Sin and Grace

Summarize: In this session, we will see that what began in Eden with Adam and Eve’s choice not to trust God’s goodness continued on throughout the following generations, growing ever more pervasive. This grieved God and brought about His rightful judgment. But with that judgment came grace and hope that there was a solution to the curse of sin and death.

Ask: What do you think is God’s reaction at the moment you sin?

Follow-up: When do you think that reaction of God happened?

Say: Sin is a lot like a computer virus. Have you ever had that moment when you clicked a link in an email and instantly regretted it? Explain…There comes a point when it is better to completely reformat the hard drive and reinstall the software, rather than trying to purge every occurrence of the virus.

1: Sin grieves God and brings His judgment (Gen. 6:5-7).

Gen. 6:5-7 “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.””

Modern readers often object to stories of God’s judgment like this one. They read of the violence and destruction that God proclaimed, and whether they can articulate it well or not, they simply know, This bothers me. God uses the language of “regret” and “grief” here to help us try to grasp how seriously God takes the sin of His image bearers against Him.

Sin is never primarily about transgressing rules but about betraying a relationship.

The text says that God was “grieved … to his heart” over humanity’s wickedness. The Hebrew word for “grieved” means “pained” or “hurt.” Related forms of this word were used in Genesis 3:16-17 of the “pain” of childbirth for the woman and “pain” for the man in his labor. God was not merely angry over sin; He was pained by it. Sin, you see, is never primarily about transgressing rules but about betraying a relationship. When we sin, we betray our loving God and hurt His heart. He takes sin personally. we should not dismiss God’s rules, but we must see sin as a personal attack against our Creator God.

Which way do we typically view sin as doing, breaking rules or breaking God’s heart?

Is one’s attitude different when they see sin as breaking God’s heart rather than just breaking His rules?

God’s use of a worldwide flood to judge humanity can still raise some questions: “Was the situation really that severe? I can accept the idea of divine correction, maybe even judgment, but outright wrath? Why couldn’t God just forgive and let it go?” At the center of questions like these, which often come from a sincere heart, we find three fundamental misconceptions.

Three fundamental misconceptions about God’s wrath towards sin:

++Forgiveness means just letting things go.

++God would be better off if He were only a God of love.

++A God of vengeance will make us vengeful people.

Three fundamental misconceptions about God’s wrath towards sin:

Forgiveness means just letting things go.

But any of us who have forgiven another person of something substantial knows this is not true. If you wreck a friend’s car and she genuinely forgives you for it, the car isn’t magically repaired. There is still a cost to make what is now wrong right again. And that cost has to come from somewhere. Either you pay it or she pays it. The transgression cannot just be “let go.”

God would be better off if He were only a God of love.

· Many of us have a lopsided view of God. We want God to be loving and kind, compassionate and concerned with our lives, without any of this ancient “wrath” business. And yes, praise God, He is loving, kind, and near to us. But God is loving and just. If we ignore the unity of who He is and who He has revealed Himself to be, then we create an unhealthy, one-sided, and dangerous caricature of Him. If we only accept the aspects of God we like, we’re blinding ourselves to the beauty and fullness of who God truly is.

A God of vengeance will make us vengeful people.

Violence begets violence, so the thought goes. But God’s vengeance actually does the opposite. We are commanded never to take vengeance into our own hands, for the very reason that God will one day repay all wrongs (Rom. 12:19). This is the irony: If you don’t believe that God exists or that He will one day serve out justice, who bears the burden of ensuring that justice is served? You do. Taking a vengeful God out of the equation actually makes you vengeful, hateful, and fearful. Only when you truly believe that God will restore justice will you let injustice roll off of your shoulders. You should still work for justice, but you won’t bear the burden for it—a weight you could never bear anyway.

Ask: What are some ways that we can leave justice in God’s hands and surrender the burden of justice to Him?

1. Sin grieves God and brings His judgment.

2: Sin brings judgment, but God provides grace (Gen. 6:8-9,17-22).

“8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.

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17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. 21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.” 22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.”

Contrary to a popular opinion, God does not operate differently now in the New Testament era than He did in the Old Testament. Show how Noah’s life demonstrates that salvation has always come only by one path—by God’s grace through faith. God’s image bearers had become exceedingly wicked, so God planned a flood to wash the world clean of their sin. But God chose to save one man along with his family to preserve His creative work. In this man—Noah—we see an example of God’s grace leading to the righteousness that comes by faith.

Genesis 6:9 describes Noah as righteous and blameless. Does that mean he was sinless? Hardly. After the flood, he proved himself to be part of the same sinful human race that grieved God’s heart so deeply (cf. Gen. 9:20-23). So if “righteous” doesn’t mean that Noah did all the right things, what does it mean? What made Noah special? The verse before, Genesis 6:8, tells us Noah “found favor” in God’s sight. The word favor here means “grace.” God didn’t save Noah because he was righteous. Noah became righteous because he received God’s gracious offer of salvation. Grace came first. Righteousness followed. That’s why the author of Hebrews, when remembering Noah, said, “By faith Noah … constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he … became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Heb. 11:7). Only after responding to God in faith was Noah declared “righteous.” That is always the way people become righteous.

God Is Gracious: God’s nature is to delight in giving unmerited favor to those who are undeserving (Eph. 2:8-9). His grace toward sinners is found most clearly in the salvation He has provided through Christ.

Because of sin, humanity is undeserving of salvation—all of us have turned our backs on God, and as a result, we deserve death (Rom. 6:23). However, instead of leaving people in their sins, God has demonstrated His graciousness by providing atonement and forgiveness for our sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus (2 Cor. 5:21).

Ask: Why is it important that we keep grace and righteousness in the correct order? (it preserves the correct order of salvation; it keeps us humble and aware of our need for God and His grace; it combats the common slide toward legalism in many of us)

The flood eventually came just as God said it would. Every man, woman, boy, and girl who rejected God perished. Noah was a preacher of righteousness through his faithful obedience for one hundred years (2 Pet. 2:5); this was an opportunity for others to repent. But as people so often do, they mistook God’s patience with His absence (see 2 Pet. 3:3-10). By the time they realized their error, it was too late.

Sin brings judgment and wrath, but there is a way out. God offers salvation graciously to all who will receive it—but we have to receive it. The tragedy for so many is they will die and go to hell having missed the countless opportunities to respond to God’s grace through faith in Jesus. Don’t confuse what God intends to be time to repent with His absence. Don’t be lulled into complacency. Flee to Christ, because today is the day of salvation. And none of us is guaranteed tomorrow.

3: Sin will not halt God’s creative purpose (Gen. 9:1,12-15).

1. Sin grieves God and brings His judgment

2. Sin brings judgement, but God provides grace

3: Sin will not halt God’s creative purpose (Gen. 9:1, 12-15)

“God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. “It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.”

God’s sending a flood to wipe out the overwhelming majority of His creatures may cause us to question the love of God, but it should actually make us question our own perspective on the seriousness of sin. God’s love and grace are clear through what He has made. The fact that He preserved any family to cultivate His creation even when all humanity had rebelled against Him should prompt us likewise to show love and grace to others.

The world is the loving creation of God, preaching to us that He exists and that He is beautiful, powerful, and good. Even in the most dramatic example of judgment in the Old Testament—the flood—we see God reaffirm His plan to bless the earth by filling it with people to cultivate it in worship of Him (Gen. 9:1). Even in one of humanity’s darkest moments, God preserved a remnant because the jewel of His creation has always been people. If God refused to give up on people at their lowest, shouldn’t we show similar compassion for others when we are tempted to give up on them?

God’s creative purpose in us is to be image bearers of His same love and grace. Whom has God given you a passion to love as “precious in His sight”? Do you make fun of or look down on others in our community, at establishments of business, on the other end of the phone, or in God’s church?

We associate rainbows with scenes of peace and tranquility, but the word used for “bow” in this passage means a “war bow.” God laid down His war bow in the heavens. In fact, if you look at the direction the bow points, you’ll notice that it points upward, toward heaven, rather than downward, toward the earth. God would not accomplish His ultimate salvation by shooting the arrows of His wrath into men but by absorbing them into Himself. When you see God’s war bow pointed upward, the parallels with Jesus and His sacrifice for sin on the cross begin to come into focus.

Grace by Faith: Just as God was gracious to Noah and extended salvation to his family, so also God grants salvation by grace to all who come by faith into the family of His righteous Son, Jesus Christ.

The doctrine of God’s judgment shouldn’t excite any of us. But for many of us, resistance to judgment comes from a heart that doesn’t see ourselves as worthy of hell. The more we are persuaded of our own righteousness, the more God’s justice seems to trouble us.

However, the more we sense the noose of God’s judgment rightly around our own necks, the more we are amazed at the greatness of God’s mercy and grace rather than the severity of His justice. Only when we first see ourselves as absolutely worthy of hell are we ready to understand the magnitude of God’s grace in sending Jesus to die on a cross for us.

When we look back on our lives from eternity, what will amaze us is not the severity of God’s judgment but the extravagance of His grace.

How do you view your sin? How do you look at others? How do you see God’s acts of judgement in the Bible, is His justified to judge as He did/does? How much does your life demand the need for God’s grace? How do you show the same grace toward others?

It is high time we stop being Judges of God’s character and actions. It is high time we stop bearing the burden of justice on our own shoulders. It is high time we surrender to God what is already His and hold onto that which, because of Him and His Son, is already ours. His needed, offered, and received grace and determine within our own hearts to live by it.

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