1 00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:03,240 It's good to be back from vacation. 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:09,240 We were in mostly in at home, but over the weekend we were in 3 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:13,000 Spokane for a middle school basketball tournament. 4 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:18,080 And but it is good to be back with God's people worshipping 5 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:20,520 with you. We are continuing our study of 6 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,120 the book of Genesis. This coming Friday we'll be here 7 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:27,720 at 7:00 for Good Friday service. I hope you'll join us for that. 8 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:29,120 We'll be taking the Lord's Supper. 9 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:31,120 We'll also be doing a church wide fast that day. 10 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:33,080 If you'd like to participate with us, we invite you to. 11 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,480 And then next Sunday we'll have our Easter service and we won't 12 00:00:36,480 --> 00:00:39,360 be in Genesis. We'll be probably in one of the 13 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:41,480 Gospels or maybe somewhere in the New Testament, but I'm not 14 00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:43,920 sure yet. But that'll be next week. 15 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:47,080 And so let me encourage you to invite friends, family, Co 16 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:50,200 workers, classmates, either on Friday or Sunday or both. 17 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:53,160 But this morning we are continuing our study of the book 18 00:00:53,160 --> 00:00:55,440 of Genesis that we started a few weeks back. 19 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,000 We've just made it through chapter one, and we just started 20 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,680 chapter 2, but this morning we're going to be in verses 4 to 21 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:04,239 17. I won't read the text upfront. 22 00:01:04,239 --> 00:01:06,760 I'll read it as we go through it in the exposition. 23 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:11,560 So if you will pray with me and then we will jump into the 24 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:18,720 sermon this morning. Lord, as we prepare our hearts 25 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:26,040 for Good Friday, prepare our hearts for the resurrection. 26 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:32,280 Lord, we we take time this morning to see how all of it was 27 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:36,400 put into motion at the very beginning of your plan of 28 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:40,800 creation. Lord, that You would display 29 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:45,480 Your glory in the way in which You created this earth and all 30 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:49,800 the things that you made and how You created humans. 31 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:55,160 That would eventually lead to the most unbelievable miracle of 32 00:01:55,880 --> 00:02:01,640 one of our descendants, one of humanity's descendants, God 33 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:06,480 taking on flesh and coming in the likeness of man, that He 34 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:10,680 would redeem man. And so, Lord, would you help us 35 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:15,160 to see this morning all of your beauty, all of Your plan of 36 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,440 salvation and how it started all the way back at the very 37 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:22,080 beginning. I pray especially this morning 38 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:24,720 God, as we look at this text that you would help us to see 39 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:30,120 you are a good father who gives good things to his children and 40 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:31,760 how you are not holding out on us. 41 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:39,040 I pray this in Jesus name, Amen. We've been going through Genesis 42 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:42,080 for a few weeks and I want to give the context before we jump 43 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:44,320 in. I'll have I'll give the context 44 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:47,440 first and then we'll do exposition of the text and then 45 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:50,120 I'll give us application. I do have 10 points of 46 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:53,000 application this morning. Genesis is just filled with so 47 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:55,720 much and so let's let's we got a lot to get to. 48 00:02:55,760 --> 00:03:01,560 Let's jump in the context is the past two weeks prior to last 49 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:05,080 week, we've been looking at the seven days of creation. 50 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:09,240 Just as a refresher. On day one, God made light and 51 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:14,480 he made the day and the night. On day 2, God separated the 52 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:17,000 waters below from the waters above. 53 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,520 He gave us an atmosphere and he gave us oceans. 54 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:25,440 On day three, God separated the waters and the land, land here, 55 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:28,240 waters here, and he made all the vegetation on the land. 56 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:31,840 On day four, God made the sun and the moon and the stars. 57 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:37,240 On day five, God made marine life and the birds of the sky. 58 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:44,400 On day 6, God made land animals and he made the first thing in 59 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:49,680 his image, humans, male and female, He created them. 60 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:56,360 And then on Day 7, God didn't make anything because He rested 61 00:03:56,360 --> 00:04:00,040 from all that He had made. And that's where we left off 2 62 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:02,320 weeks ago. We're going to pick right back 63 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:04,720 up again this morning with the exodus of the text. 64 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:07,600 So if you'll follow along in your copy of God's Word, Genesis 65 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,200 2, we're going to begin in verses 4 to 7. 66 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:16,600 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they 67 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:20,680 were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the 68 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:24,480 heavens, when no Bush of the field was yet in the land. 69 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:28,800 No small plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God 70 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,200 had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to 71 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:35,680 work the ground. And a mist was going up from the 72 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:38,360 land, and was watering the whole face of the ground. 73 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:44,560 Then Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathe 74 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:49,920 into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a 75 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:54,960 living creature. Our text begins this morning 76 00:04:54,960 --> 00:05:01,000 with this statement. These are the generations of the 77 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:03,200 heavens and the earth. You're like, what does that 78 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:04,800 mean? Generations of the heavens and 79 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,720 then what does that mean? This may not be the most helpful 80 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:11,800 translation by the ESV. Most translations have this. 81 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:16,480 This is the account or this is the record of the heavens and 82 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:18,040 the earth. I think that's how it should be 83 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:20,120 translated. This is the account or the 84 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:22,360 record of the heavens and the earth. 85 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:25,360 The reason he states this, the narrator states this is because 86 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:29,240 if someone had read chapter 1, imagine you read chapter 1 where 87 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:34,320 God created everything. They might have the question, So 88 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:37,440 what happened? What happened with all this 89 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:39,280 creation? God made this whole universe and 90 00:05:39,280 --> 00:05:40,840 this world. What happened? 91 00:05:40,840 --> 00:05:45,000 I want to know how the story, what happens in the story, and 92 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,840 this introduction here in verse 4 is basically saying this is 93 00:05:48,840 --> 00:05:52,880 what happened. This is what became of all that 94 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:56,920 God created. Now this introduction tells us 95 00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:04,720 that Genesis 2 is not a parallel account of creation as some make 96 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:06,160 it out to be. There are some scholars who 97 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,400 believe that Genesis 1 is one account of creation and Genesis 98 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:11,360 2 is a parallel account of creation. 99 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:15,440 I don't think that's the case. I think Genesis 2 is rather a 100 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:20,240 zooming in. It's a zooming in to to explain 101 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:22,360 what happened. And I think that introduction is 102 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,600 telling us this is the account of what happened with everything 103 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:29,360 that God created. Verse 5, the narrative says that 104 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:33,120 there is no Bush of the field and there was no small plant of 105 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:35,240 the field. Now that's interesting. 106 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:39,800 How do we reconcile this with day three and chapter 1, which 107 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:44,480 said that God made vegetation? Day three, God made vegetation 108 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:46,640 here he says there's no Bush of the field. 109 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:47,960 There's no small plant of the field. 110 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:50,600 How do we reconcile this? Victor Hamilton, who was a 111 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:52,800 commentator, has a helpful note here. 112 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:56,880 Here's what he writes. The plants the vegetation 113 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:02,440 referred to in Genesis 1 must be those that grow wild, those that 114 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:05,200 reproduce themselves by seeds alone. 115 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:09,760 The plants referred to in Genesis 2 must be those that 116 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:14,800 grow only as a result of human cultivation through planting and 117 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:19,200 artificial irrigation. It appears that these types of 118 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:24,080 bushes and small plants in Genesis 2 are the are only going 119 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:28,680 to come after the fall. I think it's part of Remember 120 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:30,640 when God curse man? We haven't gotten there yet, but 121 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:32,920 when God curses man and he caused them to work the ground, 122 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:36,080 there's thorns and so forth. These types of plants only come 123 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:39,880 from man's work, right? They don't naturally, they have 124 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:43,440 to be artificially through planting and irrigation and so 125 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:47,440 forth. Now, there are two reasons why 126 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:50,440 there is no Bush in the field and there's no small plants in 127 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:55,680 the field #1 God did not 'cause it to rain yet, it hasn't rained 128 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:59,560 yet, and #2 there was no man to work the ground. 129 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:01,800 This is assuming that it's still day three, right? 130 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:03,520 Still day three. And so there's no humans yet. 131 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:04,680 There's no one to work the ground. 132 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:10,560 So if God didn't 'cause it to rain, how did the fruit trees 133 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:13,080 and the vegetables get their water? 134 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:17,520 Text tells us that there was a mist that was going up from the 135 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:21,120 land and was watering the whole face of the ground. 136 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:27,040 There was a short window where it didn't rain in Seattle. 137 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:32,080 Three days later. God created a man to work the 138 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:35,159 ground. I want to draw your attention to 139 00:08:35,159 --> 00:08:39,320 how God made man. Look at verse 7. 140 00:08:39,799 --> 00:08:45,360 Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and 141 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,960 breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man 142 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:54,240 became a living creature. Notice this word formed. 143 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:58,200 The Hebrew word for formed is often used of a Potter. 144 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:05,360 God here is described as a Potter forming man, and God used 145 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:08,960 2 items. A He used the dust of the 146 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:11,240 ground. God had created the earth, He 147 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:15,680 took the dust from the earth and he used this to form man. 148 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:17,640 That's important. We'll see. 149 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:20,360 As is contrasted to how God made woman. 150 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:23,640 That's the first thing. The second thing is he used his 151 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:27,360 breath. God made man from the dust, but 152 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:32,040 what separates man from the dust is the breath of God. 153 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:37,720 It is only after God breathed into this man's nostrils the 154 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:41,480 breath of life that he became a living creature. 155 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:45,440 One last item I want to draw your attention to is I want you 156 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:49,240 to notice the name the Lord God. Did you notice that? 157 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:51,560 The Lord God? We didn't see that in chapter 1. 158 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:54,480 Now we do. It actually occurs 7 times in 159 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:58,000 our passes this morning. This is important because we are 160 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,880 now introduced to the covenantal name of God. 161 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:04,720 Some of you in your body, your Bibles may not do this, but most 162 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:07,720 Bibles do they when when you when the covenantal name of God 163 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:11,760 is used, it occurs in all caps capital L, capital O capital R, 164 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:15,000 capital D that's used to mean that's that's the covenantal 165 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:16,560 name of God. What we often translate as 166 00:10:16,560 --> 00:10:20,520 Yahweh. What this tells us is that the 167 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:26,120 God who created the universe and chapter 1 is not a deistic God. 168 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:30,400 He's not a God who created everything. 169 00:10:30,560 --> 00:10:33,880 And then he kind of sits back at a distance in his rocking chair 170 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:36,840 and just says, let's see how it pans out. 171 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:42,520 No, this is a God who is going to enter into a covenantal 172 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:46,640 relationship with his creation. We see that with this covenantal 173 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:52,640 name here. Look at verses 89 and the Lord 174 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:56,400 God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he put the 175 00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:59,080 man whom he had formed, and out of the ground. 176 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:01,840 The Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to 177 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:05,920 the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the 178 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:11,360 midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 179 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:19,080 I love this statement. The Lord God planted a garden. 180 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:23,120 The narrator doesn't say God created a garden. 181 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:30,360 He says God planted a garden. He tells us where he planted 182 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:32,920 this garden. He planted in Eden. 183 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:35,320 And you're like, where is that? It says it was Eden, as though 184 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:37,360 we know where that is. Where is that? 185 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:39,280 We are not told. And we are told that it's in the 186 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:40,920 East. That's all we're told, nothing 187 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:43,160 more. Most scholars believe that Eden 188 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:48,680 is refers to a plain between the Tigris and Euphrates River in 189 00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:51,160 southern Mesopotamia. That's probably the best guess 190 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:52,960 today. This will be modern day Iraq. 191 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:57,720 After planning this garden, the Lord puts the man that he formed 192 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:01,200 into this garden. Did you catch that? 193 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:05,040 Notice the man didn't find the garden. 194 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:10,240 God put him there. It wasn't as though Adam was 195 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:13,520 walking one day and he's like, oh, there's a garden, I'll live 196 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:16,280 here. No, God put him there. 197 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:21,800 After God plants this garden, the Lord God made to spring up 198 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:25,880 every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. 199 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:29,480 Notice these descriptions. Every tree. 200 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:36,600 Every tree was pleasant to the sight and was good for food. 201 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:40,920 We watch our family watches several cooking shows, and they 202 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:45,280 always say it needs to look good and it needs to taste good. 203 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:53,320 God's trees were both, the narrator tells us. 204 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:57,600 He takes the time to tell us out of all the trees in this garden, 205 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:00,440 maybe there were dozens, maybe there were hundreds, maybe there 206 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:03,240 were thousands. And there it takes time to tell 207 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:07,440 us about two specific trees right in the midst of the 208 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:11,560 garden. There's a tree of life and the 209 00:13:11,560 --> 00:13:13,120 tree of knowledge of good and evil. 210 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:19,880 He does not explain what these two trees are yet, so I won't 211 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:25,280 yet. The converse 10 to 14 A river 212 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,640 flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and they were divided 213 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:31,720 and became four rivers. The name of the first is the 214 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:34,440 Paisan. It is the one that flowed around 215 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:37,960 the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold, and the gold of 216 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:42,440 that land is good. Delium and Onyx stone are there. 217 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:45,280 The name of the second river is the Gehan. 218 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,200 It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Kush. 219 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:51,480 The name of the third river is the Tigris which flows east of 220 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:55,120 Assyria, and the fourth river is the Euphrates. 221 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:00,320 So in this garden that God had planted, he created a river in 222 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:03,600 the garden and it was used to water the entire garden. 223 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,960 As this river flowed out of the garden, it divided and it 224 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:11,880 becomes four different rivers. The 1st is the Pichon. 225 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:14,560 It flows around the whole land of Havilah. 226 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:17,560 The scholars do not agree where this was. 227 00:14:17,560 --> 00:14:20,600 Best guess is modern day Saudi Arabia or Yemen. 228 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:24,200 This is the land that's filled not only with gold, but filled 229 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:27,560 with good gold. It's also filled with dahlium 230 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:31,120 and Onyx stone. This river, as far as we know, 231 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:33,640 does not exist today. If you look for this on a map 232 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:37,120 you won't find it. Second is the Gehan. 233 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:40,360 It floated around the whole land of Cush most likely. 234 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:43,680 This is modern day southern Egypt and Sudan. 235 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:48,320 This river also most likely does not exist today. 236 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:52,280 You won't find it on a map. The third river is the Tigris. 237 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:55,880 This flows E to Assyria or past Assyria. 238 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:58,640 This river does still exist today. 239 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:02,320 It flows through Turkey, Syria and Iraq still today. 240 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:06,240 And the 4th is the Euphrates. This river also exists. 241 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:09,360 The Tigers and Euphrates are still there, and it flows 242 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:11,640 through the same three countries as the Tigris. 243 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:18,720 Look at verse 15 to 17. The Lord God took the man, put 244 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:21,160 him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 245 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:25,800 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat 246 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:30,520 of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good 247 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:34,800 and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of 248 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:42,360 it, you shall surely die. Now there was a purpose for God 249 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:46,000 putting the man in the garden. It wasn't to eat all day. 250 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:52,440 It wasn't a bird watch, it wasn't to build a hammock and 251 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:58,640 sleep. God put the man in the garden to 252 00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:06,320 work it and to keep it. Notice God will not work and 253 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:09,480 keep the garden. Man will. 254 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:14,760 God entrusted this garden to man. 255 00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:19,160 The word for work. The Hebrew word for work is 256 00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:25,320 normally translated serve, which means God made Adam to be a 257 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:30,720 servant. The word for keep carries the 258 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:35,720 nuance of protection, which means God made Adam to be a 259 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:41,520 protector and the Lord God commanded the man. 260 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:45,240 This is actually the second command given to humans after be 261 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:48,040 fruitful and multiply, but this is the first time that the word 262 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:50,400 command is used. It's mentioned. 263 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:55,200 I find it fascinating that the command actually begins with an 264 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:58,200 indicative. Before God gives the command, he 265 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:00,040 gives him an indicative. And here it is. 266 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:06,000 You may surely eat of every tree of this garden. 267 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:12,960 You may surely eat of all of it. Notice how God words this not 268 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:22,480 You may eat, He says. You may surely eat avocados, 269 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:31,640 yes, mangoes, yes, plums. You may surely eat of it all, 270 00:17:36,120 --> 00:17:40,680 but there is not a period at the end of this indicative, but a 271 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:49,360 comma. But but remember that tree of 272 00:17:49,360 --> 00:17:54,160 knowledge of good and evil? You're not allowed to eat from 273 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:58,120 that. You're not allowed to eat from 274 00:17:58,120 --> 00:17:59,440 this tree. Why? 275 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:05,240 For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. 276 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:12,360 Notice this word surely again. You may surely eat of this all 277 00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:18,960 these trees, but of this tree, if you eat of it, you will 278 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:23,520 surely die. Now this is interesting, because 279 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:26,440 if I was Adam, I would have two questions. 280 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:37,160 What is evil and what is death? It's a tree of knowledge of God. 281 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:41,760 I know it's good, but what is evil and die what? 282 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:45,600 What is death? What's interesting is that God 283 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:49,400 doesn't explain to Adam what evil is, nor does he explain 284 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:53,360 what death is. He simply says do not eat of 285 00:18:53,360 --> 00:18:58,240 this tree. If you do, you will surely die. 286 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:05,000 Now we still have the question of what is this tree, the tree 287 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:07,400 of? Not like what actually is this 288 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:10,520 tree? God has still not explained it 289 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:15,920 to Adam nor to us. But another character in the 290 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:22,480 next chapter will sort of, and I'll wait till then. 291 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:26,840 We'll stop there. Expedition application of the 292 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:31,400 text. I have 10 indicatives for us. 10 293 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:41,120 indicatives #1 God remembers that we are dust. 294 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:52,080 God remembers that we are dust. Lord willing, this year we will 295 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:58,240 have 6 new babies in the church. 6 Do you look at like the size 296 00:19:58,240 --> 00:19:59,600 of our church? That's a lot. 297 00:20:00,120 --> 00:20:04,080 We're going to like like grow by like 30% or whatever. 298 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:08,640 Some, some number. Which means that six couples in 299 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:12,040 the church will be experiencing parenthood either for the first 300 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:16,480 time or the second time. One of the hardest parts of 301 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:20,320 parenting is expectations for your children. 302 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:24,240 It's one of the hardest parts of parenting is expectations for 303 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:27,240 your children. Parents always have this tension 304 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:32,040 of having high expectations for their children, but also 305 00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:37,880 remembering that their children, we struggle to live in this 306 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:39,720 tension. As parents, especially as your 307 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:42,760 kids get older, you struggle to live in this tension. 308 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:46,360 You have expectations, but you also need to remember that their 309 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:52,800 children, we struggle in this tension, but God never does. 310 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:58,480 God never does. Psalm One O 313 to 14 As a 311 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:02,840 father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows 312 00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:05,280 compassion to those who fear him. 313 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:13,320 For He knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. 314 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:19,080 Do you know why God never has trouble remembering that we are 315 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:23,080 dust? Because He created us from the 316 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:29,760 dust. When God made us, He did not 317 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:33,640 make us out of iron. He made us out of dust. 318 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:38,720 He made us as weak, frail creatures. 319 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:43,440 We are the ones who get confused and believe that we are made out 320 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:47,240 of iron. But God never has a wrong 321 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:53,080 perception of us, and that is a good thing because the psalmist 322 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:57,080 says that God's compassion is rooted in his creation. 323 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:05,960 God remembers the building materials that he used to form 324 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:14,200 us, and that informs his compassion. 325 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:20,280 He says. I remember what I formed you 326 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:30,800 from, and that informs my compassion #2 complementarianism 327 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:35,280 is rooted in creation, not culture. 328 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:41,040 Complementarianism is rooted in creation, not culture. 329 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:43,240 Now, I don't want to assume that all of you know what? 330 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:45,320 That that's a big word with all that means. 331 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:48,800 Complementarianism is the doctrine which teaches that God 332 00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:53,400 intends male authority and his two primary institutions, the 333 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:57,400 church and the family. God intends male authority and 334 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,880 his two primary institutions, the church and the family. 335 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:06,040 Now let me back up and if I may, if I may, let me ask all the 336 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:09,120 wives in this room a question. Let me take a quick survey to 337 00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:12,000 make sure. OK, let me ask all the wives in 338 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:16,160 this room a question. Why don't any of you have your 339 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:25,360 head covered? Wives, why don't any of you have 340 00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:28,520 your head covered? Paul writes in First Corinthians 341 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:30,960 11/5. But every wife who prays or 342 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:35,360 prophecies with her head uncovered dis colors her head 343 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:38,920 since it is the same as if her head were shaved. 344 00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:44,480 Jolene, why is your head not covered? 345 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:52,200 Why did I allow my wife to come to church with her head 346 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,760 uncovered? Because Paul's argument for head 347 00:23:56,760 --> 00:24:02,520 coverings is rooted in culture. Paul's argument for head 348 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:06,160 coverings is rooted in culture. Now here's the follow up 349 00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,320 question. In the past 15 years that I've 350 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:10,680 been here, why has a woman never preached A sermon from this 351 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:15,760 pulpit? Why has a woman never preached A 352 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:18,240 sermon from this pulpit? We might argue because Paul said 353 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:21,000 in First Timothy 212, I do not permit a woman to teach or to 354 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,640 exercise authority over a man. Rather she is to remain quiet. 355 00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:27,440 But then couldn't we also argue that this standard, just like 356 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:30,640 head coverings, is also rooted in culture? 357 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:35,960 Couldn't we say that Paul is just as head coverings as 358 00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:38,920 rooting culture? Isn't this also rooted in 359 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:41,280 culture? And the answer is no. 360 00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:45,200 The answer is no. Why? 361 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:53,280 Because of what Paul says next. For Adam was formed first, then 362 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:57,600 Eve. That's what he says in first 363 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:03,080 Timothy 213. For Adam was formed first, then 364 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:05,960 Eve. We see in verse 7 in Genesis 2 365 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:11,680 that God made man first. We see in verse 15 that God put 366 00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:15,240 man in the garden first by himself. 367 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:19,640 We see in verse 16 that God gives the command to not eat of 368 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:23,280 the tree first to him by himself. 369 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:31,400 Complementarianism is rooted in creation, not culture. 370 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:37,360 Many of you will end up leaving this church. 371 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:41,920 That's just the nature of our church over the next 5-10 years. 372 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:50,160 And you'll go somewhere. Don't let any pastor or church 373 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:57,640 or author tell you otherwise. Complementarianism is rooted in 374 00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:07,840 creation, not culture #3 In the same way that Adam was dependent 375 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:14,280 on God to breathe physical life into his dead body, so we too 376 00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:18,360 are dependent on God to breathe spiritual life and to our dead 377 00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:24,080 souls. What good is an electric vehicle 378 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:28,680 without a battery? If you imagine you bought an 379 00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:32,240 electric vehicle but it didn't have a battery in it, what good 380 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:34,720 is that? What good is a gas vehicle 381 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:38,960 without an engine? What good is a well without 382 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:41,760 water? What good is a lamp without a 383 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:44,400 light bulb? What good is a compass without a 384 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:47,080 needle? What good is a sailboat without 385 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:51,480 a sail? What good is a physical body 386 00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:58,480 without life? When God made man, he did not 387 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:03,720 make a physical body, you know, like like made a corpse. 388 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:08,160 He didn't make a physical body and then say to it, all right, 389 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:10,880 let's see if science will take care of the rest. 390 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:18,040 Let's see if Mother Nature will cause this heart to start 391 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:22,000 beating. Maybe after millions of years 392 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:31,200 it'll start beating. No, God made this physical body 393 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:36,080 and the only way it was ever going to live is if God breathed 394 00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:38,200 the breath of life into his body. 395 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,480 I love how this is beautifully depicted in Ezekiel 37. 396 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:47,640 God takes Ezekiel to a valley of dry bones. 397 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:52,800 God asked him a question. He says, Son of man, can these 398 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:56,920 bones live? I love the answer that is equal 399 00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:58,240 gives. You could take it one of two 400 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:00,640 ways, but I love the answer he gives. 401 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:12,800 He says, Oh, Lord God, you know, you know, God tells Ezekiel to 402 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:16,680 prophecy to the bones, and the bones come together and sinews 403 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:20,240 and flesh and tendons and skin, they all come together. 404 00:28:20,360 --> 00:28:24,960 And then here's the line. But there was no breath in them, 405 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:29,880 not until God breathed into them. 406 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:38,000 This physical picture in Genesis 2 and Ezekiel 37, it points us 407 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:43,040 to a greater spiritual truth that just as Adam was a dead 408 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:47,800 corpse apart from the breath of God, so we too were spiritually 409 00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:50,520 dead apart from the Spirit of God. 410 00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:57,320 God does not say to us, here's the gospel, now let's see if you 411 00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:03,320 can find your way to salvation. That's like looking at a dead 412 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:06,360 corpse and saying, let's see if you can rise up. 413 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:17,280 They say the odds of filling out a perfect March Madness bracket 414 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:25,600 is 1 in 9.2 quintillion. There's it's so great that if 415 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:27,280 you do it, you get a billion dollars. 416 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:32,200 That's how confidence they are. You won't do this. 417 00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:38,880 And those odds are better than us finding our way to salvation. 418 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:49,800 Brothers and sisters, God breathe life into our dead 419 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:59,980 souls. If you don't see your salvation 420 00:29:59,980 --> 00:30:08,720 like that, it'll always be Yeah, yeah. 421 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:12,640 I was saved when I was 16. I grew up in church. 422 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:16,680 I got saved when I was like 12. That's how you'll view your 423 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:24,680 salvation. It won't blow your mind that you 424 00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:28,000 were dead and God breathe life into your soul. 425 00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:43,160 It'll just be ho hum. 4 God may not have placed you in a 426 00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:47,120 beautiful garden, but he did place you. 427 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:55,160 God may not have placed you in a beautiful garden, but he did 428 00:30:55,160 --> 00:31:00,200 place you. Do you ever existentially wonder 429 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:04,960 why you are who you are? I've thought about this as I was 430 00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:06,600 like seven or eight. I don't know. 431 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:08,480 I've always been like an existential kind of guy. 432 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:11,680 Do you ever existentially wonder, like, why you are who 433 00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:14,160 you are? Like, why am I male and not 434 00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:19,200 female? Why am I-65 and not 5-6? 435 00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,120 Why was I born in Alabama, not Colorado? 436 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:28,720 Why am I white and not black or Latino or Asian? 437 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,840 Why was I born in America and not Brazil? 438 00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:38,680 Why was I born to a Christian family and not a Muslim family 439 00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:45,120 or Hindu family? When Adam came to life, when God 440 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:49,320 breathed into his soul and he awoke for the first time, right? 441 00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:50,880 And he didn't have a, he wasn't a baby, right? 442 00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:53,400 He was a grown man. When he, when he first had 443 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:57,280 existence, he was a grown man. When he came to life, he, he 444 00:31:57,280 --> 00:31:59,960 looked around, he discovered he was in a beautiful garden. 445 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:05,280 How did he get there? Did he stumble upon it? 446 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:09,840 No. Did he build it for himself? 447 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:14,120 No. Did he buy his garden 448 00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:16,880 citizenship? No. 449 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:27,280 How did he get in this garden? The Lord God planted a garden in 450 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:34,920 Eden in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 451 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:38,880 Verse 15. The Lord God took the man and 452 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:47,480 put him in the garden. Adam got to the garden because 453 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:56,760 God put him there, and you and I got to where we are because God 454 00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:03,120 put us there. Your life is not the byproduct 455 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:09,320 of thousands of choices. Do not look to your parents or 456 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:13,360 your grandparents or your great grandparents or your country or 457 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:18,080 your society or the government and say I am who I am because I 458 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:20,440 am the byproduct of thousands of choices. 459 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:24,760 No, you are who you are. You are where you are because 460 00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:33,120 God placed you there. You are exactly who you are. 461 00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:41,080 You are exactly where you are because God placed you there. 5 462 00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:50,240 God did not give us leftovers, He gave us his very best. 463 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:54,160 God did not. He does not give us his 464 00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:58,000 leftovers. He gave us his very best One of 465 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:02,400 the strangest miracles by Jesus is his is him turning water into 466 00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:04,480 wine. I've always been perplexed by 467 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:06,520 this miracle. It's unlike any other, right? 468 00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:08,440 I mean, just it. The other miracles all kind of 469 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:10,920 go together for the most part, but this one is just kind of an 470 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:13,360 outlier to me. I'm like, what was the purpose 471 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:15,000 of this miracle? Why did Jesus do this? 472 00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:20,840 I think there are several, but one of them is this God never 473 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:27,000 gives us leftovers. He gives us his very best. 474 00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:32,040 Typically at a wedding in those days, the host will serve the 475 00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:36,520 best of the wine first, right? When people are completely sober 476 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:38,840 and they, they drink and it's like, oh, this wine's good. 477 00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:42,760 And then after people had a lot to drink, they'll serve the 478 00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:46,960 cheaper wine last, right? Not only will it be cheaper 479 00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:48,760 wine, they often will cut it with water. 480 00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:54,520 But when Jesus turned the water into wine, he turned it into the 481 00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:58,920 very best kind of wine, the guest said. 482 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:01,680 You have saved the best for last. 483 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:06,640 You see, so often we could be tempted to think that God is 484 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:13,200 serving us cheap wine, that we're getting God's leftovers. 485 00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:19,600 But look at what God gave Adam out of the ground. 486 00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:24,480 The Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to 487 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:32,680 the sight and good for food. Every tree was pleasant to the 488 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,200 sight. It was a delight to look at. 489 00:35:36,240 --> 00:35:40,520 Every tree was good for food. It tasted good. 490 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:46,920 Church family, God does not serve us leftovers. 491 00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:57,320 He gives us His very best. He's given you his very best. 6 492 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:05,960 God saw our need for access to water and dry places. 493 00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:10,880 God saw our need for access to water and dry places. 494 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:15,480 Why did God create rivers? When God created bodies of 495 00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:18,120 water, He made oceans. He made seas, He made lakes, He 496 00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:21,920 made ponds, He made lagoons, gulfs, rivers, streams, bays, 497 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:26,640 straits. If God made the oceans to speak 498 00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:30,480 to his greatness, what do the rivers speak to? 499 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:35,600 Why did God spend 5 verses describing these four rivers? 500 00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:37,600 Everything about that, Like what? 501 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:41,280 Why'd you spend 5 verses of the creation account to describe 502 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:43,400 these four rivers? I think it is this. 503 00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:48,280 I think that God saw our need for access to water and dry 504 00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:51,200 places. Today we can live almost 505 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:53,120 anywhere because of artificial irrigation. 506 00:36:54,280 --> 00:36:57,240 But for thousands of years, all of life revolved around water. 507 00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:00,200 Travel revolved around water, right? 508 00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:02,600 If you want to travel to the desert, you, you, you follow the 509 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:04,760 even if it was a long way, you follow the river. 510 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:09,360 Villages revolved around water, commerce revolved around water, 511 00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:11,760 all of life revolved around water. 512 00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:15,480 It's as if God was using rivers to remind us. 513 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:22,160 Just as you cannot live in the desert apart from water, so you 514 00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:27,680 cannot live apart from me. Just as they needed to stay 515 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:33,240 close to the river to live, so we need to stay close to God to 516 00:37:33,240 --> 00:37:38,760 live. So often we venture off and 517 00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:42,760 think, I'll be all right. I don't need that much water. 518 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:50,880 God created the very desert that he leads us into, but he also 519 00:37:50,880 --> 00:38:00,880 leads us besides still waters. 7 work was not a result of the 520 00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:03,760 fall. It was part of God's good and 521 00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:09,640 perfect design work was not a result of the fall. 522 00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:12,840 It was part of God's good and perfect design. 523 00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:16,600 You ever play those games like word association? 524 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:21,040 Like if I say food draw, the first thing that comes to your 525 00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:22,840 mind? All right? 526 00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:25,320 If I were to say right now, food draw right, what what would you 527 00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:27,320 draw? I I did this to myself. 528 00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:29,160 I was a banana. I was like, I only eat bananas. 529 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:35,040 I wonder if we were to do that with heaven, what images would 530 00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:42,840 we draw? Clouds, gold light, A hammock? 531 00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:49,120 I wonder if it would cross any of our minds to draw a rake or a 532 00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:55,680 shovel. When God made Adam, the Lord God 533 00:38:55,680 --> 00:38:59,560 took the man, put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and 534 00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:03,280 keep it. God was perfectly capable of 535 00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:06,160 caring for this garden. He does not need Adam for it, 536 00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:12,040 but he created Adam to care for it, which means work was not a 537 00:39:12,040 --> 00:39:15,400 result of the fall. It was part of God's good and 538 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:19,320 perfect design. First family, the work that we 539 00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:21,360 do now, it's not a necessary evil. 540 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:25,960 If you are thinking that heaven is a rescue from Amazon and 541 00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:30,720 Google and Microsoft and Boeing, think again. 542 00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:39,400 Work is part of God's good design. 543 00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:44,440 When we get to heaven, we will primarily be doing two things, 544 00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:56,800 worshipping and working. Work is part of God's design #8 545 00:39:59,160 --> 00:40:05,680 God is not holding out on us. God is not holding out on us. 546 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:11,760 When my boys were really young, like, you know, two to five 547 00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:16,320 years old or something, when they were really young, when 548 00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:19,880 somebody would give us a really nice dessert like homemade 549 00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:26,520 cookies, homemade pie, homemade cake or a fancy dessert that 550 00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:30,680 they bought. I will hold out on them. 551 00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:34,240 I didn't want to share with them. 552 00:40:37,240 --> 00:40:40,840 I didn't. The reason is because they 553 00:40:40,840 --> 00:40:43,520 didn't know the difference between good dessert and bad 554 00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:46,880 dessert. Two young kids store bought 555 00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:49,600 cookies taste exactly the same as homemade cookies. 556 00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:56,280 They can't tell the difference. But as they got older, they 557 00:40:56,280 --> 00:41:02,520 began to catch on to my ways. They knew Dad is holding out on 558 00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:05,240 us. They would go to mom and be 559 00:41:05,240 --> 00:41:07,680 like, why can't we have the Miss Priscilla's cookies? 560 00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:15,280 And so, yes, I share with them now. 561 00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:21,760 They're old enough to discern. I think sometimes we feel this 562 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:26,520 way towards God. We feel that God is holding out 563 00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:30,920 on us. God has so much more that he 564 00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:33,920 could share with us, but he's not. 565 00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:42,000 He could make me taller, smarter, prettier, richer, 566 00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:45,760 funnier. He could make me more handsome, 567 00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:50,640 more athletic, more creative, more confident, more talented. 568 00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:55,000 But it seems like God is holding out on me. 569 00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:03,600 God said to Adam, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden 570 00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:10,680 except one. Isn't it always the one? 571 00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:16,320 Isn't it always the one thing that we don't have that causes 572 00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:18,480 us to feel like God is holding out on us? 573 00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:26,520 We don't see the other 99 trees. We only see the one that we 574 00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:32,360 can't have. Brothers and sisters, God is not 575 00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:38,160 holding out on us. He has shared all good things 576 00:42:38,240 --> 00:42:48,920 with us #9 God clearly tells us in His Word what sin will cost 577 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:51,840 us. There's a phrase called hidden 578 00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:53,000 cost. You may have heard that phrase 579 00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:54,720 before. When you buy a vehicle, the 580 00:42:54,720 --> 00:42:59,760 sticker says 25,000 or $24,999. But that doesn't include hidden 581 00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:04,480 costs like fees, title, taxes, gas, tires, insurance, 582 00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:07,560 maintenance, repairs. This vehicle is going to cost a 583 00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:12,560 lot more than $24,999. When you start a small business, 584 00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:14,960 the business loan is for $100,000. 585 00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:17,720 But there's always added cost to this business such as legal 586 00:43:17,720 --> 00:43:21,960 fees, taxes, software, operations, insurance, payroll, 587 00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:26,360 utilities, inventory. Even with marriage or parenting, 588 00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:29,560 so many people get married without considering the cost of 589 00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:32,520 marriage, not the wedding. People think about the cost of 590 00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:35,640 the wedding, but I'm saying if you consider the cost of 591 00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:37,720 marriage, there is a cost to marriage. 592 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:42,600 So people have a child without considering the cost of a child, 593 00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:47,560 and not just money, but the time and the energy of raising a 594 00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:52,040 child. But there are no hidden costs 595 00:43:52,040 --> 00:43:56,520 with God. God didn't say to Adam, don't 596 00:43:56,520 --> 00:44:00,080 eat of this tree, OK, have a nice day. 597 00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:05,880 God said, But if the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you 598 00:44:05,880 --> 00:44:11,040 shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall 599 00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:16,600 surely die. God always tells us up front, 600 00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:26,280 this is what sin will cost you. If you go down this path of sin, 601 00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:35,240 this is what it will cost you. I pray, church family, that 602 00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:43,640 before you click on your phone or your computer, you consider 603 00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:51,280 this is what it will cost you. Before you enter a relationship, 604 00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:53,640 you consider this is what it will cost you. 605 00:44:55,600 --> 00:45:00,760 Before you take a drink, another drink of alcohol, this is what 606 00:45:00,760 --> 00:45:10,600 it will cost you. Before you buy another toy or 607 00:45:10,600 --> 00:45:18,400 pillow or vacation that you don't need, this is what it will 608 00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:23,320 cost you. Because God has told us what it 609 00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:29,320 will cost. There are no hidden costs, He's 610 00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:41,520 told us. #10 last point, God had a purpose for creating this 611 00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:44,920 tree. God had a purpose for creating 612 00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:48,000 this tree. If God didn't want Adam to eat 613 00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:54,560 of this tree, why create it? Another question, if you didn't 614 00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:56,680 want him to eat it, why create it? 615 00:45:58,080 --> 00:45:59,800 Wouldn't that just solve the problem? 616 00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:04,760 This is a really good question. It's a complex question and it 617 00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:08,640 is beyond the scope of the sermon, but I came across 2 618 00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:09,960 quotes that I want to share with you. 619 00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:12,080 These are really good quotes. I'm going to share them with 620 00:46:12,080 --> 00:46:13,720 you. Number 11 is by Dietrich 621 00:46:13,720 --> 00:46:17,360 Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer rightly observed that 622 00:46:17,360 --> 00:46:22,680 symbolically, the middle of Adam's world was not himself, 623 00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:26,160 but life, the very presence of God. 624 00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:30,920 The Tree of Knowledge as a prohibition signifies that man's 625 00:46:30,920 --> 00:46:36,320 limitation as a creature is in the middle of his existence, not 626 00:46:36,320 --> 00:46:39,840 on the edge. Here's another one. 627 00:46:41,760 --> 00:46:44,520 The prohibition against eating the fruit of the Tree of 628 00:46:44,520 --> 00:46:48,160 Knowledge gave Adam opportunity to worship God through loyal 629 00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:51,120 devotion. Martin Luther likened the tree 630 00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:54,760 to Adam's church, altar and pulpit. 631 00:46:55,320 --> 00:47:00,000 Here he was to yield to God the obedience he owed, give 632 00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:03,800 recognition to the word and will of God, give thanks to God, and 633 00:47:03,800 --> 00:47:06,480 call upon God for aid against temptation. 634 00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:17,920 In other words, this tree was to be a reminder to Adam that Adam 635 00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:26,080 was not God. It was further a way for Adam to 636 00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:32,240 worship God because every time he saw this tree, he would have 637 00:47:32,240 --> 00:47:39,160 to make a choice and he could choose God or the tree. 638 00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:46,280 And it was a way in which Adam could worship God by saying, I 639 00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:54,840 choose you God, over this tree. Let's pray.