The Gospel's Answer To
The "Result" Of Sin
(The Gift Of Eternal
Life)
**When you live a sinful
life (drugs, alcohol ,partying-worldly living), and you reject the truth, it
leads to more trouble that brings you to your death. Jesus gives the way to
life for all to come to Him for eternal life, but as we have free will, we turn
away from that opportunity. And before we know it, our spiritual death leads to
physical death. The lifestyle we live results in where our path leads to. Will
we walk with Christ and live, or will we walk in the path of the world and die?
**
1. The purpose in this
series of lessons has been to help us understand
and appreciate how the
gospel of Christ is indeed God's power to save
us –
“For I am not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one
that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the
righteousness of god revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just
shall live by faith.”
A. ONE RESULT OF SIN IS
"SPIRITUAL DEATH"...
1. The death referred to
by God when He warned Adam & Eve
“And the Lord God took
the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And
the Lord God commanded the man, saying, or every tree of the garden thou mayest
freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not
eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
a. Note: "...for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou
shalt surely die."
b. They did not die
"physically" in the day they ate of the
forbidden fruit, but
they did die "spiritually" in that day
2. "Spiritual"
death is "separation from God"
a. Death of any sort
involves the idea of "separation"
b. Just as physical
death is the separation of body and spirit
“For as the body without
the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
3. "Spiritual"
death is what occurs when all sin
“Wherefore, as by one
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned:”
a. It occurs when we
reach that "age of accountability" where
we know the difference
between right and wrong, and then
violate God's law
“For I was alive without
the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.”
b. This is the
"death" referred to in
“And you hath he
quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”
1) All who are outside
of Christ are "dead in sin"
2) Those who are
"dead in sin" are separated from God and
all the blessings that
would otherwise come from union
with Him
“Behold, the Lord’s hand
is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot
hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your
sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”
B. ANOTHER RESULT OF SIN
IS "PHYSICAL DEATH"...
1. Because of their sin,
Adam and Even lost access to the "tree of
life"
“And the Lord God said,
Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he
put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for
ever: therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till
the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at
the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned
every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
2. Because access to the
"tree of life" was lost, all mankind is
subject to
"physical" death - "in Adam all die"
“For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
C. THE FINAL RESULT OF SIN
IS THE "SECOND DEATH"...
1. This death is
referred to in
“But the fearful, and
unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and
sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which
burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
2. This
"death" involves eternal separation from God!
3. This
"death" Jesus often spoke of and warned about
“And fear not them which
kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is
able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
“For the wages of sin is
death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
but the same can be said
about "the gift of eternal life"! No matter
what the result of sin,
the promise of eternal life more than makes up
for it!]
II. THE GIFT OF
ETERNAL LIFE
A. THE GOSPEL PROMISES
EVEN NOW "ETERNAL LIFE"...
1. John speaks of this
"life" as a present possession in
1John 5:11-13
“And this is the record,
that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that
hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These
things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that
ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of
the Son of God.”
2. This is "eternal
life" in the sense of knowing God and Jesus in
a special way, having
fellowship with them
“And this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent.”
This "eternal life", which is yet to
be realized by those who
are in Christ...
a. Comes after
one has:
1) Been set free from
sin (which occurs in baptism
Romans 6:3-7
“Know ye not, that so
many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk
in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his
death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that
our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.”
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