John 3: 17 - 21, For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." NKJV
The Bible uses metaphors to describe what occurs when a person has sin in their heart. For example, we use terms such as walking in darkness or being spiritually blind. Likewise, when Adam sinned, the Bible teaches us that his eyes became opened, and he knew good and evil. We know that his natural eyes were opened already because they saw the forbidden fruit before they ate it. Therefore, we know that the Word was referring to the eyes of their understanding. For them to have known good and evil meant that they had gained an understanding of sin they didn't have when God created them.
In other words, sin affected their hearts and darkened their understanding. I can't discuss all that sin did to blind their hearts, so I will teach on two ways. First, sin blinded Adam and Eve to the sin in their lives. There are many scriptures that I can use to support this doctrine: Romans 7, John 15, as well as Genesis 3. Paul said that he would not have known he had sin if it hadn't been for the Law of God, which showed what sin was, and that it dwelled undetected in his heart.
Jesus said in John 15, if He had not come and spoken the truth and performed His mighty works, the Jews would not have known the sin in their hearts. So when Jesus spoke to them concerning the truth about their ways, it caused the sin in them to manifest and bring them under conviction so that they were without excuse.
Secondly, when Adam sinned against God, and the eyes of his understanding became darkened, he began to fear God; consequently, he ran from Him. Sin placed all of mankind under the bondage to the spirit of fear. Instead of trusting God, sin causes us to be afraid of God so that we won't go near His presence. If you accept the truth that sin blinds us to our own transgressions, and it also keeps us from turning to God; you will begin to see how deceptive the web was that Satan devised to trap mankind into darkness. Sin had us cut off from the light and life of God.
Here's the good news. Even though man had become spiritually blind to their sin, their transgression couldn't prevent the Light of Christ from shining into the darkened hearts of man. This is why many of the Jews hated Jesus. His Word shined into their hearts and exposed the hidden sin; and they desired the darkness over His light. This Word today reveals the loving heart of our heavenly Father. He knew that we were blind and didn't have a consciousness of sin residing in our hearts. Therefore, He sent His Son to our aid so that we could find our Way to safety.
In 2 Corinthians 3 and 4, Paul teaches us that there was a veil placed over the hearts of the Jews when they saw the glory of God on the face of Moses after he had been with God upon Mount Sinai. Paul also tells us that if they turned to the Lord, the veil would be lifted from their hearts, and they would be saved. In chapter 4, Paul goes on to teach us that when someone sees the light, but decides to reject that light because of their unbelief (don't believe in Jesus as the Christ), then Satan, the god of this world will keep them blinded to the Light of the truth. Truth is only found in the person of Jesus Christ. If a person rejects Jesus, then they will also reject the Word of God as being the final authority of truth.
Is it not amazing that sin didn't stop God from loving a world filled with sinners? Sin couldn't stop people from seeing the Light of truth in the face of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, sin couldn't prevent us from coming to the saving knowledge of Christ; nevertheless, unbelief can. All who reject Christ, who is the Light of the world will perish. They won't go into eternal torment just because they had sin. They will go because they chose to reject the only HOPE for forgiveness and redemption.
Have you placed your faith in Jesus as being the only-begotten Son of God? If you have, then His Light has set you free from the blindness of sin; you now walk in the Day and not the night. If you haven't accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, call on Him (Jesus) today and ask the heavenly Father to forgive you and fill your heart with His Spirit, Light, and Love.
Walking in the Light,
Pastor Asa Dockery
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