Sin's Death Trap

Every time there is a sin at that moment there is a death. But Dr. Tony Evans says God has given us a way out of that trap. And when you get hooked up right with Him, death no longer controls you. Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, this is the alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative.

The deadliest, most effective traps are the ones that look harmless. Dr. Evans says that's exactly the way sin works, and today he'll explain how to avoid becoming a victim. You'll want to turn to the book of Genesis as we join him. There is a cloud cover that covers the human race, a cloud cover of destruction.

And we look at it and we say, how could he do that, she do that, or I do that? Because there's this covering. And God said in chapter 2 verse 17, every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but the tree in the midst of the garden, do not eat it or you're going to die. So the cloud cover that covers the human race can be summed up in one word, and that is the word death.

That's the cloud cover. And he says, you shall surely die. Sin results in death.

So the two are always put together. You cannot sin and not die. Every time there is a sin, at that moment there is a death.

But we're defining death as the Bible defines it, that a separation occurs. Now with that in mind, let's see what happened to Adam and Eve when they sinned against God and what happens to us when we do likewise. Verse 7 of Genesis chapter 3, they have eaten of the fruit under the tutelage of Satan. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked.

They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. He said, on the day you eat, you will die. They did, but not physically. They didn't die for hundreds of years physically. What happened that day was they died spiritually because a separation occurred between them and God.

So the first kind of death is spiritual death, where your relationship with God is broken. It says that when they got exposed to evil, it affected their relationship with God, and they sewed fig leaves around themselves to cover themselves because what was supposed to be natural now became immodest. That's why when you wear clothes, people describe you as modest or immodest because the exposure is now viewed as something inappropriate, and so they are now exposed and they don't want God to see.

They don't want God to see their exposure, and so they do what we all do when we're exposed. We cover up. It says, they hid behind the trees.

Oh, wait a minute. Those are good trees. All the trees are good because everything God made was good.

They sewed their loincloths with leaves from the trees. So they not only hide from God, they hide from God in His blessings. They use the goodness of God as their hiding place. How many folk here this morning are hiding in church? You're in the place that God created, but you're hidden, and you got your good-looking loincloths on.

He's hiding in the place of blessing. So God has to come looking for them because they have run from God. Spiritual death is where there is an illegitimate separation from fellowship with the living God, and sin produces an illegitimate, something God does not want, separation from God.

And the Bible says this separation has affected and infected the whole human race. Ephesians chapter 2, you are dead in your trespasses and in your sins. Talk about spiritual death. Something else happened. He didn't just die spiritually. He died emotionally, and she died emotionally.

Notice what he says, verse 10. I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid. Because I was naked, so I hid myself.

Wait a minute. He's now living a life of fear. Fear is an emotion. Because I was naked, he's now living a life of shame. He's now knowing what it feels like to feel guilty for disobeying. So his emotions have been turned inside out, upside down, because there has been a death.

Why? Because there has been a separation from well-being. You know how it is when you're feeling well emotionally, and you're happy, and you're excited, and you're no longer nervous, and things are calm, and you are in control of your emotions, and they're not taking you every which way but loose, because you've been stable in your soul. But when something happens, when you've broken a law or the law, you know how it is to feel guilt and shame and to be terrified of what could happen. They're now living like this.

And so they sell fig leaves. Oh, but that's not the only kind of death, because remember, death is separation. They spiritually die, which led to emotional death, and that led to relational death. He says in verse 16 to the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children.

I'll talk about that in a moment. Yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. Because you used your role to entice him, I am going to amplify your desire to be the head of this house.

How do I know that's what he means by desire? Because of chapter 4 verse 7, he says to Cain, if you will do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door, and it's—here it is—desire is for you. What sins desire to control you?

So when he uses it of the wife, he's using the same thing. Your desire to control him is going to be magnified. So if you are married to a controlling woman, it is the curse at work. If she wants to be your boss, if she wants you to submit to her, if she wants to—and she may have come from a controlling matriarchal household, but he says because you wanted to take the role and take his role, illegitimately, well we're gonna let you see where that gets you.

And I'll tell you where it will get you. He will rule over you. So now the question is, are there any women married to any domineering men? Any men who say, well you ain't my mama and you ain't telling me what to do.

I don't have to listen to your advice. I'm the king here. I'm in charge here, and as far as you're concerned, you're a cook, a bottle washer, and you have no safe soul.

You being a helpmaid is totally rejected because he reacts to your domineering, and you react to his rule, and what you have as a curse is the battle of the sexes in the home. So you wind up fighting for everything, ham and eggs, and you wind up fighting for everything. He likes it cold, and she likes it hot, and she go to bed early. You go to bed late.

Everything turns into World War III. Why? Because a death has occurred in the relationship. There's a death because death means separation. So now we want to separate. Now we want to get a divorce.

Now we want to do all that. Why? We can't live together anymore.

Why? Because there's a curse. It didn't start with an argument between the two of them.

It started with rebellion against God. It just showed up in the argument alone. That's why when you sow the fig leaves of going on a vacation, you sow the fig leaves of buying an anniversary gift, you sow the fig leaves of, let's talk, you sow the fig leaves. We're trying to deal with this thing when all you're sowing is fruit, not root. I'm trying. Notice what he says, I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth.

Still talking about relationships. In pain, you will bring forth your children. One lady was in labor pain. She was starting to moan a little bit. Mmm. Mmm. Okay, now the contractions are getting closer together. They're getting closer together, so she's feeling more mmm.

Mmm. And then when it just got unbearable, she screamed out, I hate you, Eve. Every time a woman feels labor pains, it is the reminder of rebellion against God and the pain it brings. But he says not only will you have labor in childbirth, but you will bring them forth in pain. You will have problems in child rearing. How many of us have had the pain of raising a child that rebelled, starting at two? Terrible twos. Or living with a teenager who rebels.

Or four of them. But he talks about the pain of relationship, that this thing was going to manifest itself and spin out into all directions. That would be deaths of relationships.

And there are other kinds of death as well. Dr. Evans will come back to tell us about them in a moment as he continues this message from his current series, Consequences. We'd love to send you a copy of this brand-new six-lesson collection as our gift. All we ask is that you include a donation to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. We'll also include his popular booklet, 30 Days to Overcoming Emotional Strongholds.

It explains how in a single month you can be set free from destructive feelings, even if they've held you captive for years. You'll get both Consequences and 30 Days to Overcoming Emotional Strongholds with our thanks when you request them and make your donation online at tonyevans.org. Or let one of our resource team members help you by calling 1-800-800-3222 any time of the day or night.

That's 1-800-800-3222. We'll get right back to today's message after this. Now, more than ever, men must lead. Strip fear of its grip. Stop listening to the world's definition of strength. Discover where true greatness resides. In his much-anticipated sequel to the instant bestseller, Kingdom Man, Tony Evans' Kingdom Men Rising calls on men to break free from an apathetic faith. Do more than just exist. Influence those around you to live with the courage of a Kingdom Man. The measure of a man's mark is made through what he does. What are you going to do with the life given to you?

Get the book, Kingdom Men Rising, and put in the work to find the tools you need to rise to the occasion as a Kingdom Man. Find out more at tonyevans.org. That was not the only kind of death. That would be an economic death. Notice. Because you've listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree, verse 17, 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 shall eat the plants of the field, but by the sweat of your face you will eat bread till you return to the ground.

There will be physical repercussions economically for you because death is a separation. Right now, before you rebelled against me, all this stuff grew for you. I mean, you developed it, but I made it all available for you.

The ground was plenteous. You gonna have plenty of fruit, plenty of vegetables, and all that, and it's just gonna just naturally happen without you breaking a sweat. Oh, how we would long for the day when you don't have to break a sweat, while you don't have to make ends meet. He says, because now your rebellion against me has created thorns and thistles. In other words, your productivity is going to be interrupted. It's going to be interrupted by this death growth. Thorns and thistles that stick you and irritate you. You're trying to, you're trying to pick berries and you getting stuck because thorns and thistles, with your rebellion against me, has affected your ability to provide livelihood without pain. There is an economic cost to this disobedience, and many of us know it. Many of us are so in debt with the thorns and thistles of disobedience that we'll have to die before we can pay it off with insurance.

Because we've rebelled against God, it shows up over and over and over again. We got to deal with the thorns and thistles of the people we got to work with. The thorns and thistles, we have people we got to work for. We got to deal with all these attitudes. They got to deal with us. I want to change jobs and find something better so I can be at peace because my career is thorns and thistles, even though I get a green paycheck.

He says, because you didn't listen to me, and you let a human being, even your wife, overrule me, it's gonna affect your career. Oh, but that's not all. I know all of us tired of dying by now, but stay with me. That's not all. The one we know about most, it would be physical death. He says at the end of verse 19, till you return to the ground because from it you were taken, for you are dust.

Okay, I don't want you to miss that. You are going back to the ground because that's what you are. You are dust. You're dirt. You may be good-looking dirt. You may be rich dirt. You may be sophisticated dirt. You may be well-known dirt. You may be poor dirt. But on your best day, you are dirt, and the proof you are dirt is that you are going to get dirty at the point of your demise because you will go back to the ground.

And no matter how much Botox you take, how much cosmetic surgery you get, or how many weeds you have, you are going back to dirt. And then there's the worst kind of death, eternal death. That's where the soul is separated from God forever.

We call it hell. That's eternal death. Let's close with Romans chapter 5, beginning with verse 15. But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one, the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many, the many who had died.

The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned, Adam. But on the one hand, the judgment arose from the one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand, the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous. The law came in so that the transgressions would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the much more. So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to the eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So let me give you a word of hope. Through the one, Adam, the infection of sin and death was transferred to all men for all time everywhere. But 1st Corinthians 15 says Jesus is the last Adam.

So if you want to get it, all you need are two names. Your attachment to the first Adam brings sin and death, but your attachment to the last Adam allows you, watch this, he said to reign in life. What does it mean to reign in life? It means to no longer be controlled by the graveyard of your existence, no longer to allow sin to be your boss and Satan to be your God. But once Jesus takes over control, the Bible says, he said, I've come to give you life and to give it to you more abundantly. So Jesus Christ wants to give you the life back that Satan has ripped off from you in your spiritual relationship, your emotional relationship, your economic relationship, your personal relationships, your physical relationships. He wants to wipe that thing so clean that once you're in right relationship to him, you don't even get to die because he says you immediately go to be with the Lord.

So he is reversing that thing. I love the phrase, he doesn't just want you to live, he wants you to reign in life. He wants you to tell your emotions what to do.

Tell your circumstances what to do. Tell the evil one what to do. And when you get hooked up right with him, death no longer controls you. How do you get hooked up right with God the way Tony is describing? Stay with us.

He'll be back in a moment to explain. First, a quick reminder about that special offer I mentioned earlier. If you can help us continue this broadcast by making a donation to The Urban Alternative, we'll send you all six messages in Tony's current series, Consequences, along with the companion booklet, 30 Days to Overcoming Emotional Strongholds, as our gift and appreciation.

This special offer is only available for a few more days, so don't wait. Drop by our website, tonyevans.org, where you can get all the details and make the arrangements. Or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222 to get some in-person help with your request any time of the day or night.

Again, that's 1-800-800-3222. Well, Dr. Evans will come back in a moment, right after this quick shout-out to celebrate The Urban Alternative's 40th anniversary. Hey Dr. Evans, O.S. Hawkins and Tony, Jack Graham here, just thanking God for you and your 40 years of ministry. We've been in this city together with Dr. Evans and his wonderful church all these years, 30 years plus for me and you, 25 years. We've just seen God do incredible things in your life, not only in this community where you are loved and appreciated, but through The Urban Alternative and the ministry of your church around the world. I love you.

I respect you. I thank God for you, Dr. Tony Evans. And Tony, let me just add that today as Jack and I sit here just to wish you a happy 40th anniversary of ministry. As Asaph said of King David, you've led your people with the integrity of your heart and the skillfulness of your hands. Just want you to know you're loved and appreciated.

It's a simple case of cause and effect, but tomorrow Dr. Evans will explain why so many of us have missed the connection between what we plant and what we harvest, both spiritually and physically. I hope you'll join us. Right now, though, Tony's back with a final invitation for you. If you're not absolutely sure that you have received salvation, that you're on your way to heaven, then let's get that straight right now. God offers you salvation as a free gift because of the sacrifice of His Son. And if you will come to Jesus Christ acknowledging your need for a Savior because you recognize you're a sinner, recognizing you can't save yourself, and appealing to Jesus to apply His death into your life, He will come in, forgive your sins, and give you eternal life right now. Simply say to the Lord, I know I'm a sinner. I know I need a Savior. I'm believing in you alone to be my Savior. So I now accept your offer to give me eternal life and the forgiveness of sins. And then thank Him for the free salvation He just gave you. The alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative, and is celebrating 40 years of faithfulness thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you.