'THE BEGINNING OF SIN, EVIL AND DEATH'

Rev. Canon George Sinclair

by Rev. Canon George Sinclair                           

 Pastor of the Church of the Messiah, Ottawa, ON.
 www.messiahchurch.ca 

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Podcast of CFRA broadcast on Sunday, April 30th,  2017:

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/53013/good_news_258_apr30.mp3 _____________________________________________________

Broadcast Notes:

Today we give a shout out to Wills Transfer, whose donation allowed this show to go on the air. Thank you!

The Beginning of Sin, Evil and Death

This talk is a shortened version of a sermon that I gave at Church of the Messiah, Ottawa:

https://messiahchurch.sermons.io/sermons/the-beginning-of-sin-and-death

Genesis 3:1-13   (ESV)

The Fall

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You^[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 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.” ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,^[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool^[c] of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”^{[d] 10} And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ¹¹ He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Footnotes:

1.       Genesis 3:1 In Hebrew you is plural in verses 1–5

2.       Genesis 3:6 Or to give insight

3.       Genesis 3:8 Hebrew wind

4.       Genesis 3:9 In Hebrew you is singular in verses 9 and 11

1. Evil is not equal to God's goodness, and God did not create evil.

2. In Adam's Fall, I did not become evil, I became bent and broken, from my highest heights to my deepest depths, with nothing left untouched.

3. Each and every human being is bent and broken by an ongoing desire to be god. So, for each and every person, only the true and living God can rescue and help them.

4. In grace and mercy, the Lord God came to draw Adam and Eve out of hiding. He did not come to drive them deeper into hiding.

5. Only Jesus Christ turns "take and eat" from a reminder of sin, shame and death, to a reminder of salvation, grace and eternal life.

Loving God, I confess to You, that I flatter myself too much to detect or hate my own sin. I confess to You, that I am good at finding specks in other people’s eyes and bad at seeing the log in my own eye. I confess, that I too easily make You less generous and more harsh, as I forget Your word. Thank You for Jesus Christ, and His death for me on the cross. Thank You that, in Him, my sins are forgiven; I am clothed with His perfect life; I am born again to new life; I become Your child forever by adoption and grace. Please make me a disciple of Jesus gripped by the Gospel guided by Your word and living for Your glory. In Jesus’ Name. Amen!

Rev. Canon George Sinclair

Church of the Messiah

www.messiahchurch.ca
613-235-0596
messiahchurch.office@gmail.com

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To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/53013/good_news_258_apr30.mp3