For this week’s lesson, “Admit Your Sin Problem,” the LifeWay Adult Leader Guide (p.26) asks, “Does awareness we are being tempted help us to resist? Why?” What is your answer to the question?
I believe the answer is yes because awareness should facilitate response. That is, being aware of an issue is surely better than the alternative? Right? One way to help members is to encourage them develop a plan to put into effect when tempted.
Consider playing the Steve Green song, “Guard Your Heart” on “The Mission” CD. Call attention to the lyric:
I believe the answer is yes because awareness should facilitate response. That is, being aware of an issue is surely better than the alternative? Right? One way to help members is to encourage them develop a plan to put into effect when tempted.
Consider playing the Steve Green song, “Guard Your Heart” on “The Mission” CD. Call attention to the lyric:
The human heart is easily swayed
And often betrayed at the hand of emotion
You dare not leave the outcome to chance
You must choose in advance
Or live with the agony
Such needless tragedy
Do you have a plan to put into effect when you are tempted? As the song says, “You dare not leave the outcome to chance”!
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4 comments:
Ronnie,
I read this blog every week, but I rarely participate. This morning as I was putting the polish on my lesson and I had an epiphany. This lesson is a powerful evangelistic message!!!
The sin, the alienation from God, and finally His Redemption. WOW!!!
Maybe my notes will help someone as they are preparing for their lesson this week. Don't miss the opportunity to invite someone to salvation through the redemptive Blood of Jesus Christ.
Dave
Kingsport, TN
Admit Your Sin Problem – Genesis 3-4
A few months ago I was in Las Vegas and I saw a billboard for a strip club.
• The club was called “Sin” and the billboard named it in BOLD letters.
• I thought to myself “Wouldn’t life be easy if all sin was that obvious?”
** Wouldn’t a huge billboard be a nice way to tell you that you’re headed into sin?
Today we are going to go back to the beginning to talk about sin and how it tempts us, lures us, and then controls us.
Genesis 3:1-5: The Temptation Lures Us
Someone read those verses
Question: Have you ever used the truth to tell a lie? How can the truth be manipulated to deceive others? How did the serpent manipulate the truth to deceive the woman?
Let’s look into the Bible: The Temptation: Verse 1
v.1 – “The serpent was more cunning than any beast” – this is a HUGE warning for us – I don’t believe that we can ever outsmart Satan.
• It is like negotiating with a car dealer who negotiates everyday – you can’t win.
• It is man’s pride that allows him to think that they are smarter than the tempter.
v.1 – “He said to the woman” – Satan had been plotting this attack and he might have been observing the first couple.
• Maybe Satan knew that Adam hadn’t done a good job of communicating God’s words to Eve.
** This is very convicting to me as a father and leader in my household.
• Maybe this lack of communication about the Word of God left the woman vulnerable to attack from Satan.
• I say this because let’s look at Satan’s first approach to the woman.
v.1 – “Has God indeed said:” – Satan’s first attack was against the Word of God.
• Satan confused Eve about what the Word of God said; he had partially already won the battle.
• This hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt like I had been in one of those V8 commercials in the 80’s.
• Remember the discussion we had last week and how Satan twists the Word of God just slightly.
** “God created the earth sure, but he really didn’t do it in six (6) literal days; the Bible is miswritten in this instance.”
** Look what Satan did here to the woman – He twisted the words just a bit.
• Notice how Satan took a very positive command (Genesis 2:16-17) and made it very negative and focused on the negative. – HE IS CRAFTY.
The woman’s reply to the serpent: Verses 2-3
v.2 – “And the woman said to the serpent” – Question: What should she have done immediately?
• She tried to outthink the serpent – Look at Jude 9 for about all we should say to the devil.
v.3 – “The tree in the midst of the garden” – the woman didn’t even know the name of the tree.
• Question: What was the name of the tree? Was it clearly named in Genesis 2:17?
• Was this Adam’s fault for not having clearly instructed his family?
** Would the woman have answered differently if she knew what the tree was?
• I think the woman’s ignorance of exactly what God said was really Adam’s responsibility.
** He did a poor job of relating to his wife the word God gave him.
• Unlike the first woman, our wives really know the God’s Word and they really study it.
** But what about our children?
** Are we slack with God’s Word around them, “Yea Junior, that tree in the middle of the garden, don’t eat its fruit.”
** Do we take the time to explain why to them? Do we tell them that is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
Genesis 3:6-10: The Sin Alienates Us
Someone please read the verses
Question: What was the result of Adam and the woman’s sin?
• Question: Does sin alienate us from God today? – God can’t love me, I am too sinful.
v.6 – “. . . the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise”
• Look at the three levels of Eve’s temptation:
** Lust of the flesh: “it was good for food” – Matthew 4:4
** Emotional desires: “pleasant to the eyes” – Matthew 4:7
** Pride of life: “desirable to make one wise” – Matthew 4:9
v.6 – “She took of its fruit and ate”
• Question: Did the devil make her do it?
** The woman was ultimately responsible for her actions. – 1 Corinthians 10:13
The nakedness of Adam and the woman: Verse 7
v.7 – “They knew that they were naked”
• We can approach the Throne of God naked without shame for our sin. Because of the Blood of Jesus Christ covers our sin.
• Un-confessed sin in our lives causes us shame in front of God and alienation from Him.
Genesis 3:10-12 and 20-23: God Confronts Us
Someone please read these verses
v.11 – “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
• Look at verse 9 – God is clearly talking to Adam here.
• God did not address the woman. Adam, being the head, is the problem.
• God will address us men one day as heads of our household.
Question: Why did God ask them this question? He knew the answer.
• The sin had to be addressed and recognized before God could bring restoration.
** “Hi my name is Dave, I’m a sinner. It has been 2 hours, 14 minutes, and 37 seconds since I have last had a sin.”
** You can’t know where you’re going till you first know where you are – we are in sin and we must recognize it.
v.15 – “He shall bruise your head”
• God promised Satan’s demise in the face of Satan’s victory – “you won the battle but not the war.”
• God wanted to bring something more than humans that were raised in the innocence of Eden.
** His plan was to ultimately choose them that chose Him.
** Before sin, we were not freely choosing Him
** God wants redeemed souls not just innocent souls.
v.20 – “Adam called his wife’s name Eve”
• Until Genesis 3:20 the woman has never been called Eve.
v.21 – “The LORD God made tunics of skin and clothed them”
• Tunics of skin – in order for Adam and Eve to be clothed, there had to be a sacrifice. An animal had to die.
** Hebrews 9:22 – “Without shedding of blood there can be no remission
• Adam and Eve were clothed in a garment that was purchased with the life of another
** We are clothed with a garment of righteousness that was purchased with the life of another; Jesus Christ.
• The Lord God made – Adam and Eve’s works with the fig leaves were not good enough.
** God had to make their covering.
Conclusion:
I would have ultimately failed you as a Sunday School teacher if I never asked you these questions.
• Have you been tempted by sin in your life?
• Has that sin lead to alienation from God?
** An alienation that will leave you eternally separated from God.
• Had God ever confronted you with that sin?
• Have you admitted to that sin?
• Have you accepted the blood of Jesus Christ as a covering for that sin?
** Can you freely enter the throne-room of the Living God?
** And not be ashamed of your nakedness.
If you haven’t I would like for you to pray this prayer with me.
Heads bowed and eyes closed.
Amen
Just curious, we are from Wilmington, NC and have family who live in Kingsport, TN. What church do you teach Sunday School in?
-Marcus
Tri-Cities Baptist Church.
www.TCBChurch.org
Dave
Good lesson. Thanks!
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