Let’s Talk About Sin

Carter common from the historic Times Square Church in New York City body is blaming somebody for everything. Nobody is taking ownership for anything anymore. It's somebody else's fault that I missed somebody else's fault and that will come to the weekly addition of a call to the nation with Carter Conlin in today's message Carter will point out what he calls the four points of sin found in the book of Genesis to divide the word of God and the will of God in our lives, declaring ourselves righteous when were not hiding from the presence and the voice of God and blaming someone else for our sin.

Let's discover more with Carter and let's talk about sin I don't speaking the people were really hurting. I don't speaking to people who are addicted inflicted this torment in your mind that your home and your marriage is falling apart near you got problems with your kids before we even talked about what God can do in the miracle power of God.

Let's talk about the necessity of dealing with. Remember, John the Baptist was the forerunner to Christ and his message was returned to repent means to turn repent means agree with the word of God. Repent means that your ways are not God's ways. God's ways are higher than your ways.

In God's ways are different than your ways, agree with the ways of God die to yourself that's with the baptism of John was all about dye to your spell and start to live according to the will of God and until we are willing to die to ourselves to daughter our old way of thinking ways of doing things Jesus Christ will remain a far-off stranger. There is really no living relationship with the son of God until we come through the waters of repentance.

Repentance means I'm sorry for the way I've been living. I'm sorry for what I've done to other people and it is not about what other people done to me is what I have done to other people. I'm sorry for living in rebellion to the revealed word of God went when I knew what God was speaking but I chose my own way and that's where we start. In Genesis chapter 3, beginning at verse one now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which God had made. And he said to the woman, has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden and the woman said to the serpent, we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God is that you shall not eat it. You shall not touch it, lest you die. Then the serpent said to the woman you shall not surely die for God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and what you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.

And she also gave to her husband with her, and he did a now here is the first foundation of sin and the human race.

This is what separated men and women from God. This is what God had to send his son into the world later on today on the cross to pay the price for our sin is when Adam and Eve made the conscious decision to defy the word of God and the will of God for their lives. They fell prey to ally the lies that you can do what you want to do outside of the established order of God, and somehow not pay a consequence for it and I've always believed the devil was very attracted describes his nature as a serpent the serpent course has no ears and is guided by his tongue. That's why he's described as a serpent, but I thought I feel in my heart, not just my own feeling but I feel my heart. He was the anointed cherub that there was a beauty about him and in its almost like he appeared to Adam and Eve's have a look at me. I made my own decisions. I chose to do it my way. I stepped out from under the authority of God and look at me.

Nothing is happened to me and Adam and Eve that says they saw that the tree was good for food, and it was pleasant to the eyes and was desirable to make one wise, and she took of its fruit in eighth so the fruit that they Adolph was a theological fruit that I can live outside of the word of God. I can define the word of God or maybe put it this way I can pick and choose what to believe. From the word of God.

I can believe what I want to believe that I can disregard what I don't want to believe and somehow no consequence will come to me. I can't tell you how many times I have seen people fall into this trap. Over the years as a Christian man is a pastor I have sat and reason with people and tried to help them to see the error of their way and I checked it's heart rending because time and again I just watch them go off a cliff into spiritual disaster and some to this day are not even alive anymore. They should have known that the way they were going was going to take away their strength and was going to take away the relationship with God. Now the next thing that happens after they make the choice is so my question to you.

Are you living in the light of what God is revealed to you in his work or are you making excuses for are you stepping outside of the lines of God's parameters for your life. And somehow thinking is going to be no consequence to it. The numbers of people who just get involved in things.

Thinking I can handle this. It's not going to his negative take away the presence of God for me is not going to destroy my life, only to find out that they can handle it.

All you have to do is give the devil one toehold in the door of your life and he will commend to you like a flood.

Before you know it verse seven of Genesis 3 says, then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings so here's the second stages in the first is willful rebellion to the revealed word of God, has God said they knew what God said, but they chose to do something else.

The second is making themselves another covering other than the covering that has been provided by God. I want you to picture this for a moment. Adam and Eve, I believe, are covered by the glory of God the glory that shone from Moses face really came down from the mountain, the glory that covered the nakedness to go with it because they were in the presence of the living God. Virtually every day and it was it was his presence, his covering that covered them to cover their nakedness.

It it it covered them completely. And when they sinned against God. Suddenly, the covering was gone and they had to make another covering for themselves. That is the origin of all religion in the world today. Apart from Jesus Christ and his man making his own covering his own covering that says I'm a good person and when I die. The good is hopefully going to outweigh the bad. I've never murdered anybody so why would God reject me from his kingdom. I go to church. I even tied. I give good portions of all that I possess to others, but usually none of these can save you is that you can make your own covering and never get past and into the into the eternity of God because only one covering will suffice.

If the covering of the shed blood of the son of God, Jesus Christ known Genesis chapter 3 verses 8 to 10 we see the third stage of sin number number one it's a conscious decision to walk outside of the revealed word of God. Number two is making another covering declaring one's own righteousness in spite of the fact that the person is now in an unrighteous condition in the sight of God.

Genesis chapter 3 is the third stage of said verses 8 to 10.

It is hiding from both the presence and the voice of God, and they heard the sound. Genesis 38 heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden to type of a person who finds it very comfortable to hide in church and the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, or are you as matter fact pastor William is to preach. Is this what the actual Hebrew translation was had him do you know where you are. Do you know what you've done you know what you have become. Do you understand that you are now separated from the life of God. You know what's happened to you so that I heard your voice in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself and so the next thing you find when people are living in sin as they start hide another don't mind going to church.

As long as the presence of God is not there in the voice of God is not challenging their sin.

I can't tell you the number of times over the last 25 or more years standing in the pulpit and Times Square church when the presence of God. Just in faded this nature. I would watch people run out of the church during the worship because the presence of God had come. I would watch them run out during the sermon because the presence of God the Word of God was now challenging their behavior and this is exactly what the third stage of sin is in the book of Genesis. It's both hiding from the presence and from the voice of God and the sad thing is they were in the garden but they were hiding. There are people who attend church today, but they're still hiding from the presence in their hiding from the voice of God in the fourth stage of sin is blaming others for our own actions. No in chapter 3 again now in verse 12 it says the man said the woman whom you gave to me to be with me. She gave me of the tree and I ate and the Lord said to the woman, what is this that you've done and the woman said the serpent deceived me, and I ate it as so the problem is now in the human race. The problem of sin. We live in a society today work. Everybody is blaming somebody else for their condition. It's my father's fault that I'm the way I am.

It's my mother's fault. It's the my former churches fault. It's my bosses fault is my wife Wallace, my husband, God be such a great husband. If it wasn't for my wife did such a great wife and I started to laugh. But that's just the reality of it is somebody my office one time was committing a grievous sin and looked at me with incredulously in a counseling session was said to me if she wasn't the way she was. I wouldn't be doing this season was no desire in his heart to take ownership for his own sin. It was his vendetta broken the covering off of his chromatid is then the broker had broken the covering off of his marriage and was causing it to dissolve. But he had chosen instead of taking ownership for his sin he had chosen to blame somebody else for it. In this case, his wife James chapter 1 verses 14 and 15 says each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

Then, when desire is conceived gives birth to sin, and sin. Whether it is full-grown rings forth death.

So let's go over the four points of sin again in the book of Genesis. The conscious decision to defy the word of God for our lives in the will of God for our lives. Secondly, making another covering declaring ourselves righteous when were not declaring ourselves clean when were not declaring ourselves to be in right relationship with God and God's word clearly tells us were not in right relationship with him. The third stage is hiding from the presence and the voice of God even in the house of God, thus why people gravitate to churches where they want to fire insurance they they want to search the heavens going to be their home in the stands at the end of the journey, but they don't want the presence or the word of God to challenge their behaviors, their worldview, or even how they're living their lives and fourthly blaming if if if sin becomes evident instead of dealing with it, blaming somebody else for I'm a drug addict. Because of this I'm an alcoholic. Because of that I shared with the person reason is that until you're willing to take ownership for your sin, you will never be free Jesus, that just to know the truth and the truth so I'll set you free, and the inference of the word no implies in the Greek, at least it's a a heartfelt embracing usual heart felt oddly embrace the truth about yourself about your condition about the heart why you're doing things about your relationship with God and how it's affecting the relationship around you with others. No, thank God. In Genesis chapter 3. Not only do we see the peril. The pitfall in the fall of humanity we see the mercy of God. It's absolutely amazing. In Genesis chapter 3 and verse 21 it says for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothes MC Adam and Eve had told themselves in fig leaves often think how ridiculous they must've looked imagine this is broad green leaves and they made a hat like a hat like a lampshade for themselves and they made skirts and did whatever it look like must look absolutely ridiculous to imagine they have the glory of God covering up and exchanged it for fig leaves exchange it for like a plant and thinking somehow.

This is covered me. Somehow my bankruptcy before God is not good be exposed and I made my my own covering. Now God could have could've exiled them as he did from the garden as he did all of humanity because of sin, knowing what sin was going to produce in the human race technically could have destroyed the whole thing and just re-created the doll over again. At that point you know why he didn't. For God so loved that says it all for God so loved that a mini for God so love their offspring for God so loved the world God so loved the they did the next generation, the next generation, the next generation, right down to you and I that's why he didn't destroy the whole thing.

That's why innocence evil sin has as been allowed to prosper.

It's only because of the mercy of God. God knew what humanity would do once humankind men and women were living outside of the revealed will of God and were blaming one another.

Can't you see it on full display now in our society. Everybody is blaming somebody for everything. Nobody is taking ownership for anything anymore. It's somebody else's fault that I missed in somebody else's fault that I'm that and they made their own covering and God could've justifiably just just put them out of the garden with the fig leaves on them to go all the best to you, but you see the mercy of God, and God was pointing to something already in verse 21 because it's that he made tunics of skin and clothing he took in a sense the fig leaves off of them and put the skins of animals on them, which was the first indication that a blood sacrifice was going to have to be made to cover the sins of humanity see these animals had to die. They had that shed their blood that give their lives so that their skin could be used as a covering for the failures of Adam and Eve at this time and this was right after. In Genesis chapter 3 verses 14 and 15. The gospel is preached. Did you know the gospel is preached in Genesis 3. Your Bible college students in the sanctuary.

Many of you online you studied your Bible, you should know this. The gospel was first preached in Genesis chapter 3 right in the guard before Adam and Eve were put out of garden. The gospel of Jesus Christ was preached. Genesis chapter 3 verse 14 so the Lord God said to the serpent that's the devil himself because you done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field on your belly you shall go, and usually dust all the days of your life. No, I often interpreted that is my own interpretation, but mankind. Humankind was created out of the dust and it was the cursing distance yet you can spend your whole existence trying to devour the creation of God. That which God raised out of the dust you're going to go to crawl on your belly on the it's as if he was saying to Satan you could lived in the heavens. You were the anointed cherub.

There was none like you for beauty, but instead of being where you are and where your trade and what you're created to be your go to now go on your belly on the earth and you can spend your whole existence during the lifespan of planet Earth as it is you going to be attempting to devour the thief is come to kill, steal and destroy you going to be attempting to devour men and women, the children, that's exactly what the devil is doing in our generation.

The only way to beat him is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ through a living relationship with the son of God, and he says in verse 15.

I will put enmity between you and the woman between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. In other words God says in the garden of Eden, I'm going to have a people. And from that people must file is going to be born, and through him read a right to sleep is going to come back into this world and I'm to put enmity to enmity between you between your seed and her seed her seed.

The seed of the woman which courses Israel Jesus Christ was born through the seed of Jacob. I'm going to put a division between you. One is going to live in the light and the others going to live in darkness one has an eternity of heaven with God, the other has an eternity in hell would you I'm going to make a division between the two. This is going to be no waffling in between the two as a serpent would like to be, but my people are going to live for me.

The grumpy people truly going to be redeemed by the blood empowered by the spirit of God and the good have power to stand against you in your lives that you and imbibed into the heart of humankind in the garden of Eden. Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah and I'm going to send a Savior.

That's what he was saying these verses and you will bruise his heel.

In Psalm 22, Jesus quoted on the cross is down 22 verse 16 he says dogs have surrounded me.

The congregation of the wicked is enclosed. They pierced my hands and my feet.

You will you will bruise his feet, but he shall bruise your head, he shall tread upon you, he shall destroy you, he shall destroy the reasonings that you have planted into those created in the image of God and he will triumph over you. It will take captivity captive, and give gifts on the men.

It will be a Redeemer in the Scripture tells us in verse 30 and 31 of Psalm 22. Listen to these words of posterity in the original King James is a seed shall serve him. It will be recounted to the Lord for the next generation they will come and declare his righteousness through a people who will be born that he has gone this seed shall serve him shall serve him so much challenge do you turn from your sin time from that which would destroy you turn from living according to your own well in your own way. Tired from your rebellion to the words and the will of the living God turn from trying to make yourself another covering that God is not righteous turn from hiding from the presence of the voice of God turn from blaming others for the struggle to come into your life and maybe even in your home because of your sin, turn from your adultery, turn from your pornography. Tired from your on-call time from your drug time from your bitterness time from your unforgiveness time from the last thing you and the lies on your lips turn the living God. That was the message of John the Baptist was the introduction to Jesus Christ and the people have the common sense the guns cover related that was hiding from God.

The whole religious that it made its own covering all claddings in the presence and the voice of God, but blaming one another and they went and hung themselves in the sight of God went down into the waters of baptism and when they came up to the land of God who takes away the sins of the world there is the holding of him until there's repentance the heart were not missed takers in need of correction were sinners in need of a Savior and so is my question to you. You can lay down in your own garden with your own coverings hiding from the voice of God and blaming others and you can do for the rest your life instead display your eternity will most likely not be with God in some cases or you can be among the seed that Jesus Christ spoke about in Psalm 22 the seed that recognize that God had to send his son to a cross to pay the price for the wrong things that you have done that. The Bible calls sin.

The things you did the choices you made the coverings that you procured for yourself that falls reasonings that you allowed to get into your mind. He had to send his son to die to pay a price to restore you and to give you back the covering that was lost in the Garden of Eden. You know, in the garden of Eden. They were banished from the tree of life. This is lest they should live forever in this sinful condition. They were banished from the garden and the covering was lost. The covering of God was lost at the cross, the tree of life was regained in the covering was given back and through Jesus Christ were brought back into a right relationship with the living God and the glory of God becomes our covering again the blood of Christ washes away all of our sin where we are brought back into relationship with God where we can actually hear his voice again in the cool of the day and were no longer afraid to be challenged by his presence, or by his words and we delight in our hearts with in living inside the boundaries of the word of God were no longer looking to see how far we closing get to the edge without ending up in hell. We now want to live as close to the center of those two borders as we Are delight is in the law of God the Word of God. If God says it, that's what we want to be if God tells us that what we should do.

That's what we want to do. We want to live inside the word the will of God. We want the covering that only Christ can provide that is ours at the cross and we want to stop blaming others and take responsibility for our own actions. Somebody may have done something to me and I'm not responsible for what they did to me but I'm responsible for the unforgiveness and bitterness in my own heart and the unwillingness to release that that is the word of God says that I should and so will you be among the seed, will you be among those who are technically back in the garden again with God technically covered our nakedness discovered what bankruptcy is covered is not failure, and I was all the things we've done are declared, the right to visit God in Christ Jesus, that would be blasphemous work not written in the word of God. It means we are as clean as God is in Christ Jesus you can have it two ways. That's what the Bible says were the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus gets even better than that God now opens his word again to us because we want his word and he gives us a busy Holy Spirit the power to live in his word, the power to the power to walk in his work the power to become everything that Adam and Eve lost because of sin, both God for the cross. Thank God for men and women are just going to say Lord forgive me, forgive me for what I have done. Forgive me for the sin that I have committed. Forgive me for despising your words created my own covering making my own excuses for my behavior. Forgive me for blaming others for the well-behaved hope God in Jesus name would you restore me. That's got to be your prayer today.

The message today has been brought to you by Carter Conlon from Times Square church. For more information log onto TSC.NYC TSC.NYC plan to be with us next week for a call to the nation with Carter,