1 00:00:04,700 --> 00:00:07,400 If you have your Bible go ahead and open to Genesis chapter 3. 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:11,100 Genesis chapter 3 as well. World will get rolling today. 3 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:14,900 We are currently in the series called Advent, I kind of got 4 00:00:14,900 --> 00:00:17,700 over this each week but Advent means coming and what we're 5 00:00:17,700 --> 00:00:22,500 looking at specifically is the first coming of Christ we're 6 00:00:22,500 --> 00:00:25,500 reflecting on it. We're looking at Old Testament 7 00:00:25,500 --> 00:00:27,700 passages on it, with it predicted it. 8 00:00:28,100 --> 00:00:30,100 We're going to get into some Old Testament today. 9 00:00:30,100 --> 00:00:34,200 Some new testament also to see how Christ has fulfilled. 10 00:00:34,500 --> 00:00:36,900 I'll promise that was made Long Ago by the father. 11 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:40,700 And and so I'm excited to share these things with you today. 12 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:45,200 And what we're saying is that for unto us, God has come. 13 00:00:45,500 --> 00:00:47,100 This is what we're saying with Advent. 14 00:00:47,700 --> 00:00:51,200 And as we look at the first Advent, we have in mind the 15 00:00:51,208 --> 00:00:55,200 second ad in Christ will return again to gather his people. 16 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:58,400 Amen, it returned and gather his people. 17 00:01:00,300 --> 00:01:03,300 We Judgment of the living and the dead, according to the 18 00:01:03,300 --> 00:01:06,500 righteousness of Christ. Those found in Christ will rise 19 00:01:06,500 --> 00:01:09,900 to eternal life. Those not found in Christ will 20 00:01:09,900 --> 00:01:15,500 be eternally condemned and so this is a message that matters 21 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:19,400 for all eternity. This is a truth that matters for 22 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:21,800 your life. It matters for the lives of your 23 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:23,400 neighbors. It matters for the lives of your 24 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:28,200 friends, your family. This the story matters, right? 25 00:01:28,500 --> 00:01:32,300 For all eternity and so Want to get into that today before we 26 00:01:32,308 --> 00:01:33,500 do. Let me pray for us. 27 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:35,800 Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. 28 00:01:36,900 --> 00:01:40,100 Got to thank you that your word is good and right, that's true. 29 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:46,600 That it doesn't fell us. That that in its are everything 30 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:52,000 sufficient for life and salvation and godliness. 31 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:58,300 And father we come to your word. Today is those who are in need 32 00:01:59,500 --> 00:02:02,300 we don't come as those who have things figured out, we don't 33 00:02:02,300 --> 00:02:08,000 come as those who I feel like we might educate you about 34 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,700 something father. But we need to be educated by 35 00:02:11,700 --> 00:02:13,900 you. We need to be trained by you. 36 00:02:13,900 --> 00:02:18,700 We need to be equipped by you. And father, your word promises 37 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:21,300 and second Timothy to do exactly that. 38 00:02:23,300 --> 00:02:25,200 And so father, we thank you that we're here today. 39 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:27,500 We thank you that we have this opportunity to hear from your 40 00:02:27,500 --> 00:02:32,400 word God. I'm but a man finites. 41 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:39,100 Unable Lord to save anyone by my work and so I lean on the power 42 00:02:39,100 --> 00:02:41,400 of your word. Today, I trust your word to be 43 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:45,100 sufficient and the lives of my heroes this morning of your 44 00:02:45,100 --> 00:02:48,200 people and maybe those who are yet to be your people. 45 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:52,900 Father, would you speak today? It's in Christ's name. 46 00:02:52,900 --> 00:02:55,000 We pray these prayers. Amen. 47 00:02:55,900 --> 00:02:59,100 Amen. So what we've said, thus far in 48 00:02:59,100 --> 00:03:04,500 this series by way of very brief recap, is we've described a God 49 00:03:04,500 --> 00:03:09,800 who is unlike all others He's unlike all others and one of the 50 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:12,300 big ways that God is unlike all the others. 51 00:03:12,300 --> 00:03:17,000 One of the the most important way actually is that God is 52 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:21,400 Triune. He's three persons in one God, 53 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:24,800 there is one Essence to God and three persons. 54 00:03:24,900 --> 00:03:27,600 And so in week one, we talked about that I'm not I'm not going 55 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:30,000 to go back down that road too far. 56 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:33,100 If you want to hear that sermon, it's available. 57 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:36,100 What we talked about how he's eternally Triune, what this 58 00:03:36,100 --> 00:03:39,700 means is that God is able to be self existent. 59 00:03:40,500 --> 00:03:45,600 He's not dependent upon any one or anything for life. 60 00:03:47,500 --> 00:03:52,400 He's able to exist completely and himself, and he's all 61 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,800 sufficient, which means he has everything he needs for life. 62 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:01,200 God is not in wants, God is Not lacking, something, God has all 63 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:03,800 that he needs, he is all sufficient. 64 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:09,200 And weak to what we saw is that he's the creator of Heaven and 65 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:13,800 Earth and everything else that exists, God created all things 66 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,100 and at the end of Creation in Genesis chapter 1, we read that 67 00:04:16,100 --> 00:04:21,100 he says it is very good, it's very good creation. 68 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:23,700 And what we talked about last week is that he did this out of 69 00:04:23,700 --> 00:04:28,200 the Overflow of his own love, an overflow of Love, which was 70 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:31,700 being experienced already within the godhead within the Trinity. 71 00:04:31,700 --> 00:04:34,500 The father loving the Sun, by the spirit. 72 00:04:35,900 --> 00:04:38,500 Sun, loving the father by the spirit. 73 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:43,800 And this is what. Michael Reaves, author of 74 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:45,200 delighting in the Trinity says about this. 75 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:51,700 God, he says, how radically different Well he says how 76 00:04:51,700 --> 00:04:55,600 radically an overwhelmingly difference is the god of the 77 00:04:55,600 --> 00:05:04,000 Bible, he's not needy, he's not solitary and he's not selfish. 78 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:12,000 He says he goes on to say but he is Bountiful He is loving and he 79 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,000 is self-giving at the very heart of who he is. 80 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:23,700 This is who God is, and who God has created a perfect world, a 81 00:05:23,700 --> 00:05:30,000 very good world. and he's place, man and woman in the garden and 82 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:35,300 he's given them the command to be fruitful to multiply To fill 83 00:05:35,300 --> 00:05:39,000 the Earth to exercise Dominion to subdue all creation. 84 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:42,500 And that was their purpose. Adam was created to work and 85 00:05:42,500 --> 00:05:47,500 keep the garden that the, by his working, by his, keeping the 86 00:05:47,500 --> 00:05:50,500 garden would flourish into all the Earth. 87 00:05:50,500 --> 00:05:53,000 It would be cultivated it would be protected. 88 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,400 And so that the glory of God would spread throughout 89 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:01,700 creation. This would happen with his 90 00:06:01,700 --> 00:06:04,500 marriage and what happened in the work that he put his hands 91 00:06:04,500 --> 00:06:08,400 to, it would happen in parenting, it would happen as 92 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:11,400 Generations came from Adam and Eve. 93 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:15,100 And Eve was created to be a help meet for Adam. 94 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:18,600 To be a helper by his side. This is why she was created from 95 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:21,600 the side of man to be nearer to him. 96 00:06:22,700 --> 00:06:26,200 To be in conjunction with him as Adam exclaims, bone of his bone, 97 00:06:26,300 --> 00:06:31,200 flesh of his flesh, they were like and every way yet 98 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:36,000 distinctly different as one was a man, one was a woman and the 99 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:39,100 so the roles were different but complementary and they were to 100 00:06:39,100 --> 00:06:44,000 help one another and exercising Dominion subduing, the Earth. 101 00:06:47,300 --> 00:06:50,200 and so God places them into the garden and and then he gives a 102 00:06:50,207 --> 00:06:54,400 command to Adam And he says, you may eat of every tree of the 103 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:58,700 garden except this one tree, which is the tree of knowledge 104 00:06:58,700 --> 00:07:01,100 of Good and Evil. It says you shall not eat of it. 105 00:07:01,100 --> 00:07:05,200 In fact, in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. 106 00:07:06,300 --> 00:07:07,900 And so Adam and Eve were put into the garden. 107 00:07:07,900 --> 00:07:10,800 They're given a command one. They're given a blessing to be 108 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:12,400 fruitful multiply fill the Earth. 109 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:15,500 Exercise! Dominion subdue all creation. 110 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:19,000 And then they'll give it a command, do not eat of this 111 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:23,500 tree, but every other tree is yours. in the garden was also 112 00:07:23,500 --> 00:07:28,600 the Tree of Life, which was theirs for the taking And in 113 00:07:28,608 --> 00:07:32,500 Genesis chapter 3 were introduced to another character 114 00:07:33,300 --> 00:07:37,400 look at Genesis 3:1. Now, the serpent was more crafty 115 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:41,200 than any other Beast of a field that the Lord God had made. 116 00:07:42,100 --> 00:07:47,000 And he said to the woman, Did God actually say you shall not 117 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:51,500 eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the 118 00:07:51,500 --> 00:07:54,100 serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden but 119 00:07:54,100 --> 00:07:57,600 God said You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in 120 00:07:57,600 --> 00:07:59,500 the midst of the garden. Neither shall you? 121 00:07:59,500 --> 00:08:04,400 Touch it, lest you die. I want you to notice something 122 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:06,400 here about the way. The enemy works. 123 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:10,900 Well the enemy still works today the way we see the world doing 124 00:08:10,900 --> 00:08:14,900 this, even now it's questioning what has God said. 125 00:08:14,900 --> 00:08:19,700 Did God actually say that you shall eat of none of the trees? 126 00:08:21,300 --> 00:08:23,400 On Genesis chapter 2. We see that's not at all what 127 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:26,300 God Said and evening that's not what God Said. 128 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:32,299 But she adds to the command of God, at least from what we 129 00:08:32,299 --> 00:08:33,900 understand. She says, neither shall you 130 00:08:33,900 --> 00:08:38,900 touch it, lest you die. And so the serpent says to the 131 00:08:38,900 --> 00:08:43,200 woman continuing to get her to doubt the goodness of God her 132 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:47,000 Creator. He says you will not surely die. 133 00:08:48,900 --> 00:08:52,700 How many have ever been on maybe in the heat? 134 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:57,900 The heat of Temptation. You know, the heat of Temptation 135 00:08:57,900 --> 00:09:00,300 where your you're overwhelmed by? 136 00:09:01,700 --> 00:09:05,100 This filling to do something. That's contrary to what God's 137 00:09:05,100 --> 00:09:09,200 word says and you know, God's word as a Believer, you know 138 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:14,600 what, the Lord has said. and in those moments you find yourself, 139 00:09:15,500 --> 00:09:23,700 did God actually say, if I do this, will I really Well, I 140 00:09:23,700 --> 00:09:25,900 really die. Will I really be separated? 141 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:33,100 And so you start to finagle a b with God, you start to tamper 142 00:09:33,300 --> 00:09:37,000 with his words, soften the blow of your sin and this is exactly 143 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,500 what the enemy is doing here. You will not surely die for. 144 00:09:39,500 --> 00:09:43,000 God knows that when you eat of it or as 5, your eyes will be 145 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:44,200 opened. And you will be like, God 146 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:46,800 knowing good and evil. You're not surely going to die. 147 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:52,500 In fact, you'll become like, God, And so what God is doing is 148 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:57,000 trying to keep you down, he's trying to keep you from being 149 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:00,500 like himself. And then we read. 150 00:10:00,500 --> 00:10:03,100 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, she 151 00:10:03,100 --> 00:10:06,200 looks at it. She sees that it's good for 152 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:10,200 food. It was the Delight to her eyes 153 00:10:11,300 --> 00:10:15,100 again Temptations. Rarely probably never. 154 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,900 Something that's not a delight to your own eyes to your own 155 00:10:20,900 --> 00:10:28,900 desires. And that the tree was to be 156 00:10:28,908 --> 00:10:30,800 desired. To make one wise, she took of 157 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:34,700 its fruit and ate and she also gave some to her husband who was 158 00:10:34,700 --> 00:10:36,700 with her and he ate so Adams there. 159 00:10:38,500 --> 00:10:45,800 He's not keeping the garden to keep means to protect. to keep 160 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:49,800 out that which goes against what God has commanded that, which 161 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:54,300 goes against what God Has given them as a blessing to do. 162 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:57,900 He's not protecting his bride. Adam is passive. 163 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:02,900 And here we see the first of the two sins. 164 00:11:02,900 --> 00:11:11,100 That man, a man is most prone to one is passivity. men are prone 165 00:11:11,100 --> 00:11:16,900 to be passive to just let things go, especially spiritual things 166 00:11:17,100 --> 00:11:21,200 to not be concerned about the health of a marriage, the health 167 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:30,100 of their own hearts, their own walk with the Lord even It's 168 00:11:30,100 --> 00:11:34,000 just not a big deal. They're more concerned with the 169 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:38,900 minion work. Putting their hands to something 170 00:11:38,900 --> 00:11:41,700 getting their hands dirty, which is not bad. 171 00:11:41,700 --> 00:11:43,100 This is what they're created for. 172 00:11:46,100 --> 00:11:49,900 And then we see. In the curse here in the moment. 173 00:11:49,900 --> 00:11:55,300 The second sin, that man is prone to is to exercise dominion 174 00:11:55,300 --> 00:12:02,700 and a domineering fashion. And so we have Eve here 175 00:12:02,700 --> 00:12:07,300 questioning Now, to the point of she has taken hold of the fruit. 176 00:12:07,300 --> 00:12:08,900 She's eating it. She's given her some to her 177 00:12:08,900 --> 00:12:12,100 husband who is now eating. It also an in verse 7. 178 00:12:12,100 --> 00:12:15,700 It says both of their eyes were opened and they knew that they 179 00:12:15,700 --> 00:12:17,900 were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made 180 00:12:17,900 --> 00:12:24,700 themselves loin cloths. And they heard the sound of the 181 00:12:24,700 --> 00:12:28,300 Lord Walking In The Garden, in the cool of the day and the man 182 00:12:28,300 --> 00:12:30,700 and his wife, hid themselves from the presence of the Lord 183 00:12:30,700 --> 00:12:34,300 God Among the Trees of the garden, but the Lord God Called 184 00:12:34,300 --> 00:12:37,200 To The Man and said to him, where are you? 185 00:12:38,700 --> 00:12:43,400 As if God doesn't know, right? And he said, I heard the sound 186 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:45,500 of you in the garden. And I was afraid, because I was 187 00:12:45,500 --> 00:12:51,100 naked and I hid myself. He said who told you that you 188 00:12:51,108 --> 00:12:54,500 were naked. Have you eaten up the tree of 189 00:12:54,500 --> 00:12:56,400 which I commanded you not to eat. 190 00:12:58,500 --> 00:13:01,200 This is the this is the result of sin. 191 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:05,600 This is what sin does, every single time it fills you with. 192 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:11,200 Guilt, it fills you with shame, it robs you of your innocence. 193 00:13:12,700 --> 00:13:21,800 It exposes you. And rather than run to their 194 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:24,100 creator. Runs to the one who might make 195 00:13:24,100 --> 00:13:27,300 all things right, they hid from him. 196 00:13:29,100 --> 00:13:31,600 How often do we do that in our sinned? 197 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:34,600 We do we not go to the Lord in prayer. 198 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:39,900 We not quick to repent because we see God not as a benevolent, 199 00:13:39,900 --> 00:13:45,900 father, but more as a distant dictator. 200 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:52,500 A distant God who wants nothing to do with the sinfulness of 201 00:13:52,500 --> 00:13:56,800 man. And so he hides himself for men 202 00:13:56,800 --> 00:14:00,100 as our understanding of this and we must hide ourselves from him. 203 00:14:03,900 --> 00:14:06,500 And the man said to God, after he said, have you eaten of this 204 00:14:06,500 --> 00:14:07,900 tree? The man said, the woman whom you 205 00:14:07,900 --> 00:14:12,800 gave to be with me. She gave me fruit, the fruit of 206 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:17,600 the tree and I ate she gave me right? 207 00:14:18,900 --> 00:14:22,000 Again, this is a another result of sin, a failure to take 208 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:25,600 responsibility. A desire to blame someone else 209 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:30,900 for your failures for your sins again, this is passivity Adam is 210 00:14:30,900 --> 00:14:34,700 not wanting to take responsibility for his own life. 211 00:14:35,300 --> 00:14:37,500 He's been dealt a bad hand. God, the Lord the woman. 212 00:14:37,500 --> 00:14:40,000 You gave me caused me to do this. 213 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:42,200 It's your fault. God. 214 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:48,300 And then that you need to pay attention to this because and 215 00:14:48,300 --> 00:14:53,400 women also. But men we were prone to this We 216 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:59,300 are prone to blame people. I believe, blame our fathers. 217 00:15:00,900 --> 00:15:03,100 Blame our parents for the raising we had, we didn't get 218 00:15:03,100 --> 00:15:05,000 the opportunities that everyone else got. 219 00:15:05,300 --> 00:15:08,000 We didn't learn the things that others got to learn, maybe we 220 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:11,000 blame. The life we had. 221 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:16,500 We blame a teacher, a coach. A boss. 222 00:15:17,700 --> 00:15:23,000 A woman. Take responsibility for your own 223 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:24,700 actions. This is Godly. 224 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:30,400 And so the Lord said to the woman, what is this? 225 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:33,600 That you have done in the woman said, the serpent deceived me. 226 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:45,400 And I ate And so, Adam and Eve were here and they are now about 227 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:49,800 to hear the curse in the day of eat you eat of it, you will 228 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:53,500 surely die. They're going to hear what the 229 00:15:53,500 --> 00:15:56,500 curse is. And so the Lord God says to the 230 00:15:56,500 --> 00:15:59,300 serpent because you have done this verse 14. 231 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:03,200 Cursed, are you above all livestock and above all Beasts 232 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:06,400 of the field on your belly? You shall go and dust. 233 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:08,900 You shall eat all the days of your life. 234 00:16:10,900 --> 00:16:14,700 And then in verse 15, he says I will put enmity between you and 235 00:16:14,700 --> 00:16:17,800 the woman and between your Offspring and her Offspring. 236 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:21,600 He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. 237 00:16:22,100 --> 00:16:26,400 If you're in the underlining or circling or highlighting versus 238 00:16:26,700 --> 00:16:30,100 Genesis 3:15, is one you need to highlight underline Circle 239 00:16:30,100 --> 00:16:34,800 something. So what theologians call the 240 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:41,500 protoevangelium? It's a fancy word for the first 241 00:16:41,700 --> 00:16:46,300 announcement of good news. This is the first time you see 242 00:16:46,300 --> 00:16:50,500 the gospel. Announcement made in Scripture 243 00:16:51,100 --> 00:16:58,300 that there will be one born. There will be one born who will 244 00:16:58,300 --> 00:17:02,900 crush your head. You Wiley Serpent and you might 245 00:17:02,900 --> 00:17:05,300 bruise his heel but you'll be dealt the deathblow. 246 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:12,800 And so to the woman, he says, I will surely multiply your pain 247 00:17:13,099 --> 00:17:16,500 and childbearing. So ladies not that there wasn't 248 00:17:16,500 --> 00:17:21,099 already pain, it's just been multiplied in pain, you shall 249 00:17:21,099 --> 00:17:26,000 bring forth children, And your desire shall be contrary to your 250 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:31,300 husband, but he shall rule over you. this is where we have the 251 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:37,400 really the introduction of marriage strife. 252 00:17:38,900 --> 00:17:41,200 A woman Desiring. The role of her husband. 253 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:46,500 Wanting her role for his role for herself, wanting to be the 254 00:17:46,500 --> 00:17:52,500 leader wanting to be the head. And then we have the husband's 255 00:17:52,500 --> 00:17:56,300 response. Is domineering rule. 256 00:17:56,300 --> 00:18:00,000 He shall rule over you. These are fractures. 257 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:03,000 These are not, this is a result of the fall. 258 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,200 This is not the way God established things in Genesis 259 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:12,500 chapter 2. And then in verse 17, he speaks 260 00:18:12,500 --> 00:18:15,200 to Adam, he says to Adam because you have listened to the voice 261 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,200 of your wife and you have eaten of the tree of which I commanded 262 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:20,700 you saying you shall not eat of it. 263 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:25,300 Cursed is the ground because of you in pain, you shall eat of it 264 00:18:25,300 --> 00:18:28,800 all the days of your life thorns and thistles it shall bring 265 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:32,800 forth for you. And you shall eat the plants of 266 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:35,600 the field by the sweat of your face. 267 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:38,800 You shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of 268 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:39,900 it. You were taken for. 269 00:18:39,900 --> 00:18:43,400 You are dust, and to dust you shall return. 270 00:18:44,900 --> 00:18:49,600 And so we see the infusion here of difficulty in work, work was 271 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:52,600 always a part of creation. Men were always going to be 272 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:55,600 working and keeping this is Who We Are. 273 00:18:56,900 --> 00:19:00,700 But now there's thorns and thistles and our work parenting 274 00:19:00,700 --> 00:19:03,500 is laborious. It's difficult. 275 00:19:04,500 --> 00:19:10,900 Marriage is hard. Learning to love a sinner from 276 00:19:10,900 --> 00:19:16,000 now until the end of your life is not an easy thing to do as a 277 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:21,700 fellow sinner. Work the work. 278 00:19:21,700 --> 00:19:26,000 You put your hands to is hard. It's difficult. 279 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:33,200 It feels fruitless at times and what you see here is that you 280 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:38,300 are dust And to dust you shall return. 281 00:19:39,900 --> 00:19:44,900 It's a reminder of the fragility of life, that life is, but a 282 00:19:44,900 --> 00:19:50,200 vapor as James puts it. The psalmist says it's here. 283 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:52,800 One day and gone. The next you're like a flower 284 00:19:52,800 --> 00:20:02,800 being blown away in the Wind and now in Genesis 320, we have the 285 00:20:02,808 --> 00:20:06,600 man and woman in her acting again, the man called his wife's 286 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:11,000 name, Eve, because she was the mother of all living, What's 287 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:13,500 interesting about this is, this is pronouncement of Hope. 288 00:20:14,900 --> 00:20:20,100 Adam has understood something from the curse on the serpent 289 00:20:20,300 --> 00:20:25,800 about life. Eve will be the mother of all 290 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:30,900 living that through her will come one who brings life. 291 00:20:31,100 --> 00:20:35,500 Again, there is death but there will be life. 292 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,600 And the Lord God Made For Adam and for his wife, garments of 293 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:45,100 skins and clothed them. Before the fall, there was no 294 00:20:45,100 --> 00:20:47,000 death. There were no animal skins. 295 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:50,300 Post-fall there's death. There's animal skins available. 296 00:20:50,300 --> 00:20:55,600 But think further about what being closed by God might later 297 00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:58,800 look like in Christ. You were clothed in the 298 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:00,300 righteousness of God. Amen. 299 00:21:00,500 --> 00:21:04,500 Naked in your sin clothed in the righteousness of Christ. 300 00:21:04,500 --> 00:21:05,800 Jesus. I'll talk more about that as we 301 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:12,200 go. then the Lord God said, Among himself among the godhead. 302 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:15,300 Now, the godhead is talking. The man has become like one of 303 00:21:15,300 --> 00:21:19,500 us in knowing good and evil. Now list he reached out his hand 304 00:21:19,500 --> 00:21:23,500 and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. 305 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:26,800 And then, it's thought Just Brakes. 306 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:32,500 And I think part of it is because, as we looked at last 307 00:21:32,500 --> 00:21:38,300 week, both in Sunday school, and in here, is Humanity as the 308 00:21:38,300 --> 00:21:42,700 crown jewel of God's creation. Amen. 309 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:47,200 Humanity is the only thing that was created in the image and 310 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:52,000 likeness of God. And now what God sees is that 311 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:55,900 humanity is fractured It's broken. 312 00:21:56,100 --> 00:22:01,000 The image is broken. And he says, less they eat of 313 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:04,500 the Tree of Life. And live forever. 314 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:08,700 There must be something done, it's too much. 315 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:14,800 Too great for God to bear that the crown jewel of creation 316 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:17,300 would live in their sins forever more. 317 00:22:19,300 --> 00:22:21,800 And so, in verse 23 says, therefore, the Lord God sent him 318 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:24,400 out from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he 319 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:27,400 was taken, and he drove out the man and at the east of the 320 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,600 Garden of Eden, he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword 321 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:34,100 that turned every way to guard the way to the Tree of Life. 322 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:41,300 Mankind is separated from God. It's the result of sin and 323 00:22:41,300 --> 00:22:44,700 death. Now embarking on a new life 324 00:22:44,700 --> 00:22:49,100 outside. The fruitful Garden guarded from 325 00:22:49,100 --> 00:22:55,900 the Tree of Life. but in Christ, there would be another tree. 326 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,000 A tree that Christ would hang on which we which would lead to 327 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:02,600 life for all who trust in the Lord. 328 00:23:05,700 --> 00:23:08,600 This is what we read about Mankind and Romans, 3:10 through 329 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:12,400 18 Mankind in his Fallen state that says as it is written, none 330 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:15,800 is righteous. No not one, no one understands. 331 00:23:16,300 --> 00:23:19,700 No one seeks. God all have turned aside 332 00:23:19,700 --> 00:23:21,400 together they have become worthless. 333 00:23:21,900 --> 00:23:24,100 No one does good. Not even one. 334 00:23:24,700 --> 00:23:27,700 Their throat is an open grave. That use their tongues to 335 00:23:27,700 --> 00:23:31,700 deceive the Venom of asps is under their lips. 336 00:23:32,700 --> 00:23:35,300 Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. 337 00:23:35,700 --> 00:23:39,500 Their feet are Swift to shed blood in their paths are ruin, 338 00:23:39,500 --> 00:23:42,300 and misery. And the way of peace. 339 00:23:42,700 --> 00:23:45,700 They have not known. There is no fear of God before 340 00:23:45,700 --> 00:23:52,400 their eyes. Paul is using the profits to 341 00:23:52,400 --> 00:24:00,700 describe mankind who is now full of Decay and destruction and 342 00:24:00,700 --> 00:24:07,600 death. And Romans 5:12, we read about 343 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:13,900 our own guilt for Adam sin. How is it that mankind by his 344 00:24:13,900 --> 00:24:19,100 nature? Is sinful. it is therefore, just 345 00:24:19,100 --> 00:24:21,500 as Sin came into the world through one, man and death 346 00:24:21,500 --> 00:24:25,800 through sin, and so death, spread to all men, because all 347 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:31,400 sinned, That spread to all men because all sinned. 348 00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:37,900 So You and I by our very Nature by both birth and action are 349 00:24:37,900 --> 00:24:42,000 sinful. We're guilty of sin. 350 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:45,400 You can run through the Ten Commandments if you're familiar 351 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:49,300 with even just a few of them. You'll see yourself very quickly 352 00:24:49,300 --> 00:24:58,500 as a sinner. So the question becomes. 353 00:24:58,500 --> 00:25:01,700 If there's a promise in Genesis 3:15 for the serpent to be 354 00:25:01,700 --> 00:25:06,600 crushed, yet, man, is now separated from God. 355 00:25:07,900 --> 00:25:12,300 The question is, then how is mankind going to attain 356 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,900 Redemption from their sins? How do we take, hold of 357 00:25:15,900 --> 00:25:19,000 Redemption? How do we take hold of life 358 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:25,100 again, if we are Death. If we were walking corpses, 359 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:30,400 spiritually speaking. This is where things for me get 360 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:33,600 really. Enlightening, I think. 361 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:40,400 If you survey. Most of at least the popular 362 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:47,300 more thought of world religions. They have a monotheistic God, 363 00:25:47,300 --> 00:25:52,400 which we have a monotheistic God, but their God is more of a 364 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:59,100 Taskmaster. Their God is demanding. 365 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:07,600 Their God is Not benevolence. There is no Grace and the god of 366 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:13,500 other religions. And to gain salvation to gain 367 00:26:13,500 --> 00:26:18,000 Redemption. You, they do have that. 368 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,900 This tells us that what we read in Genesis 3 is true. 369 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:24,800 One of one of the ways we can do this is apologetically speaking 370 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:28,800 is just by looking at other religions other religions have a 371 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:33,200 way to Salvation. They all understand that you are 372 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:36,200 broken and that you're in need of rescue. 373 00:26:36,900 --> 00:26:40,000 There's a Plan of Salvation and all other religions. 374 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:45,200 Here's a few examples and Judaism, you must obey the law 375 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:48,600 and the customs of the Old Testament. 376 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:52,700 Perfectly, you must keep the law. 377 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:56,600 We read about this a lot as we preach through the New Testament 378 00:26:56,600 --> 00:26:59,500 passages when they were judaizers present. 379 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:03,200 In the first century church has false teachers, Paul calls them 380 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:06,700 and Islam. Muslims must maintain the Five 381 00:27:06,700 --> 00:27:13,200 Pillars successfully which are all based on Works similar to 382 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:19,100 keeping the law. In Buddhism, you must fully 383 00:27:19,100 --> 00:27:23,000 renounce yourself before you can reach nirvana. 384 00:27:23,900 --> 00:27:26,100 This is a kind of state of Salvation. 385 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:28,200 You must fully renounce yourself. 386 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:33,800 You must deny yourself. In Hinduism, the individual must 387 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:37,400 purify himself from evil in life. 388 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:42,300 After Life, After Life, After Life. 389 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:51,200 Until maybe you become a cow. This is salvation in Hinduism. 390 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:55,800 Reincarnated over and over again. 391 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:58,900 Maybe as a person, maybe a, some other created thing. 392 00:28:00,500 --> 00:28:05,400 So that you can. Renounce yourself and Life After 393 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:12,800 Life, After Life, deny your sins, try to live perfectly. so, 394 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:16,900 these religions do nothing about a God who is loving I know 395 00:28:16,908 --> 00:28:19,300 nothing about a God who is merciful, they know nothing 396 00:28:19,300 --> 00:28:23,100 about a God, who is filled with grace toward his people 397 00:28:23,500 --> 00:28:28,600 salvation for them is dependent upon, man and not God. 398 00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:32,100 And if you look at some of the other great religions out there, 399 00:28:32,100 --> 00:28:37,200 atheism is a religion. Agnosticism is a religion. 400 00:28:39,300 --> 00:28:48,500 There's still filled with works. Salvation. 401 00:28:48,900 --> 00:28:56,000 However, In the Christian God is based upon the work of the 402 00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:59,300 Triune. God, a work that man cannot 403 00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:03,600 accomplish. It's not not the work of you and 404 00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:07,200 I not even in our faith. It, there's no work that we can 405 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:12,400 do to achieve salvation and that's really bad news. 406 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:20,400 It seems except that our God is full of grace and mercy for all 407 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:22,100 who humble themselves and turn to him. 408 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:27,500 And so in Philippians 2, 6 and 8, the Apostle Paul describing 409 00:29:27,700 --> 00:29:30,900 the kind of mind you ought to have about yourself as you dwell 410 00:29:30,900 --> 00:29:34,700 together in the church, says some amazing things. 411 00:29:35,900 --> 00:29:41,300 About Christ. The second member of the 412 00:29:41,300 --> 00:29:43,900 Trinity, the Son of God, this is what he says. 413 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:50,400 He's telling them have this mind of Christ in you. 414 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:52,600 And then in verse 6, he says who, though? 415 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:57,500 He was in the form of God, meaning he was of the essence of 416 00:29:57,500 --> 00:30:00,800 God. He had the full deity of God. 417 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:02,500 He did not count equality with God. 418 00:30:02,500 --> 00:30:05,000 A thing to be grasped. In other words, he didn't count 419 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:07,900 equality with God, a thing to be exploited. 420 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:14,400 You know, who exploited a desire to be equal with God Satan. 421 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:20,500 And Jesus says I saw him from eternity past fall. 422 00:30:22,100 --> 00:30:25,800 To the Earth. It wasn't that he just fell. 423 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:35,400 He was cast out. But we read about Christ that he 424 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:37,400 was in the form of God. He had the essence of God, he 425 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:39,400 doesn't count the equality with God. 426 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:44,300 A thing to be exploited, to be grassed, to be maintained, but 427 00:30:44,300 --> 00:30:49,500 he empties himself. but taking the form of a servant being born 428 00:30:49,500 --> 00:30:54,100 in the likeness of men, And being bound being found sorry in 429 00:30:54,100 --> 00:30:56,700 human form. He humbled himself by becoming 430 00:30:56,700 --> 00:31:00,700 obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 431 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:04,900 Now what we see here is that Christ, this is the Incarnation 432 00:31:04,900 --> 00:31:07,600 being described. We talk about the Incarnation, 433 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:11,300 we're talking about the second member of the Trinity not having 434 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:15,200 a body not existing, like he does in the Incarnation. 435 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:16,900 This is what makes the birth of Christ. 436 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:20,600 So fantastic is that. God becomes man. 437 00:31:23,900 --> 00:31:26,300 But he's fully God and fully man. 438 00:31:26,300 --> 00:31:29,200 This is not saying that he emptied himself of his godness. 439 00:31:29,700 --> 00:31:32,800 He said, he emptied himself of the glories of Heaven. 440 00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:39,300 Temporarily. Taking on the form of a servant 441 00:31:39,700 --> 00:31:41,300 being born in the likeness of men. 442 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:46,400 Being found in human form obedient to the father to the 443 00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,200 point of death, even death on a cross. 444 00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:54,000 And so what we see is that while the gods of other religions, sit 445 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:59,500 back like an evil ruler and they're waiting to be served by 446 00:31:59,500 --> 00:32:02,200 Man without any promise of salvation. 447 00:32:03,300 --> 00:32:05,800 What was no guarantee that, you'll be rescued, they're 448 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:08,700 waiting to be served. We have the god of the Bible, 449 00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:13,100 the creator of Heaven and Earth, the Triune God, stepping into 450 00:32:13,100 --> 00:32:16,600 the Fallen were laying aside, the glory of Heaven taking on 451 00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:20,700 the form of man. He's a servant as Isaiah says 452 00:32:20,700 --> 00:32:27,400 who will suffer in chapter 53. In Christ obeys, the father to 453 00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:32,900 the point of death on a cross. So that God might finally save 454 00:32:32,900 --> 00:32:37,600 his people from their sins. Romans 3 describes the salvation 455 00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:40,000 for us. It says that the purpose of this 456 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:47,700 is so that God mode can be both just and justifier someone had 457 00:32:47,700 --> 00:32:50,200 to die. This is why the Old Testament 458 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:53,600 sacrificial system was in place, but there would be no end. 459 00:32:53,600 --> 00:33:00,300 Hebrew says to the sacrifice of bulls and goats Because there 460 00:33:00,300 --> 00:33:05,200 would be no end to sin. And less. 461 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:11,300 There's a lamb of God sent Christ. 462 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:21,100 Sent to die for our sins. It's a story that's long 463 00:33:21,100 --> 00:33:26,900 foretold, it starts in Genesis 3:15, and The Narrative of the 464 00:33:26,900 --> 00:33:31,100 Old Testament is leading to the coming of Christ Jesus. 465 00:33:31,100 --> 00:33:35,400 In the gospels, it's the point of all that you read in the Old 466 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:39,100 Testament. Jesus Christ is on every page of 467 00:33:39,100 --> 00:33:43,900 the Old Testament, not those words specifically. but his 468 00:33:43,900 --> 00:33:47,600 image, Because his word points to him. 469 00:33:49,100 --> 00:33:51,500 That's why Christ after his death and Resurrection. 470 00:33:51,500 --> 00:33:54,800 He joins the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. 471 00:33:55,900 --> 00:33:59,600 And what does he do for them? He explains to them all the law 472 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:02,400 and the prophets concerning himself. 473 00:34:03,500 --> 00:34:06,900 He opens their eyes to see that scriptures pointed to his 474 00:34:06,900 --> 00:34:09,800 coming. It was always about him. 475 00:34:10,100 --> 00:34:17,699 It's always about who he is. It's well-documented, my friends 476 00:34:17,699 --> 00:34:21,300 that the mission of Christ Jesus, the mission of the Son of 477 00:34:21,300 --> 00:34:24,800 God was to save Sinners by God's marvelous Grace. 478 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:28,400 That what the first Adam failed to do the second Adam does 479 00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:34,699 perfectly In Matthew 1:18, 20 through 25. 480 00:34:34,699 --> 00:34:38,100 We have the announcement of the birth of Christ. 481 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:42,400 Matthew writes here, he says, now the birth of Jesus Christ 482 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:46,500 Place in this way. When his mother Mary had been 483 00:34:46,500 --> 00:34:50,300 betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to 484 00:34:50,300 --> 00:34:53,000 be with child from the Holy Spirit and her husband. 485 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:56,000 Joseph being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame 486 00:34:56,300 --> 00:35:02,100 resolved to divorce her quietly. He's like, oh my goodness, it's 487 00:35:02,100 --> 00:35:03,800 woman. I'm engaged to has not been 488 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:08,200 pure. She has someone else's child but 489 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:10,600 I don't want to embarrass her. And so you see the Integrity of 490 00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:16,600 the man? But as he considered these 491 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:19,100 things behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream 492 00:35:19,100 --> 00:35:25,900 saying Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your 493 00:35:25,900 --> 00:35:29,200 wife for that, which is conceived in her, is from the 494 00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:32,200 Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you 495 00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:36,700 shall call his name, Jesus. By listening to this for, he 496 00:35:36,700 --> 00:35:39,400 will save his people from their sins. 497 00:35:41,300 --> 00:35:43,900 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken. 498 00:35:43,900 --> 00:35:46,000 By the prophet. Behold, the Virgin shall 499 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:48,500 conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name 500 00:35:48,700 --> 00:35:51,700 Emmanuel, which means god with us. 501 00:35:51,700 --> 00:35:55,100 Thank you in verse 24. When Joseph awoke from sleep, he 502 00:35:55,100 --> 00:35:58,100 did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and he took his 503 00:35:58,100 --> 00:36:03,100 wife, but he knew her not until she had given birth to a son and 504 00:36:03,100 --> 00:36:09,800 he called his name, Jesus. What an astounding revelation? 505 00:36:10,900 --> 00:36:14,900 Concerning Christ. Jesus Christ, Son of God 506 00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:20,600 incarnate deity. Come to save God's people from 507 00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:26,600 their sins by his own life. There is own death and 508 00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:31,400 Resurrection. And if you'll believe, if you'll 509 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:35,000 trust the Lord for the Salvation of your sins, trust that his 510 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:38,800 work is the finished work trust. That salvation is found only in 511 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:42,700 him. Then you too can be saved. 512 00:36:48,100 --> 00:36:52,300 I love these words from a rider named Frederick buechner. 513 00:36:55,100 --> 00:36:59,800 The word became flesh, ultimate mystery born with a skull. 514 00:36:59,800 --> 00:37:03,700 You could crush one handed Incarnation. 515 00:37:04,900 --> 00:37:08,300 It is not tame. It is not touching. 516 00:37:09,100 --> 00:37:13,000 It is not beautiful. It is uninhabitable Terror. 517 00:37:13,700 --> 00:37:17,000 It is Unthinkable. Darkness Riven with unbearable 518 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:21,000 lights agonize. Laboring led to it. 519 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:26,900 Vast upheavals of Intergalactic space and time split apart a 520 00:37:26,900 --> 00:37:30,800 wrenching and tearing of the very sinews of reality itself. 521 00:37:31,700 --> 00:37:35,500 You can only cover your eyes and shutter before it before this, 522 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:43,000 God of God, light of Lies. Very God of very God who for us. 523 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:47,600 And for our Salvation as the Nicene Creed puts it came down 524 00:37:47,900 --> 00:37:56,400 from heaven for unto us, God Has Come amen. and when God by his 525 00:37:56,400 --> 00:38:01,900 mercy, and God by his love, and his grace, when he saves 526 00:38:02,300 --> 00:38:09,000 someone, When God Saves you, you are united to Christ. 527 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:13,900 Jesus, the Incarnate deity and Ephesians 2:10, the Apostle 528 00:38:13,900 --> 00:38:20,700 explains what happens. I briefly mentioned this last 529 00:38:20,700 --> 00:38:25,600 week, but it's mention it again. For we are his workmanship 530 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:30,900 created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared 531 00:38:30,900 --> 00:38:33,400 beforehand that we should walk in them. 532 00:38:34,700 --> 00:38:37,800 The fall fractures. Good works. 533 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:45,800 The false stains Humanity. The fall brings death spiritual 534 00:38:46,100 --> 00:38:49,400 death. But when you come to Christ 535 00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:51,800 Jesus for the Salvation of your sins, when you come to Christ 536 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:57,600 Jesus by faith in him alone, you are a new creation in Christ, 537 00:38:57,600 --> 00:39:02,500 old things, pass away, All Things become new, and in that 538 00:39:02,500 --> 00:39:05,700 way. God is saying here in Ephesians 539 00:39:05,700 --> 00:39:08,900 2:10. You are his workmanship, you 540 00:39:08,900 --> 00:39:13,700 were my workmanship. I have recreated you in Christ 541 00:39:13,700 --> 00:39:17,300 Jesus. Do do good works. 542 00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:24,500 You see the difference? Our God is unlike all others for 543 00:39:24,500 --> 00:39:27,000 them. Good works, is your only hope 544 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:31,500 for salvation but still, no guarantee for us. 545 00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:35,200 Good works. As a result of our Salvation, 546 00:39:35,900 --> 00:39:46,100 it's mint. to exercise Dominion to be fruitful and multiply It's 547 00:39:46,100 --> 00:39:50,000 meant to subdue creation. It's meant to spread the glory 548 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:56,300 of Christ into all the world. Redeeming the fall. 549 00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:03,900 Until one day Christ makes all things new at his return, 550 00:40:06,500 --> 00:40:12,300 Christians brothers and sisters. You are the workmanship of God 551 00:40:12,300 --> 00:40:15,400 you have been saved completely by his work. 552 00:40:17,300 --> 00:40:19,100 You've not been saved by your own doing. 553 00:40:20,700 --> 00:40:25,600 And if God has recreated you in Christ Jesus, even you are 554 00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:31,200 united together with Christ for eternity, free from sin and 555 00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:35,600 death. Able to put it to death by the 556 00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:42,400 power of the spirit. It's a book about John Owen, 557 00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:44,500 called communion with the Triune God. 558 00:40:44,500 --> 00:40:49,700 It's a wonderful work. There's a little bit modernized 559 00:40:49,700 --> 00:40:53,700 version of it, which is edited by a guy named Kelly Catholic. 560 00:40:55,200 --> 00:41:00,100 and this is what he summarizes about one of the points in this 561 00:41:00,100 --> 00:41:04,100 book, about the union of Christ, the union with Christ that 562 00:41:04,100 --> 00:41:10,700 Believers know, This is, this Union is a unilateral action by 563 00:41:10,700 --> 00:41:13,100 God, which means it's not dependent upon you. 564 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:17,900 It's not a bilateral, its unilateral In which those who 565 00:41:17,900 --> 00:41:22,000 were dead or Made Alive, those who lived in darkness, begin to 566 00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:25,700 see lights, those who were enslaved to sin are set free to 567 00:41:25,700 --> 00:41:30,000 be loved. And to love when one speaks of 568 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:35,500 Union with Christ, it must be clear that the human person is 569 00:41:35,500 --> 00:41:41,500 merely receptive. He is the object of God's 570 00:41:41,500 --> 00:41:45,300 gracious action. And this is the state and 571 00:41:45,300 --> 00:41:52,100 condition of all true Saints. Brothers and sisters live as 572 00:41:52,100 --> 00:41:54,100 though. You serve a God who is unlike 573 00:41:54,100 --> 00:42:00,100 all other gods. You're free from sin live. 574 00:42:00,100 --> 00:42:07,100 A holy life, do good works but not to attain salvation For, 575 00:42:07,100 --> 00:42:09,100 that would be to serve a god, like their God. 576 00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:14,700 Serve God because he saved you serve him because you love him. 577 00:42:15,300 --> 00:42:18,300 Love others because He commands you to do. 578 00:42:18,300 --> 00:42:22,200 Good works to spread the fruitfulness of Christ, The 579 00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:30,000 Glory of Christ and to all the nations into all the Earth, and 580 00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:34,700 if that seems too daunting, I think about this as we think 581 00:42:34,700 --> 00:42:37,500 about Matthew, 28, to go into all the nations. 582 00:42:40,300 --> 00:42:46,000 It's like how got one life God you know my bank account. 583 00:42:46,900 --> 00:42:50,000 It's hard to leave my family for more than a few days at a time. 584 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:51,700 Like I'm, I going to go into all the Earth. 585 00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:57,100 Christ was not making a command to one specific disciple. 586 00:42:59,100 --> 00:43:02,000 Amen. Christ is making a command to 587 00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:05,800 all his disciples that wherever you are. 588 00:43:07,100 --> 00:43:12,100 Go into the Earth and Make Disciples of Christ, Jesus start 589 00:43:12,100 --> 00:43:16,200 in your home, parents Make Disciples of your children. 590 00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:22,500 Starting your marriage. Like Disciples of your spouse. 591 00:43:23,500 --> 00:43:27,100 Encourage discipleship, find others to disciple. 592 00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:31,800 Be a part of a local body, get discipled so that you might 593 00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:36,200 disciple in return. Spread the glory of Christ and 594 00:43:36,200 --> 00:43:40,000 to all the World by doing exactly what God's called you to 595 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:46,100 do, live a new life in Christ. Wherever you're at? 596 00:43:47,200 --> 00:43:50,900 You don't have to change jobs necessarily betting on what you 597 00:43:50,900 --> 00:43:55,900 do for a living and I'm going to keep slinging drugs, right? 598 00:43:55,900 --> 00:43:57,600 It's God's. Not going to let you do that. 599 00:44:05,500 --> 00:44:09,500 but wherever you're at, God has given you the ability to be 600 00:44:09,500 --> 00:44:12,300 fruitful and multiply fill the Earth. 601 00:44:13,900 --> 00:44:16,300 For the glory of Christ Jesus, not our own glory. 602 00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:20,000 Amen. Would you stand to your feet 603 00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:27,800 this morning? Going to sing a song. 604 00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:34,300 And I think the song is perfect. For a time of response. 605 00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:38,700 The song is called yet. Not I, but through Christ. 606 00:44:39,900 --> 00:44:47,900 In me. and so, whether you're a Believer or not, our, let's 607 00:44:47,900 --> 00:44:52,600 start this way, as Believers, what we are saying is yet, not 608 00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:57,600 I, but through Christ in me, And all things yet. 609 00:44:57,600 --> 00:45:01,500 Not I but through Christ in me. And so you may be guilty this 610 00:45:01,500 --> 00:45:04,100 morning of some of the things I've talked about passivity. 611 00:45:06,900 --> 00:45:10,900 Have you have allowed the enemy to come into your camp? 612 00:45:12,700 --> 00:45:15,400 to tempt you with unrighteousness, to tempt you 613 00:45:15,400 --> 00:45:23,100 with sin that you might fall, And so you need to repent today. 614 00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:26,400 You need to confess your sins to the Lord. 615 00:45:28,700 --> 00:45:33,800 Trust in his grace to save you. trust in his grace to train, you 616 00:45:35,300 --> 00:45:37,700 ask the Holy Spirit to help you out of that. 617 00:45:39,700 --> 00:45:42,700 But you might crucify the Flesh and live by the spirit of God. 618 00:45:44,900 --> 00:45:48,900 And if you're an unbeliever today, Questioning unsure, 619 00:45:48,900 --> 00:45:55,200 skeptical. I'd be a mocker even the same is 620 00:45:55,200 --> 00:45:59,300 true for you. You will not achieve salvation 621 00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:02,700 on your own. And whether you believe it or 622 00:46:02,700 --> 00:46:06,600 not, you will stand before the Lord on the day of judgment. 623 00:46:07,500 --> 00:46:10,300 And you will not utter one accusation against him. 624 00:46:11,800 --> 00:46:14,500 Not one because in all his ways, he's righteous. 625 00:46:14,900 --> 00:46:20,800 And in all your ways, your unrighteous And so you two need 626 00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:27,000 to humble yourself and say yet not I but through Christ save me 627 00:46:27,200 --> 00:46:30,300 from my sins today. Let me pray for you. 628 00:46:30,300 --> 00:46:33,500 Father, we love you got a, thank you for your word. 629 00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:37,300 I thank you for this moment. We have now to respond to you at 630 00:46:37,300 --> 00:46:42,200 your word, Holy Spirit. Would you lead us now to help us 631 00:46:42,200 --> 00:46:44,800 to respond in the right way? Grant us wisdom? 632 00:46:47,300 --> 00:46:52,900 Heavenly father, I asked you. Will you save by your grace 633 00:46:52,900 --> 00:46:55,900 anyone in here? Who is far from you? 634 00:46:58,700 --> 00:47:01,200 Did you lead those to repentance who are yours? 635 00:47:01,900 --> 00:47:05,300 But who have strayed by your grace also? 636 00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:11,800 or today we say yet, not I but through Christ, we thank you 637 00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:19,000 that you are a god unlike all others That you've stepped into 638 00:47:19,900 --> 00:47:25,300 darkness. But you might grant us, 639 00:47:25,300 --> 00:47:29,500 Marvelous Light. Help us to believe in Jesus 640 00:47:29,500 --> 00:47:32,000 Christ today. Help us to trust him for our 641 00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:34,800 Salvation. Help us to trust him for our 642 00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:41,400 growth, in Holiness, our growth in godliness, Help us to spread 643 00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:45,400 the name of Christ, into all the Earth, starting in our homes, 644 00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:49,200 and our friendships and our workplaces. 645 00:47:50,300 --> 00:47:53,700 I'm a social media accounts wherever you've given us 646 00:47:53,700 --> 00:47:57,100 influence wherever you've placed us help us to have the name of 647 00:47:57,100 --> 00:47:59,300 Christ Jesus on our lives, the good news. 648 00:48:04,200 --> 00:48:08,100 Father we love you we thank you for the Incarnation of your son. 649 00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:12,200 I thought he was God of very God. 650 00:48:12,800 --> 00:48:15,700 He became like us that he might die for our sins. 651 00:48:16,700 --> 00:48:20,900 We trust you for that, we trust you for salvation in Christ 652 00:48:20,900 --> 00:48:22,900 name, I pray. Amen. 653 00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:12,200 I thought he was God of very God. 654 00:48:12,800 --> 00:48:15,700 He became like us that he might die for our sins. 655 00:48:16,700 --> 00:48:20,900 We trust you for that, we trust you for salvation in Christ 656 00:48:20,900 --> 00:48:22,900 name, I pray. Amen.