God, Us, and Sin
Notes
Transcript
Slow
Slow
Baby bottles
Complaining
Story - that invites you in
Big Idea: We must deal with the consequences of sin.
Big Idea: We must deal with the consequences of sin.
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
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.
9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
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.”
1. Acknowledge the rupture
1. Acknowledge the rupture
Lies:
It’s illusion (Buddhism & Hinduism)
It’s the environment
It’s just a law issue (guilt)
Change the law
Keep the law, (get AI)
It’s Eve’s fault
Adam’s fault
It’s desire for us to determine good for ourselves and therefore blame God when He doesn’t line up with that. It’s guilt but it’s more than guilt. It’s rebellion against God defining what’s good for us. It’s the rupture of trust in the relationship we have with God.
2. Engage the Consequences
2. Engage the Consequences
Bad decisions complicate life.
Bad decisions limit options.
14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
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.”
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.”
17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.
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.”
Frustration
If you define the good of your life, your children and your husband will be more sources of pain and frustration for you than anything else.
If you define the good of your life, your work will be a source of futility and frustration for you than anything else.
1 Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!
2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.
4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.
It’s not the kind of curse you can swap out of.
Accept responsibility.
Don’t get deceived by your own thoughts or the devil’s.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
We do both of these things and just trying to do better doesn’t work because of death. We feel we have a deadline literally.
Death
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
The only way to fully engage the consequences then is to turn back to God and...
3. Hope thru God
3. Hope thru God
Frustration
but with a purpose
Bad decisions complicate life.
Bad decisions limit options.
Bad decisions show God’s grace (where he wants to show up).
20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”
23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
God’s presence
God’s blessing
How can I step back and let God define what’s good for me and walk in that by faith?
How can I walk in His presence and wait for His blessing?
How can I accept both good and suffering as from His hand with good purpose?
Death for Life
God’s redemption
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
We cannot hide or pretend our sin is an illusion. We must deal with the consequences of sin. We can’t complain and we can’t seek the beautiful good without seeing evil rise up. The only good way to do that is to turn in repentance to God and come to him by faith.
Will you hope in God through Jesus Christ?
Community Group questions
Who are you tempted to blame for the frustrations of life?
When are you like Cain (not in murder but in wanting what you want even if God isn’t pleased)?
How do you shift from blaming others (even though they contributed to the problem) to engaging the problem?
How can you build your hope in God in the midst of the devastation of sin?
Have you trusted in Christ to redeem you from sin?
