Interlocked Week 11

Consequences of the Fall Part 2

Last time I taught, we discussed:

Evil is not forever.

Gen. 3:15 “15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.””

Revelation 21:27 “27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

2. What happened after evil entered the world?

1 Thessalonians 5:23 “23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Body - Physical self

Soul - mind, will, emotions

Spirit (alive or dead)

So where does man’s death fit into these 3 different parts of man?

Genesis 3:19 “19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.””

Physically, the clock started. We are now dying creations. No longer eternal this side of heaven.

Genesis 3:8 “8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

Soulfully, our mind, will, and emotions are not bent towards God. We fear Him.

Left to ourselves, we are like the last verse of Judges

Judges 21:25 “25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

Romans 1:32 “32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”

Man knows God, yet does the opposite of what God says. This is the brokenness of sin in our souls.

Matthew 25:41 “41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Spiritually, we are alive or dead.

Galatians 2:20 “20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Our application that week was this:

We are messed up without God.

We think, many in our culture think, we can live without God.

Yet all the while God is displayed all around us through his Creation and His Word.

Last week, on Easter, Jesus bore our mess on the cross.

He died in our place.

Then most importantly, he rose from the grave.

SO that

2 Corinthians 5:17 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Are we anchored in that?

Holding on to that?

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Today:

How did Sin affect the our roles as Humans?

How did sin affect the institutions of Responsible Dominion, Marriage, and the family?

Can I reset for a moment something I’ve been telling y’all a lot for over a year.

If you had to boil our culture down to one word.

The sin of the age that drives everything.

What would that word be?

SELFISHNESS.

People want to do what they want and want you to affirm what they are doing is good.

Sins affects on Responsible Dominion:

A. Work

God created man to work the garden, this was pre-curse.

Good, hard work is always rewarding, encouraging, and benefits you and others.

However, man now abuses work.

Some work too hard and are workaholics.

Some don’t work at all are are lazy and irresponsible.

Neither was part of God’s design, but both area reflection of selfishness and sin.

B. Creation

Instead of caring for creation as God intended, man now cares for it the way he sees best.

Some people see nature and animals as sources of money.

We destroy land, kill animals, and even hurt people just to make a dollar.

Others pervert nature by worshipping it.

They will sacrifice human life if it preserves the planet.

Both sides take things too far and are not near to the heart of God’s intent for creation.

Show chart bottom of page 11.

Here are some examples of things God gave man and how man has twisted and warped these good things from 2 different extremes.

We’ve discussed work, but think about food.

Gluttony and eating disorders (bulimia and anorexia).

Leisure and entertainment

rather than a reward for hard work, now becomes the main purpose of life. Or some people work so hard they don’t know how to rest.

Another way selfishness and sin affect people living responsibly is through something we see in our culture.

Victim mentality.

Gen. 3:12-13 “12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.””

Who took responsibility for their actions in Genesis 3:12-13?

Open up any book in our culture and read someone’s story.

Most people blame bad genes, bad parents, abuse in their past, or other past hurts.

We shouldn’t disregard these things, but we also should move past these things.

However a victim mentality and never taking responsibility can lead to 3 horrible outcomes:

taking ones own life.

If your life feels out of control and there seems to be no escape… this is the option some take.

However is the ending of ones life an escape?

Hebrews 9:27 “27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,”

Matthew 25:46 “46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.””

though your physical body may return to the dust of the earth, your Spirit is eternal.

What someone believes about death will greatly affect how they live or don’t live their lives.

But as we will sing across the street today, guys we have a living hope.

1 Peter 1:3-4 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,”

Life isn’t about escape.

Take responsibility where you can, trust God with the rest, and lead others to the hope we have in Christ!

2. Live wildly.

Actively - party lifestyle.

Passively - entertaining ourselves to death.

How many people locked themselves in their rooms during COVID and lived wildly on the internet.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say because of COVID, the trans movement escalated because a lot of the people who were crazy behind the wall of the internet found one another and now we see the affects of their wild living.

And now, it’s not enough for them just to live how they want too, like Romans 1, they want you to affirm they are right too.

3. Take Action.

These are those who refuse to be victims and instead of reaching up for help, do everything they can to reach back and help others up.

They do this through community work, fundraisers, etc…

One of my favorites is Raising Men Lawn Care.

This is certainly the path we all hope to take, giving back and not just taking, but even this can be self-focused.

We need Jesus leading us so we do not in our kindness fall to a selfish nature.

SO Sin affects our responsibility, but what about Marriage?

2. Second Institution: Marriage.

Genesis 3:16 “16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.””

The curse of sin is that women desire to rule over men. However, does that mean that before the fall men were to rule over women?

No.

God created a “Helper” for Adam from eve.

This was mean’t to be a mutually interdependent relationship.

Both working together, but now there is tension.

Now there is a power struggle in marriage.

Sometimes this leads to tragedy like divorce.

Divorce is messy.

My parents divorced in 2015 I believe and i’ll tell you what it’s still painful.

Selfishness loves to rule the day and let its affects be felt years after divorce.

As we’ve already discussed too, Marriage has been reinterpreted to be that it can be between anyone and anything.

For Adam and Eve though, God gave them each other to:

help one another rule responsibly.

procreate.

Any attempt to man to call something marriage that:

a. isn’t male or female

b. doesn’t rule together.

c. can’t procreate

That’s not a marriage. That’s an attempt by man to live selfishly ignoring God.

3. Third Institution: Family.

Genesis 4:8 “8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.”

Right after the sin of Adam and Eve, we see sometime later that Cain kills Abel.

Murder.

I’ll just tell you now, the hardest thing you will ever do is raise children.

It’s no joke.

They are a mirror that shows you the worst of yourselves, then they will do something that is full of more love and kindness than you could ever imagine.

Some provoke their kids to anger too much.

Some are too lenient on their kids and allow disrespect.

Either way here are two truths:

The family is breaking down in our society and we should not ignore it.

You should make it the primary goal of your life to have a family.

The rewards are endless.

The job is tiring and difficult.

but you are directly building God’s kingdom and fulfilling your god-given responsibility.

APPLICATION:

Because of Sin and its affects over man’s responsibility, marriage, and families, we can now better understand Romans 1.

Read Romans 1:18-20 “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

Romans 1 also seems to echo the earth before God destroyed it in the flood. Listen to what God said in Gen. 6.

Genesis 6:5 “5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Sin leads humans down a downward spiral of selfishness.

We think we are so smart and enlightened.

That’s what man continues to say in Romans 1.

Romans 1:21-23 “21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

SIn does not make us wise, it makes us foolish.

In our foolishness the marriages are destroyed.

ROmans 1:26-27 “26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

Families turn on one another.

Romans 1:28-30 “28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,”

This is how everything is connected if you haven’t picked up on it already today.

As people stop having families, and marriages are broken, societies fall apart.

These things are God-given building blocks and each one builds on the previous.

Societies cannot be strong without strong families.

We can’t have strong families without strong marriages.

We can’t have strong marriages where selfishness rules the day. We need individuals who make good, responsible decisions.

Ultimately, you cannot fix this on your own.

The best way you right now can prepare for the responsibilities of life is to walk with Christ.

I don’t mean saying,

Well when after i go to practice, after i go to school, after i talk to my friends.... blah blah blah… THEN i will read my Bible.

NO

How are you today going to make Jesus a priority in your life?

Get up a little earlier?

Set an alarm on your phone?

Take your bible in the shower?

IDK

But is God a priority to you?

As long as God is ignored, his plans and purposes are also disregarded.

Deuteronomy 8:3 “3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

Matthew 4:4 “4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ””

Jesus wasn’t tongue in cheek here chastising Satan.

As much as we need food and water to survive, we cannot live as God created us to without God.

Make him a priority today.

Because of the empty tomb, I can live.

I can live today because I’ve been crucified with Christ, it’s no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

Do you believe that today?

Then prioritize that above all else!

Let’s start there this week and move forward.

Let’s pray.