WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.639 Well, good morning. It's a pleasure for me to be here with you. As you can see, I 00:00:05.639 --> 00:00:10.240 don't have a Texan accent, but I would like to Tobin know I have been to Texas 00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:14.720 twice now. On my first visit I was presented with a Stetson hat, and on my 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:18.320 second visit I was actually presented with an authentic handmade pair of 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:22.240 cowboy boots. And so should I ever come back here again, I'll bring both with me 00:00:22.240 --> 00:00:26.240 and I'll air them while presenting the message. 00:00:26.239 --> 00:00:32.799 This is obviously a special day both for those who are going to be baptized and 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:38.159 also because you're celebrating Mother's Day here. It seems that Hong Kong has 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:43.359 somehow fallen into the US pattern of having Mother's Day on this day, which 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:50.480 just goes to show how far British influence has waned in the world. But it's good to 00:00:50.480 --> 00:00:54.719 be here now for my second Mother's Day actually of this year, and happy Mother's 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:59.200 Day to you all. As I was preparing this message I was reminded of a very well-known 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:04.560 story of an Anglican bishop in England who on Mother's Day in the UK was asked to 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:10.719 make a short national radio address on BBC Radio 4 to the nation. And it was a 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:13.759 message that he was really struggling to pull together, only had five minutes and 00:01:13.759 --> 00:01:16.960 he was thinking, what am I going to say in five minutes? How am I going to somehow 00:01:16.960 --> 00:01:21.120 communicate something meaningful? And he was still struggling. As a matter of fact, on 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:25.280 the day of the broadcast he woke up that morning, he was meant to be broadcasting live that afternoon, 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:29.120 he still didn't know what to say. And then he suddenly remembered that actually not very far 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:33.439 from him there was actually a very large and popular church and the preacher there was rumored to be 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:37.600 remarkably insightful and engaging. And he thought, you know what, I'll go and listen to what he has 00:01:37.600 --> 00:01:41.360 to say and maybe I can, I'm going to learn something that maybe I could use this afternoon. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:49.280 So he goes and sits in the back of this church and as the pastor comes up to the front to preach 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:54.400 to the congregation, he comes up to the podium and to the pulpit and looks out into the congregation 00:01:54.400 --> 00:02:00.320 and these were his opening words. He said, this morning I found myself in the embrace of a woman 00:02:00.320 --> 00:02:05.280 who was not my wife. And the church went absolutely silent, you could almost hear an intake of, 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:11.439 and then he leant forward and he said, it was my mother. And everybody went, ah, you know, 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:16.319 people broke out into applause and they laughed and the bishop sitting in the back thinking, this, 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:21.680 this is perfect. So he immediately, he rushes back, you know, just at the end of that, he skips lunch, 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:26.079 he's hastily trying to work a message around this opening illustration and he's, then all of a sudden 00:02:26.079 --> 00:02:30.159 he realizes he's running late, he grabs his note, he grabs his case, he jumps in his car, he drives 00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:34.879 where the radio station is, he gets caught up in traffic, he's sweating, he's panicking, he runs into 00:02:34.879 --> 00:02:40.159 the radio station, they see him, they grab him, they usher him, they stick him straight down in the 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:44.479 booth and as he sits down in the chair, the green light comes on and now he knows he's live. 00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:48.959 And so he's reaching down into his case to get his notes and so he, but he has to speak, 00:02:48.959 --> 00:02:54.560 there can't just be silence. So he starts with the story and he says, this morning I found myself in 00:02:54.560 --> 00:03:05.280 the embrace of a woman who was not my wife. And then he just drew a blank. He was panicking, 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:10.719 he's looking for his notes, he's, and then he can't find his notes and he's realized he's left them back 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:16.719 at home. And he leans forward and just put his heads in his hands and says, but for the life of 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:18.159 me I can't remember who it was. 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:32.479 Anyway, the reason I was reminded of that story is I woke up this morning and realized that the 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:38.199 notes I needed for this particular message I had left back in the UK. And so, but nevermind, 00:03:38.199 --> 00:03:44.639 they probably weren't any good anyway. So let's dig in into where I've been asked to speak this 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:50.000 Sunday, particularly about the issue of the fall. And if you're not convinced that you are fallen, 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.879 if you're not convinced that you are not perfect, if you are not convinced that actually maybe there 00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:58.959 are some things in your life that need changing and are wrong, then very clearly you are not speaking 00:03:58.959 --> 00:04:07.119 to your mother. Now this question of the fall, and this is coming in a series, Tobin's kicked this off. 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:12.480 So if you're visiting just here today, just to put this in context so it doesn't come 00:04:12.480 --> 00:04:17.040 to bolt out of the blue, what was said last Sunday was actually very, very important, 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:20.079 just in terms of what it means to be created in the image of God, because that's really where 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:26.079 this story starts in terms of the human story, that it starts off very, very well, which is why 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:31.360 that bit of reading from Genesis 1 is so important. The idea that this loving God creates this world, 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:36.560 he puts us in it, he loves us, he creates us for community and for purpose, and at the end of all 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:42.720 that he's created he looks at it and he says, this is very good. Now the thing though is when we look 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:46.800 around at the world today, we wouldn't say this is very good. As a matter of fact, it seems to be 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:53.759 very, very mixed. And sometimes the Christian gospel is, and Christians in particular, feel very 00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:58.240 misunderstood on this point, and indeed you may feel if you're looking at the Christian faith from the 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:04.960 outside, that the Christian message seems very confused on this point. Are people good, or are 00:05:04.960 --> 00:05:09.280 they bad? And it seems that sometimes they meet with Christians and they hear all this amazing 00:05:09.280 --> 00:05:13.040 stuff about being created in God's image, and it appears that actually to be human is a really great 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:16.879 thing and a very fantastic thing and a very sacred thing. And then they hear other messages and it 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:21.280 sounds like to be a human being is a very, very bad thing and it's a terrible thing and so on. 00:05:21.280 --> 00:05:25.840 How do we understand this tension? How do we actually hold it together? 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:33.119 Now even just from simple observation, we can see both the good and bad, even simply just by 00:05:33.119 --> 00:05:37.759 observing humans and maybe even looking into our own life. I can remember about a year ago, 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:42.159 I was going away on a trip and my eldest daughter Lucy said to me, Daddy, I want you to be prepared, 00:05:42.159 --> 00:05:47.279 because when I come home I'm going to have my hair cut. And she'd grown her hair all the way down to 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:52.239 the small of her back and she happens to know that I like long hair and so she said, I just want you to be prepared. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:56.480 So, you know, I come back six days later and the hair is now all the way up to here. 00:05:56.480 --> 00:06:07.199 And I walk in and I was like, hi. And I'm thinking, why, you know, this is quite a radical change. 00:06:08.400 --> 00:06:12.560 And so a few days later I'm talking to her and I said, just why did you decide to have your hair cut? 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:17.759 Just out of interest. And then she just begins telling me that in one of her classes they'd been 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:22.879 doing some simple biology and they began just talking about cell reproduction and then also 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:27.120 what can go wrong in cell reproduction and also cancer. And she'd got online and she'd found out 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:32.879 more and read about cancer and especially was struck about how young children can also be struck by 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:37.360 cancer and what that means for them. And so she did some more research online and she found a small 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:43.439 charity which basically makes wigs for girls under the age of seven who've had to have aggressive cancer 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:47.759 treatment and have lost all their hair. And as she read this, she thought what she would like to do 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:53.120 is donate her hair to this charity so they could weave it together to make a wig. And so she had her 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:58.639 hair washed and conditioned and put into four different plaits and then had them cut off and mailed them 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:04.879 off to this charity so they could be made for wigs for these young girls. And as she's telling me the story, 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:09.920 I'm listening to her and I'm reminded of a line from the book Little Women that's also in most of the films 00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:14.240 where a girl cuts off her hair so her mother can buy a train ticket and the mother looks at her 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:18.480 daughter and says, your hair will grow back but you'll never be more beautiful to me than you are 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:23.920 right now. And you can, we see and observe this kind of behaviour in people and there is something 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:28.160 which inspires us about it and reaches deep. And I can remember, she's telling me the story, 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:33.280 I'm trying to think, okay I'm not going to cry now, I'm not going to cry. And you're so moved. 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:39.599 And another time, we can also look into ourselves and we can see that there does seem to be something 00:07:39.599 --> 00:07:45.519 going wrong. Many, many years ago I was having my hair cut and I fell into conversation with the 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:51.599 hairdresser and we're just talking about life and purpose and meaning and she starts asking all of 00:07:51.599 --> 00:07:57.919 these kinds of questions. And then she was very pregnant at the time and as we're talking she just 00:07:57.919 --> 00:08:02.559 says to me, Michael, I'm bringing a baby into a world but I'm so worried about bringing a baby into a 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:10.319 world which is filled with so much evil. And as I'm listening to her, I just said using a line 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:12.959 I'd actually heard from someone else, I know there's a lot of evil out there but what about 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:17.600 the evil we see in here? And then she said, you know if there's a way to overcome evil in the human 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:22.639 heart that would be amazing. And I said, oh it's interesting that you say that. I said, you know the 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:27.519 Bible talks about sin and sin isn't just something that we do, it also describes the state that we are, 00:08:27.519 --> 00:08:31.680 we are sinful, we're aware there's something wrong within us. And she said, I know what you mean, 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:36.399 she said, I want to be a better person but I can't. I feel like there's a power at work in my life 00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:42.000 that I can't change and I need someone to rescue me. And so I looked at her in the mirror because 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:45.440 she's standing behind me cutting my hair and I said, what you're telling me is you need a savior. 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:51.200 And I'm not joking, she said, ooh that's a very good word. Because in the English language you don't 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:54.960 normally use that word savior anymore, you know, unless you go to church you're not going to hear it. 00:08:54.960 --> 00:09:00.080 She just went, ooh that's a good word. And so one of the questions we'll be looking at and what 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:06.400 Genesis 3 does here is give us an insight into what's going on. Now at a more profound level, 00:09:06.400 --> 00:09:11.280 this conversation is also now happening within our culture right now, but in a much deeper way. 00:09:11.280 --> 00:09:14.800 I was speaking to a group of doctors yesterday and I won't repeat everything that I said there 00:09:14.800 --> 00:09:19.360 here today, but you will find that there are some writers right now who will say, look we are basically 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:24.639 becoming gods. Our technology, our understanding of evolution, the fact that we can maybe begin to 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:29.519 re-genetically engineer ourselves, what's called the transhumanism movement, we ourselves can become 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:34.000 gods. And we are now like the gods and there's this very, very positive view and everything's 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:39.200 getting better and we're becoming more powerful and this is now charting the course for history. 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:44.560 And at another same time you have some of the world's most prominent atheists who are basically 00:09:44.560 --> 00:09:49.279 saying no, this is, actually this is completely mistaken. One of the people who most strongly 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:53.439 refutes this particular idea is a guy called Professor John Gray. Now there are two professors 00:09:53.439 --> 00:09:57.279 John Gray, okay, there's one who wrote a book called Men Are From Mars, Women Are For Venus. 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:03.439 On Mother's Day, reading that book may not be a bad idea. It could help you understand a lot, 00:10:03.439 --> 00:10:08.799 but that's not that gray. This is a different gray who was the professor of historical, of political, 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:13.600 professor of the history of political thought at the London School for Economics, 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:17.199 which is one of the most prestigious chairs in the world in that field of political theory, 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:21.520 in which he basically said this is all rubbish, this idea. He says this idea that we're getting 00:10:21.520 --> 00:10:25.680 better and better and better. He says all you need to do is study history and to see how we treat 00:10:25.680 --> 00:10:30.240 each other to realize that this is a myth. Now he says Christians can be forgiven for believing 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:34.080 there's something special about being human because Christians believe we were created in God's image. 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:39.840 So we can understand why Christians have this myth and this false belief that there is something 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:44.240 special about being human and why they talk about human rights and human dignity and the sacredness 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:49.200 of life and all this kind of stuff. He says, but that is rubbish. He says, as a scientist, as an atheist, 00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:55.200 we know that we are all animals and we are just like the animal kingdom and we need to actually accept that 00:10:55.200 --> 00:11:00.240 fact. And in the animal kingdom, there is no such thing as rights and dignity and sacredness. The strong 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:06.000 prey on the weak. And basically his book, Straw Dogs, which has now sold millions and millions of copies and 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:11.440 been translated into dozens of different languages, is basically a plea to say we need to get away from 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:16.639 humanism. Humanism is just the Christian faith dressed up in non-Christian words. It has no 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:20.399 scientific basis whatsoever. There is no such thing as human rights. There's no such thing as human 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:23.600 dignity. There's no such thing as human meaning. There's no such thing as human purpose because 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:27.600 there's no such thing as human. All of these things are myths. We live in a world where the strong 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:32.720 prey on the weak. That's the way it is. We are animals and we need a political and economic theory 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:38.639 that is married to this scientific truth. We are animals and the strong prey on the weak. 00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:44.160 And unless we reject the Christian faith and the humanism that it has given birth to, 00:11:44.160 --> 00:11:48.320 and unless those of us who have huge military power dominate those who do not and make them our 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:54.480 servants, people will come and dominate us. And so in academia right now, you see these two 00:11:54.960 --> 00:12:00.320 opposite pulling forces. One saying we are becoming like gods and we can make ourselves into gods. 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:05.520 And the other one basically saying, no, no, no, we're just animals. Now, what's interesting is you 00:12:05.520 --> 00:12:09.760 get into the Christian story and as you read through Genesis, we get some fascinating insight 00:12:09.760 --> 00:12:14.560 into that. And that's what I want to spend some time looking at with you now. Now, of course, 00:12:14.560 --> 00:12:19.600 this particular chapter of Genesis, particularly chapter three, is often considered to be a very 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:27.200 light and silly little story, okay? Where basically, you know, we have this sort of mythical idea 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:31.120 and it's a very, very simple thing and actually it's a bit embarrassing. So what I'd like to do 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:37.200 is just look at it a bit more deeply with you. So just moving from what happened last Sunday, 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:42.720 the idea that we are created in the image of God, we now come into Genesis chapter three where things 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:49.680 begin to go wrong. And the first thing that happens is that human beings are tempted to start 00:12:49.680 --> 00:12:55.520 either disbelieving God or changing what God has said. They now come encounter with a different 00:12:55.519 --> 00:13:03.319 spiritual force, okay? This fallen angel who now manifests himself and speaks to them and basically 00:13:03.319 --> 00:13:09.279 says, look, has God really said you can't do anything in this place he has put you? Now, 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:13.919 in Genesis one, if you've been reading it, after God, and you go into Genesis two, after God creates 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:18.159 men and women, he says to them, you are free to go anywhere in the garden. You can go anywhere, 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:24.559 you can do anything, okay? This is yours. There's only one thing you cannot do, right? And then the 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:30.599 serpent comes along and he says, has God really said you cannot touch anything here? And the woman 00:13:30.599 --> 00:13:35.399 looks at him and says, well, actually, no, that's not true. So she takes this now total prohibition, 00:13:35.719 --> 00:13:41.299 but she now adds something into it. She says, well, we are allowed to sort of, you know, enjoy the garden, 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:46.779 eat from its fruit, but we cannot eat from this particular place, nor can we touch this tree or we 00:13:46.779 --> 00:13:51.299 will die. Now, God actually never said that in the first place. It's interesting how the prohibitions get 00:13:51.299 --> 00:13:56.240 bigger and bigger in the minds of the people as they go through, because she says, we cannot eat 00:13:56.240 --> 00:14:00.099 it, nor can we touch it. Now, God never actually said that. He said, this is the one thing you cannot 00:14:00.099 --> 00:14:06.379 do. Now, if they wanted to, they could have put a rope swing in the branches and swung from the tree 00:14:06.379 --> 00:14:14.899 if they wanted to. Touching it isn't the problem, right? But she begins to sort of add to what is not 00:14:14.899 --> 00:14:21.360 permitted. And he said, and she says, we can't touch it or we will die. Now, here's where most 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:27.039 people now struggle with this story. Adam and Eve eat the fruit and they don't die. 00:14:29.100 --> 00:14:32.840 Do you notice that? Eve doesn't eat the fruit and go... 00:14:32.840 --> 00:14:38.819 As a matter of fact, and this may tell you something about the fact that Adam and Eve's 00:14:38.819 --> 00:14:42.220 relationship may already have some issues, it seems that Adam's sitting next to her watching her eat 00:14:42.220 --> 00:14:52.620 this fruit to see what happens. And there she is eating away and seems to be okay. 00:14:56.820 --> 00:15:02.160 So, what happens? Well, God, after He's put them in the garden and given them this, 00:15:02.820 --> 00:15:06.560 given them community, He's given them an ecology, He's given them a vocation, He's given them all 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:11.739 of these things. Now, all of a sudden, they decide that actually they know better than God Himself. 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:18.899 And they're tempted by the immediate. And they see that this is desirable, seems to be good for food, 00:15:19.799 --> 00:15:23.719 it's a pleasure to look at, it seems to be desirable for gaining a certain type of wisdom. 00:15:24.919 --> 00:15:31.959 And so they both eat it. But now just watch what happens when the first human beings decide they'll 00:15:31.959 --> 00:15:35.219 turn their back on God and actually try to do things their way as opposed to God's way. 00:15:35.220 --> 00:15:40.879 The first thing that we read happen after they take the fruit is that they cover themselves up. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:49.120 Adam and Eve are no longer happy with the way they are. A form of psychological internal alienation 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:53.500 sets in within them. They are no longer happy with the way they are. They feel ashamed, 00:15:54.160 --> 00:15:58.139 they're aware of their state, they're not happy, and they cover themselves up. 00:15:58.820 --> 00:16:01.980 The next thing that happens is that God comes into the garden, 00:16:01.980 --> 00:16:07.639 and the one who they would have once run to and loved to spend time with and conversed with and 00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:14.720 chatted to and had a relationship with, as they hear God now coming, they run and hide. 00:16:16.019 --> 00:16:21.019 Spiritual alienation kicks in. There is now an alienation between them and God. The voice that 00:16:21.019 --> 00:16:25.620 once would have brought pleasure and delight now causes them to go and just bury themselves. 00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:29.440 Then God basically says, where are you? Now, He's not asking this question out of ignorance. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:35.100 As a matter of fact, this question is a very, very interesting question because 00:16:35.100 --> 00:16:39.060 when we ask, if you ask someone who you are in relationship with you, 00:16:39.280 --> 00:16:41.920 where are you right now? And you're talking to them, they're in front of you. 00:16:42.460 --> 00:16:46.340 You don't mean, oh, I can't see you. Where are you? You're basically saying, 00:16:46.680 --> 00:16:48.700 where are we in this relationship? Does that make sense? 00:16:49.280 --> 00:16:53.700 And every couple of times, and especially when you're going out, at some point you ask that question. 00:16:54.060 --> 00:16:58.240 Well, where are we right now? And God comes in and says, guys, where are you? 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:10.580 And now, we now see the next alienation comes in. Basically, well, the way people have traditionally 00:17:10.580 --> 00:17:15.080 said this, and I'm going to have to just correct this in a minute, is, well, look, Adam blames Eve. 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:18.720 Eve blames the serpent, and as they say, the serpent didn't have a leg to stand on. 00:17:19.140 --> 00:17:24.039 But that's not quite correct if we look at this chapter very, very carefully. 00:17:24.039 --> 00:17:33.859 God comes and says, where are you? And Adam basically says, okay, God, the woman who you gave me, 00:17:34.740 --> 00:17:42.940 she gave to me some food, and I ate it. Who's he blaming? God. God, this is your mess. 00:17:43.879 --> 00:17:51.639 Okay? You created this, you gave her to me, and now look what has happened. It's your fault. 00:17:51.640 --> 00:18:00.000 God. So, he blames God, and he also blames Eve. And now, we see this social alienation kick in. 00:18:00.080 --> 00:18:04.680 These relationships, this community that was created for love, and for community, and for intimacy, 00:18:04.980 --> 00:18:10.820 is now shattered. And we see this form of social alienation kicking in. 00:18:10.819 --> 00:18:19.579 Well, after all of this, God's judgment kicks in. And God passes judgment on all of those who were 00:18:19.579 --> 00:18:24.839 involved. Now, at this point, this is a part of the story that maybe even sometimes Christians feel a 00:18:24.839 --> 00:18:32.299 little bit, ooh, you know, was this an overreaction? Maybe God was having a bad hair day. You know, late 00:18:32.299 --> 00:18:37.079 night, hadn't had a good night's sleep, comes into the garden. Guys, what have you done? You know, 00:18:37.079 --> 00:18:41.199 all they've done, they've done something relatively minor, and all of a sudden, there's this massive 00:18:41.199 --> 00:18:47.899 overreaction. Now, all that tells us is that that's the way we're thinking, is that we may not have 00:18:47.899 --> 00:18:55.679 actually thought about this notion of sin carefully enough. Because sin destroys everything. 00:18:57.019 --> 00:19:01.960 It makes us less than what we are, and ultimately even, and actually also at the same time, 00:19:02.019 --> 00:19:07.019 imprisons us, and also alienates us from one another. A few years ago, I had, I was, 00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:13.019 speaking in the United States, and this is before I'd been given the boots, but I think at that 00:19:13.019 --> 00:19:18.839 point, I had the hat. And while I was speaking, I was actually speaking in Memphis, and while I was 00:19:18.839 --> 00:19:22.379 there, someone said to me, Michael, you should really go to the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:24.899 Have you ever been there? I said, well, I've never been to Memphis, so I've never been. 00:19:25.559 --> 00:19:28.980 They said, well, we know the curator. I'll arrange some tickets. My father was with me. 00:19:29.379 --> 00:19:33.679 He says, why don't you go and have a look? And so my father and I, we went to the museum together, 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:38.000 and it was a very strange experience because we park in this big car park, and we start walking 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:41.860 past this motel to get to the entrance to the museum. And I'm walking past the motel, 00:19:41.940 --> 00:19:48.400 and I'm looking at it thinking, I recognize this place. I'm sure I've never been here before, 00:19:48.580 --> 00:19:54.539 but I recognize this building. I recognize the car park. It looks so familiar. 00:19:54.539 --> 00:20:01.799 And then you suddenly realize that the motel you're looking at is the motel that Martin Luther 00:20:01.799 --> 00:20:06.159 King was standing on a balcony, was assassinated in. And the reason I recognize the motel is I've 00:20:06.159 --> 00:20:10.899 seen the pictures in the history books, so that's why I recognize it. And basically, they've kept the 00:20:10.899 --> 00:20:14.720 front of the motel, and around the back of it, they've created a Civil Rights Museum. And my father 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:20.740 and I are walking through this museum, and there's one picture that stuck in my heart, my mind, more than 00:20:20.740 --> 00:20:25.039 any other. I'd actually missed it. I'd walked past this giant photograph, and I turned around to see 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:29.359 where my father was, and I could see my father standing, looking at this picture, crying, just 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:35.660 tears coming down his cheeks. And he's looking at a picture of a group of African-American men, 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:41.680 black Americans, walking out of a rubbish collection point. I guess if you're American, trash collection, 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:49.000 refuge collection. It's rubbish collection anyway, just so we're clear. And they're walking out 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:55.619 of this inner line, and they're going on strike. And around their necks, each of them is carrying a 00:20:55.619 --> 00:21:04.619 big square sign. And on that square sign are written just four words, I am a man. 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:14.880 And here now, a group of men going on strike, not for higher wages or anything else. They're going 00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:25.180 on strike simply to be recognized as human beings. Sin begins to destroy who we are. 00:21:25.940 --> 00:21:29.900 And it doesn't just simply affect us, it affects the way we treat other people. And we often stop 00:21:29.900 --> 00:21:34.520 relating to people as people, and we start relating to people as objects. And the difference between a 00:21:34.520 --> 00:21:38.720 relationship between a person and a person is interpersonal relationships are marked by love, 00:21:38.920 --> 00:21:42.580 and they are personal. They are personal relationships by definition. But the relationship 00:21:42.579 --> 00:21:48.059 between you and an object isn't one of connection, it's one of consumption. Objects you consume for 00:21:48.059 --> 00:21:53.839 your own pleasure, and for your own need. And when we begin to view other people, not as people, 00:21:53.919 --> 00:21:58.819 but as objects, they cease to become people who we want to connect with. They actually become objects 00:21:58.819 --> 00:22:03.819 who we now want to consume and use. As a matter of fact, I was speaking yesterday, actually, was it two 00:22:03.819 --> 00:22:09.500 days ago, to a group of business guys for the Harvard Business School alumni group. 00:22:09.500 --> 00:22:14.799 And it was very interesting, I gave this particular illustration. And I said, and if you work in the 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:20.460 service industry right now, I said, and you are aware that people who come into your bank or into 00:22:20.460 --> 00:22:25.619 your hotel or whatever it is and start to treat you and your staff as objects, where you are basically 00:22:25.619 --> 00:22:28.579 there to be consumed by them to make them feel better about yourselves, you'll know the problems 00:22:28.579 --> 00:22:32.299 that this generates. And three quarters of the room started nodding their heads vigorously. 00:22:32.299 --> 00:22:40.759 The depersonalizing, dehumanizing effect of sin is catastrophic. It destroys everything. 00:22:41.700 --> 00:22:47.720 It is the greatest single challenge we have. It explains why the world is the way it is. Why 00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:53.419 is a good world created by a good God now so horribly messed up? And the answer is, well, 00:22:53.460 --> 00:22:58.139 we've turned our backs on God. We have broken His laws. We have decided to do our own things, 00:22:58.140 --> 00:23:02.080 go our own way. This has had an impact on us. It impacts how we treat other people. It impacts 00:23:02.080 --> 00:23:07.820 how we relate with God. And the results are enormous. They alienate us from ourselves within. 00:23:07.940 --> 00:23:11.600 They alienate us from God spiritually. They alienate us from other people socially. And then God 00:23:11.600 --> 00:23:16.360 pronounces judgment. And the results of that judgment are now that there's both now an ecological 00:23:16.360 --> 00:23:19.860 alienation. This world that was meant to be home for them now becomes hostile and they have to learn 00:23:19.860 --> 00:23:26.500 to tame it. And there's also a vocational alienation that sets in. Work becomes labor for both Adam and 00:23:26.500 --> 00:23:30.839 Eve, which is why it's no accident in the English language that we use the word labor, both for 00:23:30.839 --> 00:23:35.579 giving birth to children and also for the process of work. It comes back to the influence of actually 00:23:35.579 --> 00:23:38.519 the Bible, especially the King James translation of the Bible on the English language. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.259 And now there's this sense of vocational alienation comes in where most people feel that work is a tax 00:23:44.259 --> 00:23:48.559 on their time. And as great and wonderful as children are too, it can sometimes feel that children 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:53.279 are a tax on our time. And we're all looking forward to the time where actually we're on our own and 00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:56.680 we don't have to look after the kids and we don't have to work either. At that point, 00:23:57.920 --> 00:24:01.480 you often just find yourself, you know, the term is empty nesters. I'm sure you've heard about it. 00:24:01.500 --> 00:24:04.200 And on that point, sometimes husbands and wives realize actually they're not getting on too well 00:24:04.200 --> 00:24:10.579 either. And very often in many relationships, that becomes a huge crunch point in their own 00:24:10.579 --> 00:24:19.119 relationship. Genesis chapter 3, I'd like to suggest to you, is profound. And after this judgment 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:24.959 pronounced by God, the final effect is physical degradation. They will grow old and they will die. 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:34.739 Not immediately, but slowly. Now we sometimes call these the five faces of death. Can you imagine 00:24:34.739 --> 00:24:40.639 a more comprehensive definition of death than this? Internal psychological alienation, spiritual 00:24:40.639 --> 00:24:45.259 alienation, social alienation, ecological alienation, vocational alienation, physical degradation. 00:24:45.259 --> 00:24:52.119 This is the most comprehensive view of death you could possibly have. They did die that day. 00:24:53.339 --> 00:24:57.240 And they will now live with the consequences of that slowly over the next few years. That is the 00:24:57.240 --> 00:25:08.460 consequence of turning their back on God. I find this fascinating. When I first read Mary Shelley's 00:25:08.460 --> 00:25:12.819 book, Frankenstein, and Mary Shelley is a very famous atheist in the UK. Her father was actually a 00:25:12.819 --> 00:25:16.799 Church of England vicar. Then she grew up, completely repudiated her faith, denied it completely, 00:25:17.059 --> 00:25:20.480 and then went on to write Frankenstein, one of the most famous horror stories ever written. And it's 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:25.740 interesting that it's a horror story. And at one point, she has this incredible, actually in chapters 00:25:25.740 --> 00:25:33.539 13 and 16 in particular, these incredible conversations between the creation in Frankenstein and 00:25:33.539 --> 00:25:37.480 Dr. Frankenstein, who created this creature. So Frankenstein isn't the monster. Frankenstein is the 00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:42.160 doctor who creates this other being. And it's an amazing series. Now, I don't want to put too much 00:25:42.160 --> 00:25:47.579 weight on this because it is said that Mary Shelley was very high on drugs when she wrote this book. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:51.799 Now, I don't know whether that's true or not. So I don't want to just say too much. But 00:25:51.799 --> 00:25:56.860 Mary Shelley, the atheist, what she does in her book, Frankenstein, is Dr. Frankenstein wants to create 00:25:56.860 --> 00:26:03.019 life. And he thinks he's found a secret, not to create life from scratch, but to put life back into a 00:26:03.019 --> 00:26:07.460 dead body. So he gets a dead body and he stitches it all up and he has to borrow various parts, you 00:26:07.460 --> 00:26:14.139 know, to sort of get a piece of final body that isn't, you know, too decomposed. So he has to get 00:26:14.139 --> 00:26:19.000 the head from one place and the body from another place and so on. And anyway, this being is lying on 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:22.940 the table, the electricity passes through it and it pops back up into life. And it's this enormous, 00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:28.240 ugly being. So if it helps you to look at me at this point, then feel free to use me as a visual aid. 00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:37.059 And, but it is also completely benign. The being is gentle, kind, loving and ugly. 00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:43.880 The trouble is, is wherever it goes, it's treated with hostility and hatred. Eventually, 00:26:43.980 --> 00:26:49.519 it's driven into hiding. The monster finds himself living outside a small woodcutter's hut 00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:53.700 and he wants to help the family in it. And he realizes that they need wood for the stove, 00:26:53.700 --> 00:26:59.080 wood for heating. They're very, very stretched. They're actually, one of the, a couple falls ill. 00:26:59.559 --> 00:27:05.000 So every night, the monster goes out into the wood, he gathers wood, he chops it up, he places 00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.680 it neatly outside the cottage. And every morning they wake up and they find all of this wood there. 00:27:10.080 --> 00:27:14.259 It makes all the difference to them. And as they go out during the day, the monster goes into the 00:27:14.259 --> 00:27:20.279 cottage and starts borrowing the books, again, starts educating himself. Anyway, eventually they find 00:27:20.279 --> 00:27:24.139 the monster and they drive him out of the cottage there. They can't believe he's there. And just 00:27:24.139 --> 00:27:29.799 after that, the monster now confronts his creator. And Mary Shelley puts these words into the monster's 00:27:29.799 --> 00:27:37.599 mouth. The monster looks at, at Frankenstein and says, you know, when I first came into this world, 00:27:37.660 --> 00:27:42.079 I didn't understand why human beings needed a law, why they needed police, why they needed government. 00:27:42.180 --> 00:27:46.799 I couldn't understand why human beings needed any of these things. But then I read your history 00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:51.659 and I read your literature and I saw how you treated one another. And my wonder ceased and 00:27:51.659 --> 00:27:56.000 I turned away in disgust and loathing. At one point to be human seemed to be everything which 00:27:56.000 --> 00:27:59.859 is noble and godlike. In another sense to be human seemed to be everything which was vicious and base. 00:28:00.059 --> 00:28:06.099 All of this in the same heart. All I can conclude, the monster says, is that you were created in the 00:28:06.099 --> 00:28:13.839 image of something perfect and you've fallen away from it. Now that's exactly what Christians believe. 00:28:13.839 --> 00:28:19.899 We were created in the image of that which was good and perfect and we've fallen away from it. 00:28:20.419 --> 00:28:25.099 One of the world's most famous neuropsychologists by the name of Oliver Sacks said this in his book 00:28:25.099 --> 00:28:32.879 Awakenings. I think it's around, gosh, I'm tired. I think it's page 23 or 26. My memory fails. 00:28:33.419 --> 00:28:39.399 But he says this. He says, all of us have a basic intuitive feeling that once we were whole and well, 00:28:39.400 --> 00:28:44.680 at ease, at peace, at home in this world, totally united with the grounds of our being, and somehow we lost 00:28:44.680 --> 00:28:49.580 this primal, happy, innocent state and fell into our sickness and suffering. We had something of infinite 00:28:49.580 --> 00:28:53.580 preciousness and beauty and we've lost it. We spend the rest of our lives searching for that which we have 00:28:53.580 --> 00:29:00.060 lost, hoping one day we'll suddenly find it. How do you like that? Hundreds of billions of dollars spent 00:29:00.059 --> 00:29:05.679 in psychological research. Hundred years of the discipline, we finally got as far as Genesis chapter 3. 00:29:09.639 --> 00:29:12.039 Now it doesn't just end there. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:19.099 The incredible thing with this story is as you continue to read through the Bible, as you continue 00:29:19.099 --> 00:29:27.379 to go through this series with Tobin, is that this rebellion that we've taken ourselves away from God, 00:29:27.380 --> 00:29:32.360 where we now find ourselves fallen, broken, often at enmity with ourselves and enmity with others, 00:29:32.500 --> 00:29:36.240 and enmity with God himself, is actually gloriously resolved through the cross of Christ. 00:29:37.100 --> 00:29:42.240 Because it is now the story that this God who created this world, who loves this world, 00:29:42.580 --> 00:29:48.240 who wants this world to be rescued, doesn't now just simply say, let's hit the reset button, 00:29:48.520 --> 00:29:52.600 wipe out the whole thing and start all over again. He says, let's rescue this world from the position 00:29:52.599 --> 00:29:57.419 it's now in. And this God now comes, you will read and find out later as you go through, 00:29:57.759 --> 00:30:05.679 comes into this world. And as he comes into this world, he himself eventually will take this fallenness 00:30:05.679 --> 00:30:12.740 onto himself on the cross. At the cross, Jesus Christ becomes sin for us. The sin that we carry, 00:30:13.019 --> 00:30:17.619 this fallen image that we have, this brokenness that we know, all of the consequences that deserves, 00:30:17.619 --> 00:30:22.779 and all of the ultimate punishment it finally needs. All of that eventually. God comes into 00:30:22.779 --> 00:30:27.500 this world in the person of Jesus Christ, and when he goes to the cross, he takes that on into himself. 00:30:28.439 --> 00:30:33.099 And he pays the price. He conquers over it through his resurrection and that physical death, 00:30:33.259 --> 00:30:38.319 and he offers us a new life in him. And that's what it means to be Christian. Why do we need God? 00:30:38.879 --> 00:30:46.859 We need God because we have a condition within us that we cannot ourselves fix. This is not bad news. 00:30:46.859 --> 00:30:52.240 If you go to a doctor and he tells you you're fine, and then two days later you die, you would be, 00:30:52.519 --> 00:30:55.819 well, you wouldn't be angry with the doctor, obviously you'd be dead. Okay? But those around 00:30:55.819 --> 00:31:01.339 you might be disappointed. But if you went to the doctor and the doctor said, you are very seriously 00:31:01.339 --> 00:31:06.939 ill, you are on the verge of death, but if we do this, we can save you. That news, you do not receive 00:31:06.939 --> 00:31:11.339 necessarily as bad news. You could now embrace him. I can remember one of my daughters falling very 00:31:11.339 --> 00:31:15.979 seriously ill. We didn't know what was wrong. We were almost embarrassed to go to the doctor because 00:31:15.980 --> 00:31:20.980 we couldn't quite figure out what the symptoms were. And we took them in and the doctor, I just 00:31:20.980 --> 00:31:24.519 said to the doctor, look, I'm embarrassed I'm here. And it was so funny because they looked so ill and 00:31:24.519 --> 00:31:28.299 we went to the doctors and they suddenly seemed to like spark up. Does that ever happen to you? 00:31:28.620 --> 00:31:31.940 And I'm sitting there thinking, oh, I'm going to get into trouble with the doctor. And I'm just saying, 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:35.559 look, I'm really, really sorry and I probably shouldn't have come in. And, you know, they're looking so 00:31:35.559 --> 00:31:39.039 much better now, but honestly, you know, a couple of hours ago they looked utterly terrible. And, you know, 00:31:39.059 --> 00:31:42.960 there's probably nothing really, really wrong. And I just spoke like this for a while. And then after two minutes, 00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:45.500 the doctor just stopped me and they said, all the while you've been talking, I've been looking, 00:31:45.819 --> 00:31:50.240 I've been looking at your son's chest and it hasn't moved in two minutes. He says, your son has severe 00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:54.460 pneumonia. He picked up the phone, he rang the hospital, he said, I need an emergency admission 00:31:54.460 --> 00:31:58.200 immediately, hung up the phone. And then after he hung up the phone, he said, I guess I should just 00:31:58.200 --> 00:32:03.660 listen to the chest just to make sure. And he put the stethoscope on the chest, actually it was a female 00:32:03.660 --> 00:32:07.660 doctor. And she said, yeah, just as I thought, you need to go straight from here to the hospital, 00:32:07.660 --> 00:32:19.900 don't go home. Now that's a severe diagnosis. And actually, eventually what they had was quite 00:32:19.900 --> 00:32:23.340 an old disease. It was a bit like being told your son's got consumption. It's something you 00:32:23.340 --> 00:32:28.480 thought happened in the 18th century and then just sort of died away. And the next day I went 00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:33.000 back into that manna surgery and I gave the doctor this huge box of chocolates. And I said, 00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:39.920 thank you so much. Because I was just so grateful for the diagnosis that they just got it right, 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:47.180 just straight out of the bat like that. I was just so grateful. And the diagnosis that God speaks 00:32:47.180 --> 00:32:50.740 over us isn't meant to be negative for us. It's meant to say, look, this is the situation you are in. 00:32:52.039 --> 00:32:57.539 And this is where you are, but I can get you out of it. And that's what comes through the cross. 00:32:57.980 --> 00:33:02.900 And it's on the cross where Christ takes, if you like, this sickness of sin and the consequences 00:33:02.900 --> 00:33:07.380 of sin and the punishment that sin deserves into himself, that he then also makes it possible for 00:33:07.380 --> 00:33:10.740 us now to come into relationship with him. So let me just say one last thing about this and then I'll 00:33:10.740 --> 00:33:16.740 close. We've talked about how sin actually affects us, but what it also does, it affects our 00:33:16.740 --> 00:33:23.120 relationships, our community. Sin breaks community and relationship. All relationship is a function 00:33:23.120 --> 00:33:28.259 of trust. Your friendships are those with those that you feel you can trust, with those people who are 00:33:28.259 --> 00:33:32.259 around you. But if that trust is broken, if that trust is betrayed, the friendship is broken. 00:33:32.819 --> 00:33:35.779 So one of the other effects that sin does is it breaks and destroys these relationships. 00:33:37.059 --> 00:33:44.140 And God, now, even though he wants relationship with us, finds that we have broken relationship with 00:33:44.140 --> 00:33:52.819 him. And he wants to see it restored. Now, the way you restore relationship is through forgiveness 00:33:52.819 --> 00:34:00.500 and through by saying sorry. If you have broken relationship with somebody and you want it 00:34:00.500 --> 00:34:03.939 restored, two things have to happen. Number one, the person who's done something wrong has to say, 00:34:04.099 --> 00:34:08.819 I'm sorry. Not, I'm sorry I hurt you, which is normally how husbands apologize to their wives. 00:34:09.460 --> 00:34:14.079 But I'm sorry, which means I'm wrong and I shouldn't have done it. And if the person is willing to forgive 00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:18.920 and wants to forgive, as you apologize, you receive that forgiveness and the relationship comes back. 00:34:18.920 --> 00:34:24.119 It may even be stronger than it was before. And this loving God who wants relationship with us 00:34:24.119 --> 00:34:29.240 offers us not just a change of who we are, but also a restoration of this relationship. 00:34:30.920 --> 00:34:35.360 Sometimes people think, look, how good do you have to be a Christian? And that's the wrong way of 00:34:35.360 --> 00:34:40.800 thinking about it. Imagine life is like a bookcase, okay? And on the top shelf, you have the world's 00:34:40.800 --> 00:34:45.619 greatest leaders. I mean, people who are world famous throughout history for being people who've done 00:34:45.619 --> 00:34:49.659 great things and we admire them. That's the top shelf. And then imagine on the shelf below that, 00:34:49.719 --> 00:34:53.819 there are great national leaders, people who are really admired and respected, but maybe not known 00:34:53.819 --> 00:34:57.039 outside of their country. Inside the country, they're famous. Outside the country, people may not know 00:34:57.039 --> 00:35:01.559 who they are. And on the shelf below that, you've got ordinary, decent, hardworking, trustworthy people. 00:35:01.739 --> 00:35:05.159 If you went on holiday, you'd give them the keys to your apartment to look after it. 00:35:05.539 --> 00:35:09.719 On the shelf below that, you've got people who live a little bit close to the edge or maybe just over the edge. 00:35:10.559 --> 00:35:14.239 Okay, they're fun to be with. They've got lots of funny stories to tell, but you would never give them the keys to 00:35:14.239 --> 00:35:19.239 your apartment under any conditions whatsoever. On the shelf below that, you've got bad people who lie, cheat, 00:35:19.279 --> 00:35:24.859 and steal. And on the shelf below that, you've got evil people. I mean, people who enjoy inflicting pain on other 00:35:24.859 --> 00:35:31.379 people, like dentists and that kind of people. And then I give you a pen and I say, right, how good do you have to be? 00:35:31.439 --> 00:35:38.179 Where will you draw this line to decide who gets into heaven or not? Because most people are happy to say, look, 00:35:38.859 --> 00:35:42.699 if you're on the bottom shelf, if you enjoy inflicting evil on other people, you shouldn't be then. 00:35:42.699 --> 00:35:47.419 What most of us do is we look at whatever shelf we're standing on and we draw the line there and say, okay, from this point up, 00:35:47.460 --> 00:35:53.359 it's all fine. But that's the wrong way of looking at it. God will draw a line. 00:35:56.659 --> 00:35:58.859 But he will not draw his line of judgment this way. 00:36:00.259 --> 00:36:02.039 He will draw it this way. 00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:04.919 And it will run through the middle of the bookcase. 00:36:04.920 --> 00:36:11.780 On one side of that line will be people who have done wrong things, who are broken, who are fallen, 00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:17.780 who have been offered this offer of forgiveness and restoration from God and have said yes. 00:36:18.420 --> 00:36:22.159 And on the other side of the line will be people who have fallen and broken and messed up 00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:25.139 and they've been offered this offer of forgiveness from God and they've said no. 00:36:25.139 --> 00:36:31.039 And there'll be people on both sides of that line down every single shelf. 00:36:32.739 --> 00:36:34.819 Because we all share a common humanity. 00:36:35.679 --> 00:36:37.359 We all find ourselves fallen. 00:36:37.819 --> 00:36:39.099 We are all broken. 00:36:39.480 --> 00:36:41.039 In that sense, we're all in the same boat. 00:36:41.679 --> 00:36:45.019 God is making everyone, everywhere, in every nation the same offer. 00:36:45.619 --> 00:36:47.379 And the question is, will we respond to him? 00:36:47.679 --> 00:36:48.420 Will we say yes? 00:36:48.420 --> 00:37:18.400 Will we say yes?