1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:04,740 Well, good morning everyone. It is such a joy to be here worshipping together today. 2 00:00:04,740 –> 00:00:08,220 This is week two in our year’s Journey Through the Bible. 3 00:00:08,220 –> 00:00:13,460 Open. And I hope that you will open your Bible at Genesis and chapter 3. 4 00:00:13,460 –> 00:00:18,540 This is really one of the most important chapters in the Bible. 5 00:00:18,540 –> 00:00:22,260 I say that knowing that I’m gonna be tempted to say that just about every week 6 00:00:22,260 –> 00:00:27,580 because we’ve chosen 50 chapters that take us through the story of the Bible. 7 00:00:27,639 –> 00:00:32,660 But you cannot understand why your life is as it is, 8 00:00:32,660 –> 00:00:37,880 why the world is as it is apart from Genesis and chapter 3. 9 00:00:37,880 –> 00:00:44,099 This is the chapter in the Bible that explains why we are not in Paradise. 10 00:00:44,099 –> 00:00:47,520 We looked last week at Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2. 11 00:00:47,520 –> 00:00:52,520 And God introduces himself as our Creator and therefore as our Owner. 12 00:00:53,099 –> 00:00:59,880 Fills the lives of the first man and the first woman with these marvellous, marvellous gifts, 13 00:00:59,880 –> 00:01:05,000 gives them a place where they are blessed and completely at home. 14 00:01:05,000 –> 00:01:11,839 Work that is without frustration – fulfilling, reflecting and even advancing the very purpose of God. 15 00:01:11,839 –> 00:01:16,580 A marriage that is a perfect union as they are brought together by God. 16 00:01:16,580 –> 00:01:23,440 And even the visible presence of God Himself as He walks with them in the garden in the 17 00:01:23,440 –> 00:01:24,940 cool of the day. 18 00:01:24,940 –> 00:01:30,400 The end of Genesis, chapter two, you have the first man and the first woman, and they 19 00:01:30,400 –> 00:01:35,000 are living a perfect life. 20 00:01:35,000 –> 00:01:39,620 And you say now there’s a big gap then between what’s being described there and where we 21 00:01:39,620 –> 00:01:44,559 are today, and what fills that gap is Genesis in chapter three. 22 00:01:44,580 –> 00:01:49,040 This is the chapter that explains what is sometimes referred to as the Fall, that is 23 00:01:49,040 –> 00:01:51,739 the entrance of sin into the world. 24 00:01:51,739 –> 00:01:58,519 It gets to the heart of why you are as you are, why life is as it is, why our world is 25 00:01:58,519 –> 00:02:01,959 as it is today. 26 00:02:01,959 –> 00:02:10,520 Now Genesis three opens by introducing a third player into this great drama of human history. 27 00:02:10,520 –> 00:02:18,600 He is known by various names, Satan, the Enemy, the Devil, the Father of lies. 28 00:02:18,600 –> 00:02:22,679 And he comes into the Garden in the form of a serpent. 29 00:02:22,679 –> 00:02:31,119 Remember that Satan is a spirit therefore invisible as God himself is invisible and 30 00:02:31,119 –> 00:02:38,300 God took a visible form when he came and walked in the Garden in the cool of the day. 31 00:02:38,380 –> 00:02:47,759 And here we find Satan the enemy taking a visible form as part of the Animal Kingdom. 32 00:02:47,759 –> 00:02:56,419 The Bible never gives us a full explanation of the origin of evil except that it began 33 00:02:56,419 –> 00:03:04,500 with this third player, the devil who was originally an angel of light, became inflated 34 00:03:04,539 –> 00:03:10,720 with pride, grasped at the throne of God, was cast out of heaven. 35 00:03:10,720 –> 00:03:16,259 And therefore at the very beginning of the creation, as we read of it in Genesis, at 36 00:03:16,259 –> 00:03:22,919 the beginning of the human story there was already an enemy bent on destroying the work 37 00:03:22,919 –> 00:03:23,919 of God. 38 00:03:23,919 –> 00:03:28,699 And he comes into the Garden with one clear objective, and that is to recruit the human 39 00:03:29,020 –> 00:03:38,399 race in the form of this first couple into his rebellion against God. 40 00:03:38,399 –> 00:03:43,039 Now, all of you who play sports know that it 41 00:03:43,039 –> 00:03:46,039 is very important to have strategy. 42 00:03:46,039 –> 00:03:51,740 Any team game you work a great deal on your plays, and everyone on the team needs to know 43 00:03:51,740 –> 00:03:52,740 your plays. 44 00:03:52,740 –> 00:03:59,100 But then as the game progresses, it is also very important to quickly discern the opposition’s 45 00:03:59,100 –> 00:04:04,960 plays in order to construct an effective defense against them. 46 00:04:04,960 –> 00:04:11,059 And there is no chapter in the Bible that I think reveals more clearly the plays of 47 00:04:11,059 –> 00:04:18,660 our enemy, Satan, how it is that he goes about tempting than Genesis and chapter 3. 48 00:04:18,660 –> 00:04:20,940 And I want you to notice, first of all today, 49 00:04:21,040 –> 00:04:23,380 the top three plays that Satan uses. 50 00:04:23,380 –> 00:04:28,239 He uses them in the garden, we are going to see he’ll use them against the Lord Jesus 51 00:04:28,239 –> 00:04:29,239 Christ. 52 00:04:29,239 –> 00:04:33,000 And he will use them against you as he uses them against me. 53 00:04:33,000 –> 00:04:38,339 The first is of course the strategy of confusion and particularly confusion regarding the Word 54 00:04:38,339 –> 00:04:39,440 of God. 55 00:04:39,440 –> 00:04:47,920 Verse one, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? 56 00:04:47,920 –> 00:04:50,559 Now this is extraordinary. 57 00:04:50,559 –> 00:04:58,059 God has given one prohibitive command and the enemy’s first strategy is to question 58 00:04:58,059 –> 00:05:00,140 it. 59 00:05:00,140 –> 00:05:06,679 Are you sure, he says to Eve, that God really said that? 60 00:05:06,679 –> 00:05:16,239 How can you be certain as to what he actually meant? 61 00:05:16,239 –> 00:05:21,940 Notice that just for good measure he actually misquotes the statement that God had made, 62 00:05:21,940 –> 00:05:27,140 common that God had given just to add to the confusion. 63 00:05:27,140 –> 00:05:31,339 But you can see where this strategy is going. 64 00:05:31,339 –> 00:05:37,940 If the enemy can introduce into the mind of Eve and of Adam confusion about what God has 65 00:05:37,940 –> 00:05:43,279 actually said, he will lower the threshold of their defenses and make it much easier 66 00:05:43,359 –> 00:05:47,640 for them to sin against God. 67 00:05:47,640 –> 00:05:54,399 And I wonder if you have noticed this, that when Satan tried to tempt our Lord Jesus, 68 00:05:54,399 –> 00:06:03,839 not in a garden, but in a wilderness, confusion was the very first strategy that he attempted. 69 00:06:03,839 –> 00:06:07,940 If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. 70 00:06:07,940 –> 00:06:10,459 Now, you see what’s at the heart of that? 71 00:06:10,600 –> 00:06:12,440 Now, you said that you’re the Son of God. 72 00:06:12,440 –> 00:06:16,820 But can you be really sure about that? 73 00:06:16,820 –> 00:06:23,359 He’s trying to introduce confusion into the very mind of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of 74 00:06:23,359 –> 00:06:27,500 course, he fails completely. 75 00:06:27,500 –> 00:06:32,540 So I’m saying from these verses, that confusion, and particularly confusion about what God 76 00:06:32,540 –> 00:06:39,100 has said is regularly Satan’s first strategy in trying to lure us into sin. 77 00:06:39,100 –> 00:06:41,380 He will use it on you. 78 00:06:41,380 –> 00:06:47,820 When he tempts you to a particular sin, one of his first strategies will be to lower your 79 00:06:47,820 –> 00:06:55,920 defenses by suggesting to you that maybe what you want to do isn’t really forbidden by God 80 00:06:55,920 –> 00:06:59,079 after all. 81 00:06:59,079 –> 00:07:10,720 And I have found very often this observation that bad choices in human lives often begin 82 00:07:10,720 –> 00:07:18,859 with a person saying, you know what, I’m not so sure that the Bible really is as clear 83 00:07:18,859 –> 00:07:23,440 about this as you know some people have said and thought. 84 00:07:23,459 –> 00:07:30,660 Now you begin down that kind of line, you be very careful, Paul says we are not unaware 85 00:07:30,660 –> 00:07:39,380 of Satan’s schemes, this is the first one, introduce confusion about what God has said. 86 00:07:39,380 –> 00:07:48,200 The second strategy is presumption, and that is in chapter three in verse four, the serpent 87 00:07:48,359 –> 00:07:53,899 said to the woman, you will not surely die. 88 00:07:53,899 –> 00:08:01,640 Now, you see the point of what he’s saying here? 89 00:08:01,640 –> 00:08:10,320 You can’t seriously think that one simple act of disobedience against God is going 90 00:08:10,320 –> 00:08:18,040 to bring such terrible consequences as to die. 91 00:08:18,239 –> 00:08:26,920 Surely the consequences that have been spoken to you about sin are exaggerated. 92 00:08:26,920 –> 00:08:32,039 To put it in our terms today, surely what you read in the Bible about the judgment of 93 00:08:32,039 –> 00:08:36,919 God, surely it can’t be as bad as that! 94 00:08:36,919 –> 00:08:39,979 That’s his second strategy. 95 00:08:39,979 –> 00:08:43,119 Is it not the case that God loves you? 96 00:08:43,119 –> 00:08:45,260 How can anything bad happen to you? 97 00:08:45,280 –> 00:08:50,700 You can do this without fear and without consequence. 98 00:08:50,700 –> 00:08:56,159 That’s his second strategy, to presume, and particularly to presume upon the grace of 99 00:08:56,159 –> 00:08:57,340 God. 100 00:08:57,340 –> 00:09:05,119 Now again, it’s very interesting to me that when Satan attempts to lure our Lord Jesus 101 00:09:05,119 –> 00:09:13,780 Christ into sin, and he spectacularly failed in that attempt when he tempted the Lord Jesus, 102 00:09:13,780 –> 00:09:19,219 his second strategy when confusion failed is to go for presumption, and it’s a complete 103 00:09:19,219 –> 00:09:24,260 switch of direction, if you are the Son of God. 104 00:09:24,260 –> 00:09:29,880 Well I know that I questioned whether you are the Son of God, but now I see that you 105 00:09:29,880 –> 00:09:30,880 are. 106 00:09:30,880 –> 00:09:32,219 Well, there’s no questioning that. 107 00:09:32,219 –> 00:09:34,580 Well now, how about this. 108 00:09:34,580 –> 00:09:40,260 Since you are the Son of God, well now, why don’t you go and do something spectacular 109 00:09:40,460 –> 00:09:46,020 that other people wouldn’t do, because nothing bad will ever happen to you. 110 00:09:46,020 –> 00:09:49,539 Now why don’t you go, then, to the pinnacle of the temple and cast yourself down? 111 00:09:49,539 –> 00:09:51,500 Think about the impact that that will make. 112 00:09:51,500 –> 00:09:52,500 God will take care of you. 113 00:09:52,500 –> 00:09:54,219 His angels will just float you down. 114 00:09:54,219 –> 00:09:57,059 Everything will be fine, you see. 115 00:09:57,059 –> 00:10:05,960 Now, this is the temptation to presumption, and it is the enemy’s second great strategy. 116 00:10:06,219 –> 00:10:09,979 It will go, in all likelihood, along these lines. 117 00:10:09,979 –> 00:10:14,820 You can do this and you need not fear. 118 00:10:14,820 –> 00:10:17,520 You’re going to always repent later. 119 00:10:17,520 –> 00:10:21,200 It will be well with you. 120 00:10:21,200 –> 00:10:22,479 Nothing to fear. 121 00:10:22,479 –> 00:10:26,640 Confusion is the first strategy. 122 00:10:26,640 –> 00:10:28,919 Presumption is the second. 123 00:10:28,919 –> 00:10:29,919 Ambition is the third. 124 00:10:29,919 –> 00:10:32,359 Look at Chapter 3 in verse 5. 125 00:10:32,880 –> 00:10:36,679 And God knows that when you eat of it, that is, the tree of the knowledge of good and 126 00:10:36,679 –> 00:10:42,979 evil, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God. 127 00:10:42,979 –> 00:10:45,559 There’s the third lure. 128 00:10:45,559 –> 00:10:48,179 Knowing good and evil. 129 00:10:48,179 –> 00:10:52,840 Satan knows how much we love this suggestion. 130 00:10:52,840 –> 00:10:56,880 We’re made, as we saw last week, in the image of God, but there’s something within us that 131 00:10:56,880 –> 00:11:00,080 isn’t content with that. 132 00:11:00,080 –> 00:11:01,080 We don’t want to be like God. 133 00:11:01,080 –> 00:11:04,619 We want to be God. 134 00:11:04,619 –> 00:11:08,559 Why would you have God telling you what’s good and what’s evil? 135 00:11:08,559 –> 00:11:12,960 Wouldn’t you prefer to be in the position where you decide what’s good and what’s evil, 136 00:11:12,960 –> 00:11:14,599 what’s right and what’s wrong, for yourself? 137 00:11:14,599 –> 00:11:18,080 Isn’t that what we hear, by the way, in our culture all the time? 138 00:11:18,080 –> 00:11:21,520 Why don’t you be your own God? 139 00:11:21,520 –> 00:11:26,159 You decide what is right and what is wrong for you. 140 00:11:26,200 –> 00:11:30,119 Why should you have God always telling you what to do? 141 00:11:30,119 –> 00:11:38,159 Now, again, Satan attempted this strategy—failed spectacularly with regards to our Lord Jesus 142 00:11:38,159 –> 00:11:41,020 Christ—this strategy of ambition. 143 00:11:41,020 –> 00:11:43,520 Think what you can become. 144 00:11:43,520 –> 00:11:48,679 He says to the Lord Jesus, Why don’t we make this agreement together? 145 00:11:48,679 –> 00:11:53,940 If You will just bow down and worship me, then I will give all the kingdoms of the world 146 00:11:53,940 –> 00:11:54,940 to You. 147 00:11:54,940 –> 00:11:56,460 Think what you can become. 148 00:11:56,460 –> 00:11:58,539 Give up this loyalty to God. 149 00:11:58,539 –> 00:12:00,520 Get this cross off your back. 150 00:12:00,520 –> 00:12:05,320 What a relief it would be if you no longer were living under the commandments of God, 151 00:12:05,320 –> 00:12:07,099 if you were simply doing as you pleased. 152 00:12:07,099 –> 00:12:09,200 That’s what I suggest to you. 153 00:12:09,200 –> 00:12:12,080 That’s my proposal.” 154 00:12:12,080 –> 00:12:13,380 So here are his strategies. 155 00:12:13,380 –> 00:12:16,340 They’re very, very clear right at the beginning of the Bible. 156 00:12:16,340 –> 00:12:20,979 Evidently, he’s not got too many, because he repeats them again and again. 157 00:12:21,580 –> 00:12:29,059 Confusion, presumption, and ambition. 158 00:12:29,059 –> 00:12:35,039 Be very careful when you find, within your own mind, an impulse to get round what you 159 00:12:35,039 –> 00:12:38,340 know the Bible says. 160 00:12:38,340 –> 00:12:42,380 Be very careful when you find within yourself a sense of, I can do this. 161 00:12:42,380 –> 00:12:43,719 I can repent later. 162 00:12:43,719 –> 00:12:45,280 Nothing bad will happen. 163 00:12:45,280 –> 00:12:48,479 It’s all going to be okay. 164 00:12:48,479 –> 00:12:53,000 And you know what you’re being tempted to do is a sin against God. 165 00:12:53,000 –> 00:12:59,039 And be very careful when something you deeply, deeply want will cost you your faithfulness 166 00:12:59,039 –> 00:13:01,119 to God. 167 00:13:01,119 –> 00:13:03,760 Paul says, we are not unaware of Satan schemes. 168 00:13:03,760 –> 00:13:04,760 We know what they are. 169 00:13:04,760 –> 00:13:08,440 God’s revealed them to us right here in the Bible. 170 00:13:08,440 –> 00:13:11,200 And therefore let us be on our defense against them. 171 00:13:11,200 –> 00:13:15,440 Now, that’s just a little bit about Satan’s strategy. 172 00:13:15,440 –> 00:13:17,000 What is his objective? 173 00:13:18,000 –> 00:13:24,960 Now, the objective of Satan is very, very clear here in Genesis and Chapter 3. 174 00:13:24,960 –> 00:13:33,479 And it is very simply to recruit the human race into his rebellion against God by introducing 175 00:13:33,479 –> 00:13:38,380 to the human race the knowledge of evil. 176 00:13:38,380 –> 00:13:44,200 Now, we’ve all heard about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 177 00:13:44,479 –> 00:13:48,780 Think about the meaning of this. 178 00:13:48,780 –> 00:13:55,700 God had filled the lives of the first man and the first woman with good. 179 00:13:55,700 –> 00:13:59,640 They had the knowledge of good. 180 00:13:59,640 –> 00:14:02,799 Their life was filled with good. 181 00:14:02,799 –> 00:14:09,440 Therefore, if they take of the tree of the knowledge of good which they already had and 182 00:14:09,440 –> 00:14:11,479 evil which they did not, what do they gain? 183 00:14:11,880 –> 00:14:13,059 There’s only one thing they gain. 184 00:14:13,059 –> 00:14:16,119 They gain the knowledge of evil. 185 00:14:16,119 –> 00:14:18,219 And this is the significance of the command of God. 186 00:14:18,219 –> 00:14:19,799 It’s part of His great kindness. 187 00:14:19,799 –> 00:14:25,640 When He says to them, now you are not to take from the tree of the knowledge of good 188 00:14:25,640 –> 00:14:28,000 and evil, what is He saying to them? 189 00:14:28,000 –> 00:14:33,539 He’s saying this, look, Adam, Eve, you have this marvelous experience of good. 190 00:14:33,539 –> 00:14:37,299 You have never known anything but good. 191 00:14:37,299 –> 00:14:44,900 But you need to know that there is another terrible reality. 192 00:14:44,900 –> 00:14:47,419 And it’s called evil. 193 00:14:47,419 –> 00:14:50,940 Right now it’s outside of you. 194 00:14:50,940 –> 00:14:55,900 But I’m saying to you, I don’t want that to get into you. 195 00:14:55,900 –> 00:15:03,940 Therefore do not take from the tree of the knowledge of good and of evil. 196 00:15:03,940 –> 00:15:09,659 That is what the command is all about. 197 00:15:09,659 –> 00:15:12,580 And God gives this command for their protection. 198 00:15:12,580 –> 00:15:16,539 All of God’s commandments are expressions of His love. 199 00:15:16,539 –> 00:15:20,479 No commandment that God has ever given is in order to make your life less. 200 00:15:20,479 –> 00:15:23,559 Every command of God is in order to make your life more. 201 00:15:24,440 –> 00:15:27,960 God is good and all of His commandments are blessings to us. 202 00:15:29,559 –> 00:15:32,919 But you see Satan comes and wants to try and turn it the other way. 203 00:15:35,080 –> 00:15:40,599 And here’s Adam and he feels as he looks up at this tree, you know what I’ve got this knowledge 204 00:15:40,599 –> 00:15:46,219 of good, but I wonder what this knowledge of evil is really like? 205 00:15:46,219 –> 00:15:47,559 I’ve never even tasted it. 206 00:15:48,440 –> 00:15:49,799 No, I’ve never tasted it. 207 00:15:49,799 –> 00:15:54,039 Perhaps in all this good that I have experienced there’s something missing. 208 00:15:54,039 –> 00:15:59,640 Which teenager hasn’t felt that at some point in growing up in a Christian home? 209 00:15:59,719 –> 00:16:02,440 And you say, when I’ve been surrounded by all of this, but 210 00:16:03,239 –> 00:16:07,479 I wonder what it’s like outside. I wonder what it’s like somewhere else. 211 00:16:08,760 –> 00:16:13,640 Perhaps in this cosseted environment, this paradise in which I live, I’ve actually lived 212 00:16:13,640 –> 00:16:17,960 a restricted life. Maybe there’s something to be found in the knowledge of evil. I 213 00:16:19,000 –> 00:16:21,000 wonder if that might be the case. 214 00:16:22,919 –> 00:16:28,440 And so, Adam and Eve decide that this is what they want. They want the 215 00:16:29,080 –> 00:16:29,719 knowledge of 216 00:16:30,900 –> 00:16:36,440 evil. And so, they disobey the single prohibitive command of God, 217 00:16:36,440 –> 00:16:44,820 and in that act of disobeying God, they get the knowledge of evil, and we’ve all lived with it 218 00:16:44,820 –> 00:16:53,580 ever since. Adam and Eve, having disobeyed the command of God, are no longer able to 219 00:16:53,580 –> 00:16:59,419 separate themselves from this evil, this knowledge of evil. It’s in them. 220 00:17:01,419 –> 00:17:04,380 And it’s in you too. It’s in us, all! 221 00:17:05,239 –> 00:17:15,300 And we do not have the capacity now to separate ourselves from it. That’s what Paul expressed 222 00:17:15,300 –> 00:17:23,500 in Romans chapter 7, when he said this. Let me paraphrase. I find a law, a principle, 223 00:17:23,979 –> 00:17:34,780 that works in me. And this is what it is, that when I want to do good, evil is right 224 00:17:34,780 –> 00:17:42,839 there beside me. And what I end up doing is not the good that I intended to do, 225 00:17:42,839 –> 00:17:50,459 but the evil right there beside me that I never intended. That is what I end up doing. 226 00:17:50,560 –> 00:17:55,619 I’ve got a knowledge of evil, that’s what Paul is saying, and you know that you have it too. 227 00:17:55,619 –> 00:18:03,719 Can you explain why in the world you would do again something that made you miserable last 228 00:18:03,719 –> 00:18:07,939 time you did it? There’s only one explanation, there’s an impulse that is within you. It’s 229 00:18:07,939 –> 00:18:18,900 attached itself to you. We have got the knowledge of evil. And that is the first part of the deepest 230 00:18:19,339 –> 00:18:26,040 problem that we face in human experience. And here is the second part, we have a two 231 00:18:26,040 –> 00:18:33,000 fold problem and if you can get this clear in your mind it will greatly help you. This 232 00:18:33,000 –> 00:18:39,199 really sets the program for the Bible’s story because from now on the Bible story is going 233 00:18:39,199 –> 00:18:48,400 to be about how God addresses the two fold problem that is at the very heart of the human 234 00:18:48,400 –> 00:18:53,380 condition that is at the root of the problem with our world. What is the two fold problem, 235 00:18:53,380 –> 00:18:58,719 number one, we’ve got a knowledge of evil. Number two, we’re excluded from paradise. 236 00:18:58,719 –> 00:19:04,540 We’re excluded from the presence of God. We’re away from the place in which he’s seen and 237 00:19:04,540 –> 00:19:12,079 known and in which the fullness of his blessing is enjoyed. Now, you see that exclusion from 238 00:19:12,140 –> 00:19:22,699 paradise in Genesis in chapter 3 in verse 23 and 24, the Lord God sent him out from the garden 239 00:19:22,699 –> 00:19:37,900 of Eden, he drove out the man. Of course, evil has no place in the presence of God and therefore 240 00:19:38,579 –> 00:19:49,339 drives out this first couple from the paradise garden that he has planted and their lives are 241 00:19:49,339 –> 00:19:56,800 now lived not in this beautiful garden but in a wilderness outside, it’s completely different. I 242 00:19:56,800 –> 00:20:03,380 mean, in the garden they just needed to reach up to the trees and pick their food, now in the 243 00:20:03,380 –> 00:20:09,160 wilderness Adam’s going to sweat and toil. There’s thorns, there’s thistles. The animals are wild. 244 00:20:09,160 –> 00:20:18,560 They experienced pain and fear and guilt and shame. It’s a different world, it’s a wilderness 245 00:20:18,560 –> 00:20:26,079 now that they need to work and sweat of the brow is there. Frustration, it’s entirely different, 246 00:20:26,500 –> 00:20:33,880 entirely different. And not only have they a different experience of the earth itself, 247 00:20:33,880 –> 00:20:40,199 the marriage that was a bond of oneness, immediately that they have the knowledge 248 00:20:40,199 –> 00:20:45,859 of evil, what do they find? They find that there’s strain on the marriage. There’s a 249 00:20:45,859 –> 00:20:55,739 distancing between them. There’s a shame that they have to overcome. Over time Adam and Eve 250 00:20:55,819 –> 00:21:04,819 would begin to notice lines on their faces, and then the lines become wrinkles. And soon they 251 00:21:04,819 –> 00:21:12,540 would discover that this death that God had spoken about would become a terrible reality 252 00:21:12,540 –> 00:21:23,020 that neither of them could avoid. And when evening came – evening – God would 253 00:21:23,060 –> 00:21:29,380 appear in the Garden of Eden and walk with them and speak with them, but now they no longer enjoy 254 00:21:29,380 –> 00:21:39,739 the visible presence of God, nor do they hear his audible voice. There’s an alienation. There’s an 255 00:21:39,739 –> 00:21:49,619 estrangement that has come. Paradise has been lost. They’re outside. Now, notice what it says 256 00:21:49,619 –> 00:21:58,380 verse 24. The Lord God drove out the man and, at the east of the Garden of Eden, 257 00:21:58,380 –> 00:22:03,599 He placed the cherubim, that’s angelic figures that represent God’s holiness, 258 00:22:03,959 –> 00:22:21,359 and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the Tree of Life. The cherubim 259 00:22:21,359 –> 00:22:31,640 represent a holiness of God, and then I want you to picture this. A flaming sword. And this sword 260 00:22:31,640 –> 00:22:45,660 is not static. It moves every way, up, down, right, left, across every angle. It moves, it moves, 261 00:22:45,660 –> 00:22:54,680 it it flashes. It’s flaming. It is never still. Now what is that communicating? It’s communicating 262 00:22:54,680 –> 00:23:00,359 this. Adam and Eve are outside of the paradise of God. The Tree of Life is inside the paradise 263 00:23:00,400 –> 00:23:05,140 of God. Can they get back into the paradise of God? No. What will cut them down? They’ll 264 00:23:05,140 –> 00:23:10,280 be cut down by the judgment of God. There is no way through it. It’s flashing. And there’s 265 00:23:10,280 –> 00:23:20,280 no way to dodge it. No way past it. So outside of paradise. Outside of the place of the holy 266 00:23:20,280 –> 00:23:27,099 presence of God. And no way back in, because this flaming sword that clearly represents 267 00:23:27,180 –> 00:23:33,380 the judgement of God is always on the move and inevitably will cut down anyone who passes 268 00:23:33,380 –> 00:23:40,380 by that way. The sight must have been not absolutely terrifying. Adam suddenly realizes 269 00:23:40,599 –> 00:23:48,859 we’re outside. How in the world can we ever get back? There’s no way. 270 00:23:49,180 –> 00:23:58,400 So here’s the Bible’s diagnosis of the human problem. Get this set deep in your mind. What’s 271 00:23:58,400 –> 00:24:05,880 the deepest problem that we face? What’s the biggest personal issue that has to be 272 00:24:05,880 –> 00:24:16,459 overcome in my life? You’ve got a knowledge of evil excluded from the presence of God. 273 00:24:16,699 –> 00:24:20,819 That’s it. Now, that’s totally different from the assessment of the world. The world is 274 00:24:20,819 –> 00:24:24,239 always telling us, you know, what’s wrong with your life, all the deepest problems? 275 00:24:24,239 –> 00:24:30,140 This person or that, you know, employment or the circumstance or that need and so forth. 276 00:24:30,140 –> 00:24:33,819 And if you change this, change that everything will be fine. Now the Bible says, now here’s 277 00:24:33,819 –> 00:24:40,239 your deepest problem. And you never really understand yourself properly until you come 278 00:24:40,439 –> 00:24:46,199 to terms with what really is the issue. It’s like going to the doctor, tell me the truth 279 00:24:46,199 –> 00:24:51,819 about what’s wrong with me because the only hope of getting right is when I really get 280 00:24:51,819 –> 00:24:58,819 to the bottom of what’s wrong. Here’s what’s wrong. You’ve got a knowledge of evil and 281 00:24:58,900 –> 00:25:05,900 you’re excluded from paradise. That’s the Bible’s diagnosis. 282 00:25:06,459 –> 00:25:13,459 It’s all here in Genesis chapter 3. The Bible is, from beginning to end, a story 283 00:25:17,780 –> 00:25:24,780 of hope and the rest of the Bible’s story is telling us not only the effects of the 284 00:25:28,839 –> 00:25:34,859 knowledge of evil and being excluded from the presence and the paradise of God as it 285 00:25:34,900 –> 00:25:39,180 runs through human history, we’re gonna see that story. But what God has done, what 286 00:25:39,180 –> 00:25:44,739 he is doing, and what he will do to deliver us from the knowledge of evil, and to bring 287 00:25:44,739 –> 00:25:51,060 us back into the paradise of God. That is the Bible story. And even getting the diagnosis 288 00:25:51,060 –> 00:25:55,300 which is grim in Genesis and chapter 3 in a profound sense is good news because you 289 00:25:55,300 –> 00:26:02,300 can’t begin to get right until you really know what is wrong. And I want you to notice 290 00:26:02,300 –> 00:26:09,739 that the story of hope begins right here in Genesis in chapter 3. It actually began, 291 00:26:09,739 –> 00:26:17,099 the hope of the gospel began on the day that sin entered into the world. A little, uh, 292 00:26:17,099 –> 00:26:24,099 caveat here, just to point out, you do not have to wait until the new testament to get 293 00:26:24,099 –> 00:26:32,060 God’s wonderful message of hope. The old testament is full of the Lord Jesus Christ. 294 00:26:32,060 –> 00:26:38,680 Full of hope, full of pointers to the one who will come into the world by whom and through 295 00:26:38,680 –> 00:26:44,640 whom God will deal with this knowledge of evil, and God will open the way back into 296 00:26:44,640 –> 00:26:50,380 the paradise of God. That’s why the whole bible story is one of hope and therefore is 297 00:26:50,380 –> 00:27:00,780 the gift of God to all of us. Two observations. First, hope begins when God pronounces a curse, 298 00:27:01,500 –> 00:27:18,439 verse 14. The Lord God said to the serpent because you have done this, cursed are you. 299 00:27:18,439 –> 00:27:29,020 Now that word curse is very important. My dictionary tells me that a curse is an utterance 300 00:27:29,359 –> 00:27:42,160 of a deity consigning a person or thing to destruction. So when God says cursed to the 301 00:27:42,160 –> 00:27:53,540 enemy of our souls, to Satan, he says you are consigned to destruction. What you have 302 00:27:53,540 –> 00:28:05,280 done will not stand. It will be destroyed. Now I hope that immediately you will have 303 00:28:05,280 –> 00:28:14,380 a profound sense of wanting to thank God for his curse on evil. If God did not consign 304 00:28:14,380 –> 00:28:21,540 evil to destruction, who else could? If you look at the history of the world, the human 305 00:28:21,619 –> 00:28:28,459 story is an ongoing attempt to consign evil to destruction. How can we get to a place 306 00:28:28,459 –> 00:28:33,800 where war is no more? How can we get to the place where there is provision for all people 307 00:28:33,800 –> 00:28:40,060 and conflicts are brought to an end? Every generation feels that it has the capacity 308 00:28:40,060 –> 00:28:45,199 to consign evil to the dustbin of history. It never happens. 309 00:28:45,199 –> 00:28:50,000 We have got the knowledge of evil and it keeps manifesting itself from generation to generation 310 00:28:50,020 –> 00:28:59,359 in some new form and in some new way. We can’t get rid of it and it seems self-evidently 311 00:28:59,359 –> 00:29:05,560 true from the fact that we are still dealing with it in the 21st century. We can’t get 312 00:29:05,560 –> 00:29:12,180 rid of it. We can’t consign it to destruction. We would if we could but we can’t. And God 313 00:29:12,180 –> 00:29:24,359 says I will. God says to the enemy of our souls, cursed are you. And then God uses that 314 00:29:24,359 –> 00:29:30,060 word a second time. If you look at verse 17, you will see there, Genesis chapter 3 and 315 00:29:30,060 –> 00:29:40,160 verse 17 that God now turns to Adam. And to Adam he said. So picture the drama of this 316 00:29:40,199 –> 00:29:47,880 account. God, who in this theology, has clearly made himself visible again and addresses the 317 00:29:47,880 –> 00:29:54,439 evil one who has been made visible in this form of a serpent and he says to the enemy 318 00:29:54,439 –> 00:30:08,640 cursed are you? And then he turns to Adam and again he pronounces this awful word. Cursed? 319 00:30:08,640 –> 00:30:19,959 Adam must have trembled in fear. God just said to the enemy, you’re consigned to destruction 320 00:30:19,959 –> 00:30:28,599 and now surely he’s going to say the same to me. I’m a sinner, and I’m in the presence 321 00:30:28,599 –> 00:30:40,520 of a holy God. And he has just said that fearful word, cursed. Here’s the most amazing 322 00:30:40,520 –> 00:30:51,599 thing. When God said to Adam the word cursed, he did not then follow it up with the words 323 00:30:51,599 –> 00:31:03,719 are you. He said, looking at Adam, cursed is the ground because of you! Adam must have 324 00:31:03,719 –> 00:31:13,119 been looking at the Lord and said, what does the ground do? Now, right there we learn one 325 00:31:13,119 –> 00:31:18,199 of the most important things that you can know about the God of the Bible. The God of 326 00:31:18,199 –> 00:31:27,400 the Bible is the God who finds a way to divert the curse that is due to us to another place 327 00:31:27,400 –> 00:31:32,699 in order to create room for us to be reconciled to him. That’s what he did for Adam and for 328 00:31:32,699 –> 00:31:45,280 Eve on that first day in the garden. It’s amazing. Cursed is the ground because of you! 329 00:31:45,280 –> 00:31:53,800 The curse of Adam’s sin, the curse of your sin, the curse of my sin must go somewhere. 330 00:31:53,800 –> 00:32:03,819 God is holy. And at the heart of the Bible’s story we are told where it really goes. God 331 00:32:03,819 –> 00:32:14,479 sends his Son and directs the curse of our sin onto him. The one who spoke the curse 332 00:32:14,800 –> 00:32:22,400 bore the curse for you and for me. That is what Jesus was doing when he went to the cross. 333 00:32:22,400 –> 00:32:27,140 And you will find later in the Bible’s story that this is explained very clearly. Christ 334 00:32:27,140 –> 00:32:37,079 redeemed us from the curse of the law. How did he do that? By becoming a curse for us. 335 00:32:37,160 –> 00:32:42,199 For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. 336 00:32:42,199 –> 00:32:48,339 Now, the man and the woman would live now with the curse on the ground. This is why 337 00:32:48,339 –> 00:32:52,680 they’re living not in the paradise of God where everything is just wonderfully there, 338 00:32:52,680 –> 00:32:57,599 but they’re in the wilderness, where there’s this toil and this struggle and all this frustration. 339 00:32:57,599 –> 00:33:04,939 They’re going to know pain, and drought, and disease, and death in this fallen world. 340 00:33:04,939 –> 00:33:09,380 And they live in a world, and we live in a world that is under a curse. Remember that 341 00:33:09,380 –> 00:33:13,140 every time you say, now, why would there be another storm, why would there be another 342 00:33:13,140 –> 00:33:18,839 terrible disaster? Why is there so much pain in the world? 343 00:33:18,839 –> 00:33:25,339 Remember also to say this. Thank God that the curse is on the ground and not on us directly. 344 00:33:25,339 –> 00:33:29,819 Because in diverting the curse away from the man and the woman, he’s created the opportunity 345 00:33:29,939 –> 00:33:35,500 the man and the woman and all their children to be reconciled to him. 346 00:33:35,500 –> 00:33:40,099 And it is for this reason that the curse bearer comes into the world, that God himself becomes 347 00:33:40,099 –> 00:33:45,479 the bearer of the curse that must be pronounced against all sin and against all evil. 348 00:33:45,479 –> 00:33:50,780 It must be destroyed. Otherwise, there can be no paradise of God. 349 00:33:50,780 –> 00:33:57,579 And remember this. As you think of the curse being diverted onto the ground, that the New 350 00:33:58,300 –> 00:34:04,579 Testament tells us very wonderfully that even there, God will lift that curse and the creation 351 00:34:04,579 –> 00:34:10,919 itself will one day be wonderfully renewed. Romans, in chapter eight, God subjected the 352 00:34:10,919 –> 00:34:17,679 creation to frustration. Well, thank God for that. It was the creation and not the man 353 00:34:17,679 –> 00:34:26,360 and the woman. But we’re told this, He has also planned a day when the creation itself 354 00:34:26,459 –> 00:34:33,459 will be liberated from its bondage to decay and will enter into the glorious freedom of 355 00:34:34,239 –> 00:34:41,239 the children of God. Here’s the redeemed community, the children of God, and now the creation 356 00:34:42,399 –> 00:34:46,899 itself will be freed from the curse because the curse will be gone and the children of 357 00:34:46,899 –> 00:34:52,860 God will enter into the new heaven and the new earth that will be the home of the righteousness. 358 00:34:53,560 –> 00:35:00,560 of the Bible’s story. Now, we have a two-fold problem. It’s clear 359 00:35:02,139 –> 00:35:08,300 in our minds what’s our problem. We have a knowledge of evil and we are excluded from 360 00:35:08,300 –> 00:35:12,959 paradise. And we’ve seen it in these last moments that 361 00:35:12,959 –> 00:35:17,840 the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to deal with our deepest problem. He deals 362 00:35:17,840 –> 00:35:23,899 with the problem of the knowledge of evil because the curse that consigns that to destruction 363 00:35:23,899 –> 00:35:30,800 is diverted from us and on to Him when He gives His life for us on the cross. 364 00:35:30,800 –> 00:35:34,959 But remember that there’s another part to the problem, and so there’s another part 365 00:35:34,959 –> 00:35:41,760 to the hope. And it’s this, that hope begins not only when God pronounces a curse but it 366 00:35:41,860 –> 00:35:48,320 becomes ours because God makes a marvelous promise. And that’s Genesis 3 verses 14 and 367 00:35:48,320 –> 00:35:55,320 15, The Lord God said to the serpent, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between 368 00:35:58,320 –> 00:36:05,320 your offspring and her offspring and he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his 369 00:36:05,780 –> 00:36:12,780 heal. There’ll be enmity between the evil one and the whole human race, in other words 370 00:36:14,080 –> 00:36:19,419 human history will be marked by this ongoing relentless battle against evil, it breaks 371 00:36:19,419 –> 00:36:26,419 out here, it breaks out there, we can’t get rid of it, it’s an ongoing enmity, another 372 00:36:27,260 –> 00:36:34,260 murder, another scandal, another war. But God promises that there will be an offspring 373 00:36:39,419 –> 00:36:46,419 of the woman—notice that this person is described as offspring of the woman not the 374 00:36:47,479 –> 00:36:54,479 man. Marvelous little foreshadowing of the virgin birth, God is going to come into the 375 00:36:54,679 –> 00:36:59,659 human race, the human race can’t produce a redeemer, God comes into the human race, born 376 00:36:59,659 –> 00:37:06,659 of the woman, and when He comes He will be the one who will engage in this great struggle 377 00:37:07,580 –> 00:37:13,879 against the evil one. And He will inflict a fatal wound on the enemy, He shall bruise 378 00:37:13,879 –> 00:37:20,879 your head. He will crush the head of the enemy, imagine stamping down on a venomous snake, 379 00:37:21,479 –> 00:37:28,479 but then in the very act of stamping down with the heel on the enemy the enemy will 380 00:37:29,300 –> 00:37:35,780 bite His heel. There’s another anticipation of what happened at the cross. All of the 381 00:37:35,780 –> 00:37:42,780 power of evil was unleashed to bite against the Lord Jesus Christ. But in His death and 382 00:37:43,139 –> 00:37:50,139 in His resurrection He inflicted a deadly wound onthe enemy. It is not He finished 383 00:37:53,520 –> 00:37:59,219 him off at that point, but He inflicted a deadly wound on him in such a way that all 384 00:37:59,219 –> 00:38:06,219 who come to this risen Christ will receive His power and His presence in our struggle 385 00:38:06,939 –> 00:38:13,939 against the very powers of evil and of temptation. This is why Paul, having spoken of the frustration 386 00:38:14,639 –> 00:38:19,560 that he experiences in saying, you know, the good that I want to do, I don’t end up doing 387 00:38:19,560 –> 00:38:26,020 it. I find this evil is right there beside me, he then says, who’s going to deliver me 388 00:38:26,020 –> 00:38:31,979 from this body of death? I mean, is that the end of the story? That when I want to do good, 389 00:38:31,979 –> 00:38:36,040 I find evil beside me, and I don’t do the one thing that I want to do, I end up doing 390 00:38:36,320 –> 00:38:41,040 that. Is that the end of the story? No. Who will deliver me? Thanks be to God, through 391 00:38:41,040 –> 00:38:48,040 Jesus Christ, our Lord. I’ve got a savior. And his power at work in me is greater than 392 00:38:49,679 –> 00:38:57,399 the power of the enemy. Then remember, that not only do we have this 393 00:38:57,399 –> 00:39:05,399 problem of the knowledge of evil, what about the flaming sword excluded from paradise? 394 00:39:06,080 –> 00:39:14,080 And again, I want you to see that this is why the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world. 395 00:39:18,679 –> 00:39:25,679 Years ago, I heard Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones describe what Jesus Christ did in relation 396 00:39:27,379 –> 00:39:34,379 to Genesis 3 in such a visual way, I have never forgotten it. And so let me, just taking 397 00:39:34,979 –> 00:39:41,979 this image, try and give it to you. Imagine that we are all standing outside the Garden 398 00:39:49,199 –> 00:39:56,199 of Eden and we’re looking at this flaming sword that is flashing and always moving up 399 00:39:56,520 –> 00:40:03,520 and down, and at every angle, turning every way, and we say there is no way back in for us. 400 00:40:09,020 –> 00:40:16,020 Here’s the gospel. Someone comes out from the very presence of God, God Himself in 401 00:40:16,159 –> 00:40:23,159 human flesh and takes His stand with us. And taking His stand with us, for us, He goes 402 00:40:33,199 –> 00:40:40,199 marching towards that sword and we are all standing there watching what’s going to happen 403 00:40:40,979 –> 00:40:46,199 and as He keeps going forward we wince because we say we know what’s going to 404 00:40:46,199 –> 00:40:53,120 happen. Look at that sword and He just keeps 405 00:40:53,120 –> 00:40:58,080 going on relentlessly until He gets to that sword and then it happens. It 406 00:40:58,080 –> 00:41:07,879 strikes Him and it kills Him. But here’s the thing as it strikes Him it breaks 407 00:41:07,879 –> 00:41:18,219 itself on Him. That’s what happened at the cross. The judgment of God against 408 00:41:18,219 –> 00:41:25,459 our sin that would have finished us off and consigned us to destruction forever 409 00:41:25,520 –> 00:41:35,699 hit Him and brother, sister for those who are in Christ it broke itself on Him as 410 00:41:35,979 –> 00:41:42,479 far as you and I are concerned and here’s that what that means. One day, 411 00:41:43,699 –> 00:41:51,919 one day you will pass from this life and you will go right into the presence of 412 00:41:51,939 –> 00:41:57,040 this holy God. And brother, sister in Jesus Christ and because of Jesus 413 00:41:57,040 –> 00:42:02,439 Christ here’s what is true for you. You will on that day have nothing to fear 414 00:42:02,439 –> 00:42:09,020 from the judgment of God because the sword lies broken at the side of the 415 00:42:09,020 –> 00:42:15,719 way having broken itself on him as far as you are concerned. 416 00:42:16,399 –> 00:42:24,280 So that there is as the book of Hebrew said, a new and living way in which we 417 00:42:24,280 –> 00:42:31,260 may enter the joy of the presence of God and receive from the tree of life 418 00:42:31,260 –> 00:42:42,179 forever and forever. Father, for this gift of hope that is ours in Jesus Christ we 419 00:42:42,179 –> 00:42:49,860 lift our hearts in thanksgiving worship adoration and praise, through Jesus 420 00:42:49,860 –> 00:42:52,939 Christ our Lord. Amen