Sin Is Bad, God Is Good
I have bitten my fingernails for years, so I bought a polish that tastes awful if it gets near your mouth. This week I came close several times and thought, what is that taste? That is how we should think of sin. If we remembered how bad it is, we would say it is disgusting and not go near it. So my message was in two points, bad news first and good news second. The bad news would be overwhelming and depressing if we did not know that God got involved. Genesis 3:7 and following shows the consequences of man’s choice to do his own thing, and no one forces us to sin. We choose it when we are tempted.
Sin Is Bad
Sin alienates us from God. In verse 7 their eyes were opened, as the devil said, but not as he implied. They had walked with God, and now they were separated. Sin always separates. If we confess, we are restored in fellowship. But to be alienated from God for eternity is what the Bible calls hell.
Sin causes shame. They knew they were naked. Barnhouse thought they were probably clothed in light before the fall, and when they sinned the light went out.
Sin makes us cover ourselves. They sewed fig leaves together, man’s first attempt to make himself acceptable to God. It doesn’t work. Isaiah 64:6 says all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. “We are not accepted to the Lord because of our own clothing. We’re accepted because of his clothing.” Religion will not save you, nor will baptism, church membership, or giving. Only the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.
Sin causes fear. In verses 8 through 10 they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden and hid among the trees. Adam said, I was afraid. “Sin causes us to fear the God that loves us and cares for us.”
Sin makes us play the blame game. Adam said, the woman whom you gave to be with me gave me the fruit. He blamed God and his wife. Eve said, the serpent deceived me. “God blamed Adam. Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. And the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on.” A member of our church told me it wasn’t until he owned up to his own sin that God got hold of his heart. If you get angry, it is not because of your spouse. It is because there is anger in your heart. If you lust, it is not because of what someone wears. If you gossip, it is because your tongue is not under control. Do you know the old song? “It’s not my brother, it’s not my sister, but it’s me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.” Circumstances only reveal what is already in us.
Sin causes death. Verse 19 says to dust you shall return. There are two deaths. The physical death comes to all of us. The spiritual death is what God meant in 2:17 when he said, in the day you eat of it you shall surely die. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. We earn wages, and the wages of sin is death. But the contrast is a free gift, and many people cannot accept it. They want to be good enough. God says, I have a gift for you. Revelation 20 calls the lake of fire the second death. That is bad news.
God Is Good
My desire is that when we are tempted, we remember all the bad that sin brings. And God helps us by his Holy Spirit who convicts us, by godly friends who speak truth to us, and by his word. Psalm 119:11 says, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
God confronts us. He came to them. Spurgeon noted that he came in the cool of the day, not at night to terrify them, not in the heat of passion, and not in haste to slay. “God is long-suffering, slow to anger, and of great mercy.” Confrontation is not always bad. Jesus confronted the Pharisees, Paul confronted Peter, and Nathan said to David, you are the man, because God cared for him. The Lord asked Adam, where are you? Someone said, “Adam’s conscience drove him behind the trees, but revelation brought him forth in the presence of God.” The question proves Adam was lost and that God is good to seek him out.
God responds. To the serpent he gives a curse, on his belly, and enmity between the two seeds. To the woman he says there will be pain in childbirth and friction, a desire to dominate, in marriage. It doesn’t have to be that way. By God’s grace there can be harmony in our homes. To Adam he says the ground is cursed, not man, and work will be hard.
God gives hope. Genesis 3:15 is the first mention of the gospel. The seed of the woman is singular and masculine: he will crush your head, and you will bruise his heel. Galatians 4:4 says when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman. And in verse 20, Adam named his wife Eve, the mother of all living. After a curse and the death sentence, he named her life. He believed what God said.
God provides. Verse 21 says he made garments of skins and clothed them. They did their best and it was not enough. They needed a blood sacrifice, and God provided the lamb. Second Corinthians 5:21 says he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so we might become the righteousness of God.
God shows mercy. He sent them out of the garden lest they eat of the tree of life and live forever in a sinful state. Even his judgment was kind.
Discussion Questions
- Which of the consequences of sin, alienation, shame, covering up, fear, blame, or death, do you see in your life?
- Where do you find yourself blaming other people or circumstances instead of owning your own heart?
- God came to Adam and asked, where are you? Where are you in your relationship with him right now?
Sin must be put away, the serpent crushed, and death abolished. We cannot do any of that, so God did.
