Text: Romans 5:12–17
Topic: How the world is broken and what that means for us

• Not everything in the world is good; in fact, real evil does exist in the world.
  • Illustration: Warren shares thoughts how every branch of society shows signs of evil and its destruction.

• Evil is in the world because we've all sinned.
• Sin is any attitude or action against God that started with Adam.
• Everything on this planet has been damaged, injured, spoiled, or corrupted in some way by the entry of evil into the world.
• I want to look at five dimensions of the damage that occurred when sin entered the world.

• First: There are natural disasters and deformities in our world because of sin.
• Second: There is physical decay and death in the world, because we live in a fallen planet.
  • Illustration: The law of entropy states that everything in the universe is continuously and irreversibly decaying.
• The Bible says that everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam; God doesn't want us hanging around on an imperfect planet.
• Three: We have emotional distress and disappointment because of our sin.
• You get stressed out and disappointed, because you live on a fallen planet.
  • Illustration: Stressing over a wedding instead of a marriage shows that we stress over the wrong things.
• Fourth: Relational distance and discord result from our sin.
• Adam and Eve had great intimacy together—emotionally and physically—but their sin alienated them from each other.
• Adam did the very two things that every man and every woman has done since: he hid and he blamed.
• Fifth: Spiritual discontentment and darkness is a result of our sin.
• Sin leaves a hole in your heart that nothing can fill except for God.
  • Illustration: St. Augustine said: "Lord, thou hast made us for thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee."
• Trying to find meaning in music or sex or anything else is not the answer.
• How can you be happy in a world full of pain, suffering, sorrow, broken relationships, and bad memories?
• Jeremiah's words—"Lord, you are all that I need"—is the antidote to depression.

• God doesn't shut the world down, because although the world is broken, God is still in control, and history is moving toward a climax.
  • 2 Peter 3:9
• The reason God puts up with all the grief that he sees on this planet is because he's being patient and waiting for you to step across the line and come to know him.

• There are four ways I should respond to the fact that God is in control of this world.
• Number one: Receive God's grace daily.
• Number two: Remember that this place is temporary.
• Number three: Reject manmade solutions.
• Number four: God says to reach out and testify about his love.