Our: Our Sins Separate us From God
Notes
Transcript
Last week we looked the letter “G” in our acrostic…God created us to be with Him.
G-God Created us to be with Him
O-Our Sins Separate us from God
S-Sins Cannot be Removed by Good Deeds
P-Paying the Price for Sin Jesus Died and Rose Again
E-Everyone who Trusts in Jesus Alone has Eternal and Life
L-Life, Abundant and Eternal Can be Yours Today
Today we want to look at the letter “O” which stands for...
Our Sins Separate us From God
Our Sins Separate us From God
Let’s remind ourselves that God had placed Adam and Eve in a “patch” of paradise in God’s perfect world. After they sinned they were “kicked out” of the Garden and they were cut off from His presence to a degree.
The question we want to try to answer today is this: WHY?
Why do Our Sins Separate us from God?
Why do Our Sins Separate us from God?
Notice God’s instructions and warning from Genesis 2:15-17
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 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.”
One reason our sins separate us from God is
Because it Breaks God’s Commands
Because it Breaks God’s Commands
God had given them CLEAR instructions about what He expected from them. God had given them everything they needed, He had placed them in a perfect paradise…and out of the dozens of choices they had He only put limits on ONE.
Someone said:
“Love that is true must be tested…Adam and Eve’s love was tested once in the garden and that’s all it took for them to fail the test.
Notice what happened
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Tony Evans says this about God’s command:
The Tony Evans Study Bible Chapter 2
God gave Adam a tremendous amount of freedom, allowing him to enjoy whatever God provided. But biblical freedom has healthy limits. When we misuse that freedom, the consequences are severe. Just as the rules in a football game help the players and fans enjoy the game, boundaries in our spiritual walk help us live the way God intended. Ignoring God’s boundaries always ends in death.
Although they had CLEAR instructions from their loving and benevolent CREATOR they still chose to rebel and break the only command He had given them.
The sin nature, which was born in Adam and Eve that day, has been passed down to all their descendants (except the Last Adam because His Father was God), and we too BREAK GOD’S COMMANDS!
Listen to the words Paul penned in Romans 3:10-19 about humanity...
As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
“Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
“Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Destruction and misery are in their ways;
And the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Adam and Eve failed the test and we have as well!
Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”
Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
We’ve failed that test over and over and over again!
Another reason our sins separate us from God is
Because Sin Attacks God’s Character
Because Sin Attacks God’s Character
Notice again the deceitful tactic Satan uses when speaking to Eve in Genesis 3:5
For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
He basically accused God of withholding something “good” from Eve. He suggested having “her eyes opened” would allow her to see that God had more but because He wasn’t the “good God” He had portrayed Himself to be, He was “holding her back,” or that He was holding out on them.
Satan directly attacked God’s character!
Max Anders put it this way:
In this verse the Evil One questioned the goodness of God… Satan had already hinted that God must not be good if he had restricted mankind in any way.
The serpent was not totally lying...They would gain an insight that they did not presently have, but what the Evil One didn’t explain was that this insight would come at a high price...God’s true motives and actions were in the interest of man, but Satan implied it was God’s welfare at man’s expense.
Not only do we sin because we have a sin nature, but we sin because we are convinced that in doing so we will have something better than what God is offering.
We lie because we believe doing so is better than God’s command to be honest.
We steal or become jealous because we are not content with the blessings God has sent our way.
Do you remember the passage of Scripture in Genesis when Joseph found himself in Potiphar’s house and the Bible said that Potiphar’s wife was making sexual propositions to him day, after day, after day.
Joseph was a young man with raging hormones just like anyone else. But Joseph understood that giving into this temptation would not only be a sin against Potiphar, more importantly he realized this sin would be against God almighty and an attack on His character.
Notices Genesis 39:9
Genesis 39:9 (NKJV)
There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
After King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband murdered he confesses his sin in Psalm 51. Notice what he says in Psalm 51:3-4
For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.
A third reason why sin separates us from God is
Because it Misses the Mark
Because it Misses the Mark
Paul put it this way in Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
In other words we all FALL SHORT of meeting God’s standard...
The Tony Evans Study Bible Chapter 3
If two men are running to catch a plane, and one man is an hour late, while the other is one minute late, both men miss the flight! It doesn’t matter if you are “better” than your neighbor. Your neighbor is not the standard. God is the standard, and we all fall short.
Not only does our sin separate us from God but...
Our Sin Separates us From Who we Were Created to Be
Our Sin Separates us From Who we Were Created to Be
It Kills us Spiritually
It Kills us Spiritually
God didn’t create Adam and Eve to die. He created them to LIVE! But he warned them...
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 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.”
Over and over and over again you read these words in Genesis 5...
So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.
So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.
So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died.
So all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died.
So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.
So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died.
So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.
So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.
Unless Jesus comes back first, one day some of you will read the same words about ME!
Because of sin, our bodies begin to die physically, and one day that disease of sin will finally take it’s toll on all of our bodies and our souls will be SEPARATED. That’s exactly what death is...
Death is a type of separation. It separates the soul from the body, but it also separates the soul from God!
Paul put it this way in...
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
Even though the Ephesians were physically alive before the embraced Christ as their Lord and Savior, they were spiritually dead! They were DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND IN SINS.
Do you know how Eskimos used to kill a wolf? They take seal blood and put it in a bucket, and then dip a knife into that bucket. After this they put the knife outside to freeze. They then take the knife and stick it into the seal blood again and place it back outside to freeze. They do this about 5 times until a thick frozen coat of seal blood is around the knife. After there is a coat of blood, they stick the knife into the ground, with the blade up, and watch. A wolf smells the blood and comes to eat a seal but finds this little frozen seal popsicle! They lick it over and over and over until it numbs their tongue, and when they get through the blood and hit the knife, they will not feel it until it is too late. They bleed to death and die. Total Depravity is like that in that we will always choose what will kill us, sin! That is, unless God intervenes and changes the desires of our hearts!
Sin also
Destroys our Innocence
Destroys our Innocence
Remember what happened in...
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Before sin they never knew shame.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
What happened?! Sin caused a loss of innocence and a sense of guilt.
It Forces us to Hide From our Ultimate Source of Joy
It Forces us to Hide From our Ultimate Source of Joy
Notice
And they heard the sound 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 among the trees of the garden.
Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
They had never hidden from God before. They walked with God. Talked with God. Fellowshipped with God. But sin has caused a lack of desire of fellowship with God!
Now when their eyes are opened they realized that Satan had sold them a bill of goods, and rather than running TO their Creator they ran FROM their Creator.
As Tony Evans put it:
The Tony Evans Study Bible Chapter 3
The spiritual relationship that nourished them and should have brought them their greatest joy had become a terror to them
Our Sins Separate Us from Each Other
Our Sins Separate Us from Each Other
They developed an attitude of self-defense. Notice what happens to the PERFECT UNION that Adam and Eve enjoyed...
So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
EVERY relationship problem can be traced back to the Fall
EVERY marriage problem can be traced back to the Fall
EVERY friendship problem can be traced back to the Fall
EVERY church split can be traced back to the Fall
EVERY parent-child relationship problem can be traced back to the FALL
Adam basically said, “I only took what she gave me.” He even hints that maybe God is responsible, because after all “it is the woman who YOU gave me!”
Adam’s flimsy excuse doesn’t hold up! He is responsible for his choices, just as she was responsible for hers. Sin was his deliberate choice.
SIN DESTROYS RELATIONSHIPS...
I know I’ve painted a bleak picture today…But this is not the end of the story...
THANK GOD FOR THE CROSS
THANK GOD FOR THE CROSS
And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
As we close today I want you to think about a couple of verses from the book of Hebrews. We’ve learned that OUR SINS SEPARATE us from God, but we can’t leave today without know that God has also made a way to be reconciled to Him
He DESTROYED the DEATH we owed Him, but allowing Jesus Christ to pay the DEBT we owed and offers to us His righteousness in place of our sinfulness!
Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
DEATH was defeated when Christ died and rose again. A payment has been made that has YOUR name on it…The payment He made was SUFFICIENT for YOU, but it’s only EFFICIENT when you realize YOUR sinfulness and cry out to God in faith and ask Him to be merciful to YOU a sinner!
SALVATION
REDEDICATION
BAPTISM
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP
COLLEGE STUDENT
-Meal on me!