SATURDAY, July 11, 2009                                                       READ: Genesis 3: 1 - 8                                                                                                        

FACING SIN’S CONSEQUENCES

MEMORIZE: “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”         Genesis 3: 7

Sin affects us adversely. God made this fact clear to Adam when He commanded him not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He indicated that there would be an adverse outcome to him, if he chose, contrary to the prohibition, to eat of the tree. He would surely die. Using the body of the serpent, the devil, Satan, deceived the woman and incited her to transgress. He got her to wonder if God had their best interest in mind. He got her to wonder, and eventually conclude, that God was holding them back by restricting them and preventing them from eating of the tree. He got her to feel insecure about their future. Satan deceived her into seeing her husband and herself as being less than they could be, had they not been prevented from eating of the tree. He got her to feel inferior. She made the decision to eat in an effort to improve themselves beyond what God had for them. She was deceived into thinking that shaking off the restrictions and going for it, they would be more secure and would improve themselves. In her deceived state, she ate of the fruit. We are not told how she felt after she ate the fruit. We do not know how long after she ate, that she actually gave the fruit to her husband and persuaded him to eat. He was not deceived. He ate the fruit knowing the consequence of doing so. Did they think that they could make it on their own? It does not matter how rational, how competent or how talented any of us might be, we are not capable of making it on our own (cf. John 15: 5). Adam, quite likely, did what a lot of men have done since that time, just gone along in an effort to “get along.” Why do we think that we are helping other people to do their best, or, to be their best, when we know that things are not right, and we still facilitate the continuation of wrong? Had Adam, and any man, for that matter, wanted to show love for his wife, he should have shown love to God first (cf. John 14: 15, 21). He would have helped her and all of his descendants by refusing to eat and from sanctioning what she had done (cf. Ephesians 4: 16, 21).

We are able to see in our text, Genesis 3: 1 – 8, that it did not take long for Adam and his wife, having made the choice to eat of the fruit, which, God had forbidden, to begin experiencing adverse effects from their actions. They began to die and started feeling the effects of that process in their bodies (cf. Romans 6: 23; Hebrews 9: 27). In v. 7, we are told that “… the eyes of both of them were opened….” Love requires and involves protection. God had protected them from themselves. Now they had moved out from under that protection and began to experience the effects. “… they knew that they were naked ….” In 2: 25, we read about their nakedness, only that, then, they were not ashamed. Now that they had done wrong, they were ashamed. They began to try to save themselves from themselves and from God. They began to make coverings, clothes, from fig leaves (cf. v. 21). We atto cover ourselves in and with our sins. In v. 8, we see that they began to attempt to hide from the presence of Almighty God (cf. Luke 3: 7; John 3: 36; Romans 1: 18). They began to hide from God among the trees (cf. Psalm 139: 7 – 12). The only place where the presence of God will not be experienced is in Hell. Sin separates us from God. Sin is real and it has real consequences. Do you remember what it felt like when you first became aware of sin? What has happened to your sins? Are you aware of the provision which God has made to deal with your sins (cf. John 1: 29; Acts 17: 30, 31; 1 John 1: 8-10)? Have you accepted His provision for you?

PRAY:LORD, God, Almighty, thank You for what You did in making me aware of my own sins. Thank You for the provision which You have made to deal with sins. Thank You for Jesus and for His blood which cleanses us from all of our sins. Help me to be quick to confess my sins, when You make me aware that I have sinned. I am asking this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen!