WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.400 The reading today is from Genesis chapter 3 and it's found on page 5 of the church bibles. 00:00:07.400 --> 00:00:18.240 ! 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:59.980 The woman said to the serpent, 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.939 When she saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and 00:01:04.939 --> 00:01:10.340 also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. 00:01:10.340 --> 00:01:15.939 She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it. 00:01:15.939 --> 00:01:21.039 Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked. 00:01:21.039 --> 00:01:25.960 So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 00:01:25.959 --> 00:01:31.799 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden 00:01:31.799 --> 00:01:32.919 in the cool of the day. 00:01:33.299 --> 00:01:36.659 And they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 00:01:37.299 --> 00:01:40.719 But the Lord God called to the man, Where are you? 00:01:41.459 --> 00:01:46.599 He answered, I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. 00:01:46.599 --> 00:01:47.599 So I hid. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:48.599 So I hid. 00:01:48.599 --> 00:01:51.599 And he said, Who told you that you were naked? 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:55.799 Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? 00:01:55.799 --> 00:02:04.119 The man said, The woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it. 00:02:04.120 --> 00:02:08.620 Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done? 00:02:08.620 --> 00:02:13.020 The woman said, The servant deceived me and I ate. 00:02:13.020 --> 00:02:17.520 So the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:21.860 cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals. 00:02:21.860 --> 00:02:26.879 You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:33.060 And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers. 00:02:33.060 --> 00:02:37.020 He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. 00:02:37.020 --> 00:02:45.180 The woman, he said, To the woman he said, I will make your pains in childbearing very severe. 00:02:45.180 --> 00:02:48.759 With painful labor, you will give birth to children. 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:53.500 Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you. 00:02:54.620 --> 00:03:02.539 To Adam he said, Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, 00:03:02.539 --> 00:03:04.500 must not eat from. 00:03:04.500 --> 00:03:06.500 Cursed is the ground because of you. 00:03:06.500 --> 00:03:14.659 Through painful toil you will eat food and it will, sorry, eat food from it all the days of your life. 00:03:14.659 --> 00:03:17.579 It will produce thorns and thistles for you. 00:03:17.579 --> 00:03:20.500 You will eat the plants of the field. 00:03:20.500 --> 00:03:26.659 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, 00:03:26.659 --> 00:03:28.579 since from it you were taken. 00:03:28.579 --> 00:03:32.020 For dust you are and to dust you will return. 00:03:33.219 --> 00:03:39.099 Adam named his wife Eve because she would become the mother of all living. 00:03:39.939 --> 00:03:44.919 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 00:03:45.639 --> 00:03:51.740 And the Lord God said, The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. 00:03:51.740 --> 00:03:59.640 He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever. 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:06.219 So the Lord God banished him from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 00:04:07.020 --> 00:04:11.700 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the garden of Eden, 00:04:12.300 --> 00:04:18.460 cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. 00:04:18.960 --> 00:04:19.240 Amen. 00:04:21.740 --> 00:04:22.780 Thanks, Dorot. 00:04:22.840 --> 00:04:24.600 Let's pray as we come to God's word. 00:04:24.680 --> 00:04:25.100 Let's pray. 00:04:33.939 --> 00:04:36.720 Heavenly Father, we want to quieten our hearts before you now. 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:44.600 We want to pray and ask that you might be at work this morning by the power of your spirit for the sake of your glory. 00:04:46.460 --> 00:04:49.259 Lord, we've sung together of our need of you. 00:04:49.259 --> 00:04:51.959 We know we need salvation. 00:04:52.860 --> 00:04:55.500 We know we are hungry to hear you speak. 00:04:56.319 --> 00:04:59.579 We know we are ignorant and need your wisdom. 00:05:00.899 --> 00:05:03.759 We know that we are lost and need your salvation. 00:05:05.099 --> 00:05:08.139 Please, Lord, show us these things from your words this morning, we pray. 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:09.860 In Jesus' name. 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:11.159 Amen. 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:11.860 Amen. 00:05:11.860 --> 00:05:18.720 Well, you don't need me to tell you that we live in a world where things go wrong. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:22.160 Your experience will tell you that. 00:05:22.580 --> 00:05:29.819 Things like sickness, unemployment, homelessness, relationship breakdown, poverty, war. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:35.699 And whenever we face things like that, especially when we face them personally, 00:05:35.699 --> 00:05:40.899 the question that comes to our mind is the question, why? 00:05:42.180 --> 00:05:43.300 Why is this happening? 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:45.779 Why is this happening to me? 00:05:46.519 --> 00:05:47.439 Why now? 00:05:48.159 --> 00:05:49.219 Who is to blame? 00:05:50.039 --> 00:05:51.439 How could this have been avoided? 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:56.959 I'm sure you've asked those questions yourself about countless different situations that you've faced. 00:05:57.399 --> 00:06:00.959 But what I want you to see this morning as we start is that the why question, 00:06:01.399 --> 00:06:04.680 the sort of instinctive why question that we all ask, 00:06:05.079 --> 00:06:07.620 is making in itself a massive assumption. 00:06:08.699 --> 00:06:12.259 You see, the assumption of the question why that we ask when we suffer 00:06:12.259 --> 00:06:14.560 is that things shouldn't go wrong. 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:15.000 Right? 00:06:16.259 --> 00:06:19.959 There's a category in our minds called the category right. 00:06:20.780 --> 00:06:22.920 And that's how things should be. 00:06:23.259 --> 00:06:27.000 And when that is not our experience and things are wrong, 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:29.620 well, then something is broken. 00:06:29.780 --> 00:06:30.660 Something has gone wrong. 00:06:31.540 --> 00:06:34.160 In other words, and this is probably a more philosophical way to put it, 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:39.899 the question why assumes that we were made for a world that is better 00:06:39.899 --> 00:06:41.800 than the one that we're currently experiencing. 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:44.040 Do you understand what I mean? 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:48.980 It's assumption that really there's something not quite right about this. 00:06:49.079 --> 00:06:51.060 I was made for something better than this. 00:06:52.040 --> 00:06:53.480 Now, in a sense, that's quite simple. 00:06:53.579 --> 00:06:56.379 But notice with me that the world has no good answer to that. 00:06:57.340 --> 00:06:59.800 Not only does it have no good answer to the why question, 00:06:59.899 --> 00:07:04.000 it has no good answer for why you ask why in the first place. 00:07:04.840 --> 00:07:08.079 If the assumptions of the people who kind of make our TV, 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:10.180 teach in our schools, rule our government are right, 00:07:10.180 --> 00:07:13.180 and there is no God, there's no creation, no Genesis 1 to 3, 00:07:13.180 --> 00:07:16.379 then, of course, along with ditching all of those things, 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:18.600 they also ditch the category wrong. 00:07:19.660 --> 00:07:21.000 Things just are. 00:07:21.939 --> 00:07:22.939 There's no design. 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:23.699 There's no ideal. 00:07:23.840 --> 00:07:26.780 There's no moral being behind it all to determine what is right and wrong. 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:28.720 The category is not wrong. 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:30.100 The category is is. 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:32.780 Things just are as they are. 00:07:32.779 --> 00:07:38.139 And our appeal to the idea that the world should be better to be right, 00:07:38.239 --> 00:07:39.159 well, that's just an illusion. 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:42.699 Richard Dawkins puts it famously like this. 00:07:42.779 --> 00:07:43.319 He says, 00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:56.680 Now, I don't know all of you in this room very well. 00:07:56.680 --> 00:08:10.759 Now, I don't know all of you in this room very well. 00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:11.800 I know most of you. 00:08:11.980 --> 00:08:13.980 It's great to have people with us this morning, 00:08:14.259 --> 00:08:15.540 who are guests with us. 00:08:15.899 --> 00:08:17.280 But let me ask you, 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:19.939 in the midst of whatever it is that's going on in your life, 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:23.759 does the question why feel to you like an illusion? 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:27.740 Does it feel to you as if it doesn't really matter? 00:08:28.920 --> 00:08:32.460 Does it feel as if justice is just irrelevant? 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:34.639 Of course it doesn't, does it? 00:08:35.220 --> 00:08:38.960 Every fiber in our being when we're suffering is crying out, 00:08:39.439 --> 00:08:41.620 Why is this like this? 00:08:42.580 --> 00:08:46.659 In fact, this desire to live in a unbroken world 00:08:46.659 --> 00:08:48.799 is right there in the center of our hearts. 00:08:48.919 --> 00:08:49.879 And we need to know, 00:08:50.179 --> 00:08:51.539 Why is this world broken? 00:08:51.899 --> 00:08:52.799 Who broke it? 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:54.120 How did they break it? 00:08:54.379 --> 00:08:55.639 How can it be fixed? 00:08:56.339 --> 00:08:57.699 And those are our questions this morning. 00:08:57.799 --> 00:09:00.059 And we're going to find our answers in Genesis chapter 3. 00:09:00.759 --> 00:09:04.299 So let's start this morning by setting the scene of Genesis chapter 3. 00:09:04.379 --> 00:09:05.519 And this is a little bit of a recap 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:07.859 for those of you who've been here for the last few weeks. 00:09:08.259 --> 00:09:12.120 The scene in chapter 2 is the scene of the garden. 00:09:13.219 --> 00:09:15.319 Now, hardly any of us in this room have gardens, 00:09:15.399 --> 00:09:16.879 but we sort of know what a garden is, don't we? 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:17.759 We know what that means. 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:19.879 But if you remember back a couple of weeks, 00:09:19.879 --> 00:09:22.120 you'll know that there's something special about this garden. 00:09:22.120 --> 00:09:24.899 The garden isn't just, it's not like Kew Gardens. 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:25.879 I mean, it might have been, 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:29.000 but it's not Kew Gardens just there to be looking nice. 00:09:29.259 --> 00:09:33.139 Really, the purpose of the garden is a place for God to be with his people. 00:09:33.539 --> 00:09:34.960 That's why he builds the garden. 00:09:35.340 --> 00:09:38.500 The goal of creation was that God would be with his people 00:09:38.500 --> 00:09:40.399 in an endless day of rest. 00:09:40.860 --> 00:09:41.779 God with us. 00:09:42.419 --> 00:09:44.440 But I want you to notice now that in one sense, 00:09:44.519 --> 00:09:46.440 the garden is itself unfinished. 00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:49.300 So if you go back to chapter 2, verse 15, 00:09:49.420 --> 00:09:52.840 you read that man was put in the garden to take care of it. 00:09:53.460 --> 00:09:54.140 Take a look at the verse. 00:09:54.200 --> 00:09:55.060 Let me read it to you. 00:09:55.660 --> 00:09:59.600 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:02.820 to work it and take care of it. 00:10:03.820 --> 00:10:06.760 I don't know whether you've ever had a gardening job, right? 00:10:07.500 --> 00:10:10.460 Surprising as it may seem to you, I once had a gardening job. 00:10:10.520 --> 00:10:13.240 I was about 14 and I gardened for an elderly lady 00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:15.460 who lived around the corner from where my parents lived. 00:10:16.299 --> 00:10:18.419 And my job there was to mow the grass, 00:10:18.899 --> 00:10:21.019 kind of trim the hedges and that kind of thing, 00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:22.240 and do a bit of weeding. 00:10:22.759 --> 00:10:24.340 And on my first day on the job, 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:27.120 when I turned up at this person's house to do the garden, 00:10:27.460 --> 00:10:29.279 I was met with her son, 00:10:29.700 --> 00:10:31.100 who was there to give me instructions. 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:33.080 This is where the lawnmower is. 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:36.360 This is what a weed looks like, and these are the plants. 00:10:36.700 --> 00:10:39.340 Leave the plants, dig the weeds out, that kind of thing, right? 00:10:39.460 --> 00:10:40.820 Basic instructions on gardening. 00:10:40.820 --> 00:10:43.580 Now I think when you look at Genesis 2.15, 00:10:43.940 --> 00:10:46.960 God has put Adam in the garden to garden it. 00:10:47.180 --> 00:10:51.240 What you expect to come next are some sort of instructions on how to garden. 00:10:51.740 --> 00:10:52.180 Right, Adam? 00:10:53.040 --> 00:10:54.100 You'll need a spade. 00:10:54.260 --> 00:10:55.180 Make yourself a spade. 00:10:55.860 --> 00:10:56.560 You need to dig. 00:10:56.840 --> 00:10:57.540 You need to cultivate. 00:10:58.400 --> 00:10:59.400 But actually when you look down, 00:10:59.500 --> 00:11:02.640 the immediate instructions for gardening are nothing to do with any of that. 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:04.320 There's no lawnmower, there's no hedge trimmers, 00:11:04.680 --> 00:11:06.060 there's no plant identification. 00:11:06.660 --> 00:11:07.320 What do you get? 00:11:07.420 --> 00:11:08.160 Verse 16, 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:10.379 And the Lord God commanded the man, 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:12.679 You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, 00:11:12.759 --> 00:11:15.699 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:11:16.299 --> 00:11:18.579 For when you eat from it, you will certainly die. 00:11:19.579 --> 00:11:21.939 Now maybe God did give some instructions on gardening as well. 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:24.079 But as the writer puts this material together, 00:11:24.219 --> 00:11:28.319 he wants you to know that fundamentally the job of gardening 00:11:28.319 --> 00:11:30.079 in the Garden of Eden for Adam 00:11:30.079 --> 00:11:32.539 was not the work of a spade, 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:33.980 but the work of obedience. 00:11:33.980 --> 00:11:34.300 Obedience. 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:39.200 Adam needs to obey God. 00:11:40.519 --> 00:11:42.960 Obedience to the will and instructions of his creator 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:44.720 are the way that he will garden. 00:11:45.340 --> 00:11:48.740 Seen in his refusal to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:11:49.420 --> 00:11:52.639 A tree that chapter 2 verse 9 tells you is in the middle of the garden 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:53.659 next to the tree of life. 00:11:54.060 --> 00:11:55.620 Adam and Eve are not to eat from it. 00:11:56.980 --> 00:11:58.620 Now think about what's happening here. 00:11:58.620 --> 00:12:01.720 The implication is that the garden in Genesis 2 00:12:01.720 --> 00:12:04.759 is not really the ultimate goal of God's creation. 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:08.060 The goal of God's creation lies beyond the garden 00:12:08.060 --> 00:12:12.279 into what it has the potential to become through Adam's obedience. 00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:16.159 Adam, I want you to develop and garden here. 00:12:16.620 --> 00:12:18.960 I want you to establish yourself here. 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:21.320 I want you to be fruitful and multiply. 00:12:21.659 --> 00:12:24.200 And I want this garden to develop into something. 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:28.879 And if he does that, well, then the tree of life will be his. 00:12:29.500 --> 00:12:33.040 Obey me and you will eat from the tree of life. 00:12:34.120 --> 00:12:38.560 Recognizing that good and evil is not to be grasped at independently from God, 00:12:38.640 --> 00:12:40.340 but in fellowship with his creator, 00:12:40.500 --> 00:12:43.780 he is to obey him and receive all that he needs. 00:12:45.460 --> 00:12:47.300 Now, there's lots of different ideas there. 00:12:47.379 --> 00:12:49.759 Let me try and land some of them with an illustration. 00:12:50.040 --> 00:12:52.420 I want you to imagine for a moment that you take a new job 00:12:52.419 --> 00:12:55.919 working as a chauffeur for VIP people. 00:12:56.979 --> 00:12:59.679 I think Luis had a job a little bit like this at one point, 00:12:59.740 --> 00:13:01.099 so you can maybe ask him whether this is true. 00:13:01.719 --> 00:13:05.919 But imagine that this job involves you driving a BMW 7 Series 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:07.319 that's been specially modified. 00:13:07.479 --> 00:13:08.579 It has massage seats. 00:13:08.959 --> 00:13:11.139 It has one of those kind of sky headliners 00:13:11.139 --> 00:13:14.120 where you've got the little stars coming out the sky headliner like that. 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:17.179 It's got bulletproof windows and all that kind of thing, right? 00:13:17.339 --> 00:13:19.919 You turn up for your first day of work. 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:26.639 Do you expect work to throw you the keys for the £200,000 BMW on your first day of work? 00:13:27.019 --> 00:13:27.939 Of course you don't, do you? 00:13:28.659 --> 00:13:30.659 Before you really get access to the keys, 00:13:30.740 --> 00:13:32.879 although access to the keys is going to be your job, right? 00:13:32.919 --> 00:13:35.799 Before you get that job, what you are given instead 00:13:35.799 --> 00:13:38.259 are the keys to the Ford Fiesta van 00:13:38.259 --> 00:13:41.659 and you're told to drive to Watford to pick up the boss's dog from the vets. 00:13:42.019 --> 00:13:42.379 Why? 00:13:43.139 --> 00:13:44.379 Why are you told to do that? 00:13:44.379 --> 00:13:49.500 Well, because even though your job title is VIP chauffeur, 00:13:49.899 --> 00:13:54.100 really you start out your job on probation, don't you? 00:13:54.740 --> 00:13:55.720 You are on probation. 00:13:56.340 --> 00:13:59.539 And although the BMW will be yours to drive one day, 00:13:59.639 --> 00:14:03.500 you are in the beginning being tested to see your faithfulness, 00:14:03.559 --> 00:14:05.480 to prove that you're able to drive the big car. 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:08.419 You know, to see whether your manner with the vets and the dog 00:14:08.419 --> 00:14:13.579 is good enough for you to qualify for being accessed to the VIPs. 00:14:14.059 --> 00:14:15.179 You know, then after a couple of weeks, 00:14:15.179 --> 00:14:17.860 when you've proved yourself, you've not crashed the Fiesta 00:14:17.860 --> 00:14:21.099 and the boss's dog is not traumatized from driving with you, 00:14:21.159 --> 00:14:22.179 then on you go. 00:14:22.919 --> 00:14:23.559 Here's the BMW. 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:27.579 Now, in a sense, that's what's going on in Genesis 2. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:32.759 Adam and Eve have been made for eternal life in a flourishing garden 00:14:32.759 --> 00:14:37.459 where humanity will live for endless days in the presence of God with him. 00:14:37.460 --> 00:14:40.280 In a garden that they have filled and subdued, 00:14:40.379 --> 00:14:42.620 a place for God and his people to dwell together. 00:14:43.019 --> 00:14:48.280 But before that, they're on probation in the garden. 00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:52.379 And not just them as two individuals, 00:14:52.740 --> 00:14:55.960 but in them, all of humanity are on probation. 00:14:57.320 --> 00:15:00.780 And the keys of eternal life, if you like to carry on the illustration, 00:15:01.320 --> 00:15:03.740 symbolized in access to the tree of life 00:15:03.740 --> 00:15:07.899 is only going to be available to them if they obey the Lord. 00:15:08.700 --> 00:15:10.220 They pass the probationary period. 00:15:11.259 --> 00:15:13.639 And so the focus here is obedience. 00:15:14.659 --> 00:15:15.639 Will they obey? 00:15:16.779 --> 00:15:20.340 A command which is not intended to prohibit from Adam and Eve 00:15:20.340 --> 00:15:22.200 knowing what is good and evil, 00:15:22.620 --> 00:15:25.720 but rather is to prohibit accessing that knowledge 00:15:25.720 --> 00:15:28.460 outside of relationship with the God who made them, 00:15:28.460 --> 00:15:30.320 outside of walking with him, 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:33.460 growing in knowledge and understanding, wisdom and faith. 00:15:34.019 --> 00:15:36.639 So the question that's hanging at the end of chapter 2 is, 00:15:37.019 --> 00:15:40.100 will they garden faithfully in obedience and submission 00:15:40.100 --> 00:15:42.519 to gain access to the tree of life? 00:15:43.080 --> 00:15:46.080 Or will they go astray and ruin it all? 00:15:46.800 --> 00:15:47.600 And that's the question. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:50.080 That's the scene. 00:15:50.920 --> 00:15:51.920 What's the action? 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:53.320 Let's see the action. 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:58.680 In chapter 3, verse 1, we meet Satan embodied in a serpent 00:15:58.680 --> 00:16:01.360 who comes to Eve and says, 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:06.280 did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden? 00:16:07.320 --> 00:16:08.820 Now, of course, that's a lie, isn't it? 00:16:09.320 --> 00:16:12.260 The trees of the garden are provided as food for the people. 00:16:12.420 --> 00:16:16.379 So Eve responds and partially corrects the serpent. 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:18.940 Verse 2, the woman said to the serpent, 00:16:19.100 --> 00:16:21.600 we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:23.840 Oh no, we can eat. 00:16:24.440 --> 00:16:27.120 But God did say you must not eat fruit from the tree 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:28.659 that is in the middle of the garden 00:16:28.659 --> 00:16:32.080 and you must not touch it or you will die. 00:16:33.019 --> 00:16:34.480 It's interesting, isn't it, that Eve's response 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:36.259 gives way in part to the serpent's lie 00:16:36.259 --> 00:16:37.460 because she adds this idea 00:16:37.460 --> 00:16:39.620 that God has told them not to touch it, 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:41.740 which is not really true. 00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:44.540 The serpent takes advantage of that weakness. 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:45.720 He presses the woman. 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:46.879 He says, verse 4, 00:16:47.300 --> 00:16:49.920 you will not certainly die, 00:16:49.920 --> 00:16:51.279 the serpent said to the woman. 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:53.659 For God knows that when you eat from it, 00:16:53.700 --> 00:16:56.300 your eyes will be opened and you'll be like God's, 00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:57.700 knowing good and evil. 00:16:58.820 --> 00:17:01.600 And then the woman looks at the fruit of the tree 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:02.740 and sees it's good for food, 00:17:02.820 --> 00:17:03.639 it's pleasing to the eye, 00:17:03.899 --> 00:17:05.440 that it would make you wise. 00:17:05.559 --> 00:17:07.500 And so she eats and she gives to her husband 00:17:07.500 --> 00:17:10.360 and disobedience enters the garden. 00:17:11.940 --> 00:17:13.740 Now, there are loads of things going on here. 00:17:14.220 --> 00:17:16.440 The serpent, who's assumed to be the devil 00:17:16.440 --> 00:17:17.539 by the rest of the scriptures, 00:17:17.539 --> 00:17:22.019 seems to be already established as an enemy of God by this point. 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:24.119 He is a created being, 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:27.019 but his rebellion predates the one that we're reading about here, 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:28.779 and we're not told about it. 00:17:29.559 --> 00:17:32.480 The origin of his evil is essentially a mystery, 00:17:32.920 --> 00:17:34.839 about which we probably best not to speculate. 00:17:35.420 --> 00:17:37.019 But notice what we are told. 00:17:37.019 --> 00:17:40.359 Specifically, notice that the intention of the serpent 00:17:40.359 --> 00:17:42.980 is not just to get Adam and Eve to eat from the fruit. 00:17:44.200 --> 00:17:46.240 It wouldn't be enough, would it, 00:17:46.259 --> 00:17:48.639 if the serpent sort of put the fruit on the floor 00:17:48.639 --> 00:17:49.839 in front of Adam and Eve 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:51.660 and then just kind of stuck his foot out, 00:17:52.019 --> 00:17:52.539 if he had a foot, 00:17:52.700 --> 00:17:53.559 to trip them over. 00:17:53.980 --> 00:17:55.579 And so they landed face-fail on the fruit 00:17:55.579 --> 00:17:56.940 and got a bit in their mouth and ate it. 00:17:57.000 --> 00:17:58.180 That wouldn't be enough, would it? 00:17:58.700 --> 00:18:01.000 No, because actually what the serpent is trying to do here 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:03.400 is not just get them to eat the fruit, 00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:05.259 but he's trying to get them to eat the fruit 00:18:05.259 --> 00:18:09.120 by believing something untrue about God and who he is. 00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:11.519 So notice what he says. 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:13.400 He sells God as mean. 00:18:14.840 --> 00:18:16.500 God's just being harsh to you. 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:18.960 He doesn't really want you to be like him. 00:18:19.560 --> 00:18:23.000 He doesn't really want you to have knowledge of good and evil. 00:18:23.640 --> 00:18:25.080 He's being harsh with you. 00:18:25.840 --> 00:18:27.340 But of course, that's not the point. 00:18:27.420 --> 00:18:29.080 God is generously giving them all things, 00:18:29.160 --> 00:18:31.100 but all things in obedience to him, 00:18:31.180 --> 00:18:32.320 in submission to his will. 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:36.059 And so the lie of the devil really is one of independence. 00:18:36.439 --> 00:18:38.879 It's about grasping after the wisdom 00:18:38.879 --> 00:18:40.019 of the knowledge of good and evil 00:18:40.019 --> 00:18:41.799 outside of knowing God. 00:18:42.279 --> 00:18:42.819 It's saying, listen, 00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:45.539 this would be yours in relationship with him, 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:47.740 but now reach for it independently of him 00:18:47.740 --> 00:18:49.960 and you will be like him, 00:18:50.879 --> 00:18:52.399 not in submission to him, 00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:54.639 but on a par, if not over him. 00:18:57.439 --> 00:18:59.480 Jesus' famous illustration of this 00:18:59.480 --> 00:19:01.000 is in the parable of the lost son. 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:02.000 You might know the story. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:03.279 In the story, 00:19:03.399 --> 00:19:07.059 the youngest son asks his father for his inheritance 00:19:07.059 --> 00:19:08.700 so he can go and spend it early. 00:19:09.399 --> 00:19:11.500 Now, the subtext of that is obvious, isn't it? 00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:13.200 It's not really about the money, 00:19:13.319 --> 00:19:14.399 just the money, is it? 00:19:14.700 --> 00:19:17.559 Because the money would one day be the son's. 00:19:18.019 --> 00:19:20.419 And really, the point is that the son is saying 00:19:20.419 --> 00:19:21.419 to the father, 00:19:21.700 --> 00:19:23.039 I wish you were dead. 00:19:23.779 --> 00:19:25.179 I want your money now. 00:19:25.180 --> 00:19:27.080 I don't care about you. 00:19:27.320 --> 00:19:28.980 I would rather have that money now 00:19:28.980 --> 00:19:31.820 and spend it on myself in wild living. 00:19:32.560 --> 00:19:33.680 You're dead to me. 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:36.440 And that's what Adam and Eve are saying here. 00:19:36.519 --> 00:19:37.420 It's as if, you know, 00:19:37.560 --> 00:19:40.560 I know that wisdom of knowledge of good and evil 00:19:40.560 --> 00:19:42.120 will be found in obedience to you, 00:19:42.180 --> 00:19:43.980 that walking in obedience with you, 00:19:44.019 --> 00:19:45.980 you would teach me what good is. 00:19:45.980 --> 00:19:49.620 And I know what evil would be in contrast to that good. 00:19:50.039 --> 00:19:52.339 But frankly, God, I want that now. 00:19:52.900 --> 00:19:54.160 And I want it for myself. 00:19:54.259 --> 00:19:56.000 I don't want it in obedience to you. 00:19:56.420 --> 00:19:58.400 I want it in rebellion from you. 00:19:58.740 --> 00:20:00.380 God, you are dead to me. 00:20:00.839 --> 00:20:01.960 I will live for myself. 00:20:02.660 --> 00:20:04.099 Give me my inheritance now. 00:20:04.099 --> 00:20:07.740 Now, remember the scene that we set, 00:20:08.399 --> 00:20:10.279 because the problem here is not just 00:20:10.279 --> 00:20:12.639 that it's like every sin that you and I commit, 00:20:12.719 --> 00:20:13.539 although it is. 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:16.000 Rather, the significance of Genesis 3 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:17.799 is that all of humanity 00:20:17.799 --> 00:20:21.039 are on probation in Adam and Eve. 00:20:21.579 --> 00:20:23.559 And because Adam has disobeyed, 00:20:23.859 --> 00:20:25.439 humanity is now guilty. 00:20:26.179 --> 00:20:27.799 They were there for us. 00:20:28.379 --> 00:20:30.079 And not just that you and I would have done the same, 00:20:30.159 --> 00:20:31.639 although we most certainly would have done, 00:20:31.639 --> 00:20:33.919 but that we are included in them. 00:20:35.099 --> 00:20:36.939 All humanity disobey in Adam. 00:20:37.699 --> 00:20:39.399 Adam crashes the Ford Fiesta 00:20:39.399 --> 00:20:41.559 and never gets the keys to the BMW. 00:20:43.439 --> 00:20:45.699 It's worth just pondering this for a moment, isn't it? 00:20:46.659 --> 00:20:48.059 According to the Bible, 00:20:48.659 --> 00:20:50.839 this is the root of everything that's wrong in the world. 00:20:51.959 --> 00:20:54.459 This is where the good world that God made 00:20:54.459 --> 00:20:57.399 becomes the mixed broken world that we experience. 00:20:58.459 --> 00:21:00.199 This is why we suffer. 00:21:00.539 --> 00:21:02.240 This is why we get sick. 00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:05.160 It's not just because we do things wrong, 00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:05.839 although we do, 00:21:06.140 --> 00:21:07.839 but often the link between what we do 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:10.039 and what we experience is a little bit vague, isn't it? 00:21:10.839 --> 00:21:13.079 Rather, the reason that we suffer 00:21:13.079 --> 00:21:15.920 is because humanity was made for God, 00:21:16.500 --> 00:21:17.299 by God, 00:21:17.700 --> 00:21:19.180 to live in obedience to him. 00:21:19.740 --> 00:21:21.400 The very purpose of our existence 00:21:21.400 --> 00:21:24.160 being to glorify him and enjoy him. 00:21:24.740 --> 00:21:25.799 And in Adam, 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:27.339 we rejected that, 00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:28.960 saying we'll be our own boss, 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:29.640 our own gods, 00:21:29.700 --> 00:21:30.880 we'll get what we need ourselves, 00:21:30.980 --> 00:21:31.980 we'll do what we want, 00:21:32.519 --> 00:21:34.440 hoping to find in disobedience 00:21:34.440 --> 00:21:36.779 what was promised only through obedience. 00:21:38.200 --> 00:21:39.860 And so the world was broken. 00:21:41.420 --> 00:21:43.720 It's perhaps a little bit like the story of David and Goliath. 00:21:43.799 --> 00:21:44.779 You know the story, don't you? 00:21:45.059 --> 00:21:46.640 Everyone loves the story of David and Goliath. 00:21:46.759 --> 00:21:49.100 Little David conquers giant Goliath, right? 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:50.480 And we like to read the story 00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:52.120 thinking of ourselves to be like David. 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:55.160 We're the people who conquer the great giants. 00:21:55.160 --> 00:21:58.800 But really, actually, in the story, right? 00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:01.180 David is champion for Israel. 00:22:01.740 --> 00:22:03.519 Goliath is champion for the Philistines. 00:22:03.860 --> 00:22:05.960 If David wins, Israel wins. 00:22:06.460 --> 00:22:09.060 If Goliath wins, the Philistines win. 00:22:09.820 --> 00:22:11.960 And in a sense, because Goliath loses, 00:22:12.300 --> 00:22:13.840 all of the Philistines lose with him. 00:22:14.519 --> 00:22:15.920 And that's it here, isn't it? 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:18.180 Adam, if you like, is our Goliath. 00:22:18.680 --> 00:22:19.960 And because he loses, 00:22:20.680 --> 00:22:21.720 we all lose with him. 00:22:22.180 --> 00:22:23.100 That's what's going on. 00:22:23.679 --> 00:22:26.379 He catastrophically fails and is defeated. 00:22:26.539 --> 00:22:28.199 And we're left in a broken world. 00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:30.259 Now, there's more to say on that. 00:22:30.339 --> 00:22:31.579 But let's think about the results. 00:22:32.019 --> 00:22:33.139 Observe the results. 00:22:34.639 --> 00:22:36.639 Notice that the results are immediate, yeah? 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:38.679 Adam and Eve realize that they are naked. 00:22:39.459 --> 00:22:41.119 It's not I don't think that they were ignorant 00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:42.219 of their nakedness before, 00:22:42.299 --> 00:22:44.599 but rather that now they can't look on their nakedness 00:22:44.599 --> 00:22:47.139 without suspicion and wrong desire. 00:22:47.639 --> 00:22:51.419 Now this kind of shaped now by independent self-interest, 00:22:51.420 --> 00:22:53.980 admiration gives way to selfish lust. 00:22:54.539 --> 00:22:56.820 So they hide their bodies behind fig trees 00:22:56.820 --> 00:22:59.140 and they run from the presence of God. 00:22:59.360 --> 00:23:00.759 They don't want to be anywhere near him. 00:23:01.640 --> 00:23:02.759 When God finds them, 00:23:03.120 --> 00:23:05.240 he knows what's happened and acts in judgment, 00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:08.500 judging the serpent and the woman and then the man. 00:23:09.259 --> 00:23:10.960 Look down at chapter three, verse 15. 00:23:11.060 --> 00:23:13.880 The serpent's destruction is there prophesied 00:23:13.880 --> 00:23:14.920 at the foot of a human. 00:23:14.920 --> 00:23:18.120 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, 00:23:18.580 --> 00:23:20.720 between your offspring and hers. 00:23:21.140 --> 00:23:24.620 He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. 00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:26.840 The promise that we'll find is fulfilled 00:23:26.840 --> 00:23:28.000 in the person of the Lord Jesus, 00:23:28.700 --> 00:23:31.259 the one who will finally come and crush the serpent. 00:23:32.380 --> 00:23:34.940 For the woman, her role in creation is frustrated, 00:23:35.279 --> 00:23:37.620 as what should have brought pleasure now brings pain. 00:23:38.200 --> 00:23:40.900 Childbearing is severe, labor is painful, 00:23:40.900 --> 00:23:44.820 and the role of helper is frustrated and frustrating to her. 00:23:45.380 --> 00:23:46.200 Look at verse 16. 00:23:46.620 --> 00:23:49.720 I will make your pains in childbearing very severe. 00:23:50.380 --> 00:23:52.440 With painful labor, you will give birth to children. 00:23:52.860 --> 00:23:54.360 Your desire will be for your husband 00:23:54.360 --> 00:23:55.920 and he will rule over you. 00:23:57.400 --> 00:23:58.860 Adam is similarly cursed. 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:02.740 Work becomes toil and he has promised to return to dust. 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:04.900 Death reigns instead of life. 00:24:04.900 --> 00:24:08.220 And finally, then they're thrown out of the temple garden, 00:24:08.380 --> 00:24:10.980 banished and excluded from the tree of life, 00:24:11.019 --> 00:24:12.060 which had been set ahead of them, 00:24:12.300 --> 00:24:14.900 with the cherubim's sword preventing their return. 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:18.880 Now again, there's loads there that we could look at, 00:24:18.940 --> 00:24:20.200 but let's just zoom in on this idea 00:24:20.200 --> 00:24:22.000 of returning to dust for a moment. 00:24:23.300 --> 00:24:25.720 God had promised Adam in chapter two, verse 17, 00:24:25.880 --> 00:24:28.300 that the day he ate from the tree, he would surely die. 00:24:28.680 --> 00:24:30.400 And here in chapter three, verse 19, 00:24:30.500 --> 00:24:32.019 although Adam doesn't die immediately, 00:24:32.300 --> 00:24:34.740 notice that the rot has already set in. 00:24:35.380 --> 00:24:37.200 Adam's body will return to dust. 00:24:37.780 --> 00:24:39.140 In a sense, really, what's happening 00:24:39.140 --> 00:24:41.280 is everything here is being turned on its head. 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:44.720 Yes, so God put Adam in the garden 00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:47.140 to obey him and rule over creation, 00:24:47.280 --> 00:24:50.220 being helped by the woman to rule over all that's been made. 00:24:50.759 --> 00:24:53.100 Now, the serpent, part of God's creation, 00:24:53.300 --> 00:24:55.180 speaks to the woman who's there to help the man 00:24:55.180 --> 00:24:57.120 and she leads the man astray, 00:24:57.220 --> 00:24:59.400 who was there to submit to God and obey him 00:24:59.400 --> 00:25:00.580 and he disobeys. 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:03.160 And then what happens, 00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:05.860 instead of creation moving forwards to life, 00:25:06.040 --> 00:25:08.019 it moves backwards to death. 00:25:08.600 --> 00:25:10.140 As death enters the garden, 00:25:10.460 --> 00:25:13.140 it descends into less than it was intended to be. 00:25:13.759 --> 00:25:15.519 The stewards of the temple garden 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:17.500 are now left rotting away. 00:25:18.580 --> 00:25:20.720 Adam was made to live in the presence of God 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:23.320 and now excluded from his presence, 00:25:23.779 --> 00:25:25.460 life leaves with God. 00:25:26.500 --> 00:25:28.160 Now, the consequences of Genesis three 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:29.700 are not just here in these chapters, are they? 00:25:29.700 --> 00:25:31.160 They're all the way through the rest of the Bible 00:25:31.160 --> 00:25:32.640 and in our lives today. 00:25:33.480 --> 00:25:34.600 A relationship breakdown, 00:25:35.259 --> 00:25:36.200 natural disaster, 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:37.440 frustrating work, 00:25:37.620 --> 00:25:39.299 painful childbearing and parenthood, 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:40.799 estrangement from God, 00:25:40.920 --> 00:25:41.799 death, disaster, 00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:43.140 uncertain futures, 00:25:43.319 --> 00:25:44.039 fragile lives, 00:25:44.460 --> 00:25:45.960 disconnection from a sense of purpose. 00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:48.140 All of that is our experience. 00:25:49.019 --> 00:25:50.120 And there's a sense in which 00:25:50.120 --> 00:25:51.819 that experience kind of grows. 00:25:52.519 --> 00:25:53.599 So just like the garden 00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:55.019 was meant to become a town 00:25:55.019 --> 00:25:56.799 and a city where God dwelt with his people, 00:25:57.279 --> 00:26:00.220 so now the backwards is growing, isn't it? 00:26:00.679 --> 00:26:02.579 As the land of rebellion has grown 00:26:02.579 --> 00:26:03.679 and developed into towns 00:26:03.679 --> 00:26:05.319 and cities and nations of rebellion, 00:26:05.659 --> 00:26:07.079 they build a giant tower, 00:26:08.139 --> 00:26:09.579 gather all the world together, 00:26:10.220 --> 00:26:11.519 a few chapters down in Genesis. 00:26:12.379 --> 00:26:14.099 But the collective moral weight 00:26:14.099 --> 00:26:15.559 of six billion sinners 00:26:15.559 --> 00:26:17.859 is greater than just two in the garden. 00:26:18.859 --> 00:26:20.599 And this then is the Bible's answer 00:26:20.599 --> 00:26:21.699 to the why question. 00:26:24.419 --> 00:26:24.819 Why? 00:26:25.159 --> 00:26:26.059 Why do we suffer? 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:27.719 Well, it's not, you know, 00:26:27.779 --> 00:26:28.559 do something wrong 00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:30.279 and something appropriately bad will happen. 00:26:30.379 --> 00:26:31.740 It's more nuanced than that, isn't it? 00:26:32.179 --> 00:26:34.519 Good things do happen to bad people 00:26:34.519 --> 00:26:36.859 and bad things seem to happen to good people. 00:26:37.539 --> 00:26:38.779 Now, the point is that we live 00:26:38.779 --> 00:26:39.699 in a world of rebels 00:26:39.699 --> 00:26:41.199 under the judgment and curse 00:26:41.199 --> 00:26:42.399 of the God who made us. 00:26:43.039 --> 00:26:44.699 The world is broken from its purpose, 00:26:44.859 --> 00:26:46.159 undone by its creator. 00:26:46.779 --> 00:26:48.459 It brings thorns and thistles 00:26:48.459 --> 00:26:49.859 faster than plants. 00:26:49.859 --> 00:26:51.219 It means the relationships 00:26:51.219 --> 00:26:52.419 between men and women 00:26:52.419 --> 00:26:54.299 are marked by power plagues. 00:26:54.399 --> 00:26:54.939 That's, I think, 00:26:54.979 --> 00:26:56.079 what's going on here 00:26:56.079 --> 00:26:57.439 when the woman's desire 00:26:57.439 --> 00:26:58.199 will be for the man 00:26:58.199 --> 00:26:59.339 and he will rule over her. 00:26:59.659 --> 00:27:01.759 It is not that she longs for him, 00:27:01.799 --> 00:27:03.039 but she longs for his role 00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:05.599 and his role is now abusive 00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:07.539 and power hungry 00:27:07.539 --> 00:27:08.899 rather than loving 00:27:08.899 --> 00:27:10.179 and one of mutual help. 00:27:11.139 --> 00:27:12.919 Now, Adam chose a world without God 00:27:12.919 --> 00:27:14.379 and God hands him over 00:27:14.379 --> 00:27:15.399 to the chaos of that. 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:17.019 You want me out the garden? 00:27:17.019 --> 00:27:18.180 Now you are out the garden 00:27:18.180 --> 00:27:19.039 on your own. 00:27:22.299 --> 00:27:24.639 I think probably the greatest challenge 00:27:24.639 --> 00:27:25.200 has been for me 00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:26.839 in this series in Genesis 1-3 00:27:26.839 --> 00:27:27.700 is that lots of this 00:27:27.700 --> 00:27:28.579 is kind of philosophical 00:27:28.579 --> 00:27:29.779 and feels a bit theoretical, 00:27:29.940 --> 00:27:30.400 doesn't it? 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:34.720 But this is real, right? 00:27:35.980 --> 00:27:38.340 As I was praying in my study 00:27:38.340 --> 00:27:39.400 this morning, 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:41.680 preparing the final bits 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:42.420 of this message, 00:27:43.180 --> 00:27:44.560 the office phone rang 00:27:44.560 --> 00:27:46.259 from David, 00:27:47.320 --> 00:27:48.900 Solomon Peter's son, 00:27:49.080 --> 00:27:50.160 to say that he'd passed away. 00:27:51.220 --> 00:27:52.500 This is the world of death, 00:27:52.560 --> 00:27:53.440 it's the world that we live in, 00:27:53.480 --> 00:27:53.880 isn't it? 00:27:53.880 --> 00:27:55.280 And these things, 00:27:55.560 --> 00:27:58.140 although kind of philosophically important, 00:27:58.380 --> 00:28:00.000 are personally painful, 00:28:00.160 --> 00:28:00.480 aren't they? 00:28:01.440 --> 00:28:02.980 We live in a world 00:28:02.980 --> 00:28:04.500 under the curse of sin 00:28:04.500 --> 00:28:06.940 where death reigns. 00:28:07.400 --> 00:28:09.100 Not because God is not good, 00:28:09.740 --> 00:28:11.220 not because God doesn't care. 00:28:12.200 --> 00:28:12.640 Now actually, 00:28:13.320 --> 00:28:14.200 the God of Genesis 3 00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:15.480 is a God of promise 00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:17.480 and he's keeping his promises. 00:28:19.300 --> 00:28:20.380 Now the problem in the world 00:28:20.380 --> 00:28:21.500 is that our first parents 00:28:21.500 --> 00:28:22.819 and us in them 00:28:22.819 --> 00:28:24.119 pushed God out 00:28:24.119 --> 00:28:25.240 and enthroned ourselves 00:28:25.240 --> 00:28:26.460 and our holy God 00:28:26.460 --> 00:28:28.119 cannot ignore that. 00:28:31.799 --> 00:28:33.420 A university friend of mine 00:28:33.420 --> 00:28:34.500 who was really clever 00:28:34.500 --> 00:28:37.039 did mechanical engineering 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:37.740 at university 00:28:37.740 --> 00:28:39.559 and went on to do 00:28:39.559 --> 00:28:40.200 various different things 00:28:40.200 --> 00:28:40.779 but one of the things 00:28:40.779 --> 00:28:41.220 that he did 00:28:41.220 --> 00:28:42.640 was he ran his own garage. 00:28:43.599 --> 00:28:44.740 What he found was 00:28:44.740 --> 00:28:47.200 that garages were really bad 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:50.240 at repairing complicated cars. 00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:52.220 See, he found that 00:28:52.220 --> 00:28:54.059 if you took your complicated car 00:28:54.059 --> 00:28:54.720 to the garage, 00:28:55.180 --> 00:28:56.559 they'd do two or three things to it 00:28:56.559 --> 00:28:57.700 and if they couldn't 00:28:57.700 --> 00:28:58.799 work it out from that 00:28:58.799 --> 00:29:00.160 then they couldn't fix it. 00:29:00.259 --> 00:29:01.700 So they'd plug their machine in 00:29:01.700 --> 00:29:02.960 and it wouldn't say anything 00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:04.240 and then they would go 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:05.200 underneath it with their torch 00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:06.240 they couldn't find anything 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:08.200 and so they couldn't fix it. 00:29:08.920 --> 00:29:09.500 And he worked out 00:29:09.500 --> 00:29:10.140 that basically 00:29:10.140 --> 00:29:11.539 if you're going to fix 00:29:11.539 --> 00:29:12.440 complicated cars 00:29:12.440 --> 00:29:13.539 the thing that you need to know 00:29:13.539 --> 00:29:14.579 is what the problem is. 00:29:15.380 --> 00:29:16.559 He was really good 00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:17.500 at understanding 00:29:17.500 --> 00:29:18.500 what the problem is 00:29:18.500 --> 00:29:19.779 which meant that 00:29:19.779 --> 00:29:21.640 he could fix it. 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:23.299 If you don't understand 00:29:23.299 --> 00:29:24.359 what the problem is 00:29:24.359 --> 00:29:26.220 you can't really fix it. 00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:28.700 That's the case, isn't it, 00:29:28.700 --> 00:29:29.759 in our world as well. 00:29:30.660 --> 00:29:33.099 Why do so many things 00:29:33.099 --> 00:29:33.799 that we try 00:29:33.799 --> 00:29:35.579 not actually fix 00:29:35.579 --> 00:29:37.220 our lives and our trouble? 00:29:37.859 --> 00:29:38.640 It's because they don't really 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:39.960 understand the problem, do they? 00:29:41.779 --> 00:29:43.720 Atheism or even agnosticism 00:29:43.720 --> 00:29:45.160 basically thinks 00:29:45.160 --> 00:29:46.059 that the problem in the world 00:29:46.059 --> 00:29:46.819 is bad luck. 00:29:46.819 --> 00:29:48.659 So the solution 00:29:48.659 --> 00:29:49.759 to a world 00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:50.720 where the problem is bad luck 00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:52.639 is good luck, right? 00:29:53.240 --> 00:29:54.139 Do everything you can 00:29:54.139 --> 00:29:54.679 to be lucky. 00:29:55.379 --> 00:29:56.299 Do everything that you can 00:29:56.299 --> 00:29:57.779 to kind of swerve the problems. 00:29:58.599 --> 00:29:59.000 And of course 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:00.179 that doesn't work, does it? 00:30:00.579 --> 00:30:01.359 Because actually 00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:03.159 bad things still happen. 00:30:04.439 --> 00:30:05.639 Things like Islam 00:30:05.639 --> 00:30:06.779 or Catholicism 00:30:06.779 --> 00:30:07.919 and its raw form 00:30:07.919 --> 00:30:08.779 and other religions 00:30:08.779 --> 00:30:09.819 tell you that the problem 00:30:09.819 --> 00:30:10.159 in the world 00:30:10.159 --> 00:30:11.119 is that we do things wrong. 00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:13.319 If the problem in the world 00:30:13.319 --> 00:30:14.119 is that you do things wrong 00:30:14.119 --> 00:30:14.859 what's the solution? 00:30:15.859 --> 00:30:16.679 Do things right. 00:30:17.620 --> 00:30:17.759 Yeah? 00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:19.519 But that doesn't work, does it? 00:30:19.700 --> 00:30:20.680 Not only because 00:30:20.680 --> 00:30:21.980 it doesn't matter how hard I try 00:30:21.980 --> 00:30:23.180 I can't do everything right 00:30:23.180 --> 00:30:25.460 it doesn't work 00:30:25.460 --> 00:30:26.960 because even when I do things right 00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:28.039 still things go wrong. 00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:30.120 There are many people 00:30:30.120 --> 00:30:31.220 in the hospitals in London 00:30:31.220 --> 00:30:32.299 who are more moral 00:30:32.299 --> 00:30:32.660 and upright 00:30:32.660 --> 00:30:33.600 than any of us in this room. 00:30:34.920 --> 00:30:35.600 Doing things right 00:30:35.600 --> 00:30:36.480 is not the answer. 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:39.000 But if Genesis 3 00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:39.720 is right 00:30:39.720 --> 00:30:40.860 if the problem 00:30:40.860 --> 00:30:41.680 is not just that 00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:42.519 we personally 00:30:42.519 --> 00:30:43.360 are disobedient 00:30:43.360 --> 00:30:43.960 which itself 00:30:43.960 --> 00:30:44.940 would be bad enough 00:30:44.940 --> 00:30:46.039 but also that 00:30:46.039 --> 00:30:46.720 we belong to 00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:48.019 a condemned race 00:30:48.019 --> 00:30:49.220 that has been banished 00:30:49.220 --> 00:30:49.960 from God's presence 00:30:49.960 --> 00:30:51.240 and is under the curse of sin 00:30:51.240 --> 00:30:52.380 then you and I 00:30:52.380 --> 00:30:53.980 need a way more radical fix 00:30:53.980 --> 00:30:54.720 than good works 00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:55.259 or good luck 00:30:55.259 --> 00:30:56.000 to fix it. 00:30:56.600 --> 00:30:58.360 We need a new creation. 00:30:59.460 --> 00:31:00.480 We need 00:31:00.480 --> 00:31:01.720 a new 00:31:01.720 --> 00:31:02.420 Adam 00:31:02.420 --> 00:31:04.360 and that is Jesus 00:31:04.360 --> 00:31:05.880 promised in our passage 00:31:05.880 --> 00:31:06.480 in chapter 3 00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:07.039 verse 15 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:07.620 as we saw 00:31:07.620 --> 00:31:09.059 introduced in the scriptures 00:31:09.059 --> 00:31:10.299 as a second Adam. 00:31:10.299 --> 00:31:12.299 God doesn't so much 00:31:12.299 --> 00:31:13.379 create a new man 00:31:13.379 --> 00:31:14.000 from the dust 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:15.139 rather it's as if 00:31:15.139 --> 00:31:16.180 God takes the dust 00:31:16.180 --> 00:31:17.000 to himself 00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:19.079 and is born 00:31:19.079 --> 00:31:19.759 as a baby. 00:31:20.919 --> 00:31:21.379 God 00:31:21.379 --> 00:31:22.379 the son 00:31:22.379 --> 00:31:24.000 uniting himself 00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:24.759 with weak 00:31:24.759 --> 00:31:25.399 human 00:31:25.399 --> 00:31:26.680 frail flesh 00:31:26.680 --> 00:31:28.099 and he 00:31:28.099 --> 00:31:29.019 lives in this 00:31:29.019 --> 00:31:29.819 broken world 00:31:29.819 --> 00:31:31.099 outside of the garden 00:31:31.099 --> 00:31:32.019 and he too 00:31:32.019 --> 00:31:33.180 is tested by the devil 00:31:33.180 --> 00:31:34.000 probation 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:35.139 2.0 00:31:35.139 --> 00:31:37.259 and the devil 00:31:37.259 --> 00:31:38.059 tries the same 00:31:38.059 --> 00:31:38.879 tactic again. 00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:40.540 He says to Jesus 00:31:40.540 --> 00:31:41.000 doesn't he 00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:42.060 Jesus I know 00:31:42.060 --> 00:31:43.600 you're born 00:31:43.600 --> 00:31:44.220 the king 00:31:44.220 --> 00:31:45.640 I know you're born 00:31:45.640 --> 00:31:47.020 to rule the nations 00:31:47.020 --> 00:31:48.300 and I know 00:31:48.300 --> 00:31:48.880 that the way 00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:49.420 that you will 00:31:49.420 --> 00:31:50.100 rule the nations 00:31:50.100 --> 00:31:50.840 is in obedience 00:31:50.840 --> 00:31:51.800 to your father 00:31:51.800 --> 00:31:53.440 obedience to the father 00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:54.360 which will take you 00:31:54.360 --> 00:31:54.940 all the way 00:31:54.940 --> 00:31:55.560 to the cross 00:31:55.560 --> 00:31:56.860 but Jesus forget that 00:31:56.860 --> 00:31:57.400 for a moment 00:31:57.400 --> 00:31:57.820 won't you 00:31:57.820 --> 00:31:58.860 just bow down 00:31:58.860 --> 00:31:59.460 and worship me 00:31:59.460 --> 00:32:00.000 and I'll give you 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:00.680 all of that. 00:32:01.600 --> 00:32:02.480 Obedience is such 00:32:02.480 --> 00:32:03.840 a long path 00:32:03.840 --> 00:32:05.380 this is much quicker 00:32:05.380 --> 00:32:06.980 this is much easier 00:32:06.980 --> 00:32:08.160 and you don't have 00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:08.780 to die 00:32:08.779 --> 00:32:10.460 surely Jesus 00:32:10.460 --> 00:32:11.039 you want this 00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:11.440 don't you 00:32:11.440 --> 00:32:12.200 just bow down 00:32:12.200 --> 00:32:12.859 and worship me 00:32:12.859 --> 00:32:16.079 and unlike the first Adam 00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:17.519 this second Adam 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:18.399 resists the devil 00:32:18.399 --> 00:32:19.559 and is obedient 00:32:19.559 --> 00:32:20.539 right up 00:32:20.539 --> 00:32:21.819 to death itself 00:32:21.819 --> 00:32:23.039 you know 00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:24.359 that the first Adam 00:32:24.359 --> 00:32:25.039 was intended 00:32:25.039 --> 00:32:25.779 to obey 00:32:25.779 --> 00:32:27.059 in order to receive 00:32:27.059 --> 00:32:28.119 eternal life 00:32:28.119 --> 00:32:29.299 and pass on life 00:32:29.299 --> 00:32:29.799 to us 00:32:29.799 --> 00:32:31.220 but the first Adam 00:32:31.220 --> 00:32:32.299 disobeyed 00:32:32.299 --> 00:32:33.500 and passed on 00:32:33.500 --> 00:32:34.619 death to us all 00:32:34.619 --> 00:32:35.200 right 00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:36.519 the second Adam 00:32:36.519 --> 00:32:36.920 Jesus 00:32:36.920 --> 00:32:38.059 is obeying 00:32:38.059 --> 00:32:38.779 all the way 00:32:38.779 --> 00:32:39.500 to death 00:32:39.500 --> 00:32:40.480 and handing 00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:41.279 on life 00:32:41.279 --> 00:32:42.180 to you and me 00:32:42.180 --> 00:32:44.139 as the second Adam 00:32:44.139 --> 00:32:45.000 rises again 00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:46.680 ascends into heaven 00:32:46.680 --> 00:32:47.980 and promises 00:32:47.980 --> 00:32:49.259 to prepare a place 00:32:49.259 --> 00:32:49.779 for us 00:32:49.779 --> 00:32:50.700 to dwell with God 00:32:50.700 --> 00:32:51.660 not a garden 00:32:51.660 --> 00:32:53.660 but a city 00:32:53.660 --> 00:32:56.240 a city temple 00:32:56.240 --> 00:32:57.680 that he will bring 00:32:57.680 --> 00:32:59.319 listen as we close 00:32:59.319 --> 00:32:59.980 to how the Bible 00:32:59.980 --> 00:33:00.960 describes that city 00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:02.299 says this 00:33:02.299 --> 00:33:03.319 in Revelation 22 00:33:03.319 --> 00:33:05.299 then the angel 00:33:05.299 --> 00:33:05.899 showed me 00:33:05.899 --> 00:33:06.480 that's John 00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:07.039 the river 00:33:07.039 --> 00:33:08.180 of the water 00:33:08.180 --> 00:33:08.759 of life 00:33:08.759 --> 00:33:10.180 clear as crystal 00:33:10.180 --> 00:33:12.000 flowing from the throne 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:12.539 of God 00:33:12.539 --> 00:33:13.139 and of the Lamb 00:33:13.139 --> 00:33:14.240 down the middle 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:15.319 of the great street 00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:15.899 of the city 00:33:15.899 --> 00:33:17.500 on each side 00:33:17.500 --> 00:33:18.000 of the river 00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:19.419 stood the tree 00:33:19.419 --> 00:33:20.119 of life 00:33:20.119 --> 00:33:22.079 bearing 12 crops 00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:22.639 of fruit 00:33:22.639 --> 00:33:23.919 yielding its fruit 00:33:23.919 --> 00:33:24.960 every month 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:26.039 and the leaves 00:33:26.039 --> 00:33:26.599 of the tree 00:33:26.599 --> 00:33:27.399 are for the healing 00:33:27.399 --> 00:33:28.159 of the nations 00:33:28.159 --> 00:33:29.799 no longer will there 00:33:29.799 --> 00:33:30.779 be any curse 00:33:30.779 --> 00:33:32.119 the throne of God 00:33:32.119 --> 00:33:32.660 and of the Lamb 00:33:32.660 --> 00:33:33.440 will be in the city 00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:34.079 and his servants 00:33:34.079 --> 00:33:34.819 will serve him 00:33:34.819 --> 00:33:36.579 they will see his face 00:33:36.579 --> 00:33:37.599 and his name 00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:38.879 will be on their foreheads 00:33:38.879 --> 00:33:40.220 there will be no more night 00:33:40.220 --> 00:33:41.359 they will not need 00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:42.539 the light of a lamp 00:33:42.539 --> 00:33:43.899 or the light of the sun 00:33:43.899 --> 00:33:44.799 for the Lord God 00:33:44.799 --> 00:33:45.680 will give them light 00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:46.879 and they will reign 00:33:46.879 --> 00:33:47.440 forever 00:33:47.440 --> 00:33:48.799 and ever 00:33:48.799 --> 00:33:50.440 notice the tree 00:33:50.440 --> 00:33:51.180 of life is there 00:33:51.180 --> 00:33:52.779 and we have access 00:33:52.779 --> 00:33:53.099 to it 00:33:53.099 --> 00:33:54.220 unyielding access 00:33:54.220 --> 00:33:55.139 because it's there 00:33:55.139 --> 00:33:56.220 yielding its fruit 00:33:56.220 --> 00:33:57.779 every single month 00:33:57.779 --> 00:33:59.339 you can eat 00:33:59.339 --> 00:34:00.180 and eat 00:34:00.180 --> 00:34:01.000 and eat 00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:02.660 the tree is there 00:34:02.660 --> 00:34:04.379 access to the tree 00:34:04.379 --> 00:34:05.500 given through the obedience 00:34:05.500 --> 00:34:06.420 of the second Adam 00:34:06.420 --> 00:34:07.240 Jesus Christ 00:34:07.240 --> 00:34:11.219 let me just 00:34:11.219 --> 00:34:12.199 close with this 00:34:12.199 --> 00:34:13.500 if perhaps this morning 00:34:13.500 --> 00:34:14.420 the why question 00:34:14.420 --> 00:34:15.639 why am I suffering 00:34:15.639 --> 00:34:17.539 is deeply personal 00:34:17.539 --> 00:34:18.139 to you 00:34:18.139 --> 00:34:19.779 maybe you're 00:34:19.779 --> 00:34:20.159 wondering 00:34:20.159 --> 00:34:20.759 why am I 00:34:20.759 --> 00:34:22.179 so lonely 00:34:22.179 --> 00:34:22.920 why is it 00:34:22.920 --> 00:34:23.659 so hard 00:34:23.659 --> 00:34:24.619 to find a job 00:34:24.619 --> 00:34:26.619 why is my family 00:34:26.619 --> 00:34:27.759 in such disarray 00:34:27.759 --> 00:34:29.420 why is marriage 00:34:29.420 --> 00:34:30.179 so difficult 00:34:30.179 --> 00:34:32.159 why have I got 00:34:32.159 --> 00:34:32.980 so little money 00:34:32.980 --> 00:34:34.559 why is my health 00:34:34.559 --> 00:34:35.199 failing 00:34:35.199 --> 00:34:37.380 well let me tell you 00:34:37.380 --> 00:34:38.219 don't despair 00:34:38.219 --> 00:34:39.880 the truth is 00:34:39.880 --> 00:34:40.519 you weren't made 00:34:40.519 --> 00:34:41.480 for this wilderness 00:34:41.480 --> 00:34:42.960 you were made 00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:43.900 for this city 00:34:43.900 --> 00:34:44.759 that we've just 00:34:44.759 --> 00:34:45.619 been reading about 00:34:45.619 --> 00:34:47.420 an entry to this city 00:34:47.420 --> 00:34:48.119 is not through 00:34:48.119 --> 00:34:49.139 your good works 00:34:49.139 --> 00:34:50.219 or not even 00:34:50.219 --> 00:34:51.059 through good luck 00:34:51.059 --> 00:34:53.039 entrance to this city 00:34:53.039 --> 00:34:54.299 is through the obedience 00:34:54.299 --> 00:34:56.199 of Jesus Christ 00:34:56.199 --> 00:34:58.019 obedience all the way 00:34:58.019 --> 00:34:58.639 to death 00:34:58.639 --> 00:35:00.759 and so for you and I 00:35:00.759 --> 00:35:02.219 if you want to exit 00:35:02.219 --> 00:35:03.079 this wilderness 00:35:03.079 --> 00:35:04.139 for this city 00:35:04.139 --> 00:35:05.879 we're to come to Jesus 00:35:05.879 --> 00:35:08.859 and say I trust in you 00:35:08.859 --> 00:35:10.719 I love you 00:35:10.719 --> 00:35:13.019 I want you to be 00:35:13.019 --> 00:35:13.859 my Adam 00:35:13.859 --> 00:35:16.279 that I might receive 00:35:16.279 --> 00:35:16.899 the benefits 00:35:16.899 --> 00:35:17.980 of your obedience 00:35:17.980 --> 00:35:19.919 instead of the curse 00:35:19.919 --> 00:35:21.399 of Adam's disobedience 00:35:21.399 --> 00:35:23.419 and if you do that 00:35:23.420 --> 00:35:25.159 there will be a day 00:35:25.159 --> 00:35:26.039 it's not going to be 00:35:26.039 --> 00:35:27.039 necessarily today 00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:29.079 but there will be a day 00:35:29.079 --> 00:35:29.940 as sure 00:35:29.940 --> 00:35:31.180 as you know 00:35:31.180 --> 00:35:33.079 where all your wounds 00:35:33.079 --> 00:35:33.639 will be healed 00:35:33.639 --> 00:35:35.059 all the tears 00:35:35.059 --> 00:35:35.619 will be wiped 00:35:35.619 --> 00:35:36.500 from your eyes 00:35:36.500 --> 00:35:37.860 all the sorrows 00:35:37.860 --> 00:35:38.800 will be undone 00:35:38.800 --> 00:35:40.440 and in one sense 00:35:40.440 --> 00:35:42.119 the beauty of that day 00:35:42.119 --> 00:35:43.180 and of that city 00:35:43.180 --> 00:35:45.280 will be even more glorious 00:35:45.280 --> 00:35:47.019 because of the darkness 00:35:47.019 --> 00:35:47.519 of today 00:35:47.519 --> 00:35:49.099 and the wilderness 00:35:49.099 --> 00:35:49.680 we're in 00:35:49.680 --> 00:35:51.360 come Lord Jesus 00:35:51.360 --> 00:35:53.400 come Lord Jesus 00:35:53.400 --> 00:35:54.500 let me pray 00:35:54.500 --> 00:35:55.700 and then we'll sing 00:35:55.700 --> 00:36:06.440 Heavenly Father 00:36:06.440 --> 00:36:07.599 as we come to you 00:36:07.599 --> 00:36:09.140 thank you 00:36:09.140 --> 00:36:09.780 that we come 00:36:09.780 --> 00:36:10.360 to a God 00:36:10.360 --> 00:36:11.340 who knows 00:36:11.340 --> 00:36:12.920 what life is like 00:36:12.920 --> 00:36:13.740 in the brokenness 00:36:13.740 --> 00:36:14.380 of this world 00:36:14.380 --> 00:36:17.460 and thank you 00:36:17.460 --> 00:36:18.160 that in your son 00:36:18.160 --> 00:36:18.740 the Lord Jesus 00:36:18.740 --> 00:36:19.380 you have done 00:36:19.380 --> 00:36:20.140 all that needs 00:36:20.140 --> 00:36:20.700 to be done 00:36:20.699 --> 00:36:22.480 to take sinners 00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:23.419 like us 00:36:23.419 --> 00:36:24.980 to the glorious city 00:36:24.980 --> 00:36:26.159 of your holy presence 00:36:26.159 --> 00:36:28.259 so we pray please 00:36:28.259 --> 00:36:28.839 Lord that you would 00:36:28.839 --> 00:36:29.679 keep us trusting 00:36:29.679 --> 00:36:30.119 in Jesus 00:36:30.119 --> 00:36:31.139 keep our eyes 00:36:31.139 --> 00:36:32.000 fixed on him 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:33.059 in the midst 00:36:33.059 --> 00:36:33.859 of the pain 00:36:33.859 --> 00:36:34.739 and the difficulty 00:36:34.739 --> 00:36:35.699 and the frustration 00:36:35.699 --> 00:36:37.539 and even the temporary 00:36:37.539 --> 00:36:38.779 joys of this life 00:36:38.779 --> 00:36:40.359 keep us looking 00:36:40.359 --> 00:36:40.919 to Jesus 00:36:40.919 --> 00:36:42.639 and trusting 00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:44.099 in all that he has done 00:36:44.099 --> 00:36:45.719 in his name we pray 00:36:45.719 --> 00:36:46.819 Amen 00:36:51.519 --> 00:37:20.679 in all that he's