Good morning. My name is Eric, if you don't know me. I'm the youth director here at Watermark Church.
And last week, we started looking at the story of the Bible.
And we said each of us has a story that we're living in.
And there are numerous different places and sources that try and influence and impact our story.
We looked at the culture around us, and we said that the culture has a story that it wants us to live.
You can see this if you go to the movies, you know, like The Hunger Games, this huge movie this past few years, actually.
And what is it? It's a story about this girl who fights against the evil authority and government in her country and is this great hero.
And what's the message? Culture wants us to be the hero who fights the authority, who stands up for what's right,
and to be this autonomous hero fighting against the evil powers of the world.
Our story can also be impacted by our past experiences.
You know, a lot of people who are super successful actually grew up poor.
They didn't know whether they would have food on the table the next meal.
And when they were children, they made a promise.
They said, my family, when I am an adult, will never have to deal with this problem.
They will always be well provided for beyond what we need.
And so they make this pledge to work hard, to rewrite their family's story, to make millions and billions of dollars
so that their children never have to wonder where their next meal is coming from.
And so our past experiences can shape our story.
And then we have friends and family and parents and spouses that speak things and say things
and live in certain ways that impact and influence the way that we live.
And the stories that we hear over and over again and the stories that we believe will shape the way that we live our lives.
And we said that God has a story.
It's in the Bible.
And God wants his story to shape our lives more than any other story out there.
He's given us this amazing story of a great, big, generous creator God
who loves his people, who made us for a relationship with him,
who wants us to know him.
But we as his people have rebelled against him.
And so the Bible is the story of him working to bring us back into that relationship with him.
And we said that if we know this story and live in our story, in this story,
then our lives will be following the way that God wants us to live.
But the problem is that many of us don't know this story.
We know the story of culture.
We know the story of our friends and our family.
We know what our past experiences have taught us.
But we don't know the story of the Bible.
Maybe we know individual stories.
But we don't know how they work together to create one big story that invites us to live inside of that story.
So we're taking 11 weeks as a church to look through the story of the Bible
to see how this big story comes together into something that can impact and shape our lives today.
And last week we started this story by looking at creation.
We saw that in creation, God establishes his good, generous rule through his word.
He speaks and it exists.
He creates man in his image and he speaks a word to the man to guide him and direct him
and shape the way that the man is supposed to live.
And then God establishes his special place.
We said that all of creation really belongs to God.
All of it is God's place.
But then he, within creation, took this one special garden.
And he said, this is my special place.
This is where I am putting the man and the woman that I have created in my image
and entering into a relationship with them.
And we said that in creation, God establishes his special people,
the man and the woman, in his image,
who live with an awareness of him and are called to live in a relationship with him.
And we said that their proper response was obedience.
When they saw how big God was, how good God was, how much God had done for them,
how he had provided for them,
their proper response then and our proper response now is obedience to God's rule.
And when we ended last week,
God looked over everything that he made and he said,
it is very good.
Very good.
And then we left and we went out into a world where every moment of every day since then,
we've had constant reminders that it is not very good.
I was looking at the news this morning.
There's a story about ISIS decapitating a Japanese man in the Middle East.
It's not very good.
There's another story in the news this morning about a girl.
They suspect that she's between age 12 and 14,
who's been caught on video stealing a 36 million Hong Kong dollar diamond necklace.
A child.
Grand theft.
Not very good.
Each of us have had conflict with parents or friends or neighbors or teachers or spouses.
Not very good.
On my way to church this morning,
I drove past the hospital,
a reminder that sickness plagues our world today.
I drove by a cemetery,
a reminder that death marks the world today.
Not very good.
Even sports,
the place that so many of us turn to get away from the brokenness of the world
and just get away from it for a little bit.
What's the big sports story in the world this week?
The New England Patriots,
an American football team,
are suspected of cheating
in their semifinal game
to give themselves a competitive advantage
in a game that they should have won easily anyways.
The brokenness of the world
goes into even the places that we seek to escape from brokenness.
And we look
and we see that story last week
where God said,
it is very good.
And then we look at the world today
and we say,
something went very, very wrong.
And today we're going to look at
what is it that went very, very wrong.
And to do that,
we're looking at Genesis chapter 3.
We're in this garden,
God's special place,
with God's special people
where he entered into a relationship with them.
A snake,
one of God's creations,
comes onto the scene
and he starts a conversation
with the woman.
He starts a conversation
tempting her
to disobey
God's command.
He starts out by creating doubt in her mind.
He doesn't come up and say,
you know, Eve,
God's a liar,
you shouldn't listen to him.
Right away, at least.
He takes what God has said
and he twists it
in the most subtle of ways,
in a way that you could easily see
how he could get that
from what God said,
even though it's not what God said.
He says,
did God really say
that you can't eat
from any tree in the garden?
It's like,
when we were a kid,
we used to play a game,
it's called telephone.
The kids here call it Chinese whispers.
And one person whispers something
into the first person's ear,
then that person turns
and whispers it
into another person's ear,
and then another person's ear,
and eventually you get
to the end of the line
and the starting message
sounds nothing like
the original message.
But you can see
some connection
of how they got
from the first place
to the last place
most of the time.
And you can see
how God's message
could become
Satan's message
through that game.
God says,
eat freely from any tree
in the garden
except this one.
Then the next kid
turns around
and he's like,
God said something
about how we can't
eat from that tree
and something else
about the rest
of the trees.
And then the next kid
says,
just don't eat
from any of them.
Right?
And Satan comes in.
It's a subtle twist.
But what does it do?
It creates doubt
in Eve's mind.
It makes her think,
hmm,
maybe God's not
that generous.
Maybe God's
not that good.
And Eve responds,
no, no, no.
He said,
you know,
we can eat from
any tree in the garden
except this one.
We can't eat from it
or touch it.
She's adding to God's command
or else we'll die.
And Satan now has her
engaged in the conversation.
He decides
to keep going,
to push harder,
to get her,
to take her eyes
off of God.
What does he say?
You won't surely die.
Come on,
God knows
the day that you eat
from this tree,
your eyes will be opened
and you will be like him.
God's not good.
God's not protecting you.
God just is power hungry
and doesn't want you
to be as powerful as him.
So he's told you
to stay away.
He creates doubt.
He gets her
to take her eyes
off of God
and then he tempts her
to sin.
As long as her eyes
are on God,
she's safe.
But as soon as her eyes
are off of God,
she's liable
or she's ready
to go
for that fruit.
She looks at it,
she sees
that it looks good.
You know,
in Genesis 1 and 2,
God's going
throughout creation.
He's making everything.
He's saying,
this is good,
this is good.
And then he tells
the man and woman,
don't eat this fruit.
And she looks at it
and what does she say?
It's good.
She's looking at something
that God has said,
no,
and taking God's role
and saying,
it's good.
She looks at it,
she sees that it's desirable,
she listens to the serpent,
she eats the fruit,
and as a guy,
it's obviously tempting
to say all the problems
in the world
are the woman's fault
at this point,
but it's not.
We'll see that later
in the story.
She eats the fruit,
she turns and she hands it
to her husband
and she says,
here,
try some.
And he's right there
with her.
He's been listening
to the conversation,
he's done nothing,
said nothing,
he grabs it,
he eats it.
Now,
the Bible will tell us later,
Adam is not deceived
by the snake.
Eve is tricked,
Adam is not,
Adam just rebels.
Paul teaches us that
in the New Testament.
But do you see
what Adam did?
It's the classic
older sibling thing,
I'm an older brother,
so I know how
this trick works.
Mom and dad say,
don't do this,
don't go outside.
And you get your
little brother
and you say,
hey,
you should try
going outside
and see what happens
when you go outside.
And then,
either your little brother
goes outside
and gets caught
and you know
that mom and dad
are serious about the rule
but you're not in trouble,
or your little brother
goes outside
and doesn't get caught
and you say,
hey,
I can go outside too.
And you go outside
and you know
you're free and safe.
Adam looks at God's command.
He hears what the serpent's saying
and is sort of curious,
kind of wants to see
whether this fruit
will make him like God.
So he lets her take a bite.
Figure it's better
for her to die
than me, right?
It's better to see
if God's serious
on a guinea pig
than to risk my own life.
So he lets her take a bite.
She doesn't die.
God must not be serious
about these consequences.
She's offering me some?
Sure, why not?
And he takes a bite.
And when he takes a bite,
it says
that their eyes
are open.
Part of what
the serpent said
was true.
Their eyes are opened.
But they don't become
like God
when their eyes are open.
No.
When their eyes are open,
what they see
is that
they are naked.
Rather than being elevated
to being deities,
they're filled with guilt,
they're filled with shame,
and they try to hide.
This perfect relationship
that we talked about
last week
where they were naked
and unashamed
didn't have anything
to hide from God,
from each other,
from themselves,
all of a sudden
it's gone.
And their first response
is to run
and cover themselves up.
They grab leaves
and create loincloths
to cover themselves
so that Eve
can't see Adam's nakedness
and Adam can't see Eve's
because now
they know
that they're naked.
They're scared
of their nakedness.
And then they hear
God coming.
And they run
and they hide
from God.
God comes into the garden
and he says,
where are you?
Now interestingly,
in English,
we only have one word
for you,
whether we're talking
to you as a guy,
you as a girl,
you as a group,
it's you.
If you're from down south
in America,
they'll say y'all
for a group,
but I don't say that.
But in the language
the Bible was written in,
they had different words
for you
if you're talking
to you as an individual guy,
you as an individual girl,
you as a group of people.
And when God says,
where are you?
He's talking to the man
individually.
God comes into the garden
and he says,
Adam is the one
primarily responsible
for this.
I am looking for him.
He's the one
that I'm going to hold
to account
for this sin.
God comes into the garden
and he says,
where are you?
It's not like he's clueless
and he's like,
oh no,
I lost him so fast.
No,
he's giving them
a chance to repent
for what they've done.
Adam and Eve
come out of their hiding
and Adam says,
well,
you know God,
sorry I hid,
but I knew
that I was naked
and I was really afraid
for you to see me naked.
And again,
God responds
with a question.
Great technique.
Who told you
you were naked?
Did you eat from the tree
that I commanded you
not to eat from?
He's giving Adam,
again,
a chance to repent.
He's not playing
Sherlock Holmes
because he's trying
to piece the clues together.
No,
he knows.
He's giving Adam
a chance to repent.
And rather than own up
to his action,
Adam blames God
for his sin.
Adam says,
well,
you know that woman
that you gave to me?
She gave this to me
so I wouldn't have eaten it
if you hadn't given her
to me in the first place
so it's really your fault.
God turns to the woman
and he says,
what happened?
She says,
well,
the snake,
it tricked me.
It's not my fault.
I was tricked.
And God,
knowing the story,
turns to the snake
and doesn't ask
any more questions
but begins handing out
punishments.
He says,
the snake is cursed.
It will go on its belly
forever and eat
the dust of the earth.
It will be the enemy
of the woman's offspring,
the ones who are created
in God's image
and giving the responsibility
of caring for it
are now its enemies.
But even more,
there's going to be
a cosmic battle
where one offspring
of this woman
will crush
and defeat
the serpent forever
and we'll get back
to that later.
Then he turns to the woman
and every woman
since Eve
has cursed her
because of this
and he says,
you will have pain
in childbirth.
Interestingly,
and I know
when I say this,
every woman in this room
is going to look at me
with that look
of confusion and anger
but I'll explain it.
This is a curse
that comes
with a blessing.
Think about it.
What did Adam and Eve
deserve as the punishment
for their sin?
Death.
God had told them
the day you eat
from the tree
you will die.
But what is he
promising them here?
He's saying
your species
will not go extinct
because of your sin.
There will be
more life
that comes
through you.
It's not going
to be pleasant.
It's not going
to be easy.
It's going to hurt
but I'm not
cutting you off
completely.
I'm giving your species
another chance.
You're going
to have children
in pain
but you're going
to have children.
It's a curse
that comes
with a blessing
that he will not
just wipe them out
and destroy them.
Then he tells her
you will long
for your husband
but he will rule
over you.
There's going
to be conflict
in marriage.
This relationship
that was supposed
to be good
and beautiful
and perfect
will now be marked
by competition
and strife
and fighting.
It's not all
going to be
butterflies and roses
like you want
it to be.
Sorry Disney.
Then he turns
to the man
and he says
you
because you
listen to your wife
the ground
is cursed
because of you.
Notice God
doesn't curse
the man.
That will happen
in Genesis 4
when the first
murder happens
when man acts
out against
God's image.
God curses
creation
the ground
because of the man
and the man
has to live with
and suffer the consequences.
The ground
is going to grow
thorns and thistles
and the man's work
that he had been
doing pleasantly
in the garden
is going to become
difficult.
It's going to be
painful.
It's going to be hard.
There's one
paraphrase of the Bible
called the message.
I found this hilarious.
You can tell
that it was written
by a man.
It says
your pain
in working the soil
will be like
the woman's pain
in giving birth.
Obviously written
by a man.
But God says
you're going
to work in pain.
It's not going
to be pleasant.
It's not going
to be fun.
And
after this life
of hard work
and pain
you're going
to die.
You're not going
to live forever.
It's going to be
rough,
brutal,
hard work,
suffering,
death.
That's your punishment.
God finishes
handing out punishments.
Adam names
his wife Eve.
It says
because she is
the mother
of all the living
which is a kind
of ironic name
because of the role
that she played
in bringing death
to the species.
But it's a name
given in hope
that God will be
faithful to his promise
that he will
use her
to continue
the species
to give
more life
to the earth.
And then God
makes garments
for them,
clothes out
of animal skins
to cover
their nakedness.
God looks out
over the garden
of Eden.
He sees the tree
of life.
He knows
that if they eat
from it now
that they are sinners
it will keep them
separated from him
forever.
And so in an act
of love and grace
that is incredibly
painful
for the man
and woman
he kicks them
out of the garden
posts an angel
there for their
protection to keep
them from getting
back in and eating
from the tree
of life.
And that is how
we got from the
very good world
of creation
to the broken
messed up world
that each of us
lives in today.
And as we look
at this story
what we see
is that man
by rebelling
against God's
good rule
lost his home
in God's special
place
and moved
from being
God's special
people to being
separated from
God.
The three themes
we saw last week
God's rule
man rebels
against it
God's place
man is kicked
out of it
God's people
are separated
from God
and this may
seem like
an extreme
punishment
all they did
was eat a fruit
it's not that
big of a deal
is it?
God had established
his rule
he was
the king
of the universe
and not just
of the universe
on a grand scale
but of Adam
and Eve's lives
individually
he was the king
who was also
a father
who was also
generous
who was also
good
and loving
who provided
for everything
that they
needed
and established
his rule
in their life
and when they
reached out
to grab the fruit
and eat it
what they were
saying is
we don't want
God as our king
we don't want
God giving us
commands and rules
we want to be
our own kings
what they did
is they committed
cosmic treason
they rebelled
against the
authority that
was over them
and just as
earthly treason
deserves death
cosmic treason
deserves
death
but God
in his grace
and in his love
gives them
another chance
but there are
consequences
that go
with their actions
they re kicked
out of God's
special place
because this
tree of life
that had been
given to them
as a good
gift
now becomes
an object
of unthinkable
danger
Adam and Eve
were created
for this
relationship
with God
they were created
to know him
to love him
to be his people
and then in their
act of sin
of rebellion
they separated
themselves from him
they cut themselves
off
from that
relationship
with him
and if they
ate the fruit
of the tree
of life
yeah their
bodies would
continue living
forever
but the source
of life
that were
meant to live
on that
relationship
with God
would continue
to be
broken
physically
they would
live forever
but spiritually
they would
just be living
a continual
constant death
and so God
in his love
removed them
from his
special place
and they were
separated
by their own
choice
from being
his special
people
and this story
I know
it's one that
happened
who knows
how long
ago
but it's one
that impacts
our lives
in every way
today
we live
in the world
that's the
result of
this sin
the world
today
is no longer
that very
very good
place
we now live
in a world
that's broken
where things
break
where people
die
each of us
has hearts
that follow
in Adam
and Eve's
example
rebelling
against God
sinning
saying God
we don't want
you as our
king
we want
to be
king
of our
lives
and of
our world
each of us
in our
hearts
on a
continual
constant
more than
daily basis
follows Adam
and Eve's
example
by committing
cosmic
treason
against the
king of
the universe
each of us
like Adam
and Eve
says to the
king of
the universe
you're no
good
you're not
reliable
you're not
trustworthy
you're withholding
you're power
hungry
I know
better than
you
because you're
not actually
wise
I'm going
to be my
king
I'm going
to make
my choices
and each
of us
like Adam
and Eve
deserves
death
but like
Adam and Eve
God
doesn't
give up
on us
he's given
us the
bible
he's given
us his
story
to show
that
to us
and there
are ways
that this
story can
actually help
us
in our
attempts
to live
for him
to turn
from our
rebellion
and our
treason
and to
follow after
the proper
king
one way
is by looking
at this
conversation
between the
serpent
and Eve
the serpent
is indwelt
by Satan
Satan is
speaking
through the
serpent's
mouth
and he
follows
this
pattern
in tempting
Eve
that he
follows
today
when he
tries to
get any
of us
to sin
I've been
reading
the art
of war
recently
it's a
classic
Chinese
book
on battle
strategies
and in
the book
he says
if you
know the
enemy
and know
yourself
you need
not fear
the result
of a hundred
battles
if you know
yourself
but not
the enemy
for every
victory gained
you will also
suffer a
defeat
if you know
neither the
enemy
nor yourself
you will
succumb
in every
battle
a better
knowledge of
ourselves
and a better
knowledge of
our enemies
will help us
to fight
when temptation
comes
and obviously
there's some
exceptions to this
rule because
our hearts
sometimes no matter
how well we
know ourselves
and know our
enemy
we just
want to
do the
wrong
thing
but a
clearer
knowledge of
Satan
and who
he is
and how
he works
can help
us know
how to
fight back
against him
so let's
take a minute
and look
at what
he does
here
there's
three steps
in his
conversation
with Eve
that lead
him towards
tempting
her to
sin
first he
creates
doubt
in her
mind
he twists
God's
words
he doesn't
come out
and say
God
is bad
turn
from him
no then
she'd be
like
why should
I listen
to you
he takes
God's
words
and twists
them
he leaves
a little
bit of
truth in
there
so that
it's
plausible
but he
creates
doubt
by what
he changes
next he
causes her
to take
her eyes
off of
God
he feeds
her
lies
about
God
that seem
plausible
in the
story
that he's
telling
and once
she has
doubt in
her mind
once her
eyes are
off of
God
he tempts
her to
sin
and this
is the
same
exact
thing
that he
does
in our
lives
today
imagine
this
hypothetical
scenario
where Satan's
talking to a
Christian guy
who's trying
to follow
God's
sexual
ethic
who's trying
to follow
God's
commands
about
sex
God
says
sex
is good
but because
it's so
good
it should
only be
used
in the
context
of
marriage
imagine
Satan
comes up
to this
guy
and he
says
did
God
really
say
that
you
can
never
have
sex
and
the
guy
responds
well
you know
he
says
it's
bad
so we
can
only
do
it
in
marriage
and
Satan
responds
is it
bad
come on
it's
actually
good
and
it's
actually
fun
and
God
knows
that
if
you
do
it
you'll
have
fun
and
he
doesn't
want
you
to
have
fun
because
he's
like
that
so
you
should
go
do
it
and
so
the
man
looks
he
sees
that
the
girl
is
hot
or
delightful
to
the
eyes
he
sees
that
it
would
be
pleasurable
and
he
sins
what
happens
here
Satan
comes
in
he
starts
by
twisting
God's
commands
God
says
sex
is a
good
thing
but
because
it's
so
good
and
because
it's
so
powerful
it's
only
to be
used
in
the
right
context
which
is
marriage
between
a man
and
a woman
but
Satan
takes
that
small
restriction
and
expands
it
and
says
did
God
really
say
you
just
can't
have
sex
with
anyone
creating
doubt
in
the
mind
the
Christian
responds
well
you
know
it's
just
that
it's
bad
so
we
have
to
do
it
only
at
certain
contexts
what
happens
some
well-meaning
parent
or Sunday
school
teacher
or youth
leader
tried to
scare
the kid
away
from
making
sexual
mistakes
and
taught
them
that
sex
is
bad
and
so
stay
away
until
you're
married
and
Satan
hears
this
and
jumps
on
it
he
takes
the
misinformation
that
this
person
has
received
and
mixes
a
little
bit
of
truth
to
correct
that
error
with
lots
of
lies
about
God
and
his
character
well
you know
sex
actually
isn't
bad
it's
a
good
thing
it's
pleasurable
it's
fun
God
knows
that
if
you
have
sex
you
will
have
fun
true
things
but
then
watch
what
he
goes
to
God
is
withholding
God
doesn't
want
you
to
have
fun
no
that's
not
the
truth
the
truth
is
that
God
loves
us
God
wants
to
protect
us
God
wants
us
to
do
this
in
the
right
context
for
our
own
good
and
protection
so
that
we
can
get
the
maximum
pleasure
out
of
it
but
he
twists
that
he
gets
us
to
take
our
eyes
off
of
God
to
question
God's
goodness
and
then
once
our
eyes
are
taken
off
of
God
he
tempts
us
to
sin
it's
the
same
process
today
as it
was
in
the
garden
of
Eden
he
gets
us
to
create
doubt
in
our
minds
he
gets
us
to
take
our
eyes
off
of
God
and
then
he
tempts
us
to
sin
so
we
need
to
know
Satan's
tactics
and
we
need
to
know
how
to
fight
against
them
we
need
to
know
God's
words
so
that
when
Satan
tries
to
get
us
to
take
our
eyes
off
of
him
we
can
be
reminded
of
his
goodness
we
need
to
know
Satan's
tactics
so
we
can
fight
against
them
and
there
will
be
times
when
we
fail
and
in
those
times
we
need
a
savior
who
can
be
there
with
us
you
know
the
story
introduces
us
to
the
brokenness
of
the
world
and
in
the
world
today
there's
lots
of
brokenness
there's
lots
of
theories
about
where
that
brokenness
comes
from
what's
responsible
for
and
each
different
theory
proposes
a
savior
to
fix
the
problems
in
the
world
some
people
they
look
at
the
fact
that
so
many
people
are
starving
in
the
world
today
and
they
say
the
biggest
problem
in
the
world
today
is
poverty
if
we
could
just
get
rid
of
poverty
then
everything
in
the
world
would
be
better
and
so
the
solution
the
savior
is
creating
more
NGOs
getting
the
government
to
do
more
poverty
relief
programs
volunteering
our
time
and
giving
our
money
to
get
rid
of
poverty
in
the
world
other
people
look at
the
problems
in
the
world
they
see
that
children
are
being
abducted
off
the
streets
and
sold
as
sex
slaves
and
they
look
at
this
brokenness
and
they
say
the
solution
is
education
people
do
the
wrong
thing
because
they
don't
really
know
the
right
thing
to
do
so
the
savior
is
build
more
schools
create
more
adult
education
programs
so
that
people
can
know
the
right
thing
to
do
and
do
it
other
people
say
it's
a
lack
of
tolerance
people
don't
understand
why
others
are
different
than
them
people
are
prejudiced
because
they
don't
understand
so
we
just
got
to
do
more
education
so
that
people
can
understand
the
differences
and
be
more
tolerant
of
one
another
but
here's
the
thing
if
the
Bible
story
is
true
if
the
story
of
Adam
and
Eve
is
true
then
our
biggest
problem
isn't
poverty
our
biggest
problem
isn't
education
our
biggest
problem
isn't
a
lack
of
tolerance
our
biggest
problem
is
sin
and
poverty
and
lack
of
education
and
lack
of
tolerance
are
real
problems
but
all of
them
are
problems
because
of
sin
poverty
is
only
a
problem
because
the
wealthy
hoard
resources
greedily
and
won't
share
them
with
the
poor
education
can't
fix
our
problems
because
even
though
we
know
the
right
thing
to
do
we
choose
to
do
the
wrong
thing
and
I
think
everyone
in here
can
relate
to
that
there
have
been
multiple
times
in
each
of
our
lives
probably
multiple
times
in
the
past
week
where
we
have
known
the
right
thing
to
do
and
said
in
our
hearts
I
don't
want
to
do
that
tolerance
can't
fix
the
problem
because
it
can't
put
food
on
the
table
of
the
starving
people
but
sin
is
the
problem
that
the
Bible
points
to
and
this
is
difficult
this
is
something
our
culture
does
not
want
to
hear
our
culture
wants
us
to
think
that
we
can
be
the
solution
to
every
problem
ever
look
at
interstellar
another
movie
that
came
out
this
past
year
what
happens
the
earth
its
resources
are
going
away
there
is
no
way
life
here
can
survive
so
we
humanity
go
out
we
find
other
inhabitable
planets
we
keep
the
species
alive
we
are
the
solution
to
our
problem
and
if
the
biggest
problem
that
humanity
has
is
poverty
or
lack
of
education
or
lack
of
tolerance
then
we
can
be
the
solution
we
can
give
more
money
we
can
teach
more
people
we
can
give
more
time
we
can
fix
it
but if
sin
is our
biggest
problem
then we
are the
problem
each of our
hearts
and in order
to fix
the problem
it needs to
start with
us being
fixed
and this
isn't sexy
this isn't
something that the
culture looks at
and says
ooh
wonderful
no
going in
digging wells
in Africa
is sexy
the culture
loves that
look at Brad Pitt
and Angelina Jolie
everyone eats that
stuff up
and I'm not saying
that's a bad thing
that's good
that's necessary
but it's necessary
not because poverty
is our biggest
problem
but because sin
is our biggest
problem
no one wants to hear
the biggest problem
with the world
is that we are
broken
we want it to be
outside ourselves
there was a
British writer
back around
the turn of the
last century
and there was a
newspaper writer
who had written
out a question
what's wrong
with the world
and invited the
newspaper's readers
to send in
responses
and this author
G.K. Chesterton
wrote in
a two word
answer
that I think
sums this up
pretty clearly
he wrote back
and said
I am
and here's the
thing
if sin
is the biggest
problem in the
world
then giving
more
teaching
more
being more
tolerant
can't fix
that problem
the only thing
that can fix
that problem
is a savior
who can
transform
our hearts
if sin
is the biggest
problem
in the world
then the only
thing
that can
fix
that problem
is a savior
who can
transform
our hearts
and this story, the story of Adam and Eve, points us towards that savior. Let's go back to the story
and look at it. God comes down to the garden, finds Adam and Eve, talks to them, says what happened.
They blame God, then blame the snake. He turns to the snake
and he gives the snake a curse. He says, you will be at enmity with the offspring of the woman.
He says, you will bite his heel, but he will crush your head. He's saying there is going to be a battle.
Someday someone's going to come, a descendant of this woman, and you are going to fight against him.
You are going to fight with all your might, with all your strength to bring him down. You will bite
him in the heel, but you are going to lose. He is going to defeat you by crushing you in the head.
The snake, like we said, is indwelt by Satan. And one day there would come a descendant of this woman
who would undo what Adam and Eve did in the garden. He would be tempted by Satan just like Adam and Eve were,
but rather than giving in to temptation, he would fight back using God's word.
He, just like they, would be in a garden
where he felt a strong desire not to follow God's will for his life.
But unlike Adam and Eve, who followed their own desires, he said,
not my will, but yours be done.
Adam and Eve, in rebellion,
bound humanity under curse
and made us deserve a punishment.
But the book of Galatians tells us that Jesus,
this descendant of Eve,
became a curse for us
to set us free
and bore the punishment
that we deserve
so that we are no longer held
by that punishment
that they deserved.
Adam and Eve,
in this garden,
brought sin into the world.
And Jesus,
after dying for our sins,
would be buried in a garden,
defeating sin and death
and rising again.
Right here,
in this story of Adam and Eve,
when God says,
you will bite his heel,
but he will crush your head,
it's the first promise in the Bible
of the Savior,
Jesus,
who will come to fix
our problem of sin,
who will come to make things right
in a way that none of us
ourselves can do.
And as you look further
into the story,
we see an even clearer pointer
towards Jesus.
At the end of the story,
God comes,
and it says,
he made for Adam
and for his wife
garments of skin,
and he clothed them.
The Bible teaches
that without shedding of blood,
there is no forgiveness of sins.
And right here,
we have the first death.
An animal is killed
because of Adam and Eve's sin,
literally so that its skin
can cover their nakedness,
but also so that its blood
can cover their sin.
It's a pointer towards Jesus,
whose blood would cover
all of our sin.
And in this place
where God makes
Adam and Eve clothes,
what we see is,
in Genesis 1 and 2,
God makes,
God makes
all of creation.
And then on the seventh day,
he rests.
Because the work is complete,
and there is nothing
more to make.
And in the six days of creation,
every day it ends with,
there was evening,
there was morning,
the first day,
the second day,
the third day.
The seventh day
doesn't have that.
And most commentators
would say,
that's because
it was supposed
to be continual.
It was supposed
to be a continuing rest
where God oversaw
his good creation
working like it was supposed to,
as the good God
ruling over it.
But what happens
is creation doesn't work
like it's supposed to.
Man rebels.
Man acts out
in treason against God.
But God doesn't stay resting.
God comes back down
to the creation
that he had made,
and once again,
he makes.
He makes clothes
for the man and woman
to cover their nakedness.
And what we're going to see
as we look through
the rest of the story
of the Bible
in the weeks to come
is that God
again and again
is going to step down
and make
and fix
and restore
and bring us back
to what he created
the world to be.
and he won't stop
until we get
to the new heavens
and the new earth
and everything
that has been lost
in this sin
by Adam and Eve
is restored
finally and fully
to the way
that it should be.
God sends us
a savior.
God comes
and he works
to do
what we ourselves
cannot do.
as we look
at this this week
I hope that it
drives us
to love God more.
I hope that it
causes us
to look at him
and say wow
how amazing
what a savior
that he would come
that he would forgive
that he would save us
from what we
can't save ourselves
from
that he would love
a sinner
a rebel
like me.
Let's pray.
Father we confess
that we
are the problem
with the world
that we are sinners
that we are rebels
that we are broken
that we cannot
fix ourselves
and that we
desperately
need you.
God I pray
that as we go
throughout our weeks
this week
we would reflect
on this
we would see
how amazing
and powerful
of a savior
you are.
we would trust
in you
to be that savior
we would stop
trying to be
our own kings
and fix ourselves.
God give us
a love for you
let us live our lives
in obedience
to you
let us trust in you
and follow you
in Jesus name
Amen.
Let us now
let us pray
during the
our Dawg