[0:00] Good evening and a very warm welcome to you, wherever you're watching, and for taking off this service from Stornoway Free Church. I hope you've had a blessed day, and we trust that God will bless us as we come together in this way to worship him and to exalt his holy name.
[0:18] Let me begin, first of all, by reading from the Scriptures, from the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians, and chapter 7. 2 Corinthians, and chapter 7, we'll read through the whole of the chapter, and then we'll come back later on to look at Genesis 3 and verse 9, a question that we looked at last week.
[0:40] We want to have another session on that question this evening. So, 2 Corinthians, and chapter 7, from the beginning. Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
[1:00] Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one. We have corrupted no one. We have taken advantage of no one. I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together.
[1:15] I am acting with great boldness toward you. I have great pride in you. I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.
[1:27] For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn, fighting without and feared within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoice still more.
[1:54] For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, although only for a while.
[2:07] As it is, I rejoice not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.
[2:19] For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment.
[2:42] At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God.
[3:00] Therefore we are comforted. And besides our own comfort, we rejoice still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.
[3:10] For whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true.
[3:24] And his affection for you is even greater, as he remembers the obedience of you all. Have you received him with fear and trembling? I rejoice, because I have perfect confidence in you.
[3:37] And once again we pray that God will follow with his blessing our reading of his precious word. Let's now call upon him in prayer. Let's join together as we pray to God.
[3:52] Our gracious God, we thank you for this facility once again of being together under your word, of coming together to exalt your holy name, of coming to praise you and to magnify you, because we know that you are worthy of it.
[4:08] We come together also, Lord, to confess our sins and to come in the spirit of repentance, seeking that you would cleanse us, seeking that as we were reading in your word about the Corinthians, we responded to Paul's letter in the spirit of repentance.
[4:26] Lord our God, may that be so for us. Whenever we come to your word and find that it touches our conscience, as it so often does, we pray that your Holy Spirit will produce in us that work of repentance, that activity in our own souls, by which we fall down in your presence and come to seek your cleansing, your forgiveness, your covering of our sin.
[4:52] We thank you tonight that there is forgiveness with you. For if you, Lord, were to mark our iniquity against us, none of us could stand. We would not have this facility, this avenue into your presence.
[5:07] You would have closed us off forever from you, indeed, as we deserve to be. But, O Lord, our God, we give thanks for the wonderful provision that you have made for us, for the access that we have to you through our Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
[5:24] We thank you tonight for his sufficiency that covers all our transgressions as we come to be found in him. We bless you, O Lord, that you receive us in his name and for his sake.
[5:38] That because of the worthiness with which you hold him worthy, so you, Lord, are able to receive us into your presence. And in your forgiveness and in your acceptance and in covering us with his righteousness, Lord, we thank you that you regard us as if we had never sinned at all.
[5:58] And we marvel at this when we know what we are like. When we know, Lord, what we have done in our rebellion against you. When we know what we are like, naturally, in our minds and hearts, how prone we are to go astray into the ways of sin.
[6:15] Lord, our God, we give thanks that you looked upon us in your mercy, that you still hold mercy's door open to us, that you invite us at all times to come to you, so that we may, as we heard this morning from your servant, Keniai, that we will come, O Lord, to take of those waters that are available to us freely, so that we may find that washing and cleansing and that satisfaction of soul that you give to all who taste and to see that God is good and that all who trust in him are blessed.
[6:50] So bless us, we pray tonight, as we gather in this way. Bless us during these days as a congregation, as we look to your care. We thank you for that care and we give thanks for all the provision that you have made for us during this difficult time.
[7:04] We pray, O Lord, that you'd continue to guide us and to bless us. We pray that you'd continue to own your word amongst us. We pray that you would fill us with that sense of belonging to your people by which we will appreciate at all times, whatever ways we come to hear your voice and to know you, and especially through your word.
[7:29] Lord, we ask that you would help us as we anticipate a further time spent in these conditions, however long they may be, is known to yourself.
[7:40] We pray, O Lord, that you would grant to us that in the future, if it be not too long, that we will be able to meet together as we used to. But meantime, Lord, we do give you thanks that you provide such avenues for us as we can come to you together and come to hear your word and come to share together in worship.
[8:03] We pray that you'd bless your people throughout the world today. We thank you, Lord, for the many, many people who come to testify that you are God.
[8:15] You have come to explain to others why it is that their life has been changed. We pray that you'd bless that witness of your people wherever it is. We pray for those especially who are persecuted.
[8:28] We think of churches in this past week in China who have been invaded and whose congregations have been dissipated and cruelly treated.
[8:40] Lord, our God, we pray for mercy. We pray that you'd bless these authorities as they now come to invade the space that belongs to the worship of God.
[8:51] And we ask that they may be convicted themselves by your truth, that they may come to worship the God they presently do not accept. We pray that other places throughout the world where your people are so sorely treated and abused and neglected, Lord, our God, we ask that you'd bless them.
[9:11] Bless your people everywhere, in all conditions, in all situations. we thank you for the relative freedom that we have, for the relative quiet and rest and peace.
[9:24] Gracious Lord, continue this, we pray. And we ask that when we find ourselves in such favourable conditions, Lord, may our godliness be as evident as that of those who are persecuted and who continue to stand for you.
[9:41] We pray that you'd forgive us for our lapses and for the many ways in which we fail, O Lord, to present the gospel and present a meaningful witness to the world.
[9:52] Forgive us for our worldliness, for our concern for material things. Turn us, we pray, as a people away from those things that cannot satisfy and give us to dwell upon the offer of the gospel.
[10:07] We ask, Lord, tonight that any who hear your word and are not yet saved will come themselves to fall down before you and in their hearts receive you as you are offered in the gospel.
[10:20] We pray that you would break into the hearts of those tonight, Lord, who care not for worship, for your church, for your people and even are hostile and antagonism to it.
[10:32] Gracious Lord, we give thanks as we consider the many in your word who were like this at one time and even ourselves. That gives us, Lord, hope that you can change lives in our day as well.
[10:45] We pray for them tonight and ask that you bless them and give to them to see the glory of Christ, the glory of your provision in him, the wonder of your grace and your mercy and the salvation that you provide in him for us.
[11:00] So remember us, we pray as a people too as we pray once again in regard to our situation as a nation and indeed the nations of the world. We pray, Lord, when this virus has taken such hold and, Lord, when we see further outbreaks in places even during these past days.
[11:20] We pray to you, Lord, and ask that you would be pleased to be merciful to us and lift this from us. But nevertheless, we do pray also that it may have that effect upon us as a people of turning to those things which are of most importance and enable us to see, Lord, that you are speaking to us through it.
[11:43] We know that this can only happen through the blessing and the enlightenment of your Spirit, the power that your Spirit brings to us to open our eyes and our understanding and to bring us, Lord, to see how near we are to eternity and how much we are in need of your salvation.
[12:02] Remember, we pray, our leaders and the world leaders again at this time. As we commit them to you, we pray for them. We pray for them not only because you require us to do so and because it is our duty, but we pray, Lord, for them because our heart goes out to them and we recognise the burden that they carry and especially those who seem to us to carry that burden without faith in God.
[12:28] Oh, Lord God, we pray that you would direct them and guide them in their onerous duties in our own nation and beyond. We ask that you would continue to uphold them and continue especially to bless them in leadership, but especially we pray that you'd bring them to know yourself and we thank you for all in our parliaments who confess you to be their God, who testify to your saving grace.
[12:56] We pray that you protect them, that you would use them, that you would bless their witness, that you would raise up many others like them, Lord, who will take places of influence in our society.
[13:08] We ask that you would hear our prayers for them and ask that you would continue to graciously provide for us. take not your gospel from us in the light of your truth.
[13:20] Though we deserve, O Lord, as we have turned away from it, that you should carry this candlestick away and place it somewhere else. Be merciful to us, Lord, we pray. Do not let such a thing happen.
[13:33] Even as Amos in your word said long ago to his people, that the Lord would send a famine, not a famine of bread, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord.
[13:45] O Lord, deliver us, we pray, from such a consequence of our disobedience. And instead, turn us, we pray, into your own ways. Receive us now, we pray, and accept this, our praise, and cleanse us from our sin.
[14:00] For Jesus' sake. Amen. Now, children, we're going to look at another of the birds of the Bible tonight. That's the bird called the hawk.
[14:11] There are many different kinds of hawks. Some of them you'll see here itself, in the island and in our nation. Sparrow hawks, goss hawks, other types of hawks as well.
[14:22] They belong to birds that we call predators. We looked at the eagle not so long ago. They're birds that go about and feed on other smaller animals and birds as well.
[14:35] And in the Bible, we find the hawk mentioned a number of times. One of the verses is in Job. There's not much about the hawk really in the Bible, but here Job was being questioned by the Lord and being shown by God that actually he knew very little about the world and how it worked and about God himself as well.
[14:55] He says here in verse 26 of chapter 39, is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads its wings toward the south.
[15:08] As I said, the hawk is a predator and it's a very fast bird. Like we said about the eagle and about the owl as well, the hawk has superb eyesight and as it flies around looking for its prey it can see it a long distance away.
[15:24] Not only can it see a long distance but it can see very, very clearly. its eyes are much more powerful and able than our human eyes can see things.
[15:37] I remember being out fishing one day many, many years ago now. I was fishing on a loch out on the moors in Lewis here and it was a beautiful day, nice, quiet, good fishing day, not too sunny and I was standing beside the loch there with my rod just admiring the scenery and listening to the quietness if you can understand those words and enjoying the quietness because it was such a quiet day.
[16:03] And then all of a sudden I heard this swooshing noise out of the sky and there was a little island in the loch that I was fishing on not too far away from the shore full of big bushy overgrowth overgrown bushes and shrubs and small trees really close together and this whooshing noise and then this noise of something crashing into those branches and this was actually a hawk and very soon after crashing into the branches it just flew away it had been chasing a little bird probably a sparrow I didn't see the wee bird all happened so quickly and unexpectedly and the hawk then just flew away and that little bird was safe from the hawk because it managed just in time it managed to get into the safety of those shrubs and trees you see the hawk can't do much at all amongst branches or amongst small bushes or large bushes of overgrowth like that there's no use in that sort of context the hawk hawk has its skill in the air that's where it catches its victims that's where it actually pounces with its talons and crushes whatever it is it's going to kill if it's flying around it's a very very skillful flyer so once the little bird had found its way just in time into these big bushes it was safe the hawk couldn't do anything in there and you'll find that hawks are although they fly quite high and very fast whenever you find smaller birds aware that a hawk is nearby they will always try and keep out of its way but especially above it they will never go directly underneath it because that's the danger you'll just swoop down and catch them and I remember being again in
[18:08] Garibas my previous congregation just outside one day and all of a sudden I was watching the starlings they were all out on the grass feeding away and all of a sudden just flew off there was nothing in sight they all flew off into the surrounding trees and then just moments later this hawk came flying through and just passed through and went on its way they had obviously detected that hawk coming along and off they went into the safety of the trees of course that reminds us of something the Bible tells us and it tells us about Jesus and it tells us about the devil I'm going to mention that even in the sermon tonight the contest between Jesus and the devil how Jesus has overcome the devil by his death and how Jesus is our protection and our security from all evil and from the devil as well just like that little bird was safe amongst these bushes so our safety is in Jesus he is our refuge he is that place of safety where we find our refuge and security so if you are in Jesus tonight if you love Jesus if you believe in Jesus you've received
[19:24] Jesus into your heart as the Bible invites us to do then you're safe the devil can't catch you damage you even though he will try we all are aware of how temptations come sometimes from our own hearts but often from him the devil Peter tells us in his first epistle that he prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour if you think of the hawk going around with its superb eyesight looking for its victim looking for a mouse or a rabbit or a squirrel or a little bird that's flying he's looking to pounce on that that's how the devil is all the time looking around as to who he might attack that's why you and I need Jesus and are safe in Jesus isn't God wonderful now despite all that we have done in sinning against him he has provided for us that wonderful safety and protection in Jesus
[20:32] Christ through his death and resurrection and now Jesus alive at God's right hand is the saviour and protector of all who trust in him and I hope tonight that you know that Jesus for yourself now if we turn please this evening to Genesis and we're going to turn to chapter 3 and the question that we looked at last week in chapter 3 verse 9 where we find Adam and Eve in the garden having eaten the forbidden fruit and sinned against God they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden but the Lord God called to the man and said to him where are you now last week as you recall we began a series of sermons on the questions that God poses to us in the Bible where we saw last time from this question that this question announces our sinful condition it tells us about the great problem that we have is the problem of our heart it tells us about how we sinned against God and how
[21:48] God here is calling Adam and Eve back to answer for what they have done where he says where are you that's such a hugely important question first question in the Bible first question from God to human beings that really addresses us today as well by way of saying where are you now spiritually morally where are you in relation to me God your creator and the saviour so the question announces our sinful condition and tonight I want to add two things to that firstly that the question also addresses our sinful conduct and also the question anticipates our saviour's coming so it announces our sinful condition it addresses our sinful conduct and it anticipates our saviour's coming it addresses our sinful conduct as God called
[22:49] Adam here he called out to him when he was hiding trying to hide from God and he said where are you there are two things here that God is doing in addressing Adam's sinful conduct as well as our own first of all you can see here Adam is filled with a sense of guilt and shame you go back to verse 7 you can see there in verse 7 when they had taken and eaten of this fruit that God had forbidden the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths now when you compare that with chapter 2 and verse 25 you can see the contrast and the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed as here now in chapter 3 the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked so they covered up their nakedness because they were ashamed they had a sense of things not being right they were not what they once were morally perfect human beings previously they were not ashamed there was nothing untoward about them being naked together but now that they are naked having sinned and with that condition as we saw last time having become sinful now their nakedness is something that they cannot actually see in the same way as they once saw it they've lost what we might call sinful they've lost sinless observation they've become sinful in their hearts so it affects how they see things as well and how they conclude and how they think and what conclusions they come to and now they've got embarrassment shame tension suspicion all the way through the chapter you'll find those things actually worked out where they start making excuses or trying to blame one another and the serpent is blamed by the woman as well you can see the disruption the corruption that's come into their thinking into their hearts from what they've done their sin their fall their condition is such that it brings out their sinful conduct and that's why in verse 7 they made themselves fig leaves they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths or covering for the most intimate part of their nakedness of their bodies and that action is also important it shows that they had a sense of shame a sense of embarrassment a sense of this not being right now and so they cover up what is offensive they cover up their nakedness it's not really as much an attempt to deal with the thing by their own ingenuity it's actually just the sense that modesty becomes them that they need to deal with things that are immodest as they've now become and actually deal with things differently now modesty is important in the teaching of the Bible immodesty is a result of our fallenness immodesty is the fruit of our sinful condition the way in which we look at things the way in which we behave towards other people that immodesty that you find so much a part of people's lives today is something that has resulted from the condition that we have in our hearts that has itself been the result of the fall of Adam our representative as we saw last time you can listen to the sermon last time to see how
[26:33] Adam was our representative and we sinned in him and fell with him in his first transgression but that immodesty as you know is actually flaunted in today's society you see one of the things that you find when you put the Bible aside and when your mind is not fed by the truth of God you find things like immodesty actually being perpetrated and actually being encouraged and as you find that being encouraged so it leads further on to more immorality and more immodesty and one of the results of that too is that shame is something that comes to be set aside because the more you see behaviour as being right in your own eyes the less shame you're going to have in respect to that which is sinful according to the Bible you can only see something as really sinful according to the standard that the Bible sets that God himself sets according as it is a transgression or a non-conformity to the law of
[27:37] God and one of the things we badly need in our society is the restoration of truth the restoration of God's law the restoration of that which shows up our sin which shows up our immodesty which shows up things which we should be ashamed of and that of course is especially so with regard to sexual matters with regard to those things where you find people promoting such things as ought to be actually shameful that's what our concern is about for the likes of the RSHP proposals or document that's come out from the government with regard to relationships and sexual health and parenthood because it's not simply the fact that much in the document is really sexually graphic though it is especially for the upper ages of school but there is no moral framework throughout the whole document for the things that it sets out your life and my life needs a moral framework that's obvious when you come to read and accept the bible's teaching it's not sufficient that we just follow human logic and human wisdom and human ingenuity the moral framework we need is the framework that God has given us in his truth and you know the wonderful thing about conversion one of the wonderful things about conversion is that it restores all of this that we have lost when you lose the sense of modesty and the sense of what is right and what is wrong what is acceptable what isn't what is filthy what is clean conversion restores that conversion brings that back let me just read from
[29:29] Romans chapter 6 just to point that out in Romans chapter 6 Paul is dealing with the matter of our being freed from sin from the guilt and from the power and dominance of sin in Christ and in verses 20 and 21 of Romans chapter 6 Paul wrote as follows when you were slaves to sin you were free in regard to righteousness you were cut off from righteousness but what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed for the end of those things is death but now that you've been set free from sin and have become slaves or servants of God the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end eternal life but you see what he's saying what fruit were you then getting at that time when you lived without Christ when you lived as pagans when you lived the kind of debauched lifestyle that was common in those days what fruit were you getting in those things nothing he says because the end of these things is death but he says you are now ashamed of them because the gospel has actually enlightened their minds
[30:43] Christ has given them the knowledge of his truth and you are now he says ashamed of you think of places like Corinth and you think of as you read about the kind of lifestyles that they lived in a place like Corinth or Ephesus or Thessalonica following the debauched lifestyle of the times the things which were acceptable at the time for human behavior when the gospel came into these places and found that darkness that immorality that immodesty that cesspool of iniquity that people were actually following through in their lives what did the gospel do it brought a sense of God it brought God into the picture it brought it brought the law of God it brought God's truth into that situation what then happens people become ashamed when they realize that they've actually been sinning against God that they've been in contravention of his law and his standard that's what conversion really does for us when God brings us to know himself when he changes us from within when he comes to target the sinful condition that has come about in our fall in
[32:02] Adam and when through being born again through being regenerated by the Holy Spirit through being brought to know the truth of God and its power working in us this is what we happen this is what happens the things that once we saw as common place and didn't bother us too much we come to be ashamed of we come to realize that God sees them as filthy God sees them as the result of our sinful condition and they are our sinful acts their sense of guilt and shame second thing in this question that addresses our sinful conduct along with a sense of guilt and shame you can see in the passage here a fear of God's judgment in verse 8 here you see the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden the immediate response to hearing the sound of the
[33:08] Lord coming into the garden as was the case previously but their immediate reaction now is to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord and trying to do that they are afraid it's the opposite of what they were previously when they were in fellowship with God when they loved being with God when they loved hearing his voice when they loved to have communion with him now they're actually afraid and they try and hide from God and from what they know is going to be his verdict because he had told them the day you eat this fruit you will surely die now he's coming into the garden and they can't meet him as they used to in fellowship in guiltless communion now they have to hide as they see it and that's how it is with all attempts to hide from God's verdict because because we know that
[34:10] God holds us accountable when we come to know the truth when we come to know the gospel that's why in the Bible you find that God actually sent warnings to the society of Noah's day he gave them ample opportunity to turn and repent but they didn't actually think that Noah was being serious they thought he was probably out of his mind building a large vessel that was designed to go to sea when the sea was miles away when there was no sign of a flood you find that taken up by Jesus in Matthew 24 when he speaks about the coming of the son of man his return to this world and again in 2nd Peter chapter 3 where Peter addresses the scoffing of those who say come on where's the sign of his coming you've been telling us about the coming of the Lord all this time they said to Peter where is the sign of his coming things remain as they were hasn't it always been like this well I'm always taken by the description in the Bible of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and of how sudden it was and how unexpected it was because it says that on that particular day as the sun rose that's the day that destruction came and Jesus says there in Matthew 24 as it was in the days of Noah so it will be in the days of the coming of the son of man they will marry and be given in marriage they will be eating they will be drinking all the ordinary things saying as 2nd Peter 3 says things are just going to go on as they were the world will just keep going generation after generation but go back to
[35:58] Abraham and the destruction of Sodom this is what you find the scripture saying on that day when the sun rose upon Sodom in other words it's really the Bible saying to us they were saying it's going to be a really nice day today looks beautiful look at that bright sunshine could enjoy this day until the Lord's destructive power was revealed friends God's judgment is real God's word is always true the gospel emphasis always treats God's view of sin seriously and the question follows you and I tonight where are you where are you in relation to
[37:02] God and what God requires and that's a good thing because as you see Adam and Eve were called out you might say they were dragged out they didn't want to do anything other than try and hide from God but God is here calling to them where are you calling to Adam especially where are you now that's a good thing because God wants him to confront the reality of what he's done God wants him to be there in his presence so that he can hear as we'll see a wonderful promise in verse 15 that's what the gospel does it draws us out from whatever undergrowth we ourselves have put together in our own lives in our own practices to try and hide from God to try and dismiss the verdict of God from our lines from our sinfulness God is drawing us out from that by this question it's not God being cruel to us it's God being kind to us it's not God being nasty it's not God being a tyrant it's not
[38:02] God being the caricature that people actually make of him so often especially the God of the Old Testament the God of the Old Testament is as kind as the God that you see in Jesus Christ because it's the same God and it's his kindness that brings us to face the reality of our sin it's his mercy that brings to us the solution for our problem in Jesus Christ it's something that he emphasizes throughout the Bible he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from their way and live that we come from our sin to turn from that and to live to live through Christ through faith in him so when he's asking that question tonight of you and me where are you it's not with a design to condemn us outrightly but actually to deliver us from the condemnation that we have brought upon ourselves it's his condemnation but his concern is that you be delivered from it that you will know Jesus for as the
[39:13] Bible tells us in Romans there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus question addresses our sinful conduct and that brings us to the third main point we've looked at last time it announces our sinful condition now we've seen the question addressing our sinful conduct I want finally to deal with how the question anticipates our saviour's coming if you cast your mind forward to verse 15 here is God speaking to the serpent the serpent of course is the representation here of the devil of Satan taking the form of this serpent in the garden because he says 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 and you can see from that itself that from now on there are two lines within humanity and between these two lines there is an enmity and it's an enmity that God himself has placed in response to what has happened and this actually amounts to the very first gospel announcement in history because there's a direct line from this to the incarnation of the son of
[40:32] God Jesus coming into the world because that's what you see the offspring of the woman against the offspring of the serpent the two particular lines and the offspring of the serpent the offspring of the woman correspond to the two lines of humanity the saved and those who are not gods not saved it's part of a cosmic battle you see because all we see is a very small fragment of the enormous conflict that has gone on and is still going on between the devil's forces and the forces of God of Jesus Christ the whole book of Revelation really takes us through that cosmic struggle and conflict where the lamb prevails where Jesus has the victory where the devil and his helpers and his armies are vanquished that's the position tonight Christ has achieved that victory the suffering and death of Jesus has obtained that victory for us this is exactly what he's saying here in this early prophecy he the seed of the woman the offspring of the woman shall bruise your head he's saying to Satan saying to the serpent and you shall bruise his heel what to bruise your heel is sore enough but it doesn't necessarily destroy you but to crush your head it's destructive and that's what it's saying
[42:09] Jesus crushing the head of Satan and Satan coming to afflict Jesus with the pains and the torments that were part of his suffering towards the cross and in the cross the last time I quoted from the late professor Finlayson in the book that's one of the books that's now concerning his and containing his writings and it was to the effect that the question addressed to Adam in the hour of his banishment failed to get any adequate answer until the cry was heard from the darkness of Calvary my God my God why has thou forsaken me there in the darkness was where mankind was and this is where his representative and sin bearer Jesus had to go to reach him the darkness of Calvary the hell that Calvary is that Jesus experienced in this forsakenness he exclaimed that's where mankind was that's where our sin had brought us that's where
[43:32] Jesus had to go to rescue us that's where he went that's where he found us from that that he delivers us and think of this in terms of distance just a concluding word where the curse of Eden was taken by Jesus to the cross and where the curse that he bore on the cross is God's way of overcoming the curse that took place in Eden think of the great distance between Adam and his creation and Adam and his fallenness you can't even measure that distance Adam the perfect human and Adam the fallen sinner enormous distance but then think of the distance between man and his fallenness and man redeemed human beings in their fallenness in Adam and human beings in their redemption through Christ what a great distance between that fallenness and that redemption think of the distance between these words where are you to man in sin and these words where are you to man in Christ because that question can be applied to both it's applied here to
[44:57] Adam in his fallenness in his sinfulness Adam where are you but if you're in Christ tonight that question is addressed by God to you as well and the answer is I am in Christ I am safe I am righteous I am accepted I am redeemed think of the distance the great distance between the words that are used there of God driving out the man at the end of this chapter he drove out the man out of the garden in which he placed him in the first place and placed a flaming sword that turned every way to keep man was banished from that garden think of the distance between these words he drove out the man and the words of Jesus to the thief on the cross today you will be with me in paradise words of banishment words of welcome so where are you and where am I tonight there are only two possible answers to this question
[46:05] I am either in Adam in which case I am lost or I am in the last Adam in Jesus in which case I am saved these are the only two possibilities you can answer that question now for yourself I hope your answer is not I am still in Adam my life is what it's always been I hope your answer really is because I know God will have pleasure in this that I am in Christ I am in the last Adam I am saved Amen may God bless his word to us praise we are going to conclude now by singing from Psalm 32 in the St.
[47:02] Psalms version and verses 1-6 that's on page 38 if you are using the Blue Psalm books Psalm 32 verses 1-6 How blessed the one who has received forgiveness for his sin, whose sins are covered from God's face, whose debt is cancelled in God's grace, there's no deceit in him.
[47:22] Verses 1 to 6 How blessed the one who has received forgiveness for his sin, whose sins are covered from God's face, whose debt is cancelled in God's grace, there's no deceit in him.
[48:05] When I kept silent all my bones, with groaning well worn out, In with your hand I felt entrapped, O day and night my strength was subbed, As in a summer drought.
[48:48] Then I laid bare my sin to you, The guilt that lay within.
[49:05] I said, O Lord, I have transgressed, And you forgive when I confess, You pardon all my sin.
[49:30] So let the godly pray to you, While you are to be found.
[49:47] Surely when waves are sweeping past, And mighty waters rolling fast, You'll keep them safe and sound.
[50:13] Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, The love of God the Father, And the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you now and evermore.
[50:23] Amen. Thank you once again sincerely for partaking of the service with us this evening. It's good that so many people are able to do that.
[50:36] And I do pray that God will have blessed it to you, And that he will bless you and keep you safe in these days to come.