The Consequences Of Sin Series

The Consequences of Sin

Genesis 3:16-19

Rev. Brian Bill

March 18-19, 2023

When Keith Stonehouse received a flurry of orders from Grubhub, it didn’t take him long to realize what had happened. Stonehouse had allowed his six-year-old son Mason to play on his phone before bed. Mason rewarded his kindness by ordering a whole lot of food. “Why did you do this?” asked Stonehouse to Mason, who hid under his comforter. Mason replied, “I don’t know. I was hungry.” Mason proceeded to interrupt his father’s lecture mid-sentence when he said, “Dad, stop. When are the pepperoni pizzas coming?”

Thankfully, the $439 pizza order was canceled by his bank for appearing fraudulent. However, more than $1,000 worth of food was successfully ordered and delivered, creating a very full refrigerator and emergency offers to friends and neighbors to share the unforeseen bounty. Stonehouse remarked, “I had to keep stepping out of [his] room and calming myself down. You want to yell at your son, but he’s only six.”

The next day, Stonehouse and his wife sat down with Mason and explained the gravity of his actions. To teach him a lesson, Mason had to use $150 from his piggy bank to help pay for all the hot dogs, cheese fries, hot wings, and burgers which showed up at their front door. The father reflected, “We showed him one-by-one [what he did]. He was a little devastated, but he understood [the consequences].”

As we continue in our “Back to the Beginning” series from Genesis, we’re going to see how God the Father enforced some severe consequences on his children because they ate the wrong grub.

Pastor Kyle did a super job last weekend explaining the “Gospel According to Genesis” by pointing out how God’s plan of salvation has been in place from the very beginning. The serpent was the first to experience consequences and was cursed by God. He would later be crushed by the bruised heel of Jesus through His crucifixion and resurrection.

BTW, thanks to Dave Bennett, our tech director, and Pastor Chad, we are now posting brief sermon snippets on the Edgewood Facebook page. Check out this week’s video to hear Pastor Kyle trace the seed of Eve’s offspring through every book of the Bible. I love how you applauded this reading! That document is also available on Sermon Extras, as a PDF on Facebook, and there are printed copies at the Welcome Center.

Have you ever wondered why life is so hard? Why do relationships have to be so difficult? Why do you feel unfulfilled at work? Why is your marriage a mess? Why is parenting so challenging? Where does your rage come from? Why do you feel so restless and rebellious? Why is it hard to read your Bible? Why are you so self-centered? Why do you feel discouraged? Why are there so many natural disasters? Why is there so much conflict in the world? Why does life feel so unsettled? Why do you feel so alone? Why are so many people dying?

Life is not what it should be. When you see all that is wrong, be reminded of how sin has affected and infected everything and everyone. Write this down. The curse of Adam’s sin brings suffering to everyone.

The source of our problems can ultimately be traced back to the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin. These consequences were designed to help the first couple see the horror and hideousness of their unholy behavior. It’s no small thing to sin against a holy God.

Our passage today is found in Genesis 3:16-19: “To the woman He said, ‘I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.’ And to Adam He said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

The Woman’s Consequences

Just as the serpent was given two consequences, Adam and Eve were each given two penalties which strike at the heart of who they are and what they’re called to do. God didn’t curse them directly, as He did the serpent, but He did impose sentences on them that have affected every human being since then. We’ll see consequences related to love in verse 16 and consequences related to labor in verses 17-19.