NFL Prayer Time
Genesis 3:8-11 - Rules For Relationship
* It’s been said that rules without relationship leads to
* But relationship without rules leads to
* We need to see rules as relationship
* The world likes rules, but not those defined by God.
* If we make the rules up ourselves then we end up with a moral code.
* If you break a rule in this system then you need
* You can get correction through education.
* But if God gave the rules then we end up with more than a moral code, we end up with Divine Law.
* If you break a rule in this system then we need
* You can only get forgiveness through repentance.
* Key - Sin is not just breaking a rule, it’s breaking a
* Satan’s temptation in vs 5 was to get Eve to make her own rules and thus damage her relationship with the ultimate rule-giver.
* Vs 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.” (Make your own rules)
* This wasn’t about knowing “good” - it was about knowing “evil.”
* Eve already knew good. But God was protecting her from evil.
* God is all about relationship with us, which includes rules to protect that relationship.
* Vs 8 - “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”
* Sin turns your greatest blessing into your greatest burden.
* Vs 9 - “But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
* Notice God asked Adam “where” he was, not “what” he had done or “why” he had sinned.
* God is asking Adam why he isn’t where he’s supposed to be - with HIM!
* This shows that relationship w/God is paramount, even if you brake one of His rules.
* Vs 10 - “He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’”
* They made their own rules - “we wear clothes around each other!”
* Making your own rules gives you the wrong fear.
* Vs 11 - “And he said, ‘Who told you that you were naked?…’”
* We have to expose the liar if we want to defeat the lie.
* Sin isn’t ultimately about what or why, it’s about where and who.
* Where - stay in God’s presence, even when you mess up.
* Run to Him not from Him.
* Who - spot Satan when he shows up as a liar.
* Genesis 4:9 - “Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’”
* God doesn’t ask Cain “what” he did, but “where” his brother was.
* God wanted a relationship with Abel.
* We need to see Rules as relationship protectors.
Genesis 3:17 - Silence is Sin
* God loves all people, but He does not love all ideas.
* What are we supposed to do with ideas that hurt people?
* 2 Corinthians 10:5 - “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God…”
* Adam failed in this area.
* Notice what God told Adam he did two things wrong:
* Vs 17a - “Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you…”
* Two sins:
* He listened to a bad idea from his wife.
* God wanted Adam to listen to his wife - just not bad ideas from her.
* He ate what God told him not to eat.
* God wanted Adam to eat - just not from the wrong tree.
* Adam’s silence in the face of evil was SIN!
* He should have stopped her right in her tracks when she looked at that fruit and said, “Hey sweetheart, this is a bad idea. This is going to break our relationship with God. He said not to do this, and even though I don’t really know why, we need to obey.”
* What was the result?
* Vs 17b - “…Cursed is the ground because of you; In toils you will eat of it all the days of your life.”
* His work got hard - really hard.
* The very thing he was called to do would be difficult to do.
* Pain would now be associated with his purpose.
* The same result was for Eve.
Genesis 6:8-13 - Walk With God
* In Genesis 5 we see that Enoch “walked with God” and he never died.
* God spared Enoch from the troubles of the earth.
* The same is said of Noah.
* Vs 8-9 - “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.”
* God spared Noah from the trouble coming to the earth.
* Think about walking with someone - you keep the same pace so you can talk with them.
* If you walked everyday with someone, you’d get close to them.
* The result of walking with God is two fold:
* 1) You get God’s
* Def - “feeling or showing approval or preference for.”
* God’s favor feels like Him approving of you - and that feels good!
* Note - It only took one person to find favor with God in order to preserve the human race.
* None of us would be here today had Noah not walked with God and found favor.
* 2) You get God’s
* Vs 13 - “Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.”
* Only close friends share secrets.