In our current series we’ve been going through an old list of questions and answers contained in the Westminster Larger Catechism published in 1648. In previous weeks we’ve seen God’s providence to humans when he created them by blessing them wonderfully. But then last week we saw that because of Satan’s temptation, humans did not continue in the state in which God first created them. This week I want to look at how the sinful choices of humans mean we lose the blessings of God.

After Satan tempted the first woman Eve, we see her own actions brought about her fall into sin. Eve herself broke God’s command that she should not eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil: ‘When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it’ (Genesis 3:6). And the first man, Adam, also by his own will broke God’s command and ate the fruit as well: ‘She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it’ (Genesis 3:6).

This action resulted in their ejection from the garden of Eden and all its blessings: ‘So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life’ (Genesis 3:22-24).

So although we would love to say that Satan is solely responsible for our fall from God’s blessings, all humans only have themselves to blame for their sin. Every time sin is attributed to their account it is because of their own choices.

But thankfully God has provided a way for us to return to his blessing. He sent his Son to live a perfect life without sin. Even when Jesus was tempted by Satan, Jesus stood firm and rebuked Satan: ‘Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ “’ (Matthew 4:10). So if we trust in Jesus to be our righteousness, we can again experience the blessings of God as though we had never sinned: ‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God’ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Do you trust in Jesus for your righteousness? Or are you still missing out on the blessings of God because of your sin?

Joel Radford.