Are You Upright

 
ADAM was once upright; God made him so He listened to the voice of Satan, disobeyed God, and lost his uprightness. What did he do then? He became an inventor. He was obedient before, and gave names to every living creature which God brought to him, and whatsoever Adam called them that was the name thereof. But when he sinned, and God called, saying, Adam, where art thou? he hid behind the trees of the garden; why? because he was not upright. Why do people try to get away from the truth faithfully spoken now? Why do they fear death, hell, and judgment? Because they are not upright? They may be upright before their fellow-men, but are not so before God; for it is written, “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:44Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4).)
What did Adam do when he lost his uprightness through sin? He began to invent. “God made man upright, but he hath found out many inventions.” (Ecclesiastes 7:2929Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions. (Ecclesiastes 7:29).) What was the first invention? A religious invention. “They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons to cover the nakedness that sin had discovered to them.” (Genesis 3.) The second was also a religious invention: “Cain brought also of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.” (Gen. 4:33And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. (Genesis 4:3).) After this, we find civil inventions building of cities, working in metals handling musical instruments, &c.; and so, from that day to this, man, as a fallen creature, becalm he is not upright, has been an inventor, and lifted up against God, instead of being bowed down before God, and taking the place of a self-condemned sinner, and receiving salvation through Christ as God’s free gift.
But how can man be just with God? The answer is, not by inventing, or doing, but “the just shall live by his faith.” There is life and salvation only through the death and resurrection of the Son of God, and that to everyone that believeth. It is written in God’s word, that “by Christ all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” (Acts 13:3939And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:39).) When a man knows that God has forgiven his sins, justify him by the blood of Christ, and bids him in at peace, nay, to rejoice before Him, then it that his soul is upright before God, he will be able to walk godly, soberly, and righteously, in this present world, and love Christ’s appearing.