Old Man Death Series

Intro:

1. One morning in 1888 Alfred Noble, inventor of dynamite, awoke to read his own obituary. The obituary was printed as a result of a simple journalistic error. You see, it was Alfred’s brother that had died and the reporter carelessly reported the death of the wrong brother.

2. Inspite of the devils lie, Eve was reading her own obituary - dying you shall die!

3. Knowing good and evil brings Death.

Trans:We have seen that this knowledge was Disobedience; now we see it brings forth death as God had promised. 2:17; 3:3b-5

I. FIRST, THERE WOULD BE SPIRITUAL DEATH. 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. - at first glance this seems to be wrong. For they did not appear to die in the day they ate of the fruit. Adam lived on until he was 930 years old!

But he did die - not that day physically but spiritually...Death is separation from God, and spiritual death is spiritual separation from God.

Since that day every person is born spiritually dead, we are born the first time In Adam:

"...For if by the one man’s offense many died..."Romans 5:15 (NKJV)

"17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one...18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation...19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners..." Romans 5:17-19 (NKJV)

"For as in Adam all die..." 1 Corinthians 15:22 (NKJV)

In Oregon’s Malheur National Forest, a fungus spreads through tree roots across 2,200 acres, making it the largest living organism ever found.

Popularly known as the honey mushroom, the Armillaria Ostoyae started from a single microscopic spore. Yet it’s been weaving its black shoestring filaments through the forest for an estimated 2,400 years, killing trees as it grows.

Tina Dreisbach, "When you’re on the ground, you don’t notice the pattern. You just see dead trees in clusters,"

Like this gigantic mushroom, sin began in a single act of disobedience but has spread across the entire human race.

Sauer, "The beginning of mankind has been compared to a sunny morning. Coming out of eternity, time as it were, was holding hapiness in its hands. In the blessedness of Paradise God had untied heaven and earth.

But then came sin. As a tempest, black as night, it broke in devastatingly and drove all this morning splendour out of the history of time. Thenceforth the earth stood under the shadow of death."

Mankind is alive outwardly and physically but inwardly they are dead to God:

"But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead." Matthew 8:22 (NKJV)

"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2:1 (NKJV)

"And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh..." Colossians 2:13 (NKJV)

"But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives." 1 Timothy 5:6

Not matter how rich, famous, or healthy one may be - everything thinking person knows that something is wrong!

Movie director Ron Howard, played Opie on The Andy Griffith Show, and as a teen he starred in television’s Happy Days. When he started directing movies, he had success with positive films like Apollo 13, Parenthood, Splash, Cocoon, Back-draft, and Far and Away.

But then in 1996 he went against the flow by choosing to direct a dark, troubling film called Ransom, starring Mel Gibson. The plot revolves around the efforts of the Mel Gibson character to rescue his kidnapped son.

According to Bernard Weinraub in the New York Times, Ron Howard chose this movie because he could identify with the Gibson character, a winning but flawed man.

Brian Grazer a close friend of Ron said, "Ron seems to be a cheerful, easy-going guy, but inside is a very complex, very competitive person who has darkness and pain. He just doesn’t show it to people. In his face he never shows it. And this movie was a creative way for him to express that. The complexity of the Mel Gibson character intersects with Ron personally. He’s a winning character but flawed. Ron views himself that way. And what appealed to him about the movie is the idea of digging around psychologically into a person that he can relate to."

Ron Howard is honest enough to recognize that despite all his success there is a flaw within, and emptiness inside.

Mankind is alive yet dead! Reminds me of 71 year-old Gloria Wicker. A letter from her bank sent the Clovis, New Mexico woman to the hospital when suffered chest pains. What was in the letter? It said that she had died about a month earlier.