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3.

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What You Don't Know About Sin Just to recap, it is by God's sustaining

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presence that the heavens, the stars, and the earth are held together.

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Apart from His presence, all things would cease to exist.

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Understanding this reality is critical for grasping the nature of sin and its profound

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consequences.

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It is this reality that helps us understand why sin inevitably leads to death.

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See Romans 6 verse 23.

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The death brought about by sin is not merely physical death or sleep.

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The ultimate consequence of sin is what some refer to as the second death, the permanent,

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irrevocable separation from God which results in the death of the soul and the end of existence.

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This is eternal separation, a fate far more devastating than any earthly passing.

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As Jesus warns, Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

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Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

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Matthew 10 verse 28.

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Sin entered this world through Adam and Eve, but its roots run deeper than their disobedience.

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Sin is far more than that, and it is imprudent to reduce it to a mere issue of moral failure.

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Sin is a greater issue than morality alone.

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It is separation from God.

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It is anything that comes between you and God, anything you prioritize over Him.

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Sin is a rejection of God, and apart from God there is no existence.

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This is something not always understood even by other created beings, until the resurrection

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of Christ, even Satan, the adversary of God, failed to comprehend the full significance

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of separation from his Creator.

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At the moment Jesus died on the cross, Satan believed he had achieved the ultimate victory.

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What he failed to recognize was that his actions revealed to all the rest of creation the depth

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of his deception and his defeat.

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Before his rebellion, Satan was known as Lucifer, the brightest and most magnificent of all

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created beings.

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He was so impressive that he was called the Son of the Morning.

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As a pinnacle of God's creation, Lucifer was adorned with beauty and splendor almost

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beyond our ability to imagine.

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He is described in Ezekiel 28.

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You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

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You were in Eden, the garden of God.

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Every precious stone adorned you.

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You were appointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you.

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You were on the holy mount of God.

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You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found

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in you.

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Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because

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of your splendor.

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So I threw you to the earth.

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Lucifer was the highest of all created beings, but ultimately he chose to reject his Lord

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and Creator.

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At some point, in his pride, he persuaded himself that he no longer had any need or

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love for God.

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He looked at the magnificence God had bestowed upon him and convinced himself that he was

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equal.

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He allowed a thought to take root.

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I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.

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I will make myself like the Most High.

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Isaiah 14, verse 14.

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In his arrogance, he rejected God.

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This was the origin of sin.

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But why would God allow any created being to turn against Him?

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The answer lies in one of the greatest gifts God has given to us—free will.

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God is love, and love cannot be forced.

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It must be freely given and freely received.

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Without the power to choose, love is meaningless.

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God did not create robots programmed to obey.

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He created beings capable of experiencing the fullness of His love and reflecting it

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back to Him and to creation.

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The most important thing that God gives to all intelligent, created beings is free will,

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the power to choose.

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He wants your love and relationship with Him, but love cannot ever be forced.

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True love is given and chosen willingly.

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Lucifer chose not to.

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He persuaded himself that he no longer needed God.

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This is what corrupted his understanding.

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He convinced himself, God is holding me back.

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God doesn't love me.

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I can be my own God.

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In his rebellion, Lucifer became the father of lies, spreading his deceit to others.

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A third of the angels in heaven believed Lucifer's lies and sided with him and chose to reject

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God themselves.

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See Revelation 12 verse 4.

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It was rebellion rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of who God is—not only the Creator, but

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also the sustainer of all that is.

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Everything that exists does so because of God.

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God's will and presence.

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Apart from Him, there is nothing.

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The rebellion in heaven was also a clash of ideas and beliefs,

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trust versus distrust, love versus pride,

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truth versus deception.

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I believe that until then, all of creation

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had lived in perfect harmony with God's will.

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But the rebellion introduced doubt, jealousy, and unbelief.

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For the first time, created beings

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questioned the motives of their creator.

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Satan would have the world, indeed all of creation,

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believe that he is God's equal, that good and evil are

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two opposing forces of comparable power.

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But this is just another of his lies.

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The enemy is not in any way God's equal.

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He is a created being, subject to God's authority

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and bound by the limitations of his nature,

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as Paul reminds us about God.

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For by him all things were created,

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things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,

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whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities,

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all things were created by him and for him.

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Colossians 1 verse 16.

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The enemy's falsehoods and misrepresentations

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have been perpetuated through the ages,

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designed to keep God's children from understanding

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the depth of his love and the truth of his character.

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But our heavenly father's love is unyielding.

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He has allowed the rebellion to continue for a time,

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not because he lacked the power to end it,

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but because he desires to reveal

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the fullness of his love and justice.

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God's response to the rebellion and humanity's fall

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was not immediate destruction, but divine patience.

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He has allowed the conflict to unfold

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so that all creation can see the truth of his character,

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the result of sin and the consequences

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of separation from him.

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It is for the enemy and his rebellious cohorts,

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just as Nahum prophesied to the people of Nineveh,

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whatever you plot against the Lord,

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he will bring to an end.

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Affliction will not rise up a second time.

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Nahum 1 verse 9.

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Throughout the history of the universe,

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through Christ's life, death, and resurrection,

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through Pentecost, namely the sending of the Holy Spirit,

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and through so much more,

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God demonstrates the lengths he goes to

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to redeem his children.

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His love is incomprehensible, his patience unfathomable,

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and his justice perfect.

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He invites you to choose him,

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to reject the lies of the enemy,

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and to walk in the truth of his love.

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For in him, and only in him,

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will you find abundant life, purpose, and eternal joy.

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We'll discover why in the next chapter.