Accepting the Blame For Our Sin, Part 1

I did this as a lesson on accepting the responsibility for our sins. I’m posting it in two parts here. The second part will be posted tomorrow.

The Bible starts off jumping right into man and sin. The third chapter of Genesis tells us of the Fall. God placed Adam and Eve in His garden. He told them that everything there was for them except for one tree (Genesis 2:16-17), placed in the center of the garden and next to another special tree. (Genesis 2:9) “Did God really say you can’t eat from any trees”, the serpent asked.
“Oh no, Eve replied we can eat of all the trees except one.” I can almost picture Eve looking at the serpent, getting that serious look in her eyes and saying. “God said we would die if we ate from it.”
I can imagine the serpent pulling back “surely you want die!” “No, you want die you’ll become like God. You’ll get wisdom and understanding; your eyes will be open to everything.”
Eve looks at the fruit of the tree and touches it. “Wow it’s so beautiful!” and she bites into it. She hands her husband some of the fruit and he takes a bite. Then everything changes they realize they’re naked. The pure and loving attraction they felt is replaced by a dirty lust. They don’t understand what has happened. They cover themselves with leaves and then they hear the Lord coming. Ashamed and realizing their sinful nature at the approach of a Holy God, they hide.
But the Lord calls to Adam. “Where are you?”
Adam responds broken and sinful, “I heard you and was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
And God asks “How did you know you were naked did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from.”

Did Adam drop to his knees and say “Lord, I have sinned! I did! I ate the fruit! Lord I have defied your authority. Forgive me, Lord Please.”?

No, Adam responded “The Women You put here…” Adam yelled “She did it!” He also went so far as to blame God for his sin. “You put her here” “If You had not put her here this wouldn’t have happened!”

Eve could have taken the high road and when God asked her “What have you done”, she could have said “I ate the fruit and I gave it to my husband.” She didn’t, she placed the blame on the serpent. Neither one of them said I did it.
How many times do we fall into this same category? We know we are not living as God has commanded us. We commit sin and instead of confessing it (1 John 1:9) we try to hide it from God. We can’t hide from God (Job 34:22) He knows what we have done.
Or worse we try to justify our sin by blaming it on God. How many times have you heard someone say if God didn’t want me to be this way, He wouldn’t have made me this way.
We can’t justify ourselves. The only justification we can get comes from our savior Jesus Christ. We must call on him, confess our sins to him, and repent of our sin. We still will struggle with our old flesh. We still will stumble but through the Holy Spirit and by pursuing God, we can finish just like the runner who keeps his eyes on the goal at hand

MSW

Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.