Sin’s Damage

October 31, 2021

Randy Hageman

A Profound Mystery: God’s Design (Part 1)

Serpent: … ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ —Genesis 3:4-5 (ESV)

The Serpent both contradicts God and implies that God is withholding something good from Eve and Adam, creating doubt in their minds about how

God really was – he enticed them to seek what seemed best for

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.

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 3:7 (ESV)

And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. —Genesis 2:25 (ESV)

And [the man] said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.’ [God] said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’ The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.’ Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’ —Genesis 3:10-13 (ESV)

Adam and Eve committed the first sin, called the Fall, for they no longer loved God most and sought what was best for the other, but, instead, looked out for

first.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God —Romans 3:23 (ESV)

The Bible indicates that all of Creation was affected by the

– every person, plant, animal, even the world around us, is not as it should be.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. —Romans 8:19-22 (ESV)

Some aspects of the Fall affect us even though we’ve had no

role in what happens.

But the Fall also led to our active

that caused sinful actions in our lives and those around us.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. —1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (ESV)

Sin has

sexuality, and every one of us has been affected in some way.

Sin always leads us to consider

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wants and desires over the good of others, and it often reduces people to

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to be used rather than people to be loved.

Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, ‘The two are united into one.’ But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. —1 Corinthians 6:15-20 (NLT)

The Spirit lives in Christians, and so when we sin with our

, we are also directly exposing the Spirit to our sins.

Sins have robbed each one of us of some of God’s best intentions for us as we have bought into the

of Satan, often shouted out to us by the

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.

Pornography has

itself into almost every part of modern life.

Anytime we reduce a human being to a thing, we have bought into

lies.

Jesus: You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’ —Matthew 5:27-28 (ESV)

Another common area where sin has been allowed to seem even

is pre-marital sex and co-habitation.

Many today are convinced that it doesn’t matter what they do with their body – it doesn’t affect their

.

Paul is alluding to two profoundly

ways of viewing human beings.

The Greek worldview held that the world was made up of matter and spirit, a duality, and material things were inherently

while spirit was inherently

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.

Hebrew thought saw that body, mind and soul were a

.

The Hebrews, followed by Christians, were some of the only people who saw that creation, and therefore, human bodies were created

.

When two individuals rush sexuality, outside of the covenant of marriage,

are often created that were not intended by the couple, and God’s design for intimacy is short-circuited.

While many couples say they choose to live together first to “test” the relationship before committing to marriage, the research suggests premarital cohabitation doesn’t

the risk of divorce – in fact, it

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it!

The hookup culture is unraveling the social fabric. It produces isolated, alienated adults who come together temporarily for physiological release. By repeatedly breaking up (or never connecting in the first place), many people fail to learn how to form the strong, resilient bonds needed to create happy, fulfilling, long term marriages and families. —Nancy Pearcy

…couples who cohabit prior to a public engagement are more likely to flounder in their marriages. We think that’s because they are more likely to experience sliding into marriage rather than deciding to be together and then getting married. In some ways, cohabitation is sort of like being at McDonald’s compared to having a nice meal at one’s home. Cohabitation is quick, it’s convenient, and it can taste good. But it doesn’t leave the same feeling in your stomach as a good home-prepared meal does, and it’s not as healthy and as enriching for you. —Bradford Wilcox

When we buy into what the culture says, what we may even want because of the nature of sin at work in us, we often end up settling for much

than what God desires and intended for us.

Every sex act is supposed to be a uniting act. Paul insists it is radically dissonant to give your body to someone to whom you will not commit your whole life.… If sex is a method that God invented to do ‘whole life entrustment’ and self-giving, it should not surprise us that sex makes us feel deeply connected to the other person, even when used wrongly. Unless you deliberately disable it, or through practice you numb the original impulse, sex makes you feel personally interwoven and joined to another human being, as you are literally physically joined. —Tim Keller

Jesus reminds us that sexual immorality is one of the ways we can tell our

aren’t as they should be.

Jesus: ‘For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.…’ —Matthew 15:19-20 (ESV - emphasis added)

The Good News is that wherever we’ve been, whatever we’ve done, we can start afresh

!

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. —1 John 1:8-9 (ESV)

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Next Week – Same Sex Attraction