The Problem With Sin
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
3 problems with sin:
We can’t hide our sin
We can’t avoid punishment for our sin
We can’t save ourselves from our sin
I. We Can’t Hide Our Sin (vv. 8-13)
I. We Can’t Hide Our Sin (vv. 8-13)
A. Adam and Eve attempt to hide
In shame, Adam and Eve attempted to hide from each other and from God
In verse 7, Adam and Eve cover themselves, attempting to hide the sin they have committed.
In verse 8, Adam and Eve attempt to hide from the presence of the Lord.
The fact that Adam and Eve attempt to hide themselves proves they were aware what they had deemed ‘good’ did not measure up to what God had said was good.
Just a cursory glance through Scripture lets us know this isn’t a good idea
God is everywhere — the theological term for this is omnipresent
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Watching the evil and the good.
24 “Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord.
And when we are in the presence of God, we are painfully aware of how sinful we are.
5 Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.
God knows everything — the theological term for this is omniscient
23 “But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.
4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” 12 Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.
Have you ever played with a beachball while swimming? Chances are, at some point, you tried to force that ball under the water. This began a delicate balancing act. Using all your strength and concentration, you were able to keep the ball under the water, but sooner or later, that ball was going to come bursting through the surface. It is the same with our sin. We can try to hide it. We can try to make sure no one else knows. We can try to dismiss it. But no matter how careful we are, our sin will always come crashing back into view with drastic effects.
B. A divine interrogation
The Lord God called to the MAN
Why does God call to the man first?
Because God gave the direct command to Adam
Here, the word you is singular, focusing on the personal responsibility of Adam.
How does Adam respond?
Afraid — because of the presence of the Lord
Adam hides in fear because he feels shame at his nakedness
Blame — instead of accepting responsibility for his actions, Adam shifts the blame
Adam first blames God for giving him the woman, then he blames the woman for giving him the fruit.
22 The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”
The Lord God asks the WOMAN
How does Eve respond?
Blame — instead of accepting responsibility for her actions, Eve shifts the blame
Eve blames the serpent
The Lord God said to the SERPENT
How does satan respond?
God does not allow satan to respond, and we will talk about this in a moment.
C. Sin affects everything
3 There is no soundness in my flesh Because of Your anger, Nor any health in my bones Because of my sin. 4 For my iniquities have gone over my head; Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me. 5 My wounds are foul and festering Because of my foolishness. 6 I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. 7 For my loins are full of inflammation, And there is no soundness in my flesh. 8 I am feeble and severely broken; I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.
Where Adam and Eve once enjoyed physical communion with God’s presence, they now flee at His presence. Where Adam and Eve once lived in innocence, they now bear the heavy weight of shame. Where Adam and Eve once lived free of guilt, they now are guilty and must bear the consequences of their sin.
II. We Can’t Avoid Punishment for Our Sin (vv. 14-19)
II. We Can’t Avoid Punishment for Our Sin (vv. 14-19)
A. To understand the punishments, we must first understand that all sin requires punishment because of who God is.
God is perfectly holy, righteous, and just. In Isaiah chapter 6, we get a glimpse into the character of God:
Isaiah 6:1–3 (NASB95)
1 … I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”
The angels cry out, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” The threefold repetition puts this phrase in what we would call the superlative degree, meaning completely set apart. In other words, the angels are crying out Holy, Holier, Holiest.
So, the holiness of God is unlike anything else. Which means our sin against such a holy God bears incredible weight.
Now, you might be thinking, “Ethan, why am I punished for my sin?” Or, maybe you might say, “I understand my sin requires punishment, but why did it have to be so harsh?”
Let’s say you went to a scrap yard. You see a car about to be crushed, pick up a rock, and scratch it. Would anything happen to you? Probably not. Maybe the owner of the lot would ask you what you were doing, but there wouldn’t be any consequences. After all, the car was ready to be scrapped.
Now, let’s say you go to a used car dealership. You see a car with several hundred thousand miles on it, pick up a rock, and scratch that car. Would anything happen to you? Likely yes. The owner would approach you and probably make you pay for the damages. Maybe they would file a police report.
Now, let’s say you go to a Ferrari dealership. You pick up a rock, walk into the show room, and scratch the prized multi-million dollar car on display. What would happen to you? You would probably be tackled to the ground, forced to purchase the car or completely replace it, and be criminally charged. Depending on the situation, you might even face time in jail.
Now, what was the difference between the three scenarios? In each you scratched a car with a rock. So why were there varying degrees of consequences?
Because of the value of the thing which you damaged.
It is the same with our sin. We view our sin as inconsequential, not really that serious. However, we often forget who it is we sin against. By sinning against an infinitely holy God, the consequence of our sin bears infinite weight. In other words, the debt we have incurred is impossible for us to pay off.
B. Three Punishments
As we work through these punishments, it is important for you to recognize that God never curses the man or the woman. The only two things cursed by God are the serpent [satan] and the ground.
satan’s punishment — humiliation and defeat
God does not allow satan to respond. He does not seek an explanation. There is nothing that can be learned. God simply proclaims the judgment.
Cursed
On your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust are not supposed to be taken literally. They are declarations of humiliation and defeat.
Some people think on your belly means that snakes used to have four legs, but now they slither around. It’s possible, but if we take that literally, it means we must also take that a snakes diet will consist of only dust literally. Since this is not the case, we take both to be figurative descriptions of humiliation, subjugation, and defeat. Also, the punishments to both the man and the woman do not change their inherent nature (i.e., the man is still a worker and the woman is still a helper) so we can also assume that curse of the serpent does not change his nature either.
There are several other examples in Scripture which use the same terminology seen here in Genesis 3:
Psalm 72:9 (NASB95)
9 Let the nomads of the desert bow before him, And his enemies lick the dust.
Isaiah 49:23 (NASB95)
23 “Kings will be your guardians, And their princesses your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth And lick the dust of your feet; And you will know that I am the Lord; Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame.
Micah 7:17 (NASB95)
17 They will lick the dust like a serpent, Like reptiles of the earth. They will come trembling out of their fortresses; To the Lord our God they will come in dread And they will be afraid before You.
Hostility between the serpent [satan] and the woman [humanity] … between satan’s offspring and the woman’s offspring [Seed]
The word for seed can be used to describe an individual or group of people. But since the next part of the verse uses the personal-pronoun He and Him, it can be assumed that seed here in this since refers to a specific individual.
v. 15 — “He will strike your head and you will strike His heel.”
This is what we would call the protoevangelium or first-gospel.
satan will attack the seed of the woman, but the blow will only wound. The seed of the woman [Jesus] will deal a fatal death blow to satan.
Even in the midst of God administering punishment, there remains hope of redemption and restoration.
Woman’s punishment:
Painful pregnancy and birth
v. 16 — male domination as a result of the fall
Male headship in the family was not a result of the fall. God’s order of creation for the roles of men and women existed when man was first created. What has changed is that instead of living out these roles in harmony with each other, they will now live out these roles in contention with each other;
Women will desire the head leadership role, men will hold it over their heads in domination.
Man’s punishment:
Because you listened to your wife … instead of the Lord God
The ground is cursed
Work is not a result of the fall. God’s order of creation was that men would work. What changed is that work is now difficult.
You will know the reality of death.
Up until this point, there is no indication that Adam and Eve would have died. Now, God tells Adam that just as he was made from the dust, he will one day return to the dust in death. Therefore, fulfilling God’s promise that if Adam ate of the tree, he would die.
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
Man was designed to work — now it is hard.
Woman was designed as a helper to her husband and to deliver children — now its hard.
A common question is:
How can a loving God send people to hell?
How can a loving God send people to hell?
A better question is:
How can a holy God bring sinful humanity to heaven?
How can a holy God bring sinful humanity to heaven?
C. Sin still requires a punishment — death — but that infinite debt which we could not pay was paid for us.
27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
III. We Can’t Save Ourselves from Our Sin (vv. 20-24)
III. We Can’t Save Ourselves from Our Sin (vv. 20-24)
A. After God’s justice, we still see His love
The fact that Adam names his wife ‘Eve’ in verse 20 tells us this didn’t happen long after day 6.
God personally clothes Adam and Eve.
Why?
22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Blood is shed from the very first sin
All throughout the OT we see the Law constructed so that blood (animal sacrifices) are used to cover sin
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
God banishes Adam and Eve from the garden
How is this an act of love?
Adam and Eve have become ‘like God’ in the sense that they can determine for themselves what is right and what is wrong.
So, God blocks the way to the tree of life.
Can you imagine living in sin, completely separated from God for all of eternity, and never being able to die?
So, God removed access to eternal life in order that He could redeem and restore humanity’s relationship to Him.
We as Christians will have access to the tree of life again in heaven.
20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
1 Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; 4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.