A.It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words.However, the Bible is not illustrated with pictures.Nevertheless, the words of the Bible describe images that illustrate its truth perfectly.
B.One of the foundational truths of the Bible is found in Romans 6:23 – "The wages of sin is death…”This truth is illustrated in the Bible time and time again so that we should never forget this fearful message.Let us consider some of these pictures of sin and death in our lesson today.
II.PICTURES OF SIN
A.The first picture of sin is seen in the record of the first sin in Genesis 3.
1.Adam and Eve were blessed to live in the uncorrupted purity of God’s original creation (Gen. 2).
a.God placed them in the lush garden of Eden where everything they needed was provided.
b.In that time, there was no death or suffering, for there was no evil or sin.
2.When Adam and Eve sinned, everything changed for them and their descendants.
a.Eve and all women were cursed with the pain of childbirth, and Adam and all men were cursed to toil over the ground with its thorns and thistles.
b.Moreover, Adam and Eve were put out of the garden and away from the tree of life and from God’s presence.They were even clothed in animal skin, which was their first exposure to death.
c.All of this was in accordance with God’s commandment and His warning in Genesis 2:16-17 – "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
d.To this day, we all suffer the consequences of Adam’s sin, for "through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12).
3.This picture of sin shows the overwhelming effect of sin as it corrupts that which is good and pure and brings death to those who are touched by it.
B.The second picture of sin is found in the record of the first murder when Cain killed his brother Abel in Genesis 4.
1.Cain’s heart was evil, and he was provoked to murder by the righteous deeds of his brother.
a.When God had regard for Abel’s offering given in faith (Heb. 11:4), Cain became angry (Gen. 4:3-5).
b.God warned Cain about his anger, saying, "…sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it” (Gen. 4:7).However, Cain ignored God’s warning, and he murdered his own righteous brother.
c.In 1John 3:12, the apostle John wrote of Cain, saying that he "was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.”
2.This picture of sin shows us the hateful and angry nature of sin, for it leads to murder and death.
a.Jesus taught this truth in Matthew 5:22 – "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”
b.Similarly, John wrote, "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1John 3:15).
C.One of the most powerful pictures of sin is found in the account of the worldwide flood in Genesis 6-7.
1.The sin that started in Adam and Eve became a plague that infected the entire world of their descendents.
a.The world was still suffering under the curse given to Adam when Noah was born (Gen. 5:29).However, rather than ceasing from sin, mankind was increasing in sin.
b.Notice Genesis 6:5-6 – "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”
2.Therefore, God caused a flood that killed all of mankind except for Noah and his family.
a.Notice Genesis 6:7-8 – "The LORD said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.’But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”
b.Noah constructed an ark to preserve his family and certain animals as God commanded him, but the rest of the world was destroyed by water.
3.This picture of sin shows us the devastating results of sin.Nearly all men, who were created in God’s image, were fully given over to evil.For this reason, they all died in a cleansing flood.
D.For the sake of brevity, let us quickly notice a few other pictures of sin from the Old Testament.
1.The picture of sin given in Exodus 32 describes Israel’s sin with the golden calf at Sinai.This resulted in 3,000 men of Israel being killed with the sword by the Levites.
2.The words of Numbers 13-14 describe the sins of Israel that led to an entire generation of God’s chosen people dying without the promised land.Because Israel was unfaithful and believed bad reports of the spies in Canaan, they had to wander for forty years in the wilderness until the guilty generation died.
3.In Joshua 7, the sin of Achan led to the defeat of the Israelite army and the deaths of Achan’s whole family by stoning and burning.
4.The picture of sin in 2Samuel 11-12 begins with the adultery of David and Bathsheba, leads to the murder of Uriah, and ends with the death of a newborn child.
5.One of the most appalling pictures of sin is seen in the people and kings of Israel and Judah who murdered their own children by making them "pass through the fire” as sacrifices to idols (2Ki. 16:1-4; 17:16-17; 21:1-9; 2Chron. 33:1-9; Ezek. 16:15-34).
6.In 2Chronicles 36:13-21, the picture of the destruction of Jerusalem shows the outcome of Judah’s continual sin of idolatry.The city and the temple of God were utterly destroyed, and most of the people were either killed or carried away into captivity in Babylon.
E.The most vivid and heartbreaking picture of sin is that of Christ’s crucifixion in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 18-19.
1.These passages from the New Testament give the details of Christ’s trials and crucifixion, and Psalm 22 gives a perspective from Christ Himself.
2.In Isaiah 53, there is an even greater insight into the relationship between our sins and the death of the Son of God.
a.Verse 3 – "He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”
b.Verse 4 – "Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”
c.Verse 5 – "But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.”
d.Verse 6 – "All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”
e.Verse 7 – "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.”
f.Verse 8 – "By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?”
3.This picture of sin makes the matter very personal, for it was our sins that led to the Lord’s death.
III.CONCLUSION
A.Thankfully, the Bible is not composed only of pictures of sin, but also it gives many pictures of life.
1.While Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death…” it also says, "…but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
2.Just as the image of Christ on the cross is a picture of sin and death, the image of Christ’s empty grave is a picture of salvation and life.
B.To appreciate the gift of eternal life, we also need to understand the truth of sin and death.The Bible’s pictures of sin teach us this truth in a way we must not forget.
