CONSEQUENCES OF SIN: IT’S UNIVERSAL

By Charles N. Spence, Jr.

"Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them" (Gen. 6:5-7).

After the initial fall of man in the garden, sin and its consequences have been paying its wages ever since. In previous articles the readers were shown that two of the consequences of sin were spiritual death and physical death. Easily demonstrated is the fact that no one who has ever lived was exempt from physical death. The same can be said of spiritual death. This is even true of Jesus Christ Himself. As a man, Jesus was able to empathize with all of humanity because he endured what all men endure (Heb. 2:14-18). Jesus tasted death for everyone (Heb. 2:9). Not only did Jesus experience physical death while on the cross, but He also experienced separation from the Father. According to Matthew 27:45-46, Jesus, for three hours, experienced the darkness that invades the lives of all men who are separated from the Father.

As eluded to earlier, death is a common fate of man. Physical death, especially, does not discriminate. Those who are young or old, rich or poor, black or white, Jew or

Gentile, male or female, etc., will not escape death's sure grip. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 that through Adam came death and as descendants of Adam all men die. Paul made the argument in Romans 5:12 that sin came through one man (Adam) and death came as a result of sin; death spread to all men because all have sinned (See Rom. 3:10-23). Thus, one should be able to see that sin's consequences are universal. Everyone is susceptible to them.

If the consequences of sin are universal, then the remedy must also be universal. Since sin does not affect only a few, the solution must not be limited to only a few. It must be able to help everyone and anyone who has been plagued by sin's awful disease. Yet, just as one would need to fill a prescription given by a doctor to remedy an ailment, he would need to do the same with the prescription to remedy sin. A person who seeks a physician's help must have faith in the physician's ability to treat the ailment. Then, the person must be obedient in following the physician's prescription, if he sincerely hopes to be made well. The Bible suggests that Jesus is the sinner's great physician (Luke 9:29-32). A person must, first, recognize he is sick before he can recognize the need for a physician. Earlier, one saw that sin and its consequences affect everyone. Although the remedy is available to all, only those who follow the physician's prescription will benefit from it.

Despite what some great men may say, the atonement of Jesus Christ is not limited to just a few good men. "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:6-8) What good would Jesus death be if it could not benefit everyone for every time? John said in 1 John 2:2, "And He [Jesus] Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world."

Jesus stands with open arms willing to receive all sinful men who would come to him. He is the universal answer to man's universal problem. No one is exempt from treatment; all have been affected and had since been quarantined from God's presence. Only those who follow the prescription will be saved (Heb. 5:9).