Welcome To The River. City Church podcast and a
message by our lead. Pastor Jason Powers our prayer
is that this message would Inspire and encourage you, build
your faith. And point you to the
life-changing love of Jesus, may you enjoy the goodness of God as
you follow him today. Hey, that last song, Jason, by
the way. Welcome glad that you're here.
Hey listen. I see all kinds of sin around
the room in your colors this morning.
So we're praying for your hunches kid and I have to do
this. Hey, we sang that song.
It's your breath in our lungs. So I'll pour out my praise.
And at song has all these talk about about creation, right?
And we touched on that last week, right?
Remember we saw it's the breath of life.
It's God's breath that he put in us that caused us to come alive,
that worship song. That is a great example, an
illustration of why we do worship because as we come in
here and we sing these songs, we sing, it's your breath in our
lungs, in those images, in those pictures, Draw us back to
Creation. Draw us back to purpose and to
order and what so great. I love when a plan comes
together because that wasn't a plan.
I just heard that song and I was like, oh my gosh, it's perfect
for where we are. So before we finish, we're going
to finish this whole Genesis thing series up.
Today, I hope it has been enlightening for you.
I hope it has stretched. You challenge you, maybe some of
the things that you think, maybe it is see and experience God in
a different way. But more than anything for you
to know that God's desire, ER for you is life, God's desire
for. You is goodness, to give you the
fullness of life here and abundance of goodness here.
So if we're going to understand how we get from there to here,
there's a very important concept and a very important idea that
we have to cover because a lot of us, we know, kind of where
the story goes. Like, we read in the beginning
and we read God created Mankind and he placed them in a Many
brought in the animals and it was male and female, he created
them and it was good and it was wonderful and it was very good
and you go. Yeah.
Here we are. How do we get from there to
here? We're going to talk about that
today, and I just want to acknowledge up front.
I here's what I'm going to ask for you.
Will you up front? Give me Grace.
Because this is hard. This is a very difficult thing,
right? And my idea is, listen, if
somebody comes in and they're offended by the message, there's
nothing I can do really. It's not my Message, right?
Like we come, we believe that juice here, but if you're
offended by the messenger, that is my issue, right?
And so, we want to deal gently and kindly and lovingly.
And remember the goal here when we leave is to have hope the
goal when we leave here is to see and hope and understand, and
believe that God is not just kind of arbitrarily,
theoretically good, but actually good for our Good in this world.
So here's a big idea that we're going to have to contend with
and wrestle with. If we're going to understand
Genesis chapter 3 and that is the idea of Covenant.
Let me give you a definition, a dictionary, dictionary,
definition of Covenant, a covenant is an agreement.
That brings about a relationship of commitment between God and
his people, okay? So this is a theological
definition of Covenant, anytime you can have a covenant.
It's like a legally binding agreement between two parties.
That should be that must be carried out.
Okay, so specifically, when we're talking about theology,
when we're talking about church and God's people and God it is
this agreement, that brings about a relationship.
So now we have to talk about relationship, right?
Like when we just say Jesus died to be in relationship with you,
we have to understand, right? Because relationship,
technically the word relationship.
Just talks about how to beings. Exist toward each other, right?
One is on top of each other. Those two are in relationship to
our opposed to each other. Those two things are in
relationships. So the question is, how do we as
people as humans stand in relationship church?
Sometimes will say in right relationship and we can
understand what that is just a little bit, but we're going to
talk about this Covenant that brings us into relationship with
with God, right? So Covenant is kind of an old
idea, it's an old term and there are a couple different kinds of
covenants. Okay?
So now we're going to get really kind of nerdy.
The first one is kind of kind of company, we called generally
called the law, okay? And in the way ancient old times
it was there is as called the suzerainty Suz, ER, AI n.
Okay. And so is the way kind of
cultures and cities were established, you would have like
a leader, a sovereign over an area over a Graphical area and
the leader would be called the suzerainty and he would pass
laws and order for the rest of his for the rest of his area,
right? And they always took the form of
these if then conditional, right, if you will do what I
say, then I will provide you with protection with food, with
opportunity, with housing with whatever it is.
But it is an agreement, right? If then conditional, there's an
example in the law of An if-then, conditional, listen
Genesis are Deuteronomy chapter 30 starting in verse 15.
Okay, God's people are standing at the edge of the mount on the
edge of the promised land, and Moses stands up to recount the
law to them, and listen to what he says.
See, I have set before you today life and good death and evil.
If you obey the command of the Lord, your God that I commanded
you today by loving the Lord, your God by walking in his ways,
and keeping his Commandments, and his statutes and his room.
rules if Then he says you shall live and multiply and the Lord,
your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to
take possession of it. That is a covenant, that is the
Covenant of God's law with his people.
If you do this, then I will do this.
There's a different kind of Covenant and it is simply like,
call it like a like a promise, right?
We can call this a unilateral. Oil Covenant, where one party on
the other just says, hey, I am gonna do this or I am not going
to do this and it doesn't matter.
It doesn't say if you wear a nice shirt, I'll do this.
If you obey. It just says simply because of
who I am. I will do this and we find this
in Genesis chapter 8, right? This is a God talking to Noah
After the flood right? Listen.
What he says, Genesis 8:21, when the Lord smelled, the pleasing,
Aroma the Lord said in Heart. Now, listen, I will never again
curse the ground because of, man, for the intention of man's
heart is evil from his youth. Did he say, hey mankind, you've
shown me that you're trustworthy.
Hey, you've shown me that you can do.
No, he said I won't even though the condition is always evil
from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike
down every living creature? As I have done while the Earth
remains seedtime and harvest cold and heat summer and winter
day and night shall not cease. Now, let me just back up real
quick and talk about when God explains this Covenant to Noah,
right? And the Covenant is unilateral,
I will never notice what he talks about.
What does he go back? He talks about the rhythms and
creation seed time and harvest. Remember we talked about day
three, right? God, created agriculture, dry
land, and he created seasons and a space in the sky before day
and night. So God is saying, from this
point, I will protect my creation.
So we had these two different kinds of Covenants, right?
We have the suzuran kind of law. Covenant, if you go and start
talking about, Susan law and Covenants, right?
First of all, most people are going to like go blank.
You're going to have so much to say and so many situations.
And I really think most of it is going to be helpful for you.
Right. Because the other part is when
God and our case, God simply comes and says, guys, I'm gonna
do this for you, not because of who you are but because of who I
am because of what I'm about, right?
So now there are vocations and if you Go in the scripture.
There are different vocations, right?
You have the Covenant with Abraham where it says, I'll make
you a nation of the Covenant of the law with Moses.
We have a covenant with David where he says you will reign
forever and all my people right? But there's another Covenant in
scripture, right at the beginning of Genesis, it doesn't
say at no point. Does God say I'm establishing my
Covenant with you, but there is a covenant established and it's
one of these suzuran covenants, right?
And we call it the Covenant of Kane.
So, this is very important. What we know about covenants,
it's an agreement between God and people to establish a
relationship, right? And so, God doesn't say, I'm
going to establish my Covenant of relationship with you.
But here's what he says in Genesis chapter 2, starting
verse 15. We read this last week.
The Lord God took the man, and he put him in the Garden of
Eden, to work it, and keep it, he put him there, what was man's
purpose in the garden to work the garden and to keep it.
Now as he works, the Garden to keeps it.
Does he get to enjoy it? Of course.
He does. He looks and we've seen over and
over. It was good for food, it was
pleasing to the eye. It was everything was good.
And the animals were coming and God's presence was there, and it
was great and the Lord, God commanded, the man saying, you
may surely eat of every tree in the garden, right?
Except right? What did he say?
But you can't eat from the one, right?
If then if you do good, if you listen to my commands, if you
enjoy the Kingdom, right? If you work the garden and you
For it. What's the word for that
obedience? Do you hear?
Why?
Obedience is important? Obedience isn't some arbitrary
thing that God just has. This is it?
Just because I want to be your boss.
The idea is God created a system and he placed us within that
system. And in order for the system to
work, everything has to work. So he says, if you will do your
part, if you will work my kingdom, if you will multiply Be
fruitful have dominion. Remember he says have dominion
over creation expanded and fill the whole word.
If you do that you will enjoy abundant goodness forever.
Make no mistakes. Those are the terms of the
conditions in Genesis 1, 2 and 3, if you will manage my
creation, according to my image, the image of God that he put me.
If you do that, you will enjoy. Goodness and life forever.
And not only you but the whole earth Adam and Eve.
If you will simply follow and do that, all of Earth will be
fruitful and full, right? So here's the idea.
I'm just going to say this and I wrote it, put a note in my it,
because right now this makes me happy, right?
Like this idea. And the idea of the recovery of
this makes me so happy. So I wrote it.
And I put a note, just say it, right?
Because here it is. Listen God created, man.
Mankind to Bear God's image into creation.
That means bring order right. God created the cosmos.
Let there be light and dark and sea and sky and land and I make
it or any place mankind. There in says be fruitful and
multiply expand the garden to fill the whole earth to Bear
God's image because that's what God is like God is like order
and so he put us into a wild disorder chaos and he said bear
my image into the world so God created Mankind to Bear God's
image into creation and to reflect the worship of an
orderly creation. Back to God.
Does it make sense? So here we have God as The
Sovereign ruler and Creator and God over here, he created all of
creation and it was good and it was fruitful but it was limited
and God said expanded and make it fill the whole earth and
between the creation. And between God, he placed the
Mankind and Mankind in the middle is to reflect Flecked
God's goodness into creation by putting it in order and to
reflect the Beauty and the worship of an orderly creation
back to God, do you see the flow?
God mankind creation, creation mankind.
God mankind creation forever and ever and ever do we see God
created this system and he called it good.
So now we come to Genesis 3 and Genesis Three introduces us to
the concept of sin. And when we talk about Sin, so
many times, we think sin as the bad things that someone said we
did. But what I want to do today is
unpack, this idea of sin as broken Covenant, What sin is, is
not just some arbitrary thing that God said, don't do this
because I'm a stick in the mud, but sin is a reflection of
broken, Covenant and listen, the point I would make is up to this
point the entire creation. Depends on Covenant.
Got, listen, it doesn't diminish.
God if he chooses to operate within the system that he
creates God could do it any way that he wanted and he Dated a
system where mankind would be responsible for filling the
Earth with all of the good things and then mankind would in
turn look back to God and go God look at what you have done so
that it would be about him sin. Now becomes the problem sin,
then this idea of broken, Covenant becomes the thing which
has to be undone. So listen to Remember at the
beginning, when we talked about being reborn, there's something
about rebirth in Jesus is mine. That's To the rest of, you know,
the restoration, the Redemption on that.
We're going to see this at the end, but there's something in
Jesus mind that has to do with rebirth and vocation vocation,
is this idea that God created you for, it's bigger than job,
it's bigger than work. It's something reflective of the
very fiber of your being. It's that thing that when you do
it, you heard a flow state, right?
It's that thing. That when you do it, you forget
time, you forget space, you Just get into this Rhythm where you
sense things blooming and my conviction is God created us for
that and God gave us everything that we need to know that and to
experience that within the confines of what he's done,
right? So here's what we're going to do
today. Alright, I'm going to real quick
and then we're going to run through this.
The first thing I'm going to do is I want to help us understand
Temptation. What does it mean to be tempted?
Then we're going to look at what is the essence of Man kinds of
decision to break that Covenant with the Covenant of vocations
that God put us here to work and fulfill and multiply this Earth,
the goodness in this Earth for his glory.
And at some point for some reason, we said no we want to
wonder why we want to find out. We want to observe the
implications of the broken Covenant.
What does it mean? When that happens and most
important? We want to make sure that we
don't leave ourselves at the end of today, hopeless and crushed,
by the sad, State of Affairs that we have walked ourselves
into. So are you ready?
You're like I'll tell you when we're done whether we're ready
or not, let's go. The first thing that we need to
see is that the archetype of sin begins with temptation.
So what we see in Adam and Eve is, whatever this temptation,
whatever that sin, whatever that thing that you're wrestling and
walking in. And listen, Maybe even at thing
that you wonder and you just go, I'm not so sure.
Someone said, this may be a sin but I'm not so sure.
This is a sin. Well, what we find in Adam and
Eve what we find in this fall, is this archetype that really
can be laid over and used to evaluate all different kinds of
and all different kinds of sins and problems and issues that
come up and degradation of the vocation and calling and all of
that stuff. And so, what I would say is this
really becomes an archetype a picture, the big picture of what
happens to us, When we get drawn away from our vocation of
Covenant, right? So it begins with temptation.
So the primary techs are going to be looking at today is
Genesis chapter 3. If you have your Bible, if you
have it on your phone, or your iPad, or however, you get your
scripture, you can turn there and we can look at it, right?
Okay. So Genesis 3:1, I'm just going
to read this real quick and draw something out, right?
It says, now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast
of the field that the Lord God has made.
So, notice we talk about the serpent, you know, the Serpent
is this is a beast. He's a created thing.
We know what a serpent is, right.
But what it says is he went and he was more crafty and we talked
all throughout a lot of kind of unpacking Genesis 12 and 3 comes
down to kind of the words that we use.
So what does that word crafty mean in Hebrew?
It's interesting this word crafty only shows up in three
books in the Bible each time that it's used in a book.
It's used that translation in that book but not in any other
words. So, if you go to the Hebrew and
this translated in the King, James Wright, the oldest one,
the way that word crafty is translated is as subtle.
Okay. So now you can have this idea,
right? He's craft, you know what
crafting means? But also subtle.
Here's another one that I like, if you go to the word, if you go
to the Book of Proverbs, right, which is this book of wisdom?
Well, Proverbs 12 uses this word, the Hebrew word, but it
discuss, but it translates that word as prudent K, which is like
Awful, right? And so here's the idea.
So now the serpent was more crafty than the other beasts.
He was more subtle than the other beasts, he was more
prudent than the other beasts. Right.
And so what do we know what the questions I'm coming to?
Like, to God, really say that. Let's go on.
Let's look verse 2. He said to the woman, did God
really say that you shouldn't eat the tree in the garden,
right? And remember, he's subtle he's
Prudence like. Well, I wonder why.
I mean, I looking around, I'm just like geez.
I mean, I'm sure it's fine. But, I'm just looking around and
it's all good. I'm just wondering.
Eve, why would I wonder why God would say that?
You can't eat that. And the woman says, well, we can
eat of any tree in the garden. But guys, exchange the tree in
the garden because now you can't even touch you.
You're gonna die. And you see Eve doing the right
thing, right? Like this is this is it?
Yeah right like now God didn't say that you touch it, you would
die, God just said hey don't don't eat it right so See, Eve
trying to be the thing, right? Trying to be strong and I'm just
like, where's Adam, bro? Adam, stand up.
So he says hey yeah you can't hit it, she said but the sermon
right? The Prudent crafty subtle
servant. He says, You won't die.
You not worried about you dying, you know, he's worried about for
God knows that your eyes are going to be open and you'll be
like, God knowing good and evil knowing is one of those words as
good Hebrew words, the Hebrew word is Yad.
All right, yada. And it is used when it says Adam
knew his wife and they had a son Adam yada, right?
And Adam knew his wife. In the same way Adam, he knows
that you will Yaya doll, good and evil.
He's talking about carnal knowledge, the physical
experience and understanding, so he sang.
So if you just eat that, then yeah your eyes will be open and
you'll be like God and you'll be able to experience good and
evil. And the subtle implication here
is God's holding out on you. God said for you not to eat that
tree because that tree is the best tree.
And if you just eat tree, eat fruit from that tree, then you
will know what. Real goodness feels like and we
see it all the time when we walk around and we see stuff and
there's this temptation and we go home and I'm not supposed to
do that and then in our mind reader's, yes.
Because it's probably really good.
Yes, he really God really doesn't me to eat that because
he's really terrible and he doesn't want to do that, right?
But what I would say is we set up this, right?
The Temptation is the temptation to neglect and to Bandon.
And to reject our vocation. What did God tell Adam and Eve
to do, when they walked in the first thing, he says, is have
dominion over creation, which means to have authority.
It doesn't mean to browbeat. It doesn't mean to have us take.
It doesn't mean Napalm and firebomb the whole thing.
It means to make the whole thing.
Expand in. Goodness mankind was supposed to
be giving directions and Order. Good wise, loving instructions
to Creation. Be fruitful and multiply
expanded fill the whole earth of it happened.
Dominion over be good to it. Mankind was supposed to be in
control of the creatures and instead here's this creature
walking up to eat going. You should just disobey God and
Adam and Eve were like, yeah, maybe we should.
See, the problem is Temptation comes up and says what you're
really missing is out there somewhere and so we're tempted
to abandon the thing that God created us for.
He created us to have dominion over creation and instead what
we do is we submit to it. I know because every time I have
a hunger I submit to it I'm like well I better eat 17 large meals
a day, right? I better drive too fast.
I better all you know I drive this person's driving T.
So I better mean, Bug out them so they know how terrible they
are for me, right? All of these things.
Right. Rather than keeping my appetites
under control. I feel like my appetite is the
thing that I must Express. Surely this anger at the guy
driving too slowly. Surely, this is from the Lord,
right? And so rather than mastering our
appetites, we express them, instead of having dominion over
creation, we submit to Creation instead of trusting in God we
say I'll decide I will see what is Good.
You've heard Thomas Jefferson's Bible right Thomas Jefferson
loved the Bible except for all of those Supernatural parts,
right? So what Thomas Jefferson does is
he goes and he cuts out all of the Miracles, including the
resurrection because Thomas Jefferson and lots of other car
around, like, they couldn't handle the chance, that there
would be anything in creation, that doesn't fit with their
Enlightenment, understanding of what is they were super smart,
guys, they were proud. Ducks of the Enlightenment
they'd seen? They think they for therefore,
they are. And so instead of submitting to
Creation that they can't understand, they believe that
their intellect, their Insight, their wisdom is superior and
supreme. Now they did all kinds of great
and wonderful things. I'm grateful for their
contributions to culture into society and all of that but I
can look at Thomas Jefferson's Bible and say there's no room
within that for God, Mankind and creation.
One of those things has Has been left out.
Not God is Jefferson. Wanted him to be, but God has,
he actually is, do you see when we go about creating God in our
own image? God ceases.
He doesn't cease to be. He ceases to be to us because
he's God and we're not and we don't get to create God in our
own image, right? So I need to not get off this
ride so we not, he could, we move from, not from trusting
God, to choosing for self. Remember, our vocation, the
garden was to look around and God says, Hey multiply, and be
fruitful to trust him to be. And to know garden was to stand
back and go, you know, that Divinity thing God's Got That
under control, but what I should just do is multiply his goodness
and walk it out and as I do that I don't need to be God because I
have the full experience of every good thing but there's a
problem. The problem with human nature is
this John Piper says I don't quote John Piper a lot but I
love this, he says this the experience of God which is what
we had in The garden. The experience of God is
accompanied by a temptation to reproduce the experience as God.
Read that again, the experience of God is accompanied by a
temptation to reproduce the experience as God.
So send then is not just some arbitrary thing that God said to
you to make you have a terrible boring life.
Sin is the temptation to get you to say yes to something that is
not the main thing as if it was the main thing.
Listen, I am convinced and I could be wrong.
This, I'm gonna get to Jesus someday statement for Jesus and
he can go like you, you screwed that up.
But listen, I'm convinced that there was nothing magic in that
tree. Do you know what was magic about
the tree? God said, don't God said, don't
do it and Adam and Eve were confused and they were tempted,
right? And so temptation is to make not
the main thing, the main thing, right?
And so that brings up the fundamental question in
Temptation, are you listening if you want to know the fundamental
question behind every Temptation that you're going to face now?
And for the rest of your life, it is the question.
Who says what good is This is the question.
Whoever gets to Define. What is good?
Is God right? We read in Genesis 1 over and
over and over and over again. That's good.
That's good, that's good. That's good.
And in fact, when we get to Genesis 2 and we find God saying
that's not good, what do we find God getting involved again?
And finally going now. It's good.
So when we find goodness, we find God.
This is the fundamental question in Temptation, right?
And here's the question is food, good?
Cause Course, it's good. Thank you.
Someone over here. Yes, food is good, right?
Food is wonderful for sustenance.
In First Corinthians Paul, says food for the stomach and stomach
for food, but God will destroy them.
Both food is wonderful for sustenance.
Food is terrible to comfort me. When I'm grieving over sadness
over my disobedient, children do you understand when I grieving
over sadness over my children, everything I want to do is stand
in the fridge and like sandwiches and stuff like that.
But what I need to do to my kids is go Kids, that behavior is an
effective when you write. I need to talk to him and
insurance. A listen, when you say that to
me and hurts my feelings, it makes me small or I need to go
to my kids and go, listen, I have social anxiety, and so when
this happens, when you say that, to me, it makes this happen,
right? It's easier to go, right?
But that's not helpful that doesn't do.
Food is created for sustenance, right?
But if I say, oh, but I can also use food to calm me down, then,
it's not good. What about stuff is stuff bad?
It was a little hesitation that of food were sure.
So food is good. Everything that God created he
said it is good. So what's the problem with
stuff? The problem with stuff over here
is nothing. Creation is good.
The problem is when stuff goes here, Right God stuff.
Mankind, or what happens is when dust when we do this.
God really just gets out of the picture or maybe God goes back
here and what we say is like I'm just going to worship the stuff
right. And so what's going to make me
happy and sad is when my stuff go listen, Okay?
So first thing I want to apologize to you for something.
I said last week, my mom's going to know this is right, that's
enough. I spent a whole lot of time
telling you that your dog wasn't going to go to heaven.
Some of you are at home and I, why would you say that?
I can't my amen. I know it's good.
I deserves this and I can't back away cuz I can buy that.
But like here's the thing that I would say is like we should
enjoy God's good creation for every ounce that it is.
But when we find his portrayal of what goodness looks like, we
can submit to that and just go in your heart is terrible at
this. As this is, I believe you have
made every provision for my goodness.
When we circumvent the order. When we dismiss God's revelation
is plan is perfection. We find when we put stuff in the
middle, we just go. I can't have.
God without that. What we've done is we have set
creation in God's place and we worship, and I could be
anything, it could be sex, it could be food.
It could be not dogs, not not not a know, anything like that,
right? But we have that, when we find
those inordinate, when those giant hungers and appetites in
our life, we have to be careful. We have to look at those and go.
Is that taking the place? Is that?
Am I putting that? Head of my relationship, right?
Because I can only see this way and if I see stuff here than God
is invisible and he might as well be behind me.
But what really happens is I put myself first and I see stuff as
the stuff that can satisfy and assuage me, what only God was
created you and then God is somewhere behind that.
And really when he gets behind that, we don't really care where
he is. Maybe we love him.
We want him to like, sanctify and bless our stuff or whatever.
But he just becomes kind of like a, like a Talisman, right?
Okay. So, Food Comfort stuff, right?
Okay, so the archetype of sin begins with temptation
temptation. But listen, it's not a sin to be
tempted. Some of you really need to hear
that it is not a sin to be tempted.
When a thought pops into your head.
You have a choice to go. Yes or no.
And this in CS Lewis talks a lot about this.
This is really important. I'm not going to unpack this.
I want you to take go home and meditate on it when you say yes
or no whatever you might want to say or think or believe about
yourself when you're faced with the And you are precisely the
kind of person who says yes or no to that Temptation.
For instance, if you are tempted with food to comfort you and you
say yes you can just say oh I'm not a compulsive overeater, I
just do that. And what I would say is, if
you're the kind of person who eats their feelings, you're the
kind of person who is a compulsive overeater.
We cover that we put a because we don't want to deal with
shame. We don't want to deal.
With the fear, the pain, the hurt of having broken Covenant.
Now here's the thing, we would wrap, we're going to see it will
get there. The story will tell itself,
right? So here's the thing, Temptation
becomes sin. When we choose to Define for
ourselves, what good is? So we have this temptation that
says don't do that, but in our head, when we go, what's the
worst that could happen? That's when it becomes sin.
We see this in verse 6. So when the woman, what did she
do? She saw a The tree was good for
food, use of that, looks delicious.
And that the tree was to be desired to make one wise.
She's like, if I eat it, then I'll know things that I don't
want to. I just want you to know, right?
Real quick. That's my Temptation, the
template. Like I want to be smart.
I want people to think that. I know a lot of things I want,
people think all of those things.
And, so, sometimes full disclosure, that's why I talk so
much, right, because there's this real temptation to just,
say all of the things that I know and you're like, even so
don't take you 40 minutes. That's not that much.
So, Way. Where was I?
Oh, yeah. Delight to the eyes and it was
to be desired to make one wise, unless and she took of its fruit
and she ate. And she also gave some to her
husband who was with her and he, and he ate, oh, by the way,
that's where Adam is right there the whole time.
At any point Adam. Hey, you're a snake, you're not
supposed to be talking to me, flying side, kick it to the walk
and servant the whole thing goes away but Adams they're like no
I'm just going to see how this plays out.
You see the sin you see the Temptation.
Adam have dominion Adam, get out there and make things work.
Adam, you're naming the animals. You know what that guy is?
You know, that guy's more subtle, you know, that guy's
crappy, you know, that guy boot that down even For Adam.
I told you not to freaking stand by a tree.
Why are you by the tree? Good grief.
Listen. Do you struggle with
pornography? Put a freaking filter on your
phone. Give your wife, the passwords.
Let her have access. Do you want to trust her be
trustworthy? He says to himself.
Right? This is the thing.
Adam, where are you being passive watching this going?
And then at the end, right? We're going to see what happens,
right? So he says he's standing there.
There. And she gave some and he's like,
well, maybe it's not so bad, I don't know, right?
Like but listen then. She ate, she gave it, he ate,
then the eyes of their open now. Do you remember what the promise
was? If you eat the tree then you'll
know what good and evil. So here's the thing in all
creation, what is good, actually, good God, and His
creation that he made in his order, right?
So then is there ever any condition where God could not be
good? So when he says they're going to
know good and evil, the only thing that they don't know is
evil. What do you think the evil comes
from? Where do you think they're going
to recognize and realize in creation is evil.
Them their desire, when she stood back and looked and took
it and saw it and gave and she looked at Adam, she realized
what was in her was the thing that was separate.
She realized that Disobedience that think was it any was there
anything new in creation? That was evil or was it simply
the revelation of something that had been there the whole time
and now we have to ask the question, do you think God knew
what was in there? Yep.
And somebody like well how could God create the Awesome.
Why did God have to put the tree if I take my 16 year old son
Jackson, and I take him in the garage and I sit in there and I
saw her all the door shut and I lock in there and I go, you can
never leave because I love you so much.
I just want you to love me so much, but your captive here
forever. Is that love?
Would any of you just go, man? That is sweet.
I love the way that he treats his son.
For sure, not right. For there to be love.
There must be a choice and so God planted Mankind and a garden
with one tree and said don't eat that tree.
And you know what Adam should have done with his naked self
and his nekkid wife, he should have hop on one of those rivers
and sailed on to the Sunset and plant that Garden that way
forever. A million miles from that tree,
he should have looked and said God is good.
Enough. I don't need that anyway, and he
should have split. He's like tying himself to the
tree, right? We're just like that Temptation
that we have where I go every day staring at him.
I hope I can withstand it, get out, get out.
But what happens is, you know how I got a dog?
Side note. It's going to get there, I
promise. For a long time.
I didn't have a dog. I didn't really want a dog even.
I mean, I always wanted to, but even think about a dog, and then
one day, I started going me. I should get a dog, a dog would
be nice. I didn't think about it again
for like, a month, but then I saw another dog and I think I
should get that dog again. And so, I go from thinking about
a dog once every month. I think about a dog once every
two weeks or whatever. And then before, I know it all
the time, The dog for the kids, right?
And it's just over and over and over and over again.
And Natalie didn't want a dog. She wasn't raised with a dog but
what happened is one day when I had that first thought about a
dog? And I said yes to thinking about
a dog that thought gets in and it starts filling up my brain
and eventually I can't not have a dog for the love of the kids.
Natalie, we need to have a dog. Guess what?
I got a dog. And so, when I start thinking,
and she don't understand me, you know, who understands me, Jackie
at work, she gets me. I should talk to Jackie at work,
right? Or you know what?
I know, I shouldn't should be generous, you know?
But I'm just going to do this from here is like I know I
should forgive but I'm just not going to forgive I'm gonna but
you know, I should, you know, go hold your tongue and not but I'm
going to just fire off because I want to say that and I want to
do that. And you know what, it's fine
because I want to look at I said that right when we decide what
is good and best for us, we sit ourselves in the place of God.
God says listen God's word says obedience is good. .
Obedience is good. And in the garden we have a
harder time seeing it. But in the garden, God Santos,
look, everything is good. Every tree that I create except
that one is good, everything is good.
Except for that, just go run, everything is good.
I've filled the world with goodness things for you with
good things. For all you, all you have to do
is trust and you know how you trust God by enjoying the good
things, by enjoying all of the other stuff they could have
said. Well, that trees good for food
to. I don't need that that trees
Pleasant to look at. I don't need that.
But instead, they're like, I wonder what it'd be like to eat
that tree and we do the same thing.
We stare at that thing and we feel like that's got to be the
only solution rather than going. God said it.
And he's built the world for my goodness.
So I'm going to turn around and I'm going to run I don't know
what it is. Are you an addict?
Give your spouse, your debit card, have them drive you to
work. Tell him, I'm going to be
terrible to you for a week or for a month.
Her for two months. You can do it.
Figure out a way. The thing is, we worship.
What we say, yes to are saying, yes, is worship when we say yes
to good for food, good. To look at useful for making us
wise. We're saying yes to that over
God right? So listen to what NT Wright
says, in this is gets us to it, right?
To become a Christian is not to say no to the good world.
The whole God is approved. Thing is just it's doesn't bear
with reality, it doesn't. Bear with the revelation of God
in scripture. God has said, things are good to
be a Christian. It's not to say no to the good
World which God has made. It is of course to turn ones
back on all of the Corruptions into which the world has fallen
and into which each individual has fallen.
Here's the idea, what Adam and Eve understood and figured out
was what would happen when they ate that.
They ate that fruit, right? So what happens verse 9, the
Lord God Called To The Man and said, where are you God knew
where they were as a very limited space.
He had seen all that. He's asking.
Adam Adam, what are you doing? 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 and God said who told
you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of
which I commanded you not to eat all that we got it.
Yep. What is it?
That man said the woman that you gave me Yeah, she gave me the
fruit of the tree and I ate in the Lord asked the woman.
What is this that you have done in the woman said, the serpent
deceived me. And I ate, yeah, don't be
surprised when that servant deceives you because that's what
the serpent does. Don't be surprised when your
prowling around on the internet at 12:00 at night and you end up
on the site where you're not supposed to be, that's what the
internet does. Don't be surprised when you're
on social media and you say that thing that's hurtful and
offensive and divisive and rude and you get off and go man.
Why did I get off? Why did I say that?
That's what social media does. It draws and it infects and it
corrupts and it makes us and it makes us crazy, right?
And so what happens is Adam and Eve, they thought well I'll just
be wise. Then I'll know all kinds of
things. And what happened was when they
ate that fruit, they went from being seen to being hidden.
They went from being vulnerable to being full of Shame.
What they learn was what they realized was God makes all
things good. But anything without him.
Isn't. Here's the deal.
Is electricity, good. Maybe you thinking around as
long as it's in a wire and not in your bathtub while you're in
it. Is sex, good.
Yeah, as long as you're in a committed relationship with
somebody who is not going to use your nakedness against you
someday and you know, the only way that can happen till death
do us part. It's not because God's approved
and doesn't like sex, it's because God knows the best sex
is married sex. I've had both kinds, I can tell
you, I don't back away from it. I mean, it there's something
about looking at a person and knowing Forever until we are
done and listen. If you've been divorced and
you're feeling guilty or ashamed of that, don't feel guilt and
shame over that now. Just acknowledge you just
recognize what God created in the marriage is hard and it's
difficult, but it's made to be worked out.
It's made to be entered into rationally and calmly and
slowly, and intentionally, and with an abundance of, caution
and recommendation. But within the context of that
loving Garden of a marriage is supposed to be fully alive.
Live and vulnerable and seen and without the hint of rejection
and red and blame and shame. And all of the things that we
see in the garden, God didn't say keep sex till marriage
because he's a prude. He said it because he wants
what's best for you. We have placed ourselves in a
position to step back and go. Thanks God.
You did all the creating will now do the defining will now
say, what is good and what isn't good.
So the only Change that happened.
Was that the Adam and he became aware of themselves.
They knew that God was still good.
They didn't try to hide God, they knew that they weren't.
They knew that in their heart was striving, they knew that
they weren't content with the garden.
They weren't content with the lot that God had planted them.
Which by the way, was to be the most fruitful life getting
people ever ever created to experience every good thing now.
And for all of eternity instead, what they got was hiddenness and
nakedness and fig leaves. And shame.
And we read the curse and we're like well, God is so mean like
how could God curse them? Why would God yell at those
people? Just for eating that fruit.
Very important. You haven't heard anything else.
This is important. You're listening.
God did not in n. And God said, okay, so he
explains it right? So listen, the Covenant right
was the Covenant, the Covenant was Adam and Eve as obedient
priests. They get to enjoy all of the
goodness of the world forever. All they have to do is keep
Creation in its place and they have to put God first and
exercise their Dominion. Right.
They could enjoy they could do all that stuff and instead what
they did was use it for themselves.
Put their desires, their wants their appetites first.
So what did God say? Real quick verse 14.
The Lord God said to the serpent because You've done this cursed,
are you above all livestock? And above all the beasts on the
field on your belly? You shall go and dust.
You shall eat all the days of your life creation.
The created order was not intended to look Mankind in the
eye as equals God did not create this world and make us it's
servants. He said have dominion over it
rule at lead it. Now he also didn't say use it as
your trash can use it. However you see fit.
'If it he said multiply it make more of it, use it wisely
Steward the Earth as a gift that I have given you and use it as a
reflection of God's good and wise provision for you.
It matters, if you put yourself first, Adam, or if you put
creation first Adam, everything falls apart.
Right. So the serpent, you're going to
rise up. You're going to stand up and
look Mankind in the, I know you're not.
For the rest of Eternity, you will, you will fall, you'll be
down, there will be mistrust verse 16 to the woman.
You remember what the Woman's Place was?
She was taken out of atoms side out of mankind, she was going to
be the mother of all living. We're going to find in just a
few second hurt. She was created.
Eve, is the only one in creation that was not born alone.
She was born into relationships, her relationships, where the
context where she came and so what did she do?
But she She didn't consider relationship, she put herself
above the relationship, and then when she got caught, she, you
know, misery loves company. So, like, so she brought him in,
we've already saw, I shouldn't have to say this, if you look at
Genesis chapter 3 and think that the lesson is that men need to
keep their woman in order. It's almost impossible for you
to read Genesis 3 anymore incorrectly.
That's that's not what it says. It is mankind together falling
and what Says to me to woman, I will multiply your pain and
childbearing in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband but he shall rule
over you. The idea here is there's going
to be this conflict and he physically stronger.
Is going to have a way guys. This is not something that we
should celebrate. This is not a thing, I'm sure.
Yeah, woman live up to the curse.
That's just dumb. We should try to be pre curse,
right? Right.
Good. I like that.
Let's aim for that and Adam he says because you have listened
to the voice of your wife and have eaten, the fruit of the
tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it.
Cursed is the ground because of you because Adams vocation was
the garden was to walk in it and watch God bless it and multiply
it as he had dominion. And now he says it's going to be
hard thorns and thistles it will bring for you and you will eat
the plants of the field and by the sweat of your face, you'll
eat bread until you return to the ground for out of it.
You were taken for you are dust and to dust you will return.
See, when you have God work as experience of fruit.
But when you just say, no, thanks, God will try to be like
you will handle this from here. God, all of a sudden things stop
growing and so the destruction of the Covenant of vocation
means that nothing is ordered as it should, it means that we
become people Pleasers and we become worshippers of stuff and
God and his way in his and obedience.
It's becomes an afterthought or a thing that we use to get what
we want disorder in this life. Looks like lust, it looks like
compulsions. It looks like obsessions.
And what I would say to you is it never satisfies sex for sex
sake. Never satisfies stuff for Stuff
sake. Never satisfies fun for fun
sake, never satisfies. We are satisfied in God alone.
And when we are satisfied in God, every single extra thing is
gravy. Now your weekend on the beach,
it's not so that you can have peace in your life it's because
you have peace in your life. So what do we do man?
I'm gonna blow through this. Are you ready?
The first thing that we have to do is you have to confess own
your disorder own it just say go to the Lord and say God I have
chosen sex over intimacy. God I have chosen food as
comfort over you. The second thing is we have to
repent, repent is to turn. Here's what that looks like to
talk about food a lot, right? If food is the thing that you go
to a food is how you bring comfort.
Then what you do is you recognize that you confess, it,
you own it, and then you do something to discipline that.
That's where the discipline of fasting comes in.
If you say, hey, I use food to comfort myself.
You say tomorrow, I will eat zero food and then you can
expect for all that emotional turmoil that you've been.
Used to covering with Bagels. You can expect that to come
rushing up. And now instead of right you go,
Lord, this is really terrible. What should I do and he'll tell
you they'll you know maybe all you do is pray.
Maybe you confess something, I don't know.
But you follow him right? That's repenting when we turn to
God instead of turning to that thing and finally is submission,
we redefine good as what God says.
Okay so listen The story's not in a good place right now.
Adam and Eve are without God, they have sinned, the whole
thing is falling down around them.
I cannot leave you with bad news so I don't want to tell you is
something called the protoevangelium, going to be so
smart when you talk to your friends, right?
It's like the original, good news, right?
The that the shape of the good news to come, right?
And here it is. Genesis chapter 3 verse 21
through 24. And I'm going to wrap up with
this verse 21 janissary and the Lord God made for a demand for
us. I've garments of skins and
clothed them. If you think God is interested
in exposing your shame and making you ashamed and Afraid
and depressed not so he covers them a life is given so that
Adam and Eve can be covered so that their shame is done away
with then the Lord God said, behold the man is become like
one of us in knowing good and evil.
Now listen Les he reached out his hand and take also of the
tree of life and eat and live forever.
God sent him out from the garden of Of Eden to work the ground.
Do you know why he keeps them out of the garden because of
Adam and Eve at eating that Tree of Life, The Hope for Redemption
is gone because what did God say the wages of the death?
If you eat that there will be death.
And so Adam and Eve had to go so that they could die and you say
well that's just terrible. I know but listen.
Verse 24. He drove the man out to the east
of the Garden of Eden and he placed the cherubim and a
flaming sword that turned every way to guard to the tree of
life. So now the Garden of Eden is
locked. Oh my gosh.
Are you ready? Genesis are Revelation 21:1 and
I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first Heaven.
And the first Earth had passed away in the sea was no more.
And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of
Heaven, from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,
and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold
lessen. The dwelling of God is with,
man. Does it sound like the garden to
you? Remember he created all of
creation to be a temple where he would Reign and rest and Rule
from within his creation among people are?
He would dwell with them. He says the dwelling of God is
now with mankind. He will dwell with them in the
sea and they will be his people and God himself will be with
them. And I will be their God, he will
wipe away every tear from their eyes and Death Shall be no more
neither shall there be mourning or crying or pain anymore for
the former things have passed away.
It sounds like we got back in the garden verse 22.
Then the angel showed me the river of the Water of Life.
Remember, all the rivers in the garden, showed me the river of
the Water of Life bright, as a crystal flowing from the throne,
through the middle of the street of the city.
And on either side of the river, the tree of life, we know where
the tree of life is, it's the Garden of Eden, how is it God,
shut it in our big flaming sword and there's angels all around,
except in Revelation, we get back.
How do we get back there? Because Jesus of Nazareth, he
went under the Flaming A sword himself.
It looked like a cross and they killed him.
And he lives and he is resurrected.
The garden is open because Jesus opened it.
So when I say, I want you to follow Jesus, it's not because I
don't want you to have sex because I'm proved, it's because
I want your life to be abundant and eternal and Jesus makes that
happen. The highest design for your life
is a radical selfless Life Giving Medians to the way of
Jesus. From now until Easter, we're
going to see how Jesus undoes this.
It's going to take your breath away.
It's the best story in the world that you can't miss a week.
Kim is a week because what Jesus does to undo, this is amazing.
So Jesus, I pray that you would plant this in our hearts and
show us. And I confess my sin, I confess
that I am a sinner and I confess that I have sinned and I confess
that I have misused sex, and drugs and rock and roll and food
and everything. Thing.
So I ask for your grace and I ask for your forgiveness and I
ask that you would lead us into righteousness in your presence
Lord, we love you. And we thank you and your name.
Amen. Thank you for joining us today.
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