Sin and Consequences
Gen 3:6-10
(6) And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
(7) And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
(8) And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
(9) And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
(10) And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
We all know that every sin has it’s consequences, tonite we are gonna look at the price we pay for every sin we commit.
From the very first sin committed in the Garden of Eden, to the sins we may have committed today.
First we need to look at the price paid by Adam and Eve for their sin, in order to understand how big the price was, you need to understand what God had originally planned for them. When God formed Adam he was put in a beautiful garden, a garden which had every kind of fruit you can imagine, and all the vegetables you could ever eat, and all Adam had to do was tend to the garden and he and Eve would live happily ever after. But, the best benefit of all was that God Himself would come and walk with Adam every evening and have long talks with him. Can you imagine that? Being able to walk and talk with God everyday. But when Adam sinned he lost that privilege.
We all know that we are not supposed to sin, but why? Why is it wrong to sin? Is sin just something that preacher’s come up with to ruin all your fun? Is all sin bad, are there such things as big sins and little sins? Are you supposed to be perfect, are you going to be perfect? What makes it a sin? How do you know if you have sinned? What do you do when you do sin? Sin is not a game, every sin has consequences. Tonight we are going to look at some of the consequences that come from sin.
1. Sin brings shame
Gen 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Sin in a Christian’s life causes shame and it hampers your walk with God, no matter how big or how small, sin is still sin. Remember when you were a child and you were caught doing something wrong, you were ashamed to have to face your parents because you knew you had let them down, well as Christians we should feel the same way when we sin against God. When we sin we bring shame to our Lord, the bible says in the book of Hebrews:
Hebrews 6:6
If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
If you can commit sin and not feel ashamed about it, then I have to question if you are really saved.
2. Sin brings an urge to blame someone else
Gen 3:12-13
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Adam and Eve both sinned but neither one wanted to accept the blame for their own sin. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the snake. And Adam even went as far as to try to blame God for his sin, look at vs 12:
(12) And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
He was basically saying, hey God , if you hadn’t gave me this woman, then I wouldn’t have eaten. How many times have we been caught doing something wrong and the first thing we want to do is blame someone else. We see it our politicians everyday, you look at one of them when they get caught with their hand in the cookie jar. How many of you remember the mayor of Washington D.C. a few years ago, he was videotaped smoking crack with a prostitute in a hotel room, and who did he blame? He blamed the prostitute, the police, he blamed everybody but himself. When we sin we want to blame our parents, our spouses our circumstances, we even want to blame the Devil.
But in reality, we are each responsible for our sins, no one can make you sin, the Bible says in James 1:14 that
every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and when lust has conceived it brings forth sin.
I’m not talking about the occasional stumble, I’m talking about the intentional sins. There are no accidental sins. Adam did not sin by accident, he knew that he was not supposed to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But he gave into temptation and he sinned.
Some sins people may say were accidents:
gossip - gossip is the quickest way to kill a church and a fellow Christian. not only Christians, but sinners also.
lust - pornography - but preacher, I was only looking, I didn’t do anything. Jesus said in
Matthew 5:28 - that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. But preacher, you can’t help but look, God gave you the ability to turn your head, try using that ability!
adultery - cheating - but preacher, we didn’t mean for it to happen. So what you’re saying is you were walking along one day minding your own business, and you tripped and fell into bed with someone you’re not married to? And by the way, if you’re not married to her, keep your hands off of her.
cursing people out - but you say I only curse when I get really mad, well, how long have you been saved? one of the first thing Christ did for me was He cleaned up my language. Everytime you get mad and curse somebody out, what does that do to your testimony?
drinking - I hate to hear people try to justify their drinking by saying “well Jesus drank wine” study your Bible, He drank unfermented grape juice. And also there is no such thing as social drinking, if you believe in social drinking why stop there, why not social adultery, or social murder or social rape?
No there is no accidental sin. But the Devil made me do it. he can’t make you do anything, he can make the offer, but it’s up to you whether or not you accept it. I heard an old island preacher put it like this: the Devil can take you to the edge, but he can’t push you over!!!
3. Worst of all sin brings a separation from God - Gen 3:23-24
(23) Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
(24) So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Isaiah 59:2
(2) But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
But how do you keep from sin?
Psalm 119:11 - Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
When we sin we put a barrier between us and God. Even though you don’t lose you salvation everytime you sin, you become separated from God as long as there is sin in your life. The more you sin, the farther you get from God. And sooner or later you will get so far away from God that you no longer feel His presence in your life.
Have you allowed sin to separate you from God. Have you lost the feeling of His presence. Have you walked away from God? Are you trying to find Him? Are you searching for a way to get rid of the shame and guilt of your sin? The answer is right beside you. He will never leave you, he will never forsake you. He will forgive you.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
