It's good to see you guys this morning.
My name is Kyle service lead Pastor here.
If you're visiting today, I want to say thanks for being here.
Glad you're here, worship with us, I'm going to have you turn
to your Bibles to two places in your Bibles today.
First, we'll look at a verse in Romans 11.
We'll look at verse 36 here in a moment and then the bulk of our
reading really will come from Genesis chapter 3.
But you can look at, you know, you can kind of hold your finger
at one. If you want.
I'll read a couple of verses from there.
But largely will be in Genesis chapter 3 as we expound on what
we're going to see in Romans 11. So they were going to go
together. But today, what we're doing is
we're starting a new series series is called what happens
when we worship. And so, in this series of the
next 13 weeks, we're going to examine the Theology of worship,
the anatomy of worship, and what we should do in response to
those things that we see in God's word, going to look at How
do we worship? But what happens when we worship
today? Our topic is created to worship.
You have been created to worship.
You are created for worship, you are wired for worship.
And so I want to talk to you about the origin.
The purpose, the means of worship and and help that inform
the lives that we live. Hopefully in worship to the
Lord. And so if you would, would you
stand with me as we read a Romans 11:36?
It's allowed. God's word says, in Romans 11:36
for from him. That is from the Lord and
through him, and to him are all things to him, be glory forever.
Amen. This is God's.
Holy word. Thanks be to God.
Let me pray. Heavenly Father we praise you
for your word and a verse as simple as Only several words.
Says so much about why. We're here.
What our purpose is how we got here.
The Lord is my hope. It is my prayer that today, we
would see from your word that we were created for worship.
And in many ways we are always worshipping.
Father is you were well aware at times we get our worship wrong.
At times, we worship in ways that we, like, we worship things
that we think are worth worshiping.
And so, our worship is misplaced misunderstood at times.
It's sinful. So Lord, we ask that you would
help us to regain as we go through this series over the
next few weeks. We gain an understanding of what
Biblical worship is that you have not been silent on worship,
but that you have spoken clearly from your word on how we are to
worship. So Lord help us to grasp that
Vision, help us to understand your word, help us to apply it.
So Lord, we in that prayer, we are desperate for your Holy
Spirit to give us insight to give us understanding and
knowledge and wisdom on how to apply it.
Or we need you to sanctify, our hearts and Minds by your spirit,
through the washing of your word today.
We are dependent upon you as we open up your word as we read
from it, as we see it. So, Lord, I pray that you help
me along in this help me to proclaim the excellencies of
Christ today. It having heard today.
The people do not hear Kyle they hear Christ reach.
That his word is a bomb into their souls, that it's not me.
Lord help us to be devoted fully to your son, Jesus Christ, name
I pray. Amen.
You may be seated So when I say
worship, which I've said multiple times already, it's
most likely that you envisioned like the singing part of the
service, right? When we say worship often, we
think that worship is, its, are singing.
And that's really, by Design over the last several decades,
and depending on your church background, you may even
Envision like private singing to God in your home or maybe even
your in your chair at church, you know.
We're kind of raised at times to think that worship happen.
Right there in your seat or your Pew.
And it's just between you and the Lord.
And it's really, it's all about your experience.
These understandings are the result of what we might call the
Contemporary worship movements, which is really popular.
It's done a lot for church growth, it's done a lot for
modernizing things and not that everything that's come out of.
It has been wrong but much of it is misplaced by Design.
There's really a long history that we don't have time to get
into fully today. And so, I'd like to just provide
a brief explanation of the roots of contemporary worship.
Contemporary worship, the idea that it's about your singing and
that singing must move you to some emotional feeling kind of
stir you up in some way, the roots of that or Pentecostalism
and revivalism the birth out of those things of a goal and
Pentecostalism or Pentecostal worship is to provide the
worshipper with A personal experience with God, a personal
encounter with God. And so, you'll hear that
language often that you come and see the presence of God, come
experience the presence of God With Us, come experience, a move
of the spirit. God is on the move here.
God is doing great things in this worship service.
You know, you don't want to miss this.
And that's that is its purpose is to stir up the emotions of
the worshipper so much so that he or she feels like they have
worshipped God. There's Goose he's and there's
chills and there's palpitating heart beats and maybe sweat
revivalism is really much in the same vein.
They kind of entered the scene really around the same time as
in the 1800s and revivalism got its jump.
Start with a man named Charles Finney.
He's really kind of the founder of revivalism in the 1800's, a
finished purpose, Finney was a traveling preacher and he would
preach Revival services and his purpose for these.
Revival Services was to stir up the emotions of those in
attendance so much so that it forced them to make a decision
for Jesus. Am I call these salvations?
They might call them decisions but it was a decision is MM.
It's just largely based on their emotions.
He was playing on the emotions of the congregation in song.
How many of you know that song Moves you right like you hear a
song and you go back to moments in your life where you first
heard that song over that song is connected to some feeling or
something, right? For should I have a song that
you know, that we share? Air between us.
That's it's a, you know, a lot of songs so when I hear that
song played my mind is in raptured with just visions of
Patricia, like all the moments we've had in our life, right?
This is what music does? It moves people?
It's created by God to move people.
But it's like any tool that God gives us can be misused and so
Finney would play on the emotions of the congregation in
song. He would especially do this in
his preaching and most of all he would do it with emotionally
driven altar calls. Then he was quoted.
He wanted to find these quotes about this was he says, yes, the
spirit works, but we must work first.
Did you see how that is backwards?
Yes, the spirit works. But we must work first.
So, this makes God dependent upon us for all things
pertaining to our godliness. It puts man first, he must move
if God is going to move. And so, contemporary worship
takes shape in light of early Western Pentecostalism and
revivalism it has been a wide sweeping movement over the last
several decades. Now throughout church history,
worship has sorry, worship was understood as the entire Lord's
day service. We us why we call this our
worship service, over. When we come together to worship
God, it's not that we just come together to sing.
We come to seeing, yes, but we come to pray together.
We come to hear the word Todd. We come to preach the word.
We come to read the scriptures, we come to celebrate the Lord's
Supper like we'll do today. We come for baptisms when we
have those right? There's lots of things about.
There's several things that go into a worship service.
But the emphasis in contemporary worship is is on the worshipper.
it's on the the song part of the service, especially And so, the
emphasis is taken off of the one being worshipped.
And it's put on the one who is worshipping songs are written
and performed in such a way, as, to stir up, the emotions of the
worshipper to manipulate their feelings.
So that they feel like they have worship, which might lead to a
greater response during the altar call, if a church has one
and largely, it's emotional manipulation.
Most of us have been discipled in this most of us.
Just, this is learned behavior and so I don't really blame
congregations for this. I blame leaders for this blame
pastors for this. It happens in churches across
the globe, it happens in churches across our County, it's
happening right now. I've attended several of these
churches, in my time in Magnolia, which is a life.
The service starts large often with an upbeat song, the song of
praise and then it moves into a slower song and then oftentimes
an even more slower song which is called worship song.
The first song is a praise song, these songs are now worship
songs and before it might it'll finally wrap up with a fourth
song that is either another upbeat song or a slow song
depending on what is planned for the sermon that day.
So the transition to the sermon becomes easier based on what
kind of song you end with when the preacher is finished.
You sing something like just as I am 17 times until people
respond to the preachers call appropriately, right?
Until the spirit has moved. I can remember sitting in
worship services and the preachers saying, you know, at
12:15. After he's preached, after we've
seen more, more singing is happening.
More calling upon the holy spirit to move on us is
happening. And he's saying, we're not
leaving this place. Until we sense the presence of
the spirit. It's wrong.
It's false teaching. It's ungodly.
It's sacerdote ilysm really is what it is.
It's and and that means that it is.
It's all about the emotions of something and you're having to
sacrifice sacramentalism. Sorry, it's all about.
The things that are being performed to make the certain
experience happen. It's Roman Catholic and approach
is what it is. And so the service starts that
way and ends that way. And the result is an emotionally
manipulative people go away thinking that they have
experienced God possibly even responding and what they think
or they're told is Faith In Jesus because they raise their
hand and the preacher. Pray to congregational prayer
over them. And then what happens, these
people who have this emotional stirred up experience flame out
at some point, because Emotions, Don't Last, you can't carry that
emotional High into the rest of your life, that emotional high
was caused by everything happening in that service, that
force, that person to make that decision.
You can't maintain that in your daily lives, the Christian Life,
as we say, around here, as Eugene, Peterson wants to.
It's a long Ants in the same direction.
Right, it's day after day waking up and living for the lord, it's
showing up to worship services and worshiping god with the
congregation. It's not about stirring up.
Emotions are emotions that go into it.
Absolutely, absolutely. Their emotions that go into
Charles Finney also said this. He said a Revival is not a
miracle. What a Revival is not a miracle
or dependent on a miracle in any sense.
It is purely philosophic. That means it's scientific.
It can be figured out, it's the result of the right use of the
constituted means. What's he saying?
You get all the right elements together.
You'd all the right pieces together and you perform them in
the exact way. You will have Revival.
We see this today is churches still practiced planned.
Revivals weekly revivals? Who in the lot of the same
things that they would say they disagree with.
Emotions of such worship might be good the motivation.
Sorry, if such worship may be good, but there is a better way.
There's a far better way. There's God's way to doing this.
The problem with such worship is that man is the standard of
worship. He is the center of worship,
your starting with the congregation, and you're saying,
let's do what he or she needs to have an emotional experience.
You're starting with the leaders who are saying, we need to make
this. This happen, it's manipulated
for man's purposes, God's purposes.
These people are not truly trying to build the kingdom of
God, man cannot be the standard of Godly worship because Godly
worship is decided by God Alone. Jonathan Cruz wrote this in a
book he said worship is Meaningful, not because of what
we do, but because of what God is doing and in and through Us
by his spirit, Therefore, we must not only sanctify Our
Lives. We must sanctify our worship
also. But none of us disagrees that
our lives, should be Sanctified that we should be putting away,
sinful thoughts. If you got a problem with lust,
you should put that away, right? None of us is going to argue
that. If you got a problem with anger,
you're angry at a brother, you're angry at a sister.
You're like, you should put that away, you got a problem with
bitterness, you should be depending upon the Lord to help
you put that away, right? None of us is saying, we
shouldn't be sanctified But when it comes to our worship, we
often think there's no need to sanctify it.
But it's not true. Like, there's reason to grow in
what we understand about God, and how we worship God, and to
look into his word and see what it says about worship.
And to see is what we're doing aligning with what God's word
says about worship. The let him sanctify our
worship. So I want to put before you
today this really kind of basic big idea but worshiping God his
way is the most important thing you will ever do in your life.
Learning how to worship God. His way is, the most important
thing you will ever do in your life.
In fact, you were created to worship.
Why God created you was to be a worshipper?
Romans 11:36 again, says, for from him and through him, and to
him are all things to him, be glory forever.
Amen. First phrase, therefore from him
from him, are all things. The Apostle Paul here is telling
us that all things originated from God.
From him are all things. That means out of God, comes all
things. This is what happens in creation
will look a little more at that in a moment.
He is the source of all things. Amen.
Through him are all things for from him and through, him are
all things through him. Are all things, all things have
their life. and their function and they're being because of God
who created them, they came out of him and so therefore they
exist, what through him He decides their existence, they
have life because of him, for from him, and through him are
all things. And so if it's from him and it's
through him, then once it's in, it's to him, right?
To him are all things for from him and through him.
And to him are all things, all things, find their end in God.
A plant that grows. Sprouts up from a seed or from
something that was germinated, right?
This plant Springs forth out of the ground.
What is it doing? It's worshiping God.
It's doing exactly what it was created to do.
All right, it's living according to the will of God for its life.
And so it exists all creation exists unto God.
Only we might say it this way. Got us to Source the life.
And the end of all things is the source of life, in the end of
all things to him, alone belongs the glory.
No. See Apostle Paul says the glory
not Glory but the glory the apostles saying that Supreme
Glory belongs to God, that all the glory Belongs to the Lord.
And so all of creation and is shouting.
Fourth, the glory of God because all of creation has come from
God. All of creation is there for
worshiping God. If you'll pay attention, like if
you look around and notice creation, this is what creation
is doing. And your life is no different.
You were created to bring glory to God, who created to Worship
the Lord, you were created to be that to be bringing forth into
the world. Proper Godly worship as we see
in the scriptures. One man's definition of worship
is this he says it's Drawing Near to communion with God
through Christ in the spirit by faith.
That's important. You may write that down Drawing
Near to communion with God. Through Christ in the spirit by
faith. It's trinitarian and nature.
This is true worship, drove. Do we draw near to God through
Christ in the spirit by faith? It's not just that God said some
things about worship. It's not just, it's not just
that he's, you know, he might have some ideas about worship
and now we get to do kind of whatever we want with in worship
and we can call that worship because, you know, anything
that's done. In the name of the Lord must be
good, right? Oh, this is why there's false
teachers and false teaching, right?
It's not just false teaching is not just other religions.
It is false teaching. Sure.
But false teaching is that which looks Christian.
But, as false in nature, right, And the Christian world is far
more full of this than we might initially realize.
It's because something Bears, the name Christian.
Doesn't mean it's Christian, doesn't mean it's biblical, all
right. And so, in the creation event,
that we see in the beginning of Genesis, is the creation of
worship. It's the Genesis of worship,
it's the foundation for worshipers over and again,
throughout God's word, we see that the purpose of creation is
to proclaim the glory of God. What are you doing?
When you proclaim the glory of God, you're worshiping right?
Perhaps someone 48 which Alan preached on last month, is one
of the clearest pictures of this truth.
Let me just read some of the verses I probably won't read it
all just for time sake but praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord from the heavens, Praise Him in the
Heights, praise him all his angels, praise him.
All his hosts, Praise Him, sun and moon.
Praise him. All you shining stars.
Praise Him. You highest heavens and you
Waters above the heavens, let them praise the name of the Lord
for he commanded and they were created and he established him
forever and ever. And he gave a decree.
And it shall not pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth.
You great sea creatures and all beeps fire and he'll snow and
Mist, stormy, wind fulfilling his word mountains and all Hills
fruit trees, and all Cedars beasts, and all, livestock
creeping things and all Flying birds Kings of the earth, and
All Peoples, princes, and all rulers of the earth, young men
and maidens together old men and children.
Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name, alone is
exalted. His majesty is above heaven and
earth. He has raised up a horn for his
people. Praise for all his Saints, for
the people of Israel who are near to him.
Praise the Lord. So they wouldn't read it all,
but I got caught up in it, right?
Psalm 148. What's the point of the song?
Praise God. Why?
Because from him and through him and to him are all things to
him, be the glory forever. Amen.
Right. This is why we praise the Lord.
So worshiping God his way again is the most important thing you
will ever do. And so, when God makes Mankind,
we read this in Genesis 1:26 and 27.
It says then God said Let us make man in our image.
So this is a trinitarian creation.
Let us make man in our own image after our likeness and let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of
the heavens and over the livestock and over all the Earth
and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
So God has at day six, he's at the end of day 6.
Everything else in the Earth has been created and now he says,
here's the crown jewel of creation Mankind and our image.
Each male and female. For what purpose, the exercise
Dominion to be fruitful and multiply to subdue.
The earth. Does that mean to fill the Earth
with the glory of God? Does that mean to be worshippers
on the Earth? So God created, man in his own
image. In the image of God, he created
him male and female he created them.
So to be created in the image of God is to Bear the impress of
your creator. It's like the impress of the
idea here is like the impress of a president on a coin, right?
It Bears the image of the Creator but it's not the
Creator, right? That coin Bears, the impress of
a president but it's not the President, right?
Nobody's saying, hey, I'm hanging out with Abe Lincoln
today. All right no I got a penny in my
pocket. All right.
So you are not the Creator but you bear the image of the
Creator. You're not the one worth
worshiping but you were the one created to be a worshipper and
he gave them the purpose of fruitfulness.
Like you're meant to reflect the glory of God as a mirror
reflects, what's in its view right?
Again a mirror gives a reflection of what it sees, but
it is not what it's he's right. We wouldn't hold up a mirror and
say, hey, this has been Brigham just because Ben's image is in
it. All right, but that's not how
mirrors work. But it reflects the image of
been just as you were created to reflect the image of your
Creator. And so God made man to reflect
his glory in all the Earth, gives them the purpose of
fruitfulness Dominion to carry that throughout the Earth.
So that his glory would fill the Earth.
What does he do? When he calls Israel?
The nation of Israel was supposed to do.
What carry the glory of God? Into all the Earth was Israel.
Get it right? No.
And so the Old Testament is really all about the failure of
Israel. To carry into image, the glory
of God, there's pockets of hope, there's remnants of Hope, But
ultimately we're still looking for someone to do that.
And so Christ comes So when God places the man into the garden
God, so he created him outside the garden.
God takes Adam, always kind of imagine that.
He's like just picking him up and placing him but probably not
how it worked, right? Sounds good.
But he takes Adam and he puts him into the garden and the
Genesis 2:15, he gives him instructions.
He says that he has to work it and keep it.
To work and keep the garden. And interesting thing about this
phrase in Genesis 2:15, is that Moses later uses it to describe
the work of the Levites? Intending to Temple worship.
They were to work it and keep it.
I'm not even going to try to pronounce the Hebrew word for
you, but it's the same phrase. So what was Adam created to do?
He was created to be a priest on the earth to Bear the image of
God. And the same way that the priest
later on would carry the presence of God would tend to
his presence in to make sure that God's glory could be seen
properly. They could receive proper
worship. This is what Adam was supposed
to have done. And so in this God not only
created Adam to worship, but he told him how to worship here to
work and keep, he's giving him instructions for worship.
Like I've put you in my place, this is My Sanctuary so to
speak. I put you in my garden, but it's
for my purposes, your to work it and keep it your, to cultivate
it. You're to help it grow
throughout the Earth. It would happen through
cultivation and protection that Adam would Would do this.
And so in this God will be glorified as Adam reflected the
glory of God through his fruitful worship to God.
But what happens in Genesis chapter 3?
We got the man in the woman created in Genesis 1.
We see a close-up picture of what they were supposed to do
and how they came to be. We see Adam created from the
dust of the ground Eve's created from his rib to be a help me to
Adam in working and keeping, and they were both to be fruitful
multiply the exercise Dominion subdue, the Earth, and fill the
Earth with the glory of the Lord.
But in Genesis chapter 3, Our worship is disrupted by the
founder of Lies. The devil in the form of a
serpent comes to Eve Who's Adams wife and he Tim's Sir With The
Forbidden Fruit of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil.
So we got to place Adam in the garden.
He gives him the command to work and keep but he gives them a
command. Also, do not eat of the tree of
knowledge of Good and Evil. From the day that you eat of it,
you will surely die. She knows she's not supposed to
eat him. He even adds to the command.
I'm not supposed to eat it. Nor am I even supposed to touch
it? The vet, the devil convinces.
Her that this is simply the command of an egomaniac.
Oh God. this is a God who, Who doesn't want you to be like him,
but if you'll eat of that fruit, you'll be just like him and you
won't need him anymore. How many of us fall to the
temptation to be our own God daily?
Take control of our own lives to do what we think is best without
ever considering the commands of God in Scripture.
I'll raise my hand. Guilty of that.
The serpent says, to the woman. You will not surely die.
I mean, I can, I don't know if I'm getting the inflection,
right? But it just sounds like he's
appalled by the fact that she says, will truly dies.
He will surely die. For God knows.
This is him. He's goes on, forgotten knows
that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you'll
be more like God, you will be like him knowing Good and Evil.
Woman hears this and we read this as so when the woman saw
that the tree was good for food so she hears what he's saying
she turns and she looks at the fruits.
That's when she saw that the tree was good for food and that
it was a delight for the eyes tree was to be desired.
To make one wise, she took of its fruit and she ate.
And she also gave some to her husband who was with her, he ate
Again, this is the temptation of daily and struggles, you know,
you might know the commands of God and you might be saying to
yourself. No, I can't.
Can't act this way or can't do this thing, or can't pursue that
desire because it goes against God's command.
I know that I've heard that my whole life and then what
happens? The tempter comes right.
The father of Lies comes to you and he says you want surely die
if you do that. God's trying to keep you from
enjoyment, trying to keep you from being your own God.
He doesn't want you to be like him.
Like if you'll just pursue all the desires of your heart, guess
what? Your God.
Now, you're the god of your own life.
This is the LIE of the world. This is what there?
This is what they're falling into, so rapidly in our world.
So what we have here in Genesis chapter 3 is the origin of sin
in mankind. It's the beginning of it.
It's the Genesis of sin, this is where Godly worship gets
disrupted and so we read, we go on the reading the narrative,
then the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they
were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made
themselves loin cloths. And they heard the sound of the
lord of the Lord. God Walking In The Garden in the
cool of the day and the man and his wife, hid themselves from
the presence of the Lord God Among the Trees of the garden.
So what's happened? Their eyes are opened They were
once it's not that there were blind they were once pure.
Everyone's holy as God is. Holy There were once without sin
but now their eyes have been open to evil.
Why? Because they experienced evil,
they committed evil, they committed transgression against
God and now they know who it. And they knew that they were
naked. It says they were exposed before
God and so they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves
loin cloths, they heard the Lord coming the hid themselves.
From the presence of the Lord, among the Trees of the law, of
the garden of Lord. God Called To The Man.
He said to him, where are you? And he said I heard the sound of
you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I
hid myself. God said who told you that you
were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of
which I commanded you not to eat.
The man said, the woman whom you gave me to be with me.
She gave me fruit of the tree and I ate and then the Lord said
to the woman, what is this? That you have done?
And the woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate.
So again, here we see the Genesis of things like shame and
regret and blame shifting, and deceit rights, which were also
well acquainted. With now, if we're honest were
very good at all of these things.
A chiral to us like we were born this way or Okay.
The man and the woman are no longer an unblemished image of
the glory of God as they were created.
Created to mirror the image of the glory of God and all the
Earth. They are now broken mirrors.
The Bible helps us see. This just two chapters later
after Adam and Eve are sent out of the garden.
We read this in Genesis chapter 5, this is the book of the
generations of Adam. This is verses 1, through 3,
when God created man, he made him in the likeness of God, male
and female. He created them and he blessed
them and name them. Man.
When they were created, when Adam had lived a hundred thirty
years, he fathered a son in his own likeness after his image and
named him. Seth You see the difference?
Is there when God created man, he made him in the likeness of
who God, then Adam fathered a son in whose likeness his own
likeness. After his own image, mankind,
still Bears, the image of their creator, but it's a broken
image. It's a it's marred by sin,
Romans 5:12 further clarifies this.
Therefore just as Sin came into the world through one man, which
is Adam, this chapter makes it clear that it's Adam Just a sin,
came into the world through one man, Adam and death through sin,
and so death, spread to all men, because all sinned, Romans 3:23
for all, have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
None of us are bearing the image of God anymore perfectly
Especially so, as unbelievers, we are marred by our sinful
nature, which are inherited, which is inherited from our
first parents, Adam and Eve. We are broken mirrors.
We are guilty of sin Alan just mentioned last week that we're
all worshiping something. We're all devoted to something,
some may worship false gods of their own imaginations of their
own creations. And some may worship the one
true God of the Bible, but no one is indifferent, there's no
neutrality in this, you are worshipping something, everyone
lives, their life and Devotion to something and whatever that
is it is their God. You might be what you're devoted
to most and so you are your own God.
It might be something else. Maybe your spouse, maybe your
children, may be saying. Everything I do is for these
people. And while it's a noble concept,
you're making your wife or your spout, your husband, you're
making them God, you're making your children.
God, if it's your career, you think this is who I am.
You're making it God. Maybe it's your addictions.
Your sins struggles. I am a believer but I'm also a
whatever alcoholic recovering alcoholic or same-sex attracted.
But I'm a Christian, you know, like what you're doing, is
you're making those things God. Adam and Eve were created to
worship God. By eternally dwelling, in the
presence of God. Joyfully doing the will of God,
spreading the glory of God into all the Earth.
But their sin got them removed from the garden verses 22
through 24. There in Genesis 3 just a few
verses later we read this. Then the Lord God said, behold
the man has become like one of us and knowing good and evil.
Now lets you reach out his hand and take also of the tree of
life and eat and live forever. And God just breaks his thought
there. Therefore the Lord God sent him
out from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he
was taken, he drove out the man and that the east of the Garden
of Eden, he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned
every way to guard, the way to the Tree of Life.
They are forever barred from entering the place of God, that
God had given them Adam and Eve leave the fruitful garden and
embark on a new far, more difficult journey to become
image. Bearers for the glory of God in
the Earth. And if that were like the
totality of the historical Narrative of our first parents,
like this is all we had, we would be filled with
discouragements and hopelessness and rightfully.
So for in that existence and existence separated from the
presence of God. And that existence, where you're
in your sin, there is no way to return to God and proper
worship. They're barred forever.
There's no way for us to commune with him because of our sin.
Our sin also removes us from the presence of God.
And if that's true, if we've been forever removed from the
presence of God and why in the world are we gather together
right now at this place. And in this time Why do we
gather? Why do we show up for corporate
worship on the Lord's Day each week?
Because we know, we know brothers and sisters that God
did not leave us in our sin. He has not left us without a way
to return to him and proper worship.
Amen. The look-back with me at Genesis
chapter 3. Let's look a little closer at
what happened here. Because I believe that here, God
has established for us. The outline for what happens in
worship from the very beginning of time.
But the true worship only happens in God's way.
Which he reveals here in his work and we'll see it over.
And again, throughout the scriptures as we go through the
series, we see the same pattern. The first thing we see is that
God initiates God, initiates worship.
Happens on God's terms after their sin, Adam and Eve are not
seeking. God, they're naked and ashamed.
Right? What are they doing?
Are they running for the Lord somewhere?
No, we're looking for ways to cover themselves with loin
cloths, right? They're trying to cover their
shame. They're trying to hide their
sin. Kind of make themselves
presentable instead of running to their creator, begging for
his forgiveness. And pardon they cover themselves
in fig leaves. I'm here to tell you.
This is the pattern of all of humanity, no one seeks God.
No one seeks. God, this is what Isaiah says.
This is what Romans chapter 3 is saying there is none righteous?
No, not one. No one seeks after God.
It is God who seeks. So what does God do?
Look at verse 89 again, and they heard the sound of the Lord.
God Walking In The Garden. In the cool of the day.
And the man and his wife hid themselves.
From the presence of the Lord God Among the Trees of the
garden, but the Lord God. Did.
What ignore them? And just passed on by?
Oh, Lord, God Called To The Man. He said to him, where are you?
You see God seeks out the man and the woman.
The head. They have blasphemed, his name
have rebelled against him and true worship.
God comes to his people. The people do not first perform
for him and then he shows up as finny says rather.
They come because he calls them. This is why we begin the service
with a call to worship. The call isn't about us reciting
something out of dead, wrote religious activity.
It's about acknowledging that we are here, because God calls us
to worship him. We can come to worship because
God has called us to come. He draws Us in, and we respond
in obedience, we come. And though he calls us and we
come, this is not the end of it, we still cannot worship him
properly because our sin remains and he is perfectly, holy and
just and cannot approve of our sin. the second thing we see is
that we acknowledge our sin, I must acknowledge our sin.
What happens next in? The narrative is not a
restoration of Fellowship. God talking to the man saying,
where are you in the man? Answering back.
This is not Fellowship yet. This is not them dwelling
together in harmony. Yet this is not peace with God.
That's why the man's hiding and eventually is going to go on to
make excuses. He's not at peace with God yet.
He's still afraid of God because of his sin.
The Lord God Called To The Man and said him, where are you?
And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was
afraid because Cuz I was naked and I hid myself and he said,
God said, who told you that you were naked?
Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to
eat. And the man said no, no, the
woman who you whom you gave to be with me.
She gave me the fruit of the tree and I ate.
So who's at fault in Adams mind. Oh, the woman know.
God. He's accusing God of causing his
Misfortune right? The woman who gave you gave to
me. Sure.
Eve disobeyed Eve, offered the fruit Adam took of it, but who's
he blaming, right? He's not blaming the woman and
he is in a sense, but he's blaming God, the woman you gave
me. Did this?
Then the Lord God said to the woman?
What is this? That you have done in the woman
said, the serpent deceived me and I ate As noted earlier, this
is the beginning of regret and shame and blame Shifting.
The Regatta is the the origin of sin.
Really what's on display here is pride unchecked pride the woman.
You gave me It's your fault. God, you're the reason I'm in
sin here. It was better off.
I was better on my own. There's more than that happening
here though than just the regret and shame and the blame-shifting
that we see. This is more than a kid getting
caught with his hand in the cookie jar, right?
But I wasn't I was I was cleaning it.
Yeah just making sure there were cookies in it for later mom.
What God is doing here? Is he's asking what are you?
What's where are you, what have you done?
Got us pronouncing his righteous.
Judgement on the man and They were guilty of sin, and let me
tell you something, God means for them to understand it.
Deeply There is no good news of the Gospel here yet.
This is you are in Rebellion against my decree.
You have sinned against the holy God.
Why have you done this? We might all look at ourselves
in the mirror one day and asked the same things.
Because we're all guilty of treason against God, rebelling
against him. And so God is pronouncing his
righteous judgment. They're guilty of it.
He means from the sit, their hearts are foul, their sin has
blemished them forever. Have you eaten of the tree of
which I commanded you not to eat.
They got really have to ask. I mean, it's God, limited and
any kind of a way at all. Oh, you guys know this, right?
The one who created the heavens and the Earth out of nothing,
right. That he didn't have a substance
that he created these things out of him.
He spoke them into being by the power of His voice.
That he really need to know what happened.
Of course he didn't, he's an all-powerful all-knowing.
All presence. God from the depths of the
ocean, to the heights of the heavens, from the one corner of
creation to the Opposite corner of creation.
There is nothing hidden from the side, or the knowledge of God.
Everything, what exists from him, and through him, and to
him, it's all his nothing's hidden.
So he knew what Adam and Eve had done.
You know exactly what they did and he pronounces his verdict
and verses 16 and 19. The woman he said, I will surely
multiply your pain in childbearing and pain you shall
bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to
your husband but he shall rule over you and to Adam he said
because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have
eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat
of it. Cursed is the ground because of
you in pain, you shall eat of it all the days of your life thorns
and thistles it shall bring forth for you.
And you shall eat the plants of the field of the The sweat of
your face. You shall eat bread till you
return to the ground for out of it.
You were taken for. You are dust and to dust.
You shall return. Woo.
Sin, Sin marred, the very things that they were created to be
doing Eve, is creative, because God looks at him.
And says, it's not good for the man to be alone.
I'm going to create for him. I help meet Eve is created to
image the glory of God in creation.
Is she AIDS the man in fruitfulness?
As a help meet and mother. And she's now going to have
desires that are contrary to her design.
Namely, she will want to rule over him.
Her desire will be for him. By the way, we might say hello
to the foundation of the feminist movement, right?
That's what this is. Adam created to image the glory
of God and creation as he works, and keeps the fruitful guarding
the place that God gave to him. With the help of his wife will
now have to work against thorns and thistles by the sweat of his
brow until he returns to the dust that he was created from.
Adding insult to injury, God will send them out of the
garden, struggle and toil, and strife, will be their future
Decay destruction, and death will Mark creation for the rest
of time. The Earth exists.
This is the pronouncement of judgment and Adam and Eve have
heard clearly. The third thing that happens in
worship as that God provides atonement.
God provides atonement God initiates his Plan of Redemption
in his curse on the serpent. Which I intentionally did not
read yet but here you are verse 15.
I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your
Offspring and her Offspring. He shall bruise your head and
you shall bruise his heel. Though, the serpent deceived,
the woman, the serpent thinks I've won the day.
The victory is mine. I've caused the fall of God's
Crown, Jewel of creation, the ones who were meant to Bear His
Image. No longer bear His Image,
perfectly or marred by sin. They're like me.
They're liars. And deceivers.
But the victory we see here will ultimately belong to God because
God In The Offspring of the man and the woman will come in The
Offspring of the man. And the woman one will come who
will bruise the head of the serpent though.
He himself will be bruised in the process.
The bruise head of the serpent is a death blow dealt by the one
who's heel will be bruised in the process, but a bruised Hill
and a bruised head or not, the same thing.
Amen. You can stub your toe and that's
different than if something falls on your head, right?
Ultimately, there's going to be one who brings the death of
death. His heel will be bruised in the
process but he will deal the deathblow to death.
This verse is called the protoevangelium.
It is the first Proto pronouncement of the Gospel or
good news Evangelion. God is foreshadowing.
The provision of atonement. He's foreshadowing.
The coming of Christ by his Incarnation, through the seed of
the woman who the spirits conception and Merry Christ is
The Offspring who will cut off the head of the serpent, and he
does so on the cross. Amen.
On the cross Christ became sin for us who knew no sin.
Sorry he became sin who knew no sin for us.
So that by faith in him, we who knew nothing, but sin might
become the righteousness of God. Second Corinthians 5:21 all who
call on the name of the Lord, by faith in Christ death.
And his resurrection will be saved, Romans 10:9.
Genesis 3:21 says this and the Lord God made for a demand.
For his wife, garments of skins and clothed.
Now them now, this is right before, so they're trying to
make fig leaves, which is what we do in our own righteousness.
Which is filthy rags right there.
Trying to sew together loincloth and like, cover themselves.
And God says, I do know where I'm sending you out there.
You're going to need a different kind of clothing, and so we
closed them in animal skins, which is really just a further
foreshadowing of believers who are ultimately, we being clothed
in the righteousness of Christ by faith.
Foreshadowing taking their awful clothing.
Removing it from them and giving them proper clothing, which is
what we see of those were worshipping.
At the end of Revelation there, dressed in the robes that Christ
has Adorn them with righteousness of him.
Fourth thing we see is that we commit ourselves to him, Adam
and Eve faced with their sin, but hearing the promise of God
to crush the serpent commit themselves to God.
Genesis 3:22 look what it says. The man called his wife's name
Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
Adam knew that life because of the promise that God made in the
curse of the serpent, he makes a promise to Mankind and because
of that promise Adam knows that my wife is now the mother of all
living like she is. The reason the seed that carries
on through her is going to be the reason That life is restored
to Mankind, we know death now but we will know life again
though they had sinned against God and received death that his
sin came into their life, it's death and that way but it's also
the end of life at some point. It would not last forever.
So he calls his name, wife eat, his wife's name, Eve, To
commemorate this. The fifth thing we see is that
we feast and communion with God and now have communion with God
again, though that was disrupted by Kane's murder of his brother
Abel. All hope is not lost, right?
We'll see this right here in Genesis chapter 4, which comes
on the Tilt that these last few years, come on the telling of
the story of Cain and Abel. So, Adam.
And Eve had two sons, one gets jealous of the other because his
offering was received by the Lord because it was made in the
right way. Kane tried to Worship in the
wrong way. God didn't receive his offering
and he gets jealous. So what does he do?
Cousin, kills his brother. And in verses 25 through 26
after Cain is banished, he's gone.
Now to go do his thing and you read about all the destruction
that's going to come from him in the future verse 25.
It says in Adam knew his wife again, meaning they conceived
again, she bore a son and called his name Seth for she said, God
has appointed for me another Offspring.
She's holding onto this Hope Of The Offspring in Genesis 3:15,
instead of Abel for Cain killed him. so and if you track it, you
trace it, and the genealogies, all those things, we Skip and
read Christ comes from the line of Seth I mean it's a whole long
line, but it's there and the same way.
Oh and then so and that says, to Seth also was born.
A son was born and he called his name enosh.
And at that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.
He is God God's in the cool of the day, wandering through the
garden. Adam and Eve sinned, what does
he do? He calls on them.
And now here we see the people calling on the name of the Lord
and proper worship restored Fellowship.
There in communion with God again by faith. we come to see
that fleshed out in Abraham chapters 12 and on in Genesis,
So in the same way we have communion with God today,
through faith in Christ of the pictures become clearer and
clearer Through The Years, through Revelation.
Because of the atonement that Christ, the see The Offspring of
who Christ is and how he dealt a death blow to Satan and so we
can dwell with God. Each day we can live for God.
When being communion with God, the sixth thing we see is that
he sends us We're kind of describing the flow of a worship
service. Prescribing, the flow of worship
in the Bible. The six elements of this six
part 2. This is that he sends us, God
sent a Adam and Eve out of the garden committed to God.
They would be able to live for him once again by faith.
We see this in their children and the fact that the people
began to call upon the name of the Lord in that day.
Or at that time, Adam and Eve must have been cultivating and
guarding a Devotion to God, that others were NG to do also
carried on through their son. It's a weekly worship is a
reenactment of this shape that God calls us.
The verdict is pronounced. Atonement is seen in Christ.
We commit ourselves to him and he sends us, amen.
It's a reenactment of this gospel shape that God provides
here in Genesis and we'll see it throughout the scriptures will
begin to see this take shape as we go through this.
So you see worship does not begin with man as the standard
man. Were the standard would get it
wrong, man, cannot be the standard because he is sinful
and corrodes God and His word are the standard for worship.
Everything we do and worship must be held accountable to
God's word. More than that.
Everything we do in worship must be derived from his Word and not
everything we do and worship just because we think it's good.
And right means that it's good. And right on the side of God.
In the coming weeks, we'll look more at the Theology and the
elements of a worship service, but for now, must understand
that worship is Drawing Near to communion with God through
Christ in the spirit by faith. That is to worship God's way and
it is the most important thing you will ever do.
So I ask you brothers and sisters and what ways does your
life, not reflect true Godly worship and what ways are your
heart is your heart devoted to your own desires of the desires
of others. And what ways have you ignored
God? Daily in your life.
And what ways have you like? The proverb said, become has
your belly become your God, meaning you go the way of your
own desires, your own appetites. I'm for you today.
To answer the call of God, to repent of your sins, to commit
yourself to Christ, centered worship, allow him to send you
out as you fellowship with him. Men, let me pray for you.
Heavenly father, I thank you. For these men and women.
I thank you, Lord, for your word and your faithfulness to us.
What would you help us to worship you correctly?
Help us worship you properly. The ways that you have designed
in the ways that you have made clear in your word.
Father, we recognize that you call us.
We call us. And so therefore we come we love
because you first loved us, you have called us out of darkness
and into Marvelous Light you have pulled us up from the Miry
clay and given us a rock to stand on.
We owe everything to you. If we are saved it is because of
Christ it is because of your call is because of your actions,
not our own. There is no way to fellowship
with you, apart from faith. So Lord, would you deepen our
faith? Would you strengthen our faith?
If we might Worship You More completely more fully, we might
exercise a deeper Devotion to you.
And we might not sin against you by going the way of our own
bellies. Seeking out our own desires.
Help us to depend on Christ Alone.
Lord, we love you, praise you for your word.
Thank you for your spirit, which convicted Spirit, which leads.
Spirit which teaches us by Your Word, trains Us by Your Word,
reproves us corrects Us by Your Word, so that we might grow in
faith. Help us to be Holy Father, as
you are holding. Thank you for your word Christ
name. I pray.
Amen. Thank you for your word Christ
name. I pray.
Amen.