WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.259 Well, why don't we join our hearts together and let's pray just before we dive into this text together. 00:00:05.259 --> 00:00:09.060 Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the time together we've had already today. 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:15.359 And Father, thank you so much for the truth that was contained in the children's talk, 00:00:16.219 --> 00:00:23.480 reminding us about the parable of the sower and our response to your word as it goes forth. 00:00:24.080 --> 00:00:26.379 And Lord, I just ask that you would help us all today. 00:00:26.379 --> 00:00:31.460 Father, we know our proneness to wander. We know our ability to be distracted by things. 00:00:31.599 --> 00:00:38.619 Father, we ask that you would come and help us, Lord, respond rightly to your word, your life-giving word of truth today. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:42.539 So, Father, thank you that you love us. We pray all these things knowing that you hear us. 00:00:42.620 --> 00:00:44.780 In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen. 00:00:45.879 --> 00:00:48.439 Well, folks, turn back to Genesis chapter 2. 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:51.399 This is where we're going to be today. 00:00:51.399 --> 00:00:56.079 Those verses that Ruth read for us just a few moments ago, we've began this short series. 00:00:56.380 --> 00:01:01.040 In the opening section of the book of Genesis last week. 00:01:01.120 --> 00:01:03.600 And if you remember chapter 1, if you were here, you can check it out online. 00:01:03.780 --> 00:01:09.799 If you weren't here, we encountered the God who is there. 00:01:09.980 --> 00:01:17.620 So, the eternal God who created the world in six days by the power of his word. 00:01:17.780 --> 00:01:19.820 This God spoke and things came into being. 00:01:19.900 --> 00:01:22.680 And on the seventh day, God rested. 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:28.580 And to understand kind of what's going on in chapter 2, it's a bit like Google Maps. 00:01:28.660 --> 00:01:30.400 If you can picture Google Maps in your head. 00:01:30.460 --> 00:01:32.840 You know how you get Google Maps and you start with a big picture. 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:37.160 And then you type the place in the search bar where you want to go. 00:01:37.220 --> 00:01:42.880 And all of a sudden, Google Maps goes right down to the street view of the place that you're searching for. 00:01:43.859 --> 00:01:45.859 It's kind of what's going on in chapter 2. 00:01:47.079 --> 00:01:48.179 Chapter 1, we were big. 00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:49.079 Okay. 00:01:49.199 --> 00:01:54.140 And then in chapter 2, what we've done is we've hit Google Maps and we've scrolled down right down to the sixth day. 00:01:54.899 --> 00:01:55.039 Okay. 00:01:55.039 --> 00:01:57.759 So, this is where God's created man and woman. 00:01:57.859 --> 00:02:00.899 This is where we are in Genesis chapter 2. 00:02:00.900 --> 00:02:10.900 And there's a central idea to this chapter that we all need to get in our minds straight off the bat if we're to understand and appreciate the beauty of what's going on in chapter 2. 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:14.640 And I was trying to think about a way this week to try and help us get a hold of it. 00:02:14.759 --> 00:02:17.300 And I'm going to chuck four characters on the screen. 00:02:19.259 --> 00:02:23.460 So, for the avoidance of doubt, this is, and for the recording, this is Victor Meldrew. 00:02:23.580 --> 00:02:24.520 This is Mr. Burns. 00:02:24.620 --> 00:02:25.360 This is the Grinch. 00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:26.120 And this is Scrooge. 00:02:26.120 --> 00:02:28.700 Now, my question to you is what connects the four of them? 00:02:29.800 --> 00:02:30.159 Answers. 00:02:32.180 --> 00:02:33.319 What connects the four of them? 00:02:35.080 --> 00:02:35.800 Not very happy. 00:02:35.939 --> 00:02:36.319 They're mean. 00:02:36.939 --> 00:02:37.520 Anyone else? 00:02:38.860 --> 00:02:39.219 Grumpy. 00:02:40.180 --> 00:02:40.780 One more. 00:02:42.259 --> 00:02:42.599 Stingy. 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:43.300 That's what I wrote down. 00:02:43.620 --> 00:02:43.719 Yeah. 00:02:44.180 --> 00:02:44.800 Self-centered. 00:02:44.980 --> 00:02:45.540 Self-centered. 00:02:45.659 --> 00:02:45.800 Yeah. 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:46.140 Great. 00:02:46.580 --> 00:02:54.620 So, we have these four people who are connected by a reputation for being mean, for being stingy, for being bad, 00:02:54.620 --> 00:02:58.120 and for being a bit of a killjoy in life, right? 00:02:58.620 --> 00:02:59.680 Now, here's what I want you to do. 00:02:59.719 --> 00:03:05.939 I want you to take those ideas and those words, and then I want you to picture the polar opposite of those things. 00:03:07.460 --> 00:03:08.400 Get them in your mind. 00:03:08.480 --> 00:03:09.319 What would it look like? 00:03:10.300 --> 00:03:18.960 Because what we need to understand is that in chapter 2, the writer is showing us that this God is unbelievably good. 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:25.379 He is passionate about the fullness of life. 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:28.379 He is passionate about pleasure. 00:03:28.500 --> 00:03:29.500 This God is so good. 00:03:29.580 --> 00:03:35.860 And I want us to walk out here today, and we've been helped so greatly so far in everything that we've done in this service already. 00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:40.960 I want to walk out here today with a better understanding of the goodness of this God. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:46.620 So, we're going to get words in chapter 2 like this, okay? 00:03:46.620 --> 00:03:55.080 They're lavish, and abundance, and delight, and pleasant, and colour, and pleasing, and joy. 00:03:55.200 --> 00:03:58.439 This God is passionate about the fullness of life. 00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:02.700 And so, we're kind of building up a picture here in chapter 1 and chapter 2 of who this God is. 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:10.200 Chapter 1, we saw, and if you look at the text there in chapter 1, we saw his greatness, okay? 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:14.060 And in chapter 2, we're going to see his goodness. 00:04:14.060 --> 00:04:23.399 So, you'll notice that the word in chapter 1 for God, if you look at it there, all the way through, it was God, God, God, God, God, God, God. 00:04:23.459 --> 00:04:25.459 It was the Hebrew word Elohim, okay? 00:04:25.540 --> 00:04:31.160 It just, it kind of means the majestic God, the powerful God, the God who is up there. 00:04:32.100 --> 00:04:38.420 And in chapter 2, if you come with me to the text, you'll notice nine times we get the word Lord God. 00:04:38.420 --> 00:04:43.480 Lord, okay? Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:45.240 So, this is Yahweh. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:50.700 This is the covenant name of God that the author is using here, Moses is using. 00:04:51.720 --> 00:05:00.180 And it's the term that tells us, signifies to the reader, that this God is up close and personal with his people. 00:05:00.180 --> 00:05:06.920 So, kind of put those two bits of the jigsaw together and see what this is telling us about this God. 00:05:07.240 --> 00:05:12.340 This God is powerful and he is personal, right? 00:05:12.579 --> 00:05:17.220 This God is great and he is good. 00:05:17.220 --> 00:05:24.340 And that's why this has been much cause for celebration down the ages for God's people. 00:05:24.940 --> 00:05:27.420 That this God is both of these things. 00:05:28.320 --> 00:05:31.820 Because how horrible would it be if he was great but he wasn't good? 00:05:32.520 --> 00:05:37.400 How horrible would it be if he was powerful but he wasn't personal and couldn't love us? 00:05:38.380 --> 00:05:39.460 And then flip that around. 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:43.520 How bad would it be if he loved us but had no power to do anything about anything? 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:49.579 Do you see how this God is great and he is good? 00:05:49.699 --> 00:05:52.579 And that is why the chorus down the ages of the church has been, 00:05:52.699 --> 00:05:55.779 give thanks to the Lord for he is good. 00:05:57.579 --> 00:06:02.659 And his steadfast, his hesed love endures forever. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:04.759 It just keeps on going. 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:05.839 It never ends. 00:06:06.459 --> 00:06:07.759 This is who this God is. 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:15.639 And so chapter 2 comes at us today and screams at us that this God is so unbelievably good. 00:06:16.539 --> 00:06:19.539 And we don't have time to do justice to everything that's in the text today. 00:06:19.560 --> 00:06:21.000 I'm just going to pick out four ways. 00:06:21.159 --> 00:06:22.699 You're going to get a four-point sermon today. 00:06:22.759 --> 00:06:23.759 But don't panic, okay? 00:06:23.819 --> 00:06:24.500 It's the same length. 00:06:25.420 --> 00:06:29.740 Four ways that this text shows us the goodness of God. 00:06:29.779 --> 00:06:31.039 We're going to rattle through these today. 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:31.839 Here's the first one. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:36.099 It shows us the goodness in the forming of the body. 00:06:36.100 --> 00:06:36.700 Right? 00:06:37.460 --> 00:06:37.920 Verse 7. 00:06:38.020 --> 00:06:38.520 Come with me. 00:06:38.840 --> 00:06:40.900 Then the Lord God, there's our term again, 00:06:41.340 --> 00:06:47.220 formed a man from the dust off the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:51.520 And the man became a living being. 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:57.560 So the image there is of a potter making something out of the clay. 00:06:58.520 --> 00:06:58.620 Right? 00:06:58.620 --> 00:07:00.280 Remember that show back in the 90s? 00:07:00.620 --> 00:07:01.900 It was Tony Hart, wasn't it? 00:07:02.100 --> 00:07:03.720 This little character called Morph. 00:07:03.820 --> 00:07:05.200 This little character that he had made. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:06.120 If you remember that TV show. 00:07:06.360 --> 00:07:07.939 This is kind of what's going on here. 00:07:08.920 --> 00:07:12.259 So when it comes to God making the human body, here's what we need to see. 00:07:12.339 --> 00:07:12.779 Two things. 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:15.680 Firstly, that this is, in one sense, extremely ordinary. 00:07:17.560 --> 00:07:17.719 Okay? 00:07:17.800 --> 00:07:19.560 God formed the man's body from what? 00:07:20.699 --> 00:07:21.860 The dust of the ground. 00:07:23.180 --> 00:07:26.180 Not from some kind of special indestructible material. 00:07:26.300 --> 00:07:26.419 Okay? 00:07:26.439 --> 00:07:27.259 We're not Iron Man. 00:07:27.259 --> 00:07:32.899 But he made us from the same stuff as he made the rest of creation. 00:07:33.300 --> 00:07:34.899 Hydrogen, oxygen, carbon. 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:36.699 Our bodies are dust. 00:07:36.699 --> 00:07:41.060 That's why I've done funerals over the years. 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:44.920 Finished with the dust we've come from and to dust we will return. 00:07:44.979 --> 00:07:46.360 Our bodies are dust. 00:07:46.420 --> 00:07:50.319 And I suggest that it's extremely humbling for us to come to grips with that. 00:07:50.659 --> 00:07:55.939 And I would argue it's extremely freeing as well to come to understand what our bodies are. 00:07:55.939 --> 00:07:58.360 In one way we are extremely ordinary. 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:03.620 But in another way do you see how we are very extraordinary. 00:08:05.660 --> 00:08:07.899 What does God do with this dust? 00:08:09.459 --> 00:08:09.620 Right? 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:10.300 Forms it. 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:11.680 Forms the man. 00:08:11.740 --> 00:08:12.459 And what does he do? 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:14.519 And feel the language here. 00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:17.279 He breathes into the man. 00:08:18.699 --> 00:08:19.180 Right? 00:08:19.180 --> 00:08:21.740 He breathes into this man. 00:08:22.139 --> 00:08:23.740 Puts his breath in his lungs. 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:27.220 And this man becomes a living being. 00:08:27.319 --> 00:08:28.319 Do you not love that term? 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:36.440 And what this is telling us is that this God is so intimately involved with the creation of human beings. 00:08:36.539 --> 00:08:37.740 In a way that he just... 00:08:37.740 --> 00:08:40.600 He wasn't when it came to the rest of creation. 00:08:41.139 --> 00:08:46.580 To the extent that human beings have the very breath of God in them. 00:08:46.580 --> 00:08:51.060 And as we sit here now and as we take another breath and out it goes. 00:08:51.879 --> 00:08:53.840 Take another breath and out it goes. 00:08:54.600 --> 00:08:56.220 Take another breath and out it goes. 00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:59.300 This is God's breath that is in us. 00:09:00.440 --> 00:09:01.280 Sustaining us. 00:09:02.259 --> 00:09:02.920 Animating us. 00:09:02.980 --> 00:09:04.540 Isn't that an incredible thought? 00:09:06.280 --> 00:09:07.259 Here's what this means. 00:09:07.460 --> 00:09:09.740 This means that our bodies are precious. 00:09:12.060 --> 00:09:12.460 Right? 00:09:12.560 --> 00:09:14.320 And what we do with our bodies, it matters. 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:17.400 It seems to me that our world gets this wrong in two extremes. 00:09:17.520 --> 00:09:19.140 On the one hand, we obsess about the body. 00:09:20.360 --> 00:09:20.560 Right? 00:09:20.620 --> 00:09:22.340 Remember going to the gym back in the day. 00:09:23.640 --> 00:09:24.640 Speaking to people there. 00:09:24.820 --> 00:09:26.040 What are you guys doing today? 00:09:26.400 --> 00:09:27.280 What do they come back with? 00:09:27.320 --> 00:09:28.040 We're sculpting. 00:09:29.180 --> 00:09:29.760 That's what they said. 00:09:30.120 --> 00:09:30.480 Sculpting. 00:09:31.220 --> 00:09:31.400 Right? 00:09:32.600 --> 00:09:32.960 Diets. 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:33.920 Protein shakes. 00:09:34.040 --> 00:09:34.460 Whey bars. 00:09:34.600 --> 00:09:35.120 Strict regime. 00:09:35.520 --> 00:09:36.860 Obsessed with how they look. 00:09:37.020 --> 00:09:40.660 We live in a world where images, magazines, Facebook, everything. 00:09:40.659 --> 00:09:43.240 And just obsessed with the body. 00:09:43.299 --> 00:09:47.100 And we think to ourselves, if only if we could look like that, then we'd be happy. 00:09:49.639 --> 00:09:51.659 Obsessed with the body, on the other hand, we neglect the body. 00:09:51.719 --> 00:09:54.120 We don't see it as fearfully and wonderfully made. 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:55.740 In fact, we see it as unimportant. 00:09:56.500 --> 00:10:00.959 And we see it as almost disposable and changeable to what we fancy. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:02.600 Right? 00:10:02.600 --> 00:10:08.980 We're going to see next week so much more about this and how our bodies are affected by the fall. 00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:16.680 But for now, do you see that the body is both a deliberately designed and a precious thing? 00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:28.719 And as we look at our own bodies and take that in, this passage calls us beyond that to see the God who we are so dependent on. 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:32.859 The God whose very breath is in us. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:38.319 And it throws us to look at him and to find our identity in who he is. 00:10:38.379 --> 00:10:43.179 Not in how we feel, which is so changeable, but in him. 00:10:43.179 --> 00:10:49.419 Again, remember what we said last week, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 00:10:49.539 --> 00:10:56.759 And you understand what Paul says, isn't he, in Romans 12 there, when he encourages the Christians in Rome to offer what as their spiritual sacrifice? 00:10:57.699 --> 00:10:58.399 Their bodies. 00:11:00.259 --> 00:11:01.459 Everything that they are. 00:11:02.179 --> 00:11:02.979 God has made them. 00:11:03.159 --> 00:11:07.579 And he's made us for the purpose of worshipping and knowing him. 00:11:07.580 --> 00:11:08.060 Right? 00:11:09.340 --> 00:11:14.200 Second way God shows his goodness in this passage is in planting the garden. 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:15.520 Come with me to verse 8. 00:11:17.900 --> 00:11:21.480 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east in Eden. 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:27.100 And there he put the man he had formed. 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:30.879 So Eden is a real place, right? 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:31.580 This is not Narnia. 00:11:32.300 --> 00:11:33.800 This is not Middle Earth. 00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:38.539 The writer is letting us know that if you type this, right? 00:11:38.599 --> 00:11:39.339 Try and imagine this. 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:44.120 If you type this into Sat Nav back in the day, right? 00:11:44.219 --> 00:11:46.539 You would end up in a place. 00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:50.299 And you can figure that out where that is from the four rivers there, right? 00:11:50.699 --> 00:11:54.359 Read commentators that will kind of show you where that is. 00:11:54.939 --> 00:11:57.479 But do you see more than that what this place is? 00:11:57.539 --> 00:12:02.259 This is a, as my flatmate, Univ, who was from down south, used to say, this is a lush place. 00:12:03.379 --> 00:12:03.559 Yeah? 00:12:04.459 --> 00:12:05.179 Lush place. 00:12:05.259 --> 00:12:06.559 This is a lavish place. 00:12:06.699 --> 00:12:10.159 Do you see God's goodness in this? 00:12:10.219 --> 00:12:11.120 His beauty in this? 00:12:11.139 --> 00:12:11.819 Look at verse 9. 00:12:12.099 --> 00:12:14.159 Do you see how God's not just a landscape gardener? 00:12:14.219 --> 00:12:15.740 Do you see how God's a food connoisseur? 00:12:16.419 --> 00:12:16.899 Love it. 00:12:17.959 --> 00:12:18.219 Right? 00:12:18.319 --> 00:12:20.819 He makes trees pleasing to the eye. 00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:22.319 Right? 00:12:22.359 --> 00:12:23.000 Good to look at. 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:26.299 And he makes them good for food. 00:12:27.659 --> 00:12:29.399 And the land's full of precious stones. 00:12:29.479 --> 00:12:29.919 You get it there. 00:12:30.039 --> 00:12:31.519 Gold, bdellium, onyx. 00:12:31.620 --> 00:12:33.359 And there's water everywhere. 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:35.100 Giving this place life. 00:12:35.700 --> 00:12:41.480 Do you see how the Lord positively delights in providing abundance for the man? 00:12:42.840 --> 00:12:43.360 Right? 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:48.039 This God, remember what he said at the start, is passionate about beauty and about the fullness 00:12:48.039 --> 00:12:49.240 of life. 00:12:49.240 --> 00:12:52.700 This is where God puts his man. 00:12:53.700 --> 00:12:54.100 Right? 00:12:54.100 --> 00:12:55.440 Not in economy class. 00:12:56.259 --> 00:13:00.600 Saying if you collect enough air miles, you might get bumped up to business class one day. 00:13:00.899 --> 00:13:03.480 No, he puts him in Eden. 00:13:04.820 --> 00:13:05.139 Right? 00:13:05.139 --> 00:13:05.199 Right? 00:13:05.259 --> 00:13:09.919 And in the Hebrew there, Eden is very similar to the Hebrew word for delight. 00:13:10.500 --> 00:13:12.159 You begin to see what's going on. 00:13:12.220 --> 00:13:13.259 The writer is telling us. 00:13:13.319 --> 00:13:15.500 This place is lush. 00:13:15.620 --> 00:13:16.419 It's beautiful. 00:13:17.779 --> 00:13:19.779 God is abundantly good, isn't he? 00:13:19.779 --> 00:13:25.339 Third way he shows his goodness is in defining the work. 00:13:26.620 --> 00:13:26.819 Okay? 00:13:26.839 --> 00:13:28.199 What is the man going to do in Eden? 00:13:28.319 --> 00:13:29.259 Is he going to sunbathe? 00:13:29.319 --> 00:13:30.159 Is he going to travel? 00:13:30.299 --> 00:13:31.199 Is he going to sightsee? 00:13:31.720 --> 00:13:31.879 No. 00:13:31.959 --> 00:13:34.279 God gives his man a job to do. 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:35.019 Verse 15. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:38.879 To work and to keep. 00:13:38.959 --> 00:13:39.779 Those are two verbs. 00:13:40.779 --> 00:13:42.600 To work and to keep. 00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:48.720 Which speaks of both protecting and cultivating. 00:13:50.920 --> 00:13:56.519 So using and developing the land's creative potential for the glory of God. 00:13:58.019 --> 00:13:59.080 And let me just say that. 00:13:59.139 --> 00:13:59.759 That's why. 00:14:00.060 --> 00:14:02.480 I don't know about you, but I love creativity. 00:14:02.779 --> 00:14:02.940 Right? 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:03.740 In life in general. 00:14:03.920 --> 00:14:04.940 Love creativity. 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:08.379 And that's why this should not surprise us. 00:14:08.440 --> 00:14:12.540 That flowing from this, human beings down the ages have done things like send fellow human 00:14:12.539 --> 00:14:13.620 beings into space. 00:14:14.779 --> 00:14:14.919 Right? 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:18.459 Just the creativity of humanity astounds me sometimes. 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:19.919 It still amazes me, right? 00:14:19.939 --> 00:14:24.459 That I can speak into a tiny bit of, I don't know what, is that plastic on my phone? 00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:26.559 And I can speak to somebody on the other side of the world. 00:14:26.759 --> 00:14:28.199 Still blows my mind how that happens. 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:28.740 I don't know. 00:14:28.959 --> 00:14:29.159 Right? 00:14:30.839 --> 00:14:32.519 Human beings inventing the telephone. 00:14:32.519 --> 00:14:34.379 Human beings building cathedrals. 00:14:34.519 --> 00:14:37.000 Human beings composing songs and poems. 00:14:38.519 --> 00:14:38.959 I love it. 00:14:38.980 --> 00:14:41.899 One of my favorite jazz artists, a man called John Coltrane. 00:14:43.159 --> 00:14:44.899 Most famous album, Love Supreme. 00:14:45.019 --> 00:14:46.099 He writes this in it. 00:14:46.459 --> 00:14:48.839 This album is a humble offering to God. 00:14:49.740 --> 00:14:54.799 And my attempt to say thank you, God, with my work, the same as I do with my heart and 00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:56.099 with my tongue. 00:14:58.099 --> 00:15:02.019 And see, next week, again, that one of the results of the fall is that our work will now 00:15:02.019 --> 00:15:05.299 be frustrating and hard and in many different ways. 00:15:05.299 --> 00:15:11.539 But do you see right now in chapter two that we need to appreciate that God gave work as 00:15:11.539 --> 00:15:14.019 part of his good design for human beings. 00:15:15.219 --> 00:15:17.839 We're not designed to be lazy, to sit around. 00:15:17.939 --> 00:15:23.099 We're designed to be working and doing stuff for his glory. 00:15:23.100 --> 00:15:29.040 As I say, as Christians, it should cause us to think differently about how we approach 00:15:29.040 --> 00:15:30.080 work, shouldn't it? 00:15:31.379 --> 00:15:36.879 As we live in a world that so often neglects work or, again, just obsesses over work. 00:15:36.920 --> 00:15:37.700 Those two extremes. 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:40.879 To be different in how we understand our work. 00:15:42.379 --> 00:15:43.740 And fast forward again to the New Testament. 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:45.120 You can check this out in your own time. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:51.060 You see, Paul encouraged the Christians in Ephesus not to be idle, but to work with their 00:15:51.060 --> 00:15:52.159 hands. 00:15:53.820 --> 00:15:56.120 To transform how we understand work. 00:15:56.220 --> 00:15:58.799 It's a good gift from God. 00:15:59.340 --> 00:16:02.259 But in all this, do you see how there is one stipulation? 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:04.139 Okay, come with me. 00:16:04.179 --> 00:16:05.360 Verse 16 and 17. 00:16:06.019 --> 00:16:10.340 In all this work, there is one thing that God says to the man. 00:16:10.340 --> 00:16:12.120 And the Lord God commanded the man, 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:18.500 You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge 00:16:18.500 --> 00:16:19.259 of good and evil. 00:16:19.940 --> 00:16:24.480 For when you eat of it, you will certainly die. 00:16:25.419 --> 00:16:28.159 So do you see how there's one rule in the garden? 00:16:29.320 --> 00:16:35.679 God says you can have access to everything else, but don't eat from that tree. 00:16:36.460 --> 00:16:36.799 Right? 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:41.379 It's an act of love because he knows that if Adam does that, he's going to die. 00:16:42.659 --> 00:16:44.080 But it begs the question, doesn't it? 00:16:44.100 --> 00:16:46.419 Why would you create that tree in the first place? 00:16:46.539 --> 00:16:47.899 It's the question we're all sitting here asking. 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:49.139 It's the question we should be asking. 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:51.639 Why create that tree in the first place? 00:16:51.700 --> 00:16:51.799 Right? 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:52.759 The text is silent. 00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:56.360 But let me pitch you an idea. 00:16:57.679 --> 00:16:57.919 Okay? 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:01.379 I'm one of three boys. 00:17:01.379 --> 00:17:05.359 And there was a rule in our house when we were growing up. 00:17:05.980 --> 00:17:06.339 Right? 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:09.119 And it came into play after we'd all passed our driving tests. 00:17:10.500 --> 00:17:15.720 And it came into play any time any of us wanted access to the car when we were going out at night. 00:17:16.539 --> 00:17:16.900 Right? 00:17:16.980 --> 00:17:20.880 And my dad would lay it down to us just before we were about to exit the door. 00:17:21.579 --> 00:17:24.200 And all he would say, and this became a joke in our house, three words. 00:17:25.019 --> 00:17:25.279 Right? 00:17:25.460 --> 00:17:26.599 Home by 11. 00:17:28.259 --> 00:17:29.059 Home by 11. 00:17:29.299 --> 00:17:31.359 Which looking back on it, it was extremely lenient really. 00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:32.019 Okay? 00:17:32.579 --> 00:17:34.960 So it comes to my girls when they're teenagers. 00:17:35.099 --> 00:17:36.000 They're not getting home by 11. 00:17:36.039 --> 00:17:37.000 They're getting bed by 10. 00:17:37.240 --> 00:17:37.440 Right? 00:17:39.660 --> 00:17:41.740 There's a boy involved that is bed by 9. 00:17:41.740 --> 00:17:42.680 You just got that forward. 00:17:43.980 --> 00:17:45.379 But do you know what? 00:17:45.420 --> 00:17:46.059 She's a teenager. 00:17:46.220 --> 00:17:47.059 I hated him for that. 00:17:48.059 --> 00:17:48.420 Right? 00:17:48.500 --> 00:17:49.259 Hated that rule. 00:17:50.259 --> 00:17:54.359 But see, looking back in it now, was my dad killing my joy like I thought he was? 00:17:54.859 --> 00:17:55.779 I don't think so. 00:17:56.660 --> 00:17:58.279 I think my dad was showing that he loved me. 00:17:59.640 --> 00:17:59.799 Right? 00:17:59.980 --> 00:18:02.099 Out late at night in the car, just passed my test. 00:18:02.200 --> 00:18:03.579 He knew I got tired. 00:18:04.539 --> 00:18:04.720 Right? 00:18:04.779 --> 00:18:06.879 Driving back late at night, not the safest thing to do. 00:18:06.879 --> 00:18:11.940 He knew that driving back at night, visibility is not everything that it should be. 00:18:14.379 --> 00:18:16.460 No, here's my dad saying it was good to be at home. 00:18:17.420 --> 00:18:18.700 It's good for you to be at home. 00:18:19.259 --> 00:18:20.420 And you'll flourish. 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:24.319 If you trust me, then I've got your best intentions in mind. 00:18:24.460 --> 00:18:31.379 How often is it the case in life that the boundaries that we think are killing our joy are actually there to help us live? 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:39.900 Is this God saying to Adam, if you have a chance to respond to God's abundant goodness, 00:18:40.440 --> 00:18:44.220 by saying, Adam, would you listen and obey my word? 00:18:44.359 --> 00:18:47.660 Show me that you love me through your obedience. 00:18:47.660 --> 00:18:49.840 Because trust me that I love you. 00:18:49.900 --> 00:18:55.900 And the best place for you to flourish is for you to live your life under my loving rule. 00:18:57.820 --> 00:18:59.519 Again, you fast forward to John 14. 00:18:59.660 --> 00:19:02.680 You've got Jesus there speaking with his disciples. 00:19:02.680 --> 00:19:07.299 How will they show him that they love him? 00:19:07.299 --> 00:19:10.480 By keeping his commands. 00:19:11.420 --> 00:19:12.539 Joy stealer? 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:13.900 Fun killer? 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:23.539 No, the testimony of every Christian submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ following his word is that he is the joy giver. 00:19:23.539 --> 00:19:31.759 He turned our obedience from being a drudgery into being a delight. 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:32.319 Why? 00:19:32.539 --> 00:19:37.099 Because we know the character of the one who gave it and he is good. 00:19:37.099 --> 00:19:42.740 God showed his goodness in defining the work. 00:19:42.879 --> 00:19:46.699 And finally, fourthly, he shows his goodness in creating the marriage. 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:48.799 Okay, verse 18. 00:19:48.899 --> 00:19:49.240 Do you see? 00:19:49.419 --> 00:19:51.079 And this should really hit us here. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:55.719 How, for the first time, God says that something is not good. 00:19:55.819 --> 00:19:59.019 And that should hit us because in chapter one, remember we saw and we thought about this. 00:19:59.259 --> 00:20:01.459 It just kept going good, good, good, good, good. 00:20:01.959 --> 00:20:02.679 Very good. 00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:06.759 Yeah, but we've zoned in on day six here. 00:20:06.840 --> 00:20:10.000 Something is not good and that should cause us to stop and ask, what is not good? 00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:13.340 What is not good is that the man that God has made is alone. 00:20:14.539 --> 00:20:15.759 Let's do a little bit of work there. 00:20:15.820 --> 00:20:17.440 Okay, that doesn't mean that he was lonely. 00:20:19.820 --> 00:20:26.380 What that means, sorry, this is not about God finding him a play date. 00:20:26.380 --> 00:20:33.540 Okay, this is about the man not being able to do the job that God had given him to do on his own. 00:20:33.660 --> 00:20:34.500 What does he need? 00:20:34.580 --> 00:20:36.040 He needs a helper. 00:20:37.140 --> 00:20:37.580 Right? 00:20:37.740 --> 00:20:39.460 That's not a derogatory term. 00:20:40.100 --> 00:20:45.220 You read the rest of the Bible, you hear God refer to himself as the helper of Israel. 00:20:45.320 --> 00:20:50.700 You fast forward to the New Testament, you see Jesus calling the Holy Spirit the helper. 00:20:50.700 --> 00:20:58.220 No, the helper is somebody who will come alongside to help the fulfillment of a God-given task. 00:20:59.059 --> 00:21:00.220 See, Adam needs a helper. 00:21:01.559 --> 00:21:02.120 And I love this. 00:21:02.180 --> 00:21:03.120 God, what does he do? 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:04.100 Just get the image in your head. 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:05.940 He troops out all the animals, right? 00:21:06.380 --> 00:21:07.180 Troops them all out. 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:08.759 Is that your help? 00:21:08.840 --> 00:21:08.960 No. 00:21:09.080 --> 00:21:09.380 Is that? 00:21:09.460 --> 00:21:09.620 No. 00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:10.340 Is that your help? 00:21:10.380 --> 00:21:14.440 And as a friend of mine once said, really glad that Adam never chose a hippo at this stage. 00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:15.600 Right? 00:21:15.720 --> 00:21:16.980 God troops out all the animals. 00:21:17.140 --> 00:21:18.500 No, no helper to be found. 00:21:18.500 --> 00:21:20.000 So God goes to work. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:23.799 Again, see the beauty and the goodness of God in this. 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:25.460 And with Adam asleep, what does he do? 00:21:25.700 --> 00:21:29.079 He takes a rib and he creates woman. 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:31.180 And I love it. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:34.519 This is what Puritan Matthew Hemery points out about this section. 00:21:35.220 --> 00:21:40.960 Notice that the woman isn't taken from Adam's head to be over him or from his feet to be under him, 00:21:41.299 --> 00:21:48.039 but from his rib to be beside him and for him to put his arm around her and love her. 00:21:48.500 --> 00:21:51.200 Here is woman. 00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:52.640 Right? 00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:57.319 Equal with Adam in dignity, but different from Adam in design. 00:21:57.500 --> 00:22:01.680 And the two so wonderfully complement one another. 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:10.600 You see, Adam and Eve, who God has brought together, and we need to see this with the express purpose, if you like, of facing outward. 00:22:11.380 --> 00:22:20.620 The two of them hand in hand facing outward and worshipping God together as they carry out the job that he has given them to do. 00:22:22.140 --> 00:22:22.900 What a team. 00:22:22.900 --> 00:22:29.780 And like a father of the bride, God walks Eve down the aisle to Adam. 00:22:30.180 --> 00:22:30.360 Right? 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:32.380 And here is the first marriage in the Bible. 00:22:32.519 --> 00:22:33.800 Adam is absolutely thrilled. 00:22:33.900 --> 00:22:34.380 Do you see it? 00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:35.980 Right? 00:22:36.080 --> 00:22:37.320 God, you're good. 00:22:37.420 --> 00:22:38.280 You nailed this one. 00:22:38.680 --> 00:22:38.840 Yeah? 00:22:39.280 --> 00:22:40.460 Feel Adam's joy in this. 00:22:40.519 --> 00:22:40.900 Do you see it? 00:22:40.900 --> 00:22:41.620 Verse 23. 00:22:42.519 --> 00:22:44.580 We get the best groom's speech ever. 00:22:45.580 --> 00:22:46.200 Don't we? 00:22:46.540 --> 00:22:48.320 Adam's not thanking his guests for coming. 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:51.399 Adam's not telling a few funny stories about her. 00:22:51.500 --> 00:22:55.700 Adam is heaping affectionate words on his bride. 00:22:55.819 --> 00:22:56.939 He sings about her. 00:22:57.019 --> 00:22:58.059 Look at verse 23. 00:22:59.559 --> 00:23:03.759 This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. 00:23:03.819 --> 00:23:06.019 He's celebrating the fact that he is like her. 00:23:07.439 --> 00:23:11.579 She shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man. 00:23:13.500 --> 00:23:14.679 And what does God say to them? 00:23:14.680 --> 00:23:18.860 We need to dip back in here, actually, to verse 28 of chapter 1. 00:23:20.320 --> 00:23:22.019 He says to them, fill the earth. 00:23:23.740 --> 00:23:25.259 Work, fill the earth. 00:23:25.400 --> 00:23:26.680 Work, fill the earth. 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:30.080 So, they have to be intimate together. 00:23:31.080 --> 00:23:33.460 They have to give themselves to one another. 00:23:33.560 --> 00:23:35.100 They have to have babies. 00:23:35.240 --> 00:23:36.480 They have to have sex. 00:23:36.560 --> 00:23:40.420 This is how they're going to fill the world, with fellow image bearers of God. 00:23:40.420 --> 00:23:46.100 And right there, we need to stop and appreciate that sex is a good gift from this good God. 00:23:47.340 --> 00:23:48.900 It is a good thing. 00:23:49.060 --> 00:23:49.360 Why? 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:50.900 Because it is a God thing. 00:23:52.740 --> 00:23:58.920 But here's also what we need to understand from the text, that this is more than just a physical thing. 00:24:00.460 --> 00:24:00.660 Right? 00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:02.360 We can come and chat this out afterwards if you want. 00:24:02.359 --> 00:24:07.059 But I would argue that it's been to the detriment of society that we often turn it into something like that. 00:24:07.159 --> 00:24:07.859 Purely physical. 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:08.799 It's more than that. 00:24:09.779 --> 00:24:10.019 Right? 00:24:10.139 --> 00:24:14.039 This is, as you see it here in the text, feel like this is a soul-on-soul thing. 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:18.199 It's two souls coming together. 00:24:18.539 --> 00:24:22.240 Surely, that is what God means when he talks about one flesh. 00:24:22.339 --> 00:24:23.299 There is a coming together. 00:24:23.299 --> 00:24:26.460 This is a precious, precious thing. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:35.879 And God says to enjoy it, his good gift within his good parameters of a marriage between one man and one woman. 00:24:36.539 --> 00:24:40.240 As they come together and are one flesh. 00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:42.779 It's God's good design. 00:24:42.899 --> 00:24:43.779 We love him for this. 00:24:43.879 --> 00:24:45.940 His good design for sex and marriage. 00:24:46.759 --> 00:24:50.940 Let me just say, in our world today where people think differently to this, 00:24:50.940 --> 00:24:53.299 we want to bless people who think differently to this. 00:24:53.380 --> 00:24:55.440 We want to love people who think differently to this. 00:24:55.500 --> 00:24:59.019 We want to care and serve for people who think differently to this. 00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:07.640 All the while affirming, obeying, and loving what God says in his word about his good design for sex and marriage. 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:11.580 And as we do those things, who is our example? 00:25:11.720 --> 00:25:12.279 It's Jesus. 00:25:13.420 --> 00:25:15.480 All out in his love for the word of the Lord. 00:25:16.420 --> 00:25:17.860 And all out in his love for people. 00:25:17.859 --> 00:25:21.259 Here is God's design. 00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:25.319 Do you know what I've been thinking about all week? 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:28.439 I've been thinking about amoeba. 00:25:31.159 --> 00:25:31.559 Right? 00:25:32.159 --> 00:25:33.419 Show you how I got there, okay? 00:25:35.179 --> 00:25:39.639 Now, have you ever asked yourself why God created two sexes? 00:25:41.559 --> 00:25:42.399 Ever asked that? 00:25:43.219 --> 00:25:44.039 You haven't asked that. 00:25:44.099 --> 00:25:44.559 You're not asking that. 00:25:44.599 --> 00:25:45.459 You're getting this, okay? 00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:46.599 Two sexes. 00:25:46.599 --> 00:25:52.579 Because if we are made, think about it, in the image of this three-in-one God, 00:25:52.740 --> 00:25:56.959 if we were made in his image to almost reflect something of who he is, 00:25:57.240 --> 00:26:01.559 why did God not create one sex to reflect his oneness? 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:03.259 Yeah? 00:26:03.459 --> 00:26:07.379 Because life would be a lot easier in some respects if we were all amoeba, 00:26:07.539 --> 00:26:09.519 if we were all snails, wouldn't it, in some respects. 00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:11.460 Why did God not create one sex? 00:26:11.460 --> 00:26:12.400 Flip it around. 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:16.759 Why did God not create three sexes to reflect his threeness? 00:26:17.960 --> 00:26:20.879 Why did God create two sexes? 00:26:22.879 --> 00:26:24.180 Well, surely the answer, 00:26:26.119 --> 00:26:30.440 and showing us that the goodness and the greatness of God, 00:26:30.700 --> 00:26:32.480 is that in the fullness of time, 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:36.660 we would come to understand the ultimate marriage. 00:26:38.140 --> 00:26:38.900 Right here. 00:26:40.539 --> 00:26:44.620 The one that our marriages on earth are meant to be based upon and point to. 00:26:44.619 --> 00:26:50.399 The marriage on the last day when Jesus, heaven's groom, 00:26:51.139 --> 00:26:56.199 returns to take home and marry his bride, the church. 00:26:56.759 --> 00:26:58.039 It's got to be the reason. 00:26:58.799 --> 00:27:02.459 And that is why we love the Genesis 2 marriage, 00:27:02.539 --> 00:27:05.979 because we understand it with the New Testament understanding, 00:27:05.980 --> 00:27:07.420 with the New Testament lenses on, 00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:09.680 and we see that we love this marriage, 00:27:09.720 --> 00:27:11.259 because it points to that marriage. 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:14.220 It points to that marriage. 00:27:14.579 --> 00:27:17.819 And it's so important that all of us here today understand 00:27:17.819 --> 00:27:20.460 who Jesus is and understand that marriage, 00:27:20.500 --> 00:27:22.039 because many of us will be here today, 00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:23.880 and we're struggling in all sorts of ways, 00:27:24.360 --> 00:27:26.339 at the very mention of sex and marriage. 00:27:26.860 --> 00:27:27.039 Okay? 00:27:27.099 --> 00:27:28.920 We're struggling over previous marriages. 00:27:29.099 --> 00:27:30.579 We're struggling over current marriages. 00:27:30.759 --> 00:27:32.420 We're struggling over regrets. 00:27:32.539 --> 00:27:33.779 We're struggling about singleness. 00:27:33.779 --> 00:27:37.440 And we need to understand that it's about that marriage. 00:27:39.619 --> 00:27:40.960 All right, I've used this before, 00:27:41.099 --> 00:27:43.639 but I'll preach this prerogative and use it again, okay? 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:45.480 I remember when I was growing up, 00:27:45.559 --> 00:27:47.200 90s, big film, Jenny Maguire. 00:27:48.519 --> 00:27:48.779 Okay? 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:52.279 One of the most quoted films of my lifetime growing up, certainly. 00:27:53.119 --> 00:27:54.420 If you haven't even watched it, 00:27:54.440 --> 00:27:55.440 you'll know these two lines, 00:27:55.519 --> 00:27:56.859 because they're so commonplace, right? 00:27:56.920 --> 00:27:58.420 The first one from that film was, 00:27:58.519 --> 00:27:59.139 Show me the money. 00:28:00.220 --> 00:28:01.019 Heard of that one, yeah? 00:28:01.420 --> 00:28:02.240 Show me the money. 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:05.319 Second line, the one that Jerry said to his, 00:28:05.880 --> 00:28:08.059 the girl that he fell in love with was, 00:28:08.740 --> 00:28:09.880 You complete me. 00:28:10.940 --> 00:28:11.920 You complete me. 00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:16.339 I've been at weddings where people say that all the time, 00:28:16.579 --> 00:28:17.500 right, in their speeches. 00:28:17.640 --> 00:28:18.240 You complete me. 00:28:18.299 --> 00:28:18.900 You complete me. 00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:19.620 You complete me. 00:28:20.200 --> 00:28:21.799 Let me just say, it's cute. 00:28:23.099 --> 00:28:24.120 But friends, I don't buy it. 00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:26.599 I don't buy it. 00:28:27.480 --> 00:28:27.740 Right? 00:28:28.019 --> 00:28:28.880 Don't hear me wrong. 00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:29.820 I've been married to Alex. 00:28:29.900 --> 00:28:32.380 She's my best friend for nine years. 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:35.700 And you know what? 00:28:35.720 --> 00:28:36.200 I love her. 00:28:36.380 --> 00:28:36.500 Okay? 00:28:36.500 --> 00:28:37.180 She's my best mate. 00:28:37.320 --> 00:28:37.660 Love her. 00:28:38.280 --> 00:28:39.620 But she does not complete me. 00:28:41.160 --> 00:28:42.940 And because she lives with me and sees me warts and all, 00:28:43.060 --> 00:28:43.220 let me, 00:28:43.460 --> 00:28:44.380 she will tell you, 00:28:44.500 --> 00:28:44.740 okay, 00:28:44.800 --> 00:28:46.400 I do not complete her. 00:28:47.340 --> 00:28:47.400 Right? 00:28:47.400 --> 00:28:48.560 But think about it. 00:28:48.580 --> 00:28:50.840 How could we complete one another? 00:28:51.900 --> 00:28:53.140 Given who we are, 00:28:53.240 --> 00:28:54.540 given that we have, 00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:55.759 we were made of dust, 00:28:55.920 --> 00:28:57.440 that we make mistakes all the time. 00:28:57.500 --> 00:28:59.860 How could we complete one another? 00:28:59.960 --> 00:29:00.560 Let me just say, 00:29:00.620 --> 00:29:01.600 whoever you are here today, 00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:03.060 whatever you think about any of this, 00:29:03.340 --> 00:29:05.600 there's only one person who will complete you. 00:29:06.259 --> 00:29:07.519 And his name is Jesus. 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:10.140 One who satisfies. 00:29:10.920 --> 00:29:13.140 One who gives life. 00:29:13.140 --> 00:29:14.620 Jesus. 00:29:15.460 --> 00:29:19.080 The one who calls us to follow him. 00:29:20.020 --> 00:29:21.540 To deny self. 00:29:21.720 --> 00:29:24.120 To take up cross and to follow him. 00:29:24.840 --> 00:29:27.800 The one who offers us forgiveness and wholeness. 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:30.520 And the one who says in John chapter 10, 00:29:30.620 --> 00:29:31.220 verse 10, 00:29:31.300 --> 00:29:35.080 that I have come that you may have life. 00:29:35.740 --> 00:29:39.120 And life in all its fullness. 00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:40.439 See, 00:29:40.500 --> 00:29:40.859 Jesus, 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:45.339 the very embodiment of the goodness of God. 00:29:46.479 --> 00:29:48.859 Giving us his son. 00:29:49.479 --> 00:29:50.159 And I always love it, 00:29:50.199 --> 00:29:53.859 that part in the wedding ceremony, 00:29:53.959 --> 00:29:55.039 when the couple read out together, 00:29:55.139 --> 00:29:55.719 with my body, 00:29:55.839 --> 00:29:56.439 I honor you. 00:29:56.519 --> 00:29:57.219 And all that I am, 00:29:57.279 --> 00:29:57.839 I give to you. 00:29:57.899 --> 00:29:58.599 And all that I have, 00:29:58.659 --> 00:29:59.659 I share with you. 00:29:59.719 --> 00:30:00.939 You know that part of the vows? 00:30:02.119 --> 00:30:03.039 I was thinking this week, 00:30:03.379 --> 00:30:04.459 boy, 00:30:04.599 --> 00:30:07.079 how Jesus can say that to his bride in the final day. 00:30:07.079 --> 00:30:08.079 Right? 00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:12.819 He went to the cross. 00:30:12.939 --> 00:30:16.599 He gave himself fully to pay his bride's debt of sin 00:30:16.599 --> 00:30:19.439 and to win her for himself. 00:30:20.099 --> 00:30:24.359 And that joyous relationship that he has with the father, 00:30:25.019 --> 00:30:27.559 his people share in now, 00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:30.879 because we are joined to him. 00:30:30.980 --> 00:30:32.720 He has made us his own. 00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:37.220 And all the promises that he gives us to those who trust in him, 00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:38.740 that we read at the end of Revelation, 00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:41.079 of a new heavens and a new earth, 00:30:41.140 --> 00:30:42.779 a new heavenly city. 00:30:44.140 --> 00:30:46.039 What do we read in Revelation 22? 00:30:46.220 --> 00:30:47.839 It's in the middle of that city. 00:30:48.980 --> 00:30:49.799 A garden. 00:30:52.059 --> 00:30:54.140 What's in the middle of the garden? 00:30:55.180 --> 00:30:56.360 The tree of life. 00:30:56.359 --> 00:30:59.159 In other words, 00:30:59.240 --> 00:31:02.039 God's new Jerusalem will be like the garden of Eden. 00:31:02.899 --> 00:31:04.039 In all its beauty, 00:31:04.139 --> 00:31:06.459 except it will be bigger and better. 00:31:08.939 --> 00:31:09.979 God is so good. 00:31:10.919 --> 00:31:12.199 Did you get that from this chapter? 00:31:12.339 --> 00:31:14.479 He is so good. 00:31:16.939 --> 00:31:18.479 And where we need to leave this chapter, 00:31:18.619 --> 00:31:19.339 verse 25, 00:31:19.559 --> 00:31:20.500 the last word, 00:31:21.439 --> 00:31:23.719 I want you to notice what's not here. 00:31:23.720 --> 00:31:26.880 What's not here? 00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:28.860 Shame's not here. 00:31:30.759 --> 00:31:32.440 And guilt's not here. 00:31:33.600 --> 00:31:35.299 And pain is not here. 00:31:36.180 --> 00:31:38.140 And suffering is not here. 00:31:38.900 --> 00:31:40.799 And regret is not here. 00:31:41.420 --> 00:31:43.799 And death is not here. 00:31:44.579 --> 00:31:45.900 Which shows you, doesn't it, 00:31:45.900 --> 00:31:46.720 that these things, 00:31:46.779 --> 00:31:48.339 as they affect all of us, 00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:50.980 did not originate in God's good design. 00:31:51.059 --> 00:31:52.240 They must have come from somewhere else. 00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:54.819 You need to come back next week to see how that works out. 00:31:55.859 --> 00:31:56.480 But for now, 00:31:56.539 --> 00:31:56.700 friends, 00:31:56.740 --> 00:31:58.160 do you see how this God is so, 00:31:58.480 --> 00:31:59.720 so good? 00:32:00.500 --> 00:32:02.720 He is so good. 00:32:04.900 --> 00:32:05.400 And listen, 00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:05.920 as we close, 00:32:05.980 --> 00:32:08.680 we started by thinking about some people in life who are killjoys, 00:32:08.779 --> 00:32:08.920 right? 00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:10.180 Let me put the man on the screen, 00:32:10.299 --> 00:32:10.940 Freddie Mercury, 00:32:11.059 --> 00:32:11.859 who sang what? 00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:13.839 He was having a good time. 00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:15.079 Wasn't he? 00:32:16.099 --> 00:32:16.440 Right? 00:32:16.920 --> 00:32:17.799 Don't stop me now. 00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:18.960 I'm having such a good time. 00:32:19.019 --> 00:32:19.720 I'm having a ball. 00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:20.500 Great song. 00:32:20.620 --> 00:32:20.759 Okay, 00:32:20.759 --> 00:32:21.440 don't hear me wrong. 00:32:21.440 --> 00:32:23.980 But I read this this week, 00:32:24.100 --> 00:32:25.900 that seven years after that song was released, 00:32:25.960 --> 00:32:27.059 he said this in an interview. 00:32:27.320 --> 00:32:27.440 Okay, 00:32:27.500 --> 00:32:27.860 he said, 00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:31.400 you can have everything in the world and still be the loneliest man. 00:32:31.720 --> 00:32:33.980 And that is the most bitter type of loneliness. 00:32:35.140 --> 00:32:39.940 Success has brought me world idolization and millions of pounds, 00:32:40.140 --> 00:32:43.360 but it's prevented me from having the one thing that we all need, 00:32:43.600 --> 00:32:44.279 a loving, 00:32:44.660 --> 00:32:45.440 ongoing relationship. 00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:46.160 relationship. 00:32:47.580 --> 00:32:48.799 Six years after that, 00:32:49.480 --> 00:32:50.860 man dies a tragic, 00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:51.700 tragic death. 00:32:53.740 --> 00:32:53.880 See, 00:32:53.940 --> 00:32:55.240 Genesis 2 asks us, 00:32:55.779 --> 00:33:02.059 maybe where you're looking for the good life is not where you'll find it. 00:33:03.779 --> 00:33:04.440 Asks us, 00:33:04.519 --> 00:33:05.140 where are we looking? 00:33:05.140 --> 00:33:11.600 And then it beckons us to come to the good God. 00:33:11.600 --> 00:33:18.759 And to find life with this good God under his rule. 00:33:19.460 --> 00:33:19.620 Friends, 00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:22.860 we were made for a relationship with this good God. 00:33:22.940 --> 00:33:25.880 And it is ours through faith in Jesus Christ. 00:33:26.280 --> 00:33:26.980 The one who said, 00:33:27.100 --> 00:33:29.880 I've come to that you may have life. 00:33:30.800 --> 00:33:32.040 What is this telling us? 00:33:32.080 --> 00:33:33.540 It's telling us that this God is good. 00:33:33.539 --> 00:33:36.220 He is so good. 00:33:36.960 --> 00:33:40.940 And his steadfast love endures forever. 00:33:42.019 --> 00:33:43.019 Let's pray together. 00:33:47.460 --> 00:33:48.139 And father, 00:33:48.220 --> 00:33:50.879 we ask that your Holy spirit would be at work in our hearts. 00:33:50.980 --> 00:33:51.259 No, 00:33:52.259 --> 00:33:52.539 Lord, 00:33:52.579 --> 00:33:55.200 as we chew over some of the things that you're, 00:33:55.279 --> 00:33:55.579 you're, 00:33:56.180 --> 00:33:57.819 we've seen in your word today. 00:33:58.500 --> 00:33:58.980 Father, 00:33:59.059 --> 00:34:00.579 as these land on our hearts, 00:34:00.659 --> 00:34:03.399 we pray for that he would come and bring, 00:34:03.400 --> 00:34:03.820 healing, 00:34:03.980 --> 00:34:06.019 that he would bring understanding, 00:34:07.019 --> 00:34:07.140 father, 00:34:07.200 --> 00:34:11.079 that he would bring forgiveness and life as he points us to the person of 00:34:11.079 --> 00:34:11.380 Jesus. 00:34:11.579 --> 00:34:12.559 So in the silence now, 00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:13.160 dear father, 00:34:13.240 --> 00:34:15.880 I pray that you would be at work by your spirit in our hearts. 00:34:15.880 --> 00:34:16.599 Lord, 00:34:16.599 --> 00:34:23.280 thank you for your abundant goodness. 00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:29.780 Help us grasp and live in light of the fact that you are good all the time. 00:34:30.640 --> 00:34:32.480 And all the time you are good. 00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:33.720 Lord, 00:34:33.760 --> 00:34:34.340 we love you. 00:34:34.559 --> 00:34:36.340 Thank you that we love you simply because, 00:34:36.559 --> 00:34:38.280 and only because you loved us first. 00:34:38.940 --> 00:34:41.260 And we pray these things in Jesus's precious name. 00:34:41.559 --> 00:34:41.860 Amen. 00:34:41.860 --> 00:34:42.000 Amen. 00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:42.039 Amen. 00:34:42.039 --> 00:34:42.059 Amen. 00:34:42.059 --> 00:34:42.099 Amen. 00:34:42.099 --> 00:34:42.140 Amen.