The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Brooke K. during the 2008-2009 League.
Mission: Research - Nature of Man
"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.'" So man was created without sin and was put in a beautiful garden where they could eat any tree out of the garden except of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. But with a bit of temptation man disobeyed God and he was cast from the garden. Before long, the sin of Adam and Eve that was passed on to all mankind was a rampant. Genesis 6:6 says, "The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain."
Not only does our sin grieve God, but it places a chasm between Him and us. Isaiah 52:2 says, "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear." Because man sinned, he could not be with God because God is holy and man is sinful. In addition to separation from God, the physical body dies. In the Old Testament God prescribed through the Law the sacrifice of animals in exchange for human life. The Law requires the blood to cleanse because without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Romans 6:23a says, "For the wages of sin is death."
Whether we like it or not, we all will die and afterwards we will be judged by the one and only, all knowing, divine, eternally powerful, just God. Jeremiah 17: 10 says, "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve." We all will be judged, it is then that we will get what we deserve – good or bad. But nothing good lives in us, just sinful nature; we do not have the ability to be good. God's wrath against godlessness and wickedness will be unleashed, since He has made obvious Himself: we have no excuse. Mankind is wicked. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves better.
So in truth, we should die, but Romans 6:23 continues to say, "…but the gift of God is eternal life." Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." While we were still filthy and sinful and still committing crimes against God, He sent his one and only Son to redeem - to buy back - a corrupt people. We cannot be saved except through God, our Maker, who knows all our flaws.
Ephesians 2:4-5 says, "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved." Though we are alive in Christ we are still prone to sin, yet God still uses us to do his will. We need to live by the Spirit because if we do we will not conform to our sin nature. What the sin nature wants and what the Spirit wants are opposite. Through the Spirit we are remade into the likeness of God which was lost in the Garden of Eden.
