The Beginning Of Sin & How To Conquer It

"The Beginning of Sin: And How to conquer it" Genesis Chapter 3

PASTOR BOB HUNTER

SPRINGWATER CHURCH

OBJECT: You will need one red delicious apple to demonstrate Eve’s fall into sin.

INTRO: When God’s six day work week was complete, He proclaimed his creation not only good, but very good! (Gen. 2:31) The world and everything in it was ideal. There was perfect order and harmony. There was total absence of pain, suffering, and disease. Evil did not exist in the immediate post-creation world.

Adam and Eve were perfectly content, as you can imagine. They had a home in paradise. The garden of Eden was flawless. And their Fellowship with God in that place was unbroken. There was nothing between them and God. They were truly innocent of evil. At least, until the serpent showed up.

CONFLICT: Now, many people would ask: Why did the serpent have to even show up in the first place. What was up with that? If God is God then why did He allow Eve to be tempted? The world could have been so perfect, flawless & innocent without sin. Why did it have to be contaminated with the disease and affliction of sin?

Things are not the way God intended that’s for sure. You look at the world around us and things are obviously out of order and not in very good shape. Civilization is at war with itself. Take note of the power struggles, crime, corruption. Then add to that, diseases, droughts and famines. Clearly something has gone wrong, who is to blame for this mess? Do we blame God, each other? Or do we do as so many have, and pass it off on the serpent, blame the devil. He is bad, and he’s responsible for this mess!

So, how did this terrible thing happen? Things could have been so perfect. The garden of Eden was ideal. It was the picture perfect paradise. Too bad it couldn’t last forever. Why did the sin have to come along and mess it all up?

Philosophers, thinkers and debaters to no avail have tried to answer this age old question for centuries. And so have rank and file-ordinary people like you and me. It’s not just a question for the intellectually elite, but one for all of us to wrestle with…

"How could a God who claims to be all good allow something to exist that is so bad?" You have maybe anguished over it or you know of someone who has. I know people who want nothing to do with God, because God didn’t stop a loved one from dying, or a son or daughter from running away. The reasoning: If God is so good, then why do all these bad things happen?

Genesis Chapter 3 is probably the best source of explanation we have. No other book explains the origin of evil, quite like the Bible. Now a lot of people refer to the Bible as the ‘good’ book, but I would rather say that it’s not only the good book, but it’s our guide book. It guides us on a journey to find the answers and teaches how to cope with hard-to-understand sin issues. And if you can understand that much about the Bible, you’re going to be a lot better off. Because you can read it cover to cover and maybe still not have all the answers you’re looking for. There are some evils that exist in the world, that we will never have the full answer for until we get to heaven. (ex. Sadaam Hussein) God has only given us the amount of information that we can humanly handle. The Bible exist to guide us in search for answers. And for the things we don’t know or can’t understand, there is faith.

I’m here today to open the guide book, and talk about the origin of sin & the process of it coming into existence. So lets take a look at what happened ‘in the beginning.’ Let’s examine the different factors that played into sin scenario. What were the events that led up to the commencement of evil?

When the Serpent came along in Genesis Chapter three, a series of things transpired that resulted in a spiral downward. And it all began with the seeds of Doubt. I’m going to give you the 4 big D’s ‘tis morning that brought about the problem of sin. Are you ready for them? D #1 is doubt.

THE PROCESS OF SIN (4-D’S)*:

1. Doubt

The serpent came to Eve and planted the seed of doubt. "Did God really say…" And Eve bit the bate. She took it hook, line and sinker. And Eve herself began to question & doubt whether or not she actually heard the word of God correctly. The initiating stage of sin, is doubt. It’s a subtle thing that quietly works it’s way in unannounced. It’s by no mistake that temptation, took the form of a serpent. We all have this picture in our mind of the serpent coiled around a tree branch, showing up unexpectedly. The characteristics of sin are similar to that of the serpent; sin winds it’s way through the forest of humanity looking for a victim. And when the serpent slithered his way into the garden, he found a ready and willing subject to entertain the notion of doubt. Her name was Eve. "Did God really say…" vs. 1. The serpent said with a tone of mockery. And Eve began entertain a notion of doubt. Did God really say don’t eat from the tree of knowledge? Did He? She began to talk herself out of hearing the voice of God. Eve fell prey to the oldest trick in the book didn’t she? She caved into doubt. Satan’s been successfully using that one from the beginning of time, hasn’t he? You know what I’m talking about, many of us are familiar with enemy tactics of doubt. Notice that doubt takes the form of a question…Did God really say? Doubtful thoughts almost always end with a question mark. Satan loves it when we question established facts. He loves to put a question mark where God puts a period. He just has a field day that maneuver. When questions of doubt enter our minds, sin is just around the corner. There was also…