Being Like God Series

INTRODUCTION:

God created the world

In our modern world we don’t have room for God

Send man to the moon

Cure diseases and illnesses

Perpetrating the myth

Religion was invented by scientifically naive people

Not understanding the world and the natural laws that govern it

Created God to explain these laws

We have undone what God has done

God is demoted as a distant entity with little or no relevance

One major theme in Genesis is that of sin

Boils down to one thing

The origination of sin exposes one truth,

Sin begins with one small lie

That we don’t need God

Do not implicitly trust him (his word)

Do things our own way

Gen 3:1-24

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve and the boys, Cain and Abel, were taking a walk one evening and Cain remarked to his dad, “Gee, Dad, look at that beautiful garden. I wish we had a wonderful place like that to live.” And Adam, turned to Cain and said, “Well son, we did ... ... until your mother ate us out of house and home.”

1. Challenging God’s Word

“Did God really say ...” (v. 1)

We have created a God of convenience, based on one simple lie, or twisting of truth

We have questioned God’s word and authority ... so that we no longer have any respect for it

Because of selfish desire and reckless abandon for God’s truth

Human beings have undone what God has done

Conditions before the fall

Obedience  Disobedience

No Guilt  Guilt

Pure  Impure

Everything Right  Everything Wrong

RELATIONSHIP  Out of RELATIONSHIP

Did God really say that Jesus is the only way to heaven and a relationship with God the Father? ...

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

John 14:6, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”

Our world is out of whack and is in serious need of a Saviour. Their only hope is that the people of God, the church of today will recognize, that Saviour is Jesus Christ. Other religions and people of faith may proclaim to know the truth. However if we don’t recognize Jesus as the answer then we are in error.

2. The Right to Choose

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” (vv. 4-5)

You are free to choose for yourself what you can and can’t do ... no one else has the right to challenge you. What is right for you ... may not be right for me ... but don’t tell me what is right for me.

Sound familiar ... this is the lie of our times ... choose you own destiny ... rid yourself of God’s tyranny.

Independence from God vs. true freedom

Irving Kristol (US author) writes, “Being frustrated is disagreeable, but the real disasters of life begin when you get what you want.”

It is sad today, that human depravity has reached new heights. No longer is Adam and Eve’s indiscretion seen as being regrettable.

The cultural and social shifts through the latter half of the last century have seen the notion of independence from God rise to levels that suggest that Adam and Eve’s actions should in fact be commended.

ILLUSTRATION: Truman Show (1998)

Truman (Jim Carrey) is unwittingly the star of a TV show that was his life

Truman has lived his entire life since an infant in front of 1000s of cameras for the show, though he himself is unaware of this fact

All of his relationships are with actors hired to be his family and friends

As the show proceeds, Truman begins to suspect that something artificial is going on

He finally succeeds in tricking the cameras and making his way across the man made ocean, surviving a contrived storm, and reaches the edge of the set and bumps into the horizon

The show’s director, Christoph finally communicates with Truman, to persuade him to remain in the world he has created for him

Seahaven [Truman’s Town], is the world created for Truman and is seen by Christoph as the world the way it should be

Christoph’s benevolent intentions for Truman are clear, but Truman opts to accept all uncertainty of life outside the bubble in order to gain his autonomy [independence].

This view of God suggests a manipulative, capricious God who has no care or consideration for human beings

It therefore should be commendable that people would get from underneath his harsh imposition and run for freedom