God is long-suffering

.......................and for Him to grieve that He even made man,
.......................they must have trespassed against Him greatly.

By the time of Genesis 6:6
.....sin had become so bad on the earth
...........that the Bible says,

..........."And it repented the LORD
.....that he had made man on the earth
.......and it grieved him at his heart."

When sin deceives people,
.................they will think and do incredibly stupid things.

People started interpreting God's patience and goodness as though He condoned or excused sin.

We deceive ourselve when we think it doesn't matter whether or not we sin.

It is a grave mistake to openly approve of something God condemns just because some others do.

People are going to be compared to Jesus.

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"
...........................Romans 3:23

Unless they measure up, they need a Savior.
...........................No excuses.

Throughout history, people have tried to justify their sin by finding someone who is 'worse' than they are.

..............That is a terrible standard.
...People are going to be compared to Jesus!

In the Old Testament, people's hearts
were being hardened to the things of God.

They were getting so far away from Him that
they were justifying all kinds of sinful actions.

Knowledge of sin will make people feel guilty.

.When people feel guilty, they avoid the one
...........that makes them feel guilty.

The moment Adam and Eve sinned,
they noticed they weren't like God anymore.

It hurt God's heart to think that the creation
.....He made would be so afraid of Him
.....that they would hide from Him.

...But that's what a knowledge of sin does.

Adam and Eve had become self-conscious.

They saw that they were different from God
.........and those that were with Him,
..............so they became afraid.

The reason Adam and Eve's nakedness was important
....................................was because God wasn't naked.

..........God was clothed.

There is no reference in the Word of God of
.......................................He or any angels being naked.

Revelation 19:8 tells us that we're going to wear
.......robes of righteousness made out of something like
.......white linen that shines.
................No one goes around heaven naked.

Adam and Eve being naked didn't really look like
........................a good reason to hide from God.

But, according to the Bible, that's the only thing
they recognized that made them run and hide from Him.

God knew that Adam and Eve were naked.
............He had created them naked.
.........But He knew they didn't realize
......they were naked before they sinned.

Mankind was created to be so God conscious
....that they didn't even notice themselves.

.........There was no self-consciousness;
..........they were totally God conscious.

Adam and Eve didn't lose their clothes
.........when they ate of the tree.

.........They were no more naked
......than they were before they ate.

They were just aware of their nakedness.

The only thing they knew in the beginning,
.was that when they ate of the Tree of the
...........Knowledge of Good and Evil,
..................... they were naked.

Back in the beginning:
they didn't know they were to get old,
they didn't know there was a flu season,
they didn't know about all the deadly diseases,

It took Satan a long time to get all this knowledge into them.

In the beginning, people lived to be over 900 years old.

It took a long time for Satan to get them to die.
..........They didn't know how to die.

Even though God wasn't bringing judgment upon sin,
.........sin allowed Satan to come in and destroy
............................the human race,
...physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

The Word of God shows us that every time
................people commit sin,
they give Satan an inroad into their lives.

Sin's horizontal effect is that it allows Satan
....access to our lives in some way.

Even though God wasn't bringing judgment
....on sin before the Law,
........sin was still destroying the human race.

Until the Law came, sins vertical effect,
...God wasn't holding sin against man
......and sin didn't have an effect on man's
.........fellowship with God.

Sin was not only a transgression against God,
but it also created an open door for Satan to come into people's lives.

Even though God wasn't holding sin against mankind
........and it took a while for people to figure it out,
...sin had a devastating effect on them from the very
...................................beginning!

It apparently took mankind thousands of years
...........to explore and discover the depth of sin.

They didn't just instantly come into the full
............................knowledge of all kinds of sin.

Under the Old Testament Law, if a man went
...out and picked up sticks on the Sabbath Day,
......God commanded the man to be stoned to death.

Contrary to popular religious ideas,
...God didn't approve of Cain's sin,
but He protected the first murderer.

...The Lord set a mark upon Cain,
lest any finding him should kill him.