WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.160 Good morning, church. It's my pleasure to read to you this morning from Genesis. I'll give you half an hour to find it. 00:00:09.160 --> 00:00:14.480 ! It's on page three. I think we've already got it. 00:00:18.219 --> 00:00:22.420 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 00:00:23.320 --> 00:00:28.000 Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was over the surface of the deep. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:31.359 And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 00:00:32.299 --> 00:00:36.060 And God said, let there be light. And there was light. 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:42.019 God saw that the light was good. And he separated the light from the darkness. 00:00:42.920 --> 00:00:47.299 God called the light day. And the darkness he called night. 00:00:48.439 --> 00:00:51.920 And there was evening and there was morning. The first day. 00:00:52.879 --> 00:00:57.939 And God said, let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water. 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:03.939 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. 00:01:04.299 --> 00:01:05.560 And it was so. 00:01:06.260 --> 00:01:08.260 God called the vault sky. 00:01:09.239 --> 00:01:11.620 And there was evening. And there was morning. 00:01:12.500 --> 00:01:13.200 The second day. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:19.320 And God said, let the water under the sky be gathered to one place. 00:01:19.980 --> 00:01:21.859 And let dry ground appear. 00:01:22.659 --> 00:01:23.920 And it was so. 00:01:24.920 --> 00:01:27.640 God called the dry ground land. 00:01:28.260 --> 00:01:31.480 And the gathered waters he called seas. 00:01:32.040 --> 00:01:33.920 And God saw that it was good. 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:44.060 Then God said, let the land produce vegetation, seed bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruits with seed in it, 00:01:44.519 --> 00:01:46.320 according to their various kinds. 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:48.219 And it was so. 00:01:48.839 --> 00:01:56.659 The land produced vegetation, plants bearing seed according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruits with seed in it, 00:01:56.780 --> 00:01:57.959 according to their kinds. 00:01:57.959 --> 00:02:00.559 And God saw that it was good. 00:02:01.640 --> 00:02:02.439 And there was evening. 00:02:02.899 --> 00:02:03.839 And there was morning. 00:02:04.500 --> 00:02:05.179 The third day. 00:02:05.180 --> 00:02:12.520 And God said, let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night. 00:02:13.020 --> 00:02:18.219 And let them serve as signs to mark sacred times and days and years. 00:02:19.040 --> 00:02:22.900 And let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth. 00:02:23.460 --> 00:02:24.460 And it was so. 00:02:25.700 --> 00:02:27.700 God made two great lights. 00:02:28.260 --> 00:02:32.100 The greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. 00:02:32.099 --> 00:02:34.560 He also made the stars. 00:02:35.859 --> 00:02:39.099 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:43.699 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. 00:02:44.459 --> 00:02:46.439 And God saw that it was good. 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:48.379 And there was evening. 00:02:48.799 --> 00:02:49.659 And there was morning. 00:02:50.199 --> 00:02:51.019 The fourth day. 00:02:52.340 --> 00:02:58.979 And God said, let the water team with living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky. 00:02:58.979 --> 00:03:09.319 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teams and that moves about in it according to their kinds. 00:03:10.039 --> 00:03:12.439 And every winged bird according to its kind. 00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:15.060 And God saw that it was good. 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:24.479 God blessed them and said, be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas and let the birds increase on the earth. 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:27.199 And there was evening and there was morning. 00:03:27.979 --> 00:03:28.679 The fifth day. 00:03:30.359 --> 00:03:38.419 And God said, let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds, the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, 00:03:38.659 --> 00:03:42.000 and the wild animals, each according to its kind. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:43.639 And it was so. 00:03:43.639 --> 00:03:54.579 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. 00:03:55.139 --> 00:03:57.279 And God saw that it was good. 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:09.479 Then God said, let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, 00:04:09.800 --> 00:04:16.819 over the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground. 00:04:16.819 --> 00:04:21.719 So, God created mankind in his own image. 00:04:22.620 --> 00:04:24.759 In the image of God, he created them. 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:27.360 Male and female, he created them. 00:04:28.360 --> 00:04:32.360 God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number. 00:04:33.100 --> 00:04:35.000 Fill the earth and subdue it. 00:04:35.899 --> 00:04:42.539 Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, and over every living creature that moves on the ground. 00:04:42.540 --> 00:04:51.920 Then God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth, and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. 00:04:52.640 --> 00:04:54.420 They will be yours for food. 00:04:55.580 --> 00:05:01.640 And to all the beasts of the earth, and all the birds in the sky, and all the creatures that move along the ground, 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:07.240 everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food. 00:05:07.840 --> 00:05:09.259 And it was so. 00:05:09.259 --> 00:05:14.019 So, God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. 00:05:14.860 --> 00:05:18.620 And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day. 00:05:20.719 --> 00:05:21.159 Amen. 00:05:22.099 --> 00:05:24.459 Great. Thank you so much for reading for us, John. 00:05:24.519 --> 00:05:26.839 Let me pray as we come to God's word. Let me pray. 00:05:26.839 --> 00:05:37.119 Loving Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a God who not only made us by speaking, 00:05:38.119 --> 00:05:42.219 but now loves to speak to us through your word, by your spirit. 00:05:43.419 --> 00:05:46.299 And so we pray this morning that you might help us to listen well, 00:05:47.159 --> 00:05:49.799 not so much to me, but to what you are saying through me. 00:05:49.800 --> 00:05:54.480 I pray that all of us, including me, might have tender hearts to your word. 00:05:55.220 --> 00:05:58.199 In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. 00:06:00.199 --> 00:06:07.199 If you were with us a few weeks ago, I introduced to you this four-part series that we're doing on creation. 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:13.699 And you will have heard my kind of pipe dream of time travel, right? 00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:19.639 So I got you to imagine this idea of time traveling and going back into ancient times 00:06:19.639 --> 00:06:22.519 and putting something modern in the hands of someone ancient. 00:06:23.419 --> 00:06:26.719 And so we thought about a Roman soldier who might be sitting in a Tesla 00:06:26.719 --> 00:06:29.500 or a Victorian who was holding an iPhone. 00:06:29.500 --> 00:06:36.379 And the point of the illustration was to make us sort of realize that the Roman soldier in the Tesla 00:06:36.379 --> 00:06:41.500 and the Victorian with an iPhone would have no idea what to do with what you had given them 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:47.000 because they had no idea where that came from or what purpose it was made for. 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:54.480 And the point of the illustration is that in the absence of solid answers for where I came from 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:59.900 or why I was made, then we are also similarly lost and confused. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:06.340 And worse than just lost and confused, we tend to misuse what we have been given, 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:11.060 misuse our own lies by using them for purposes which they weren't intended. 00:07:12.420 --> 00:07:16.040 Like a Victorian using an iPhone as a hammer, for example. 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:20.220 Chat GPT is a wonderful thing, isn't it? 00:07:20.220 --> 00:07:28.440 Now, you don't need me to tell you this because you see this kind of brokenness all around you in the world, don't you? 00:07:29.240 --> 00:07:35.120 It's in our communities, it's in our families, it's in our workplaces, it's even in our church. 00:07:35.760 --> 00:07:44.940 This sort of restlessness in our own souls, this sense that we have not quite arrived at the place that we long to be. 00:07:45.420 --> 00:07:49.580 A sense that it doesn't all work together well, it doesn't quite fit. 00:07:50.220 --> 00:07:53.660 And that's why I want to suggest to you that whether you're a Christian or not this morning, 00:07:53.720 --> 00:07:59.320 whether this is the first time you've been in church or you've been coming to church for longer than most people in this room have been alive, 00:07:59.840 --> 00:08:04.140 I want to suggest to you that you must lay this foundation first. 00:08:04.740 --> 00:08:10.660 These truths are so foundational and we need to keep returning to them, this doctrine of creation. 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:14.520 Now, the focus last time was on who made the world. 00:08:14.519 --> 00:08:23.439 We saw that the world was made in Genesis 1-3 by an eternal, triune God who made the world from nothing for his glory. 00:08:24.019 --> 00:08:27.859 And we thought about how that means that our lives are given to us for the purpose of worship. 00:08:28.500 --> 00:08:33.480 We are here to make God look great, to ascribe worthiness to him. 00:08:33.579 --> 00:08:39.059 Not so much in just what we sing, but in all of life, given to us to reflect the glory of another. 00:08:39.059 --> 00:08:42.359 And if you didn't hear that, I'm not going to tell you all over again. 00:08:42.479 --> 00:08:45.179 You can go back and have a listen to it. It's on the church website. 00:08:45.899 --> 00:08:51.119 Now, we're going to move on this morning to think about how that God of creation creates. 00:08:51.219 --> 00:08:56.819 So the how God creates, the what God creates, and the why he makes it in the way he does. 00:08:57.399 --> 00:09:01.399 So how, what, and why is our territory this morning. 00:09:01.479 --> 00:09:03.479 And we're going to start with how. 00:09:04.099 --> 00:09:04.479 How. 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:09.320 Now, you will have noticed, as John read, and you will have known if you were here a couple of weeks ago, 00:09:09.379 --> 00:09:13.360 that we saw that God makes the world from nothing by speaking. 00:09:13.820 --> 00:09:17.680 But you will notice that there is a lot more detail than just that in Genesis 1 and 2. 00:09:17.820 --> 00:09:19.740 So look down at it with me. 00:09:19.860 --> 00:09:20.560 Verse 1. 00:09:21.379 --> 00:09:23.460 God creates from nothing. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:27.440 God, in the beginning, creates the heavens and the earth. 00:09:27.800 --> 00:09:32.500 And the earth is formless and empty in the beginning, says verse 2. 00:09:32.500 --> 00:09:38.940 What follows, then, having made this formless and empty world, 00:09:39.340 --> 00:09:45.200 is that then God orders that world by forming and filling it in the six days that follow. 00:09:46.059 --> 00:09:52.039 So on day 1, in verses 3 to 5, he forms the light and separates it from the darkness, 00:09:52.580 --> 00:09:56.679 making a space called day and another called night. 00:09:56.679 --> 00:10:03.219 In day 2, in verses 6 to 8, he forms a vault between the water above and the water below, 00:10:03.319 --> 00:10:05.079 a vault he calls sky. 00:10:05.859 --> 00:10:13.799 Then in day 3, in verses 9 to 13, he gathers the waters and forms a space that is called dry land, 00:10:14.459 --> 00:10:17.399 which produces vegetation and plants. 00:10:17.399 --> 00:10:22.240 Then on day 4, verses 14 to 19, he starts filling. 00:10:22.899 --> 00:10:26.939 And he first fills the day and the night with the sun, moon, and the stars. 00:10:28.379 --> 00:10:36.740 Then on day 5, he fills the sky of day 2 with birds and the waters below with living creatures. 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:44.240 And on day 6, he fills the land from day 3 with living creatures, including men and women. 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:48.560 And then on day 7, which we didn't read, in chapter 2, verses 2 to 3, 00:10:48.940 --> 00:10:55.060 God ceases from his creating work and calls the day holy and rests from the work of creation. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:11:01.019 So here you have this pattern of forming and then filling what is formed, 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:05.279 or separating and adorning, as some theologians call it, 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:07.919 creating the space and filling the space, 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:11.580 so that the formless and empty chaos of verse 1 00:11:11.580 --> 00:11:16.860 becomes the formed and filled world that we're told is very good in verse 31. 00:11:18.379 --> 00:11:23.040 Now, let me just point out a couple of fairly obvious things from this that we have just read. 00:11:23.960 --> 00:11:27.220 Notice, firstly, the importance of repetition in these verses. 00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:29.800 John read it beautifully to us, didn't we? 00:11:29.820 --> 00:11:32.780 And we notice that there's just repetition all the way through. 00:11:33.160 --> 00:11:35.139 Lots of words get repeated over and over. 00:11:35.400 --> 00:11:37.940 And it starts with the word day, doesn't it? 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:40.020 There was evening and there was morning. 00:11:40.019 --> 00:11:47.799 We then see that God said, and the result is always, and it was so. 00:11:48.699 --> 00:11:52.600 Culminating in this, and God saw that it was good. 00:11:53.299 --> 00:11:56.500 And then at the end, it is very good in the culmination of creation. 00:11:57.379 --> 00:11:59.340 So there's a sort of repetition and structure. 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:01.559 God says, it happens, it's good. 00:12:01.659 --> 00:12:03.120 God says, it happens, it's good. 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:08.460 And all of those build this sort of six and one pattern, don't they? 00:12:08.580 --> 00:12:11.360 Six days and then one day rest. 00:12:12.120 --> 00:12:16.960 In other words, God, the God of creation is the God of order, not the God of chaos. 00:12:17.460 --> 00:12:19.899 God is the God who brings order out of chaos. 00:12:20.340 --> 00:12:21.740 That's the first thing to notice, repetition. 00:12:21.980 --> 00:12:25.220 Second thing to notice is that not all your questions are answered. 00:12:25.220 --> 00:12:32.019 I don't know about you, but maybe you have some burning questions that you would love to ask, Genesis chapter one and two. 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:35.080 But as you read it, you realize that they are not answered. 00:12:35.680 --> 00:12:38.120 It's not a scientific document, is it? 00:12:38.139 --> 00:12:39.259 It's a theological one. 00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:43.560 Not because it doesn't have anything to say about science or how we study the world. 00:12:43.899 --> 00:12:46.160 In fact, it has rather a lot to say about those things. 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:55.759 But rather the intention here is that you and I see the structure, the purpose, the plan and the beauty, even while we're not told everything that we would love to be told. 00:12:56.659 --> 00:12:58.579 So just take the word day, for example. 00:12:59.179 --> 00:13:03.259 The intention is clearly that we understand these to be six days, to be days. 00:13:03.379 --> 00:13:05.100 You know, that's the way the word is used. 00:13:05.459 --> 00:13:07.419 But when you look at them, they're unusual, aren't they? 00:13:07.419 --> 00:13:17.059 So we're told that there is evening and morning on each of those days, even before there's a sun to rise or a sun to set, until it's created on day four. 00:13:17.899 --> 00:13:24.979 Then on day seven, there is no evening and there is no morning, because in some sense we're to understand that there is an endless day seven. 00:13:26.139 --> 00:13:26.939 Now, what does that mean? 00:13:27.419 --> 00:13:28.419 Well, we're not really told. 00:13:28.419 --> 00:13:37.719 Now, we're to understand that that means that there are some bad questions to ask Genesis 1, because you're just not going to get them answered. 00:13:38.539 --> 00:13:42.819 It's the same, I think, with the split between verse 1 and then the days of verse 3 and following. 00:13:43.299 --> 00:13:46.399 You know, how long was it between verse 1 and verse 3? 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:47.479 What was happening? 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:51.599 Are those two separate events, or are they just split for literary purposes? 00:13:52.039 --> 00:13:53.480 And people disagree about that. 00:13:53.480 --> 00:13:56.240 It's hard to be dogmatic about an answer, because we're not told. 00:13:56.240 --> 00:14:06.139 Now, it's important to see this, because I think sometimes Christians have approached Genesis 1 as if it was written primarily to refute Darwin. 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:10.539 That was certainly my background at Sunday school and at youth club. 00:14:11.539 --> 00:14:16.139 Now, Genesis 1 does, at a number of points, refute Darwin really clearly. 00:14:16.940 --> 00:14:18.700 But that's not why it was written. 00:14:19.879 --> 00:14:25.580 It is instead to teach us who God is, what this world is like, and what our lives are for. 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:35.659 As the creeds say, Genesis 1 teaches us to believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, that through him all things were made. 00:14:36.539 --> 00:14:40.539 Now, that's not to say that Genesis 1 is some kind of myth or some kind of poetic fantasy. 00:14:40.919 --> 00:14:41.740 It's clearly not that. 00:14:41.799 --> 00:14:43.919 It's history being told theologically. 00:14:44.820 --> 00:14:49.220 The Westminster Shorter Catechism, which is this question-answer thing that we were talking about earlier, 00:14:49.220 --> 00:14:59.940 says that the work of creation is God making all things of nothing by the word of his power in the space of six days, all very good. 00:15:00.519 --> 00:15:01.379 That's the point. 00:15:01.379 --> 00:15:10.519 A guy called Augustine, who was an African bishop, was writing in the fourth century and debating with a guy called Felix. 00:15:11.580 --> 00:15:13.519 And he said this, which is really helpful, I think. 00:15:14.059 --> 00:15:14.500 He said, 00:15:14.500 --> 00:15:37.600 The purpose of Genesis 1 is to make you a Christian, to make you believe in God, to know that your life was given to you by someone else, to live for his glory. 00:15:37.899 --> 00:15:40.960 That's why it was given, not to make you a mathematician. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:46.660 And the good news about that is, it's much easier to become a Christian than it is a mathematician. 00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:50.100 So that's how God made the world. 00:15:50.220 --> 00:15:52.560 God made the world in six days by speaking. 00:15:53.259 --> 00:15:56.019 But next, think exactly what does God create? 00:15:56.139 --> 00:15:56.940 What does God create? 00:15:57.620 --> 00:15:58.840 Now, I know what you're thinking. 00:15:58.940 --> 00:16:00.680 You're thinking, this is a really dumb question, Steve. 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:02.220 Why are you asking what does God make? 00:16:02.259 --> 00:16:03.080 God made everything. 00:16:03.220 --> 00:16:04.500 We've just talked about that with the children. 00:16:04.680 --> 00:16:05.460 It's obvious here. 00:16:05.740 --> 00:16:06.600 God made the world. 00:16:06.680 --> 00:16:07.840 That's what we've been going on about. 00:16:08.180 --> 00:16:09.060 So what do you mean? 00:16:09.059 --> 00:16:12.019 Steve, you're making this more complicated than it has to be. 00:16:12.479 --> 00:16:13.239 Well, I'm sorry. 00:16:13.359 --> 00:16:14.559 That's not what I'm trying to do. 00:16:14.679 --> 00:16:17.759 I know that is sometimes what happens, but that is not my intention. 00:16:18.379 --> 00:16:22.679 I want us to think carefully about exactly what God is making here. 00:16:23.059 --> 00:16:27.319 Because then I think the implication and the application of these chapters will become more obvious. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:30.599 So jump down to Genesis chapter 2. 00:16:31.019 --> 00:16:33.899 Genesis chapter 2 is not an alternative creation account. 00:16:33.899 --> 00:16:41.659 It's telling the same story of Genesis 1, but it's telling it from a different kind of angle, different camera angle. 00:16:41.740 --> 00:16:43.740 So you will see different details. 00:16:43.959 --> 00:16:45.639 But let's read it from verse 4. 00:16:45.740 --> 00:16:47.220 Look down at chapter 2, verse 4. 00:16:47.220 --> 00:16:54.279 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. 00:16:55.500 --> 00:17:01.060 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up. 00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:06.519 For the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground. 00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:11.279 But streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:18.960 Then the Lord formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:21.119 And the man became a living being. 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:25.480 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden. 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:28.379 And there he put the man he had formed. 00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:33.740 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. 00:17:33.819 --> 00:17:38.559 And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:42.980 A river, watering the garden, flowed from Eden. 00:17:43.399 --> 00:17:46.339 From there it was separated into four headwaters. 00:17:46.440 --> 00:17:47.940 The name of the first is Pishon. 00:17:48.379 --> 00:17:53.099 It winds through the entire land of Havilah where there is gold. 00:17:53.500 --> 00:17:55.139 The gold of that land is good. 00:17:55.799 --> 00:17:58.419 Aromatic resin and onyx are also there. 00:17:59.079 --> 00:18:01.599 The name of the second river is the Gihon. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:04.399 It winds through the entire land of Cush. 00:18:04.879 --> 00:18:06.940 The name of the third river is the Tigris. 00:18:06.940 --> 00:18:09.180 It runs along the east side of the Asher. 00:18:09.700 --> 00:18:11.640 And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 00:18:12.680 --> 00:18:17.860 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:22.940 And the Lord commanded the man, you are free to eat from any tree in the garden. 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:26.059 But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:29.720 For when you eat from it you will certainly die. 00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:33.380 Now we don't have time to go through that verse by verse. 00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:38.960 But I want you to notice that God places man in a garden that he creates. 00:18:39.600 --> 00:18:40.480 That's in verse 8. 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:44.480 So man is not plonked in the world in general. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:44.880 Right? 00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:49.079 God doesn't create humanity and just throw them into the world in general. 00:18:49.240 --> 00:18:52.100 Instead he puts him in a garden in particular. 00:18:52.620 --> 00:18:54.360 A garden that we assume has limits. 00:18:54.500 --> 00:18:55.160 It's in the east. 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:56.000 It's not in the west. 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:57.880 It's not covering the whole planet. 00:18:58.599 --> 00:19:03.460 In fact it seems that to a certain extent the rest of the planet is quite barren according to verse 5. 00:19:03.819 --> 00:19:06.420 That the world needs a gardener in order to flourish. 00:19:07.579 --> 00:19:09.819 God has started with the garden. 00:19:09.819 --> 00:19:13.579 And humanity has given the task of both looking after that garden. 00:19:13.779 --> 00:19:17.960 And in some sense expanding that garden to fill the world. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:19.940 More of that next week. 00:19:20.920 --> 00:19:24.019 But in the middle of the garden are two trees. 00:19:24.019 --> 00:19:27.599 The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:19:28.099 --> 00:19:29.680 We'll be thinking about those next week. 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:33.940 Alongside those trees are rivers flowing from one headwater. 00:19:34.099 --> 00:19:34.960 Four rivers. 00:19:35.740 --> 00:19:38.680 Sourced from the garden and flowing out. 00:19:39.099 --> 00:19:41.759 And there is the blessing of precious stones in verse 12. 00:19:41.879 --> 00:19:42.759 Particularly gold. 00:19:42.940 --> 00:19:44.619 Good gold gets mentioned. 00:19:45.500 --> 00:19:47.619 And then in the midst of the garden God speaks again. 00:19:47.619 --> 00:19:48.799 But not now to create. 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:53.079 But rather verses 16 and 17 to give rules for living in the garden. 00:19:53.679 --> 00:19:54.899 A contract bylaws. 00:19:55.679 --> 00:19:58.019 If you want to live here you've got to live like this. 00:19:58.539 --> 00:20:01.339 If you don't live like this you will be thrown out of here. 00:20:02.439 --> 00:20:04.739 Now put this together with me for a second. 00:20:05.579 --> 00:20:06.779 How does God make the world? 00:20:06.899 --> 00:20:09.379 Well in a pattern of six and one by speaking. 00:20:09.919 --> 00:20:11.199 What does God make? 00:20:12.019 --> 00:20:16.319 God makes a garden from which rivers, gold and God's covenant word ring out. 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:19.119 That's the how and the what. 00:20:19.740 --> 00:20:21.799 Now hold those things in your mind if you can. 00:20:22.139 --> 00:20:23.439 And think with me about why. 00:20:24.859 --> 00:20:27.619 So what I hope you're beginning to get an idea of. 00:20:27.659 --> 00:20:30.980 Is that God could have made the world in any way that he chose to. 00:20:31.259 --> 00:20:31.399 Right? 00:20:32.379 --> 00:20:34.259 He could have just done it like that. 00:20:34.359 --> 00:20:35.980 And just taken a moment over it. 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:39.079 In fact Augustine thought that that's probably what God did. 00:20:39.379 --> 00:20:41.259 He made the world instantly like that. 00:20:41.819 --> 00:20:45.159 That's the God that he thought Genesis 1 taught us. 00:20:45.160 --> 00:20:48.519 But that's not how he describes it is it in Genesis 1. 00:20:49.300 --> 00:20:52.800 I suppose too God doesn't have to make a garden either does he? 00:20:53.240 --> 00:20:54.519 Could have made a theme park. 00:20:55.060 --> 00:20:57.779 Could have made us roller coasters and a log flume or something like that. 00:20:58.500 --> 00:21:00.800 He could have built something different to this. 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:01.620 But he doesn't. 00:21:01.740 --> 00:21:03.980 He makes a garden with trees and gold. 00:21:05.300 --> 00:21:09.740 More than that God could have chosen to record the account in any way he chose to. 00:21:09.740 --> 00:21:14.680 He could have chosen to record the details in a different way to those that he has recorded it. 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:18.039 He could have given us the answers to all the burning questions that we've got. 00:21:18.259 --> 00:21:19.440 But he doesn't does he? 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:23.640 Instead we're told that God makes the world in six days by speaking. 00:21:23.819 --> 00:21:25.900 Creating a garden into which humanity is placed. 00:21:26.259 --> 00:21:27.720 And the question is why? 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:28.740 Why? 00:21:28.740 --> 00:21:32.980 Let me try and illustrate what's going on here for a moment if I can. 00:21:33.960 --> 00:21:37.700 If you were to see me pull up in my car in a field. 00:21:38.099 --> 00:21:38.220 Right? 00:21:38.859 --> 00:21:40.920 Open the boot of that car. 00:21:41.420 --> 00:21:43.740 And get out of the boot of that car a tent. 00:21:44.620 --> 00:21:45.259 Pitch it. 00:21:45.940 --> 00:21:47.099 Roll out an airbed. 00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:48.480 And a sleeping bag. 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:56.319 You would assume from both the how and the what that the why is I intend to stay there for some time. 00:21:56.420 --> 00:21:56.599 Right? 00:21:57.079 --> 00:21:58.740 I'm intending to go on a holiday. 00:21:59.259 --> 00:21:59.480 Maybe. 00:22:00.420 --> 00:22:06.920 The great camping holiday where you live like you're penniless and homeless for a week and call it fun. 00:22:07.180 --> 00:22:07.360 Right? 00:22:07.819 --> 00:22:08.980 I actually quite enjoy it. 00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:09.759 That made it sound like I don't. 00:22:09.799 --> 00:22:10.599 But I do quite enjoy it. 00:22:10.700 --> 00:22:13.779 You see you would understand the why by the how and the what. 00:22:13.860 --> 00:22:13.980 Yeah? 00:22:14.059 --> 00:22:14.860 You understand that. 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:15.819 Okay. 00:22:16.299 --> 00:22:18.719 That's what's going on here in Genesis 1 and 2. 00:22:19.299 --> 00:22:20.179 You see the how. 00:22:20.279 --> 00:22:21.419 A pattern of 6 and 1. 00:22:21.719 --> 00:22:23.319 And an unending day 7. 00:22:23.719 --> 00:22:26.000 A garden with trees and rivers and endless gold. 00:22:26.199 --> 00:22:28.079 That is meant to lead you to the why. 00:22:28.619 --> 00:22:31.519 A why which becomes increasingly clear as you read the rest of the Bible. 00:22:31.959 --> 00:22:35.519 Which is that God is creating and ordering the universe. 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:37.419 He is forming it and filling it. 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:39.559 Planting a garden with the intention. 00:22:39.740 --> 00:22:40.699 And here it is. 00:22:40.939 --> 00:22:43.439 Of being there himself. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:47.500 God is active in the 6 days. 00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:50.059 But he is present in the 7th day. 00:22:50.440 --> 00:22:51.799 A day that doesn't end. 00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:56.039 The finale of creation is God entering his rest. 00:22:56.299 --> 00:22:59.420 And inviting humanity to join him in it. 00:23:00.680 --> 00:23:03.140 Theologian Gerhardus Vos put it like this. 00:23:03.320 --> 00:23:06.180 The garden is the garden of God. 00:23:06.180 --> 00:23:10.560 Not in the first instance an abode for man as such. 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:15.120 But specifically a place of reception of man into fellowship with God. 00:23:15.340 --> 00:23:18.620 In God's own dwelling place. 00:23:19.660 --> 00:23:22.940 In other words what's being described in Genesis 1 and 2. 00:23:23.060 --> 00:23:25.019 Is not just creation in general. 00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:29.880 Not a purposeless world where you're just launched off to go and do whatever you want to do. 00:23:29.880 --> 00:23:32.880 What's described in Genesis 1 and 2 is a temple. 00:23:33.660 --> 00:23:38.100 God building a place for himself to dwell with people. 00:23:38.500 --> 00:23:40.100 And for them to dwell with him. 00:23:40.900 --> 00:23:44.820 God in the divine image in a sense is pitching a tent. 00:23:45.820 --> 00:23:47.980 And inviting us to join with him. 00:23:49.360 --> 00:23:51.380 Now maybe that seems a stretch to you. 00:23:51.500 --> 00:23:52.840 Or maybe it doesn't seem that important. 00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:55.119 But let me try and show you why that's important. 00:23:56.199 --> 00:23:59.459 Let me try and run you through the story of the Bible if I can. 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:00.639 Really, really super quick. 00:24:00.899 --> 00:24:03.119 I'm going to give you some spoilers if you've not read the Bible before. 00:24:03.199 --> 00:24:03.699 But that's okay. 00:24:03.939 --> 00:24:04.099 Okay. 00:24:04.679 --> 00:24:08.899 In chapter 2 we've seen God makes the world and people to live in the garden that he's planted. 00:24:09.240 --> 00:24:11.619 But what happens which we'll see in a couple of weeks time. 00:24:11.720 --> 00:24:12.720 Is that in chapter 3. 00:24:13.099 --> 00:24:15.240 Adam and Eve who he's placed in the garden. 00:24:15.639 --> 00:24:16.599 Rebel against God. 00:24:16.740 --> 00:24:17.539 Break his law. 00:24:17.679 --> 00:24:19.119 Reach out for the forbidden fruit. 00:24:19.220 --> 00:24:20.000 And eat it. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:22.659 And are excluded from the garden. 00:24:22.839 --> 00:24:23.799 Shut out. 00:24:24.059 --> 00:24:29.179 And the way back is guarded by the flaming swords of cherubim who were put in the way. 00:24:29.720 --> 00:24:32.059 Literally they are put out of the presence of God. 00:24:32.159 --> 00:24:34.199 They are excluded from the temple. 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:36.919 And death comes to them. 00:24:37.079 --> 00:24:40.019 Because life comes from being in the presence of God. 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:42.939 And death comes from exclusion from his presence. 00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:49.839 And the rest of the story of the Bible really in a sense is the story of how is that relationship, 00:24:49.839 --> 00:24:54.339 that fellowship between the God who made us and the people who he made, how is that restored? 00:24:56.919 --> 00:24:58.439 How can we get back? 00:24:59.359 --> 00:25:00.439 And it's interesting, isn't it? 00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:05.080 It's not really so much, you know, how we want to get back into the garden. 00:25:05.080 --> 00:25:07.759 Because we didn't really, we kind of ran from the garden. 00:25:08.059 --> 00:25:16.100 Really the story is about how can God make something again, which is a place where it is possible for a holy God to now dwell with rebellious sinful people. 00:25:16.279 --> 00:25:20.640 How can he transform them so that they can now dwell with him? 00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:24.280 Where will Eden be? 00:25:24.920 --> 00:25:27.640 Where can a holy God have fellowship with unholy people? 00:25:28.280 --> 00:25:35.580 Now that desire of God to restore the garden is symbolized in the Old Testament first by the building of a tabernacle tent. 00:25:36.500 --> 00:25:44.220 Moses, who you might know, who led the Exodus, is then taken up a mountain and given instructions to build a tent 00:25:44.220 --> 00:25:49.839 where God's presence with his people would be represented to them, where they could hear his words. 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:57.779 Then in the days of the kings, that temporary tent is superseded by a stone temple that Solomon built in the center of Jerusalem, 00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:00.920 a place where the priests would attend in the presence of God, 00:26:01.339 --> 00:26:05.120 entering into the Holy of Holies where God's presence was represented. 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:08.660 Only then could they access it through blood sacrifices. 00:26:09.880 --> 00:26:11.380 Now think about those buildings. 00:26:11.740 --> 00:26:13.160 This is fascinating, right? 00:26:13.160 --> 00:26:17.160 The tabernacle instructions are given to Moses on Mount Sinai. 00:26:18.860 --> 00:26:19.380 How? 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:25.000 God makes Moses wait on the top of Mount Sinai. 00:26:25.380 --> 00:26:26.460 How long does he make him wait? 00:26:27.800 --> 00:26:28.860 Six days. 00:26:29.720 --> 00:26:34.440 He gives him the instructions about the presence of God and dwelling with him on the seventh day. 00:26:34.840 --> 00:26:36.580 How then do those instructions come? 00:26:37.580 --> 00:26:38.580 Six speeches. 00:26:39.259 --> 00:26:40.279 The final speech? 00:26:41.320 --> 00:26:42.140 Sabbath day. 00:26:42.940 --> 00:26:43.120 Right? 00:26:43.160 --> 00:26:48.200 Rest with God in the tabernacle. 00:26:48.540 --> 00:26:49.320 Then take the temple. 00:26:50.040 --> 00:26:53.220 Amazingly, for some reason, the temple is decorated like a garden. 00:26:53.840 --> 00:26:56.720 Trees and flowers are engraved on the inside. 00:26:57.800 --> 00:26:58.680 It's like Eden. 00:26:59.100 --> 00:27:00.180 The cherubim are there. 00:27:00.660 --> 00:27:02.940 And it's covered in gold. 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:04.340 Good gold. 00:27:04.339 --> 00:27:05.339 And it's built over seven years. 00:27:05.339 --> 00:27:07.980 And it's built over seven years. 00:27:08.579 --> 00:27:14.419 But when that temple is eventually destroyed by the Babylonians, the prophet Ezekiel has a vision of a restoration of a temple. 00:27:14.759 --> 00:27:15.740 And what does he see? 00:27:16.700 --> 00:27:19.460 A river flowing from the temple, watering the nations. 00:27:20.519 --> 00:27:27.720 In other words, as you read the Bible, when you come to things like the tabernacle and the temple and the rebuilding of the temple, you have to think, oh wow, that's like Genesis 1 and 2. 00:27:27.720 --> 00:27:30.400 God is rebuilding Eden. 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:33.100 This is paradise restored. 00:27:33.660 --> 00:27:35.299 God is coming to be with his people. 00:27:35.700 --> 00:27:37.920 Exclusion from the presence of God is not forever. 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:41.800 And the ultimate fulfillment of that is the coming of the Lord Jesus. 00:27:42.259 --> 00:27:45.380 John tells us that Jesus tabernacled with us. 00:27:46.220 --> 00:27:49.240 And Jesus talks about the temple being his body. 00:27:49.880 --> 00:27:52.019 The place where we meet with God. 00:27:52.120 --> 00:27:54.480 Where God has finally come to be with his people. 00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:58.200 Becoming the sacrifice for their sin in his own body on the cross. 00:27:58.680 --> 00:28:00.900 And what happens as Jesus dies? 00:28:01.640 --> 00:28:04.140 Well, the curtain of the temple is torn open. 00:28:04.140 --> 00:28:07.940 Not so much so that you and I can just wander into God's presence. 00:28:08.140 --> 00:28:09.420 We have no instinct to do that. 00:28:09.720 --> 00:28:15.220 But so that God can escape the Holy of Holies, if you like, and enter into the world that he has made. 00:28:15.980 --> 00:28:20.880 Paradise is open again for all to come through Jesus' sacrifice. 00:28:22.100 --> 00:28:24.000 And when you get to the end of the Bible, what do you find? 00:28:24.200 --> 00:28:26.600 Well, Jesus returns in resurrected human flesh. 00:28:27.080 --> 00:28:28.360 God coming to be with us. 00:28:28.520 --> 00:28:29.500 And where does he come? 00:28:30.580 --> 00:28:32.300 Well, not to a garden, but now to a city. 00:28:32.299 --> 00:28:35.240 A city which is a perfect square, just like the temple. 00:28:35.559 --> 00:28:38.000 Full of the gold of Eden and the beauty of the world. 00:28:38.519 --> 00:28:40.559 Rivers are flowing from there. 00:28:41.139 --> 00:28:43.339 And in the midst of it, a tree. 00:28:44.059 --> 00:28:45.240 The tree of life. 00:28:46.039 --> 00:28:47.299 An eternal Eden. 00:28:47.940 --> 00:28:51.980 A city for God to dwell with his forgiven people for all eternity. 00:28:53.299 --> 00:28:54.619 Now, here's the thing, right? 00:28:54.879 --> 00:28:59.180 God makes the world to be with us. 00:28:59.639 --> 00:29:00.519 That's why. 00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:08.039 And God rescues us through Jesus Christ so that we might be with him eternally. 00:29:09.700 --> 00:29:13.879 Perhaps this helps us just see that the horror of the brokenness of our world. 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:19.900 I know in a room like this that many of us have experienced the horrors of a broken world in all sorts of different ways. 00:29:19.900 --> 00:29:26.500 But let me tell you that the thing that is wrong in the world is not simply the stuff that we do wrong, right? 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:30.920 There is a big problem of immorality in the world, isn't there? 00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:31.880 It's in our lives. 00:29:31.960 --> 00:29:32.640 It's in our world. 00:29:33.160 --> 00:29:34.320 We see it. 00:29:35.180 --> 00:29:35.780 It's not... 00:29:35.780 --> 00:29:38.140 The problem in the world is not less than that, but it's a lot more. 00:29:38.820 --> 00:29:42.920 You see, if it was just the fact that the world did stuff wrong, then our big problem would be guilt. 00:29:42.920 --> 00:29:45.360 And we all do feel guilty, don't we? 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:48.920 It depends on how sensitive you are to the degree to which you feel it. 00:29:49.180 --> 00:29:52.220 But I'm sure I could stand here and make all of us feel guilty if I wanted to. 00:29:52.779 --> 00:29:53.580 But that's not the point. 00:29:53.579 --> 00:30:07.980 You see, the truth is that you could be a faithfully married man who loves his wife and his kids, provides for them generously, and you could still feel lost and purposeless. 00:30:08.659 --> 00:30:10.740 You could keep all the rules at work. 00:30:11.539 --> 00:30:12.779 You could pay all your taxes. 00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:13.939 You could avoid the gangs. 00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:16.879 You could drive at the speed limit, even the 20-mile-an-hour ones. 00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:26.660 And you can still see the futility of it all, especially if you get sick or something bad happens to you that someone else does. 00:30:27.620 --> 00:30:29.320 What is the point of it all? 00:30:30.280 --> 00:30:31.840 And here it is, isn't it? 00:30:32.140 --> 00:30:37.860 The purpose of our lives is not just to be good, but to be with God. 00:30:38.420 --> 00:30:39.280 That's the purpose. 00:30:40.220 --> 00:30:44.640 God has made us and made this world that we might be with him. 00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:49.140 And the big problem in our world is not simply the immorality in our world. 00:30:49.220 --> 00:30:53.040 The big problem in the world is that we have rejected God's presence. 00:30:55.420 --> 00:31:04.060 We're not so much like or just like the unfaithful bride or bridegroom who goes off and has relationships with other people. 00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:05.160 We are like that. 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:14.580 But even before that, we're like the bride who never showed up, who left the groom standing, didn't turn up for the wedding day. 00:31:14.820 --> 00:31:15.340 Oh, do you know what? 00:31:15.340 --> 00:31:16.400 I'd rather not be with you. 00:31:17.400 --> 00:31:26.000 We're like the friend who not only keeps offending us and crossing us, but when you arrange to meet, they always bail at the mass minute because they've always got something better to do. 00:31:26.420 --> 00:31:27.400 They just leave you standing. 00:31:29.300 --> 00:31:30.620 That's how we relate to God. 00:31:30.619 --> 00:31:37.039 You and I were made to be with God, to enjoy his presence, to live with him forever. 00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:38.099 And we, you know what? 00:31:38.119 --> 00:31:39.619 I'd rather live by myself, thanks God. 00:31:41.019 --> 00:31:42.559 I'd rather just leave. 00:31:43.559 --> 00:31:48.679 You know, humanity is thrown out of the garden in Genesis 3, but frankly, they wanted to leave anyway. 00:31:48.680 --> 00:32:01.240 And that means if this is why God made the world, for the purpose of being with his people, then it means that your life is given to you for the purpose of being with him. 00:32:01.880 --> 00:32:06.539 And whoever you are, wherever you were born, whatever your interests, you were made for God. 00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:09.700 Perhaps it's better to put it the way around. 00:32:09.700 --> 00:32:11.559 God makes the world like this. 00:32:11.620 --> 00:32:18.340 It means that for you and I, home, home is with the Lord. 00:32:19.140 --> 00:32:22.360 God makes the world like this, that we might find home in him. 00:32:22.940 --> 00:32:27.380 And until we are with him, we will always feel kind of out of sorts. 00:32:28.500 --> 00:32:32.240 You know, the nice new flat that you've just rented might be brilliant, right? 00:32:32.420 --> 00:32:33.940 But it still won't fix it. 00:32:34.740 --> 00:32:36.900 Because creation was not made for you. 00:32:37.440 --> 00:32:38.500 You were made for God. 00:32:38.500 --> 00:32:42.019 And God created you and the world that he might be with you. 00:32:43.099 --> 00:32:46.759 That new relationship that you're enjoying, that won't fix it either. 00:32:47.220 --> 00:32:52.660 Because ultimately, you weren't just made for one other person or a community of other people. 00:32:53.119 --> 00:32:54.980 You were made for the presence of God. 00:32:56.480 --> 00:33:01.140 The money, the possessions, the health, the connections, the success, none of those will do it. 00:33:01.380 --> 00:33:03.680 Because you weren't made for stuff. 00:33:03.680 --> 00:33:16.820 In fact, there's a sense in which, isn't there, that the stuff that we have and the stuff that was made has been made for the purpose of being the arena in which we might encounter and enjoy the presence of God. 00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:21.180 God formed the world that he might fill the world. 00:33:21.180 --> 00:33:23.060 That's home. 00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:25.259 And anywhere else you don't quite belong. 00:33:26.279 --> 00:33:30.080 As Augustine said, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God. 00:33:31.039 --> 00:33:32.560 And where do you find that rest, right? 00:33:32.560 --> 00:33:33.960 We can't go back to Eden, can we? 00:33:34.299 --> 00:33:35.900 The tabernacle and the temple are gone. 00:33:36.299 --> 00:33:36.980 Where do we go? 00:33:36.980 --> 00:33:41.480 We come to Jesus, the one who gave his life for us on the cross. 00:33:42.019 --> 00:33:47.259 God himself in human flesh, inviting us into relationship with him through the forgiveness that he offers. 00:33:47.799 --> 00:33:56.180 He comes to us and offers us God's presence, even as we wait still to be with him. 00:33:57.799 --> 00:34:00.519 Let me finish with a true story that I read this week. 00:34:00.519 --> 00:34:05.519 I suspect the names have been changed in the story, but the story itself, I'm assured, is true. 00:34:05.519 --> 00:34:07.420 Let me read it to you as we finish. 00:34:09.019 --> 00:34:15.039 Katie came to London from China to study, and she stayed around for work. 00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:22.420 A decade later, she was incredibly successful, but she said this about her life. 00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:27.880 Outwardly, I had what everybody else would have called a very successful career. 00:34:28.659 --> 00:34:30.500 I earned a lot more than my peers. 00:34:30.739 --> 00:34:31.679 I could afford to travel. 00:34:32.059 --> 00:34:34.380 I was going on four international trips a year. 00:34:34.380 --> 00:34:36.680 I lived in a nice area of the city. 00:34:36.840 --> 00:34:38.720 I was hanging out with important people. 00:34:39.079 --> 00:34:42.780 I should have been content, but really I felt empty on the inside. 00:34:44.980 --> 00:34:49.900 So like many modern people, I went with a therapist. 00:34:50.980 --> 00:34:53.519 I had sessions for about nine or ten months. 00:34:53.720 --> 00:34:58.160 I went through my childhood issues, and that was really healthy for me, but it didn't go anywhere. 00:34:58.159 --> 00:35:04.199 It still didn't answer the questions of why I was born into this world and what the meaning of life is. 00:35:05.619 --> 00:35:07.259 So then I moved on to philosophy. 00:35:07.460 --> 00:35:08.779 I enrolled myself on courses. 00:35:08.980 --> 00:35:11.440 I even went on a summer school at a university. 00:35:12.139 --> 00:35:19.119 But I started to realize that philosophy is a subject that is about not answers, but questions. 00:35:20.420 --> 00:35:22.899 They use one question to answer another question. 00:35:22.900 --> 00:35:25.240 That's what philosophy is about, at least to me. 00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:28.519 Katie then called her Christian friend. 00:35:29.420 --> 00:35:33.059 Her Christian friend encouraged her to go to church, and this is what she says about that. 00:35:33.059 --> 00:35:35.799 The Bible talk really hit me. 00:35:36.420 --> 00:35:40.139 It was based on a story that Jesus had told, and something clicked inside me. 00:35:40.980 --> 00:35:42.739 At the end of the sermon, we stood up to sing. 00:35:43.519 --> 00:35:46.719 I was reading the lyrics, and something just overcame me. 00:35:47.279 --> 00:35:49.420 This overwhelming feeling of love. 00:35:50.099 --> 00:35:54.880 It's hard to describe, but for the first time in my life, I felt completely safe. 00:35:55.639 --> 00:35:59.799 Not physically safe, but like supernaturally safe. 00:35:59.800 --> 00:36:04.480 I remember I came out of the church building, and I was a little bit shocked at myself. 00:36:06.440 --> 00:36:07.380 Do you know what? 00:36:08.060 --> 00:36:10.800 Katie came home that Sunday. 00:36:11.220 --> 00:36:11.880 That's what happened. 00:36:12.760 --> 00:36:15.380 She came home to the God who'd made her for his presence. 00:36:16.120 --> 00:36:20.480 Whose presence we now only access through Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. 00:36:21.539 --> 00:36:24.180 Listen, you might have been a Christian here for years. 00:36:24.940 --> 00:36:27.180 Let me say to you, you are home in the Lord Jesus, 00:36:27.179 --> 00:36:30.480 and one day you will be finally home, and it will be glorious. 00:36:31.759 --> 00:36:34.179 And if you have never yet come home, 00:36:35.039 --> 00:36:37.339 can I encourage you and invite you 00:36:37.339 --> 00:36:40.539 to welcome Jesus Christ 00:36:40.539 --> 00:36:44.940 and come to him and find that you have been made for him, 00:36:45.480 --> 00:36:47.239 by him and for him, 00:36:47.759 --> 00:36:49.159 to enjoy him forever. 00:36:49.719 --> 00:36:51.940 Let me pray as we close. 00:36:51.940 --> 00:37:04.480 Heavenly Father, we thank you so much 00:37:04.480 --> 00:37:08.079 that you would want to be with us. 00:37:08.900 --> 00:37:10.639 What an incredible idea 00:37:10.639 --> 00:37:14.500 that people like us have been made to be with you, 00:37:15.059 --> 00:37:16.880 to enjoy your presence, 00:37:17.720 --> 00:37:19.240 to enjoy your creation, 00:37:19.239 --> 00:37:23.219 to live our lives not only for you, 00:37:23.819 --> 00:37:24.839 but with you, 00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:26.639 by our side. 00:37:28.059 --> 00:37:30.639 And Lord, we pray, please, 00:37:31.059 --> 00:37:33.459 that maybe if we've never yet come home, 00:37:34.139 --> 00:37:35.899 that we might find our home in Jesus. 00:37:37.319 --> 00:37:38.779 And for those of us who've done that, 00:37:38.839 --> 00:37:40.019 who still live in the sort of, 00:37:40.239 --> 00:37:42.139 the brokenness of this world, 00:37:42.759 --> 00:37:44.299 with the chaos around us, 00:37:44.300 --> 00:37:48.380 help us to find settled rest in Jesus 00:37:48.380 --> 00:37:53.200 and that promise of eternal peace and home with him. 00:37:54.060 --> 00:37:55.280 In his name we pray. 00:37:56.019 --> 00:37:56.380 Amen. 00:37:56.380 --> 00:37:56.560 Amen. 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:57.380 00:37:57.380 --> 00:38:27.360 Thank you.