SIN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

A. The Temptation
Read Genesis 3:1-6 for the account of the first temptation and the first 
sin. Notice how the temptation came to Eve - the real temptation was not to 
eat the fruit, it was to distrust God. The Devil could have used any method 
he chose, but basically he was saying that God was a liar and he wanted 
Adam and Eve to say it as well.

God said that whoever ate the fruit would die, and although their death was 
not immediate, Adam and Eve, along with all human beings who descended from 
them, died. (Of course there were a few people who God took to heaven 
before they died, but they were special cases!)

B. Consequences of the First Sin
Apart from the obvious consequence of death, there were a number of other 
things which followed sin into the world:

1. Genesis 3:10 Man became estranged from God.
2. Genesis 3:16 Pain became a part of life.
3. Genesis 3:17,18 The ground became "cursed", that is difficult to work. 
Weeds and thorns etc. started to grow.
4. Genesis 3:22 Man became aware of good and evil.
5. Genesis 4:8 Sin was introduced genetically into the whole human race.

C. The Nature of Death
When man was first created he was given life by God breathing into him. 
(Gen. 2:7) When a person dies we are told that the "dust returns to the 
earth as it began, and the spirit returns to God who gave it." (Eccl. 12:7)

But what exactly is this "spirit"? Often the same word is translated 
"breath":

James 2:26 "The body is dead when there is no breath in it."
Job 27:3 "God's breath is in my nostrils."

The spirit that returns to God at death is the breath of life. Nowhere in 
the Bible is the "spirit" given any feeling or life. It is not something we 
have which is capable of independent existence, it is simply the "breath of 
life", and nothing more.

When people die they are totally unconscious, unaware of anything 
whatsoever, just as a person is in deep sleep:

Eccl. 9:5,6 "The living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing 
... for them, love, hate ambition, all are now over. Never again will they 
have any part in what is done here under the sun."
Eccl. 9:10 "In Sheol (the grave) there is neither doing nor thinking, 
neither understanding nor wisdom."
Psalm 115:17 "It is not the dead who praise the Lord, not those who go down 
into silence, but we the living."
Job 14:12,21 "Mortal man lies down, never to rise until the very sky splits 
open ... his sons rise to honour and he sees nothing of it; they sink into 
obscurity and he knows it not."
Psalm 146:4 "He breathes his last breath and returns to the dust and in 
that same hour all his thinking ends."