Why Is Our World So Broken? (Linton Hall Sermon)
July 5, 2026
1. God Created Everything
2. God Created Adam, the first human
3. God Created Eve and marriage
Romans 8:22 CSB – For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.
Genesis 3:1 CSB – Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”
Genesis 3:2-3 CSB – The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’”
Genesis 3:4-6 CSB – “No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “In fact, God knows that when[a] you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
What on earth is the serpent doing there?
It seems like there was a real Adam, a real Eve, the serpent really spoke and deceived.
Satan’s tactics have not changed
2 Corinthians 2:11 CSB – so that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan. For we are not ignorant of his schemes.
Satan’s Tactics:
1. Satan Twists God’s Word
Combat it: Know God’s Word
2. Satan Appeals To Our Desires
Combat it: Put Your Temptations On Trial
3. Satan Convinces Us That We Are The Exception
Combat it: Don’t Try To Outsmart Satan…God knows you even better!
Genesis 3:6-7 CSB – The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Sin is so disappointing
Genesis 3:8-10 CSB – Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 And he said, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
Genesis 3:11-12 CSB – Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man replied, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.”
Genesis 3:13 CSB – So the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”
And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Genesis 3:14-15 CSB –
So the Lord God said to the serpent:
Because you have done this,
you are cursed more than any livestock
and more than any wild animal.
You will move on your belly
and eat dust all the days of your life.
15 I will put hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.
Genesis 3:16-17 CSB –
He said to the woman:
I will intensify your labor pains;
you will bear children with painful effort.
Your desire will be for your husband,
yet he will rule over you.
17 And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’:
The ground is cursed because of you.
You will eat from it by means of painful labor
all the days of your life.
Genesis 3:18-19 CSB – It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow
until you return to the ground,
since you were taken from it.
For you are dust,
and you will return to dust.”
What happened to the world? We happened!
What happened to paradise? Sin happened!
Where is God in all this?
Genesis 3:8-9 CSB – Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
In Love….God Still Pursues Them
1 John 4:8 CSB – The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Where is God in all this? Wherever you are!
Genesis 3:15 CSB – I will put hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.
Believers…
- Reflect the love God shows us
- Know Scripture
- Fight against the schemes of the devil
1 John 4:19 CSB – We love because he first loved us.
Don’t let Satan deceive you any longer
