Whatever Happened to Sin?
Genesis 3: 1 – 24.
I. Introduction
Do you remember the old nursery rhyme about Humpty Dumpty?
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
couldn’t put Humpty together again.
This is a familiar rhyme about an egg that had the misfortune of tumbling from top of a wall. I have always wondered what business an egg had sitting on top of a wall.
This nursery rhyme is believed to be thousands of years old. It is widely known in several European languages that were around long before the English language. But it didn’t start out as a nursery rhyme. It started out as a riddle.
What, when broken, can never be repaired, not even by strong or wise individuals?
The answer to the riddle, of course, is an egg. No matter how hard we try, we can never fix a broken egg. It cannot be put together again.
I remember when I was a child that I was proud of myself when I was finally big enough and strong enough to help my mother bring in the groceries from the car. But one time I took the wrong sack. I picked up the one with the eggs in it. And—of course this probably means that I am strange—I remember walking in the door and dropping the sack right in the middle of the floor. I broke the whole dozen eggs. And there is no remedy for broken eggs. They cannot be put back together. When the eggs are broken, there is only one thing to do…Clean up the mess.
I think this is a good parallel to sin. In Genesis 3, we read the story of how sin first entered into creation. Adam and Eve sinned. We normally describe this as the Fall. In one weak moment, Adam and Eve faced temptation and gave in to sin. As a result the human race fell. We were broken—just like an egg. Broken beyond the possibility of repair. All that was left to do was “clean up the mess.”
Did you know that you can never be repaired? Your only hope is to be re-created by God. And that is what the Easter season is all about. Sin entered into the human race, and we fell. Now there is no possibility that we can be repaired. So God sent his son to die on the cross to forgive us our sins and to re-create us, to make us a New Creation.
Read Genesis 3: 1 – 24.
II. The Nature of Sin (Genesis 3: 6 & 1 John 2: 15 – 17).
A. Good for Food…(The Lust of the Flesh).
The fruit appeals to her flesh, or human nature…Just as sin appeals to our flesh, or human nature.
As a result of what happened to Adam & Eve, we have a natural tendency toward sin…
Given an opportunity to choose between God’s will and our own will, we choose to rebel against God…Nine times out of every Nine.
B. Delight to the Eyes…(The Lust of the Eyes).
I remember hearing an evangelist preach once when I was a teenager. He stood before the church and said, “Once you become a Christian, sin is no longer fun.” I remember thinking, “If sin is no longer fun, then he must not be doing it right.”
NASB => “Desirable”…NIV => “Pleasing”…KJV => “Pleasant”
Better to translate “Lust”…Sin is Lust, not Pleasant or Desirable…
Do you know the difference between Desire and Lust?
Lust can never be satisfied…
This is a rather gruesome illustration, but a great way to describe sin and lust…It was told by Paul Harvey…
Eskimos have found an interesting way to kill a wolf that is disturbing the village or camp area…They coat a knife with animal blood and allow the blood to freeze on the blade of the knife…Then they add another layer, and another, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by layer after layer of frozen blood…
Next, the Eskimo fixes the knife in the ground with the blade up so that the wolf will be attracted to the scent of the blood on the knife…When the wolf discovers the freshly frozen blood, he begins to lick the knife…The more the wolf licks, the more blood he tastes, so he begins to lick faster and faster trying to satisfy his lust for blood…The wolf begins to lick vigorously, faster and faster…The wolf’s lust for blood is so great that he never notices that the knife is cutting into his own tongue with every lick…After a short time, the wolf begins to taste his own blood…Yet he craves more and more, until the next morning when he is found dead in the snow…
C. Desirable to make Wise…(The Pride of Life).
Ultimately all temptation comes down to this one category…We want to be our own gods…
We don’t want to be subject to anyone…Not even God…
Notice also that this is an appeal to the human intellect… Temptation includes physical, spiritual and mental…
III. The Consequences of Sin.
A. Distorted Values (Genesis 3: 7).
Cf. Genesis 1: 31…God SAW everything he had created and said, “It is good”…Now, Adam & Eve see the same thing as somehow bad…It is the difference between seeing yourself through the eyes of God or through the eyes of sin…
The way we see ourselves is important…Remember when Moses sent the spies into the Promised Land…12 spies went in…But 10 spies came back afraid…They said, “We SAW the people of the land, and we were like grasshoppers in their presence.”…But 2 spies said, “We should take it, because God is on our side.”
B. Distorted Relationships (Genesis 3: 16).
Cf. Genesis 2: 24…God’s plan was for the man to leave his father and mother so that the husband and wife could become ONE FLESH
But that was distorted after the Fall…What God created to be ONE FLESH was separated by sin…Sin created division, even competition (Lord, the woman you gave me…)
The text describes 2 symbols of separation, or broken relationship…
1. Clothing…Man separated from Woman…Human separated from Human…
2. Angel with a Sword…Humanity separated from God…
C. Distorted Life (Genesis 3: 22 – 24).
God took away the Tree of Life…
A direct result (consequence) of sin = Adam & Eve lost the possibility of eternal life…Before sin entered the creation, all they had to do was eat from the Tree of Life and they would live forever.
Now, eternal life was lost…But it is worse than that…Not only have they lost eternal life…Now they will have to die…Sin brought about DEATH…
Notice that God did not kill Adam & Eve…God did not take their lives…Adam & Eve forfeited (willfully gave away) life…Cf. modern question, “How can a loving and gracious God SEND anyone to Hell?”…
God does not SEND anyone to Hell, just as he did not KILL Adam & Eve…When anyone rejects Christ, you forfeit life…You choose Hell over Heaven…You choose DEATH over LIFE…
IV. Conclusion
In 1997, Timothy McVeigh was finally convicted for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. During the 1997 trial, one of McVeigh’s old Army buddies, Jo Thomas, testified in court. According to the New York Times article on the trial Jo Thomas said, “I’ve known Tim for quite a while. If you don’t consider what happened in Oklahoma, Tim is a good person.”
If you just overlook the fact that he murdered 168 innocent people with a truck loaded with fertilizer and diesel fuel, Tim was a good person.
On one hand, I can’t believe those words could actually be formed on the lips of a reasonable person. On the other hand, we say the same kind of thing about ourselves almost everyday.
If you overlook the “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life,” I am really a good person.
That is a lie the world wants us to believe about our own sinfulness. The truth is much worse. Sin has affected us so much that we are broken beyond the possibility of repair. And the only hope that remains is to “clean up the mess.” We cannot clean up our own lives. But God can clean us up. We can be re-created by God through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
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2 comments:
There is another graphic of lust in Jeremiah 2:24 that came to our attention that shows the difference in desire and lust.
In Jeremiah 2:24 b it says "sniffing the wind in her craving". Then the footnotes say: "picture is one of active searching, not passive waiting". This stirred the prayer, the desire, of a friend to "Always actively search for more of the Lord." Since we often smell heavenly fragrances in the presence of the Lord, I thought it was a reference to that until I looked up the scripture; however, Jeremiah was describing idolaters and according to the commentary by Matthew Henry, this pictured lust:
"They were violent and eager in the pursuit of their idolatries, doted on their idols, and were fond of new ones, and they would not be restrained from them either by the word of God or by his providence, so strong was the impetus with which they were carried out after this sin. They are here compared to a swift dromedary traversing her ways, a female of that species of creatures hunting about for a male (v. 23), and, to the same purport, a wild ass used to the wilderness (v. 24), not tamed by labour, and therefore very wanton, snuffing up the wind at her pleasure when she comes near the he-ass, and on such an occasion who can turn her away? Who can hinder her from that which she lusts after? Those that seek her then will not weary themselves for her, for they know it is to no purpose; but will have a little patience till she is big with young, till that month comes which is the last of the months that she fulfils (Job 39:2), when she is heavy and unwieldy, and then they shall find her, and she cannot out-run them. Note, (1.) Eager lust is a brutish thing, and those that will not be turned away from the gratifying and indulging of it by reason, and conscience, and honour, are to be reckoned as brute-beasts and no better, such as were born, and still are, like the wild ass’s colt; let them not be looked upon as rational creatures. (2.) Idolatry is strangely intoxicating, and those that are addicted to it will with great difficulty be cured of it. That lust is as headstrong as any. (3.) There are some so violently set upon the prosecution of their lusts that it is to no purpose to attempt to give check to them: those that do so weary themselves in vain. Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone. (4.) The time will come when the most fierce will be tamed and the most wanton will be manageable; when distress and anguish come upon them, then their ears will be open to discipline, that is the month in which you may find them, Ps. 141:5, 6."
Even though her interpretation of Jer. 2:24 was wrong, isn't it wonderful that her thoughts and desires were righteous. Thank God for His mercies which redeem us through His blood and we are justified.
I just want to know: did you open the service with the song by Steve Taylor that happens to have the same title as your sermon, or did you just sing it as a benediction?
'cause either way would've been sweet. :)
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