SIN AND MAN'S CAPABILITY TO SIN

Genesis 3:1-7

Part 2

Introduction: Last time we looked at this series on the doctrine of sin.  I used many generalized statements about sin but I will be digging into the passage deeper.  We will be looking closely at this passage that we could call everyone’s story.  This is the first incident of human sin.

      Before getting into the message, I want to give you a few additional thoughts in regards to sin.  Sin will take you farther than you ever thought you’d stray.  Sin will leave you so lost, you think you’ll never find your way.  Sin will keep you longer than you ever thought you’d stay.  Sin will cost you more than you ever thought you’d pay. 

      This was in the Discipleship Journal (November- December 1992 issue)

Areas of Greatest Challenge

      A recent survey of Discipleship Journal readers ranked areas of greatest spiritual challenge to them:

1. Materialism

2. Pride

3. Self-centeredness

4. Laziness

5. (Tie) Anger/Bitterness

6. (Tie) Sexual lust

7. Envy

8. Gluttony

9. Lying

      Survey respondents noted temptations were more potent when they had neglected their time with God (81%) and when they were physically tired (57%). Resisting temptation was accomplished by prayer (84%), avoiding compromising situations (76%), Bible study (66%), and being accountable to someone (52%).

      Spurgeon said this: “There is no sin and I repeat no sin for which it is worth your while to be damned for eternity in hell.”

      Sin is the transgression of the divine command.  Transgression basically means to pass over the boundaries.  God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden.  He plainly told them that they were not to eat of the fruit.  That was the boundary that God placed.  Adam set over the boundary. 

      C. I. Scofield says that sin can be summarized in a threefold way.

      Sin is the act.  It is violation of or want of obedience to the revealed Word of God.

      Sin is the state.  It is absence of righteousness. 

      Sin is our nature.  It is enmity toward God.  Enmity is our hatred toward God that came from sin that our father Adam plunges us.  Man in root, branch and fruit is incurably sinful.  As we seen the sinfulness of sin, it will show how much great the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus is.   

I.    SIN IS ROOTED IN A SHIFTING OF ATTENTION FROM THE CREATOR TO THE CREATURE.

            Satan was a created creature just like the serpent that we find in our account.  Satan is not mentioned in this passage but you can see his footprints all over the Garden of Eden. Satan was uprooted from his place of glory by his pride and then the act of rebellion against the Lord.  Satan had been the most beautiful of all God's creation. 

                                    Isaiah 14:12-15

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”

            But Satan rebellion led down to his fall.  So it is only natural that he would want the greatest of God's creation- man to fall into eternal doom as him.  Why?  It is because God made us in His image.

            Eve pays heed to the serpent.  His subtleness causes her to take her eyes off what God plainly said.  He had forbidden Adam and Eve from eating the fruit.  

                           Genesis 2:15-17

“And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

      I have heard people say for years that prostitution was the world's oldest profession.  This can not be so.  Being a gardener is the world's oldest profession.  Eve is so caught up into this conversation with the serpent she even misquotes the Lord.  She says that they were not supposed to eat the fruit or even to touch it.  There are several problems with that statement.  First of all, God did not say that they were not supposed to touch it.  Secondly, this is quite impossible because if a gardener is going to do his job correctly, you can not prune or take care of a garden without touch every part of it.

      In reality, Eve is worshipping the creature more than the Creator is.  This is true every time you and I do that which we know is contrary to God.  This behavior has gone on since the garden and if anything worsen in these latter years. 

                              Romans 1:25

“Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.”

                              2^nd Timothy 3:1-7, 13

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”

 The eating of the fruit was not the beginning of sin.  It was the mere fact of surrendering one self's to even reaching for it.  This surrender of the position that God had placed man was evidenced in the self-doubt.  Henry Cox puts it this way: "Adam and Eve are the biblical Everyman and Everywoman.  Their sin is our sin.  We give away our destiny by letting some snake tell us what to do."  The shame of it of it all that we are not smarter in these days; we are still letting some snakes tell us what to do. 

II.  SIN IS A MATTER OF PITTING SELF-SOVEREIGNTY AGAINST DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY.

            There is an indisputable truth that needs to be said and understood here.  God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, while we are but His creatures.    Without Him we are nothing and will be nothing. Colossians 1:16-17

“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”

            I must make sure you understand what sovereignty means.  It has a big explanation but I prefer to give a simple that all can understand.  It comes down to who is in charge. 

            It is sinful shameful that man allows the lure of idolatry to come into his life.  We see it as we pursue the goods of creation as though we ourselves were the very center of the universe.  Idolatry is the placing anything or anyone in place of God.        

                                    Exodus 20:3-5

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me”

            This is certainly the worship of the creature more than the Creator is.  It is clear seen in the ways that people has the drive to take everything into oneself, to absorb all pleasure, goods and people into themselves.  My generation's theme used to be summed up in a phrase.  It was "if it feels good, do it".  I think the present generation could summed up with "do it!"  That is one reason why extreme sports are so popular in this generation.  Some may disagree with me and try to justify extreme sports.  But this body belongs to the Lord.  Extreme sports have a very good possibility that a serious injury may occur including ending our lives.

            Our Lord knows all.  That is part of His divine nature.  He always had our greatest good in mind.  He knew why He forbade man to eat of that fruit.  Man did not need that knowledge. He would lead him down the thorny path of life.  Yet He did not put a fifty-foot tall fence around it.  He is completely trustworthy.  We should know that He knows best.  But obviously Eve must not have thought so.  The moment she gives into the temptation, she had that desires as well as Adam who ate willfully to become like God.  In other words, they assumed self-sovereignty against God's divine sovereignty. 

Sin unto thy hive may bring

A little honey-

But expect the sting.

            The problem is that there is no fear of the Lord much anymore.  This lack of the fear of the Lord started in the Garden of Eden.  These two were basically saying that they were captains of their own destiny.  The Lord could have stopped them but He allowed their own free will to take over.  He left the choice to them but the consequences are beyond their control because God sets the consequences. 

III. SIN QUICKLY WEAVES ITS WEB TO ALL THAT THOSE INVOLVED. 

                                                 Vs. 6

             “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”

                           Romans 5:12

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”

      Once Eve ate the fruit, she involved Adam in the sin.  Adam understood very well the consequences of this action.  The Lord had made it plain. 

                              Romans 14:7

“For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.”

      The Bible does not say what the fruit was.  It may have been a different color or shape.  Regardless, Adam willfully took of the fruit.

      The question that has plagued people for centuries is this: Why did Adam eat the fruit knowing what would happen?  There are several reasons that one could guess.  Since the Bible is silent on the subject, these are nothing less than mere guesses.  The Lord will have to tell us when we get to Heaven.

         1. Maybe Adam remembered the days before Eve was brought into his life.  He did not want to be lonely.  He knew that God said in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.  Ezekiel 18:4

“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

2. Maybe he did not really believe God.  Death had not entered into the garden before this time.  Maybe he thought God would change His mind.  

                                    Malachi 3:6

                        "For I am the Lord, I change not."

      This is a very big part of the Lord’s attributes.  This is one of the marvelous truths of the Bible.  He never, never, never, and I repeat once again never changes.  Thank God He never changes. 

      For whatever reason, sin had included everyone.  But the far-reaching consequences had not been felt yet. 

Conclusion: In the next message we will be looking at the conclusion of this message in the next three points.  But there are lots to ponder today.  Let me review quickly.

1. The shift was from the Lord was to the created.  Too many people think that they are more important than the Lord is.  No one and nothing is more important than the Lord is. 
2. Men are constantly putting themselves before the Lord.  It is either He is the Lord God almighty or just a pleasant thought.
3. Who is involved in your sin?  Is your family involved in your sin or suffer because your sin? 

      Is your Christ your Saviour?  You can be saved from the penalty of sin today.  Christ died for yours and my sins.  He will cleanse your life.