Gospel 101: Part 3 - The Problem

well hi there once again this is Phil

Carlson with a quick message for your

personal professional and spiritual

growth and today I am in part three of

what is working out to be a nine part

series on the gospel I'm calling it

gospel 101 and we're going through these

four categories that I laid out in the

first video of the Gospel message things

that if you want to understand the

general Contours of the Gospel there's a

whole lot more to it than this if you

just want to get a basic understanding

of what the gospel is about and why it's

important and what it does in a person's

life when they accept the gospel and

what that leads to in the future then

this is a series of videos that's meant

to help you with that and make it as

simple as possible while at the same

time produce provide as much relevant

information as I can in these videos to

help you see and recognize the benefits

of what God has given even you if you

are a Christian and to help you to be

able to share these things with someone

else who maybe is not a Christian maybe

they don't know the Lord

also if you are not a Christian and

you're watching this this is an

opportunity for you to hear from a

Christian what it is we believe and why

in terms of what we see in the Bible and

that's how all these videos are going is

I'm going to scripture

in terms of video two and following

video one I'm just giving a general

overview but from video one and video

two and on going to the Bible and we're

just examining what it says and seeing

how it all ties into the gospel so

already in our first video we laid out

the four categories which are the

premise the problem the prescription and

then the future Prospect so we've

already done the premise that was video

two and here in video three we're going

to talk about the problem now in short

the problem is sin but unfortunately

these days it seems that sin itself has

become deeply misunderstood people tend

to associate sin as just I made a

mistake or sin is just a general problem

of The Human Condition without any

recognition of the relationship that has

been broken with sin nor the background

nor the consequences of what sin does in

a person's life how it destroys their

very soul from the inside out so let's

talk about that today we're talking

today about the problem

and we're going to start with the fall

in Genesis chapter 3. so for those who

don't know the fall is a as a term the

fall is not talking about the season

during the year when the leaves change

colors and start falling off of trees

and the temperature starts to get cooler

that's not what I'm talking about I'm

talking about and of course for those of

you who are Christians I'm not trying to

talk down to you about this I'm just

saying there are people who don't know

these things anymore it is a fall from

grace it is a broken relationship

and this relationship is primarily

between God and His creation

specifically Humanity

and we read about that in Genesis 3

and we'll just start in verse one now

when I normally put this down as a note

to go over with other people I start in

verse 8 because I'm getting more to

where God actually is describing what

has just happened what the results are

but we're going to back up and we're

going to start at Genesis 3 1. it says

now the serpent was more crafty than any

beast of the field which the Lord God

had made and he said to the woman indeed

as God said You shall not eat from any

tree of the garden let's stop there very

quickly this serpent is lying and it

says actually in just the previous

chapter verse 16 the Lord God commanded

the man saying from any tree of the

garden you may eat freely verse 17 but

from the Tree of knowledge of Good and

Evil you shall not eat for in the day

that you eat from it you will surely die

so the serpent is accusing that God has

said you can't eat from any tree but in

fact God only said no there's just this

one tree you cannot eat from the woman

said to the serpent from the fruit of

the Trees of the garden we may eat

correct answer but from the fruit of the

tree which is in the middle of the

garden God has said You shall not eat

from it or touch it or you will die so

this is accurate what she's saying the

serpent said to the woman this is verse

4 of chapter three you surely will not

die so this is a lie

for God knows that in the day you eat

from it your eyes will be opened and you

will be like God knowing good and evil

now whether or not what the serpent is

saying is true or not he's encouraging

Eve to break a command an instruction

that God had given her and as we talked

about in video two in uh in our

discussion of the premise if we already

accept that God is the ruler of the

universe that God is in charge of all

things that everything is beholden to

him he's the total and absolute ruler

than to break his command to not do what

he has commanded is to be engaged in an

act at least of lawlessness and at most

treason to actually be violating God's

commands as a way of usurping the power

that belongs to God on the Earth

so

it continues here in verse 6 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 desirable to

make one wise so she really was thinking

through this she took from its fruit and

ate and she gave also to her husband

with her and he ate I'm gonna pause

right there so first of all Eve is

really considering this tree she's

seriously considering doing this sin and

whether we're talking about an alcoholic

or a sex addict or any or a drug addict

any number of addictions one of the ways

you know an addict is on the verge of

giving in and this is not just true of

addiction it's true of giving into any

temptation is when it is beginning to

occupy brain space

when there there's one thought after

another after another thought they're

not being stopped they're not being

rebuked they're being entertained and

the more a person meditates on the

potential of engaging in that sin the

more likely they are to actually do it

and so this is a warning for Christians

especially that when we give space even

for the slightest thought without

recognizing this is wrong and shifting

our mindset towards something else

then what we actually are doing is

making it a little bit easier the next

time a thought like that comes to

actually see that imagination turn into

an action

verse 7. oh I forgot here still with

verse six it says that she gave to her

husband with her so Adam whether he was

immediately there with the serpent or

just afterwards he's close enough to Eve

to know what's going on and to speak up

and he's not speaking up

and so while Eve was having to trust

Adam's word because it was God speaking

just to Adam before the creation of Eve

God telling in in Chapter 2 Genesis

chapter 2 verses 16 and 17 God is

speaking to Adam Eve is not yet created

and he's telling him you can't eat from

this tree Adam is now related this to

Eve Eve is having to depend upon Adam's

word and how it's the Serpent's word

versus Adam's word it's at least

understandable at some level in the case

of Adam he knows better and he's with

eve and he's choosing to do this

so 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 loin coverings

so now we're going to get to verse 8.

they heard the sound of the Lord God

Walking In The Garden in the cool of the

day and the man and his wife hid

themselves from the presence of the Lord

God Among the Trees of the garden and

the Lord God Called To The Man and said

to him where are you he said I heard the

sound of you in the garden and I was

afraid because I was naked so I hid

myself and he said who told you that you

were naked the he who's speaking here is

God and he said who told you that you

were naked have you eaten from the Tree

of which I commanded you not to eat the

man said this is verse 12 the woman whom

you gave to be with me

she gave me from the tree and I ate a

lot of people read this and they say oh

Adam is blaming Eve here

yes but not quite he is blaming Eve but

who is he really blaming he says the

woman whom you gave to be with me

it's your fault God you gave me a

command and then you gave me this woman

who encouraged me to do this thing that

you commanded me not to do

let's never mind the fact that Adam

never spoke up that he went passive here

see Adam is blaming not just the eve but

blaming God and this is one of the

evidences that we live in a time and a

place right now on the Earth where sin

is everywhere

it is where victim culture

is rampant it's everywhere people would

rather blame someone else when possibly

there's something they could have done

now look there are ways people get

victimized I know people like this I've

been this person where it was no fault

of their own

they were victimized and they need help

they need support that's true

but most of the time

we look at ourselves as victims in order

to justify whatever sin we want to do

Adam is looking at himself as a victim

when he had agency to say no

and he could have even kept Eve from

eating of that fruit but he didn't and

the Lord God said to the woman what is

this you have done and the woman said

the serpent deceived me and I ate and it

continues on

so there are many ways people can look

at this passage and talk about it and

explain it there's one key idea here

Humanity sinned against God broke God's

commands and then blamed each other and

blamed God for breaking God's commands

and in the following verses we see the

results so that by the time we get to

Genesis chapter 4 we have the first

murder

in the following chapters we have the

first man to have more than one wife we

have another murder that's recorded with

a descendant of Cain we just see this

cycle of violence and Vengeance until we

eventually get to God flooding the Earth

Noah's Ark all of that

so this is the first part

that we have to consider when it comes

to the problem the problem is sin it has

Humanity blaming God and blaming each

other rather than coming to God for our

protection coming to God to show us the

truth when we may be deceived rather

than trying to help each other to resist

sin we blame each other for the sins

we've committed and we blame God

so now let's consider the effects of

this and Romans chapter 1 in Romans

chapter 3 really dig into this without

digging into every verse normally I

recommend Romans chapter 1 verses 18 to

32 in chapter 3 verses 9 to 20. let's

just take a look at Romans chapter one

it says here for the wrath of God is

revealed from Heaven against all

ungodliness and unrighteousness of men

who suppress the truth in

unrighteousness so one of the results of

sin in the earth is the wrath of God

being displayed on the earth now

theologians some theologians will call

this the passive wrath of God it's not

God sending fire and brimstone or a

giant flood it's God basically handing

people over to have what they want

to pursue sin to pursue evil and God not

stopping them it says in verse 19 of

Romans chapter 1 because that which is

known about God is evident within them

for God made it evident to them for

since the creation of the world his

invisible attributes his eternal power

and divine nature have been clearly seen

being understood through what has been

made so that they are without excuse

even though they knew God they did not

honor him as God or give thanks but they

became futile in their speculations and

their foolish heart was darkened

professing to be wise they became fools

and exchanged the glory of The

Incorruptible God for an image in the

form of corruptable man and if birds and

four-footed animals and crawling

creatures now the rest of this passage

is extremely important and in fact some

of this is really relevant to the

current day

where it actually says therefore God

gave them over in the lusts of their

hearts to impurity so that their bodies

would be Dishonored among them they

exchanged the truth of God for a lie

worshiped and served the creature rather

than the Creator who is blessed forever

amen for this reason God gave them over

to degrading passions for their women

exchanged the natural function for that

which is unnatural and in the same way

also the men abandoned the natural

function of the woman and burned in

their desire toward one another men with

men committing indecent acts and

receiving in their own persons the due

penalty of their error so we have here a

description of every kind of sin

immorality yes sexual immorality and

it's not just heterosexual immorality

but also homosexual immorality it is all

listed here in Romans chapter 1 verse 28

and just as they did not see fit to

acknowledge God any longer God gave them

over now that phrase God gave them over

happens three times in this chapter we

already just read it one time earlier

we're we've read it in verse 24 now I'm

in verse 28 to a depraved mind to those

to do those things which are not proper

being filled with all unrighteousness

wickedness greed evil full of Envy

murder Strife deceit malice there are

gossips slanderers haters of God

insolent arrogant boastful inventors of

evil disobedient to Parents Without

understanding untrustworthy unloving

unmerciful and although they knew the

ordinance of God that those who practice

such things are worthy of death they not

only do this the same but also give

hearty approval to those who practice

them it's what Paul says actually comes

from

as a result of humanity refusing to

acknowledge God as God having a

treasonous heart basically

and daring God to do something about it

which of course God does something about

it

now let's skip ahead to Romans chapter 3

and I know this is getting long but this

is something you don't hear much about

in most churches it's rare that you hear

Romans chapter 1 preach it's rare that

you hear Romans chapter 3 and we're

going to skip on Romans chapter 3 down

to verse 9.

now this is regarding a dispute The Book

of Romans between the Gentiles and the

Jews or the Greeks and the Jews

depending on how your translation puts

it uh where you have one group of Jewish

Christians and you have a group of

non-jewish Christians and there's a

rivalry between them and they're trying

to compare each other and they're trying

to say I'm more righteous than you and

here's how Paul responds to it he

responds to it by pointing out you're

all guilty of sin you all are equally

damned and you all are in desperate need

of a savior and so here's where it picks

up in verse 9 of chapter three what then

are we better than they

not at all for we have already charged

that both Jews and Greeks are all under

sin as it is written now everything that

follows here is Paul quoting the Old

Testament in fact the thing I'm about to

read is found in Psalm 14 and Psalm 53

the first three verses of both

there is an unrighteous not even one

there is none who understands there's

none who seeks for God all have turned

aside together they've become useless

there is none who does good there is not

even one

jumping ahead here I'm going to look at

verse 17 and the path of peace they have

not known there is no fear of God before

their eyes

now there are often people who will like

to quote other verses Old and New

Testament that talk about for the eyes

of the Lord seek to and fro across the

Earth for a heart that would be truly

his but what they tend to leave out is

when you read those verses in context it

typically ends with and he did not find

anyone

God does seek out a heart that's ready

to be used by him

there aren't any

if there's going to be a heart that's

ready to be used by God God has to make

that heart ready to be used by him and I

just read it in Romans chapter 1 and

Romans chapter 3 everyone is under the

conviction of God we have all been found

guilty

and it's not because God is Fault

finding God is not trying to point out

well here's what you did wrong and

there's what you did wrong no God is

mercifully calling us to repentance

calling us to change the way we live and

think because he's saying look I have a

righteous and good and holy standard

you're not following that standard

you're acting in treason the only reason

why God would be telling a people who

are engaged in this evil here's the evil

you're engaged in and here's why you

need to have fear about it is because

he's actually looking to have our hearts

transformed he's calling us to

repentance as the Greek for repentance

is metanoia which basically literally

would mean changing your mind changing

the way you think in the Hebrew

understanding of repentance shuv it's

basically you're walking down a path and

you realize you're going the wrong way

and you do an about face you turn around

and you go back the correct way or if

you're going to the right when you

should be going left you go left instead

but it's recognizing this is wrong and

it needs to change change

you see no one is ready

no one is ready for the gospel no one is

truly ready to receive Jesus as Lord and

savior

until and unless they've truly

acknowledged and come to understand that

they hate God they may say they love God

but in fact they live in such a way that

demonstrates by their actions that they

actually do hate God and they live in

such a way that they demonstrate that

they want to be God themselves they see

themselves as their own God and they

want to set their own rules

well God has made a way

for us to not be stuck in sin like this

where every one of us is being

victimized or is victimizing the other

and that is the reality of humanity

right now we have all gone through hard

times we have had terrible things done

to us but we have also done evil to

others I still remember one point that's

happened recently for me when I

remembered a certain part of my life and

I remembered being sort of the victim in

a relationship and then I realized it

was like God opened my eyes and this is

years in the past I I just started to

realize

oh my gosh I did some things to really

hurt this person no wonder this person

acted out against me

but I never perceived the things I did

that hurt that other person I wasn't

even realizing that it was hurtful

I was so caught up in my own world

and that's just it that's part of what

sin does it gets us caught up in our own

little worlds we aren't really

empathizing we aren't really caring

about what others are going through we

aren't aware of the fact that our

actions have consequences to others and

we tell ourselves well it's okay

no our actions have consequences every

sin has a residue a an echo that it

leaves behind on this Earth

there is a remedy for this though there

is an answer and that is what we're

going to talk about in the next several

videos that are part of this series

which is

the prescription this is God's solution

to this problem it is an ethically

difficult problem and I hope that was

communicated to you in this video if it

feels a little hopeless then it means

you're actually starting to understand

how bad the problem really is and that

means you are ready for the solution as

well God bless you and I look forward to

seeing you in the next video