The Gospel & Salvation: The Natural Consequences of Sin

The Natural Consequences of Sin

Genesis 3:14, 17-19

 Let’s open our Bibles again to Genesis 3. By way of a quick review I will just remind you that we are looking at the gospel and the work of salvation. In the early part of this series we have been looking at the impact of man’s fall into sin. Man’s fall into sin brought about some devastating consequences. We are looking at these consequences in order that we might fully understand what salvation delivers us from. Understanding our sin problem and seeing what God has done to deliver us from it is what makes the gospel such “good news.”

In the previous weeks of this series we have seen the spiritual consequences of sin. When man fell into sin, his eyes were opened and he knew he was naked. He began to feel shame and guilt. His conscience was awakened. He now felt the need to run and hide from God. He was now alienated from his Creator and wanted nothing to do with Him. 

The spiritual consequences show us that man is sinful and corrupt. He cannot see the truth. He is evasive with his answers. He is deceptive, self-protective, self-justifying, and he is shifting blame to anyone other than himself. He will not take personal responsibility for his sin. He will not cry out to God for mercy. The sinner is not interested in restoration, forgiveness and reconciliation. The sinner’s lack of love for God has come to fruition. 

We see no hatred for sin and for what sin has done to them. They don’t have any desire to turn away from sin and turn to God. The only way the problem is going to be solved is if God graciously releases the man and woman from the bondage to their sinful condition.

We have also looked at the relational consequences of man’s fall. God’s curse on the woman impacted her in the realm of her two most important relationships in life, her relationship to her children and her husband. God greatly multiplied pain in childbirth. We learned last week that this indicates a multiplied capacity for pregnancy. Historically, the life of women has been difficult because she has borne many children and struggled to care for and provide for basic needs. More children throughout history have died in childbirth or infancy than have survived. Those who have survived have been a source of joy and fulfillment for women, but they are a constant source of concern.

The multiplied pain of childbirth could have been mitigated to some degree if she had a husband who was compassionate, tender, loving and committed to her needs. However, the reality is that historically this isn’t been her experience. Her desire has been to control her husband and his response has been to rule over her. As we saw last week, this initiated the beginning of the battle of the sexes. Marriage relationships have been impacted by the Fall of man into sin. Relationships suffer because of sin. If you have ever, or are currently experiencing struggles in your marriage, go to the website and listen to last week’s message if you missed it.

Genesis 3 describes not only the spiritual consequences and the relational consequences, but also natural consequences. Stand together with me as we read Genesis 3 together as we prepare our hearts to hear the word of the Lord. Read Genesis 3.

Having considered the spiritual and relational consequences described in Genesis 3, I want us to consider the natural consequences from this text today. When we think about the natural consequences of sin, it is fair to say that they fall into two categories. There are natural consequences related to the principle of reaping and sowing. Paul tells us about this category of consequences in Galatians 6:7-8. He writes, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

We have all experienced the consequences of reaping and sowing, and we see that principle at work in our world. If you do stupid things you will experience painful consequences. Drink too much and you end up with a hangover and a terrible headache. That may very well be the least of your problems. If you are unfaithful to your spouse you will destroy your marriage. If you engage in promiscuous sexual activity outside of marriage you end up with unplanned pregnancy or STD’s. Homosexuality kills. Tell a lie and you will have to keep telling more lies to cover up for that lie and you destroy your credibility.

God ordained the law of sowing and reaping and natural consequences. He has woven them into the very fabric of life to remind us of one of life’s most fundamental principles. We win or lose by the way we choose. I heard Craig say that many years ago and I thought it captured one of the most fundamental truisms of life. We do win or lose by the way we choose. That is clearly spelled out in Scripture. Read Leviticus 26:3-20.

The other category of “natural” consequences we will look at today are not necessarily the same as the natural consequences of sowing and reaping. These are the consequences of God’s curse on our natural world. These are the impacts on the created order. In reality, these are divinely ordained and imposed consequences which impact mankind’s relationship with the natural order. As with all the other consequences we have seen, these natural world consequences remind us that there are none exempt from the effects if sin. It was man who sinned. It was man who broke God’s moral law and did not love Him with all his heart, mind, and soul. It was man who did not love his Creator supremely. It was man who ignored the glory of the Creator. It was man who is responsible for the corruption of mankind and the sin that catapulted mankind into sin. Yet, man was not the only part of God’s created order to suffer the consequences.

Turn to Romans 8 for a moment and let’s look at Paul’s comments on these natural world consequences. Read verses 18-25. The context of this is suffering. Paul suffered as a Christian. He concluded the previous paragraph by stating that “if we suffer with Him (Christ) so that we may also be glorified with Him.” Suffering is another of the consequences of the Fall. Suffering as a Christian is the result of living as a Christian in a world which lies in the power of the evil one. Adam and Eve’s choice to follow Satan rather than God gave Satan that measure of power in the world. Satan is the god of this world.

Paul then goes on to tell us something insightful. This is New Testament commentary on the Genesis verses we will examine today. In verse 19 he says, “For the anxious longing of creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” The revealing of the sons of God happens when Christ returns. At that time the effects of the curse of God we are studying in Genesis 3 will be reversed. Redemption comes to man and to the created order. Christ will restore things back to what they were before the Fall, even for His creation.

Verse 20 says, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” We are going to see in Genesis 3 how creation was subjected to futility. Creation itself hopes for redemption. In fact, verse 22 says, “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” Creation longs for the redemption to come. Just like we who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan within ourselves waiting eagerly our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies, creation looks forward to its own deliverance.

Let’s go back to Genesis 3 and look at these natural world consequences. We find the first one in verse 14. “The Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life.” This is a curse directed at the serpent. God’s curse of Satan, the evil one who embodied the serpent, comes in verse 15. We are going to save the curse on Satan for a later study. The curse on the serpent, or the snake, was a natural world consequence. The curse on Satan was something else.

The serpent is cursed even though the serpent was only the animal through which Satan worked. Animals, including snakes, are not rationally thinking creatures. The serpent was an unwitting participant in the deception leading to the Fall. The serpent didn’t think about his options and decide to offer itself to Satan to embody and speak. The serpent possessed no ability to think, or speak, or decide such a thing. Because the serpent is what it is, it knows nothing about the curse. Snakes aren’t crawling around on their bellies saying, “if that serpent in the garden of Eden hadn’t allowed itself to be taken over by Satan, we wouldn’t be liking dust all the time.”

If the purpose of this curse on the serpent isn’t to punish the serpent, then what is its purpose? Why would God curse this creature if it wasn’t rationally involved in what transpired in the garden? The answer is that by cursing the serpent, it became a symbolic, constant reminder of God’s curse on Satan.

Satan’s original sin was to seek the most exalted, highest position in all of creation. He wanted to ascend to the throne of God. He wanted to be God. The place of his final and eternal existence is the lake of fire which has been prepared for him and his fallen angels. In between his fall from glory and his eternal dwelling he has been cast down to the earth. To symbolize his ultimate humiliation, the serpent which he entered and through which he worked, is now sentenced to crawl on his belly and eat the dust of the earth. Every time you see a snake crawling on its belly we can be reminded of Satan’s ultimate humiliation, his defeat, and his eternal fate in the lake of fire.

The curse produced a revulsion that most people experience when they see a snake. Most people’s heart skips a beat when they unexpectedly encounter a snake. This isn’t because they are ugly. They are not. It isn’t because they are deadly. The vast majority are not. I have spent a lot of time in the woods in my life and any time I come across a snake and I am surprised by its appearance, I become a skilled dancer. I’m creating some space between myself and the critter. Once I determine it to be harmless I may re-approach for a closer look. But the initial response is reflexive. You can’t help it. This is not my response to the unexpected encounter with most of God’s other creatures.

Rabbinic tradition holds that prior to the curse the serpent was an upright walking creature. I read that boas and pythons still have pelvic spurs. The evolutionists claim that this is evidence that snakes once had legs. If they did, they didn’t lose them through some evolutionary process. They lost them because God removed them instantaneously at the time of this curse.

Verse 14 tells us that the serpent is cursed “more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field.” Cattle represent all domesticated animals. Beasts of the field represent all undomesticated animals. All animals, from that point on, experienced the consequences of the curse of God on the natural order. They age, get diseases, and die. Nothing died before the Fall and the curse. Before the Fall, every creature ate vegetation. Now predators would kill and consume prey. Before the Fall there was no fear of man among the animals. After the Fall animals flee from the presence of a man.

But the serpent is cursed uniquely. It is subjected to the humiliation of crawling on its belly and eating dust. This does not mean that dust is its food. It is another symbolic way of indicating the level of its humiliation. Even in our world today the idea of eating dust means that someone is soundly defeated. Psalm 72 is a prayer of Solomon. In verse 8 he asks God to extend his reign from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. Then in verse 9 he asks, “let the nomads of the desert bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust.” Liking the dust was synonymous with being soundly defeated.

John MacArthur makes this point worth sharing. He says that it may be a bit bizarre to think of it, but in some ways the snake is like the rainbow. The rainbow is a symbol of God’s promise. The snake is a reminder of the fact that Satan, who sought to lift himself up, was cast down to the earth and will be ultimately cast into the lake of fire.

There is another interesting point to make. The end of Genesis 3:14 says this will be true of the serpent, “all the days of your life.” Turn to Isaiah 65:25. These words describe the conditions on earth after Christ returns. This is when our redemption will be fully realized. We will be with Him and reign with Him. The effects of God’s curse on the created order will be reversed. Well, most of them. There is one that will remain. Look at verse 25. “The wolf and the lamb will graze together…” The predator will return to being a vegetarian. “The lion will eat straw like the ox.” Now the lion would eat the ox. Then they will eat straw together. The natural world consequences of the curse of God will be reversed. But look at what it says next. “And dust will be the serpent’s food.” Isaiah goes on to say that they will do no harm in all My holy mountain. They will not bite and their poison will not harm. But they will still eat dust. This is because God declared in Genesis 3 that this would be the serpent’s sentence as long as it existed, or “all the days of your life.”

Look now at verse 17 for the next natural world consequence of the curse. “Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat from it,”; cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you will eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you will eat bread,’”

Why was the man cursed? “Because you listened to the voice of your wife”. Adam was not deceived like Eve. He chose willingly to disobey God. He chose making his wife happy over pleasing God. He decided to listen to her rather than to listen to God. Because he abdicated his role as the spiritual leader, the human race was plunged into sin. His decision brought devastating consequences not only on him, but also on creation and the natural order.

Just like the curse on the woman was on the main sphere of her existence, her relationship to her children and her husband, the curse on the man impacts his main sphere. The curse on Adam was directed at his primary realm of responsibility. Man was originally given dominion and told to tend the garden and eat from it. Now he will live in subordination to the ground. The will struggle with the ground to eek out an existence and he will eventually return to the ground and become dust.

God spoke to Adam. This is the first time we see his name. Before this he is called the man. Here he is called Adam. The Hebrew word for man is ‘adam’. Interestingly enough, the Hebrew word for dust is “adamah.” Man comes from dust. Man is made from the dust of the ground and everything he eats comes from the ground. He came to life from the dirt. His life is sustained from the dirt. When life is over he returns to the dirt. 

The man’s pain is experienced from the fight he wages against the dirt for the bread he needs to survive. Before the Fall every living creature was in submission to him. Even the ground abundantly supplied everything he needed. Work was involved only in gather the food and pruning the trees of the garden. Now, nothing willingly submits to him or willingly supplies his needs. He is in a daily battle for food for the rest of his life.

Prior to sin and the Fall, the Garden was abundantly watered. Four rivers flowed through it. A mist watered everything in just the perfect amount. Trees never failed to yield fruit in abundance. Now there will be inconsistent water supply, hard soil, weeds, inconsistent weather patterns that will produce storms that will destroy the crops. There will be late freezes that kill tender plants, droughts that starve the plants of needed water, destruction from winds, hail, insects, or pests. The earth will still yield enough, but it won’t be easy to get what he needs to survive.

“In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.” “Toil” carries the idea of misery and sorrow. Laborious toil is pictured here. Work had been a joyful and fulfilling experience before the Fall. All Adam had to do was pick the fruit. Now he must exert immense effort and battle the forces that are counterproductive.

Thorns and thistles it shall grow for you. We might wish it said, “Wheat and barley it will grow for you.” Thorns and thistles, weeds and undesirable plant life will sprout up with the good seed and compete for vital moisture and nutrients in the soil. Anyone who has ever planted a garden has dealt with this reality. You can do everything you know to clean and prep the soil. You plant the good stuff and hope it grows. You watch helplessly as the bad stuff just shows up. You work for the food, but the weeds are free. Thanks Adam. It reminds us of this curse. This is another reminder of our need for redemption.

How long will this toil last? Verse 19 tells us, “By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Adam would feel the consequences of his sin until the day of his death. For Adam that turned out to be 930 years. That was a long time to remember what he had in the Garden of Eden, and what he was now dealing with. For over 900 years he would eek out a living by the sweat of his face. It is good that God made the body to sweat and provide some natural cooling.

This points to the final natural world consequence of sin and the Fall that I want to cover in this message. I will be brief today. We will have more to say about this natural consequence later. Death is the ultimate natural consequence of sin and the curse. Sin resulted in the universal sentence of death. Because we are all descendant of Adam, we all inherited our sin nature from him. We are all sinners. We are all part of the rebellious race that must pay the ultimate price for our sin. We must die because sinners die.

There is nothing quite like death to make us think about the consequences of sin. God has set eternity in all our hearts. God has revealed His existence through creation and the conscience. We all know there is a God. We know that some day we will stand before Him and give an account. Death is the great equalizer. No one escapes the death sentence of the sinner.

If anything should serve to make you want the cure for the curse, this is it. It has been appointed to man to die once, and after this the judgment. (Heb. 9:27)

We will have a lot more to say about the hope of life as we move from the consequences and the curse to a study of the cure in the future. But I want to close with a thought about God’s grace and death.

Our text in Genesis shows us God’s grace in the face of man’s sinful condition. Read verses 22-24. Given the consequences of sin and the impact of sin on the first couple, how difficult would it be to live forever in a sinful condition.

We live in a broken world. It didn’t start out that way, but sin brought about consequences. When you hear of wildfires, avalanches, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, tidal waves or anything else that brings death and destruction, just remember that the world is broken because of sin. God has given us all these reminders of our need for the solution, which is found in Jesus Christ alone.

I will be gone next Sunday. Matthew is going to follow this message with a message on the generational consequences of sin. He will walk you through the subsequent chapters of Genesis to show you how the sin of the first man and woman impacted everyone who came from their loins.