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The Effect of Sin-Part 2

Wayne Galloway
05/12/19 - Sunday Evening Worship

Series: The Effects of Sin

2The Effects of Sin

The Effects of Sin (2)

Gen. 3:1-7

 

Introduction:

 

1. What is described in this text is so radical that it changed the entire course of human existence.

2.  The disobedience of Adam and Eve brought death into the world.  They died spiritually the moment they sinned.  They began to die physically that very day.  And they would die eternally unless they accepted the provision that God would make for their salvation.

3.  They had created a desperate situation that they could not reverse.

4.  The effects of this sin are far-reaching.  They touch every human being.  But what are these effects?  And how do they affect me?

 

Discussion:

 

I.  Death is the effect of sin.

 

    A.  God said, “From the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, you shall not

          eat from it, or touch it, or you will die.”

          1.  When Adam and Eve ate this fruit they began to die physically.

          2.  Although Adam lived 930 years, he died (Gen. 5:5).

          3.  Even though he perpetuated physical life through his descendants, they died too.

               This fact is made abundantly clear in Gen. 5:  “Adam became the father . . . and he

               died,” etc.

          4.  Every cemetery, funeral home, crematory, and headstone is a witness to the effect

               of sin.  Every hospital, every doctor, every pain, every sickness and every gray hair is

               a witness to the deterioration associated with physical death.

     B.  Spiritual death was part of the effect of sin.

           1.  It is defined for us in Isa. 59:2:  Isaiah said, “Your iniquities have made a separation

                between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He

                does not hear.”

           2.  This separation is recognized in Gen. 3:7-11.

           3.  Like Adam and Eve, and like the people of Isaiah’s day, our sin affects us with

                spiritual death or separation from God.

                a.  Eph. 2:1ff:  “You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly

                     walked according to the course of this world . . . we too lived in the lusts of our

                     flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature

                     children of wrath.”

                b.  The universality of this death is evident in Paul’s statement in Rom. 3:23:  “All

                     have sinned and fall short (present tense ~ “are falling short”) of the glory of

                     God.”

       C.  Without the intervention of God, eternal death is the consequence.

             1.  Jesus in Matt. 25:41 says to some, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the

                     eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.”  Verse 46

                     adds, “These will go away into eternal punishment.”

                2.  Rev. 21:8 speaks of those whose part “will be in the lake that burns with fire and

                     brimstone, which is the second death.”  20:14-15 says, “Death and Hades were

                     thrown into the lake of fire.  This is the second death, the lake of fire.  And if

                     anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the

                     lake of fire.”

            D.  These are all the natural results of sin.

                  1.  They are not the result of a capricious God who delights in the punishment of

                       His victims.

                  2.  These are effects of Adam’s sin, who opened the gate and allowed sin to

                       enter into the world (Rom. 5:12).  Much like an infection, the effect of sin spread

                       to all men.  Adam’s sin affected not only himself but also all his offspring.  All of

                       us are born outside the Garden of Eden.  (We will devote special attention to

                       the effect of Adam’s sin on all of us in later lessons.)

 

II.  Relational effects of sin evidenced in Gen. 3.

 

     A.  Relationship with God (3:7-11).

           1.  Realization of shame (8-11).

           2.  Fear (10).

           3.  Guilt.  Rom. 5:15 describes Adam sin as “transgression.”  Verse 16 says it resulted

                in condemnation.  These are legal terms identifying Adam as guilty of transgression

                and therefore under the condemnation of the judgment of death. “For the wages of

                sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).

     B.  Relationship with one another.

           1.  Shame (7).  Cf. 2:25.

           2.  Blaming (12).

           3.  Pain in childbirth, desire for husband, he will rule over you (16).

           4.  Gen. 4:1-8 describes Cain and Abel’s relationship that was disrupted by sin.

     C.  Relationship with the creation.

           1.  Curse upon the ground (17-19).

           2.  Some say work is this curse, but man was to subdue and rule over the earth before

                and he was to cultivate the ground and keep the garden of Eden (2:5, 15).

           3.  He must work to survive now.  He must work to feed himself.

           4.  Rom. 8:18ff suggests the whole creation is effected by sin.

 

Conclusion:

 

1.  There are many questions raised by Gen. 3. 

2.  Some of these are:

     a.  Just how extensively does Adam’s sin affect us?

     b.  Are his descendants so effected that they are judged guilty and condemned as a result

          of his sin?

     c.  Some hold to the doctrine that we actually inherit judicial effects of Adam’s sin (“original

             sin”) and so believe that all Adam’s descendants are treated as guilty.  Is this true?

        d.  Some speak of Adam’s descendants being “totally depraved.”  What does that

             mean?  Does it mean that the effects of sin are in some way transferred genetically? 

             My dad used to refer to “bad blood,” as he spoke of children’s undesirable

             behaviors, implying that their genetics had something to do with it.  (I think he did not

             think my behavior as too bad!)

     3.  These are very real questions.  What does the Bible say?