"Sin and Salvation"
Genesis 3:1-13; Romans 8:1
Every believer needs to know the allure, the acts, the attitude and the cost of sin so that it can be avoided at all costs.
Introduction
Certain words that are prevalent in scripture have fallen out of favor in our society. One is rarely if ever used in polite conversation. If you say it loud enough in a public place people will get quiet and look at the person who said it. It is very politically incorrect. It is the word sin.
Ill.
One day God was looking down at Earth and saw all of the evil that was going on. He decided to send an angel down to Earth to check it out. So He called one of His best angels and sent the angel to Earth for a while. When he returned he told God, yes it is bad on Earth, 95% is bad and 5% is good.
Well, He thought for a moment and thought maybe He’d better send down a second angel to get another point of view. So God called another angel and sent him to Earth for a time too. When the angel returned he went to God and told him "Yes, the Earth is in decline. 95% is bad and 5% is good." God said this was not good.
So He decided to send e-mail to the 5% that were good. He wanted to encourage them, give them a little something to help them keep going.
Do you know what that e-mail said? Oh, you didn’t get one either, huh? What a bummer. (Steve Shephard, "After Easter - Getting With God’s Program of Worship", Sermon Central)
The word sin comes from the Hebrew word "hatta th" meaning "missing" and the Greek word "martano" which translated means "miss the mark". Scripture reveals that "all of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory". (Romans 3:23)
Believers need to not only add the word to their vocabulary but also understand the biblical progression of sin in our lives so it can be avoided. Every believer needs to know the allure, the acts, the attitude and the cost of sin so that it can be avoided at all costs.
1. Sin is Alluring
I like to watch the occasional fishing show. It amazes me how many lures a fisherman will have in his tackle box. There is one for every kind of fish and every kind of water. Depending on what the fisherman is trying to catch determines the line and the lure used.
Make no mistake about it, sin has an allure, a fragrance, an aroma that draws us away from the Lord. It is called temptation. Temptation is not sin but it is the fishing line, the lure used to draw us in to sin. Let’s look at Genesis 3:1-7,
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Here is what the Lord said to Adam in Genesis 2:16-17.
And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
There is a lot of truth found in this exchange between the serpent and Eve. The problem is it is only partial and half truths. Sin always begins by questioning God’s word, "Did God really say..."
The serpent questioned God’s word and later challenges God’s word with, "You will not surely die". He also tells Eve she will be like God. Eve was given the ultimate temptation, be God.
What could Eve have done to avoid the sin at this point? She could have walked away and called on God. They had an intimate personal walking relationship with Almighty God. Nothing separated them from Him. They both were getting ready to lose the greatest gift ever, walking with God in blissful innocence.
2. Sin is an Act
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Sin ultimately requires an action on our part. What was Eve’s action? She stayed and listened. That was her sin choice. She could look art the tree, she could touch it, but she couldn’t eat it. She decided to stay and listen to see if there was a loop hole she could get through.
The fruit was edible, it was pleasing to the eye, and it could give "wisdom" so she took a bite of it. The lie the serpent told was true. She did become "like God" as far as knowing good and evil.
"Bad company corrupts good morals." Very rarely does it work the other way around unless the person is sharing Christ with others. If you go along to get along you will find yourself eating of the fruit. Sin loves company so she gave some to Adam. He ate of the fruit as well.
Their sin paid off. They did know the difference between good and evil. "That is to say, it is not because the fruit of the tree will injure you that God has forbidden you to eat it, but from ill-will and envy, because He does not wish you to be like Himself. “A truly satanic double entendre, in which a certain agreement between truth and untruth is secured!” By eating the fruit, man did obtain the knowledge of good and evil, and in this respect became like God (vv. 7 and 22). This was the truth which covered the falsehood “ye shall not die,” and turned the whole statement into a lie, exhibiting its author as the father of lies, who abides not in the truth (John 8:44). For the knowledge of good and evil, which man obtains by going into evil, is as far removed from the true likeness of God, which he would have attained by avoiding it, as the imaginary liberty of a sinner, which leads into bondage to sin and ends in death, is from the true liberty of a life of fellowship with God." (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament Vol. 1: Pentateuch)
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (Genesis 3:7)
Unfortunately, they had to pay the price for sin as well. Having only known good and God they now knew evil. They covered their nakedness and hid from God. Their relationship with their loving, caring, creator was broken by sin.
3. Sin is an Attitude
Ultimately sin is setting oneself up to be God. It is the epitome of ego, "the I", the Me. It is total selfishness. The sin attitude says, "I am God". Both Adam and Eve thought they would be like God. They only lost their blissful child-like innocence.
The sin attitude says to all around "I know better than God". What is good for me is what I will do regardless of anyone or anything else. Sin destroys relationships because it cares not for others, only self.
It also carries the idea that "I can do nothing wrong". If I do what’s best for me how could it possibly be harmful to me or others? It is the ultimate lie of all.
The draw of sin ultimately is, "If you sin it will set you free, give you a moment of freedom, happiness, of gain", when in reality it binds us all up and enslaves us. Sin and the attitude of sin gives nothing but costs everything, relationships, health, wealth, and yes, life itself.
4. Sin Is Anarchy
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8)
Sin, shame, guilt, and broken relationships are the result of sin. The first relationship destroyed was with God. They hid from Him. Their perfect relationship with Him was now destroyed. They not only destroyed their relationship with Almighty God but they began to destroy their relationship with each other.
The Lord asked how they knew they were naked. What follows their guilt and shame is blame, no one took responsibility. They all began blaming each other. Genesis 3:11-14 says,
And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
They both existed in complete unity with God and knew only His perfect presence. There was only good. In Jesus, I have His presence, a down payment of the Holy Spirit. The trouble is, I have a sinful nature at war inside and I live in a corrupt and fallen world. I cannot imagine what it was like to be in the perfect presence of God. They knew exactly that.
Now, they both are filled with the knowledge of evil, all of it. They knew how to lie, cheat, steal, blame and along with it came guilt, shame, hatred, selfishness and the like. They knew evil and its consequences and now they didn’t want to answer for it.
The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
It is amazing that Adam guilty, shamed, and caught now knows so quickly how to blame. The man immediately blamed God. You put her here Lord. It’s your fault.
If you are not willing to take the blame God then she’s the one that gave me a bite. She gave it and I ate it. Adam betrayed his relationship with Eve. There is another relationship forever altered because of sin.
Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Eve, experiencing the same guilt and shame begins to blame the tempter, the serpent. An idiom that has been around for a time is, "The devil made me do it." The devil may tempt but ultimately it is our choice to sin.
The truth was that God had given them a command not to eat of the tree. Eve shows the problem with all of us, faith. She wanted to believe the lie of the serpent instead of the word of God. Why, so she could be like God.
So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
Adam pointed his finger at God, then Eve. Eve pointed her finger at the serpent and the serpent had no fingers to point. Every relationship was destroyed by the sin of man. It wasn’t Milton Bradley or any other game manufacturer that produced the most popular game in the world. It is man. The blame game became the most popular game in all history.
I would love to be able to say how stupid Adam and Eve were to take the bait of sin. How could they possibly have been fooled? But I know myself and others well enough to know we all would have fallen for it. Why, because we have already. "All have sinned and fallen short".
5. Sin’s power is broken - Romans 8:1-4
Thankfully God’s mercy and grace have broken sin’s hold over us. Romans 8:1-4 says,
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Through Jesus Christ we all have the opportunity to be free of sin and death. His sacrifice on the cross has paid for our sin. All we need to do is receive the free gift of salvation in Christ by faith. When we do, we are set free from sin, guilt, and shame not to mention its’ eternal consequences. There is no condemnation any longer because we are set free.
Temptation will be with us all, believers included, until we die. As believers, how can we change the outcome in our lives when confronted with temptation? There are some steps we can take to remain faithful and avoid the pitfalls of sin.
Know God’s word. There is no substitution for knowing the word and having it memorized. When you know it, obey it. We need to be careful because we can even find scripture to support our sin. Of course we would need to take it out of context, misinterpret it, and twist it to our own desires. Know God’s word and obey it.
Get away from sin, don’t play with it, think you are stronger, get away and change your view. Notice as well, Eve listened and kept listening. David looked at Bathsheba and kept looking. When temptation comes our way we first need to walk away. Don’t stand and look, listen, or play with it. You will lose.
Stand firm on God’s word, trust in Him, desire His will in your life, and recognize you have one word added to your vocabulary you did not have before, NO! In Christ you have the power to say no to sin, before you didn’t.
