I don’t remember the full context of what this person was wanting to contest, but I clearly remember a point they took exception to which had to do with the conversation that took place in the Garden of Eden where the serpent deceived Eve into eating the fruit. My purpose in referring back to that incident, often, is to illustrate this pattern the enemy has in wanting to refute God’s word. Case and point: God told Adam not to eat off this one particular tree, and if they did, they would ‘surely die’ (Gen. 2:17). The serpent shows up and states just the opposite: “you shall surely NOT die” (Gen. 3:4). And the comment that this person made which stood out to me was: “Clearly...Adam and Eve did not die after they ate from that tree.”
I sensed there was no longer a need to carry on the conversation with this person. I suppose they must have concluded that that story was nothing but a ‘metaphor’, or maybe God really doesn’t mean what He says...or even worse...God must be a ‘liar’, despite the fact we are told it is ‘impossible for God to lie’ (Heb. 6:18). It was clear to me that as knowledgeable of the Bible as this person wanted to come across sounding in, there were some foundational lessons they had clearly missed, and this was not the time or place to bring them up to speed. So let’s examine this idea of what it means to ‘surely die’...when we ‘sin’. I use the word ‘sin’ because that is what we do when we disobey God, or break His commandments (1 John 3:4).
So what happened after Adam and Eve had their ‘fall’? For starters, we are told that it brought a ‘curse’ upon them ... and the earth (Gen. 3:16-19). Then, they were ‘driven’ out of the garden of Eden and a ‘cherubin with a flaming sword’ was set in place to ‘guard the way to the tree of life’ (3:24). No longer could they enjoy ‘walking in the cool of the day’ with God (Gen. 3:8). Because of their ‘sin'...their relationship with God was severely disrupted ...since that is what ‘sin’ does- it separates us from God (Isa. 59:2; Eph.4:17-18). And if you get nothing else from this post today, then let this be the one thing you ‘take to the bank’: - Apart from God, we have no life. (John 15:4-5) Please let that sink in for a moment ...or two.
The person I cited above who was of the opinion that Adam and Eve did ‘not die’ after their sin... must not be familiar with Romans 5:12 that states “...through one man sin entered the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned...”. We are told in Ezekiel 18:20 that “The soul who sins shall die”...because...”the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23) And does James 1:15 ring a bell?
Paul certainly understood this idea of what it means to ‘die’ because he goes into great detail explaining the difference between the ‘spiritual’ mindset and the ‘carnal’ one and how those who remain ‘carnally minded’ (mind set on the flesh nature) are hostile towards God, incapable of pleasing Him or subjecting themselves to His law (Rom. 8:5-8). He flat states that to be 'carnally minded is death' (8) and further emphasizes this point when he writes “If you continue to live according to the flesh you will die...” (8:13)
Now, please turn and read Ephesians 2:1-2. What was the condition we were all in when we ‘walked according to the course of this world’? Does your Bible state we were ‘dead’? What do you suppose that even looks like...to be ‘dead’...especially if we are still breathing and moving and eating and existing day to day?
How odd must it have sounded when Jesus told people whose ‘hearts were beating’ as they breathed and functioned in this world...”I have come that you might have ‘life’...” (John 10:10). What on earth was He talking about? Or how about what He mentioned in passing to those who seemed diligent in their study of the scriptures, pointing out that “you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40)
Is it possible that so many of us have failed to see what true ‘living’ really is because we are fixated on the ‘natural world’ and blinded to a ‘spiritual world’ where true life is found? How many people stay confused and ‘in the dark’ like that Samaritan woman was... at the well who met Jesus as He introduced her to this idea of drinking ‘living water’ (John 4:7-14)?
Take a moment and go back and read Ephesians 4:17-18 where Paul explains how we all ‘walked’ at one time as ‘blinded Gentiles...having our understanding darkened... and were alienated from the life of God...”. Care to guess who blinded us or had a ‘veil’ around our eyes/minds? Go read 2 Cor. 4:3-4. Then, back up one chapter to see how that ‘veil’ is removed (2 Cor. 3:16) which then leads to the question of: “what does it really mean for one to ‘turn to the Lord’...so that ‘veil’ can be removed?” (Don’t miss tomorrow’s message)
I’m assuming most of us are familiar with this concept of being ‘brain dead’ where we’ve seen or known of someone who was in an accident and were hooked up to a ‘life support’ machine. All their organs were kept ‘functioning’; i.e. heart was pumping blood and lungs were breathing and kidneys were functioning; but there was just one problem: they were ‘brain dead’. And at some point, a painful decision has to be made as to when to turn the machine off. Anyone see where I am going with this one? If we are not abiding...in Jesus, we are spiritually ‘dead’. And yet amazingly, we are living in that hour that Jesus spoke of in John 5:28...where many who are in their ‘graves’...are hearing His voice...and ‘coming out’ just...like Lazarus did (John 11:43-44). Do you hear Him calling your name?
How are you responding to Him? Be sure and meet me here tomorrow- you don't want to miss what I have to share with you then.
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