WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:01.280 Well, good morning. 00:00:01.439 --> 00:00:08.160 So we have not left our sort of series going through Genesis 1 through chapter 3. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:12.560 This is actually Paul analyzing Genesis. 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:19.760 And so we're going to look at Paul's words this morning about what he thinks about this Genesis story that we've been picking apart for the past six or so weeks. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:26.719 When I was about six years old for Halloween, I dressed up in gold sweatpants, a gold sweatshirt. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:34.320 My mom, who's sitting right here, she made me like a gold cardboard vest and it tied behind the back. 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:46.799 And we went to the store and bought a C3PO mask, a plastic one, if you remember these, and they dug in the plastic cut you under the eyes, and the rubber bands cut you on the side of the head. 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:52.240 And we went out trick-or-treating that night, and everybody didn't say hi to Russ. 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:54.079 They said hi to C3PO. 00:00:54.399 --> 00:00:55.759 And I thought that was wonderful. 00:00:55.920 --> 00:00:57.759 I mean, I remember just loving this. 00:00:57.840 --> 00:00:59.679 And then we got home that night. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:04.000 My sister and I, we got on the family room floor and we dumped out our pillowcases, right? 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:07.040 Full of candy to count how many pieces we had. 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:09.680 And I had to take off the costume. 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:12.159 And I can remember being extremely sad. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:13.599 I remember now I'm 38. 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:24.560 I can remember being extremely sad about the moment I had to take off this C3PO costume, which I called CP3O until this morning when I Googled it and realized it was C3PO. 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:27.760 And I remember being very, very sad about this. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:29.439 So why was I sad? 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:38.319 Well, it's the same reason why my children, they will be sad Halloween night when they finally have to take off their costumes that they've been wearing for the past month. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:43.040 That we buy a month ahead of time to try to get our money out of them as much as we can. 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:44.799 And they're going to be very sad. 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:47.040 Those girls will be sad because why? 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:48.400 Because it all it ends. 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:48.959 And you know what? 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:54.959 It's just a lot more fun to be dressed up than to be Russ or to be Johnny or Cindy or whoever. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:57.680 It's just fun to pretend. 00:01:57.920 --> 00:01:59.760 But the costume always comes off. 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:13.840 And deeper than the fact that it's just always sort of fun, deeper than that, more profound than that, is that we aren't quite sure if we ourselves, by ourselves, when the costumes come off, if we're enough. 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:14.400 Right? 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:16.639 And this is what we talked about last week. 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:18.240 This idea of shame. 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:21.439 If we're really seen, we're really known. 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:23.599 Are we okay? 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:24.719 Are we adequate? 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:26.000 Are we enough? 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:30.960 And this is why we so easily fall apart if we don't make the team. 00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:41.759 Or we lose the girl or the guy or the job or the marriage, or the kids not trying, they're not quite performing, or not trying as much as you want them to. 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:44.400 The costume falls off. 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:53.599 Because the thing that we were relying on to tell us who we were just came off like a cheap plastic C3PO mask. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:57.120 It just came off, and now, now, now I'm really seen. 00:02:57.199 --> 00:02:57.599 I'm out there. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:02:58.400 I'm exposed. 00:02:58.479 --> 00:02:59.919 I'm vulnerable. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:01.599 And that's what we said last week. 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:02.960 We're just not quite sure. 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:04.879 We're just not quite sure. 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:09.599 If the costume comes off and we're seen, are we enough? 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:17.280 And what we also said last week is that feeling of shame, that feeling of shame is produced by sin. 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:23.520 Now that's a word that's not used a lot, like not used a lot like in culture and in the world. 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:24.560 I don't hear it a lot. 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:28.719 I hear a lot of other words used that I think are pretty much saying about the same thing. 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:31.840 But a lot of modern people don't like the word sin. 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:39.680 This idea, this doctrine that human beings are innately flawed, innately imperfect. 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:47.759 Because a modern person hears the concept of sin, and many of you, even right now, you hear the word sin, and you go, uh, not sure. 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:51.840 Because, hold on, hold on, I know where it's heading. 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:56.000 Once you say sin, I know where this is heading, because you're gonna judge me. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:00.159 And you're gonna judge my friends, and I love my friends. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:05.840 And every time I have seen sin used, it's to not love my friends. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:08.719 And so I'm not quite sure about this word. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:12.400 And this is mostly because of bad church experiences. 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:16.959 I mean, this is mostly because of bad church expressions, is what this is. 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:29.279 Where people have used the doctrine of sin not as a lens to see reality, to see my reality, to see your reality, but as a tool for control and self-righteousness. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:33.279 So a few weeks ago, I was hustling out of the house, trying to get out of the house. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:41.920 I grab my wallet, I grab my phone, I grab my keys, I go to the garage, I get in my car, I back out of the garage, it's sunny out, I reach into the cup holder, and they're not there. 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:43.040 You know what's not there? 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:44.160 My sunglasses. 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:47.839 The fourth piece of me surviving as a whole human being. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:50.399 Phone, wallet, keys, sunglasses. 00:04:50.879 --> 00:04:57.439 So right away, park the car, go back in the house, look up in the kitchen counter, I look in the bedroom, I look on the end tables in the den. 00:04:57.519 --> 00:04:59.279 I cannot find them. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:01.519 My world is not okay. 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:03.680 It's becoming more and more frustrating. 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:08.480 I don't go anywhere without my sunglasses or knowing where they're at right now. 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:11.439 They're in the cup holder of my car in the parking lot. 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:12.079 I know that. 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:14.720 If I don't know that, I'm not okay. 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:15.439 Right? 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:16.319 They're gone. 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:18.319 So they're I'm frantically searching. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:18.800 I need them. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:20.319 I can't leave for the day without them. 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:22.879 I will not leave for the day without them. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:25.920 And so I'm frantically searching, no peace in my life. 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:27.040 It's just going on. 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:33.519 And then I realize what I'm missing, I have the entire time, because you know the rest of this story. 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:34.879 Where are they at? 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:36.720 They're on my head. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:37.680 Of course. 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:39.199 You know that story. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:40.800 And you know the feeling. 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:48.959 You know the feeling when something, something's missing and you know it's there because you've lost your phone. 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:50.160 Right? 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:56.240 Some of you right now, you just by me saying that, you feel like maybe I should check. 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:01.920 Right now, there's an anxiety in you because I mentioned it. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:04.079 Is it really in my purse? 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:07.439 Some of you tapped your pocket, and then you're like, I am okay. 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:09.120 I'm an okay human being. 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:11.040 I'm gonna be okay. 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:12.879 Right? 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:15.839 It's this feeling that something is present. 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:23.839 But when our inability to find it or name it is not there, there's this lack of peace. 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:29.040 Maybe it's not your phone, maybe it's the TV remote, and I'm not talking Comcast like size of your forearm. 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:31.600 I'm talking about the Apple TV remote. 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:36.959 If that thing goes missing, my family just goes ahead and hangs out in the driveway until I find it, right? 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:40.160 It's so small, it's so frustrating. 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:41.279 Why did they do that? 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:42.079 I don't know. 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:43.279 None of us know. 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:48.160 None of us know why they made it that small, but it is the most frustrating thing to ever be created in life. 00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:50.240 It just tucks itself perfectly. 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:51.199 You know it's there. 00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:52.160 That's my point. 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:53.439 You know it's there. 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:56.879 You know what's under the cushion, behind the pillow, under the couch. 00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:00.560 You know, but it's so small you can barely see it, even if I handed it to you. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:03.120 But you know it's there, right? 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:05.040 It's right in front of your eyes. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:06.240 This is my point. 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:09.680 The doctrine of sin is right in front of us. 00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:11.120 It's reality. 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:13.360 It's my reality. 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:15.839 Innately imperfect. 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:25.920 And the sooner you see it, in the equal reality of God's grace, the sooner you will be free. 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:31.680 You remember the Genesis story that we've been talking about so far? 00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:34.160 It begins in Genesis 1, just to review. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:41.120 Adam is created, man is created in the image of God, out of the Trinity, paracaresis, the dance of love. 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:43.920 So he's created out of a God of love. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:47.839 He's created in the image of God, out of the dance of love. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:49.439 This is our beginning. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:51.439 This is your beginning. 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:53.920 And then God says, Have a blast. 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:56.480 I created this great place for you. 00:07:57.199 --> 00:07:58.399 Have a blast. 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:01.120 Have a good time together. 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:03.120 Care for the garden. 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:05.439 Hey, just don't eat of that one tree. 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:11.600 And sadly, in a move for control, in a move for independence, not surrender, not humility. 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:15.759 Eve eats and Adam eats, and then sin enters the world. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:17.920 Shame with it. 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:20.800 So a few points about sin. 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:23.120 Point number one. 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:26.160 Sin is best defined as that which breaks shalom. 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:27.600 Sin is best defined. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:28.319 Let me explain that. 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:30.959 Sin is best defined as that which breaks shalom. 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:33.279 So sin is not primarily behavioral. 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:34.320 That's sins. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:35.039 Okay? 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:37.679 Sin creates sins. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:39.360 That's very important to know. 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:49.600 Sin is the condition, the basic condition under which all human lives, Christian and non-Christian, all human lives, exist. 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:52.080 It's a flaw in our system. 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:54.879 It's a flaw in your system after you're a Christian. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:57.360 It's a flaw in your system when you're 90 years old. 00:08:57.519 --> 00:08:59.759 It's a flaw in your system, it will always be there. 00:08:59.919 --> 00:09:04.240 It's that slight, always consistent bent toward yourself. 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:11.279 That thought that you're going, like, I shouldn't think that way about him or about her, about that thing, and then you just keep thinking it? 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:13.519 Or you keep doing that thing. 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:17.519 And the condition is what creates the behaviors. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:20.639 So sin is not primarily behavioral. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:23.120 Sins are created by sin. 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:31.440 So back in Genesis 3, God lays out these consequences for Adam and Eve. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:36.399 This new existence, this new life is formed after they reach for control and independence. 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:47.279 Sin shows up, shame shows up, and he says, hey, in Genesis 3, mid-Genesis 3, he says, there will be difficulty for you two and how you live, how you work, how you relate, and how you procreate. 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:55.120 God is saying there will be pain and difficulty unto the most basic core parts of your life. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:58.879 Because sin creates death. 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:00.879 Sin creates shame. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:02.399 Sin creates difficulty. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:03.840 Sin creates death. 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:10.080 Sin breaks shalom, the peace created for us to exist in. 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:10.799 And that's the word. 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:14.559 Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace and wholeness and health and blessing. 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:17.440 That's what these two had in the beginning in the garden. 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:18.639 They had shalom. 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:22.559 They had peace with God, with each other, with nature. 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:25.360 That's what they had, and that's what sin destroyed. 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:29.200 Now maybe you would define sin as a break in God's law. 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:33.200 Or maybe you would define sin as just doing something wrong. 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:35.600 Nothing wrong with those definitions. 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:36.720 Those are good definitions. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:37.519 That's true. 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:40.080 It's just not the whole story. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:46.960 The other part of the story is that God designed our lives for shalom, and sin is a break in that shalom. 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:51.519 Now, Paul picks apart the Genesis story in Romans 5. 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:54.960 So let's reread that verses 12 through 14. 00:10:55.279 --> 00:11:01.679 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, so this Adam is talking about the garden and death through sin. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:07.600 And so death spread to all men, so that's to me and to you, because all sinned. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:09.279 So we're just like Adam. 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:10.320 You're just like Adam. 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:11.039 I'm just like Adam. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:15.440 We reach for control and independence rather than surrender and humility to the God who created us. 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:20.720 For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:22.480 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:31.759 Moses is the one who got the law, Ten Commandments, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:34.000 Okay, so Paul gets pretty theological here. 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:42.320 I won't fully break this apart, but what he says here is that hey, hey, without there being stated right and wrong, you wouldn't even realize. 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:45.759 You wouldn't even realize that you're breaking shalom all the time. 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:51.759 You wouldn't even realize that you are living right or wrong unless it was stated for you. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:12:01.519 And now that the law is given, that there is a moral right and wrong in our thinking and doing and in our motives, now we see we're not perfect. 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:07.840 So point number two is this sin is best understood as idolatry of the heart. 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:09.519 Sin is best understood. 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:14.559 Sin is a break in shalom, but it's best understood for our lives as idolatry of the heart. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:17.519 That's the greatest metaphor for sin in the scriptures. 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:23.039 And Romans 1, Paul says, oh yeah, those two, this is my paraphrase, you can read later. 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:29.039 Those two in the beginning, the worst thing they did was worship created things over the creator. 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:30.000 That's what they chose. 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:31.360 That's idolatry. 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:36.480 That's the definition of idolatry, that you worship a created thing over the creator. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:41.759 Pastor and author John Orberg, he asked these questions when it comes to idolatry. 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:46.480 Do I feel like I have enough money and possessions right now? 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:49.840 Or do I feel like I need a little more? 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:54.799 Do I have enough power and control in my life? 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:57.919 Or do I feel like my life needs more? 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:10.080 Is there a relationship in my life which I am so attached that my life would be destroyed if I didn't have it? 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:19.519 What am I willing to betray of my values in order to obtain that one thing? 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:24.720 What desire is so strong in me that it wraps my thinking? 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:31.440 So idolatry is sin in us, it's sin in us creating costumes for us to wear. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:36.320 And on a good day, it's good because we maintain the costume. 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:36.720 Right? 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:50.159 We're really good at pretending, we're really good at performing, the idolatry, whatever created thing we have created, to not have to rely on God, not surrender to his sufficiency and sovereignty and lordship in our life, but to rely on the created thing. 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:51.120 We're doing pretty good. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:53.279 We feel pretty good about ourselves. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:14:00.559 But then you end up where you didn't plan on ending up, or the thing that you thought was going to do the sufficiency and the satisfaction, the fulfillment. 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:01.840 It doesn't add up. 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:06.159 And before long, before long, always you end up in shame. 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:07.440 Always. 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:12.480 And you get the whispering of condemnation that Paul's talking about. 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:15.039 See, I told you. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:16.399 I told you. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:18.879 I told you you're not enough. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:21.120 Go get another idol. 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:23.840 That's condemnation. 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:28.080 That's sin, the condition in us, whispering condemnation. 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:29.919 I told you you're not enough. 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:31.360 You need something else. 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:33.600 You need something else. 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:38.799 Live in the false self, build up the false self, that's sin and all those idols. 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:41.519 And that's Paul's point, that's the Genesis story point. 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:45.360 Come Genesis 3, that the path of condemnation. 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:49.600 It's there, it's real, but it's not the real story of your life. 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:52.000 It's not the whole story of your life. 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:55.600 Justification is the whole story of your life. 00:14:55.759 --> 00:14:58.799 That you have been loved from the beginning. 00:14:59.279 --> 00:15:05.840 And that while in Adam we understand our imperfection, in Christ you understand your redemption. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:08.159 And this is coming into point number three. 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:12.480 And this comes against all modern people who don't like the word sin. 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:20.080 Point number three, the doctrine of sin moves us away from judgmentalism and moves us toward compassion. 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:33.840 If I see my costume, my sin, my issues, my mess, which are ridiculous, and they're there just as much today as they were the day when I became a Christian of all of life. 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:35.919 They'll be there when I'm 84 years old. 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:38.000 They will always be there. 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:40.320 They are inner and they are outer. 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:41.600 They're just there. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:47.919 And when I see my own issues, I'm not, how can I be judgmental toward you? 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:51.679 Like maybe I'm judgmental in a given moment, right? 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:54.320 Maybe that's one of my issues, even. 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:58.879 But if I'm aware of that, how can I stay in a judgmental attitude toward you? 00:15:58.960 --> 00:15:59.360 No, no. 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:08.000 It would move me toward compassion because if I'm the sinner before you're the sinner or before they're the sinner, that changes everything. 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:09.600 You aren't the problem. 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:11.440 And they aren't the problem. 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:12.720 I'm the problem. 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:18.480 And this is why the doctrine of sin is not depressing. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:20.639 It is not even close to depressing. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:22.720 The doctrine of sin is freeing. 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:28.799 Because finally, you can say the thing that's been there the entire time. 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:32.480 And that is, I'm a sinner. 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:36.320 And I can stop pretending to be that I'm not. 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:38.320 Because it's reality. 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:40.799 And it's just true about me. 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:45.919 And this brings us into the last point, the good news, that point number four. 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:52.000 While sin will always affect you, sin is not the whole story of your life. 00:16:52.320 --> 00:17:05.759 You will have to fight against sin your entire life because unchecked, it is nasty and it destroys shalom, it destroys your life, your family's life, relationships, it destroys everything it comes in contact with. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:08.559 But none of that is the core of who you are. 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:14.559 Listen to Paul as he finishes his thoughts on Adam and our way out of this problem. 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:15.599 Verse 15. 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:18.160 But the free gift is not like the trespass. 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:28.319 For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:32.240 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:36.480 For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation. 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:40.960 But the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:54.960 For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. 00:17:55.200 --> 00:18:08.160 So we can walk in the flesh and that false self who walks by the voice of condemnation, or we can walk in the spirit, the true self, who walks by the voice of love. 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:09.839 And that's a movement. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:18.640 That's a movement from a life governed by sin and shame to a life that is governed by love and grace. 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:23.920 And that movement is done by this word called repentance. 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:24.480 Right? 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:26.079 I talked about it last week. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:35.680 And I said, let's not give this word over to the crazy guy at the football game, yelling it out out of hatred, out of a megaphone. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:38.240 Because I need repentance, and you need repentance. 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:44.640 We need to do every day, not just like on a big rally, and we're all gonna repent or at the football game, somebody's yelling at a no, no, no. 00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:47.200 Like we just need to be repenting constantly. 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:56.559 And the reason why we can do this is because in the context of already being loved, you don't live in any fear. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:18:59.279 God doesn't hate you. 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:12.640 I mean, in that context, we can just say, oh God of mercy and grace, known in Jesus Christ, help me. 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:15.039 That's repentance. 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:16.319 That's repentance. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:18.400 Help me. 00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:19.200 That's it. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:20.720 You want to pray repentance? 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:21.599 Help me. 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:22.799 That's it. 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:26.000 I need outside help. 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:29.119 I need your grace toward me. 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:32.000 I need your move toward me. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:33.440 And I know it. 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:39.920 I know it in the incarnation of your love for me, seen in history in Jesus who took on my sin. 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:40.480 Right? 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:44.640 So I didn't have to try to work out of this thing that I'm never really working out of. 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:50.559 And that I am gifted, that great gift of justification and righteousness. 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:56.480 I'm gifted God's righteousness because of Jesus for me. 00:19:56.799 --> 00:20:01.039 I mean, many of us have lived by condemnation and shame our entire lives. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:02.799 And some of us just transferred it. 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:08.720 Like we were in the world under condemnation and shame, and then we just came into a church and just lived by more condemnation and shame. 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:10.960 Just use that for motivation. 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:13.359 But that doesn't have to be your way of life. 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:16.960 That is not the way of Christian spirituality. 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:25.359 Because the entire time, every second of your life, something wonderful has been true about you. 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:27.839 That's what Genesis 1 tells us. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:33.039 You were created in the image of God, created out of the dance of love. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:39.200 God created you out of love, God seeks you out of love, and God redeems you out of love. 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:48.400 So, my brothers and sisters, may you rest and may you repent and may you walk in the truth that yes, we are sinners. 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:56.799 But it is in the great reality that God's grace is always abounding more and more. 00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:58.480 Let's pray together. 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:00.640 God, thank you. 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:04.960 That you help us see what is real in our lives. 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:09.920 That our sin is real, that we are not perfect. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:18.319 We are not perfect in the way we think about ourselves and how we think about other people, how we treat other people, how we relate with you. 00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:22.720 And for this, for this, we're sorry. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:24.640 And even at times we're not sorry. 00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:27.680 We're sorry about not being sorry at times. 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:30.400 God, we thank you. 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:32.240 Your grace is bigger than all of that. 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:36.000 Your grace is bigger than our hard-heartedness and our stubbornness. 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:39.039 Your grace is bigger than our doubt. 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:46.720 Thank you that the free gift of justification is enough for us. 00:21:48.400 --> 00:22:06.160 God, so many of us in this room have lived by shame and condemnation for so many years of our life because we have always thought of sin and our sin as only being depressing and condemning without seeing that it can be a freeing reality when we understand it in the context that your grace is abounding more and more. 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:14.240 Help us to see, yes, we're imperfect, and with that only, only help us to see that your sufficiency is even greater. 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:19.519 Thank you for this great Genesis story. 00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:21.599 That we were created out of love. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:26.079 You seek us out of love and you redeem us in Jesus out of love. 00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:27.839 We pray this in Christ's name. 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:28.720 Amen.