The Gospel
PRAY!
We will define the Gospel in the following way during this series:
“In the beginning God created everythingvery good. Mankind sinned against God. God the Father sent Jesus Christ to pay for the sins of man with his perfect, sinless blood shed on the cross. Now, as blood bought adoptees, we are being conformed into the image of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
(Recap / Intro – Last week Kasey did a great job in showing God’s perfect creation and that it culminated with the making of mankind in His image. That, although in imperfect ways, we share communicable attributes with God. Also, that God made us for amazing things such as work, marriage, family and most importantly intimacy with Him. Today we will see the introduction of sin and the shattering affect it has on all of God’s beautiful creation.)
The Break
God’s perfect creation is at peace and as we look back and understand the world in the Garden of Eden we all long to see that peace again. We will see today what happened to that peace.
Genesis 3:1-24 – Now the serpentwas more crafty than any of the wild animals theLordGod had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,3but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.5“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,knowing good and evil.”
6When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband,who was with her, and he ate it.7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked;so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8Then the man and his wife heard the sound of theLordGod as he was walkingin the garden in the cool of the day, and they hidfrom theLordGod among the trees of the garden.9But theLordGod called to the man, “Where are you?”
10He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraidbecause I was naked;so I hid.”
11And he said, “Who told you that you were naked?Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13Then theLordGod said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me,and I ate.”
14So theLordGod said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursedare you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a]and hers;
he will crushyour head,
and you will strike his heel.”
16To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
17To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursedis the groundbecause of you;
through painful toilyou will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18It will produce thorns and thistlesfor you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
20Adam[c]named his wife Eve,because she would become the mother of all the living.
21TheLordGod made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.22And theLordGod said, “The man has now become like one of us,knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of lifeand eat, and live forever.”23So theLordGod banished him from the Garden of Edento work the groundfrom which he had been taken.24After he drove the man out, he placed on the east sideof the Garden of Edencherubimand a flaming swordflashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Our Brokenness
By Nature
· Ephesians 2:3 – 3All of us also lived among them at one time,gratifying the cravings of our fleshand following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
· Romans 5:12 – 12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man,and death through sin,and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
· Romans 5:18-21 – 18Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people,so also one righteous act resulted in justificationand lifefor all people.19For just as through the disobedience of the one manthe many were made sinners,so also through the obedienceof the one man the many will be made righteous.
20The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase.But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,21so that, just as sin reigned in death,so also gracemight reign through righteousness to bring eternal lifethrough Jesus Christ our Lord.
By Choice
· Romans 3:10-18 – 10As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
13“Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16ruin and misery mark their ways,
17and the way of peace they do not know.”
18“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
By Commission
· Doing things outside of God’s revealed will. Whether in thoughts, words, actions or motives.
By Omission
· Not doing the things found in God’s revealed will. Whether in thoughts, words, actions or motives.
God’s Answer for Our Problem
· Romans 3:22-26 – 22This righteousnessis given through faithin[h]Jesus Christto all who believe.There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,23for all have sinnedand fall short of the glory of God,24and all are justifiedfreely by his gracethrough the redemptionthat came by Christ Jesus.25God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—26he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
· 2 Corinthians 5:21 – 21God made him who had no sinto be sinfor us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
· 1 John 1:9 – 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sinsand purify us from all unrighteousness.