From Innocence to Knowledge
Our innocence is lost with just one bite
The longing to peek
The will to taste
It is so easy to lose your innocence
To lose innocence is to taste death
But there is hope if we turn to the Tree of Life
Jesus is the Tree of Life
Taste and see that the LORD is good Psalms 34:8
See how forgiveness
His washing away of guilt
His wisdom to deal with your past, presence and future
From Innocence to Knowledge
Innocence is purity,
freedom from guilt and shame.
In knowledge, we find two
opposing things, Good and Evil.
There is knowledge that is good.
Proverbs tell us to seek knowledge…
My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding,
and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
For the LORD gives wisdom,
and from his mouth come
knowledge and understanding.
Proverbs 2:1-6
Proverbs 1:22 tells us
simplicity is not innocence…
"How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge?
As a child I would lead
on what I did not know.
I thought if I made the excuse,
“I did not know” I would not be guilty.
A lack of knowledge will not make you innocence.
Three things that destroy innocence…
Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
1. Adam and Eve lost their Fear of the
Lord before they lost their innocence
2. Disrespect of Wisdom
3. Lack of Discipline
Just as the Tree of Knowledge has the side
of Good, it also has the side of Evil.
One of the greatest things God
created us with is a Conscience.
The cognitive process that elicits emotion and
rational associations based on morals and values.
This conscience can be short circuited.
Romans 1, tells us from creation
the invisible qualities of God are clearly seen.
The qualities of innocence and
purity, the sum of all things good.
By choice, we exchange the glory
of innocence for desires in our heart.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator — who is forever praised. Amen.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.
Romans 1:24-26
What was natural in the Garden of Eden
was exchanged for what is unnatural.
Why?
Because we do not think it worth while
to retain the Knowledge of God.
Romans 1:28
Innocence is a choice.
God will not keep you from
eating of the Tree of Knowledge.
He gave them over to a depraved mind,
to do what ought not to be done.
Romans 1:28
If you want to see the opposite of innocence,
it is found in the last verses of Romans 1…
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Romans 1:29-32
Our innocence is lost with just one bite.
The longing to peek.
The will to taste.
It is so easy to lose your innocence.
To lose innocence is to taste death.
But there is hope if we turn to the Tree of Life.
Jesus is the Tree of Life.
Taste and see that the LORD is good
Psalms 34:8
See how forgiveness…
His washing away of guilt.
His wisdom to deal with your
past, presence and future.
Scripture Reading
Romans 1:18-32 NIV
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator — who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
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