WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.440 Father, we come before you at this time. We want to be honest before you. We know that you see our 00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:11.740 heart, and you know what really goes on in our minds. You know what our courage level is, and 00:00:11.740 --> 00:00:16.280 what our shame and fear levels are. And so, Father, we come to you. We ask that you help us to be 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:21.699 honest before you. And, Father, we ask that you would gently but deeply pour out your Holy Spirit 00:00:21.699 --> 00:00:30.579 upon us. Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, that we might read your word with humble, obedient, 00:00:30.939 --> 00:00:37.859 intelligent, searching, curious hearts, unafraid and unashamed. And this we ask in the name of Jesus, 00:00:37.859 --> 00:00:46.399 your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. I was at a meeting yesterday morning, and I had to 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:51.600 leave at around quarter after 10, and I told them that I had to leave. This was a Christian meeting. 00:00:51.719 --> 00:00:57.219 I told them I had to leave because I had to prepare a sermon on angels having sex with human beings. 00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:03.760 And I could see the whole room sort of erupt, like, what? And I made my exit with that line. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:09.400 So I don't know if you, so I have no idea what the discussion ensued afterwards. I don't know if 00:01:09.400 --> 00:01:15.900 many of you sort of noticed that when Anya was reading, but it talks about sons of God, probably 00:01:15.900 --> 00:01:23.200 angels, finding human women desirable and sexually knowing them and making them pregnant. 00:01:23.880 --> 00:01:30.400 So here's what's going on today, folks. There's no, because of a variety of things, there's no sort 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:36.820 of sermon title. But if, well, when you go in the, if you want to go online on Monday to get the notes 00:01:36.819 --> 00:01:43.479 or Tuesday or whenever it goes up, it's called, but what about dot, dot, dot. Over the last few 00:01:43.479 --> 00:01:48.139 weeks, we've been going through the first 11 chapters of Genesis. And there's been several 00:01:48.139 --> 00:01:51.739 times where I've sort of done something like there's a bit of a time out here. We're not going 00:01:51.739 --> 00:01:56.519 to discuss this question this week. We're going to sort of gather up a group of questions and, 00:01:56.579 --> 00:02:01.539 and just questions about the text. And we're going to try to look at them sort of all at one time. 00:02:01.540 --> 00:02:06.320 So for instance, some of you might've wondered when we were doing the end. So if we're going 00:02:06.320 --> 00:02:11.800 through the first 11 chapters of Genesis, that talks about creation, seven days, Adam and Eve, 00:02:12.140 --> 00:02:19.920 Cain and Abel, polygamy, the flood, the tower of Babel. Those are all in the first 11 chapters of 00:02:19.920 --> 00:02:25.120 Genesis. It's a very, very important part of the Bible. So some of you might've wondered in 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:31.159 when we were did Genesis 4, 14, which is, you know, Cain kills his brother Abel and then God 00:02:31.159 --> 00:02:37.340 says that there's going to be a, he has to be a wanderer on the earth. And Cain is worried that 00:02:37.340 --> 00:02:42.099 people are going to kill him. And people might say, well, at one moment, if there's only Adam, 00:02:42.219 --> 00:02:49.039 Eve and Cain and Abel, who is Cain worried is going to kill him? And some of you might wonder why 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:55.680 three verses afterwards, it says that Cain marries somebody and you go, what? And then he makes a city 00:02:55.680 --> 00:03:05.219 for people to live in and you go, what? And then you come to chapter five and it tells you that Adam 00:03:05.219 --> 00:03:13.480 lived 930 years. And it gives a list of 10 people and nine of them, it gives you their ages. And 00:03:13.480 --> 00:03:19.080 they're all in the 900s or the high 800s, including Methuselah at 969 years old. What? 00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:26.040 And because it goes like Adam had this son and then this son, and then this son, 00:03:26.600 --> 00:03:33.100 Orthodox, ultra Orthodox Jews use that text to calculate when the earth began, when it was 00:03:33.100 --> 00:03:40.820 created. Is that the right way to read the Bible? And now today we have this really weird text that 00:03:40.820 --> 00:03:47.260 seems to talk about angels having sex with women. And that's on top of the text then, just before the 00:03:47.259 --> 00:03:53.459 text, which Anya then read, which is the beginning of the story of the flood. So did a flood really 00:03:53.459 --> 00:04:00.780 happen? Was it a universal flood that killed all things? We're going to look at those things. 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:08.319 It's a bit of a different type of sermon, but we're going to look at those things. I want to tell you 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:13.879 what my goal is. Could you put up the scripture text? Did you type up the scripture text? So here's my 00:04:13.879 --> 00:04:21.079 goal in this sermon. This is my, here we go. This is a Bible text. It's from 2 Timothy 2.15. 00:04:21.740 --> 00:04:27.399 And Paul is writing it to Timothy. Those of you who know anything about the, maybe you might, some of you 00:04:27.399 --> 00:04:34.199 might know that Paul wrote 2 Timothy while he was in jail. And he knows this time he's going to die. 00:04:34.339 --> 00:04:42.639 And he's correct. Sometime after he wrote that, he was martyred under Nero. He was killed by Nero. 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:49.139 And the Emperor Nero. And so Paul, 2 Timothy is a very precious letter. It's his final words of 00:04:49.139 --> 00:04:55.779 instruction to a pastor looking after churches. And in that, he said, do your best to present 00:04:55.779 --> 00:05:04.959 yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:10.060 truth. It's a very, very precious verse. And that's in some ways what my goal is. 00:05:10.060 --> 00:05:15.480 And so here's the first thing. It's going to, I'm going to sound like it's, it's coming a bit of an 00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:19.899 odd way with this text, but I would just want to be a bit humble and transparent before you. Not that I 00:05:19.899 --> 00:05:25.360 am, I'm not trying to be humble and transparent other weeks. But one of the great problems I had 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:30.860 after I became a Christian and for a long time in my Christian life was a certain type of Bible teacher. 00:05:31.620 --> 00:05:36.160 And they just seemed to, you know, when they talked about the book of Revelation, they just seemed to be 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:41.920 able to pick out all these facts that were going on in the world. And I felt I could never talk about 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:45.520 anything like the book of Revelation because I was too stupid to know all of that stuff. 00:05:46.080 --> 00:05:51.580 And I heard a whole pile of people and talk about things like in these first 11 chapters of Genesis, 00:05:51.580 --> 00:05:59.200 and they seemed to snatch biology and geology out of their hat to try to make it look like the Bible 00:05:59.200 --> 00:06:03.820 is saying this and saying that. And I'll be honest, I would read those things. And part of it, I was, 00:06:03.819 --> 00:06:08.139 well, part of it, I just felt like I'm too stupid to know all that stuff. How on earth could I ever 00:06:08.139 --> 00:06:12.339 talk about the Bible if I don't have all that other knowledge? And then the other thing would 00:06:12.339 --> 00:06:16.959 often be that I'd often think that they were maybe wrong. Occasionally, I would then learn 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:21.800 something in school or something else that showed that it was wrong. And that makes it sort of really 00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:28.339 funny. And it's almost as if, you know, between there, apparently just having all these answers, 00:06:28.339 --> 00:06:33.539 and then they give them sort of false answers that end up, it undermines the Bible. And it almost made me 00:06:33.540 --> 00:06:40.439 afraid to just read some of these parts of the Bible and just learn from them. I was either too 00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:47.600 stupid, or I was just worried that I didn't have, that I'd say stuff that was just wrong. So here's 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:52.120 the first thing. This is all about these questions. I'm not avoiding the questions. But here's the 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:58.460 first thing. If you go about the first point, Andrew, be very helpful. An infallible Bible does not mean 00:06:58.459 --> 00:07:02.459 I will know everything. Why is this really important? 00:07:05.639 --> 00:07:12.819 Some of the answers to these questions, part of the answer is this. I don't know. 00:07:16.039 --> 00:07:16.799 I don't know. 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:24.939 Don't lose your faith over that. You don't lose your faith over that. And see, this is a bit of 00:07:24.939 --> 00:07:30.960 the danger of people who can be way overconfident with systems and supposedly, apparently tying 00:07:30.960 --> 00:07:36.019 together geology and this and this and this and this. Is that sometimes, and by the way, in a 00:07:36.019 --> 00:07:41.580 infallible Bible, you see, I'm talking about for those of us who believe that miracles happen and 00:07:41.579 --> 00:07:46.659 that God speaks to us through his word. It's not just a collection of symbols. It's not a collection 00:07:46.659 --> 00:07:51.419 of myths. It's not human beings trying to reach God with their own best thoughts. It's not just 00:07:51.419 --> 00:07:58.199 Christian symbols, which are the Christian symbols and pagans have their symbols and Hindus have their 00:07:58.199 --> 00:08:03.779 symbols. No, for those of us who believe that for a variety of reasons, that the words that God 00:08:03.779 --> 00:08:10.939 had preserved, written and preserved, were ultimately the words that he wanted here so that when we hear 00:08:10.939 --> 00:08:18.540 this, we are hearing God speak, it is very easy for us to quickly go from that to somehow or another 00:08:18.540 --> 00:08:24.100 think that we have to have all the answers. And that's not what it means to believe that God 00:08:24.100 --> 00:08:26.500 is the ultimate author of the Bible. 00:08:28.899 --> 00:08:33.639 Sometimes, to questions, we have to say, I don't know. 00:08:33.639 --> 00:08:43.240 You know, it's actually a sign of the fall. Those of you who were here a few weeks ago, 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:47.100 you might remember that, and I keep sort of talking about this in different ways, the very, 00:08:47.220 --> 00:08:55.179 very primal problem for human beings is that they desire to be like God. And sometimes all religion 00:08:55.179 --> 00:09:03.059 does is give religious veneer and justification to our attempt to be like God. But the Bible wants 00:09:03.059 --> 00:09:09.159 to keep telling us every time we read it, George, you're not God. Institution, you're not God. 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:17.719 You're not God. There's only one God. Only one God who knows everything. We human beings don't. 00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:25.340 Second thing, an infallible Bible does not mean I will be an infallible interpreter. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:32.860 It means I should become a humble interpreter. That's really what it should mean. 00:09:34.580 --> 00:09:40.840 It should mean, you know what, I read the Bible to learn. I read the Bible to learn. 00:09:40.840 --> 00:09:47.860 And if I'm not willing to read the Bible to learn, I was just sharing with Don a little bit before the 00:09:47.860 --> 00:09:52.040 service. It helped keep us a little bit late because we were talking about baptism and all that 00:09:52.040 --> 00:09:58.100 stuff. And I'm writing a series. I know it's really tiresome. Part six on baptism. It might reach as 00:09:58.100 --> 00:10:03.740 high as 10 or 12. And I'm now actually think I made a mistake doing it, but now I just can't stop it in 00:10:03.740 --> 00:10:08.980 the middle. It's one of those really awkward things. I'm going to have to finish the bleepity bleepity bleep 00:10:08.980 --> 00:10:13.480 thing, even if it takes 12 weeks and nobody can remember what all the other parts are. 00:10:13.899 --> 00:10:18.279 But here's the thing. You know, if somebody shows me a better way to understand it, 00:10:19.060 --> 00:10:27.500 I shouldn't be upset. I shouldn't be anxious. I shouldn't get defensive. I should say, thank you. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:35.700 Thank you for helping me to understand the Bible better because I'm a fallen, fallible, finite human 00:10:35.700 --> 00:10:44.020 being. And, you know, the problem is always in my mind, not in the Bible. And I just, if people can 00:10:44.020 --> 00:10:49.780 help me get more light, and that's the way it should really be for all of us, you see, because 00:10:49.780 --> 00:10:55.520 what does the Bible say? Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has 00:10:55.520 --> 00:11:03.840 no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But some of you might say, okay, George, 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:07.920 now, you know, you said those questions, and I hope you're not just going to spend all your time 00:11:07.920 --> 00:11:11.800 circling around them without giving us at least some, I hope your whole answer is, I don't know. 00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:15.519 That would be really disappointing, George. And it's not going to be just, I don't know, by the way. 00:11:16.440 --> 00:11:21.180 But that would be really disappointing, George, because, you know, the more you know about science, 00:11:21.280 --> 00:11:25.820 and the more we know about philosophy, and the more we know about the different branches of science, 00:11:25.820 --> 00:11:30.660 the more it looks like the Bible is just completely and utterly ridiculous. Well, here's the third thing, 00:11:30.659 --> 00:11:36.079 to try to ratchet down some of the tension and some of the fear we have about reading the first 00:11:36.079 --> 00:11:43.319 11 chapters of Genesis, if you could put up the next observation. The human problem is not that we 00:11:43.319 --> 00:11:52.719 know too much. It's not, that's not the problem. The human problem is that we know too little, 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:57.160 and forget that we know too little. That's the human problem. 00:11:59.320 --> 00:12:03.860 I'm going to talk about it again in a couple of minutes. But one of the things, the big claims, 00:12:03.940 --> 00:12:07.820 if you go back and listen to the first couple of sermons, especially the first one where I talk 00:12:07.820 --> 00:12:13.720 about creation and evolution in the Bible and science, one of the things I say, and I would 00:12:13.720 --> 00:12:17.220 continue to maintain that, in fact, I'm going to give you an illustration in a couple of minutes, 00:12:17.220 --> 00:12:23.660 is that it's harder to believe in naturalistic evolution today than it was 165 years ago. Why? 00:12:23.779 --> 00:12:32.279 Because we know more about the chemical reality that has to exist for life before there can even 00:12:32.279 --> 00:12:36.560 be anything to do with natural selection, the chemical things that have to happen and the 00:12:36.560 --> 00:12:42.500 interstellar things that have to happen. And 165 years, they didn't know that. They just didn't know it. 00:12:42.500 --> 00:12:49.519 Well, they didn't know that they knew too little. You know, and it might very well be that, you know, 00:12:49.539 --> 00:12:53.919 there's a whole range of things in the Bible that were a bit hard to believe. There's, for a long time, 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:57.379 there was a whole pile of people who thought that parts of the Bible were wrong because it talked 00:12:57.379 --> 00:13:00.899 about people groups that they didn't exist, and then archaeology found that people group. 00:13:01.539 --> 00:13:05.159 There's time and time and time again that it's, it's not the problem when we're trying to put 00:13:05.159 --> 00:13:10.759 together genesis and science and knowledge that we know so much about everything that how on earth can we 00:13:10.759 --> 00:13:16.080 fit it together. No, no, the human problem is we actually know too little. We know too little, 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:21.819 and we forget that we know too little. That's the human problem. It's the human problem. 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:30.039 And, and so it's not, as I'm going to try to show you, that that science has shown that these 00:13:30.039 --> 00:13:36.340 things are completely and utterly foolish. I'm in fact going to say that, that maintain that Genesis 1 to 11 00:13:36.340 --> 00:13:41.139 is the wisest set of answers to the fundamental problems that we can come about. 00:13:42.820 --> 00:13:48.700 Actually, I'll show you right now. I was talking to my son, my oldest son, about this series, and 00:13:48.700 --> 00:13:53.920 my oldest son has a degree in biology from University of Ottawa, and I asked him, I said, you know, did you 00:13:53.920 --> 00:13:59.320 do the degree, he just was over visiting just recently, and I, I asked him, did you know, doing that 00:13:59.320 --> 00:14:03.920 biology degree, that'd make it harder for you to believe the Bible, like, like, did it weaken your faith? 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:07.459 And he, you know, what he told me, he said, he said, obviously some of the classes, they 00:14:07.459 --> 00:14:12.199 really hammered it, you know, but let me tell you, when I took my class in cell biology, 00:14:12.199 --> 00:14:17.179 by the end of cell biology, I believed, I had no doubts that evolution couldn't be true, 00:14:17.899 --> 00:14:23.620 that everything just happened by chance and natural selection. When I studied DNA, by the 00:14:23.620 --> 00:14:29.639 time I finished my course on, on that, I, and, and understood that, there's, he, he gave me an, 00:14:29.639 --> 00:14:39.100 an illustration. And so this comes from my son, Tosh, who learned it from somebody else, 00:14:39.100 --> 00:14:43.919 who learned it from somebody else, who learned it from somebody else. And he said, basically 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:47.059 what, maybe this won't work for you, maybe it will. 00:14:47.059 --> 00:15:02.039 And those of you listening to it online, I've just held up a foam board that has poorly written, 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:09.779 because I'm a terrible printer, this message wrote itself. Not entirely a perfect analogy, 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:15.679 but it's largely like that. You see, because at a chemical level, the DNA is a message. 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:21.500 And my son, Tosh, said, it's really, you know, nobody believes this, right? I mean, obviously, 00:15:21.620 --> 00:15:24.379 you know, you can, those of you who know my printing know that I wrote that, right? That 00:15:24.379 --> 00:15:27.599 it's written by, you know, messages don't write themselves. He said, here's the thing I understood 00:15:27.599 --> 00:15:33.739 about, after I took the course in DNA, is that not only does that chemical basis, which is ultimately 00:15:33.739 --> 00:15:40.799 a message, which helps to program and build cells and life forms, not only did that have to happen by 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:49.259 chance. He said, it'd be exactly as if a CD with a message happened as a result of an explosion or a 00:15:49.259 --> 00:15:54.699 series of processes. But he said, that's only half the problem, because there has to be something to 00:15:54.699 --> 00:16:00.699 read it. So he said, they're really telling me that I have to believe that a CD could happen by chance, 00:16:00.700 --> 00:16:08.980 and a CD player could happen by chance, and that the CD would go in the CD player. He said, how can I 00:16:08.980 --> 00:16:15.920 believe that that happened just by chance, all before natural selection? We'll leave that up here for 00:16:15.920 --> 00:16:21.700 you to ponder it. I'm sure some of you will have a better way to make an analogy about it. Why am I 00:16:21.700 --> 00:16:28.560 saying that? If you could put the next point, and I'm still getting to these questions, by the way, 00:16:28.580 --> 00:16:36.120 I really am. I hope you're finding this helpful. The choice before me is, am I willing to suffer for 00:16:36.120 --> 00:16:42.820 the gospel, or will I be ashamed of the gospel? Now, why am I saying that? I'm saying that because 00:16:42.820 --> 00:16:49.360 I know from talking to people in coffee shops that if they start to suspect that I have some doubts 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:56.800 about naturalistic account of evolution, they believe that I'm stupid. In fact, I've been told that. 00:16:58.759 --> 00:17:05.839 I'm told not only that I'm stupid with a low IQ, they'll ask me if I've lived my life under a rock, 00:17:06.779 --> 00:17:11.120 if I've ever attended any type of university, do I know anything at all? 00:17:13.380 --> 00:17:16.519 So am I willing to actually let something like that slip? 00:17:16.519 --> 00:17:24.339 Am I willing to be thought a fool for Christ? That's the heart problem with interpreting these texts. 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:36.980 You see, here's the other side of this diagram, and just very, very briefly, there's two circles if 00:17:36.980 --> 00:17:45.359 you can't see it, and the circle on the left says this Bible teaching stuff. Oh, there you go, 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:52.039 a better one up there. This is old school, right? And the other one is what Canada teaches, 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:57.219 and I, in mind, I just, it's only because I'm a terrible drawer. I'm not making any comment about 00:17:57.219 --> 00:18:02.219 how big the intersection is, but basically, one way to understand the Bible and how it relates to 00:18:02.219 --> 00:18:07.240 the world is always this. There's what the Bible teaches. We're trying to hear and learn and 00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:11.219 understand, by the way, because we're humble interpreters, and we don't begin to believe that 00:18:11.220 --> 00:18:16.200 we know we understand everything, and the Bible keeps teaching us. There's something that Canada 00:18:16.200 --> 00:18:21.860 teaches on the same types of things, and whatever, you take out that country, you could put Kenya, 00:18:22.019 --> 00:18:28.319 you could put China, you could put South Korea, you could put North Korea, and the inner section 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:33.460 will always be a big or a small section here, and here's always the discipleship question, you see, 00:18:33.460 --> 00:18:38.299 because it's very easy for us, and this is what happens when we get embarrassed about the first 00:18:38.299 --> 00:18:45.259 11 chapters of Genesis. Why are we embarrassed about the first 11 chapters of Genesis? It's because 00:18:45.259 --> 00:18:51.940 this part, what Canada teaches, says the first 11 chapters of Genesis are nonsense or evil. 00:18:53.380 --> 00:18:58.579 I was sharing with somebody in a coffee shop that part of the text I was looking at this week has the 00:18:58.579 --> 00:19:06.379 word covenant, and he literally flew into a rage at me and said, the idea of chosen people is the 00:19:06.379 --> 00:19:12.960 worst idea in the history of humanity. It has caused more violence and hardship than any other idea. 00:19:15.059 --> 00:19:21.139 And stormed away. I have great times in coffee shops sometimes. 00:19:21.140 --> 00:19:27.640 And, you know, and so, but, you know, some of us might just have a sense that if we bring up 00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:31.320 certain ideas like that, that's how people are going to react. So what happens in our discipleship? 00:19:31.780 --> 00:19:38.540 We only talk about this. We only talk about, you know, so it's like those of us involved in social 00:19:38.540 --> 00:19:43.160 justice ministries, it's easy to talk about something like sex trafficking, because everybody and their 00:19:43.160 --> 00:19:49.259 dogs opposed to sex trafficking, right? It's easy to talk about slavery, because in Canada, 00:19:49.259 --> 00:19:55.500 everybody and their dog is opposed to slavery. It's very hard to take Genesis 1 and 2 seriously 00:19:55.500 --> 00:20:04.559 and talk about trans issues or same-sex marriage or abortion. Why? Because that goes outside of here. 00:20:04.660 --> 00:20:12.200 This side of it has one view, and this side has a different view. And so I guess the thing about this 00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:16.940 is there's a bit of a gut check when we read the Bible, and I want to just tell you I'm not embarrassed 00:20:16.940 --> 00:20:20.900 about the Bible. I'm not ashamed. I pray about it all the time. One of the things I pray about as I'm 00:20:20.900 --> 00:20:26.640 preparing my sermons is I pray that, and this is one of the things you can pray about for me as well, 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:37.220 I pray that I will understand and hear the objections and the reactions of Canadians if they were to hear 00:20:37.220 --> 00:20:42.840 this text and they were to be honest with me, like my friend was honest with me when he flew into a rage. 00:20:42.839 --> 00:20:49.399 He was being honest with me. He wasn't being polite, but he was being honest. And there's lots to be said 00:20:49.399 --> 00:20:54.859 for honesty, isn't there? And you know, in this particular time, because I have a long-standing 00:20:54.859 --> 00:20:59.839 relationship with this particular person, at some point in time after he cools down, we'll probably 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:10.220 talk about it. But, you know, there's this, I pray that God will both help me to hear the different 00:21:10.220 --> 00:21:15.459 questions that people would have about the Bible, and then I also pray that God would make me unashamed 00:21:15.459 --> 00:21:23.819 of the Bible, and unashamed of the gospel, and unashamed of Jesus, because many of us are ashamed 00:21:23.819 --> 00:21:31.960 and afraid of the Bible, because it will mean that we have to say and believe things which a lot of 00:21:31.960 --> 00:21:38.480 Canadians or our friends or smart people or people that we respect will look down their nose at us. 00:21:40.139 --> 00:21:45.599 Remember I said my main point of this whole sermon is to say, to be able to have, do your best to 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:51.240 present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling 00:21:51.240 --> 00:21:54.680 the word of truth. So, 00:21:57.039 --> 00:22:05.259 what about some of these questions? I'm going to start to give you some insights about some of them 00:22:05.259 --> 00:22:14.779 as well, like who did Cain marry? Did Noah live, did Adam live 930 years? Was there a universal flood? 00:22:15.339 --> 00:22:20.559 Here's the final little bit of background before I give you some of my answers. If you could put the 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:30.799 next point up, when discussing worldviews, there is no perfect answer, but there can be a best answer. 00:22:32.539 --> 00:22:36.679 So, that's a bit of a general truth, but what I want you to understand is this. So, we're going to 00:22:36.679 --> 00:22:42.399 look at the very, like, let's look at these first three questions. Who was Cain afraid would kill him? 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:49.420 Who did Cain marry? Who lived in Cain City? Now, the first part of it is, I don't know for sure. 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:55.759 Why do I not know for sure? Aren't you supposed to know for sure? No, no, I'm not, I don't have to 00:22:55.759 --> 00:23:01.040 know for sure because, just because I'm a Christian doesn't mean I know everything. I'm not saying that 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:08.059 to dodge it. I'm just saying, in fact, if you read, like, very faithful commentaries, you read, for instance, 00:23:08.180 --> 00:23:14.740 Derek Kidner's commentary, very, very faithful academic, and he can get, he gives you three or four or five 00:23:14.740 --> 00:23:19.240 different possible answers to that particular question. I'm not going to summarize them all. It's not a seminary 00:23:19.240 --> 00:23:27.139 class, but here's the thing. Every system of thought has to deal with a version of this question, whether we realize 00:23:27.140 --> 00:23:32.300 it or not be, you know why every system of thought has to deal with it? Because we're all here in the 00:23:32.300 --> 00:23:40.100 room, because human beings exist. So it's not all of a sudden as if, George, the answer you just get, 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:43.420 you're going to give me in a second about Cain and Abel, I don't know if it's a very strong answer, 00:23:43.660 --> 00:23:47.700 and I might say, well, yeah, you know, maybe it isn't a very strong answer, but you know what? If you look 00:23:47.700 --> 00:23:53.720 at all the other answers, all of a sudden my answer might look like the strongest, because you see, 00:23:53.800 --> 00:23:56.680 in a sense, Buddhism has to account for the fact that people exist. 00:23:57.980 --> 00:24:03.920 Hinduism has to account for the fact that people exist. Native spirituality has to account for how 00:24:03.920 --> 00:24:12.180 people exist. Pagan, different pagan systems have to account for how people exist. Atheism has to 00:24:12.180 --> 00:24:19.240 account for how people exist. You know, in a sense, in evolutionary theory, see, here's one of the 00:24:19.240 --> 00:24:24.060 things which is really interesting about the Bible, is that the Bible gives this powerful story that, 00:24:24.059 --> 00:24:29.139 as carrying, telling you a whole pile of interesting things about the nature of evil, and the nature of 00:24:29.139 --> 00:24:34.139 good, and human connectedness, and if you want to go back and listen to my sermon on Genesis 4, you'll hear 00:24:34.139 --> 00:24:39.679 the different things that come out of that particular text. But evolutionary theory also has, you see, okay, 00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:44.060 here's the answer is Cain probably married a sister, 00:24:44.779 --> 00:24:47.960 or a cousin. 00:24:47.960 --> 00:24:57.120 The text doesn't say that Adam and Eve only had two children. The text, in fact, in five, says that they had many 00:24:57.120 --> 00:25:03.460 children. And in fact, there's nothing in the genealogy that says that the two children are the first and second. 00:25:03.460 --> 00:25:11.059 It's the ones that are significant for a variety of theological reasons, but not necessarily first and second, but significant. 00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:13.380 That's actually what the genealogy says. 00:25:15.400 --> 00:25:23.200 And you see, actually, if the atheistic account, which is naturalistic evolution, they also actually have to have something 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:26.759 almost identical, but it's never spelled out as clearly as the Bible. 00:25:28.039 --> 00:25:30.759 But the difference is that 00:25:30.759 --> 00:25:32.680 you have these 00:25:32.680 --> 00:25:36.160 early humanoid forms 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:38.920 that obviously then had to intermarry, 00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:42.860 but they had to be weaker humanoid forms, far more 00:25:42.860 --> 00:25:48.200 prone to disease, and far more prone to bad water, and all that type of stuff, 00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:51.100 in a more hostile environment, without 00:25:51.100 --> 00:25:52.600 antibiotics, 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:54.680 and all of that stuff, 00:25:55.539 --> 00:25:57.200 but we just don't think about it. 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:00.900 But the biblical 00:26:00.900 --> 00:26:03.420 viewpoint is that, in fact, 00:26:03.539 --> 00:26:05.580 God has created human beings. 00:26:05.720 --> 00:26:07.319 He created them to fill the earth, 00:26:07.420 --> 00:26:08.580 to be fruitful and multiply. 00:26:09.460 --> 00:26:11.279 And that may be something to do with the ages, 00:26:11.600 --> 00:26:13.539 and I'm going to say in a moment, it could be that the ages 00:26:13.539 --> 00:26:15.180 are literal, it could be that it's symbolic. 00:26:15.319 --> 00:26:16.799 It's not clear from the text. 00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:19.160 Why am I saying that? Not because I'm 00:26:19.160 --> 00:26:21.000 worried about C 00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:21.960 over here. 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:24.539 I'm not worried about C. 00:26:24.680 --> 00:26:27.220 I'm just actually trying to read the text very clearly, 00:26:27.220 --> 00:26:29.200 and if you read the text at the level of the Hebrew, 00:26:29.319 --> 00:26:30.500 it's not actually clear. 00:26:32.019 --> 00:26:33.980 It could be symbolic. 00:26:34.180 --> 00:26:35.440 It's probably meant to be literal, 00:26:35.580 --> 00:26:38.680 but it could be something symbolic about it in terms of the ages. 00:26:38.680 --> 00:26:41.720 But the whole picture is something very different. 00:26:41.720 --> 00:26:46.740 It's as if the biblical picture is that Adam and Eve are made perfect, 00:26:47.340 --> 00:26:50.160 that they're the very beginning of the human race, 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:52.700 that God not only made them as the beginning of the human race, 00:26:52.779 --> 00:26:54.880 but they were designed to be fruitful. 00:26:55.019 --> 00:26:59.320 They were designed by God himself without any sin to multiply. 00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:02.700 And that maybe there is something then about these ages. 00:27:02.859 --> 00:27:05.079 Maybe there is something about life before the flood. 00:27:05.659 --> 00:27:07.879 And so there's just things within it, 00:27:07.939 --> 00:27:09.399 like it's as if you look at a river, 00:27:09.539 --> 00:27:10.019 and I don't know, 00:27:10.179 --> 00:27:12.439 if you had a river that begins, 00:27:12.539 --> 00:27:12.939 and it's a big, 00:27:12.980 --> 00:27:13.099 big, 00:27:13.159 --> 00:27:14.460 strong river, 00:27:14.619 --> 00:27:16.960 but as it's going inland into a desert, 00:27:17.059 --> 00:27:18.399 it gets weaker and weaker and weaker, 00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:19.439 and more and more consumed, 00:27:19.439 --> 00:27:20.500 because it's a desert, 00:27:20.659 --> 00:27:21.980 and the moisture's just going out. 00:27:21.980 --> 00:27:23.140 But at the very beginning, 00:27:23.259 --> 00:27:24.660 it's a powerful flow. 00:27:25.120 --> 00:27:28.819 And that's the picture of what happens in the biblical thing. 00:27:28.900 --> 00:27:29.539 At the very beginning, 00:27:29.660 --> 00:27:32.900 there's this onrush of life. 00:27:34.220 --> 00:27:34.700 And you know what? 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:35.420 If you look at it, 00:27:35.640 --> 00:27:37.099 some of you are disappointed in my answer, 00:27:37.180 --> 00:27:37.599 but you know what? 00:27:37.700 --> 00:27:39.319 It's actually a pretty plausible answer. 00:27:41.319 --> 00:27:42.599 And if you now go back, 00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:45.720 and you read Buddhist and Hindu mythology, 00:27:46.039 --> 00:27:47.059 and pagan mythology, 00:27:47.620 --> 00:27:51.779 and you consider the whole problems of atheism having to believe this, 00:27:51.980 --> 00:27:53.240 you know what? 00:27:55.019 --> 00:27:56.900 The Bible looks like a pretty good answer. 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:00.500 You know, 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:02.380 especially if Adam and Eve lived so long, 00:28:02.420 --> 00:28:03.740 and they had so many children, 00:28:04.740 --> 00:28:05.799 there are people around. 00:28:07.160 --> 00:28:08.779 And it's possible they have cities. 00:28:12.759 --> 00:28:15.680 Here's the other thing I want to say. 00:28:15.759 --> 00:28:16.680 If you could put up the next point. 00:28:16.759 --> 00:28:17.980 This is sort of like the big thing. 00:28:18.099 --> 00:28:20.259 If you don't get anything else out of the sermon, 00:28:20.259 --> 00:28:21.420 other than that, 00:28:21.500 --> 00:28:25.240 my point is to do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, 00:28:25.319 --> 00:28:27.279 a worker who has no need to be ashamed, 00:28:27.400 --> 00:28:28.759 rightly handling the word of truth. 00:28:29.319 --> 00:28:31.099 Here's what I want you to really get. 00:28:31.220 --> 00:28:32.940 As we are gripped by the gospel, 00:28:33.879 --> 00:28:36.819 God forms unashamed and unafraid readers 00:28:36.819 --> 00:28:39.480 who read the Bible with humility, 00:28:40.379 --> 00:28:40.779 faith, 00:28:41.559 --> 00:28:42.059 obedience, 00:28:42.059 --> 00:28:43.059 curiosity, 00:28:43.059 --> 00:28:44.059 intelligence, 00:28:44.059 --> 00:28:45.059 intelligence, 00:28:45.059 --> 00:28:46.879 and imagination. 00:28:49.019 --> 00:28:53.159 Because there's all sorts of other things going on here in the text in terms of our imagination. 00:28:55.659 --> 00:28:55.960 And, 00:28:56.019 --> 00:28:57.119 you know, 00:28:57.159 --> 00:28:58.639 the reasons ultimately I'm a Christian, 00:28:58.940 --> 00:29:00.619 fundamentally they have to do with Jesus, 00:29:00.779 --> 00:29:02.619 but more than Jesus and his resurrection, 00:29:02.859 --> 00:29:03.179 it's the, 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:04.659 it's the wisdom of the Bible, 00:29:04.799 --> 00:29:06.480 it's the witness of the Holy Spirit, 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:06.960 it's, 00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:07.599 it's, 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:11.220 it's the many arguments for the existence of God, 00:29:11.299 --> 00:29:12.660 it's the problem of the alternatives. 00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:13.220 I, 00:29:13.339 --> 00:29:15.180 the longer I read, 00:29:15.980 --> 00:29:16.120 I mean, 00:29:16.140 --> 00:29:18.620 one of the interesting things about this particular fellow who, 00:29:18.680 --> 00:29:20.579 who blew up at me at the coffee shop, 00:29:21.460 --> 00:29:23.539 he and I had a conversation once about, 00:29:23.980 --> 00:29:24.759 about this, 00:29:24.759 --> 00:29:24.960 and, 00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:25.839 and, 00:29:25.960 --> 00:29:26.240 um, 00:29:26.599 --> 00:29:28.240 he actually acknowledged this. 00:29:28.460 --> 00:29:28.519 I, 00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:35.619 I told him that I read more non-Christian stuff in one week than he's read in two or three decades. 00:29:35.839 --> 00:29:36.099 Sorry, 00:29:36.180 --> 00:29:42.480 I read more non-Christian stuff in one week than he reads Christian stuff in several decades. 00:29:44.200 --> 00:29:46.819 I know I'm saying that because there's something special about me. 00:29:46.900 --> 00:29:48.980 It's not that there's something special about me. 00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:51.319 But, 00:29:51.440 --> 00:29:52.400 you know, 00:29:52.460 --> 00:29:52.640 it's, 00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:55.660 it's not that I've lived under a rock, 00:29:55.940 --> 00:29:58.840 or that there's wise Christians who live under a rock, 00:29:58.940 --> 00:29:59.340 but you, 00:29:59.540 --> 00:30:01.540 the more you can study these things, 00:30:01.620 --> 00:30:08.500 the more confident and assured my son taking biology at university made him more firmly believe in the doctrine of creation, 00:30:08.600 --> 00:30:09.100 not less. 00:30:11.320 --> 00:30:14.700 And so I just want to really encourage you not to be afraid of the Bible. 00:30:15.840 --> 00:30:19.300 Here's a couple of other things about these particular texts. 00:30:19.660 --> 00:30:21.900 If you go to Genesis chapter five, 00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:23.880 and you see all of these, 00:30:24.020 --> 00:30:24.140 you know, 00:30:24.180 --> 00:30:26.340 they live so long and they live so long and they live so long. 00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:30.100 One of the reasons you can't calculate the age of the earth is that if you, 00:30:30.220 --> 00:30:32.620 not just because I'm trying to get around a problem here, 00:30:32.660 --> 00:30:34.540 but if you look at how the Bible uses genealogies, 00:30:35.259 --> 00:30:35.440 okay, 00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:37.060 not because I'm afraid of something, 00:30:37.180 --> 00:30:39.540 but actually just read it. 00:30:39.539 --> 00:30:41.359 See, 00:30:41.420 --> 00:30:42.639 that's always what you have to do. 00:30:42.680 --> 00:30:43.759 You just have to read it. 00:30:45.159 --> 00:30:45.500 Like, 00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:49.159 when it talks about everything dying or something like that, 00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:49.359 well, 00:30:49.379 --> 00:30:52.619 do they mean everything or do they mean the way we mean everything sometimes? 00:30:52.920 --> 00:30:53.119 Like, 00:30:53.159 --> 00:30:54.299 you know how sometimes it might, 00:30:54.519 --> 00:30:55.519 let's say afterwards, 00:30:55.519 --> 00:30:59.299 after the senators lost to Pittsburgh Penguins, 00:30:59.440 --> 00:31:01.319 I know I am touching a wound, 00:31:01.920 --> 00:31:04.799 but especially after the game where they lost seven nothing, 00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:05.099 you know, 00:31:05.139 --> 00:31:06.200 if the headline said, 00:31:06.299 --> 00:31:07.900 Penguins slaughter senators, 00:31:08.059 --> 00:31:08.139 well, 00:31:08.180 --> 00:31:09.940 we all know they didn't literally kill them, 00:31:10.359 --> 00:31:12.200 leave them in a bloody heap in the ice, 00:31:12.900 --> 00:31:13.480 right? 00:31:14.180 --> 00:31:14.539 So, 00:31:14.620 --> 00:31:15.860 it doesn't mean that language is simple, 00:31:15.960 --> 00:31:17.360 but how do you figure that stuff out? 00:31:17.500 --> 00:31:17.700 Well, 00:31:18.180 --> 00:31:18.599 you don't, 00:31:18.700 --> 00:31:23.279 you don't just sort of try to pick an answer which won't offend Canadians, 00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:26.440 but you just try to understand the whole text, 00:31:26.460 --> 00:31:27.400 and what does the text say? 00:31:28.140 --> 00:31:28.440 And so, 00:31:28.519 --> 00:31:29.740 one of the things about genealogies, 00:31:29.799 --> 00:31:30.960 if you read genealogies, 00:31:31.039 --> 00:31:33.460 is genealogies are never written like, 00:31:34.019 --> 00:31:38.759 like when you go to ancestry.com to figure out your ancestral tree. 00:31:39.160 --> 00:31:42.440 That's not how the Bible uses genealogies. 00:31:42.440 --> 00:31:45.900 They use genealogies to connect significance, 00:31:46.580 --> 00:31:47.019 and they're very, 00:31:47.820 --> 00:31:52.299 and the Hebrew allows skipping who knows how many generations. 00:31:52.500 --> 00:31:53.380 It's just how they're written. 00:31:53.600 --> 00:31:54.640 It's how the Hebrew is written. 00:31:55.400 --> 00:31:58.420 It's how you find out by just actually studying it. 00:31:59.420 --> 00:31:59.640 So, 00:31:59.700 --> 00:32:02.840 it might very well have been that Adam lived a certain length of time, 00:32:02.940 --> 00:32:03.620 and then who knows, 00:32:03.779 --> 00:32:05.200 maybe it was that, 00:32:06.039 --> 00:32:06.920 or we'll not use that, 00:32:06.980 --> 00:32:08.840 let's say Seth lived 105 years, 00:32:08.920 --> 00:32:09.900 he fathered Enosh, 00:32:09.900 --> 00:32:11.759 but it might very well, 00:32:11.800 --> 00:32:15.060 but the whole word in the original Hebrew and all means that, 00:32:15.100 --> 00:32:18.820 it could be there's all sorts of generations, 00:32:19.080 --> 00:32:21.000 but the next one like Seth, 00:32:21.120 --> 00:32:22.500 that's significant like Seth, 00:32:22.640 --> 00:32:23.920 he comes at a certain time. 00:32:25.220 --> 00:32:25.640 So, 00:32:25.700 --> 00:32:29.080 you can't actually use the genealogies to capture the age of the earth. 00:32:29.079 --> 00:32:30.639 Now, 00:32:30.679 --> 00:32:31.460 I've noticed the time, 00:32:31.539 --> 00:32:32.899 the last thing is about the flood, 00:32:34.039 --> 00:32:39.819 and about those odd sons of God and the daughters of man. 00:32:39.939 --> 00:32:40.059 So, 00:32:40.139 --> 00:32:41.960 turn in your Bibles to Genesis 6, 00:32:41.960 --> 00:32:44.380 and here's how the text goes. 00:32:45.180 --> 00:32:47.920 When man began to multiply on the face of the land, 00:32:48.319 --> 00:32:49.860 and daughters were born to them, 00:32:50.440 --> 00:32:53.380 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive, 00:32:54.079 --> 00:32:56.120 and they took as their wives any they chose. 00:32:56.860 --> 00:32:57.940 Then the Lord said, 00:32:58.019 --> 00:33:00.100 my spirit shall not abide in man forever, 00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:01.079 for he is flesh, 00:33:01.140 --> 00:33:03.019 his days shall be 120 years. 00:33:03.720 --> 00:33:05.900 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, 00:33:05.960 --> 00:33:07.079 and also afterward. 00:33:07.079 --> 00:33:10.720 When the sons of God came into the daughters of man, 00:33:10.839 --> 00:33:12.359 and they bore children to them, 00:33:12.480 --> 00:33:14.480 these were the mighty men who were of old, 00:33:14.919 --> 00:33:15.779 the men of renown. 00:33:17.439 --> 00:33:17.859 Now, 00:33:17.919 --> 00:33:19.379 if all we knew in the Bible was that, 00:33:19.460 --> 00:33:22.879 you'd have to sort of think that there was something like angels, 00:33:22.939 --> 00:33:23.919 and they had sex. 00:33:24.519 --> 00:33:24.939 But, 00:33:25.059 --> 00:33:26.559 that's not the only part of the Bible, 00:33:26.599 --> 00:33:28.480 and there's a specific context, 00:33:28.859 --> 00:33:30.119 which we have to keep reading, 00:33:30.639 --> 00:33:31.899 and it goes like this. 00:33:32.579 --> 00:33:35.779 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, 00:33:35.779 --> 00:33:40.039 and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart 00:33:40.039 --> 00:33:41.879 was only evil continually. 00:33:42.579 --> 00:33:42.700 Now, 00:33:42.740 --> 00:33:45.539 just notice the powerful language there. 00:33:46.440 --> 00:33:49.220 This is describing the world before the flood, 00:33:49.460 --> 00:33:53.579 that every intention of the thoughts of his heart 00:33:53.579 --> 00:33:56.579 was only evil continually. 00:33:58.160 --> 00:34:01.079 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, 00:34:01.139 --> 00:34:02.920 and grieved him to his heart. 00:34:02.920 --> 00:34:04.100 So the Lord said, 00:34:04.720 --> 00:34:08.159 I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, 00:34:08.700 --> 00:34:11.940 man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. 00:34:12.940 --> 00:34:14.659 For I am sorry that I have made them, 00:34:15.220 --> 00:34:17.380 but Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 00:34:18.840 --> 00:34:19.340 You know, 00:34:19.380 --> 00:34:21.260 what exactly does the text about Nephilim mean? 00:34:21.480 --> 00:34:22.059 I don't know. 00:34:23.480 --> 00:34:24.059 I don't know. 00:34:24.639 --> 00:34:27.059 You go and you read the commentaries by Bruce Watkey 00:34:27.059 --> 00:34:28.000 or Derek Kidner, 00:34:28.079 --> 00:34:30.760 they can give you a variety of things that it might possibly mean. 00:34:30.760 --> 00:34:34.160 Probably what it means is this. 00:34:34.360 --> 00:34:36.180 It's something really like a horror novel. 00:34:36.640 --> 00:34:37.640 It's like a horror movie. 00:34:39.100 --> 00:34:40.660 It's describing a world 00:34:40.660 --> 00:34:45.820 that has almost completely given itself over to evil, 00:34:46.020 --> 00:34:46.940 and we'll see in a moment, 00:34:47.020 --> 00:34:48.560 has given itself over to violence. 00:34:49.700 --> 00:34:52.080 And in the latter part of chapter 6, 00:34:52.220 --> 00:34:53.840 the Hebrew word for violence 00:34:53.840 --> 00:34:55.620 doesn't just mean physical violence. 00:34:55.619 --> 00:34:58.059 It means emotional violence, 00:34:58.259 --> 00:34:59.420 intellectual violence, 00:34:59.579 --> 00:35:00.659 relational violence, 00:35:00.839 --> 00:35:01.619 social violence, 00:35:01.699 --> 00:35:02.440 like violence 00:35:02.440 --> 00:35:04.299 in its most comprehensive, 00:35:04.839 --> 00:35:06.000 holistic sense 00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:08.759 of direct, 00:35:09.380 --> 00:35:10.719 willful hurting 00:35:10.719 --> 00:35:12.579 to destroy, 00:35:12.819 --> 00:35:13.519 to diminish. 00:35:14.159 --> 00:35:16.219 It means it in the most comprehensive way. 00:35:17.659 --> 00:35:19.159 And so whatever's going on here, 00:35:19.259 --> 00:35:20.679 and it's not entirely clear, 00:35:20.819 --> 00:35:22.359 it's something which is evil. 00:35:22.360 --> 00:35:25.099 So it's not referring to angels, 00:35:25.240 --> 00:35:26.280 it's referring to demons, 00:35:26.660 --> 00:35:27.559 which we learn about 00:35:27.559 --> 00:35:28.740 throughout the rest of the Bible. 00:35:30.280 --> 00:35:31.420 And probably what it's, 00:35:31.579 --> 00:35:33.260 you know in the Gospels, 00:35:33.320 --> 00:35:34.480 those of you are familiar with 00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:35.360 the Gadarene demoniac, 00:35:36.720 --> 00:35:37.539 and if you go back 00:35:37.539 --> 00:35:38.320 and read the stories 00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:39.700 about the Gadarene demoniac, 00:35:39.900 --> 00:35:40.920 one of the things it says 00:35:40.920 --> 00:35:42.220 about the Gadarene demoniac 00:35:42.220 --> 00:35:44.460 is that they tried to put chains on him, 00:35:44.900 --> 00:35:47.840 but he would fly into these rages of strength 00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:49.000 and break his chains, 00:35:49.140 --> 00:35:50.480 and nobody could bind him. 00:35:50.480 --> 00:35:52.480 Imagine, 00:35:53.480 --> 00:35:56.400 what the text is probably talking about 00:35:56.400 --> 00:35:57.519 is demonic possession, 00:35:58.260 --> 00:35:59.480 like the Gadarene demoniac. 00:36:01.179 --> 00:36:02.639 And it's really just like 00:36:02.639 --> 00:36:03.940 the types of horror movies 00:36:03.940 --> 00:36:05.539 that some people like to watch. 00:36:06.059 --> 00:36:07.740 It's describing a world 00:36:07.740 --> 00:36:11.719 of demon-controlled individuals 00:36:11.719 --> 00:36:14.039 who capture women 00:36:14.039 --> 00:36:15.860 and keep them like a harem 00:36:15.860 --> 00:36:17.980 and keep them in slavery 00:36:17.980 --> 00:36:18.480 and subjection 00:36:18.480 --> 00:36:20.740 and make them pregnant. 00:36:22.980 --> 00:36:24.179 It's describing 00:36:24.179 --> 00:36:28.380 what we see in horror movies. 00:36:29.960 --> 00:36:31.500 And the Bible is saying 00:36:31.500 --> 00:36:33.179 that that is the world 00:36:33.179 --> 00:36:34.719 that developed before the flood. 00:36:36.800 --> 00:36:37.219 And so, 00:36:37.679 --> 00:36:39.699 and we'll talk a little bit about this 00:36:39.699 --> 00:36:40.780 in upcoming weeks. 00:36:40.780 --> 00:36:42.880 if you, 00:36:43.060 --> 00:36:44.140 one of the things 00:36:44.140 --> 00:36:45.300 which is really interesting 00:36:45.300 --> 00:36:47.100 if you read academic commentaries 00:36:47.100 --> 00:36:47.720 that are faithful 00:36:47.720 --> 00:36:48.880 about the book of Genesis 00:36:48.880 --> 00:36:51.080 and you look at chapter 6, 7, 8, and 9, 00:36:52.200 --> 00:36:52.560 is 00:36:52.560 --> 00:36:54.420 that 00:36:54.420 --> 00:36:57.060 in chapter 6, 7, 8, and 9 00:36:57.060 --> 00:36:58.480 as it talks about the flood, 00:36:59.480 --> 00:37:01.800 the significant parts 00:37:01.800 --> 00:37:03.820 in Genesis chapter 1 and 2 00:37:03.820 --> 00:37:05.060 which talk about the creation 00:37:05.060 --> 00:37:06.000 of all things 00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:07.080 are revisited 00:37:07.080 --> 00:37:08.380 in a different form. 00:37:08.380 --> 00:37:09.920 If you could put up 00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:10.880 the next point, please. 00:37:13.340 --> 00:37:14.400 With the flood, 00:37:14.800 --> 00:37:16.539 God first reverses 00:37:16.539 --> 00:37:18.680 then recreates 00:37:18.680 --> 00:37:19.860 his creation. 00:37:22.780 --> 00:37:23.800 I'm very conscious 00:37:23.800 --> 00:37:24.680 of my time. 00:37:25.640 --> 00:37:26.340 One of the problems 00:37:26.340 --> 00:37:26.800 that we have 00:37:26.800 --> 00:37:27.960 when we read the flood stories 00:37:27.960 --> 00:37:28.680 is we focus 00:37:28.680 --> 00:37:30.099 on the naturalistic bits. 00:37:31.059 --> 00:37:31.820 But if you look 00:37:31.820 --> 00:37:32.740 at the flood story, 00:37:33.200 --> 00:37:33.920 you need to focus 00:37:33.920 --> 00:37:35.539 on the supernatural bits, 00:37:35.860 --> 00:37:37.240 on what God does. 00:37:37.239 --> 00:37:39.979 God brings the animals. 00:37:41.059 --> 00:37:42.339 The ark is built. 00:37:42.699 --> 00:37:43.500 There's no rudder. 00:37:44.159 --> 00:37:44.779 There's nothing 00:37:44.779 --> 00:37:45.819 to keep it upright. 00:37:46.159 --> 00:37:46.939 It could float, 00:37:47.500 --> 00:37:48.259 but it would be 00:37:48.259 --> 00:37:49.039 like a cork. 00:37:49.679 --> 00:37:50.779 It has a hole 00:37:50.779 --> 00:37:51.459 on the top. 00:37:52.279 --> 00:37:53.439 The whole point 00:37:53.439 --> 00:37:54.439 of the ark story 00:37:54.439 --> 00:37:55.359 is that God 00:37:55.359 --> 00:37:56.299 brings the animals. 00:37:56.679 --> 00:37:57.819 God shuts them in. 00:37:58.339 --> 00:37:59.659 God keeps them safe. 00:38:00.199 --> 00:38:01.159 When it talks about 00:38:01.159 --> 00:38:02.399 the flood waters coming, 00:38:02.859 --> 00:38:03.599 it doesn't try 00:38:03.599 --> 00:38:04.379 to describe it 00:38:04.379 --> 00:38:05.059 in any type of 00:38:05.059 --> 00:38:06.419 naturalistic way whatsoever. 00:38:06.420 --> 00:38:07.420 It uses a very, 00:38:07.559 --> 00:38:08.740 very odd phrase 00:38:08.740 --> 00:38:12.000 that the celestial waters 00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:13.559 come on earth. 00:38:14.700 --> 00:38:15.760 If you go back 00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:16.139 and you look 00:38:16.139 --> 00:38:16.599 at the beginning 00:38:16.599 --> 00:38:17.619 of the book of Genesis, 00:38:17.840 --> 00:38:19.000 Genesis chapter 1, 00:38:19.079 --> 00:38:19.559 verse 1, 00:38:19.599 --> 00:38:20.260 which talks about 00:38:20.260 --> 00:38:20.760 God creating 00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:21.659 all things out of nothing. 00:38:21.760 --> 00:38:22.920 In the very next verse, 00:38:23.159 --> 00:38:24.880 it says how the waters 00:38:24.880 --> 00:38:26.420 are over the entire earth 00:38:26.420 --> 00:38:27.260 and there's chaos 00:38:27.260 --> 00:38:28.280 and the Holy Spirit 00:38:28.280 --> 00:38:29.619 hovers over the waters. 00:38:30.180 --> 00:38:31.000 And what we see 00:38:31.000 --> 00:38:31.659 in the flood, 00:38:32.119 --> 00:38:33.000 what you're seeing 00:38:33.000 --> 00:38:34.240 described in the flood 00:38:34.239 --> 00:38:35.159 is as if God 00:38:35.159 --> 00:38:36.859 presses the reset button 00:38:36.859 --> 00:38:37.599 on creation. 00:38:41.379 --> 00:38:43.079 And he reverses 00:38:43.079 --> 00:38:44.759 the creation 00:38:44.759 --> 00:38:45.879 as part of his judgment. 00:38:46.899 --> 00:38:49.219 And then he recreates creation. 00:38:50.879 --> 00:38:51.699 And I think 00:38:51.699 --> 00:38:52.479 an honest way 00:38:52.479 --> 00:38:53.179 of reading the Bible, 00:38:53.879 --> 00:38:54.599 and Christians 00:38:54.599 --> 00:38:55.719 can differ on this, 00:38:56.279 --> 00:38:57.619 is just as God 00:38:57.619 --> 00:38:58.519 creates all things 00:38:58.519 --> 00:38:59.199 out of nothing, 00:38:59.639 --> 00:39:00.219 it's hard 00:39:00.219 --> 00:39:00.979 when you're reading 00:39:00.979 --> 00:39:02.679 Genesis 6, 7, 8, and 9 00:39:02.679 --> 00:39:03.619 to know what parts 00:39:03.619 --> 00:39:05.179 are specifically naturalistic. 00:39:05.299 --> 00:39:06.599 But everything in the text 00:39:06.599 --> 00:39:08.819 is focusing on, 00:39:08.899 --> 00:39:09.539 it's as if God 00:39:09.539 --> 00:39:10.659 reverses the created 00:39:10.659 --> 00:39:11.619 order and judgment 00:39:11.619 --> 00:39:13.940 and then he recreates. 00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:14.639 There's like a new 00:39:14.639 --> 00:39:15.319 second day, 00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:15.980 there's like a new 00:39:15.980 --> 00:39:16.679 third day, 00:39:16.779 --> 00:39:17.319 there's like a new 00:39:17.319 --> 00:39:17.919 fifth day, 00:39:18.019 --> 00:39:18.419 there's a new 00:39:18.419 --> 00:39:19.139 sixth day, 00:39:19.239 --> 00:39:19.639 there's a new 00:39:19.639 --> 00:39:20.460 seventh day, 00:39:20.759 --> 00:39:21.659 and there's a new 00:39:21.659 --> 00:39:22.739 Genesis 2 00:39:22.739 --> 00:39:23.559 and the institution 00:39:23.559 --> 00:39:24.239 of the family. 00:39:24.339 --> 00:39:25.079 And it's as if he makes 00:39:25.079 --> 00:39:26.199 all of these things new. 00:39:26.279 --> 00:39:27.579 It's as if he's reset it. 00:39:27.940 --> 00:39:29.539 And as he resets it, 00:39:30.019 --> 00:39:31.219 as a recreation, 00:39:31.219 --> 00:39:32.579 there's this 00:39:32.579 --> 00:39:33.959 completely new reality 00:39:33.959 --> 00:39:34.619 where the ages 00:39:34.619 --> 00:39:35.679 are going to be different. 00:39:36.179 --> 00:39:36.980 The relationship 00:39:36.980 --> 00:39:38.179 between human and animals 00:39:38.179 --> 00:39:39.159 is going to be different. 00:39:40.699 --> 00:39:41.480 And the Bible 00:39:41.480 --> 00:39:42.199 doesn't tell us 00:39:42.199 --> 00:39:43.099 about the full things 00:39:43.099 --> 00:39:43.619 that existed 00:39:43.619 --> 00:39:44.439 before the flood. 00:39:45.299 --> 00:39:46.239 It's not something 00:39:46.239 --> 00:39:47.000 we need to know. 00:39:48.839 --> 00:39:49.959 But what you're seeing 00:39:49.959 --> 00:39:51.559 in Genesis 6, 7, 00:39:51.639 --> 00:39:52.439 and 8, and 9 00:39:52.439 --> 00:39:53.379 is really, 00:39:53.500 --> 00:39:54.299 the best analogy 00:39:54.299 --> 00:39:55.059 would be to press 00:39:55.059 --> 00:39:55.959 a reset button. 00:39:57.319 --> 00:39:58.059 And God, 00:39:58.219 --> 00:39:58.839 in his judgment, 00:39:59.019 --> 00:40:00.219 presses a reset button. 00:40:01.219 --> 00:40:04.699 And because he's seen 00:40:04.699 --> 00:40:05.519 the problems, 00:40:06.619 --> 00:40:07.439 just think about it 00:40:07.439 --> 00:40:07.879 for a second. 00:40:09.219 --> 00:40:09.980 Like, look what this 00:40:09.980 --> 00:40:10.579 is telling us 00:40:10.579 --> 00:40:11.719 in a very, very powerful way. 00:40:11.779 --> 00:40:12.539 What is it that many, 00:40:12.619 --> 00:40:13.980 many, many people believe? 00:40:14.539 --> 00:40:15.879 Many, many people believe 00:40:15.879 --> 00:40:16.439 that if people 00:40:16.439 --> 00:40:17.739 could just live longer, 00:40:17.899 --> 00:40:19.079 they'd figure things out 00:40:19.079 --> 00:40:19.859 and become better. 00:40:20.919 --> 00:40:21.439 Haven't they heard 00:40:21.439 --> 00:40:22.559 about vampire movies? 00:40:22.559 --> 00:40:28.340 Like, just imagine 00:40:28.340 --> 00:40:29.619 if Hitler lived longer. 00:40:29.840 --> 00:40:31.019 Like, I'd just be honest. 00:40:31.099 --> 00:40:32.000 If I lived longer, 00:40:32.039 --> 00:40:33.039 would I become wiser 00:40:33.039 --> 00:40:33.659 and kinder? 00:40:33.719 --> 00:40:34.440 I don't know. 00:40:35.579 --> 00:40:36.759 Would I be more filled 00:40:36.759 --> 00:40:37.360 with pride? 00:40:37.519 --> 00:40:38.559 Maybe I would be. 00:40:41.960 --> 00:40:43.000 And what is it, 00:40:43.059 --> 00:40:43.299 you know, 00:40:43.380 --> 00:40:44.340 what is it that's often 00:40:44.340 --> 00:40:45.659 common in a whole 00:40:45.659 --> 00:40:46.380 pile of thoughts? 00:40:46.519 --> 00:40:46.739 What is it, 00:40:46.799 --> 00:40:47.599 don't many people 00:40:47.599 --> 00:40:48.159 just say, you know, 00:40:48.199 --> 00:40:48.639 there's a problem 00:40:48.639 --> 00:40:49.539 there's too many people. 00:40:49.659 --> 00:40:50.960 It's a theme of lots of books, 00:40:51.079 --> 00:40:51.759 lots of movies, 00:40:51.940 --> 00:40:52.980 lots of poetic stuff. 00:40:53.400 --> 00:40:54.179 And what if it, 00:40:54.219 --> 00:40:55.119 we just got the very, 00:40:55.219 --> 00:40:56.820 very, very best people? 00:40:57.500 --> 00:40:58.420 And that's one of the things 00:40:58.420 --> 00:40:58.980 in this story, 00:40:59.059 --> 00:40:59.920 that Noah is one of the 00:40:59.920 --> 00:41:01.659 very, very, very best people 00:41:01.659 --> 00:41:02.460 in a world filled 00:41:02.460 --> 00:41:03.019 of violence. 00:41:03.219 --> 00:41:04.380 Noah is exceptional, 00:41:04.579 --> 00:41:05.800 completely and utterly different. 00:41:06.219 --> 00:41:06.980 And what we say is, 00:41:07.300 --> 00:41:08.139 why don't we just try 00:41:08.139 --> 00:41:08.920 to get rid of all 00:41:08.920 --> 00:41:09.940 of these bad people 00:41:09.940 --> 00:41:11.380 and we just try to get 00:41:11.380 --> 00:41:12.619 creation back to its 00:41:12.619 --> 00:41:13.960 pristine form 00:41:13.960 --> 00:41:14.920 and we take the very, 00:41:15.079 --> 00:41:15.699 very best people 00:41:15.699 --> 00:41:16.360 and we start again. 00:41:17.179 --> 00:41:18.059 And Genesis is going to say, 00:41:18.139 --> 00:41:19.059 we tried that as well. 00:41:19.059 --> 00:41:19.739 God tried, 00:41:19.980 --> 00:41:21.739 that happened before. 00:41:23.759 --> 00:41:24.480 Because there's, 00:41:24.659 --> 00:41:27.920 God changes the created order. 00:41:28.059 --> 00:41:29.420 He recreates things 00:41:29.420 --> 00:41:30.900 and then most of the Bible 00:41:30.900 --> 00:41:31.420 is discussing 00:41:31.420 --> 00:41:32.199 how it's recreated. 00:41:32.320 --> 00:41:32.960 But what we see 00:41:32.960 --> 00:41:34.699 in the book of Genesis 00:41:34.699 --> 00:41:35.759 as we look ahead 00:41:35.759 --> 00:41:39.779 is that what we need 00:41:39.779 --> 00:41:42.340 is not a recreation. 00:41:43.299 --> 00:41:44.619 What we need 00:41:44.619 --> 00:41:45.519 is not pressing 00:41:45.519 --> 00:41:46.659 the reset button. 00:41:46.659 --> 00:41:49.159 what we need 00:41:49.159 --> 00:41:50.819 is new creation. 00:41:54.000 --> 00:41:55.359 All of these stories 00:41:55.359 --> 00:41:57.879 are humbling us 00:41:57.879 --> 00:41:59.859 to stop looking 00:41:59.859 --> 00:42:01.019 in false directions 00:42:01.019 --> 00:42:02.239 in terms of elites 00:42:02.239 --> 00:42:03.639 and in terms of 00:42:03.639 --> 00:42:04.219 getting nature 00:42:04.219 --> 00:42:05.199 more pristine 00:42:05.199 --> 00:42:06.559 or just getting rid 00:42:06.559 --> 00:42:07.359 of the bad people. 00:42:07.420 --> 00:42:08.139 It's a common 00:42:08.139 --> 00:42:09.339 political problem. 00:42:09.500 --> 00:42:09.839 Oh, you know, 00:42:09.879 --> 00:42:11.099 if in America 00:42:11.099 --> 00:42:12.219 only they could get rid 00:42:12.219 --> 00:42:13.059 of all those people 00:42:13.059 --> 00:42:14.079 who voted for Clinton. 00:42:14.079 --> 00:42:15.299 In America, 00:42:15.360 --> 00:42:16.019 if we could only get rid 00:42:16.019 --> 00:42:16.980 of all those people 00:42:16.980 --> 00:42:18.019 who voted for Trump, 00:42:18.099 --> 00:42:18.940 it's a common, 00:42:19.059 --> 00:42:19.840 common, 00:42:20.039 --> 00:42:20.860 common problem. 00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:21.719 And this text 00:42:21.719 --> 00:42:22.460 is telling us 00:42:22.460 --> 00:42:23.340 very powerfully 00:42:23.340 --> 00:42:24.259 that the problem 00:42:24.259 --> 00:42:25.880 is in the command center 00:42:25.880 --> 00:42:27.000 of human beings. 00:42:27.000 --> 00:42:30.960 it's not in the other. 00:42:31.420 --> 00:42:32.239 It's in me. 00:42:32.940 --> 00:42:34.519 It's not in the system. 00:42:34.900 --> 00:42:35.900 It's in me. 00:42:39.559 --> 00:42:40.400 If you could put up 00:42:40.400 --> 00:42:41.179 the final point. 00:42:43.739 --> 00:42:45.360 When I receive the gospel, 00:42:45.559 --> 00:42:46.519 God makes me 00:42:46.519 --> 00:42:47.900 a new creation 00:42:47.900 --> 00:42:50.360 who yearns for the day 00:42:50.360 --> 00:42:51.800 when Jesus comes again 00:42:51.800 --> 00:42:53.239 and makes all things new. 00:42:53.340 --> 00:42:53.519 You see, 00:42:53.579 --> 00:42:54.039 that's the thing 00:42:54.039 --> 00:42:54.599 that the Bible 00:42:54.599 --> 00:42:55.579 is pushing us to. 00:42:56.219 --> 00:42:57.199 It's constantly 00:42:57.199 --> 00:42:57.920 humbling 00:42:57.920 --> 00:42:59.860 our pride, 00:43:00.599 --> 00:43:01.500 our arrogance. 00:43:02.159 --> 00:43:03.039 It's humbling 00:43:03.039 --> 00:43:03.779 our desire 00:43:03.779 --> 00:43:04.599 to be God 00:43:04.599 --> 00:43:05.739 that makes other people 00:43:05.739 --> 00:43:06.179 other, 00:43:06.719 --> 00:43:07.579 that makes us think 00:43:07.579 --> 00:43:08.519 that somehow or another 00:43:08.519 --> 00:43:09.500 we're special, 00:43:10.279 --> 00:43:10.699 that, you know, 00:43:10.779 --> 00:43:11.219 that, you know, 00:43:11.340 --> 00:43:13.219 we have the smarter system. 00:43:13.480 --> 00:43:13.599 You know, 00:43:13.619 --> 00:43:14.039 the Bible, 00:43:14.199 --> 00:43:15.259 when I say that the Bible 00:43:15.259 --> 00:43:15.840 is infallible 00:43:15.840 --> 00:43:16.659 and it humbles us, 00:43:16.739 --> 00:43:18.559 it's a profound statement 00:43:18.559 --> 00:43:19.759 that it's not saying 00:43:19.759 --> 00:43:21.279 that Jewish and Christian people 00:43:21.279 --> 00:43:22.480 were smarter people 00:43:22.480 --> 00:43:23.360 or better poets 00:43:23.360 --> 00:43:24.219 or better writers. 00:43:24.219 --> 00:43:25.619 it's saying nothing 00:43:25.619 --> 00:43:26.459 like that at all. 00:43:26.519 --> 00:43:27.779 It's saying God speaks, 00:43:27.899 --> 00:43:28.459 not us. 00:43:30.439 --> 00:43:31.639 And in the gospel, 00:43:31.980 --> 00:43:32.519 we're telling, 00:43:32.639 --> 00:43:33.359 it's one beggar 00:43:33.359 --> 00:43:34.299 telling another beggar 00:43:34.299 --> 00:43:35.159 where to find bread. 00:43:35.239 --> 00:43:36.859 It's not telling people 00:43:36.859 --> 00:43:37.439 that somehow 00:43:37.439 --> 00:43:38.799 I have better rituals, 00:43:38.980 --> 00:43:40.179 I have better hymns, 00:43:40.500 --> 00:43:41.739 I have better prayers, 00:43:42.199 --> 00:43:42.599 I have, 00:43:42.859 --> 00:43:44.359 it's not that I have 00:43:44.359 --> 00:43:45.119 any of these things. 00:43:45.239 --> 00:43:46.319 I've been given them 00:43:46.319 --> 00:43:46.899 as a gift 00:43:46.899 --> 00:43:48.199 by what God has done. 00:43:49.339 --> 00:43:50.519 And so this whole text 00:43:50.519 --> 00:43:51.219 is showing us 00:43:51.219 --> 00:43:52.500 that pressing reset 00:43:52.500 --> 00:43:53.139 isn't enough. 00:43:55.119 --> 00:43:56.719 Sin has to be dealt with 00:43:56.719 --> 00:43:58.119 and God deals with sin 00:43:58.119 --> 00:43:59.659 in his son's death 00:43:59.659 --> 00:44:00.500 upon the cross. 00:44:02.460 --> 00:44:03.760 And when God, 00:44:04.239 --> 00:44:05.619 we receive the gospel, 00:44:05.920 --> 00:44:06.699 God himself, 00:44:06.860 --> 00:44:07.679 I was just sharing this 00:44:07.679 --> 00:44:08.119 with somebody 00:44:08.119 --> 00:44:08.980 in a coffee shop 00:44:08.980 --> 00:44:09.780 just yesterday. 00:44:10.500 --> 00:44:10.860 I say, 00:44:10.920 --> 00:44:11.940 and this isn't just ideas 00:44:11.940 --> 00:44:13.099 that when you put your faith 00:44:13.099 --> 00:44:14.159 and trust in God, 00:44:14.260 --> 00:44:14.900 in Christ, 00:44:15.820 --> 00:44:17.400 God comes in. 00:44:17.400 --> 00:44:19.800 the Holy Spirit 00:44:19.800 --> 00:44:21.380 comes in. 00:44:22.880 --> 00:44:24.740 And as a pure gift 00:44:24.740 --> 00:44:25.500 of grace, 00:44:26.280 --> 00:44:28.200 you are made 00:44:28.200 --> 00:44:29.880 a new creation 00:44:29.880 --> 00:44:32.660 that will one day fit 00:44:32.660 --> 00:44:34.200 when God makes 00:44:34.200 --> 00:44:35.519 all things new. 00:44:37.740 --> 00:44:39.559 It's not just words 00:44:39.559 --> 00:44:40.180 and ideas. 00:44:41.440 --> 00:44:43.400 The gospel is a power 00:44:43.400 --> 00:44:45.800 and God himself 00:44:45.800 --> 00:44:47.280 in the person 00:44:47.280 --> 00:44:48.160 of the Holy Spirit 00:44:48.160 --> 00:44:48.800 and ultimately 00:44:48.800 --> 00:44:49.480 the whole Trinity 00:44:49.480 --> 00:44:51.119 comes and lives 00:44:51.119 --> 00:44:52.000 within. 00:44:54.260 --> 00:44:55.840 We need a new creation, 00:44:56.360 --> 00:44:57.139 always gripped 00:44:57.139 --> 00:44:57.920 by the gospel, 00:44:58.099 --> 00:44:59.019 mindful of the fact 00:44:59.019 --> 00:45:01.059 that we're not there yet 00:45:01.059 --> 00:45:03.340 and that there's still 00:45:03.340 --> 00:45:04.340 sin that we have 00:45:04.340 --> 00:45:05.119 to repent of, 00:45:05.220 --> 00:45:06.420 but it's all ultimately 00:45:06.420 --> 00:45:07.360 been dealt with 00:45:07.360 --> 00:45:07.940 by Jesus. 00:45:08.180 --> 00:45:09.360 It's a new creation 00:45:09.360 --> 00:45:09.920 that we need, 00:45:09.980 --> 00:45:10.539 not a reset. 00:45:10.780 --> 00:45:11.320 Please stand. 00:45:11.320 --> 00:45:19.360 Let's bow our heads 00:45:19.360 --> 00:45:19.840 in prayer. 00:45:24.400 --> 00:45:24.840 Father, 00:45:24.980 --> 00:45:25.300 you know 00:45:25.300 --> 00:45:26.120 the different things 00:45:26.120 --> 00:45:27.039 that we're afraid of 00:45:27.039 --> 00:45:27.519 and embarrassed. 00:45:27.640 --> 00:45:28.160 You know the things 00:45:28.160 --> 00:45:28.880 I'm afraid of 00:45:28.880 --> 00:45:29.660 and embarrassed about, 00:45:29.840 --> 00:45:30.059 Father, 00:45:30.180 --> 00:45:31.200 and things I'd be 00:45:31.200 --> 00:45:32.000 way too embarrassed 00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:33.220 to share to this congregation. 00:45:34.780 --> 00:45:35.180 Father, 00:45:35.300 --> 00:45:36.240 thank you that you know 00:45:36.240 --> 00:45:37.200 every single one 00:45:37.200 --> 00:45:38.100 of us perfectly. 00:45:39.120 --> 00:45:40.380 Thank you that you know 00:45:40.380 --> 00:45:41.960 what really goes on 00:45:41.960 --> 00:45:42.880 in the command centers 00:45:42.880 --> 00:45:43.720 of our lives. 00:45:44.800 --> 00:45:45.880 Thank you that you know 00:45:45.880 --> 00:45:47.400 both what is so strong 00:45:47.400 --> 00:45:47.980 and glorious 00:45:47.980 --> 00:45:49.400 and beautiful about us 00:45:49.400 --> 00:45:50.460 and you know the things 00:45:50.460 --> 00:45:51.500 about us that are rotten. 00:45:52.619 --> 00:45:53.500 Thank you, Father, 00:45:53.559 --> 00:45:54.440 that you know those things 00:45:54.440 --> 00:45:55.619 about us that are courageous 00:45:55.619 --> 00:45:56.740 and thank you, Father, 00:45:56.840 --> 00:45:57.559 you know those things 00:45:57.559 --> 00:45:58.340 about us that are 00:45:58.340 --> 00:45:59.320 terribly afraid 00:45:59.320 --> 00:46:01.440 and terribly embarrassed. 00:46:02.099 --> 00:46:03.280 And thank you, Father, 00:46:03.340 --> 00:46:03.960 that you know us 00:46:03.960 --> 00:46:04.800 so perfectly 00:46:04.800 --> 00:46:07.780 and knowing us perfectly. 00:46:08.019 --> 00:46:08.840 You do not turn 00:46:08.840 --> 00:46:10.000 your eyes away from us 00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:11.220 in shame and embarrassment. 00:46:12.140 --> 00:46:13.580 You do not mock us. 00:46:14.080 --> 00:46:15.720 You do not make fun of us. 00:46:16.539 --> 00:46:17.560 You do not turn 00:46:17.560 --> 00:46:19.039 your eyes away in disgust. 00:46:19.600 --> 00:46:20.360 But knowing us 00:46:20.360 --> 00:46:21.460 so completely 00:46:21.460 --> 00:46:22.500 and perfectly 00:46:22.500 --> 00:46:23.400 and deeply, 00:46:24.039 --> 00:46:25.280 yet you love us 00:46:25.280 --> 00:46:26.900 and desire us 00:46:26.900 --> 00:46:28.039 to be your child 00:46:28.039 --> 00:46:29.480 by adoption and grace 00:46:29.480 --> 00:46:30.480 when we put our faith 00:46:30.480 --> 00:46:30.960 and trust 00:46:30.960 --> 00:46:31.480 in your Son, 00:46:31.580 --> 00:46:32.260 Jesus Christ. 00:46:32.260 --> 00:46:34.280 So, Father, 00:46:34.340 --> 00:46:35.080 we ask that you would 00:46:35.080 --> 00:46:36.580 make us disciples of Jesus 00:46:36.580 --> 00:46:37.300 who are gripped 00:46:37.300 --> 00:46:38.180 by the Gospel. 00:46:39.320 --> 00:46:40.720 And as we are gripped 00:46:40.720 --> 00:46:41.620 by the Gospel, 00:46:42.860 --> 00:46:44.220 that we, Father, 00:46:44.380 --> 00:46:45.740 will read your Word, 00:46:46.700 --> 00:46:47.560 that we will deal 00:46:47.560 --> 00:46:48.460 with our shame 00:46:48.460 --> 00:46:49.220 and our fear 00:46:49.220 --> 00:46:50.920 in light of your Gospel 00:46:50.920 --> 00:46:52.180 and being gripped by it, 00:46:52.600 --> 00:46:53.900 that we might live 00:46:53.900 --> 00:46:54.660 unashamed, 00:46:54.940 --> 00:46:55.500 unafraid, 00:46:56.240 --> 00:46:57.160 free lives 00:46:57.160 --> 00:46:58.880 and generous lives 00:46:58.880 --> 00:47:00.160 that bring you glory. 00:47:00.700 --> 00:47:01.480 And this we ask 00:47:01.480 --> 00:47:02.460 in Jesus' name. 00:47:02.800 --> 00:47:03.159 Amen.