“Ignorance never settled an argument.”

There is a question many people search to settle. That question is, “Who am I?”  Geneological research is a very popular pastime.  Much time and money is spent trying to find more information about ancestors.  Through studying ancestors, descendants come to understand themselves better.
 
The search for identity is not new.  Ancient men asked the question, “Who am I?”  Job,  a man whose life story is related in the Bible, asked, “What is man that You should magnify him?” (Job 7:17).  David, a king of Israel asked, “What is man that You are mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:4).  This lesson will direct you to the Bible—the only valid source--to find that answer.  Please turn, now,  and read Genesis 2:7-17.

1.  I Am a Created Being (Genesis 2:7).
 
“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
 
This statement is in conflict with many theories prevalent in society today.  Many want us to believe that we are the result of chance.  They want us to believe that we evolved from lower forms of life and that we are the highest possible form of the evolutionary chain.  This theory of evolution is an effort to remove God from the picture of life.  The philosophy of humanism installs each individual as the god of himself.  These two ideas together are a deadly combination.  
 
And yet, a person can counter this by appealing to the Bible and by thinking logically.  It is much more difficult to believe that all things came into existence by chance.  Creation through a designer is not only easier it is more scientifically consistent.  Even the ancients knew God existed even though they turned away from that knowledge (Romans 1:21).  We can place our faith firmly on the truth that is recorded, “. . . in Him we live and move and have our being. . .” (Acts 17:28).
 
2.  I Am a Conscious Being (Genesis 2:17).
 
“but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
 
When God created mankind, He put him in the Garden of Eden.  He was given the privilege of eating from every tree in the garden, with the single exception of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  He had the choice of eating from this tree and dying, or abstaining and living.  We know that he, of his own free will, chose to eat.  Genesis 3 records the consequences.
 
Man is still free to choose between good and evil.  He has a will of his own.  Computers illustrate this point well.  They can do many wonderful things, but only according to their programming.  We have free will.  We must and will choose between good and evil.  We cannot avoid this choice.  A failure to choose is a choice not to choose the good.
 
3.  I Am a Controlled Being (Genesis 2:17).
 
Once a person makes a choice between good and evil, he is controlled by that object of his devotion until he changes his choice.  Adam chose to sin.  That choice controlled and ruined his life and affected every life since that time. 
 
When a person realizes that he is controlled by his choices, he must be very careful in choosing his direction.  There is deception in some choices.  The wise writer of Proverbs wrote, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 16:25).

4.  I Am a Convicted Being (Genesis 2:17).
 
Adam was told of the consequences to sinning (Genesis 2:16-17).  He would die spiritually—he would be separated from God.
 
Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”

He also began his physical decline toward death.
 
Romans 5:12  “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin; and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”
 
And, all people have sinned as did Adam.
 
Romans 3:23  “For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.”
 
We are not born in sin.  We sin by our own choice.
 
James 1:13-15 “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God: for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone: but each one is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own desires, and enticed.  Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
 
We have seen that we need not be confused about our identity.  God created man and placed him upon the earth.  He was made a conscious being, able to make choices.  Even now, our choice of good or evil controls us.  We sin of our own free will and stand convicted of our sins. 

— Mike Johnson