What Man Couldn’t Do
by Cody Anderson Corinth Missionary Baptist Church
Perfection, something we cannot really comprehend in its purest form. But there was a time and place here on Earth where everything was perfect – the Garden of Eden.
Adam walked with God, along with his wife Eve. They tended to the land given to them and communed with the Almighty.
As we regretfully know, one day this all came crashing down.
It was so quick and so long ago; yet, its effects are exponentially magnified today. Since that very day, man has been searching for ways to cover sin or hide sin from God.
However, we quickly realized man cannot cover our own sins.
Man fell for the lie, and along with Satan, man fell out of fellowship with God.
Satan attacked the very Word of God and deceived man.
Since man no longer trusted God, God could not be in the same relationship with them. Because of their rebellion, they knew things were going to be different.
In Genesis 3:7-8, Adam and Eve tried to atone for their sin by making a covering for themselves to hide their shame and to avoid being seen by the Holy One.
When God came near, they hid themselves in the garden among the trees.
Ever since that fatal moment in the garden, mankind has put forth great effort to atone for sin.
Adam realized his nakedness and used fig leaves to make a covering.
Today, man tries to hide by not being as bad as their neighbors, doing more good than bad, being religious, and the list goes on and on.
We will even try to cover other people’s sins by telling them to pray a prayer or raise their hand, give enough money or their time.
All this plays into the original lie from Satan.
They have changed the truth for a lie and moved from the light further into the darkness.
Somehow Adam went from a lie to thinking he had the answers by making coverings and hiding.
It was a very quick decent from truth. Now, today, we are left with thousands of years of ways to try and cover our sin.
Paul writes in Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (ESV).
I find this blatantly evident in our day.
It isn’t that we are weak and capable of sin.
It is the horrible condition of our heart.
It is our nature, who we are to our core.
It isn’t necessary to teach a child to sin. It also isn’t necessary to teach a child to try and cover that sin up. Sin is “our DNA” as mankind.
The glaring problem with our sin nature is that we cannot do anything about it in and of ourselves.
We can try to modify behavior and cover up our sin.
We can try to do more good than bad.
But just as dog can’t help being a dog, we can’t help being sinners.
Even if we could muster up some good in our life, we are still guilty.
A judge doesn’t just throw out a sentence because since the time of a murder, the murderer hasn’t murdered again and done some good.
We are already judged as rebels against God.
We cannot do anything to reverse that.
But just as sin entered by one man and corrupted our nature, redemption would be through only one Man with an incorrupt nature.
After man tried to cover himself with leaves, God stepped in and provided a true covering.
Genesis 3 says that He created a garment that was made of skin for Adam and Eve.
For it to be a garment of skin means there must have been death.
Hebrews 9:22 states, “… without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (ESV).
Since man deserved to die, God allowed the shed blood to cover the sins of Adam and Eve.
Since the beginning, man has been incapable of living a righteous life or atone for one’s own sins.
Only God can make right what man has made a mess.
