A Consequential Bite
Notes
Transcript
Sir Isaac Newton was one of the brightest minds of human history. He was credited with the discovery of the law of gravity and motion. He helped explain reality as we know it. It is said that Newton loved animals and his best friend was a little Pomeranian dog named “Diamond.” Diamond would sit by Newton’s side as he worked.
Legend says that one evening Isaac Newton was working feverishly away by candlelight, into the long hours of the night, on his study and research. He was stove up into his laboratory and the longer he wrote the shorter his candle got.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. When Newton left the room to answer the door, diamond, eager to follow her master, sprang up to go be with Newton. And as she ran to be with her owner, she bumped the desk, knocking the the candle over and igniting all of Isaac Newton’s hard work. In one moment, thousands of hours of work was reduced to a pile of ashes. With just one mistake, an entire year of intellectual life and research was lost.
When Newton came back into his study to observe what was left of his work, his heart was broken beyond repair. He sat down, put his face in his hands and wept. Gently stroking Diamond, He said, “You will never, never know what you have done.”
When Isaac Newton came
This is the same reality that we find in with the fall of man
Genesis 3:1-
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 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.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Adam and Eve knew to a degree that their mistake was wrong because they reacted when they heard God approaching:
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
Genesis 3:8-
When
They knew what they had done was wrong because now they knew the difference between right and wrong
But, just like Diamond, they did not understand the magnitude of their mistake.
Let me show you the immediate consequences of their mistake and how it effects us today:
The Consequential Result of Sin
The Consequential Result of Sin
Anatomical
Anatomical
Their mistake affected the body:
16 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.”
Genesis 3:16
The pain of child-birth, AIDS, Cancer, disease, the flu, all sicknesses, and all bodily injury find their beginning in Adam’s mistake
Psychological
Psychological
Their mistake affected the mind:
7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Genesis 3:
Schizophrenia, Bi-polar disorder, dyslexia, ADHD, depression, miscommunication, and all forms of psychological issue find their root in Adam’s mistake
Sociological
Sociological
Their mistake affected relationships:
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Genesis 3:
16 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.”
Genesis 3:
Crushed and dissolved friendships, failed marriages, and all relational strife finds its origin in Adam’s mistake
Cosmological
Cosmological
Their mistake affected the planet
17 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;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 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.”
Every natural disaster and problem with the natural processes of our planet find their beginning with Adam’s mistake
Genesis 3:17-
Zoological
Zoological
Their mistake affected the animal kingdom
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
Genesis 3:14-
21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
Genesis
All extinct animals, endangered species, and all conflict between man and beast arise from Adam’s mistake.
Theological
Theological
Genesis 3:22-
Their mistake affected relations with God
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
And here is where I want to focus most of our attention tonight.
Because with just one bite, Adam cast all of mankind - every individual that would live in human history - into the throws of judgment and damnation.
In just one instant, all of mankind was killed and declared dead.
“You will never, never know what you have done.”
Adam and Eve did not fully understand the magnitude or reality of their sin
And we, today, struggle to understand the magnitude and reality of our sin
Very few of people have a problem admitting that we are sinful people
If you ask people by show of hands who is perfect, rarely will anyone raise their hand
People don’t mind admitting that they are sinful, but when it comes to investigating just how sinful and black our hearts really are, few of us actually take up the quest.
And though we say we aren’t perfect, we generally get upset when people treat us as if we are imperfect.
For example, if you ask anyone if they believe they are sinful, they will typically have no problem saying that they are.
But as soon as you start pointing out sin in their life - even if you do it in a loving and Biblical way - they will begin to get angry and defensive
We have a massive temptation to refuse to ask ourselves why we make the choices we make, why we feel a certain way about a certain thing or certain person, and why we react and behave the way we do.
Because if we do start asking “why,” about ourselves, we have to deal with the confrontation that we are terribly sinful and that sin really is as bad as the Bible says it is, and God is in total opposition to it with wrath and judgment.
We are like children who lie in bed at night terrified because we refuse to open the closet door or look under the bed and see that nothing is there. But in our case we refuse to open the door or look under the bed because we know that something will be there when we open it and it is a raging immoral monster that is trying to claw its way out.
“Evil is more than an exterior reality that engenders universal suffering; it is an internal reality from which we run.”
But the problem is that the monster in us will come out is some form or another; we just try to hide it and make excuses for it.
And so, we go on refusing to acknowledge just how deplorable and destitute we really are in the pit of our heart and hope that no one notices.
But the problem is that even if we are clever enough to conceal our sin; God still notices.
And He calls us to detest our sin as much as He does
Theologian A. W. Pink put it this way:
“The wrath of God is a perfection of the Divine character on which we need to mediate frequently. First, that our hearts may be duly impressed by God’s detestation of sin. We are ever prone to regard sin lightly, to gloss over its hideousness, to make excuses for sin. But the more we study and ponder God’s abhorrence of sin and His frightful vengeance upon it, the more likely are we to realize its heinousness.”
John Wesley put it this way:
“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven upon earth.”
But you can’t hate the sin that you don’t understand you have
And I believe that a deeper understanding of our depravity is the key to intimacy with God and spiritual growth
When we better understand our sin nature, we better understand
God’s holy nature
His merciful nature
His merciful nature
And His grace nature
So, let’s examine who we are deep down
The Reality of Our Depravity
The Reality of Our Depravity
Mark Twain once said:
There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.
Because of the fall of Adam, each and every one of us has what is called “Original Sin,” meaning we are born with an inherently evil and rebellious soul that is totally incapable of doing any good apart from God.
This statement is true, but why is it true?
Why are we drawn to that which is forbidden?
Because of the fall of Adam, each and every one of us has what is called “Original Sin,” meaning we are born with an inherently evil and rebellious soul that is totally incapable of doing any good apart from God.
Because of the fall of Adam, each and every one of us has what is called “Original Sin,” meaning we are born with an inherently evil and rebellious soul that is totally incapable of doing any good apart from God.
It is like an internal disease that permeates through the whole body and infects every facet of our being. It worms its way even to the most innocent corners of our soul.
Scholar and Theologian Wayne Grudem put it this way:
“It is not just that some parts of us are sinful and others are pure. Rather, every part of our being is affected by sin - our intellects, our emotions and desires, our hearts (the center of our desires and decision-making processes), our goals and motives, and even our physical bodies.”
Martin Luther, who is considered the father of the reformation, put it this way:
“We are not sinners because we commit sin - now this one, now that one - but we commit these acts because we are sinners before we do so; that is, bad tree and bad seed produce bad fruit, and from an evil root nothing but an evil tree can grow.”
We are all born with this detestable sin nature
You don’t have to teach children to sin; evil is already in them
If children weren’t born with an inherited sin nature, we wouldn’t have to raise them and teach them to do what is right.
If that were the case, all we would have to do with our children is simply teach them life skills; we wouldn’t have to teach them anything about correct morality and no discipline would be needed.
But as it turns out, we do have to teach them how to do what is right, because at the onset, all they know how to do is wrong.
If you truly want to know if human beings are born with a sin nature, all you have to do is test it; and the test is easy, we are in the test right now, and the results are coming in:
In an age and culture that refuses to discipline their children - combat their sin nature and teach them how to do what is right - moral decay is the result.
If I am wrong about this original sin thing, we should live in wonderful society of nothing but love and righteousness
Do we? I think not
This is the doctrine of total depravity.
And it is echoed all throughout Scripture:
It is only four chapters into the Bible that we get the first murder in with Cain and Abel - a mere one chapter after the fall in the garden
By the sixth chapter of the Bible, man had become so wicked that God had to destroy him:
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
Genesis 6:
King David said that he was conceived in sin:
Psalm 51:
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
According to Jeremiah, the human heart is desperately sick:
9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
The Apostle Paul states that nothing in him is good:
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
He also said that there is no one that is good:
The prophet Isaiah said that even our good deeds are filthy before God:
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Isaiah 64:6
And again, the apostle Paul makes possibly the most staggering statement about the state of man’s heart:
9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Romans 3:9-
We could go on and on and on
There is absolutely no denying that the depravity of man is a clear theme throughout Scripture
There is nothing we can do to reach God and there is nothing we can do to improve ourselves apart from Him
By one man, mankind was doomed
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
Romans 7:12
The infection of sin totally permeates through all of mankind.
We are sick and twisted individuals
We cannot allow ourselves to convince ourselves that we are the exception in a morbidly deplorable human race
We think that as long as we are not stealing and murdering we are not too terribly bad
Not according to the Bible
If you truly and honestly evaluate yourself, if you think back to some of the decisions you have made, the things you have thought about, and some of the ways you have acted, if you honestly evaluate yourself, you will be horrified at what you find.
And if God just left us like that, He would have to destroy us, which He is more than justified in doing.
But God, did provide a way - a costly way - to cover man’s depravity and reconcile him back to His Creator
A Redeemer for the Irredeemable
A Redeemer for the Irredeemable
When man sinned, God had to banish him from His presence
23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:23-
But even in this, God had already planned His way of reconciliation.
God said to the serpent:
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
Genesis 3:15
Verse 15 is considered by many scholars as the first presentation of the Gospel in the Bible
Satan will most certainly be a nuisance to mankind, and he will when small victories, but God is emphatically declaring that there will come a day when He will defeat Satan once and for all and redeem mankind back to Himself
And God did that through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus
Even in the midst of what man has done to his Creator, God declares a love and compassion for mankind that is so intense, He is willing to bring man back to Himself at the cost of His son.
This is the Gospel!
Timothy Keller puts it this way:
“The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”
From one man, all mankind was infected with sin and was plunged into doom and damnation.
But also, from one man, we have the opportunity to cross over from death to life!
Romans 5:18-
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Conclusion:
So, we can act like we have it all together and we are not all that bad, but in reality, the only thing that separates us from the world we are often so quick to judge, is the grace of a merciful God.
We must do some honest soul searching and seek to understand the depravity of our hearts.
Just like diamond, we will never truly know the magnitude of what we have done.
But the more we understand the gravity of our sinful nature and the evil motives of our hearts, the more we will be awestruck by God’s grace and the more we will declare praises to His name.
A man who believes he is just short of perfect will find no need to offer praises to the King or give all that he has to Him, but a crippled man who understands the stark reality of his depravity will beat his chest and cry out for mercy from a God he is unworthy of.