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Message that fills seats in a church, right? Well, this morning, if you’re here visiting with us, we’re glad that you’re here. Uh, together, we’re going to be looking at we have been looking at a series called belief. And we’re just laying the biblical foundation of really what Christianity is all about, what God is all about, what his Bible declares for us, and what we as people should give our lives towards knowing and understanding God. The early church had a belief that was so strong that in the first three centuries of Christianity, they faced extreme persecution for their faith in Jesus, a faith that was so strong that it ultimately would lead to their death. In many a situations, we’ve heard of the stories of the Roman gladiators and how oftentimes Christians were led into the Colosseum to be ripped apart by wild animals that were brought into the the Roman Empire. They had a belief that was so strong in which they placed their faith upon that, even to the point of death, they wouldn’t back down from what it was they believed this morning. Simply say that what you believe is important, because what you believe dictates how you’ll live your life. And today we’re going to be experiencing God as judge. The kind of positive message that you look for. Um, we’re going to be experiencing this together through Genesis chapter three. And so if you’ve brought a Bible with you this morning, I encourage you to go ahead and open up to to Genesis chapter three.
Together, we’re going to start this journey examining the fall, the sin and the curse. This is one of the most significant portions of Scripture in all of your Bible, because in this passage of Scripture, we find that all of human history is forever changed because of sin. Whenever we watch the news in our own personal time at home. It oftentimes seems that we walk away from watching such stories that encounter in our day to day society with strong discouragement. There’s a lot of injustice reported upon, a lot of evil talked about, a lot of death and sickness and pain. But, you know, we as people cannot accept that the way the world really is is the way that the world should be. All across the globe right now, people are fighting wars against the bad guys. But if you ask the good guys who the bad guys were and they would point to them. But if you ask the other good guys who the bad guys were, they would point to the opposing side. Both agree that the other person is the bad person. Neither can agree over who is right in the situation. Today we have government set out to improve our society. We elect city officials and law enforcement to help keep peace. We provide education to teach people how to. Become better in their lives. We start government agencies to help those in need.
But as more and more we build more laws, more power, more authority, more armies. We can’t seem to get a grasp and a hold on stopping the evil that exists in the world. We all have problems because we all live in sin. Now, as a pastor, the painful part of this job is that you receive a front row seat to life’s sin. And seeing that sin experienced in the lives of other people, those who choose to live in sin and those who are affected from the curse of sin. As a pastor myself, I don’t just look at it from that perspective. I also see it as as an individual who himself has been affected by sin, who himself is a sinner. Today we just consider when people ask the questions why am I hurting on the inside? Why do I keep having miscarriages? Why do I have this cancer? Why am I suffering? Why has this happened to me? Why did that person take their lives? Why are they suffering? The answers start in Genesis chapter three. The reality of sin is heavy upon the lives of people affected from it. The reality of sin is dark in the lives of people who choose to live in light of it. I could think in my own personal life, one of the worst occasions of sin being played out that I experienced. I remember being young in ministry. One of the first counseling situations I came across was a young lady who had come to this Bible camp that we were holding in an inner city, and she came to this camp with her sisters.
And as we grew to know these young ladies, one of the first things we came to identify as neither of these young ladies would communicate with us. They wouldn’t talk. They were very shy, very turned off to just people in general. And as we got to know these young girls, we found out that their their mother was very abusive towards these two young ladies and that it was very common for her for drug money to be able to sell these young girls on the streets as, as prostitutes at, at seven and nine years old. So affected by this sin and this marring and this scarring in their lives, that when they came before us, they were utterly just broken. For five days we worked with these young ladies, just loving them, sharing and caring for them the way that Jesus would. It took us five days of love just to get those young ladies to utter a single word to us, because sin had wreaked havoc in their lives We all, as we get to know Jesus, see the effects of sin and the way it plays in our lives. And so this morning, when we consider the idea and the topic of God judging, we’re going to spend the very large portion of the sermon filling in our lives emotionally.
I want us to feel the weight of sin’s effect on our lives and the lives of people around us. Don’t worry, we won’t end that way, because in the end, we’ll give some hope. This morning, as we look at Genesis chapter three, I don’t come to this just as a theological concept, pie in the sky that we’re reaching towards, but something that affects our lives each and every day. Sin is real and it harms the people around us, the ones that we love and care for. And so this morning, as we begin this journey, all I want to simply point out is where did sin for us as people originate? Where did sin originate? If you see in Genesis chapter three and verse one, it says in this passage of Scripture. Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. This is a reference to Satan. As we look at this passage of Scripture, we consider in ourselves every pain that we experience, every heartache that we have, every loss that we go through, every difficulty, every difficulty we see, every empty feeling that we we have emotionally, every time we seek for joy and hope and we can’t find ourselves experiencing every time we’re sick, every time we suffer. It starts in this passage of Scripture with the serpent was more crafty than any beast.
Some of us consider ourselves very smart people, very witty people, but none of us more intelligent than the serpent, than Satan. Satan’s had thousands of years to learn every trick of the trade that exists. When he comes into the garden, he comes in such a lowly, deceiving position before Adam and Eve. He comes as a simple servant. Serpent. Excuse me. God had created in the first two chapters of Genesis. We’ve seen together. God had created life in order. And as Satan enters into the garden, as he just speaks two simple words to Eve, he begins to bring into this world chaos and destruction and death. The serpent is crafty. It tells us in the second part of this verse says, the serpent was crafty more than any beast of the field. The Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, indeed, has God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden. Satan begins to to twist the words of God rather than just say, God said you couldn’t eat from one tree. He says, Didn’t God say you couldn’t eat from any tree? Anytime we begin to to pervert the literalness of God’s Word in our lives, we begin to to change and lead into our lives. The deception of sin, Satan and death And Satan knows this. As a humble servant. He enters into this garden and he just twists one word that God had said. Didn’t God say, you shouldn’t eat of any tree? This wise serpent that came into the garden, it’s it’s leading into the statement that was made in Genesis chapter two says of Adam and Eve, they they were both naked and innocent.
Innocent to what sin would bring. And yet we see the serpent who is crafty and his understanding he’s wise to their innocence. He brings treachery and deception before their lives. It says in verse two. The lady then responds, Eve, she says, the woman said to the serpent from the fruit of the tree of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat from it or touch it. If you do, you will die. Ladies, can I simply say in this passage of Scripture that sometimes when people come into our lives divisive, intending to bring upon our lives harm or sin for the desire to be polite, you may engage in merciful, compassionate, tolerant conversations. But when it comes to an individual who is doing nothing but desiring to be divisive in your life, maybe the best idea in the situation would be simply tuck tail and run. To turn from that circumstance, because nothing good can come of it. And it says in verse four as it goes on. And the serpent said to the woman, you shall, you surely will not die. For God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
Satan says to the woman, listen, lady, I know what you’re trying to say to me, but. But maybe God is withholding from you something better I mean, surely if you eat of this guy’s not going to literally do what he said? God is withholding something. If you just partake of this, you’re going to experience something even beyond the goodness of what God has to offer you in this life. And so the lady begins to experience the temptation at that point. The serpent leaves the scene. The seed of doubt for sin has already been planted upon her mind. It says in verse six, 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 desirable to make one wise she took from its fruit and ate. The lady falls into temptation, and therefore in temptation falls into sin. The Bible tells us that when we engage in any sin in our lives, it falls under three categories the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. The lust of the flesh telling us it will taste good or it’ll feel good. The pride of the eyes, telling us if we just engage in this, it will be good for our lives. It’s beautiful to us, and so it should be beautiful in our lives, and we should experience it.
And the pride of life elevating ourselves to the position of equality with God rather than simply asking, Does God want me to indulge in this? Does God want me to partake of this beauty and possess it for myself? Does God want me to elevate myself to the position that I feel that I want to be in? Rather than ask that question, we engage. It says in first John chapter two and verse verse 16, for all that is said in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the father, but is from the world. James 114 but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then, when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived. The second half of this verse. Notice what Adam is doing says that the says when the woman saw that the tree was good, she took the food and it was a delight to the eyes and the tree was desirable to make. One wise she took from its fruit and ate. And then she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Adam is right there with Eve. Adam was appointed by God to love, protect, encourage, and even worship God with her.
But in these moments, he’s watching as Eve takes a dive. In this situation, the man does nothing. He does nothing, and he sits there passively. And ladies, when we consider, even in your future young ladies who are desiring to be married one day, just because a man doesn’t do anything bad doesn’t qualify him as a good man. Adam sat passively, and just because a man doesn’t get into trouble, doesn’t party. He he isn’t mean. He doesn’t drink. He doesn’t steal Doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a good guy. Men not doing something is still not doing anything is just as bad as doing something. Should I say we study in the Bible? The Israel would make offerings of sacrifice in the temple, both for sins of omission and commission. Sins of commission. We’re doing things deliberately wrong. Sins of omission. We’re refusing to do anything at all. Just because Adam sat there, and just because Adam wasn’t the first one to partake of the fruit doesn’t mean Adam isn’t guilty. What God has called you to be is an influencer and an encourager and a lover and a pointer of your family towards God. And Adam is just as guilty as he sits there and watch Eve partake of the fruit. May I just propose this morning that one of the greatest problems we have in this world today is because it’s full of men like Adam. You study the statistics of church by majority and percentage.
It’s mainly the ladies who come to church. The ladies who come to church and bring their young kids to church to learn about God. All the while men sit at home not engaging as God has called them to. To the guys that are here this morning, the challenge to you is to live like men. Don’t be a coward. Don’t sit back. Be a spiritual leader for your family. Engage and help and encourage. And when sin comes before your family. Lead and guide and direct. Because what we find is we discover in the scriptures ahead that God has held the man accountable for the headship of the family. Doesn’t mean ladies don’t have any responsibility, because when we look at the curse, it affects both men and women. But God is holding you men as accountable to your families and what you choose to do or choose not to do with your families. God holds you responsible for your families as your privilege and love to lead. It is your duty before God in love to lead your family. And here Adam sits passively and watches by says in verse seven. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. For the first time in the Bible, they realized what sin was. They realized they were naked. And man’s response is to hide in our sin.
What God desires for us to do is not hide. The tendency is in our lives when we do things wrong. We live in sin is to cower away from God and not just from God. The two that God had created become one. Flesh has now divided. They begin to see themselves rather as one, but as rather than one, but as two. And they clothe themselves in fig leaves as if to hide from their mate and from God. What we see in this passage of Scripture is ultimately the first man made religion. Since this time, all religions have become more elaborate in the ceremonies in which they conduct doing particular things as if they were to please God. And here, Adam and Eve, as if trying to cover their sins up from God, puts on these beautiful fig leaves that we see so many times in those paintings, right? Saying to God, you know what, God, we’ve got this. We can hide and take care of all this sin that we’ve done. Don’t worry about it. I mean, you said we would die, but that’s okay. We’ll be good. Verse nine, it goes on further. I should probably bring it up. Huh? It says in verse nine, the Lord God called to the man and said to him, where are you? And he said to them, I heard the sound of you in the garden. And I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.
I like what God does here. He’s very direct with the man. He. He holds him responsible. He comes to the headship of the man first, and he simply asks him the question, where are you? A question that we should wake up every morning and ask ourselves, where am I might have my relationship to God and my responsibility to this world, and bearing his light to all people? Where am I? And Adam responds, he just simply says, notice what he says in verse ten. It’s no longer talking in words, but in eyes. The two flesh no longer one. He said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, so I hid. And in verse 11 and he said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? I like that God doesn’t beat around the bush. He just speaks directly. We’re talking about a sin that has devastated mankind’s history for forever. A sin that would ultimately lead to Jesus coming to this earth and having to die for our sins. God and flesh dying. This isn’t just a theological concept that we think of. This is a changing of history for all time. Who told you? He doesn’t ask. Adam. Adam. I saw that you sinned. How does this make you feel? Let’s talk about those emotions. Give me those experiences. What went through your mind? He just simply says, Adam, what in the world did you do? What did you do? And Adam responds, he.
He watched Eve take a dive. And now in verse 12, he really is impressive here. And he begins to blame not himself, but his wife and God. He says, the man said, the woman whom you gave to to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate. God, that woman you gave me, something’s wrong with her, and something’s wrong with you for giving her to me. Adam shifts the blame of responsibility in verse 13. He then asked the woman, then the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you have done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me, and I ate. Verse 14, as the woman carries the responsibility. It says, then the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this cursed you more than all the cattle, more than every beast of the field. On your belly you will go and dust. You will eat all the days of your life. In verse 15, God gives a promise of hope. This is the first gospel message recorded in all of Scripture. Immediately after man sins, God comes into the garden and he gives us hope. And that’s good. While we talk about the weight of sin, while we think about the effects that it has on friends and family and those around us, while we see war and pain and suffering in this life, God still in those moments offers us as people hope He says in verse 15, and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.
He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise him on the heel. Notice in this passage of Scripture it doesn’t say that it’s from the seed of the man. Anytime you ever see birth or childbearing talked about for the rest of Scripture, it talks about the seed of the man. But in this passage of Scripture, it refers to the seed of the woman because she would bring forth Jesus and he gives us Jesus promise. He thinks of Satan and his dominion as he rules over us and sin. And he says, when? When this seed of the woman comes, when the Savior comes to rescue us, that he will crush the head of the serpent in his dominion, he will live victorious over him. There is hope for us. And he goes to the woman and he says to her in verse 16, ladies, you’re going to make war. To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children, yet your desire will be for your husband and he will will rule over you. We just went through this recently, Stacey and I. Grayson’s getting on his coming to his first birthday. Labor is war, right? Speaking from experience here, I have no idea what that’s like.
Don’t want to try to relate to you in that situation, but from the looks of it, labor is war and only talks about the idea of laboring and raising children in the battle. It is to raise up a child rightly. He also talks about the marriage relationship. It says your desire will be for your husband. And the word desire is the same word that Cain had desire for sin over Abel in Genesis four. There is tension in that marriage relationship. It’s a reminder to to you, as ladies, as you bring forth children in this world, and you labor to raise that child the right way. And and you’re working on your marriage for your husband and all the tension that continues to exist, that you as a child created by God, much like your family might war against you. You have warred against God. You’re empathetic towards him. It’s a reminder to us. Isn’t that kid just difficult today? Yes. God. He is. Weren’t you difficult to me at some points? Yes, God I was. He doesn’t just talk about the ladies. He also goes and addresses the man. Then to Adam he said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife. Rather than listening to God, you ever get in that dilemma wondering, should I listen to man or to God? God trumps. And have eaten from the tree and about which I commanded you, saying, you shall not eat from it? Cursed is the ground because of you.
In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. In verse 18, both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you. And you will eat of the plants of the field, and by the sweat of your face you will eat bread till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return. God was faithful to his promise. If you ate of the tree, you will die. Guys, you ever wonder as you go out into this world and you labor and it seems like just as your house looks pretty the way that you wanted wanted it to look. And just as work is going every way that you were hoping that work would go, and all of a sudden everything comes crashing down in front of you. All that toil and labor and all that sweating that takes place, it’s because there is sin in work, and it’s to remind you as guys, when you’re going out into this world and you’re laboring for your family and you’re working on your family, you’re working on your job and and you’re working on your home, just as those things begin to fall apart. So we have fallen apart in our presence before God. We have fought against him. In those moments, we can reflect God.
All of this seems to not be working the way that I would desire it to, the way that I’m laboring it to. And and God would say to you, much like you’ve labored against me. The passage goes on in verse 20. God now addressing the areas of sin. And I like the way God does this. He confronts our sin and he offers us hope and a better future. And so for the next four verses, God begins to discuss that hope and a future. We’ve got three of them in front of us. It says now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. If you read this passage of Scripture and all of a sudden death is born, and now evil in these moments is called the mother of all living, it really doesn’t make sense until you understand what’s about to take place before God. See, God has just given the the people the first gospel promise Adam and Eve has heard from the first time that that someone will come and he will crush the head of Satan, giving you all ultimate redemption. And it says in verse 20 that Adam now calls his wife Eve, the mother of all living. It’s a reflection that as sin brought such a curse upon us, as sin has alienated our relationships with one another and our relationship with God, God has brought forth hope from the seed of the woman, and now she is the mother of all living.
There is the anticipation of the promise of Jesus coming through Adam’s statement. It says in verse 21, then the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Adam and Eve were created innocent, and by that point they hadn’t made any decision for right and wrong. And now all of a sudden that they’ve made this decision to to disobey God, they they know the difference between good and evil. It tells us in verse 21 that what God did to reflect on the promise of the Messiah is that God made the first killing in the garden. God made the first sacrifice. God killed this animal, took off the nasty leaves that they were wearing, and he clothed them in animal skin. In the Hebrew, this literally means a priestly garment. God is saying, as you have been alienated from me, as you put on these fig leaves, that made you even more distant from me, as you’ve tried to hide yourself from me and all of your sin. I am making this sacrifice, and I’m clothing you in this priestly garment to remind you that once again, our relationship will be restored and once again you can come before me. This is where sin originated, and this is the worst day to exist in all of human history.
From here, I just want to ask us just a few simple questions about sin, leaving us with the opportunity of hope and the first being what really is sin? What is sin? You know, today in our society, you may not be arrested for looking at pornography. You may not be arrested for lying to someone, but to God. Those things are wrong. Those things are sin. First John chapter three and verse four gives us a good definition of what sin is. It says everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. It’s not breaking the the laws of our government as much as it is breaking the laws of God. Though God desires for you to be obedient to your government, God ultimately desires for you to be obedient to him. Sin is anything that opposes God. Anything that opposes his nature. Anything that opposes his will. Anything that opposes his law that is sin to God. Sin shows up in death. Sin shows up in separation. In the Bible it’s called grief. It’s called abuse, jealousy, hatred, wandering, irrationality, pride, a hard heart, blindness, delusion, self-worship, apathy, lawlessness Idolatry. Sin can be sin of omission. Sin can be sin of commission. Sin that we do deliberately as commission. Sin that we we, we don’t do. As sin of omission. Sin is sin in our thoughts and our words and our actions and our deeds. Jesus said, it’s okay for you to not to not murder.
It’s good not to murder. But you who have angered in your heart have already committed murder. Yes, you may not have committed adultery, but you who have lusted in your heart have committed adultery. Out of our heart it proves the wickedness that is within our soul. Sin is anything that contradicts the nature of God. So the question that we ask about sin then is are all sins equal? Meaning? I saw the way that Adam and Eve disobeyed God and and the judgment that we received for it. But you know, when I look at sins of of my friend down the road and sends my own life. My sins aren’t as bad as their sins. So before God does that, does that make me okay? The Bible responds to that and simply says in James 210, for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. In the eyes of a holy God, if you break one law before a holy God, you are guilty of all of the law. We can never expect to come before a holy God, simply based on the good deeds that we do in this world, because if we’ve ever sinned just one time, it makes us unacceptable in his sight. In James 310 it says, there is none righteous, not even one. I mean, you can try to live right for the rest of your life, but you can’t undermine the sin that you’ve already conducted in your life.
There is not a single person that, when God looks upon him, sees them as a right person. In 23 it says, all have sinned. No matter how good that you think that you are. When God judges you according to his law, he says, we are all sinners. And because of that, it tells us in Romans 118, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Say, wait a minute. What is this? Suppressing the truth? I mean, I don’t want to deliberately disobey God. Well, that’s okay, because there’s also sin of omission, which means without knowing it, we could disobey God without having a clear understanding of what God would desire for our lives. We can still disobey God because God has written his law for everyone to obey. God’s wrath rests upon all of mankind. The curse of sin rests upon every sinner that exists, which is every human being that has ever been born Question that we lead to, then how has the sin in the Garden of Eden really affected us? What does this mean? That we’re all sinners before our relationship with God? You’re looking at the Garden of Eden. We saw the way that it affected them in our lives. Jesus has come. Does it still affect us that way? Adam and Eve had tension in their marriage relationships.
Adam and Eve experienced tension in work. They experienced tension in sin still affect us. How has the Garden of Eden affected us in our lives? This week, if you study scripture, I would encourage you maybe to take some time to look through the passage of Romans. Chapter five tells us about the life of Adam and the curse of Adam being passed on from generation to generation. It says, therefore, just as though one man, Adam Sin, entered into the world, and death through sin. And so death spread to all men, because all have sinned The curse that existed in the life of Adam has been passed from generation to generation. David reflected upon it in Psalms chapter 51 and verse five. Before he was born, he said, in sin my mother conceived me. His mother didn’t conceive him sinfully, but his mother conceived a sinner that was a child. Ephesians two three says, by nature we are children of wrath. The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 17 nine, the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Meaning, we’re so wicked that we can fool ourselves into thinking we’re accurate, when in fact we’re not. We can’t always believe our emotions. We can’t always believe our thoughts, our feelings. We are depraved. We have become slaves to sin. The Bible often reflects it as this way it refers to us as being slaves to sin and to death and to Satan, says in Romans six six, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.
Comes from Romans chapter five, talking about the curse of Adam that exists upon all of us in Romans chapter six. It gives the hope of Jesus saying that because we we are crucified with Christ, we’ve trusted in him. We no longer have to be slaves to sin. And the implication is, apart from Jesus having never trusted in him, what we’ve become as people, as slaves to sin. Romans 620 for when you were slaves of sin. This isn’t just a theological concept in which we understand when we experience the way that God has communicated himself in our in His Word to us as people, we see and experience that we are slaves of sin. This is why the Bible uses such words in reference to Jesus as setting us free in Galatians chapter five as being viewed as righteous through the eyes of Christ or just through Jesus’s death. Not only are we slaves to sin, but the Bible also refers us to slaves of death. It says in Romans chapter six and verse 23, because of sin, for the wages of sin is death. The expense of sin and becoming sinful people and being born in sin is the promise that one day you will die. Death doesn’t mean ceasing to exist.
Death in the Bible means separation. When we die, we are separated from people on earth. When we die, our body is separated from our spirit. When we die without the hope of Jesus, we are eternally separated before the presence of God. That’s why the Bible says in the Gospels Jesus said, unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he. In John chapter eight and Matthew seven. He promises, or he says to those of us that are going to be many who come, who who cast out demons in my name, but I’m going to say to them, depart from me, I never knew you. It’s death, separation from God for eternity because of sin. The wages of sin is separation from God. The moment that Adam and Eve died, our spirits died with it. The moment that Adam and Eve sinned, I should say our spirits died with that sin. The moment that Adam and Eve died, our bodies began to decay and eventually die. Second Thessalonians one eight talks about death. It says, dealing out our retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power, we have become slaves to sin. We have become slaves to death.
The Bible tells us we’ve also become slaves to Satan. Remember the promise of the gospel. Jesus would come forth and crush the dominion of Satan. Dominion meaning Kingdom. The ruling of Satan. It says in acts 2618 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness. Is talking about the gospel. Turn from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me. Jesus came to set us free from Satan. It says in Ephesians chapter two and verse two, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, which is Satan. Luke 812 the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they will not believe and be saved in talking about Satan. Second Corinthians four four in whose case the God of this world, referring to Satan, has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Jesus, at one point in his ministry, looked directly into the eyes of the Pharisees and said, you are of your father, the devil. Apart from the hope that we have in Christ, the Bible tells us that we are slaves to sin and to death, and to Satan.
Jesus brings hope, and in that hope we. We read words over and over again in the Bible, such as life words such as being a new self, being born again, being slaves to righteousness instead of sin, being redeemed, being adopted by God, built, built and bought with a price. Being transferred into his kingdom. As Jesus hung on the cross, he said the words tetelestai, which means literally paid in full. It was a slave term, as if Jesus is saying to us, listen, you were a slave to sin, but now have paid for everything that you need, and no longer are you a slave to that, but you are a slave to me. The words of hope. You have been bought with a price question. I just want to stop and ask as we think about this curse of sin. And I just want to say to you, do you feel the weightiness of sin this morning? Not very optimistic, is it? Man, sin stinks. You know, quite honestly, I don’t enjoy talking about it. Something that’s so devastating in the lives of people. But out of love, it’s necessary. We need to know there is a need for Jesus before we look to Jesus for the answer, we need to know that there is a hope that we don’t just have to hide behind fig leaves and try to run and do everything that we can to please God to, in the end, find out that it didn’t please God at all because none of us are righteous.
I want to go back to last week honestly. We talked about God, created us in his image and he and he made us very good. And he created in this, in this world to for us and our our beauty, in which he designed to reflect him to other people. That sounds so happy. Put me back there. In sin. Do we bear God’s image? Last week we looked at what it meant to be the image of God. But now that we’re sinners, I mean, do we still carry that image to him? Genesis chapter nine and verse six. This comes long after the the sin that existed in the Garden of Eden. It’s in reference to Noah. The flood had just taken place. The earth had been devastated. There was no appreciation for human life. And God gives this command to Noah. He says, whoever sheds man’s blood by man, his blood shall be shed. This is where people go for capital punishment. You ever want to find a good verse on that? Texas believes in this very well. It’s saying whoever doesn’t appreciate the sanctity of life, that person has violated the utmost of God’s laws and his life should end as well. And it says, for in the image of God, he made him. The reason that we preserve life, the reason that we protect life, the reason that we care about the needs of other people, and we do humanitarian work as a church across this world.
Still, giving hope in Jesus is because we’re still made in the image of God. God still has hope for us and in us and through us. Regardless of the sin cursed, the image of God is still born on us, though it’s marred by sin. First Corinthians 1549 it says, just as we have borne the image of the earthly, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. Yes, we are creatures created by dust. Yes, we will die and return to the earth one day. But yes Jesus has made us in his image. We’re still human beings and God still has a hope for our future. Otherwise Jesus wouldn’t have come. So the big question we leave with this morning. Why does God point all of this out to us? And I didn’t come to church to feel bad. I don’t want to walk out feeling the weight of sin and the curse it brings on people. Why did God do this? Is he a mean God? I knew it. He’s just like that. Zeus with those lightning bolts. All he’s interested in is making me feel bad. I’m not coming to church anymore. You’ve proven it all today. I’m out of here. Thanks for sticking around, by the way. I didn’t see anybody leave so far. Why did God do this? God did this for us. To point us to the solution.
You know what I like about AA meetings? It always starts on this premise. The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. And in the beginning I said that I’m a sinner. It was funny. A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to a lady who for the first time, she walked into a church and she reflected on the first time she visited that the pastor there, he had a ponytail and he wore shorts to preach, which she found that interesting. Maybe I’ll do that. And and she said, at the very start, this pastor mentioned that he was a sinner. And she looked at her friend who was beside her, who had been to church for the first time as well. And she came with her that day and she said, we’ve got to find a new church, one where the pastor is not a sinner. The Bible tells us we all are. And God points this out to us not because he’s mean, not because he wants us to feel bad, but not because he wants to to isolate us or paralyze us from moving forward, but because he wants us to move forward, and God wants us to put the past in the past. God brought redemption and hope through Jesus. And so God identifies to us everything that stops us and prohibits us from enjoying a relationship with him. Listen, sin came into the garden. It’s cursed, not only affected Adam and Eve.
It’s curse affects every human being who walks this earth. We are slaves to sin and we are slaves to death. And we are slaves to Satan. There is no nice way to put that, but it’s the truth. And unless you find rescuing and hope through Jesus, rescuing means salvation. Unless we find that in Jesus we are a hopeless people. But God in his love points that out to us so that we can find the hope for which we are created through him. To get away from that past, to get away from that sin that stops us from enjoying him for all eternity and just jump headlong for Jesus. God will judge all sin one day. No matter how good you think you are, God will judge your sin too. And so God leaves us with these words in his Scripture. It says in second Corinthians 521, he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. He says to us as people, Jesus wasn’t sinful. Jesus was perfect. But him who knew no sin became your sin, so that in becoming your sin, that when God looks at you, he sees you as righteous. He sees you as perfect. He sees you the way he sees. Jesus tells us in Romans 623, for the wages of sin is death. What? Sin brought was death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You don’t do anything to earn a free gift. You don’t have to live perfectly to then get Jesus in your life. You come to him with every sin that you carry, every burden that you have, every pain that you’ve experienced, and you lay it at his feet and the opportunity to talk to someone who wasn’t necessarily a bad person didn’t necessarily live a life of sin, but had had so much junk done to them in their lives that they just carry so much emotional burdens each and every day thinking about it. You know what I had the opportunity to say? Whether you’ve sinned or been sinned against Jesus understands it all. Jesus was a God who came to this world, and he. He suffered for us. He was beaten for us. He was bruised for us. He was cursed at for us. He was hated and despised and spit upon for us. Jesus understands every pain and sorrow that we go through as people because of the sin that exists in this world. Jesus came to die for you. Jesus came to give you hope. Jesus came that you may trust in him. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the guy named TV evangelist named Ted Haggard. I am not big on television evangelists. As a matter of fact, if they tell you they’re going to send you a magical hanky for like $55.
If you just sow your seed, just turn the channel. Okay, that’s not godly stuff going on there. But Ted Haggard was an individual who was a TV evangelist, very popular. Ted Haggard had a large following and he fell into a life of sin. And his sin was played out publicly in front of everybody. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, right? And Ted Haggard was such a man. The bigger he was, the harder he fell. And he went through such devastation and such embarrassment through everything that he experienced. And I read an article that was written by his wife just a few weeks ago, reflecting on that moment and the effect that it brought upon their family. And at one point she came before her husband and said, man, you have really fallen away from grace and the stuff that you’ve done. And his response was, honey, I haven’t fallen away from grace. I’ve fallen harder into it. Some of us in our lives know without me even having to say that we are sinful. We know that we are sinners. You know, we think about God and we say, man, how could God ever accept me? Even in little sins? How could God, a holy, perfect God, ever accept Except me. What can I do to please him? You know the life of Ted Haggard. What he began to realize is that there wasn’t anything he could do. He couldn’t earn God’s grace.
He couldn’t earn God’s love. He couldn’t earn God’s favor. But God gave it to him anyway. The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ, Ted Haggard, and all that sin being played out in this world, and all the shame that it brought to him and his family and everyone who began to look down their noses upon him. Ted fell humbly before the throne room of God and begged for mercy. I don’t know what’s up with our MC today, but it’s the same for us. We come before the throne of Jesus, not because of anything that we’ve done to make ourselves worthy. We come with empty hands before the cross of Christ, knowing that Jesus has already paid it all. Jesus has become our sin that we may look righteous before him. God says this in Jeremiah chapter nine and verse 11. To a nation who had turned their backs on God. To a nation who was now being taken captive into to the Babylonian captivity. Who have been disobedient to God, who whose sin was now present. They knew that they were sinners. And he says to them, listen, sinners. I haven’t called you to just be stuck in that sin, for I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for your calamity, to give you a future and a hope. That’s God’s desire for us this morning, not to focus on our sin, but to die for it. Not to look at you in condemnation, but to look at you as he sees Jesus.