AM Genesis 3:1-24

[0:00] Welcome to Morning Worship, thank you very much. Just one or two notices. Evening service, God willing, will be this evening at 6 o'clock. Our plans have all been disrupted again with last week, so I'm going to start a four-part series this morning called The Long Road to Calvary. I'll be doing that this morning, this evening, next Sunday morning and next Sunday evening. And then, hopefully the Sunday after that will be the long-awaited baptism of the baby, and I'm sure we're all looking forward to that finally going ahead.

[0:53] We update on Jack. He's eating well, getting stronger, and he's very grateful and thankful for prayers and continues to ask us to remember him in prayer.

[1:10] Midweek is on Wednesday at 7 o'clock. Prayer meeting and Bible study led by William, and it will be a missionary evening. The missionary prayer notes for December have been forwarded by email.

[1:28] And over the last few years, we brought Christmas presents, such as clothing and chocolate, for the men and women who come to the Wednesday drop-in. At the moment, the only service provided is a weekly provision of takeaway sandwiches from the door of Bethany Christian Trust on the White Sands.

[1:49] And the supervisor, Pamela Crosby, feels it would be more suitable this year for us to provide a purchase take-home meal. So it would be helpful if financial contributions can be made this year, no later than next Lord's Day.

[2:05] Please leave any gifts in the offering box in an envelope marked drop-in. Kit session has announced last Sunday that it's looking to appoint additional elders.

[2:18] A voting form is being made available to all Communicant members as from today. And completed voted forms should be placed in the box available on the centre table as from next Wednesday.

[2:34] God willing, I will be back here next Sunday to do morning and evening services. Let us worship God.

[2:46] We sing to His praise and to His glory. All the psalms this morning are from Sing Psalms number 84. We sing the opening seven verses of Psalm number 84 to God's praise.

[3:02] How delightful are Your blessings, O Almighty Lord to me!

[3:13] For Your force my soul is yearning, in Your house I long to be. Heart and flesh cry out the law, O the true and living God.

[3:37] Heart and flesh cry out the Lord to ye sein. Even spaggols light their dwelling, and the small mountains have deskt.

[3:49] Hear Your water, Lord Almighty, with the cross in name and present. Blessed to be your love, O Lord, in our ever-pracing fall.

[4:11] Blessed are those whose strength is in you, those who have a pilgrim's mind, whose from autumn's raised repression springs in vain as they'll they find.

[4:35] Strength in peace inside our heart, in no other way to God.

[4:53] In Psalm 134 we read these words. Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord.

[5:06] Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth.

[5:19] Let us pray. What a privilege it is to be reminded that as we gather for worship, we come into the presence of the God who made heaven and earth.

[5:41] From nothing you created all things. And we rejoice in the beauty and in the wonder of that creation.

[5:56] We look round Heavenly Father and we see autumn turning to winter. We feel the changes in temperature. And we recognize that you are a God who has placed everything in its right place.

[6:13] That you are a God of sequences. A God where one season follows the other. In a rhythm that comes from your will and your purpose.

[6:25] And is sustained by your mighty hand. You are a God who is wholly reliable. And we wonder and are amazed that you are the God who should take special interest in us, your people.

[6:43] And we thank you and we praise the name of the Lord. For we are the servants of the Lord. We praise the Lord for the Lord is good.

[6:55] We sing to his name for it is a joy to do so. We know that you are great. And we know Heavenly Father that our praises please you.

[7:09] And so we ask for a special ministry of your Holy Spirit to be very evident among us this day.

[7:19] That as we seek to bring our hearts and our thoughts and our praise and our worship together. We might find a fresh expression of joy and of privilege.

[7:34] To come before the living God. You are God. And there is no one like you. In all the universe. Heavenly Father from the very first days of creation.

[7:49] You displayed your glory and splendor. Your power and your majesty. But we come now supremely with the revelation of Jesus Christ.

[8:01] God among us. And as we move through this season of Advent. We thank you for the miracle and mystery. For the wonder of the incarnation.

[8:14] That God himself should come and take on the form of a man. Not considering equality with God.

[8:25] Something to be held on to. But emptying himself. And we thank you Heavenly Father that above all the reasons that he came. Supreme among them was to die on Calvary's cross.

[8:39] And as we begin this short series Heavenly Father. As we think of why the cross was necessary. We apply that great truth to our lives.

[8:51] Confessing our own sin. Father forgive us. May your Holy Spirit enlighten us to the true extent of our sin.

[9:03] And may your Holy Spirit lead us to find a path of repentance. And faith and trust. That in Jesus Christ the price was paid.

[9:16] And the task of redemption was finished. And we thank you and we praise you. And we worship you for that Heavenly Father. Father. And now as we come this day Lord God.

[9:30] We pray that we might have a fresh sense of calm. Of renewal. Of you working and moving in our lives. We again pray for our brother who cannot be with us because of his illness.

[9:47] And we thank you for the news that he's making good recovery. And we pray for Jack and his family. That you might be near them. And that you might bless them in this time.

[9:58] And we pray Father that it might indeed be your will. That you might restore him back to us here. In this place. Father. These are our prayers.

[10:10] And we are your people. May we know your blessing this day. And may we rejoice in that blessing. In Jesus Christ our Lord we ask this.

[10:21] Amen. Now boys and girls. We've been thinking about some of the disciples. And we were thinking a couple of weeks ago about Thomas.

[10:36] And then last week. No two weeks ago. Who did we think about two weeks ago? Remember the man that had the party? Matthew.

[10:49] I'm sure that was coming. Yes. I'm sure we remember that. Well today. I'm going to talk about another disciple. His name was Peter. Well. That's what his name became.

[11:02] Because. He was actually called Simon. And. When it came to Jesus. Jesus decided to call him Peter. Which actually means the rock.

[11:14] And Peter. And Peter was a very very important disciple. I think it's probably fair to say that he was one of the leaders. Of the disciples.

[11:26] And. Does anybody know what Peter did for a living? What did Peter do for a living? Give you a wee hint?

[11:40] What do you think he did? He probably didn't do that kind of thing. But. That's a good hint. No. He was a fisherman. A fisherman. So he didn't use a rod.

[11:52] The way we would use a rod. To catch fish. Although I've never fished in my life. He would have a big. A big net. And. That would have stones. At the end of it. And he would throw it out. And he would gather up the fish.

[12:06] And so. Peter was. One of. A number of fishermen. Who became. The disciples. Of. Jesus. And there was one. Important story.

[12:17] And I'm going to tell you. A couple of stories. This week. And next week. About Peter. One very important story. About Peter. Where. He was in the boat.

[12:28] Fishing. And there was a storm. Now. I've been. Privileged enough. To be. At the Sea of Galilee. And I've actually seen. How. The Sea of Galilee. Was.

[12:39] Very. Very. Calm. And. We had a. A bedroom. My dad and I. Were sharing a room. And we had a bedroom. That was right on. The Sea of Galilee. And we went.

[12:49] We went into the bedroom. It was perfectly calm. And then. About half an hour later. Once we'd unpacked. All our stuff. In our case. We come out.

[12:59] And. The waves were. The waves were lashing up. Nearly up. To our bedroom door. And it was amazing. Just to see. How quickly. The storm came. In the Sea of Galilee. Well.

[13:10] There's a story. In the Bible. About a storm. And the fishermen. Were out. In a storm. And. What happens. Is. That they become afraid. And.

[13:23] All of a sudden. They see Jesus coming. Walking. On the water. Now that's an amazing thing. That only Jesus could do.

[13:34] Because he was the Lord of the sea. And the air. And the wind. And Peter. Seeing Jesus coming. He does an extraordinary thing. And he gets out of the boat.

[13:45] And he starts to walk to Jesus. And for the first few steps. We're told that. He's able to do that. And then he looks down. And he sees.

[13:56] The storm. And the waves. And the sea. And it begins to sink. And Jesus. Puts out his hand. And grabs Peter. And rescues him.

[14:09] From drowning. In the sea. And that's an important story. Because it reminds us. Of. One. That Jesus.

[14:19] Is the Lord. Not just of our lives. But of the sea. And of the air. And of all the birds. And all the animals. He is Lord of all creation. And he is the power.

[14:31] Over the whole of creation. But it also reminds us. That it's very important. When we're trying to follow Jesus. That we keep our eyes. On Jesus. And not become distracted.

[14:44] By all the things. That might make us frightened. And afraid. And I'm sure there are times. When you've been afraid. And at times. When you've been afraid. You should do exactly. What Peter does.

[14:56] Take Jesus' hand. And look up to him. And keep your eyes. Fixed. On Jesus. Now we're going to have another story. About Peter. Next week.

[15:06] So. You just remember that story. And we'll have another one. Next week. So we're going to pray. Let's pray. Father. We thank you. For these young people. We thank you.

[15:18] That they are covenant children. And we pray. Heavenly Father. That we might know. The enormous privilege. Of being able to speak. To these young people.

[15:28] About Jesus. We thank you. For believing parents. And grandparents. And for the influence. And impact. That they can have.

[15:39] On these young people's lives. Father. Our world is a storm. For many of our young people. And we just pray.

[15:50] Heavenly Father. That as we see that storm. We might keep our eyes. Fixed. Upon Jesus. The one who is the Lord. Of the wind. And the waves.

[16:02] And the sea. Father. Give us faith. Give us trust. As we nurture our children. And bring them up. In the ways of the church.

[16:14] To the glory of God. And to their salvation. We pray. In Jesus name. Amen. Now either side of our scripture reading.

[16:25] We're going to be singing. From Psalm 9. And first of all. We're going to sing. The first six verses. Then we're going to read God's word.

[16:35] And then we're going to sing. From verse 7. To 11. So Psalm 9. A. In sing Psalms. Verses 1 to 6.

[16:47] And then 7 to 11. After. The scripture reading. To God's praise. Bohemian Chents. For joy.

[17:10] For joy I will shout and exultantly cry, in praise of your glorious people most high.

[17:25] My enemy's standing in disorderly fight, Istanbul and perish in face of your might.

[17:41] For you have defended my right and my cause, you sat in just judgment, a boy in your house.

[17:57] There you have listened to me, there you have dużo, there you have told me, I will shout andaju, I will shout and uneach.

[18:19] So turn with me to the book of Genesis.

[18:40] Genesis. Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3.

[19:19] If you like that, almost a different God wrote the Old Testament than wrote the New Testament. As if God somehow changed its mind. And what I want to do over these four sermons is for us to realise and to remember, for many of us, that the cross just didn't appear out of nowhere.

[19:43] That there was a need for the cross. That there was a foreshadowing of the cross in Egypt.

[19:55] That there was a preview and a foretaste of the cross in the upper room and in the Garden of Gethsemane. And then that there was a reality and experience of the cross.

[20:11] But I want to begin by reminding us about why we need the cross. And why the saving death of the Lord Jesus Christ on that cross is absolutely vital and necessary.

[20:27] And so we're going to read from the third chapter of the book of Genesis. Genesis. Again, it's worth reminding us that if we don't get Genesis 1, 2 and 3 right, then we're going to be very confused about the rest of the Bible.

[20:51] So this is the Word of God. The same God who wrote and inspired the New Testament. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

[21:10] He said to the woman, Did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden.

[21:25] But God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden. Neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, You will surely not, sorry, you will not surely die.

[21:43] For God knows that when you eat of it, Your eyes will be open, And you will be like God, Knowing good and evil.

[21:56] So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, And that it was a delight to the eyes, And that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, She took of its fruit and ate.

[22:11] And she also gave some to her husband, Who was with her, And he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, And they knew that they were naked.

[22:25] And they sewed fig leaves together, And made themselves loincloths. And they heard of the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden, In the cool of the day.

[22:38] And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord, Among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, And said to him, Where are you?

[22:54] And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, And I was afraid, Because I was naked, And I hid myself. He said, Who told you you were naked?

[23:09] Have you eaten of the tree, Of which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, She gave me fruit of the tree, And I ate.

[23:24] 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.

[23:41] The Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all livestock, And above all beasts of the field, On your belly you shall go, And dust you shall eat, All the days of your life.

[24:01] I will put enmity between you and the woman, Between your offspring and her offspring, He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise his heel.

[24:16] Amen. And may God bless to us, This reading of his holy word, And to his name be all praise, And glory given.

[24:27] Again back to Psalm number 9, From verse 7. The Lord forever reigns on high, In his hope, Our judgment stands,ексnd so With the chou steers, To the land A guiding place for those who are oppressed.

[25:28] And He will be a strong defense for those who are oppressed.

[25:46] All those who know your name, O Lord, in You that trust will place.

[26:04] Barred in all around our walls. O Lord, seek Your gracious peace.

[26:21] Take praises to the love of our witnesses. Exile on His throne.

[26:39] The power of nations of the world.

[26:49] Propring what He has done. Let's pray together.

[27:05] Almighty God, as we open up Your Holy Word, we pray for our nation on this Lord's Day as people gather around churches and in their homes to listen to the preaching of the Word.

[27:29] And we pray this day, Heavenly Father, that that might be a faithful preaching. That the great desire of those who stand in our pulpits and proclaim the Word might be to raise up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[27:47] And to present Him as the only way, the only truth, and the only means to life and life eternal. And so, Heavenly Father, as we pray for others, so we pray for ourselves.

[28:04] We pray, Heavenly Father, that You might open Your Word to us this day. That You will show us ourself.

[28:15] That You will show us Yourself. And that You will show us the Saviour. And that Your Word will speak to us, O Lord.

[28:27] Amen. One of the great realizations in helping us to understand our society today is to have an understanding of what moral philosophers have called post-modernism.

[28:48] Post-modernism is a complex philosophy. And it would be wrong to think that it could be summarized in any one thing.

[29:02] But close to summarizing it is it basically means that everything stands morally on its own.

[29:13] It has no connection with what has gone before and no connection with what comes after it. In other words, you can have one set of rules and circumstances that move you to act in one way or to believe something to be true.

[29:31] Well, the very next day or the very next hour or even the very next moment, it can lead you to a decision that is significantly contrary to the first one that you have made.

[29:46] Everything is a reaction to the immediacy of the circumstances that you find yourself in, of the way you feel, of the way you want to act.

[30:00] In other words, there is no consistent moral code which many of us of our generations would have been brought up with and would have been taught.

[30:14] That there are a set of rules and those rules apply and those rules direct and dictate how we should operate and what we should do and how we should live and how we should engage with each other.

[30:30] And of course, that post-modernism has been applied to our understanding of the Bible.

[30:41] And many liberals will tell you that there is no consistency or flow and no necessity to have a consistency and flow throughout the Bible.

[30:53] Well, of course, that's completely contrary to what the Bible actually says and what it teaches us. It says that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for our instruction.

[31:08] That there is a consistency to Scripture. That there is a pattern to Scripture. That one part of Scripture informs the other parts of Scripture.

[31:22] And it's very important that we do something as Christians that affirms that. And that is that we remind ourselves of what we must never forget.

[31:37] If any of you are golfers, you will know who Jack Grout is. Jack Grout was actually Jack Nicholas' coach.

[31:51] Jack Nicholas, the great golfer. And Jack Grout used to have Jack Nicholas, who was a golfer that was far, far, far better than anything that Jack Grout could be.

[32:05] Jack Nicholas would go back to Jack Grout at the beginning of every golf season. And he would say to Jack Grout, teach me to play golf.

[32:19] In other words, what he would ask him to do is to remind him of the basics. And I guess if we were to spiritualize that, we would do so in the words of the old hymn.

[32:35] Tell me the old, old story. For I forget so soon. We must remind ourselves regularly of what we must never forget.

[32:51] And what I want to do is to remind you of the story that leads up to the cross.

[33:03] Now, to do that, we would obviously have to go through the whole of the Bible. But I want to pick out four or three events that lead up to the cross.

[33:15] I want us to think about why the cross is necessary. By looking at what Genesis 3 tells us. I want to then go to Exodus 12.

[33:30] To see the foreshadowing of the cross. In all that we learn about the Passover. I then want to go briefly to the upper room next Lord's Day morning.

[33:47] And then into the Garden of Gethsemane. Where we get a preview of the cross. And a foretaste of the cross.

[34:00] And then I want us to, next Lord's Day evening. Look at the experience of Jesus in the cross.

[34:11] And how all these other sermons that we've gone into. Informs us about precisely what is going on there at the cross.

[34:23] Despite claims by many people that the content of Genesis 1 to 3 is some parable.

[34:36] Or some story to teach particularly higher truths. Or a myth. Which is a vehicle for which we can draw some of our moral values.

[34:47] Because we need to understand that Genesis 1, 2 and 3 are absolutely vital truths. That we need to have in place if we are to properly understand the Bible.

[35:06] In other words, the New Testament will ultimately only make sense. When we see Jesus on the cross doing something that reverses what happened in Genesis 3.

[35:26] That is the very clear teaching of the Bible. It's certainly the understanding that Jesus had of what he was about.

[35:38] And there is a direct line and correlation that takes place. From the first Adam's trespass in Genesis 3.

[35:51] Is necessarily as historical as the last Adam's death and resurrection by which man is restored. A failure, as I said earlier, to get Genesis 1 to 3 correct.

[36:08] Results in a failure to understand the Bible's story. As it is revealed to us. It creates a confused people.

[36:21] Because people are not sure what is going on. And why the cross is necessary. And it creates a catastrophic church life.

[36:31] Alistair Begg, I think, very helpfully describes the correlation between the Old and the New Testament.

[36:42] And the illustration that he gives is the illustration of someone who is going into a theatre to see a play. And they go into the theatre and they watch the first half of the play.

[36:59] Which represents the Old Testament. And then they leave at half time. So they don't know what the outcome was. He then contrasts that with somebody who then takes that person's place.

[37:18] And that person's seat. Who comes in at half time not having seen the first half of the play. And he can't understand what is going on.

[37:31] Who the character's at. What is going on in terms of the overall picture. Because he's never seen the first half of the play. The Old and the New Testament go together.

[37:45] They are vital parts of the one and of the whole. And so with that in mind.

[37:56] Let's turn to Genesis 3. And even a cursory look over this chapter. Makes it clear that this chapter is about sin.

[38:10] And I think it will help us to ask three questions of this chapter. In seeking to understand what sin is all about.

[38:22] Where does sin come from? What's its origin? What does it consist of?

[38:34] What is its nature? What does it lead to? What is the consequence of sin?

[38:48] So first of all. The origin of sin. Where does it come from? A close look at the prophet Isaiah.

[39:02] Chapter 14 verses 12 to 15. Alludes to the fall of an angel from grace and glory. To become Satan. The great deceiver. And it's helpful to notice the detail of this fallen angel's fall from grace.

[39:20] That this fallen angel is above all a deceiver. He is a deceiver who could not accept his place in the great order of things.

[39:37] We don't have time to look at Isaiah 14. But Isaiah 14 verse 13 says. I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high.

[39:49] I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high. That was Satan's desire.

[40:02] What is it desire? His desire was to be like the creator. His desire was to be like God.

[40:18] Now those of you who know your Bible well. Bells will be ringing in Philippians 2. In the passage about the Lord. His humbling and his emptying.

[40:29] They're not only holding on to his nature. The direction of the incarnation is down.

[40:43] He left his glory in heaven. And came down. Now back to Genesis 3. Look at the tempter's approach to Eve.

[40:56] In verse 5. For God knows that when you eat of it. Your eyes will be open. And here it is. And you will be like God.

[41:09] Knowing good and evil. So if we were to ask. And this is one of these strange questions. That preachers ask.

[41:20] That nobody is actually thinking about. But it's a helpful question there. What is the direction. Of the sin in the garden. The direction of the sin in the garden.

[41:34] Is upwards. The direction of the incarnation. Is downwards. The sin in the garden.

[41:46] The sin in the garden. Was that the great attraction. Was. That the creature. Should become like the creator. And you will be like God.

[42:00] You will be able to attain a higher knowledge. You will be equal of God. And of course. That's an echo. Of the sin. Of the fall of Satan.

[42:12] As described for us. In Isaiah. 14. And it's very interesting. And this is an aside.

[42:22] That if you look at. Much of the teaching. Of the modern charismatic church. That is their great claim. That we are actually. Many gods.

[42:34] And that we have the power. Of God. And we have. At times. The power. Over God. And you will not need.

[42:45] To look at many. Of these charismatic teachers. Very long. Before you hear. That kind of nonsense. And indeed. Heresy.

[42:57] And indeed. Sinful. Teaching. And that was the sin. And that was the temptation. In the garden.

[43:09] That you could become. Like. God. The second question then. If that is the origin. Of sin. What is the nature of sin?

[43:20] What does it. Consist of? It would. Be. An attempt. To bring God. Down. To. And to undermine.

[43:33] God's rule. And God's role. And God's authority. That would be a way. Of making God. Equal.

[43:43] To us. To bring him down. To our level. And very specifically. We can see.

[43:53] How that process. Begins. that he begins to undermine God's word. In chapter 3 verse 1 we see that the temptation there is to doubt his word.

[44:13] In chapter 3 verse 3 it's to distort his word. In chapter 3 verse 4 it is deny his word and the overall theme of chapter 3 is to get Adam and Eve to disobey his word.

[44:37] Now we must learn from this that this is still the strategy of Satan. If he wants to undermine the faith of the believer if he wants to undermine the faith of a church or a denomination he engages in the self-same process.

[45:03] And I have just left a denomination where over the years I have seen that happening. Doubt his word. Distort his word. Deny his word.

[45:14] Disobey his word. So let's look at that in the specifics of the detail. First of all doubt his word. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God has made.

[45:31] He said to the woman did God actually say you will not eat of any tree in the garden? No, he didn't actually say that.

[45:45] What he said was there was one tree in the garden that God said you must never eat of.

[45:57] Go back to chapter 2 verse 15 and 17 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord commanded the man saying you may surely eat of every tree of the garden but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.

[46:22] So the bounty of God is now misrepresented by the oppression of God and the rule of God and causes to doubt his word.

[46:44] More deeper the nature of what Satan is doing here is in essence he's trying to create an atmosphere where God's word and his dictates are somehow dependent on man's judgment and not on God's law.

[47:06] Notice also the attempt to distort God's word. The foothold of sin is to create doubt in the mind ideas have consequences.

[47:21] The doubt created in the mind of Eve left her open to the second wave of attack of God's word being distorted. Eve in chapter 3 verse 2 disparages her privileges.

[47:40] She misquotes and underplays the extent of God's provision. We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden compared to you may surely eat of every tree in the garden.

[47:58] God is putting no limits on her. This is not a me. This is bounty. Use it. Enjoy it. Benefit from it.

[48:10] Whereas Eve disparages her privileges. Chapter 2 is about abundant, lavish, overwhelming bounty and generosity of God and Eve downplays her privileges by misrepresenting the divine and the lavish provision of God.

[48:31] You will notice there is a second distortion where she then goes on to overstate the divine prohibition.

[48:43] Now where do you see that? Verse 3 But God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it lest you die.

[49:03] Where is there anything said about touching it? There is nothing said about touching it. You see as is the case of every prohibition of God it is for our benefit that we should not eat of the tree.

[49:27] But God does not do anything in terms of his law out of spite or malice. He does it only out of good.

[49:39] Liberalism gives the impression that God is some spoil sport. And David goes as far as setting God the Father against God the Holy Spirit who is the great liberator who will free us from the shackles of God's law.

[49:58] I remember sitting at a general assembly where the same-sex marriage was being debated. And that was specifically said.

[50:10] That that was clearly God's law in the Old Testament. But that no longer applies because the Holy Spirit has set us free to enjoy life in all its fullness.

[50:24] Life in all its fullness being equated with worldly freedom and not with godly freedom. If we read Genesis 2 and then compare it to the way Eve presents it in Genesis 3.

[50:41] In Genesis 2 we have enormous freedom. We have abundant freedom. You can eat of any tree of the garden except that one.

[50:54] And you can touch it, you can look at it, you can enjoy it, you can benefit from its shade, you can do anything at all with that tree except eat from its fruit. God is about bounty.

[51:09] And when God puts prohibitions on our bounty, it is for our additional benefit, not out of some churlish heavenly father wanting us to know our place.

[51:26] it is about our good, our health, our delight, and our well-being. Notice, thirdly, how she understates the divine penalty.

[51:45] chapter 3 verse 3 says, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die.

[51:59] And here it comes, but the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die. You see, lest you die, you will not surely die.

[52:15] You see, doubt, distortion, leads to denial, and then in verse 6 to disobedience.

[52:26] She took of its fruit, and ate, and she gave some to her husband, and he ate. And so the spiral becomes a spiral down deeper, deeper, deeper into sin.

[52:51] And then we have the consequences. The consequences are very clear. They lost the benefit of God's provision.

[53:01] They were taken out of the garden. They became less than they were. They became less than they were.

[53:14] And that's a vital understanding of what sin does. Sin makes us less than the people that God created us to be.

[53:30] Now, why is that so important for us to understand? Well, it's important for us to understand, obviously, for a number of reasons.

[53:43] But, what it tells us and reminds us is that when the recreation comes, we become more human, not less human.

[53:58] When we are saved and redeemed, God is restoring in us something of the humanity that he originally intended for us that was lost in the garden.

[54:16] And we become, in sin, less human, less than God intended us to be. And we lose the provision of that.

[54:28] they were put out of the garden. What was easy became difficult. What was a gift became a task. What was of grace became of work and toil.

[54:44] They became less than they were. You see, when God created men and women, he created them as the crowning glory of his creation.

[54:59] That men and women alone were to bear the image of God. But what happened was that they reached up trying to be God.

[55:15] And in reaching up, they lost what they were. And they became less than they were. in trying to be like God, they became the very opposite of what God was.

[55:35] They became fallen man. And the nature of that fallenness is that the focus then became not on God and his glory and the splendor and enjoying God, but they became focused on themselves.

[55:54] they realized that they were naked. They realized more importantly that they were alienated from God.

[56:06] Verse 8, And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Up to this point there had been harmony and unity and a bond between God and man.

[56:21] but now what happens? When they heard the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, they hid themselves from the presence of God among the trees of the garden.

[56:41] They did not even want to encounter God. what a great picture that is of the situation that we find ourselves in.

[56:57] And this is the importance of Genesis 3. When we move away from God, we become less human, less normal, we become abnormal, we become alienated.

[57:14] Alienated in ourselves, we are less than we used to be. Alienated from each other, there is enmity and conflict as the blame game goes on between Adam and Eve.

[57:30] And ultimately, we are alienated from God. The alienation and the separation is not just at that personal level, but it's at an eternal level.

[57:50] We are eternally in this alienation and conflict. And that's the whole point of verses 14 and 15. Indeed, I believe that verse 15 is probably the most important verse in the Old Testament.

[58:13] Indeed, I would go as far as to say that everything else that happens in the Bible is actually a footnote to verse 15.

[58:27] Because verse 15, as we will see, points to the cross and to the final dealing of this situation that Adam and Eve has got us into.

[58:42] I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.

[58:53] from this point on, all the Old Testament revelation looks forward, points forward, and eagerly awaits the fulfillment of that consequence, of that judgment.

[59:14] fulfillment. But even here, and I finish with this, even here, we have the confidence of God to know that there is a salvation and a redemption.

[59:35] And in this great chapter, we have the first key revelation to the fact that God is above all a seeking and saving God.

[59:50] Adam and Eve do not go looking for God, saying, this is terrible what we've done.

[60:01] We've doubted, we've disobeyed, we've distorted your word and your law. What they now do is, rather than go seeking God, they do the exact opposite.

[60:20] They hide from God. But here's the gospel, way, way back in Genesis 3, although they hide from God, God is the God who goes looking and seeking them.

[60:44] But the Lord God called to man and said to him, where are you? Where are you?

[60:58] Friends, that is our God. God's God's immediate reaction to that is to go looking and to go seeking.

[61:30] What a glory it is to know that at this most troublesome time in the history of mankind there is a very clear indication that the God that we are dealing with is the God who says, Adam where are you?

[61:52] And here begins the long road to the cross and here we see the first glimpses of the cross a God seeking out Adam and Eve and we recognise as we will see next week, God willing that here God is beginning the eternal search for man that comes to a completion in Jesus Christ crucified let's pray Father we thank you for these great and eternal truths we pray your blessing on this word that it might minister to us give us greater understanding but above all might give us a greater awareness of just the kind of God that you are

[63:03] Father in your mercy and by your grace as we prayed at the beginning so we pray now show us ourself show us yourself show us the Saviour and may your word speak to us O Lord Amen We close by listening together to the hymn Fairest Lord Jesus Fairest Lord Jesus Ruler of all day God God and man and man and man and man and man and man and man and man

[64:07] Send God th công路 that him He he he will I Che atomic he Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands, roped in the blooming dark offspring.

[64:43] Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer, who makes the woeful heart to see.

[65:05] Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight, and all the twinkling starry holes.

[65:31] Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer, than all the angels have can boast.

[65:52] Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations, Son of God and Son of Man.

[66:16] Glory and honour, praise and adoration, now and forevermore be Thine.

[66:40] Now may grace, mercy and peace of the one true living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, rest and abide with each and every one of us, this day and forevermore.

[66:56] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[67:10] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[67:23] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you.