TWO GUIDING QUESTIONS DURING THIS SERMON SERIES
Are you growing in the knowledge of God?
Are you growing in loving God and loving people?
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BIG Question
Could it be that your love for Christ and your love for others will actually be deepened by believing the full magnitude of Adam and Eve’s sin and your own sin along with their consequences?
As Christians, our view of sin often resembles a devastating house fire. But what if it were actually far worse than that. What if the initial sin of Adam, as well as the guilt we bear from our own sin were less like a housefire and more like a wildfire with unimaginable and eternal repercussions? Would it cause us to revel in the grace shown to us through Christ?
MAIN POINTS
1. The Origin of Sin: Adam's TransgressionThere was a time where sin and death were not part of human experience. Adam and Eve lived in peaceful union with God in a created place that was not fallen... Until the most catastrophic day in history:
"He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths." (Genesis 3:1-7 ESV).
We were represented by Adam, so when he sinned, his guilt was transferred to us, subjecting every person to physical and spiritual death.
"Therefore just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned..." Romans 5:12
2. The Effects of Sin: The Corruption of All People and All Things
- Sinners are enemies of God, deserving eternal punishment.
- Our bodies, consciences, minds, and souls have been marred.
"Their hearts are hardened, their understanding is darkened, their consciences are corrupted, their spiritual sight is blinded, and their deeds are evil. Therefore all people are dead in sin and without hope apart from salvation in Jesus Christ." Sovereign Grace Statement of Faith
- All of Creation bears the curse.
"From the inherited corruption of humanity arise all the sins that we commit. All people are now by nature enemies of God, living under the power of Satan, subject to the curse of the law, and deserving of eternal punishment. Moreover, the whole nature of man has been corrupted by the fall, and no part of man is untainted by sin." Sovereign Grace Statement of Faith
3. The Solution for Sin: The Second Adam, the Savior and Restorer of All Things
"Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. (Rom. 5:12-14 ESV)
- Jesus is good news for those born guilty under Adam
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:15-21 ESV)
- Jesus is good news for our bodies and minds
"Death is no longer a threat in the way it was. It has been defeated in Christ. The signs of aging are no longer a threat but a promise. Gray hair and deepening lines on my face don't need to speak to me of a past I can't recover but of a future I can barely conceive. The real glory days are not behind but ahead. The poet George Herbet said, "Death used to be an executioner, but the Gospel makes him just a gardener." You don't bury a Christian; you plant him." Sam Allberry, What God Has to Say about Our Bodies.
The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
- Jesus is good news for cursed creation
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away”… “No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.” (Rev. 21:1-4; 22:3 ESV)
Application:
- We are sinful, so repent
- We are longing, so lament and wait
- We have a Mighty Savior, so go on rejoicing
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CHRIST THE TRUE AND BETTER- MATT BOSWELL AND MATT PAPA