The notes from last evening's talk are below.
November 29, 2010
The Problem of Sin
Opening Question: What is something you may have done wrong and what were the consequences?
We are not perfect people, although we may try to do the best in our lives. There are times when we are not able to achieve what we want and sometime we may do the wrong or incorrect thing, no matter how much we may want to and try to do the right things.
Today, we are going to look at the problem of sin and what does the Bible teaches us about that.
In the beginning, God created everything, including man and woman, and everything was good. In Genesis 1, verses 26-27 and 31 we read that:
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Everything that God created was good. The earth, everything in it, the man and the woman, everything was good.
In Genesis 2, verses 8-9, we read that: 8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A little later, In Genesis 2:16-17, God commanded man not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This was because they would die if they did that. We read: 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
In Genesis chapter 3, we read about how the woman (and the man) did not listen to the advice of God and they did what God commanded them not to do. We read, beginning in verse 1 to 19: 1 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’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 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.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.
5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 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. 7 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. 8 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. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food
until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
What did Adam and Eve do?
They listened to the words of the serpent and not to the words of God. They disobeyed God and broke His commandment.
What was their punishment?
Adam and Eve lost their special relationship they had with God and they were sent away from the Garden of Eden. Now, they would know the world of pain, suffering and death.
Now, there are many lessons from this passage and I wish we had time to discuss all of them. However, today we are going to focus on the fact that Adam and Eve listened to the serpent, who was the incarnation of Satan or the devil (we know this from one other verse in the Bible – Revelation 12:9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him; and they broke the commandment of God. In the Bible, breaking the commandment of God is referred to as “sin” or “sinning”. Word for word this means “to miss the mark” – so you are trying to do something right or hit the target and actually you missed it.
So, Adam and Eve missed the mark of keeping the commandment of God. Their punishment was physical death and spiritual death. They were separated from God and they could not draw near to Him, because sin had stained their bodies and their souls.
The sin nowadays also follows us. Like Adam and Eve, we also know the world of pain, suffering, rejection and death. How does it happen that we sin? James helps us explain how sin happens in our life. In James 1, verses 13-15, we read: 13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
So, what causes us to sin?
Our own evil desires cause us to sin.
In James 4:17, James continues to explain that: If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. This shows that there are two types of sin – sins of commission – doing something wrong and sins of omission – not doing something you should. Both are sins and both cause us problems and consequences just like when a drunk driver hits a person crossing the street – the sin of drinking and driving causes the problem and consequence of killing another person or at least injuring them, losing your drivers license and possibly paying fines or going to jail.
In Romans 3:23, we read: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
According to this is there anyone who has not sinned?
No, we have all sinned.
Romans 5:12 says: Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, (Adam) and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned
What does our sin produce?
Sin produces death, both physical and spiritual – separation from God.
Romans 6:23 tells that: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Conclusions
As we have seen, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and they sinned against him. We also sin and break the law of God and thus bring death and suffering upon ourselves. However, God has a plan to resolve the mankind’s problem with sin. We are going to discuss this plan and this solution next time.
Campus Bible Talk 2010
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