Intro:

-Video: On the street: Sin.

-As you can see, we all know that something is wrong with humanity &the world
-The world is not the way it should be… there is something seriously wrong:
-Tsunamis kill untold numbers of people
-A husband hits his wife
-People hate other people simply because of the color of their skin
-Two guys walk down the street hand-in-hand
-We can just look around and see that something is wrong with the world.

-If a perfect God created the world (as we talked about last week), it was perfect.
Q: What caused it to go wrong?
A: Sin. (Disobeying God)

Bible Reading: Genesis 3:6-24

What does this passage tell us about all the “wrecked relationships” sin causes?

#1 Internal shame and guilt
Vs 7: “At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.”
-Ruin of our psychological relationship with our selves.

#2 Mistrust and fear of others
Vs 7: “So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.”
-Adam and Eve don’t trust each other now.
-“Every human being, to some degree, is hiding from the human race. We are all desperately seeking to control what others see of us rather than allowing anyone to see the full truth. This is the ruin of personal relationships with others.”
-Ruin of personal relationships with others.

#3 Loss of our relationship with God
-Hid from God
Vs 10: “He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”

-Blames God for what Adam did
Vs 12: “The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”

#4 Denial of truth (in our efforts of self-justification)
-Adam’s first answer totally evades the real truth (ate of the tree)
-Then, deflects
-Hostile to one another
-Ruin of our mental relationship with the truth.
-We cannot face the truth about ourselves

#5 Breakdown of the relationships between groups
Vs 16b: “And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.[c]”
-“Sin creates divisions between genders, races, [and] nationalities.”
-“…Constant ‘warfare’ between the various groups and types of people.”
-Ruin of harmony in society

#6 Economic-cultural breakdown
Vs 17-19: “And to the man he said,
“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree
whose fruit I commanded you not to eat,
the ground is cursed because of you.
All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.
18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you,
though you will eat of its grains.
19 By the sweat of your brow
will you have food to eat
until you return to the ground
from which you were made.
For you were made from dust,
and to dust you will return.”
-Work was initially a part of perfect creation
-The fall twisted it: “Painful toil”
-Work is not a curse, but it has been cursed.

#7 Physical breakdown
-“pain” and “sweat” leads to physical death itself.
Vs 19: “until you return to the ground”
-“The dust of the ground wins over us in the end”


Conclusion:
-There is a hopeful note:
Vs 15: “ And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”

-We know how it’s going to end.
-While Satan & sin will strike humanity’s heel and cause pain,
-The woman’s “seed” (offspring) will crush Satan’s head, dealing a death blow to sin!
-Jesus

Works Cited
-Tim Keller's Gospel Christianity study.