What are the consequences of Sin?
In the previous post we determined that Sin is a transgression of the Law and that everyone has committed sin. Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Except Jesus I Peter 2:21-25) In this post I would like to consider the consequences of Sin.
Death
Before the first sin in the Garden of Eden mankind had access to the tree of life. Once consequence of sin is that we no longer have access to the tree of life. It is in this way that death entered the world. Genesis 3:22-24 “22 Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever— 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” Because we no longer have access to the tree of life we die. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) In addition to physical death there is a greater death that we must truly fear. Paul says in I Corinthians 15:56 that the “sting of death is sin”. Why do many people instinctively fear death? What is its power over us? The bible tells us that the true consequence of sin is eternal death. Mark 9:43 “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.” Jesus said in Matthew 25:46 “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” If we die in our sins we will die eternally in hell.
Separation from God
Isaiah 59:1-3 “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.” Our sin separates us from God. I John 1:5 tells us that God is light and in Him there is no darkness. “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” Because God is light he cannot abide the darkness of sin in our lives. Our sin separates us from God. In fact Paul tells us that our sin causes us to be the enemy of God! (Romans 5:10)
By these two consequences we can see that Sin is a dire problem. It is a problem shared by all men, because all have sinned. In the next post we will discuss God’s plan to save us from our sins.
