a GROW lesson

Focal Passage Outline and Scripture Passages:
Sin Defined (Gen. 3:1-6)
Sin’s Consequences (Gen. 3:16-19,24)
Everyone Sins (Rom. 5:12-14)

Background Passages:
Genesis 3:1-24; Romans 5:12-14

Focal Passages:
Genesis 3:1-6,16-19,24; Romans 5:12-14

What This Lesson Is About:
This lesson is about the reality and consequences of sin.

How This Lesson Can Impact Your Life:
This lesson can help you make the case for Jesus based on the reality and consequences of sin.

Background Passage: Ephesians 2:1-10
Lesson Passage: Ephesians 2:1-10

LESSON PASSAGE OUTLINE
1. The Depth of Our Sin (Eph. 2:1-3)
2. The Power of God’s Grace (Eph. 2:4-7)
3. The Place of Our Works (Eph. 2:8-10)

BIBLICAL TRUTH
Believers experience the power of God in salvation.

LIFE GOAL
To help adults teach others how they can receive salvation

Focal Passage Outline and Scripture Passages:
Recognize that Temptation Leads to Sin (2 Sam. 11:2-5,14-15)
Realize that Sin Must Be Confronted (2 Sam. 12:7a,10-12)
Rejoice that Sin Can Be Forgiven (2 Sam. 12:13-14; Ps. 51:1-4)

Background Passages:
2 Samuel 11–12; Psalm 51:1-19

Focal Passages:
2 Samuel 11:2-5,14-15; 12:7a,10-14; Psalm 51:1-4

What This Lesson Is About:
This lesson is about God’s holding us accountable for our sins and how we need to deal with our personal sins and failures.

How This Lesson Can Impact Your Life:
This lesson will help you recognize God’s willingness to forgive and your need to ask His forgiveness for specific sins in your life.

Focal Passage Outline and Scripture Passages:
Does Sin Still Shock Us? (1 Cor. 5:1-2)
How Should We Respond to Immoral Members? (1 Cor. 5:9-13)
What’s Wrong with Sexual Immorality? (1 Cor. 6:15-20)

Background Passages:
1 Corinthians 5:1-13; 6:12–7:40

Focal Passages:
1 Corinthians 5:1-2,9-13; 6:15-20

What This Lesson Is About:
God’s standards—not prevailing cultural standards—form the basis for the Christian’s morality. The church must uphold God’s standards of morality.

How This Lesson Can Impact Your Life:
This lesson will help you to examine ways you are influenced by cultural views of sexual morality and to identify ways to protect your moral integrity and the reputation of your church.

Leviticus 6:2-5

6:2. “If a person sins and commits a trespass against the Lord by lying to his neighbor about what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or about a pledge, or about a robbery, or if he has extorted from his neighbor,
6:3. “or if he has found what was lost and lies concerning it, and swears falsely in any one of these things that a man may do in which he sins:
6:4. “then it shall be, because he has sinned and is guilty, that he shall restore what he has stolen, or the thing which he has extorted, or what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or the lost thing which he found,
6:5. “or all that about which he has sworn falsely. He shall restore its full value, add one-fifth more to it, and give it to whomever it belongs, on the day of his trespass offering.
–NKJ

In this key passage, the key point is in the last two verses. In the first part we have an outline of some finer points of doing things that defraud your fellow man. It contains a nasty mixture of lies, theft, trust, extortion, and other such things. The main point of these few verses is to point out that there are consequences for our actions. Sometimes the punishment for breaking a law are serious, and get the death penalty. Most have a lesser punishment such as this one about lieing and stealing Crime and sin have consequences, and deserves punishment.

We are told of these harsh things because unfortunately, in our society there are some people out there who just don’t abide by the ethical and moral teachings of either God’s law, or any law. The punishments need to be fair and fit the crime. The punishments also serve to protect the guilty party to a degree. Maybe the person will consider it a wake up call and learn to reform his ways. It should at least be fair based on the extent of the crime that was done. From the victim’s point of view, there might be a large amount of emotional sentiment attached to the item lost, or devastation at being violated. The punishment is to regulate the punishment and not punish the guilty person beyond the real weight of the crime.

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2 Corinthians 5:21

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

There is a person who is known to be sinless. It was Jesus. Just by having that distinction, he holds a place that is over us. We are the ones who continue to sin. We just keep on doing it.

Jesus is over us, as in higher in rank, but also in a way so as to cover us. It’s like having a screen, or a filter that God sees through the body of Jesus, and through to us. Though we are sinful, the covering of Jesus makes righteous to appear before God.

My parents used to have a bible, they probably still do somewhere in their house, that had a section with a red cellophane page, and one with a drawing that was supposed to represent our lives. The drawing was marred with big red words. A list of various sins that the Bible teaches about. Things that we all do. With those red marks, the illustration that represented a life was hard to see, and made a very confusing picture.

Turn the page, and place that red cellophane page over it, just the way Jesus covers our sins, and all the redmarks just seem to disappear. The marks of sin are still there, but through the filter of Jesus, God sees the beauty in our lives and not the sin.

Let Jesus be your filter. Claim your place in the family of Jesus today. Read the page  about ‘How to be Saved.’ If you are already there, keep abiding in him, like the branches and the vine in John 15:1-17. Though we are sinful, strive to use Jesus as your model for life.

Romans 5:12–21

Summary:
As sin and death came by Adam;
so much more righteousness and life by Jesus Christ.
Where sin abounded, grace did superabound.

5:12. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned
5:13. (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
5:14. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
5:15. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.
5:16. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.

5:17. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
5:18. Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.
5:19. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

5:20. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,
5:21. so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Comments:

Here’s another recap of the depth of sin, and the gift of grace.

Some basics: From the first man, he sinned. Sin can only lead to death. We all inherit that sinful nature. Death was the reigning factor from Adam to Moses. The law defines what sin is. There were prophecies of a new world order.

There is a new, free gift to come, but it is different from the old burden of sin. A similarity is that through one man, many were led to death, and that by the free gift of grace, introduced by one man, many would recieve life.

All it takes is a look back at history to see all the inhumanity done to others. In the course of history there is one sure thing, everybody is dead, and those of us now living will eventually be there too. As much as that fact is evident, the new life that has been made available will not only be as abundant, but even more so. The evidence we have that sin is in control is the dath of everybody. The evidence we have of this new grace is right living that leads to an eternal life. Jesus is the door that we go through to enjoy that life.

Romans 1:18–32

Summary:
God is angry with sin.
What were the sins of the gentiles.

 1:18.  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
 1:19.  because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
 1:20.  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

 1:21.  because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
 1:22.  Professing to be wise, they became fools,
 1:23.  and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things.
 1:24.  Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
 1:25.  who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
 1:26.  For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.
 1:27.  Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
 1:28.  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
 1:29.  being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,
 1:30.  backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
 1:31.  undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;
 1:32.  who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

Comments:

God is mad. What makes him so mad? Well, in simple words, when people act in ways that are ungodly and hide the truth.

Hey, what happened to all this forgiveness and Jesus taking away all our sin stuff? Truth? is there a real truth? Truth is just relative, right? God gave everybody the way to understand truth and what is right. I don’t have to tell you that certain things that happen to you make you happy, and others make you upset. I don’t have to tell you that certain acts done to you are fair or unfair. That is just built in. Hardwired into our genes, so to speak. A mark of the fingerprints of our creator, to put it another way.

Problems set in when we stop looking at the big picture and take the focus from God, the real center attraction, and place it on ourselves. It would be like deciding that the earth really doesn’t revolve around the sun afterall. Hey, most of the population has never been off this planet, how do we really know that the things astronomers tell us are true? The sun and moon rise and set around the earth. At least thats the way it appears, so it must be true… right?

Let’s get a little more selfish. As I walk down the street, the earth passes beneath my feet, as opposed to me moving across it. At least that is the illusion I get. As I approach a door, somebody throws it out and nearly knocks me down. They did that on purpose. They waited until I was right there and they’re out to get me. No matter that there is no window in the door and they had no way of knowing what, if anything might be on the other side. Hmm… So now the world no longer revolves around the sun, but the univers converges on my own little space. How selfish is that? What a total distortion of the real, absolute truth. Yet we all do it to some degree. Admit it.

To be honest with ourselves, we have the ability to recognize this real truth, and the right things that God would like us to be doing. To ignore that fact is to be like the people in this passage who make themselves wise. They try to reinvent God. It’s talking about idols, but any reinvention of God applies to trading the incorruptable real God, for any, lesser convenient idea that suits our whims at the moment.

OK, we don’t have idols anymore, in the sense of the Biblical times. We still have objects that we invest large amounts of time in. We can spend extra time working to escape from our daily grief or personal sadness. Keeping busy keeps our mind too busy to think about those problems at home, or elsewhere in our lives. Over indulging in a hobby, boat, car, computer, or some other object distracts from problems that need our attention. Trying to escape in substances like drugs or alcohol go beyond fun or leisure and tear lives apart. What do you invest your time to seek relief from the daily unpleasantness? Bingo! There’s your idol. That’s your god that you worship. Is it something that is not the God?

God is mad about it. But do you know what? He lets us keep doing what we please. Besides being morrally wrong, there are certain physical consequences. Continue in a bad habit long enough and the body pays a price. Disease can be passed along, especially certain sexually transmitted ones. Abuse the body with foreign chemicals like alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and eventually, important organs start to break down. Run hard enough and long enough and your body will simply shut down in exhaustion. I think you probably get the idea. God lets us do anything we like, but to keep on his good side, we need to stop and realize what we are doing. We need to ask, “Is what I am doing giving glory to God?” If it is, keep on keeping on. Be real. Don’t try to rationalize your excuses. You’re not only lying to yourself, but to God. He knows and so do you.

OK, you still don’t get it? Paul goes on to give a laundry list of bad behaviors including sexual ones, but many others. I’m sure you can find one that fits you. I know my toes have been stepped on by this list.

Just because Jesus died to pay for our sins, is no reason to continue in them. It is our faith and right lifestyle that makes us a child of God, not a legal check list of what we can get away with. None of us is perfect. Our sins will continue until the day we die, but set your mind on things of God’s nature. Dwell on the ways we can use our natural environment for his purpose, not to abuse for ourselves.

Judges 2:10–19

Summary:

The wickedness of the new generation after Joshua
God’s anger and pity towards them

 2:10.  When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.
 2:11.  Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals;
 2:12.  and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger.
 2:13.  They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.

 2:14.  And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.
 2:15.  Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.
 2:16.  Then the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
 2:17.  Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so.
 2:18.  And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them.
 2:19.  And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way.

Comments:

The generation of Joshua had been diing off. The upcoming generation hadn’t experienced God on the same personal level. Their morality was definitely of a lower standard. They worshiped the idols of the world and not God. God began to get angry.

Remember God’s promise? He wants his people to draw close to him, to know him and obey him. To live a law abiding, moral life is to be granted prosperity and abundance. Whether the generations of people during the time of the Judges never had the words of God taught to them, at home, or when they were in, or walking on the road, or had them written on the house, or door posts, and so on. Or maybe they did, but chose to ignore those words.

The people had broken their promise. Their quality of lifestyle slipped, and God took away their prosperity. He lifted the protection that he had granted to them and let other nations oppress the people. God’s promises is a garantee, but it is based on a two way commitment. Follow his ways, live right by him and with our fellow human beings, and we have full benefit of his promises. Choose to live against those ways that have been clearly layed down, and lose those Godly promises.

Still, when God moves, and raises up a leader, his will and purpose gets done. When God is part of life, things go well. Though these judges that were used by God at this time had success while they were in charge, there was still no clear leadership. People still had desire to follow the convenient little gods of this world. They stubbornly clung to the things that they knew and could see. Much the same as society today doesn’t want to believe in things that can’t be scientifically proven. People can be forced to go through the motions of religion, but if the heart isn’t in it, it is in vain.

Though this kind of behavior makes God mad, he still extends his offer of protection. Not because we deserve it, but to preserve even a spark of desire for him, until a time where people will once again flock to him and have a desire for honoring him.

This passage ends on a downward note. God’s own people had left him behind and were stubbornly pursuing life outside his laws. It might seem right, like the logical choice, but it isn’t in line with the laws, commands and rules that were given straight from the hand of God.

Leviticus 20:7–27

Summary:
Of sanctification
Of him that curses his parents
Of incest
Of sodomy
Of bestiality
Of uncleanness
Obedience is required with holiness

 20:7.  `Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.
 20:8.  `And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

 20:9.  `For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon him.
 20:10.  `The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.

 20:11.  `The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.
 20:12.  `If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have committed perversion. Their blood shall be upon them.

 20:13.  `If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.
 20:14.  `If a man marries a woman and her mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you.

 20:15.  `If a man mates with a beast, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the beast.
 20:16.  `If a woman approaches any beast and mates with it, you shall kill the woman and the beast. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood is upon them.
 20:17.  `If a man takes his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a wicked thing. And they shall be cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness. He shall bear his guilt.

 20:18.  `If a man lies with a woman during her sickness and uncovers her nakedness, he has discovered her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from their people.
 20:19.  `You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister nor of your father’s sister, for that would uncover his near of kin. They shall bear their guilt.
 20:20.  `If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness. They shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.
 20:21.  `If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They shall be childless.

 20:22.  `You shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out.
 20:23.  `And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them.
 20:24.  `But I have said to you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples.
 20:25.  `You shall therefore distinguish between clean beasts and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.
 20:26.  `And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.

Comments:

Sanctify yourself? I thought that sin kept us from that. What is being commanded is that we take a conscious effort to think on Godly things, and recognize our need for being holy. It is actually God himself who sanctifies.

What follows in this passage is a short list of sins, taken straight from the ten commandments. Besides dishonoring parents, they all deal with sins of sexual nature. Despite what any popular belief may be, even homosexuality is specifically mentioned and is just as wrong as the rest of these. Each has the same penalty. The person who does these shall surely be put to death. Really? That seems like an extreme punishment. Here’s an example. Reuben, the oldest son of Jacob was caught in bed with one of Jacob’s other wives. Yet, Reuben wasn’t taken out and killed. There isn’t any record in the Bible about a child being put to death for dishonoring his parents. What does this mean to be surely put to death?

Reuben did lose his birthright, and the family blessings went to a younger brother. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were told they would surely die when they ate of the fruit. Did they die? Eve’s death isn’t recorded, but Adam lived for hundreds of years afterward.

Eventually they, and we all die, but the death that sin brings to our lives is the death of our souls. We are self condemned because of sin. The death we set for ourselves is the death that lasts for eternity, rather than the eternal life that God wants for us.

One feature of the death punishments mentioned is the deaths were to be in public. Whether by stoning or by fire, or whatever. The punishment of sin was to be a public spectacle so as to warn off others from the life it leads to.

Besides the warning that sin results in being put to death, certain sins called for the people to be put outside the community. God also warned that being childless would be the result.

An amazing thing also results as a punishment. The land itself will reject them. The Israelites were being given the land becaused it was promised to Jacob, but also because those who were living in it were guilty of these mentioned sins. Certainly living a life that abuses the land and the environment is something that shouldn’t be done, but God uses things that we humans don’t have much control over. He is able to use the land itself to make things difficult for us. The promised land was said to be flowing with milk and honey, very productive and fertile. Yet when it came time, God used fear and nature to fight for the Israelites. Removing the inhabitants, and establishing them.

As long as we continue to have a mind set towards God, we know that we are considered his, and he is ours. He will take care of us.

3.      The Ten Commandments:
Exodus 20:1–17 (NKJ)

Summary:
The ten commandments are spoken by Jehovah

 20:1.  And God spoke all these words, saying:
 20:2.  “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

 20:3.  “You shall have no other gods before Me.

 20:4.  “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;

 20:5.  you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
 20:6.  but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

 20:7.  “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

 20:8.  “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
 20:9.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
 20:10.  but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
 20:11.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

 20:12.  “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

 20:13.  “You shall not murder.

 20:14.  “You shall not commit adultery.

 20:15.  “You shall not steal.

 20:16.  “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

 20:17.  “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Comments:

As God gave the commandments, he began by emphasizing who he was, Yahweh (the self existing, or living and breathing one), and what he had done for them lately. These ten commandments are the foundation of all the rest of the commandments in the Old Testament. However, Jesus summed them all up in just two commands. Love the Lord, and love your neighbor.

The first five commandments deal with giving honor to God.

1. No other Gods. God is the one and only true God. Anything else is no god at all.
2. No idols. Don’t let man made objects rule you. If it is a tangible thing made from rock, wood, gold, gems, steel, rubber, plastic or silicone, or whatever, don’t let it take away from or stand between you and God.

When a lifestyle of sin takes hold, it can go on for the second and third generations. Why does God punish the children of the sinner? Consider this, each person is responsible for their own sin. But those behavior patterns rarely affect only that person. A child of an abusive person is affected and learns that behavior. the second generation.  Then that child is likely to act that way and be abusive to his children, the third generation. The pattern is set and passed on. Eventually a child is born who recognizes bad behavior and though being raised wrongly, decides it’s time to break away.

Here’s the blessing in that downward spiral. Notice it says here that it only lasts to the second and third generations. How long will the blessings last for those who do behave well, and follow God’s commands? Thousands. Who are these people? Those who love God, even the ones who formerly hated him can join this bunch when they also learn to love God.

3. Don’t use God’s name in vain. God himself will judge this. It’s important to him. When a word is often said, or a deed often done, it begins to lose its meaning and value. It becomes familiar. Attitudes become loose and casual. Worship, awe, and reverence are lost. We begin to think we are more lie God, but we are not.

4. Remember the Sabbath. A day made for the benefit of people. Physical bodies need rest. Break away from work. The world won’t end when you do. Spend that time relaxing, but in anything you might do, do it to honor God. The universe moves in cycles, and the Sabbath is one of them. It is the first holiday and it is ordained by God to observe.

Follow the above commands. Why? Because God said so. To not follow them is directly between you and God. He will judge over them and a person carries the full weight of responsibility. There is not justification for not keeping them.

5. Honor parents. The first command with a promise. Long life. When we are young our parents care for our needs. Honor them by obeying them. When we are older, our parents may need our care as they decline. Obey by caring for them.

But what about parents who are not so lovely? The ones who are God haters? Still honor them by being obedient, but continuously take the situation to God in prayer, asking for guidance and forgiveness, strength and protection. They are still your parents and deserve some degree of respect. God loved each of us before we were very loveable, before we loved him. Try to model that behavior, returning good for evil.

6. Don’t kill.
ratsach – Hebrew. a primitive root; properly, to dash in pieces, i.e. kill
– Strongs Greek and Hebrew Dictionary.

kill – English. verb.
a. To put to death.
b. To deprive of life: The Black Death was a disease that killed millions.
– Yahoo Online Dictionary

It doesn’t matter what the justification might be, war, legal punishment, self defense, or anything. To end the life of another is wrong. But the punishment for many commands that come later say that they deserve death. Yes, but God leaves the performance of punishments to men. Allowances were made for cities of refuge. Killing is wrong, we all di anyway, and God’s judgements in heaven are final.

Later Jesus would declare that even hating someone is the same as killing them. Hatred is the emotion where killing starts.

7. Don’t commit adultery. Having sex outside a marriage relationship is not right. If you are single, you are not married, so this applies to you as well. Just as with murder, Jesus later declared the emotion behind this action. To lust after someone is where this sin begins, and is wrong.

8. Don’t steal. If it isn’t yours, don’t take it. If you didn’t buy it or if something wasn’t given to you, don’t take it.

9. Don’t lie. More specifically Don’t speak non-truths as a witness. We shouldn’t withhold truth and we shouldn’t speak falseley when we are called to be a witness. We shouldn’t lie to get people in trouble.

But what about when telling the truth will reveal a sensitive secret, or hurt someone’s feelings? Good question. There are times to be evasive, or just keep silent. It’s hard to plan a surprise party and not have secrets, for example. If it involves outright lies that hurt the person to be surprised, is it worth it? You decide.

10. Don’t covet. Or Don’t desire that precious thing that isn’t yours. To include tangible personal property, personal relationships, workers, or work property. 

Do you notice that all the things listed above are actions to do, or not to do. Coveting seems to be a desire, an emotion. It goes further than that, it is the action you take when you desire after a thing. Desiring your neighbor’s home and strolling in as if you own it. Desiring your neighbor’s wife and being a little too familiar with her, whether it crosses the line to adultery or not, don’t treat her as if she’s your own wife. The same extends to the other classes of property mentioned in the verses.

The old testament contain hundreds of laws and commands. These 10 are the basis for all the rest. To make things even more simple, Jesus broke it down to simply: Love God, and love others as you love yourself.

Genesis 3:1–19

Genesis 3 (WEB)

Summary:
The serpent deceives Eve.
Both she and Adam transgress the divine command, and fall into sin and misery.
God arraigns them.
The serpent is cursed.
The promised seed.
The punishment of mankind.

1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Yes, has God said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat,
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t surely die,
5 for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit of it, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Both of their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 They heard the voice of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.
9 Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
13 Yahweh God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14 Yahweh God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above every animal of the field. On your belly shall you go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”

16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
18 Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Comments:
Hey, this is supposed to be a survey of basic beliefs for new believers, and right at the beginning we are confronted with one of those “hard” teachings. A talking snake? Snakes don’t talk today, and they most likely didn’t have that ability then. Is the snake a metaphor for Satan? Was it an actual snake? You decide. Either way, the weight of sin is all on Eve. If the snake actually uttered words, she didn’t have to decide to eat. If the snake didn’t talk, that means the idea to eat was already in her, and she wouldn’t have needed much prodding.

Is there a Scripture where God told Eve not to eat of the tree of    knowledge? Well, in the previous chapter, Genesis 2:16, God told the man to freely eat of everything, but not the tree of knowledge. It can be assumed that Adam told Eve as well. She must have known, because she had an answer for the snake,if not a clear understanding of the ban on the tree. She even answered back that “God said…” However, she stated the command, then added to it, by saying it wasn’t to be touched as well.

Eve’s first mistake was listening to a lie. The lie of the misquotation of what God had said, then listening to the lie about death, about becoming a god, about having her mind opened.

Sin creeps in with these little steps. She Saw that it was a delight to the eyes. It was desireable. She took. She ate it. Finally, she shared her sin.

Just as Eve had the choice to eat of the fruit, so did Adam. He had to have recognized it. It even says that he was with her when she ate it.

Ok, OK, I get it she sinned, but over lies about a fruit? Come on now.

The sin was in disobedience. The actual deed is really irrelevant. God said don’t, and they did. There are billions of possible other things that could have been done. All it took was to fail in just one thing. That’s all God had asked was to keep one little rule.

They sewed aprons of leaves because their minds indeed were opened. A new realization was upon them. They tried to hide among the trees in the garden. They had now become seprated from God, but there is still no place to really hide. 

The blame game starts. Adam blames Eve. She blames the snake. The two both have the chance to explain themselves, but not the snake. The serpent, being the devil, already knew what he had done. Having the two try to explain themselves is a chance to realize just how foolish that sinful behavior was. No argument stands in the face of God.

Why is chapter 3 verse 15 so important? I’ll tell you. It is the first prophecy of the Messiah. A future human would come to retaliate, and conquer the snake. Even the virgin birth is indicated here. That promised one would come from the seed of the woman. Normally the seed is in reference to the man’s part in the child creation process.

Once the sins have been realized, God lays down some laws. Each are responsible for their own sins. Each have their own unique punishments. The man is supposed to rule over the family. The wife bears children and has sorrow over her sons and husband.

God punished them. He didn’t curse them. Eve would experience sorrow, but she was also to “desire” her man. Adam was punished because he didn’t take charge and let his wife rule him. Yet he wasn’t cursed. The ground was.

Adam’s work would continue. Eventually his body would wear out and he would return to the dust which he was created from. The process of death had begun, and has led to the downfall of all humanity.