The Second Sin (2/8/15)

Posted by on Feb 12, 2015 in Sermons | 1 comment

What’s the Worst Sin we can commit???

Pastor Jim’s sermon on Sunday February 8 2015 took a look at the “second sin.”  We all are familiar with the account of Adam and Eve and the Apple; Original Sin.  But what’s the Second Sin?  What happens if we ignore the Second Sin?

Click the following “Play” button to start the sermon, scroll down, and find out…

 

 

The scripture was from Genesis 3:1-13.  Open the following box to read along…

Genesis 3:1-13

1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied.

3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.'”

4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman.   “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.

7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.    Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”    “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”

12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”   Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”

Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

 We will be forgiven for original sin… but not until we deal with the “Second Sin.”

What is the “Second Sin”?  Maybe Cain killing Able?  Maybe Adam lost his temper with a bee that he had just named?  Maybe all of the bad stuff that was happening in Noah’s time?  What is the Second Sin?  Read on…

 

The Original Sin

sin-146121__180God created Adam and put him in a perfect place.  In fact, the word Eden means “perfect” or “paradise.”  Think of a tropical paradise… that was Eden.  God gave him everything he needed; food, water… even purpose.  Adam and Eve had it all.  The only limit imposed on Adam is that he wasn’t to eat from the tree of life or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

God gave Adam love.  And he also gave him a helpmate; Eve.  Eve came along after God told Adam about the tree they weren’t supposed to eat from, so it was Adam who told Eve about the tree.

But Satan entered this perfect world, and somehow got Eve’s attention.  And like drops of water on a rock, Satan worked on Eve.  He raised a question about God and tempted her about the one boundary God had placed on them.  That tree.  That Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Why wouldn’t God let them eat from that tree?  Satan put doubts into her and wears her down.  He led her to distrust God.  He led her to believe that she had a right to have this knowledge.  She had a right to reject these limits.  She had a right to be like God. And so the drip drip drip of lies eventually led Eve to disobey God and eat the fruit from the tree.

She was tempted; she was deceived.  But along comes Adam.  She offers the fruit to him and he immediately chooses to eat it.

Why did God forbid them from eating that fruit?  It was to protect them.  As soon as they ate that fruit they realized that they were sinful.  The realized that they were not equal to God.  They realized that they were naked.  Man was now responsible for their sin.  And because sin deserves death, Adam and Eve suddenly became subject to eventual death.  Paradise wasn’t perfect anymore; sin had entered.  And so, Adam and Eve had to leave God’s presence.

 

The Second Sin

But before leaving the Garden, Adam and Eve committed the Second Sin.  The first was the initial disobedience.  But the second was the cover up.  Adam ate the apple, but when he hears God, he hides.  At the first sign of sin, he steps back from God.  We’re not different from Adam and Eve; sin pulls us away from God.  Satan gives us excuses to not go to church.  To not do something that God wants us to do.  To disobey… because we have our rights!

But Jesus calls us to go forward.  We can’t go forward if we’re constantly hiding from sin.  The first sin can be forgiven.  But the second one- the one of hiding from God-  prevents us from receiving forgiveness.

Flip WilsonThe second sin bids us to blame someone else.  “That Woman YOU gave me.” “The serpent deceived me!”  Or as Flip Wilson’s Geraldine always said, “The devil made me do it!”  That line won’t work when we face God in heaven.  In fact, we can’t even account for every single sin; we can’t even remember what we had for lunch!  We need the blood of Christ to cover us.  But we can’t be covered by the blood of Christ if we’re trying to cover ourselves.  Without confession and admitting to specific mistakes (sins), there cannot be forgiveness of sin.  We can’t receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior if we don’t humble ourselves and admit, “Yes- I have sinned.”

What if Adam had reacted like David when he was confronted with his sin?  David had an affair with a soldier’s wife.  Then, he had the husband put in the front line so he would be killed.  But unlike Adam, David didn’t hide.  He didn’t say “That Woman made me do it.”  Instead, he humbled himself and sought forgiveness.

Take a look at where David recorded his thoughts in Psalm 51:

Ps 51:1-7 (NLT)
1 Have mercy on me, O God,  because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,  blot out the stain of my sins.
2 Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.
3 For I recognize my rebellion;  it haunts me day and night.
4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;  I have done what is evil in your sight.
You will be proved right in what you say,  and your judgment against me is just.
5 For I was born a sinner—  yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 But you desire honesty from the womb,   teaching me wisdom even there.

7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;  wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

What if Adam hadn’t hid?  What if he, like David, admitted that he had disobeyed and that he longed for God’s forgiveness?  Imagine how the world might have been different.

The second sin is the sin of excuses.  The sin of blame.  The sin of being unwilling to stand up and admit, “I did it!  I need forgiveness.”

We live in a culture where we constantly defend our rights.  But our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20).  We follow God’s rules and laws.  We’re in no place to make excuses and try to justify ourselves.  Take a look at what King Saul did in 1 Samuel 15.  Instead of obeying God by destroying Amelekites, he took the spoils of the battle for himself.  That was bad enough.  But look at what Saul said in verses 20-21:

“But I did obey the Lord,” Saul insisted. “I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else.    Then my troops brought in the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and plunder to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

Not only does he say that he obeyed, when he didn’t.  But just in case he really was wrong, he tried to cover himself by blaming his troops.  And if that wasn’t bad enough, he referred to God as “the Lord YOUR God.”  Samuel’s God… not his own???

Pathetic.  But don’t we sometimes do the same thing?  If a professional baseball player drops a ball in the outfield, the fans will probably forgive him.  That’s the first sin.  But how long will he remain a starter if he made excuses like  “the grass was wet”, or “the sun was in my eyes”, or “the wind was blowing”, etc. etc.  How long would he remain on the team if he blamed his teammates?

We need to be like David; not Saul. Like David, we need to throw ourselves on the mercy of the court.

“The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars.  The fault is within ourselves.”

Sin pulls us away from God.  We can’t fix it ourselves.  If we don’t reach the point where we confess, we’ll never find the freedom and victory that God wants us to have.

O Lord, Free us for joyful obedience.

 


 Quiz Time!

As you reflect on what you’ve just heard/read, give this quiz a try.  If you don’t understand an answer (or if you disagree with the “correct” answer, post a comment)…

 

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One Comment

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  1. PJB

    Great job as always Chuck and staff. A great presentation of the material

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