By Any Other Name

I preached my second sermon this morning. I included the manuscript I wrote out to practice it with but it isn't exactly word for word. Here is the link.




Good morning! I’m going to start this morning in Hebrews chapter 3 then we will visit Numbers 20, Genesis 3 and stop in Romans 7.So if everyone is in Hebrews 3 we will start at verse 7 and go to 19
Hebrews 3:7-19 (New International Version)
Warning Against Unbelief
7So, as the Holy Spirit says:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
8do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the desert,
9where your fathers tested and tried me
and for forty years saw what I did.
10That is why I was angry with that generation,
and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.'
11So I declared on oath in my anger,
'They shall never enter my rest.' "[a]
12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15As has just been said:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion."[b]
16Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? 18And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed[c]? 19So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
.
I want to focus on three things that are said in this section of scripture.
Vs. 8 8do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion,
Vs. 11 11So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' "
And Vs. 13 so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
First I want to point out that this is addressed to Christians verse 1 of this chapter says therefore Holy brothers and sisters, so the author is talking to fellow Christians. Let’s go back to verse 8 where the writer tells us that the Holy Spirit says; “do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Notice that; “do not harden your hearts.” It is an act of our will to harden our hearts. In Exodus we see the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart referred to in two ways.
The Lord said I will harden his heart. (Exodus 4:21) and
Pharoah hardened his heart (Exodus 8:15)

The hardening of our hearts is not something God does so we will be like little robots. God Hardening Pharaoh’s heart is just God allowing Pharaoh to do what is already in his heart. The hardening of our hearts is something we do. We choose to soften our hearts or harden them sometimes God arranges events to help ge our hearts where He wants them, but just as pharaoh’s pride forced him to harden his heart we let circumstances harden or soften our hearts.

So we are told not to harden our hearts as they did in the rebellion. I want to first address the broad way the author of Hebrews is approaching this scripture and then I’m going to tighten it up a little and look at the narrow way of looking at verse 8. The author is talking about how God did not allow the Israelites into the Promised Land because of their unbelief. God has saved and delivered them. That is important to see. The Israelites have already been saved. As I pointed out earlier the author of Hebrews was talking about Christians and here we have the saved Israelites, kinda of like the Old testament version of Christians.So they have been saved and delivered but the Promised Land that they were to be given is not going to be theirs during their lifetime because they doubt. They did not believe that God was truly going to take care of them. Numbers 13 tells of the spies being sent into the Promised Land and they come back talking about the military strength and the fortifications of the cities and then they compare their selves to Grasshoppers amongst these people who were giants. These spies say “we can’t do this. We can’t do this. “
And they are right. They are right, they can’t do it. But God can. These people have already seen the miracles of the plagues. God not only delivered them but made them rich when the Egyptians paid them to leave. They saw the Red Sea split open. Think about that miracle by itself. Any one ever drained a pond and immediately walked in it afterwards. You sink to your knees in the mud but the Israelites had the sea split and crossed on dry ground. Then God allowed the waters to overtake the Egyptians. Just imagine seeing this and then to doubt God. They have survived battles, by armies much stronger and more well trained .They have had bitter water turned sweet, seen manna fall from the sky. God has taken care of these people but when He says “Go and take your reward” they say “We can’t.” Caleb and Joshua were the only two that didn’t harden their hearts and they were the only ones that got to see their reward on this side of heaven.
All the others let unbelief harden their hearts. Think about that they were saved but because sin hardened their hearts they did not get an earthly reward. I’m not saying that Caleb and Joshua didn’t suffer they went through the exact same things as all the other Israelites but to them it wasn’t as bad because they knew that God was carrying them and they got to see the reward of their belief that God would conquer the promised land

Now to the narrow look into this scripture "Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."[
This comes from Psalm 95 and in Psalm 95 it refers to the wilderness as Meribah and Massah. The events at Meribah and Massah are recorded in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20. they refer to Moses getting water from the Rock at Meribah. Now God instructs Moses to talk to the rock and strike it once. Let’s look at Numbers 20:10-13
He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?" 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
12 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them."

Moses in his anger at the unbelief of the Israelites hardened his heart and did not honor God as Holy. Because of that Moses did not get to enter the Promised Land in his lifetime. Do you see a pattern? The hardening of our hearts to sin stops us from receiving the reward that God has in store for us. Now a reward might be the blessing in getting to see someone we know come to Christ. One of the hardest things I have had to endure was seeing someone I care about hate me for being honest about what the bible says. But I endured I stayed focused on Jesus and what he wanted and the greatest reward was seeing that person start going to church regularly. If we follow Jesus and do not let our hearts be hardened by sins deceitfulness we will get to see the reward of our efforts.

Lets go back to Hebrews 3. Verses 12 and 13 12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

Moses heart was hardened by the disbelief of those around him and that lead to his sin.
Let’s look at two other people who allowed sins deceitfulness to harden their hearts.
Lets back up to Adam and Eve
Genesis 3 is the infamous chapter called the fall. Let’s look at what happened though.3:1-6 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. Notice we are told here that the serpent was crafty or we could say deceitful. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" Notice what he just did he misquoted what God had said in an effort to cause confusion and doubt.
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 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 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

The beauty of the sinful fruit hardened the heart of Eve. Think about that the allure of sin hardened Eve’s Heart . Satan changed sin from something that kills and destroys to something desirable.
And she gave some to her husband.
Adam loved Eve and in his love for a woman Adam disobeyed God
The love of a woman hardened Adam’s heart.

Disbelief of those around hardened moses’ heart
Beauty hardened Eve’s heart.
Love Hardened Adam’s heart.
, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

So what Hardens our hearts and how does sin deceive us.

Last summer I caught a Garter Snake in the yard. Dustin and I played with it for a while a Savannah took a picture of us holding it. I put the picture on my screensaver at work. A woman I work with walked up and looked at it with disgust asking what is that. I said my son!
She replied No, not the boy. I said oh, That would be me.
I have been married long enough that I have learned that when a woman is holding sharp objects and gets that insane look in her eyes its time for the jokes to stop so I told it was a Garter snake.
What
A Garter snake.
A Snake.
Well yes but it’s a Garter snake. I try to inform this woman that it lived under our house and eats mice therefore it was friend of mine.
A Snake.
A garter snake.
A Snake.
I then tried to inform her that Garter snakes are harmless and can’t hurt you.
She asked does it bite. I said well yes but I didn’t give it the opportunity and even if it did it’s not poisonous so it wouldn’t have been a big deal had it bitten me.
A Snake.
A garter snake.
She then walked off shaking her head and mumbling something about poor poor Amy.
So I was trying to give the snake a fancy name to make it less harmful sounding to her. To make her hardened to the fear the snake caused
And sometimes we treat sin like that and by making sin less harmful sounding we allow our hearts to be hardened by sins deceitfulness.
I’ve got some examples I’d like to share this morning.

Murder
We don’t call it murder in the news because that would give a negative tone to it and would lead a jury to be more likely to convict. It’s Homicide or manslaughter. If I say murder you get an image of brutality and violence in your mind. but if I say homocide it’s not as bad it’s less horrific sounding. Homicide that doesn’t paint as vivid a picture in your head does it.
What about the Murder of an unborn child.
How many people had the word abortion pop in their head as I said that. The murder of an unborn child and we put an innocent sounding name on it like abortion. That doesn’t sound so bad does it. Abortion to stop a process the problem is this is the process of Life that God started we are stopping.
What about Pro Choice. Choices that sounds really nice doesn’t it. By putting a positive word at the beginning we are creating a word that doesn’t create negativity in our minds or our hearts.
What about family planning. That sounds really nice. I can see little kids and a dog named boo. But no that is the murder of an unborn child. Family planning is not killing babies family planning is waiting until your married to have sex as God has Commanded us to do.
The unnatural lust for someone of the same sex. What do we call it homosexuality give it a nice scientific name and it isn’t so bad. Kind of sterilizes it doesn’t it?
Alternative lifestyle. Isn’t that what the Amish have. An alternative lifestyle is living without electricity and traveling by horse and buggy .Having sex in a way that the bible calls an abomination just because a woman named Ellen says it’s okay is not an alternative lifestyle. It is a sin.
Pornography what do we call it Adult entertainment. Adult entertainment That doesn’t sound so bad. Go to Memphis or Nashville and you find Gentleman’s Clubs. Gentleman’s clubs that sounds like a respectable place. A Gentleman is a good thing. Pornography is not entertainment. Matthew 5:28 tells us that to look at a woman lustfully is to commit adultery. Think about that every pornographic image you have looked at is the same in God’s eyes as you committing adultery against your spouse. Pornography is a sin, and it destroys families, marriages and self esteem. It is not entertainment.
Adultery what pleasant terms can we come up with for breaking a marriage covenant. Infidelity, affair, Cheating. Cheating is what you do in the seventh grade when you peek over the shoulder of the guy in front of you to see his answers on a test. Telling your spouse that the covenat that you and her made before God does not matter. That its something as innocent as cheating at aboard game. Think about that when you commit adultery you are telling your spouse and God that what you want is more important than they are.
, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

Okay but what does this have to do with me. A Christian living under grace and sanctified by the blood of Christ. Forgiven of all sins past, present and future by the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Maybe you are thinking I haven’t done any of those things anyways, So this doesn’t apply to me.
Yeah, I use the political correct terms of the day so I want offend but that doesn’t cause me to sin.
What does it matter if I use more sensitive language when I talk about these subjects? If I don’t use sensitive language, sinners want listen to me when I try and tell them about Jesus. None of this is causing me to sin. My heart isn’t hardened.
The problem isn’t in using these words in conversing with people the problem is believing these words that harden our hearts.
How many have referred to a friend committing adultery as just having an affair?
You don’t believe you have allowed the deceitfulness of sin to harden your heart! How many while talking to someone who is having marriage difficulties have thought well maybe they shouldn’t be together! Maybe they shouldn’t be together. That is why the divorce rate among Christians is just as high as among none Christians. Because sin has hardened our heart.
Think about what you are truly saying, God I don’t think this couple should honor the contract they made before you They just don’t seem to be able to live up to their part. You know what though lucky for us God doesn’t decide to give up on the contract he gave lost sinners just because we can’t live up to our part of the contract. We all would be in a mess then.

When we become scared to call sin what it is because we may offend someone we have allowed sin to harden our hearts and that leads to us disobeying God.
Christians wrestle with sin that what makes God’s mercy so amazing is even though He knows we will still sin He forgives us.
Look at Romans 7 Paul is telling us that the law is there so we will know sin and notice how Paul wrestles with sin in v1515I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. Look at that What I hate I do. That is a man on his knees in conviction of his sin.
16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. Now he is saying God you are right this is a sin 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. Lord I can’t do this. That is a sinner begging for God’s grace and help19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. That is what a sinner on his knees sounds like!
Why is God allowing Paul to suffer and wrestle with sin. Why does God allow us to suffer and wrestle with sin.
Being saved requires repentance. Repentance is the changing of one’s way of thinking. So to repent of sin is to realize that I am committing sin and to realize that Jesus died for that sin so that I could have eternal life with the father. Jesus refers to the Holy spirit as the helper, and counselor. So how does the Holy Spirit help me or counsel me.
When I sin the Holy Spirit will convict me. Ephesians 4 gives us instructions for Christian living v 30 tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit. This grieving is conviction it is the feeling in our heart of knowing that we have done wrong. So what do we do with this feeling we pray, Just as David cried out to God in Psalm 51 We should admit against you God have I sinned. Our forgiveness is there but we still have our old nature to show us we are dependant upon God.
But when we change the name of sin so that we are not convicted when we change the name of sin so that others are not convicted we are telling God that we do not need Him and His definition of sin. We are telling God what sin is and not listening to him so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness..
Earlier I said I told the woman that even if the Garter snake had bitten me it wouldn’t hurt me. I got to thinking about that I had a friend get bitten by a boa constrictor and a fang broke off in his hand. The bite got infected and hurt him for several days just as what seems like a small private sin can grow and hurt us if we don’t call it what it is.
We must recognize sin for what it is. It is disobeying God, and changing the name of it so that we won’t be convicted is not honoring God as Holy. Remember Moses he did not get to see the promised land because he did not honor God as holy. Jesus died on a cross for you and I. He bled so that I could be washed in that blood. It was Jesus that saved me. And I can turn back and live in sin and I can change the name of it so I won’t be convicted but I will never enter God’s rest in my lifetime. Or I can thank Jesus for what he did it can drink of his living water. I can call out to Him I am a sinner Lord help me. And I will get to know what it is like to have Jesus take my burden on Him. How many have had some kind of stress in their life this week. Jesus said hey I want to take that from you rely on me, live for me. You’ll still go through the wilderness like Caleb and Joshua did but the whole time you will know that you Jesus is carrying you. By not allowing our heart to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, I will no what it’s like to live for Christ. I will get to see the rewards of living for Him. I’ll get to hear that child come to know him I get to see that friend fall to their knee’s in repentance I’ll get to hear that elderly gentleman call out to Jesus with his dying breathe. I will always have that presence around me letting me know that no Scott can’t do this But I can, God can, Jesus can. All you have to do is today "Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." and do not let the deceitfulness of sin harden your heart.

ce."

The Genealogy of Matthew

I had written a post to put in my church newsletter, I always post them here also, but I Lost the USB drive I had it saved on. Well I finally found it. So here is the post that was supposed to appear on Mother's Day.

The Genealogy of Jesus
Matthew 1:1-16
The Bible is full of Genealogies, Those lists of names that seem to go on forever and appear to serve no purpose but to lull us to sleep. It is amazing how many times I have asked someone have you ever read the Bible and they tell me, “I tried but it got to where everyone was begating somebody and I just couldn‟t read it.”
These genealogies are pretty amazing when we slow down and read them though. God stuck little nuggets in there to see if we were still paying attention. Like the story of a cursed man who simply prayed that God would bless him and God did exactly that (1 Chronicles 4:10) or little tidbits of information such as when the Earth was divided (1 Chronicles 1:19).
Matthews‟s genealogy of Jesus is like that. If we slow down and read it we will notice that in this list of 39 fathers four mothers are mentioned. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba were important to God. He wanted us to see these four mothers that led to Christ. So what makes these four mothers so important?
Tamar prostituted herself to have an incestuous relationship, Rahab was a prostitute herself, Ruth was a pagan, and Bathsheba strolled around nude and had an affair that led to the death of her husband. In some churches these ladies wouldn‟t even be allowed in the door. Yet Matthew, through the divine inspiration of the Holy Ghost, wanted us to see that not only where these ladies allowed in the door, they were seated at the right hand of God. They were placed on a pedestal to be admired. Rahab even made it into the Hebrews Hall of Faith (Hebrews 11:31).
So why is that? First I think we should realize that no matter what we have done in our past God can use us. Just as these ladies lead to Christ, we also can leave our past behind and lead people to Christ. Each of these women, with the exception of Ruth, when we hear their names the bad they did immediately comes to mind. Yet, let‟s look the type of children they raised.
After Genesis 38 it seems Tamar simply disappears until Matthew chooses to bring her up again. But that isn‟t true. Not only is she mentioned, she is in some mighty fine company. In Ruth 4:11-12 the elders of Bethlehem are giving the marriage of Boaz to Ruth their blessing and they say to him, “May your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.” Sounds like the elders felt Tamar did a good job raising her boys.
Rahab not only gets mentioned in Hebrews but James also mentioned her in James 2:25. After Jericho was destroyed she was accepted and lived among the Jews. She met a man named Salmon whose father was the leader of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:10). They were married and raised a son together. Again we can see that Rahab made a fine mother and raised a fine gentleman of a son by the name of Boaz.
Ruth, as we see by God allowing her to be the only Gentile with a book of the Bible named after her, was a woman after God‟s own heart. While not a lot is said about her children in the bible, the book of Ruth says tons about her character. Ruth gave up what she thought would be her only chance to marry (Ruth 1:11-13) after becoming a widow so that she could take care of her mother-in-law. (Ruth 1:16-17). She went to a completely different culture to serve God and be faithful to Him and His Laws.
Last but not least we have Bathsheba, who so easily betrayed her marriage bed and allowed the death of her husband. But look at the son she raised. Solomon became the wisest and richest man alive. Yes, God granted this to Solomon but it was because Solomon only asked for a discerning heart so that he could rule God‟s people justly. God told Solomon, “I‟ll give you whatever you want.” Solomon could have asked for anything. Yet all he wanted was to be able to discern between good and evil.
Moms, you are important. God entrusts you with the care, keeping, and teaching of „His children‟. Be diligent in raising them in Christ‟s love.
MSW

Staying Near Sin

What an interesting story we have in Genesis 19. Two angels show up to warn Lot to flee. Lot offers them a place to sleep and they turn him down saying, "We will just sleep here in the square." I can imagine the panic on Lot's face. He knows that he is in a sinful place, and he must protect these two angels, but imagine the embarrassment of having to tell God, “Yes I love you and follow you, but I’m eyeball deep in sin right here and it really isn’t good for you to be here.” I believe sometimes many of us find ourselves in that same situation.
So Lot convinces the angels to stay at his house and that night the men of the village show up to rape the angels. “Lot steps outside and tries to persuade the men not to do this thing, even offers his daughters up for these men to do whatever they want. Lot has allowed sin to take such a hold on his life that as he tries to flee from it, he is willing to sacrifice those whom he should feel he needs to protect.
God saves Lot, gives him the means to escape from this sin and as Lot is fleeing, he begs God not to make him go to far away form his sin. (Genesis 19:20) Lot’s not wanting to turn fully to God and abandon the sin that has a hold on him. This leads to the destruction of his wife and moral destruction of his daughters.
How many of us can relate to what this story says. As we come to know Jesus we refuse to turn from the sins that have sway over us. As we claim to be a Christian we allow sin to still control us and lead to the destruction of those we love. We allow sin to ruin our lives, when we know that it is not necessary.
MSW

To Know Him

I was reading through Genesis today in the NKJV and I came to 18:19. The verse just seemed to jump out at me and speak. It says, “For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and household in the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and Justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."
God knew Abraham so that he could spread the word. God expected Abraham to teach his children and his household, those that are around him everyday, that there is a Lord and savior, and this Lord is going to watch over and take care of His children.
This verse applies to us today as much as it did to Abraham 4,000 years ago. When Jesus is revealed to us, He doesn’t want us to keep it a secret. He wants us to go out and proclaim it loudly. He wants us to tell everyone around us that there is a Lord and savior that can truly change your life. After Andrew met Jesus the first thing he did was go and tell (John1:41). When they were standing amongst a crowd of 5,000 Andrew jumped up, grabbed a kid and said, "come here I want to show you something amazing. (John 6:9) Watch what this guy can do with that fish you have there. Oh, by the way His name is Jesus."
We should be like Andrew, get to know the people around us and when God gives us an opening say, “Hey kid, watch what this guy can do for you.” “Oh, by the way did you know that he died on a cross so that you may live. Yeah let me tell you about that.”
MSW

Let No Man Separate

The other day I was drug into a conversation about divorce. A friend was trying to convince another friend to divorce his wife after discovering an affair. He told the other friend that the bible said a man could divorce a woman if she had an affair. He looked at me expecting me to confirm what he said. I told him it actually said that if a man divorced his wife and married another woman he would be committing adultery also, even if she had already had an adulterous affair.
After he told me I must have misunderstood what I read, we turned to Mark 10:11 He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her." He stared at me for a minute and asked if it was in another Gospel, so I turned to Matthew 5:32 and read "But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery." My friend informed me he liked that version better. I told him that he is making the bible say what he wants it to say.
God Created humans man and woman. The woman, as symbolized by the taking of Adams rib, is a part of her husband. Genesis 2:24 tells us that for his wife a man will leave his parents and become united in a Holy marital covenant and the two will become one flesh. Jesus tells us in Mark 10:9, “Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” In Malachi 2:10-16 God shows us that he sees our faithfulness in marriage, in direct relationship to our faithfulness to Him.
It is no coincidence that Jesus referred to Himself as the Bridegroom (Matthew 9:15) and the church is his bride. Just as Jesus wants us to be faithful to Him, He wants us to be faithful to our wives. Jesus does not turn His back on us when we sin. Divorce and adultery or awful things that have become common and promoted in our society, but that is not what God wants.

“I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel, “and I hate it when people clothe themselves with injustice,” says the LORD Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful. Malachi 2:16 TNIV

"It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. "But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.''For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." Mark :10:5-9

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.