Grace and Sin

Announcements:

1. Welcome to youth group! How was everyones weekend?

2. This semester we are going over grace so today we will be in Genesis 3:1-15

Genesis 3:1–15 ESV

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’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 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.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 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. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 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. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 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.” 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. 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.”

The Fall

If grace is an undeserved gift or unmerited favor – favor from God that we don’t deserve – why do we not deserve it? [Basic answer: Sin]

If we don’t understand the depth of our sins then God Grace will feel shallow

Where did sin come from? Sin entered the world when Adam ate the forbidden fruit

See 1-4 Think about a scam email or text that tries to trick you into giving up your password. It always works by making you doubt something true. Satan did that—he made Eve doubt God’s goodness and His word.

What was our relationship like with God be sin? Good, Perfect, pleasent, though incomplete since we did not know about God’s mercy and grace and forgivness before sin

After the fall we only deserve God’s wrath for our sin. We deserve justice, but God shows mercy.

——-> Transition so real quick lets compare the relation we had with God in the Garden of Eden after the Fall into sin.

The arrangement in the Garden is commonly called the Covenant of works. Adam was commanded not to eat from the fruit, and as the representative of all humanity, his failure broke the covenant.

The fall into sin is what ruptured humanity’s relationship with God, and it is in that very setting that God’s grace is revealed.

Their sin has passed down to us like an infection, and in another sense, we too sinned when they did because all of humanity was contained in Adam and Eve at the beginning.

This is a strange concept for us, but all of humanity is interconnected through our common descent from Adam and Eve. We all share the same human nature, which has been corrupted by sin. But in Christ, we are made part of His redeemed people—His Church, His body, His people. Just like Adam and Eve, we receive grace, which means God’s kindness and favor, even though we deserve punishment for sin. God shows this grace most clearly in His plan to rescue us and live with us forever.”

We call this plan the Covenant of Grace,4 which stretches from Adam & Eve all the way through Christ. God’s first covenant promise in Genesis 3:15 is to restore our relationship with Him through a Redeemer. This plan commences with Adam, continues in Abraham, and climaxes in the person & work of Jesus Christ.

Sin

The Westminster Shorter Catechism (WSC) #14 states that, “sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God (Lev. 5:17; James 4:17; I John 3:4).” In other words, we sin whenever we miss the mark that God has set for us in His Word. We sin in thought, word, and action every day.

One of my favorite camp activities was archery Think of an archery target. The bullseye is the mark you’re aiming for – it’s the sinless spot. As a Christian, you’re always striving to hit this bullseye, but you usually miss by a little or a lot. Before coming to Christ, you’d have a hard time just hitting the target because even if you are doing the right thing, you do not have the right motive of pleasing God.

According to The Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) Chapter 16, for a work to be good, it must align with God’s Word; it must be carried out for God’s glory; and it must be carried out in faith (Mic. 6:8; Rom. 12:2; Heb. 13:21; I Cor. 10:31; Heb. 11:6)

Sin is even the slight ways we miss the target that God has set up for us in His Word

So is sin merely our wrong actions? No, it’s deeper than that. Sin has corrupted our wills. In other words, we don’t usually sin by accident. We sin because we have a sin nature; we sin because we are sinners. We call this Total Depravity, because there is no part of us that has not been corrupted by sin. Spiritually, we are dead in our sin before we come to Christ. We are utterly helpless apart from God’s saving grace (Eph. 2:5)

God doesn’t save people because they look like they can get their act together. He gives grace to people who are totally stuck in sin, blind to the truth, and headed the wrong way.

On the Cross Jesus sees our shame and he takes on himself. See the last couple verses in chapter 3. Why should we care what God’s word has to say its because Jesus has died for our shame, our rebellion,

AirPods illustration- Im big apple guy, and i love my AirPods, i like to study in coffee shops, When working out theres a-lot loud noises around you so i like to listen great music diffrent music. We can talk about that another time i’ve got some great playlist.

High school and middle school is noisy, there are so many different messages about all types of things, like identity, truth, about yourself and about the people around you.

How do we keep our focus in this fallen world- we have to turn up the volume of the Gospel.

Refection questions

Identity: How does knowing I’m forgiven in Christ change how I see myself?

Hope: When I fail again, how does grace give me courage to keep following Jesus?