"It's Not My Fault"

It’s Not My Fault

Genesis 3:1-13 (NIV)

The first 2 verses of Genesis tell us that in the beginning our world was formless, empty, and dark. But then God stepped in and gave shape to the formless, filled the emptiness with life, and brought light into the darkness. In other words, God took the chaos and created order out of it. And as the Bible records the days of creation, it tells us that God looked upon everything he had made and said, “It is good.”

But not everybody was happy, for the Bible also tells us about Satan, an angel of God who rebelled, and because of that he was evicted from heaven and banished to earth. Satan learned that he could not overcome God. So Satan focused his attack on the next best target, mankind, to whom God had given authority over the earth.

Satan’s goal is to put chaos back into our world. And it doesn’t take a very astute observer to realize that he has been successful in many areas. Look around, and you can see how confused we have become.

For instance, there’s confusion about the roles of men and women, husband and wife, father and mother. We seem no longer sure what their roles should be.

Young people are confused about their place in the family and are often in various stages of rebellion against the authority of their parents. And the rise of homosexuality has brought even more confusion.

We’re confused about the value of life, too. Abortion tells us that life is really not all that valuable. And the disproportionate number of blacks being killed by police in this country causes us to be unsure about the value of life. Satan is bringing chaos into our lives.

And when you think about what Satan got for a few bites of forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, you realize that he really got a lot. He ruined the lives of Adam and Eve, and got control of the world, just for a couple of bites of forbidden fruit. Ridiculous, isn’t it? And long after the flavor of that fruit was forgotten, Adam and Eve were still paying the price for their terrible decision.
You see, Satan depends upon us making unwise decisions, too. He depends upon us having a distorted sense of values. He never really offers us very much, and in exchange, he wants everything from us.

Satan is always doing that, never offering very much. Yet, we think we’re getting a good deal. A moment of pleasure, a little economic gain, the applause of the crowd, and in reaching for it, we discover that we have given up everything. That is how Satan works.

And when that happens, we try to find someone else to blame.

In the third chapter of Genesis, we see God coming back into the Garden of Eden following the temptation and sin of Adam and Eve.

Vs’s 8-13 (NIV) tell us that “The man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the Garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the Garden.

“But the Lord God called to the man, `Where are you?’ He answered, `I heard you in the Garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’ And He asked, `Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?’ The man said, `The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’

“Then the Lord God said to the woman, `What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, `The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’”

Did you hear that? “Don’t blame me,” says Adam. “It wasn’t my fault. It was this woman that you gave me. She enticed me and I ate of the forbidden fruit.”

“Well, what about you, Eve?” asked the Lord God. “Don’t blame me,” she says. “It was the serpent who deceived me. And then I ate.”

And most of us, when our sins are found out, are quick to look for a scapegoat. “It wasn’t my fault. It was someone or something else that caused me to become involved in this sin.”

So, let’s look this afternoon at some of the ways we use to blame someone else for our sins.
I. “THAT’S JUST THE WAY I AM”

Have you ever heard someone say, “Well, that’s just the way I am?”

For example, a man has a violent temper. He says, “I can’t help it. That’s just the way I am.” His whole family suffers from verbal abuse, and maybe even physical abuse. But he says, “It’s not my fault.” He has a hurt wife, and children who run for cover every time he loses his temper. But he says, “That’s just the way I am. There’s nothing that I can do about it.”

And yet, God constantly reminds us that we are responsible for our words and actions. And we will be held accountable for them. We can’t pass the buck by saying, “That’s just the way I am.”

Sometimes we even use that excuse to justify being quiet about things. Maybe you go to the other extreme. Whenever something is wrong, you sulk, and decide not to talk to anybody. You stick out the lower lip and get that hurt look on your face. And you go around thinking, “I’ll show them. I won’t talk to them for the next 3 weeks.”

So, you sit around and hope that someone will notice that you aren’t saying anything and ask you, “Why?” But you aren’t going to say anything. When you finally do break the silence, and someone asks, “Why did you act that way?” You answer, “I can’t help it. I was born that way. That’s just the way I am.”

In other words, “Don’t blame me, blame God. God gave me this personality. And you just have to accept it the way it is.”
II. “IT’S SOMEBODY ELSE’S FAULT”

Sometimes we say, “If you knew my family background, my relationship with my mother or father, then you would know why I behave the way I do. My dad lost his temper all the time,” or “My mother was always sulking. I’m just doing what they did. So don’t blame me.”

But the Bible doesn’t allow us to give that kind of excuse. It always says, “You are responsible for yourself.”

How many times have we said, “It’s the people who surround me every day.” “I would gladly quit cussing, but everybody else there cusses. If they would quit, I wouldn’t have any trouble. But there is no way in the world that I can quit as long as they’re cussing. It’s their fault, not mine.”

Or “I know that it is wrong to drink too much, but everybody else is doing it. And the crowd I run with, that is what they do to socialize. But if they would quit, I sure would.”

We conveniently find something or someone else to blame in every situation.

III. “THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT”

Then, when everything else fails, almost as a last resort, we say, “Well, the devil made me do it.”

Jim Wright wrote an editorial in the Dallas Morning News (Netflix documentary) a while back about the Carter High School championship football team which saw several of its players arrested for committing robberies and other crimes.

These were young men with bright futures. Most of them could have gone on to college and played football. Some of them, perhaps, could have played professional football and made lots of money.

But just for the fun of it, they started robbing convenience stores and doing burglaries and things like that.

Jim Wright quoted the quarterback of the team who said, “We did this to ourselves. No one made us hold up the stores. We can’t blame anyone but ourselves.” Interesting, isn’t it?

Wright then wrote, “The thought that we have the freedom to choose our own path, and that having chosen such path, we are responsible for our choice is a very large one. You don’t hear it much in the public forums today. Nowadays, it seems the style is to look for ways to get the offender off the hook by finding somebody or something else to blame.”

For example, look at the way we treat some criminals. A young man who picked up a sub-machine gun and shot 15 people is often viewed by the public as `Ah, poor baby. He shot down 15 people with a sub-machine gun. But remember, he came from a poor socio-economic background. He was the victim of a callous society. He felt the pain of deprivation from a materialistic time. He was bored by a life of meaningless changes, blah, blah, blah.’ Then the so-called experts say that he can hardly be blamed for his actions since he was only doing what he was compelled to do by outside forces over which he had no influence. The devil or something made him do it, so he cannot really be blamed.”

But I want you to notice that the Bible never teaches that the devil can force us to sin. Did you know that?

The Bible teaches that the devil is a deceiver. He deceived Eve in Genesis 3 and is still us deceiving today. In John 9:44, we are told that the devil is the “father of lies.” So, he lies to us, deceives us, manipulates us, and tempts us.

But “Why? Why does he lie, deceive, tempt, and manipulate?” And the answer is, “Because he can’t force.” If he could force you to sin, there would be no need for temptation or manipulation. He would just force you to do it. But he can’t force you to sin.
You must choose to do it. And if you choose, then you are responsible.

For instance, if you’re standing on the edge of a cliff, above a rocky gorge, and I walk up to you and say, “I just kidnapped your 3-year-old child. Tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to keep him/her locked in a basement with minimum food and water for years, and you will never see them again. And I’m going to keep them there unless you jump over this cliff into the rocky gorge.”

Let’s suppose you jump. And as you do I say, “I was only kidding.” Did I force you to jump? No. I tricked you into jumping. If I had forced you, I would have shoved you over the side, and you would have had no choice.

You see, nobody tied Eve down and forced her to eat the forbidden fruit. Nobody forced you to take the first drink or smoke. Nobody forced you to become engaged in immorality, have a bad attitude or keep entering into bad relationships. Nobody forces us. It’s our choice. And if it’s our choice, then we are responsible for our actions.

IV. “IT’S GOD’S FAULT”

And when we find that we can’t blame the devil, then we blame God. After all, God is responsible for everything, isn’t He? “He is the one who gave me the awful family that I have. He’s the one who surrounded me with friends who led me astray. He’s the one who made it impossible for me to have the willpower to say `No.’ Therefore, it’s God’s fault.”

No. James says that God never tempts us. It’s entirely up to us.

In 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 (NIV), Paul says, “So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”

In other words, God says, “I hold you accountable for your sins. Don’t blame someone or something else. You are accountable.”
CONCLUSION

Now that is the bad news. But I have good news, too. The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus Christ loved me and died for me, and that His blood can cover all my sin.

But you see, the first step in being covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, is to accept responsibility for my own actions. As long as I try to find someone or something else to blame, then I’ll never come to grips with the fact that I’m a sinner.

I have to come to the place where I will pray, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” When we do that, then God is anxious to hold us in His arms, to cover us with His blood, and to save us from our sins.