"Sin, What’s the Big Deal?"
Part 2 of 7
Text: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-10 & Selected
Cross Creek Community Church
June 25, 2000
Pastor Dave Martin
God’s Word is Powerful, Relevant, and Up to Date!
Genesis 2:15-17 "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. (Physically & Spiritually)"
The book of Genesis -- is the book of beginnings.
We see the creation of the universe, the first marriage, the first birth, the first death, and the first person not to die, the first murder, the first lie, and we see the first sin -- disobedience. The book of beginning’s.
The book of Genesis sets the scene for the whole Bible. God the all-powerful creator of the universe.
The creation of man, not as a robot with no ability to choose -- but as a free responsible moral being.
This morning were going to look at "Sin, what’s the big deal?"
I. BACKGROUND
God’s pronouncement of creation being very good:
Man, as God’s representative was to rule the earth. Gen. 1:28
Genesis 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
God tells us in his Word, that he created everything -- even time, space, and matter.
The first day he created energy, light, matter, and water.
The second day he created the atmospheres.
The third day he created land and plant life.
The fourth day God created the sun, moon, and the stars.
The fifth day God created the fish and the birds.
The Six-Day got created insects, domestic animals, the wild animals, and man.
In verse 31 of chapter, 1 God said he saw all that he made, and it was very good.
All of God’s creation was living in harmony. Gen. 1:29-31; 2:8-14
Genesis 1:29-31 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day.
God then tells us he planted a garden, called Eden.
Genesis 2:8-10 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.
Meanwhile, up in heaven something else was happening.
The Bible tells us that Satan was an anointed cherub who guarded the throne of God.
Satan was created; he was beautiful, full of wisdom, the model of perfection. Ezek. 28: 12 -- 17
Satan lifted up in pride falls into sin:
Isaiah 14:12-14 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. 14I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."
Satan rebels in heaven and is cast to earth. Is. 14:12-14, Ez. 28:12-17, Rev 12:4
Now we pick up the story in the beautiful Garden of Eden, or Satan appears.
Genesis 3:1-10 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, ’You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?"
2The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3but God did say, ’You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ "
4"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" 10He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
The intimate fellowship with God was broken
II. THE HUMAN RACE FALLS INTO SIN
Our downward slide into sin usually begins when: Gen. 3:1-10
Satan usually works through these three steps ¡V saw, covet, took
We find this example throughout the Word of God.
1. Sin begins to look ATTRACTIVE. Gen. 3:6 (Saw)
Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
* Sin always looks appealing, we usually desire what is prohibited.
* Look at verse 6, note three things -- good for food, please seen to the eye, desirable for knowledge.
* Sin often times come into our lives through our eye gate.
Matthew 5:28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
* Sin always looks desirable -- Moses talked of the pleasures of sin for a season. Vanity.
* Sit always appeals to the senses ¡V if it feels good do it. Beware of the snare of attractiveness.
Hebrews 11:25 He (Moses) chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.
2. We start QUESTIONING God. Gen. 3:1 (Covet)
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, ’You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?"
* Satan is a liar, he abides not in the truth, and he is the Father of lies.
* He will always cast doubt over God, his character, his Word.
* Satan often brings temptation in the form of a disguise -- he’s crafty, deceitful, and malicious.
* Satan will use ignorance of God’s Word -- how did Christ respond to his temptation with Satan?
* How could be coming like God be bad?
* How could anything that looks so good or maybe smelled so pleasant be bad?
* When we start questioning God, watch out -- it’s a great tool of our enemy.
* She saw -- she coveted -- not she took
3. We make the wrong CHOICES. Gen. 3:6 (Took)
Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
* Through conscious moral decisions, we make choices in life. We are not robots but free moral agents.
* Eve made the wrong choice she did what she was forbidden to do.
* Decision determines direction, direction determines destiny.
* Our decisions can be badly flawed. What we are today is an accumulation of choices we have made in the past. Made up of right or wrong choices.
* Eve was deceived, Adam ate willingly ¡V WRONG CHOICE!
* She saw, she coveted, she took, then she gave -- Sin always spreads, it’s like a cancer, a plague, a little leaven. Sin always affects others.
* Sin of an individual in this church; will affect the whole church. Sin spreads. Always destructive.
III. CONSEQUENCES OF SIN
The far reaching ramifications of sin: Gen. 3:10
Genesis 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Genesis 3:10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
* All of nature itself was devastated because of the fall into sin and God placed judgment upon:
* V14 Serpent ¡V Cursed above all creatures, belly you will crawl / eat dust.
* V15 Satan ¡V Satan will bruise Christ’s heel BUT Christ will crust Satan’s head.
* V16 Eve ¡V Pains in child-bearing / husband will rule over you.
* V17-19 Adam ¡V Sweat of his brow in labor for survival, hard toiling
* V17-18 Ground ¡V Cursed, thorns and thistles will grow.
1. Produces a sense of GUILT. (Heard)
* Lost their innocence and they knew it -- they were aware of their nakedness, produced shame & guilt.
* When we sin, we have a sense of guilt, which the Holy Spirit produces as he convicts us of our sin.
* David cried out, "my sin is ever before me". Adam and Eve heard God and they felt guilty and ashamed.
* Sin bring shame, fear, misery, disorder into our lives -- innocence is lost and produces a guilty conscience.
2. Brings attempts to CONCEAL our sin. (Afraid)
* They were afraid and they attempted to cover up their nakedness -- even though it was futile.
* Sin always blinds us to truth; we always attempt to cover up our sins.
* We want to attempt to save credit with men rather than obtain pardon from God.
* We often don’t want to deal with our sin, out of sight of mind. Keeps it quiet, keep it hid.
* Go to a church with "itching ears". Surround yourself with friends with sin, to help justify yourself.
* To conceal our sin is vain and frivolous -- God says, "our sins will find us out".
3. Imparts a desire to AVOID God. (Hide)
* Sin always brings a desire to hide from God, to avoid him and his people or his church.
* God came asking, where are you? The answer was we heard you, were afraid, and so we hid.
* When we dabble in sin, it keeps us from God. Jonah tried a runaway and hide but he couldn’t.
* David said, If I ascend into the heavens you are there to make my bed in hell you are there.
* People spend a lifetime on earth trying to avoid God, but someday will be face to face with him.
4. Brings forth DEATH. (Penalty) The Bible speaks of two deaths.
* Physical
* 2:17 "You will surely die"
* 5:6 "Altogether Adam lived 930 years, then he died" (Tradition says he had 33 sons + 27 daughters)
* Spiritual
Revelation 21:8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars-- their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
* Sounds like a pretty big deal to me.
* Our eternal destiny hangs in the balance of my choices made while I still have breath.
IV. GOD’S REMEDY FOR SIN
REALIZE: We are all sinners, alienated from God.
Romans 5:12 "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned¡X"
* Sin begins with our attitudes and our thoughts, the Bible says we all have sinned.
* There is only one way to break the shackles of sin. A person - His name is Jesus -- the living Son of God.
* There are no seemingly insignificant or little sins ¡V all bad and destructive.
James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
REALIZE: God loves you with an everlasting love.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
* There is no sin to great for God to forgive. He loves us with an everlasting love. Jer. 31:3
* God loved us while we were yet sinners and died for us. Rom 5:8
REALIZE: Jesus is the ONLY way.
John 14:6 "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
* Not a way amoung many, not a religion ¡V BUT the way, a person ¡V Jesus, the Son of God!
For a complete formatted version of this message and others, go to www.crosscreekcc.org
BELIEVE & RECEIVE: Gift of forgiveness & Eternal Life
Romans 10:9 "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
„h A gift needs to be received. ¡V reach out and take hold of eternal life and forgiveness of sin.
„h He wants to restore our personal intimate relationship to Himself
Hebrews 9:22 ". Everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness".
Leviticus 17:11 "¡K it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul".
Genesis 3:21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
„h God has done absolutely everything he could, to provide for your salvation.
„h Here we see garments of skin made for Adam and Eve to clothed them (blood shed) -- we need to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, the precious blood that He shed for our sin.
„h The sacrifice was God’s only Son upon the cross of Calvary. The Lamb of God ¡V Jesus
„h Jesus death, burial, and resurrection. We serve a living and soon coming again savior!
„h
„h I invite you this morning to accept and receive Jesus as your Lord, as your savior, as your King.
„h Sin, what’s the big deal -- the big deal is it took the Son of God to leave heaven and die for us.
„h God took the initiative; God is long-suffering not willing that any should perish, but all to be saved.
„h
„h Today we looked at Adam and Eve and their fall into sin, which thrust us into sin also.
„h Over the next few weeks we’re going to look at just how sin affects our lives and how to walk victorious.
John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
