mankind.

In Exodus 20:3-17, we are introduced to the 10 commandments God gave Moses. They were a new set of laws to govern by, but these too were given to bring us a knowledge of sin, not to save us. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

So what did God do for us? He brings a period of grace, a time of unmerited favor toward mankind which extends from the death, burial and resurrection of his son, Jesus Christ, to the return of his son, Jesus Christ. John 3: 16 tells us that “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The question we must ask ourselves when he comes the second time is: Will I be found in belief? Or unbelief?

If you want to speak to someone at the church or have a need, call the church office at (562) 431-8810.