Introduction:
The decision to sin always includes the thought that I cannot really trust God to watch out for my well-being. When we are playing with temptation and do it in isolation – (don’t tell anyone what we are tempted by) – we make ourselves all the more vulnerable…
Genesis 3:1-13 MSG
The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?” 2-3 The Woman said to the serpent, “Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It’s only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘Don’t eat from it; don’t even touch it or you’ll die.’” 4-5 The serpent told the Woman, “You won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil.” 6 When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate. 7 Immediately the two of them did “see what’s really going on”—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves. 8 When they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from God. 9 God called to the Man: “Where are you?” 10 He said, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid.” 11 God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?” 12 The Man said, “The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it.” God said to the Woman, “What is this that you’ve done?” 13 “The serpent seduced me,” she said, “and I ate.”
I. In the fall something happened to human nature – that something is called “depravity.”
A. Depravity is a spiritual condition – our readiness to harm others, or let harm come to them if it will help us reach our goals of
B. We want to do what is
II Samuel 11:1-27 MSG
When that time of year came around again, the anniversary of the Ammonite aggression, David dispatched Joab and his fighting men of Israel in full force to destroy the Ammonites for good. They laid siege to Rabbah, but David stayed in Jerusalem. 2-5 One late afternoon, David got up from taking his nap and was strolling on the roof of the palace. From his vantage point on the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was stunningly beautiful. David sent to ask about her, and was told, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite?” David sent his agents to get her. After she arrived, he went to bed with her. (This occurred during the time of “purification” following her period.) Then she returned home. Before long she realized she was pregnant. Later she sent word to David: “I’m pregnant.” 6 David then got in touch with Joab: “Send Uriah the Hittite to me.” Joab sent him. 7-8 When he arrived, David asked him for news from the front—how things were going with Joab and the troops and with the fighting. Then he said to Uriah, “Go home. Have a refreshing bath and a good night’s rest.” 8-9 After Uriah left the palace, an informant of the king was sent after him. But Uriah didn’t go home. He slept that night at the palace entrance, along with the king’s servants. 10 David was told that Uriah had not gone home. He asked Uriah, “Didn’t you just come off a hard trip? So why didn’t you go home?” 11 Uriah replied to David, “The Chest is out there with the fighting men of Israel and Judah—in tents. My master Joab and his servants are roughing it out in the fields. So, how can I go home and eat and drink and enjoy my wife? On your life, I’ll not do it!” 12-13 “All right,” said David, “have it your way. Stay for the day and I’ll send you back tomorrow.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem the rest of the day. The next day David invited him to eat and drink with him, and David got him drunk. But in the evening Uriah again went out and slept with his master’s servants. He didn’t go home. 14-15 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Put Uriah in the front lines where the fighting is the fiercest. Then pull back and leave him exposed so that he’s sure to be killed.” 16-17 So Joab, holding the city under siege, put Uriah in a place where he knew there were fierce enemy fighters. When the city’s defenders came out to fight Joab, some of David’s soldiers were killed, including Uriah the Hittite. 18-21 Joab sent David a full report on the battle. He instructed the messenger, “After you have given to the king a detailed report on the battle, if he flares in anger, say, ‘And by the way, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’” 22-24 Joab’s messenger arrived in Jerusalem and gave the king a full report. He said, “The enemy was too much for us. They advanced on us in the open field, and we pushed them back to the city gate. But then arrows came hot and heavy on us from the city wall, and eighteen of the king’s soldiers died.” 25 When the messenger completed his report of the battle, David got angry at Joab. He vented it on the messenger: “Why did you get so close to the city? Didn’t you know you’d be attacked from the wall? Didn’t you remember how Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth got killed? Wasn’t it a woman who dropped a millstone on him from the wall and crushed him at Thebez? Why did you go close to the wall!” “By the way,” said Joab’s messenger, “your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.” Then David told the messenger, “Oh. I see. Tell Joab, ‘Don’t trouble yourself over this. War kills—sometimes one, sometimes another—you never know who’s next. Redouble your assault on the city and destroy it.’ Encourage Joab.” 26-27 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she grieved for her husband. When the time of mourning was over, David sent someone to bring her to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son.
C. We are predisposed to do
II. Why did God forbid Adam and Eve from eating one tree?
A. God is doing something of fundamental importance for
B. God is giving man and woman a
C. True community is never
D. Adam and Eve decided there was something they
E. There is a difference between
1. Solitude is a gift from
2. It existed before the
3. It is the God given ability to think, feel, value, and
4. Hiding is a
5. It came into being after the
6. Hiding is motivated by shame and involves
7. Hiding is the place of
Psalm 139:1-11 TPT
1Lord, you know everything there is to know about me. 2You perceive every movement of my heart and soul, and You understand my every thought before it even enters my mind. 3-4You are so intimately aware of me, Lord. You read my heart like an open book and You know all the words I’m about to speak before I even start a sentence! You know every step I will take before my journey even begins. 3-4You are so intimately aware of me, Lord. You read my heart like an open book and You know all the words I’m about to speak before I even start a sentence! You know every step I will take before my journey even begins. 5You’ve gone into my future to prepare the way, and in kindness You follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past. You have laid Your hand on me! 6This is just too wonderful, deep, and incomprehensible! Your understanding of me brings me wonder and strength. 7Where could I go from your Spirit? Where could I run and hide from Your face? 8If I go up to heaven, You’re there! If I go down to the realm of the dead, You’re there too! 9If I fly with wings into the shining dawn, You’re there! If I fly into the radiant sunset, You’re there waiting! 10Wherever I go, Your hand will guide me; Your strength will empower me. 11It’s impossible to disappear from You or to ask the darkness to hide me, for Your presence is everywhere, bringing light into my night.
F. Four things blow me away about our Creator and Father…
1. God allows Adam to
Genesis 3:8 MSG
8 When they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from God.
2. God offers him the opportunity to
Genesis 3:9 MSG
9 God called to the Man: “Where are you?”
3. God has the audacious
Genesis 3:21 MSG 21 God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.
4. God does this because no one – not even God Himself – can get another person to be in a