Impact of Sin

Posted on August 29, 2019 by America's Keswick in Freedom Fighters

The greatest impact of sin is on our loss of intimacy with God.

When Adam ate of the fruit of the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil’, he revealed that he treasured other things more than God. In doing so, he chose a lesser good, and set all mankind on a trajectory away from God, who is absolute perfection. We see the evidence of this path that Adam’s choice set us on when John describes the state of humanity at Christ’s coming as Savior of the world. John writes, “This is the verdict: Light (Jesus) has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light (Jesus), and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed (naked)” (John 3:19-20.) Mankind was created to participate in God’s Love. When we, by our obedience to His sovereign Word, through faith that knows it’s true, choose to treasure Him above all else by ‘loving Him with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds, and love our neighbors as ourselves’, we give God the glory, which pleases Him.

It is the motive for the choices that we make that reveal what we treasure most. I could be following all the rules established by God, yet still not love Him. Samuel pointed this out to Saul, when he declared, “Does the Lord have great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22)

The Bible tells us, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, ‘and he was heard because of his reverent submission.’ It was not His following the rules that created the intimacy with the Father, but His humility and love for the Lawgiver and His Word that did. Scripture goes on to say, ‘though Jesus was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 5:7-10)

Just as Jesus died to Himself (all His will) in submissive reverence to the will of the Father, so must we die to self, and by so doing we become a new creation, leaving behind the old way of doing things where we lived by sight and desire. The new way that we can enjoy has been revealed to us through Christ’s example of living by faith in the One who loves Him perfectly.

If Adam had trusted in God’s Word, treasuring Him above all else, and not eaten of the fruit of the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil’ he would have remained in intimate fellowship with God. Instead, a sacrifice to cover over his shame and to restore a form of fellowship had to be made; and he had to be mercifully driven out of the garden of God’s presence where the Tree of Life resides, so that he wouldn’t eat of it and live forever in a state of death and alienation.

I guess the phrase; ‘we don’t know what we truly have until we lose it’ can be applied at this point. Adam was now to suffer the results of the curse brought about by his choices. But this is not outside of God’s plan, for just as Jesus learned obedience and was made perfect by what He suffered, so too we can be made ‘new creations’ through our learning obedience in the midst of suffering, and dying to our self wills and walking by faith in the One who loves us perfectly. It is in this way we can be restored to what Adam had and lost… to intimately participate in God’s love forever.

Praying that it be today that you learn to walk by faith and not by sight… and see God’s mighty hand at work in your life.

Choose wisely…

Written By David Brown: David Brown is a husband, father, and grandfather with a Masters of Religious Studies and a Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Religions. Dave is a member of Pemberton’s First Baptist Church.

Think About This:  I have now concentrated all my prayers into one, and that one prayer is this, that I may die to self, and live wholly to Him.

The Daily Bible Reading: Psalms 126-128, 2 Corinthians 8| You can download our 2018 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. – Psalm 139:7-8

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the doctrinal and theological views held by America’s Keswick.