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#4.4 HOW SIN ENTERS into MAN

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Introduction 4.4

We have said that man is not born with a sin nature, so then we must answer the question, "How does man become sinful?" The answer is that the knowledge of evil enters into us after we are born and gives us both the ability and desire to commit sin. The two primary entrances into our spiritual heart are through the ears and through the eyes. These are our main two spiritual mouths. The ears primarily deal with words and sounds, but the eyes allow words and pictures or images to enter, which are then stored away in our heart. As the spiritual heart is the source of our thoughts, words, and deeds, this then enables us to think, speak, and do evil. What we speak also goes back into our heart and our deeds also establish what we do firmly in there. We are creatures of habit whether it is for good or evil. This bible study gives scriptural proof of how sin enters into man.

#4.41 What we hear enters into our heart

JOB 34:2-3 (Elihu)
2 Hear my words, O you wise men; and give ear to me, you that have knowledge.
3 For the ear tests words as the mouth tastes meat.

PROVERBS 1:5 (Solomon)
5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain to wise counsels:

PROVERBS 8:33 (Solomon)
33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and do not refuse it.

PROVERBS 18:15 (Solomon)
15 The heart of the prudent gets knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

PROVERBS 22:17 (Solomon)
17 Bow down your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to knowledge.

PROVERBS 23:12 (Solomon)
12 Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.

PROVERBS 23:19 (Solomon)
19 Hear, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart in the way.

EZEKIEL 3:10
10 Moreover he said to me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.

MATTHEW 13:18-19 (Jesus)
18 Hear therefore the parable of the sower.
19 When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and catches away that which was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.

MARK 4:14-15 (Jesus)
14 The sower sows the word.
15 And these are they by the wayside, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan comes immediately, and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.

LUKE 8:11-12 (Jesus)
11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
12 Those by the wayside are those who hear; then comes the Devil, and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

LUKE 8:15 (Jesus)
15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

ROMANS 10:17 (Paul)
17 Now faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Note: Our ears are one of our spiritual mouths through which we take in spiritual food into our spiritual heart. All of the above scriptures combine to prove this is true. The information in our heart is then used when we make decisions (Proverbs 16:9; Daniel 1:8; Acts 11:23; 2 Corinthians 9:7). So whether we make good decisions or bad decisions depends on what we have learned. Unfortunately, because we live in a world which is full of the knowledge of evil we have all been corrupted to a greater or lesser extent. We have all made bad decisions at times and this causes our sin. Therefore we are admonished by the scripture to be careful what we hear and to shut our ears to evil things.

(Mark 4:24) "Take heed what you hear: with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you:"
(Isaiah 33:15-16) "He who walks righteously, and speaks uprightly; he who despises the gain of oppressions, that shakes his hands from holding of bribes, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure."

#4.42 What we see enters into our heart

DEUTERONOMY 6:6-8
6 And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart.
7 And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
8 And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

DEUTERONOMY 11:18
18 Therefore you shall lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

PROVERBS 4:20-23 (Solomon)
20 My son, attend to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.
23 Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

PROVERBS 23:26 (Solomon)
26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.

Note: In addition to the previous section, our eyes are also one of our spiritual mouths through which we take in spiritual food into our spiritual heart. All of the above scriptures combine to prove this is true. Again information in our heart is then used when we make decisions, so whether we make good decisions or bad decisions depends also on what we have seen. Unfortunately, because we live in a world which is full of evil things happening, which we see, we have all been corrupted to a greater or lesser extent by this also. So we are admonished to keep ourselves from seeing evil.

(Job 31:1) "I made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?"
(Psalm 101:3) "I will set no wicked thing before my eyes: I hate the work of those who turn aside; it shall not cling to me."
(Isaiah 33:15-16) "He who walks righteously, and speaks uprightly; he who despises the gain of oppressions, that shakes his hands from holding of bribes, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil;
He shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure."

#4.43 What we say enters into our heart

DEUTERONOMY 6:6-8
6 And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart.
7 And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

PSALMS 41:5-6 (David)
5 My enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish?
6 And if he comes to see me, he speaks vanity; his heart gathers iniquity to itself; when he goes abroad, he tells it.

PROVERBS 18:20 (Solomon)
20 A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.

PROVERBS 26:24 (Solomon)
24 He who hates lies with his lips, and lays up deceit within him;

Note: As we hear the things we say, and what we hear goes into our heart, it must be obvious that what we say also enters into our heart. Also we often speak about what we see and this goes into our heart also. This is one reason why God wants us to speak only good things (Colossians 4:6; Ephesians 4:29), speak only his word (Josh 1:8; Deuteronomy 6:6-8; Isaiah 58:13; 59:21; Titus 2:1; 1 Peter 4:11), and avoid evil speech (Ephesians 4:29; 5:4; Colossians 3:8).

#4.44 What we do enters into our heart

JOB 34:11 (Elihu)
11 For the work of a man shall he render to him, and cause every man to find according to his ways.

PSALMS 33:13-15
13 Yahweh looks from heaven; he beholds all the sons of men.
14 From the place of his habitation he looks upon all the inhabitants of the earth.
15 He fashions their hearts alike; he considers all their works.

PSALMS 62:10-12 (David)
10 Do not trust in oppression, and do not become vain in robbery: if riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.
11 God has spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongs to God.
12 Also to you, O Lord, belongs mercy: for you render to every man according to his work.

PROVERBS 1:30-31 (Solomon)
30 They would have none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

PROVERBS 6:20-22 (Solomon)
20 My son, keep your father's commandment, and do not forsake the law of your mother:
21 Bind them continually upon your heart, and tie them about your neck.
22 When you go, it shall lead you; when you sleep, it shall keep you; when you awake, it shall talk with you.

PROVERBS 7:1-3 (Solomon)
1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with you.
2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind them upon your fingers; write them upon the tablet of your heart.

PROVERBS 14:14 (Solomon)
14 The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.

ECCLESIASTES 7:2 (Solomon)
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.

ECCLESIASTES 8:11 (Solomon)
11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

JEREMIAH 17:9-10
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
10 I Yahweh search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

JEREMIAH 32:19
19 Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for your eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

HOSEA 7:2
2 And they do not consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face.

Note: These scriptures are very clear, that God repays everyone according to what he does. If a man does good then good will be done to him. If a man chooses to do evil God's response is simple; "If you want evil you can have it, but you will get more than you wanted!" The adulterer who chooses his moments of fleshly pleasure will also get the wrath of a jealous husband if he is caught. The thief who chooses to steal another's property may also get part of his life taken from him if he is caught and locked up for his crime. There are two ways in which God repays us for what we do.

(1) He repays us in our heart with the desire to repeat the good or the evil we have done (Psalm 33:15; Proverbs 14:14; Ecclesiastes 7:2; 8:11).
(2) We will reap similar things being done to us to teach us how pleasant or hurtful our actions are to others (Job 34:11; Jeremiah 32:19). Examples:

(Genesis 9:6) "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God he made man."
(Proverbs 26:27) "Whoever digs a pit shall fall in it: and he who rolls a stone, it will return upon him."

This generally what is known as the law of sowing and reaping (Galatians 6:7-8).

#4.45 God permits it to be put in

PSALMS 33:13-15
13 Yahweh looks from heaven; he beholds all the sons of men.
14 From the place of his habitation he looks upon all the inhabitants of the earth.
15 He fashions their hearts alike; he considers all their works.

PSALMS 62:12 (David)
12 Also to you, O Lord, belongs mercy: for you render to every man according to his work.

JEREMIAH 17:9-10
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
10 I Yahweh search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

JEREMIAH 32:19
19 Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for your eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:

Note: God has given man a free will to choose for himself from the beginning of creation, but he has also warned that if we do wrong there will be consequences. If we choose to do wrong then God often allows us to do it, but our heart will be refashioned accordingly, and his punishment is not always swift.

(Ecclesiastes 8:11) "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil."

God wants us to love and obey him voluntarily - that is where he gets his pleasure - so he is not going to change and make people into robots. If our heart is reshaped with evil desires it is because we have done something to cause it, and God has permitted us to do it.

#4.46 The Devil puts it in

GENESIS 3:1-7
1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made. And he said to the woman, Yes, has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.
4 And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die:
5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit of it, and ate, and gave also to her husband with her; and he ate.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.

JOHN 13:2
2 And supper having started, the Devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;

ACTS 5:3
3 But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

Note: The Devil is "like a roaring lion, walking about seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5:8). He cannot devour anybody; he can only work on those who have given him access to them, like Judas Iscariot (John 13:2) and Ananias (Acts 5:3) and his wife. We give him access to us by allowing him to sow his seed, the knowledge evil, in our hearts. This gives us evil desires, and the Devil will then use them to draw us away into sin.

(James 1:14) "Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed."

Jesus said about the Devil, "The prince of this world comes, and has nothing in me." (John 14:30) This is why all the devil's temptations againt Jesus failed, and if we can become like him and remove all evil desires from our heart, then we can resist the Devil successfully also.

#4.47 Men corrupt or pervert themselves

GENESIS 6:12
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

EXODUS 32:7
7 And Yahweh said to Moses, Go, get yourself down; for your people who you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:

DEUTERONOMY 4:16
16 Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourselves a graven image, the likeness of any figure, the likeness of male or female.

DEUTERONOMY 9:12 (Moses)
12 And Yahweh said to me, Arise, get yourself down quickly from here; for your people who you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made a molten image.

DEUTERONOMY 31:29 (Moses)
29 For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because you will do evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.

DEUTERONOMY 32:5
5 They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.

PSALMS 62:10
10 Do not trust in oppression, and do not become vain in robbery: if riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.

PROVERBS 10:9 (Solomon)
9 He who walks uprightly walks surely: but he who perverts his way shall be known.

PROVERBS 19:3 (Solomon)
3 The foolishness of man perverts his way: and his heart frets against Yahweh.

JEREMIAH 9:5
5 And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongues to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.

HOSEA 9:9
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

1 PETER 1:14
14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance.

JUDE 10
10 But these speak evil of those things which they do not know but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.

Note: These scriptures are fairly clear that there is a degree of responsibility on man for his own corruption. When we grow to the age where we make rational decisions for ourselves, then we can have some control over what we hear and what we see. If we choose to listen to evil words or see evil things then our inner self, 'our old man', becomes corrupt (Ephesians 4:22). This is something we cause ourselves after we are born; we are not born corrupt or evil.

#4.48 Men corrupt or pervert each other

ISAIAH 1:4
4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken Yahweh, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, they have all gone backward.

JEREMIAH 6:28
28 They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.

DANIEL 11:32
32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

Note: People are corruptible beings, both physically and spiritually, and apart from all the references to people corrupting themselves (See #4.47), and those here which show that people corrupt each other, we have others which confirm it, such as, "corruptible man," (Romans 1:23). If we choose bad company then we will hear the wrong things, see the wrong things, and we can end up doing the wrong things. The implications are obvious: man is corrupted by others and himself, after he is born, and is not born with a sinful nature.

#4.49 Sin is learned from others

EXODUS 23:32-33
32 You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their Gods.
33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their Gods, it will surely be a snare to you.

DEUTERONOMY 18:9 9 When you come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.

PSALMS 106:34-36 34 They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom Yahweh commanded them:
35 But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.
36 And served their idols: which were a snare to them.

PROVERBS 22:24-25 (Solomon)
24 Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man you shall not go:
25 Lest you learn his ways, and get a snare to your soul.

JEREMIAH 4:22
22 For my people are foolish, they have not known me; they are silly children, and they have no understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

JEREMIAH 9:4-5
4 Take heed every one of his neighbour, and do not trust in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.
5 And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongues to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.

JEREMIAH 10:2
2 Thus says Yahweh, Do not learn the way of the heathen, and do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

JEREMIAH 32:18-19
18 You show loving-kindness to thousands, and recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the great, the Mighty God, Yahweh of Hosts is his name,
19 Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for your eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:

1 PETER 1:18
18 Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conduct received by tradition from your fathers.

Note: Sin is learned from others as the above scriptures show. If we keep good company we will learn to do well; if we keep bad company we will learn to do evil. One way in which the sins of the fathers is passed down to the children is because they learn from them (1 Peter 1:18). It is better therefore when you learn this, to find and keep the best company that you can.

(Proverbs 13:10) "He who walks with wise men will be wise, but a companion of fools will be destroyed."

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