Rom 1 16 For I am not ashamed

Rom 1: 16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

I. God Created a Perfect Paradise

“And it was good. ” “And it was very good. ” (Gen 1: 31)

“Let us make man according to our own likeness in our own image. (1: 26) “He created them both male and female. ” (1: 27)

Ac 17: 26 -28, …and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps…

…they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children. ’

II. Human Rebellion Destroys God’s Perfect World

• Gen 2: 16 -17, The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from…

• the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die. ”

Gen 3: 4 -5, The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! “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. ”

III. Sin Exploded in the World • Gen 4: 6 -7, Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it. ”

• Gen 6: 5 -7, Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

• …The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them. ”

Rom 5: 12, Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.

God’s Story of Redemption 1. Cain 2. Noah 3. Abraham 4. Israel

• They served idols, concerning which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do this thing. ” Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep My…

• …commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets. ” However, they did not listen, but stiffened…

• …their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God. They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And they followed vanity and…

• …became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the LORD had commanded them not to do like them. (2 Kings 17: 12 -15)

• The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them until the LORD removed Israel from His sight, as He spoke through all His…

• …servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day. (2 Kings 17: 22 -23)

IV. Everyone Needs a Savior • Rom 1: 18, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…

• Rom 2: 4 -5, Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of…

• …your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

• Rom 3: 10, as it is written, “THERE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; IS NONE • Rom 3: 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, • Rom 6: 23, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• Eph 2: 1 -2, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course…

• …of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

• …Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

• Isa 59: 1 -2, Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation

• …between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

V. Good News!!! The Savior Has Come!!! • Lk 2: 11, for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

• Mt 1: 21, “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. ”

• 1 Cor 15: 1 -4, Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in…

• …vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

There was Hope… • Gen 3: 15, And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel. ”

III. The Terrible Consequences of Sin • The Serpent was cursed • The Woman was cursed • The Man was cursed • The whole earth was cursed

God’s Story of Redemption • Gen 6: 9, Noah was • God spoke with Noah • Noah walked with God a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.