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Our brokenness

God delighted in the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. They were given charge over creation and were freely able to enjoy all the good things he created. Only one thing was denied them, and that was for their own protection. They were not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Satan, playing on their curiosity, self-interest, and desires, tempted them to choose their way over God’s way.


So they ate.


As soon as they disobeyed God, the perfect world became no longer perfect. Now it contained sin, which quickly manifested in selfishness, deception, blame shifting, pain, and death. Sin corrupted paradise and infected humankind. Its ugly effects have been evident throughout all the history that followed, including in our own lives. We’ve hurt others, lied, disrespected, cheated — to name just a few of the ways that we have turned our backs on our Creator.

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Go Deeper

  • God’s perfect fellowship with Adam and Eve was broken and now they felt shame in his holy presence.

    Genesis 3 describes the fall of man, disobedience to God’s command


    Isaiah 59:2

    But your iniquities have separated

    you from your God;

    your sins have hidden his face from you,

    so that he will not hear.

  • Sin leads to spiritual death & eternal judgement

    Romans 3:23-24

    for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.


    Romans 5:12

    Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned —


    Romans 6:23

    For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.


    Galatians 5:19-21

    The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.


    James 1:14-15

    but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

  • People are born bent towards rebellion

    Ephesians 2:1-3

    As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.


    John 8:34

    Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.


    1 John 1:8-10

    If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

  • God established a law to reveal His holiness and our sinfulness

    Romans 7:4-6

    So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.


    Galatians 3:23-27

    Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

    So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.


    James 2:8-13

    If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

    Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.


    Matthew 22:35-40

    One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

    Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

  • Satan, the embodiment of evil, introduced the temptation

    Revelation 12:9 

    The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.


    1 Peter 5:8 

    Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.


    Ephesians 6:11-13

    Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.


    1 John 3:8 

    The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.