Cause and Effect (2- parts)

Greetings and belated Happy Easter!

I  love each and everyone of you and pray God's everlasting grace and mercy for you all.  I hope that amidst all of the turmoil, evil, and immorality in the world, you recognize and enjoy the joy and peace God offers us all.  

Over the past several weeks we have been hit with a series of news events that have hit many of us really hard.  We have seen a deliberate plane crash in the French Alps, killing 150 people; protests in middle America about same-sex marriage; ISIS cutting of the heads of 21 Coptic Christians; and most recently the killing of over 100 Christian or non-Muslim students in Nigeria. Even more odd, was an interesting article in the New York Times on April 3, titled "The Pieces Effect".  The article discussed a minister and his now husband, who is also studying to be a minister. They were married in a church in New York. Obviously, the ultimate concern for us all should be what is happening with the Iranian nuclear negotiations.

My issues are not secluded to sexual orientation. My issues are with the a Christ-less society, secularism, humanism, and lack of historical knowledge of our world today. This is not about me, but I wanted to talk about cause and effect; Merriam Webster's dictionary defines this as an "Adjective 1. noting a relationship between actions or events such that one or more are the result of the other or others." This message will be in two parts, the first will be the cause.  Next week will be the effect(s).  

THE CAUSE:

Let's consider the first sin before humans existed. According to Troy Lacey a writer in AnswerinGenesis.Org, he wrote that "Often when Christians think of the first sin, they think of Adam and Eve and the Fall in the Garden of Eden. While this is indeed the first human sin, it is not the first recorded sin in Scripture. As Christians, we know that the serpent tempted Eve, but we often forget that the Devil’s fall from grace was what set the stage for humankind’s fall, both as antecedent and type.

We catch a glimpse of Satan’s fall in the following passage, prophetically directed at the king of Tyre, but in this portion, apparently meant to include someone apart from humanity (specifically referred to as a cherub) who had been in the Garden of Eden, the prophecy turns into a description of an angel, namely Lucifer:

Ezekiel 28:14-15. 14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so:thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

Matthew Henry Commentary: Ezekiel 28 Vs. 1- 19. Ethbaal, or Ithobal, was the prince or king of Tyre; and being lifted up with excessive pride, he claimed Divine honors. Pride is peculiarly the sin of our fallen nature. Nor can any wisdom, except that which the Lord gives, lead to happiness in this world or in that which is to come. The haughty prince of Tyre thought he was able to protect his people by his own power, and considered himself as equal to the inhabitants of heaven. If it were possible to dwell in the garden of Eden, or even to enter heaven, no solid happiness could be enjoyed without a humble, holy, and spiritual mind. Especially all spiritual pride is of the devil. Those who indulge 

What was the first sin? We learn about it and Satan’s fall from Isaiah 14:12–15: How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How are you cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations! For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet you shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. 

Matthew Henry Commentary: Isaiah 14:12-15; The king of Babylon having the absolute command of so much wealth, by the help of it ruled the nations. This refers especially to the people of the Jews; and it filled up the measure of the king of Babylon's sins. Tyrants sacrifice their true interest to their lusts and passions. It is gracious ambition to covet to be like the Most Holy, for he has said, Be ye holy, for I am holy; but it is sinful ambition to aim to be like the Most High, for he has said, He who exalts himself shall be abased. The devil thus drew our first parents to sin. Utter ruin should be brought upon him. Those that will not cease to sin, God will make to cease. He should be slain, and go down to the grave; this is the common fate of tyrants. True glory, that is, true grace, will go up with the soul to heaven, but vain pomp will go down with the body to the grave; there is an end of it.

It is obvious from the text that Satan’s sin was pride. He was so beautiful, so wise, and so powerful as an angel that he began to covet God’s position and authority. He chafed at having to serve God and grew angry and rebellious. He did not want to serve, he wanted to be served; he, as a creature, wanted to be worshipped. How starkly contrasted to our savior Jesus Christ, who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

Lets now consider the second sin with humans, which is covered in Gen 3:1-7 & 12-13: 1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.  12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. (KJV)

Matthew Henry Commentary: Gen 3:1-7 & 12-13:Genesis 3:1

Vs. 1- 5. Satan assaulted our first parents, to draw them to sin, and the temptation proved fatal to them. The tempter was the devil, in the shape and likeness of a serpent. Satan's plan was to draw our first parents to sin, and so to separate between them and their God. Thus the devil was from the beginning a murderer, and the great mischief maker. The person tempted was the woman:it was Satan's policy to enter into talk with her when she was alone. There are many temptations to which being alone gives great advantage; but the communion of saints tends very much to their strength and safety. Satan took advantage by finding her near the forbidden tree. They that would not eat the forbidden fruit, must not come near the forbidden tree. Satan tempted Eve, that by her he might tempt Adam. It is his policy to send temptations by hands we do not suspect, and by those that have most influence upon us. Satan questioned whether it were a sin or not, to eat of this tree. He did not disclose his design at first, but he put a question which seemed innocent. Those who would be safe, need to be shy of talking with the tempter. He quoted the command wrong. He spoke in a taunting way. The devil, as he is a liar, so he is a scoffer from the beginning; and scoffers are his children. It is the craft of Satan to speak of the Divine law as uncertain or unreasonable, and so to draw people to sin; it is our wisdom to keep up a firm belief of God's command, and a high respect for it. Has God said, Ye shall not lie, nor take his name in vain, nor be drunk, etc.? Yes, am sure he has, and it is well said; and by his grace I will abide by it. It was Eve's weakness to enter into this talk with the serpent:she might have perceived by his question, that he had no good design, and should therefore have started back. Satan teaches men first to doubt, and then to deny. He promises advantage from their eating this fruit. He aims to make them discontented with their present state, as if it were not so good as it might be, and should be. No condition will of itself bring content, unless the mind be brought to it. He tempts them to seek preferment, as if they were fit to be gods. Satan ruined himself by desiring to be like the Most High, therefore he sought to infect our first parents with the same desire, that he might ruin them too. And still the devil draws people into his interest, by suggesting to them hard thoughts of God, and false hopes of advantage by sin. Let us, therefore, always think well of God as the best good, and think ill of sin as the worst evil:thus let us resist the devil, and he will flee from us.

Vs. 6- 8. Observe the steps of the transgression:not steps upward, but downward toward the pit.

1. She saw. A great deal of sin comes in at the eye. Let us not look on that which we are in danger of lusting after, Matthew 5:28.

2. She took. It was her own act and deed. Satan may tempt, but he cannot force; may persuade us to cast ourselves down, but he cannot cast us down, Matthew 4:6.

3. She did eat. When she looked perhaps she did not intend to take; or when she took, not to eat: but it ended in that. It is wisdom to stop the first motions of sin, and to leave it off before it be meddled with.

4. She gave it also to her husband with her. Those that have done ill, are willing to draw in others to do the same.

5. He did eat. In neglecting the tree of life, of which he was allowed to eat, and eating of the tree of knowledge, which was forbidden, Adam plainly showed a contempt of what God had bestowed on him, and a desire for what God did not see fit to give him.

Lacey went into great detail explaining how there was a greater message for us to understand than just the mere sin of Adam and Eve eating the apple in the Garden of Eden. The deeper issue involved the desire to be godlike, the words of Satan aided in thier enticement. What we should take notice in is the transition of man having the ability to walk and talk closely with God, to a relationship with barriers. Man was immediately placed outside of the garden or the immediate favor of God.

As you prepare for next week's message, think about what's behind these actions that are going on, do you see the underlying tones of pride, selfishness, and godlike complexes? Everyone hates the level of responsibility Christ puts on one through free will.  They seem to believe that the Bible prohibits them from enjoying life, or that they are not allowed to have free will.  On the other hand, you have members of other religions who take radicalism and advantage the minds and hearts of people to a level that has had an negative effect on society.   

NOTE:

(“Coptic” means Egyptian,” and Christians living in Egypt identify themselves as Coptic Christians. As a denomination they originated in the city of Alexandria, one of the most faithful, respected, and fruitful cities during the Apostolic Period. Proudly, the Coptic Christians acknowledge and herald John Mark, (author of the Gospel of Mark), as their founder and first bishop sometime between A.D. 42 - A.D. 62. The Coptic Church was actually involved in the very first major split in the Church, well before there was such a thing as "Roman" Catholicism, and it was also well before the East/West split.")

https://answersingenesis.org/sin/the-first-sin