“Eden’s Enduring Impact”

Advent 4 – December 19 th and 20th, 2009

Genesis 4:1-2, 6-8, 25-5:5

Unless you have been paying absolutely no attention to the news the last 2 ½ weeks, then I’m sure you’ve
heard quite a bit about the recent humiliating saga of the world’s most prolific golfer, Tiger Woods. A recent article
by the Associated Press enumerated the real ramifications of Tiger Woods’ actions, how it would not only taint his
career as quite possibly the greatest golfer of all time, but how his transgressions would have a cumulative effect
upon the game of golf as a whole. Sponsors have already begun to pull their support from many of the tournaments
that Tiger was going to play in, and the PGA fears that a “Tiger-less” tour would bring irreversible consequences on
the sport of golf. Who knew marital infidelity could have such impactful consequences?
I think it’s pretty safe to say that people don’t always think about how their words or actions in the moment
are going to have long-term ramifications. Just take Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as an example. They
failed to see how their participation in the devil’s rebellion in the Garden would have long-lasting effects. Could
they have imagined how their sin would be passed down like an inherent disease to their children, and then
magnified and glorified to the point where their firstborn son, Cain, in unbelief, would take the life of his brother
Abel? Did they ever think that Cain would literally become the patriarch of the unbelieving world, whose
descendants would clutter the earth with violence, hatred and worship of false gods? Certainly not! In that moment
in Eden, Adam and Eve failed to see how giving in to the devil’s temptation would have a cumulative effect upon
their children and every generation after them.
The events of Eden leave upon the human race a lasting legacy – a legacy of sin which is passed down from
generation to generation, but also a legacy of promise. For it was right there in the Garden, even before the
expulsion of Adam and Eve, that God made a special promise to them, and hence to every generation after them, a
promise of an offspring who would crush the serpent and his power forever. As we approach the celebration of our
Savior’s birth, let’s examine today the real enduring impact of Eden. Because of what happened in Eden, every
generation is diseased with sin, as is evident in Genesis 4 and the fratricide committed by Cain against his brother
Abel. And yet, as Paul states so beautifully in Romans, “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” Because
of God’s promise in Eden, every generation is delivered from sin, through the promised Savior, the child of
Bethlehem.

I. Every generation is diseased with sin

The story of Cain and Abel is one of those Bible stories that we have known almost all our lives. It is a
classic example of sibling rivalry. The sons of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel make offerings to the Lord from the
wealth that the Lord had provided for them. The Lord accepts one offering, because it was given from a heart of
faith that trusted in the Messianic promise, and the Lord rejects the other offering because it was given from an
unbelieving heart as a mindless, heartless ritual act, an act by which Cain was trying to earn favor with God. Cain
becomes jealous of Abel, the “oh-so righteous brother,” calls him out to the field and murders him in cold blood.
You’ve known the account your whole life.
 But this sad account of the first murder, and first fratricide is much more than just a lesson about jealousy
and hatred. It is much more than just a moral story about how we should love our fellow man, especially our
family. Genesis 4 is first of all, a disturbing record of just how devastating and destructive sin really is, and how
from generation to generation it manifests its ugly head in ways that are increasingly rebellious, devious and violent.
Think of sin in terms of a hereditary disease. There are certain diseases that have been identified in the
scientific community as hereditary. Autism, asthma, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, even cancer are genetic
disorders that can be passed down from one generation to the next.
That’s how David describes sin...as hereditary...in Psalm 51:5, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the
time my mother conceived me.” The disease of sin, and its effects, including unbelief and death, are inherited
qualities that are passed down from generation to generation, something that Adam and Eve realized when their
firstborn son, Cain, murdered his brother in cold blood. Cain wasn’t the perfect son that they wanted him to be.
He wasn’t the perfect child that they needed and were anticipating, the offspring who would save them from sin and
from the power of the devil. Cain (and Abel for that matter) shared the image of his parents...their fallen image, and
just like his parents, gave himself over to the devil’s schemes in the moment without considering the enduring
ramifications of his words and actions, not just for himself, but for the generations to come, his descendants who
would follow in his murderous footsteps, and continue in his unbelieving ways.
Do you see a bit of yourself in Cain? I know I do – in his mindless ritualism, his greed, his petty jealousy,
and the mounting hatred of his brother, and the lack of remorse over his transgressions – yes, I see myself in him,
and you do too! Even though we may not have raised our hands to murder another human being in cold blood, it is
evident that we have the disease of Eden, it’s terrible legacy deeply rooted within us, deeply entrenched inside of us,
so much so that every day of our lives we are affected by it in ways that we cannot even begin to consider or
enumerate.
And if that terrible and all-encompassing disease of sin remains untreated – like a cancer, it grows, it spreads,
it consumes, it kills – destroying not just the body, for the Lord very clearly says in Ezekiel 18:20, “The soul who sins
is the one who will die.” But eventually, the infection of sin, if left untreated, kills the soul too. Understand, that
isn’t a theological concept and truth that was limited to Cain, or to the pre-flood world, or to people long, long ago
– it is something that remains true for us this very day and will continue to be true for every single generation of
man until the day when the Lord will bring to destruction the present heavens and earth. Every generation is
diseased with sin.

II. Every generation is delivered by the Savior

What would you do if you discovered that you may have a life-threatening disease? Maybe you have had
such an ailment already in your life. What do you do? You’d probably go to the doctor and have an examination
done so that you are made aware of the extent of the disease, and then you would rely completely on the doctors and
the nurses not only to come up with the regiment of treatment, but also to administer the treatment. There’s a
certain level of trust that we place in our physicians – who not only diagnose us, but also treat our diseases with the
right medication for our well-being.
Sin is a disease, a deadly spiritual cancer that is passed down to every single person from generation to
generation, an ugly, puss-filled, festering infection that has a mortality rate of 100%. Everyone needs treatment – a
treatment that will work. We need a healing balm, an enduring cure...which was revealed to us by the great
Physician already in Eden, even before Cain killed Abel, before the descendants of Cain blazed a trail of rebellion,
violence and unbelief in the world – God’s promise of deliverance from sin through the Savior in Genesis 3:15,
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head and
you will strike his heel.”
Just as Paul told us in Romans, which I referenced earlier in our sermon, “Where sin increased, grace increased
all the more.” When that infection of sin made its festering presence in this world in the Garden, God chose in his
grace to provide the cure, promised in the Garden – not a checklist of things for us to do, as if we could ever do
them all, not a list of laws for us to keep, as if we could keep them all, not a standard of perfection, as if we could
ever live up to it – no, God provided the healing balm of innocent blood, the blood of his perfect Son, Jesus, who
not only is the medicine for sin, but the administrator of the medicine.
That’s why we run to him this Advent season. That’s why we run with the shepherds to the place where the
child lay, for there in Bethlehem, in the manger poor and lowly is our hope for life, the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead
of shedding the blood of others in anger, like Cain, Jesus let others shed his blood, out of love for you and me.
Instead of making excuse after excuse, even asking the belligerent question, “Am I my brother’s keeper,” the Lord
Jesus exhibited what perfect love for his fellow man really is: “To lay down his life for those he loves,” doing absolutely
everything that needed to be done – living perfectly, dying innocently and rising gloriously, so that every generation
may find hope in him – the hope of life beyond this world.
Sometimes we have a hard time realizing the long-term ramifications of things we say and do “in the
moment.” Tiger Woods certainly is starting to understand that as the days and weeks go by. And it’s something
that we will need to keep in mind as well this Christmas season. As we draw near to the manger this week, let’s not
forget the long-term, enduring impact that Eden has left on us all. In Adam, all mankind has become diseased with
sin, and is so thoroughly infected that, without treatment, there is most certainly eternal death. But in Christ, the
promised “Offspring of the woman,” whose innocent blood was the healing balm for sin, there is most certainly
deliverance from sin and eternal life. Amen.