WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:03.359 Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter three. 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:09.039 You're reading verses one through fifteen in our Advent sermon series. 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:14.240 We're gonna be camping out in this part of God's Word for the next several weeks. 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:22.719 Here are the reading of God's word. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:29.679 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:35.840 He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You should not eat of any tree in the garden? 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:48.079 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:59.679 But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:15.760 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:25.519 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:35.920 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:41.040 But the Lord God said to the man and said to him, Where are you? 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:48.799 And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:51.439 He said, Who told you that you were naked? 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:55.599 Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? 00:01:55.840 --> 00:02:02.159 The man said, The woman you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree, and I ate. 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:06.319 Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is it that you have done? 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:10.159 The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:20.000 The Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field. 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:25.759 On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:32.479 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:37.759 He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:44.479 This is the reading of God's holy, infallible, and errant word. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:51.520 We have been given God's word, but we've also been given God's Spirit. 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:57.039 The same Spirit who inspired these words illumines our hearts with these truths. 00:02:57.520 --> 00:02:59.120 So let's ask Him. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:03.280 Father, thank you. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:12.000 Thank you for giving us this world-changing event for our edification, for our benefit. 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:24.960 So now help us to not only understand the concepts, but to understand the truth, but Lord, to be changed by this truth as your spirit works in us. 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:26.479 This we ask. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:28.560 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:35.439 This is Advent, yes, it is. 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:41.759 This second week of Advent, the candle of peace. 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:46.240 We just read the turning point in history, is it not? 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:52.159 God had created Adam and Eve, and they were perfect. 00:03:53.039 --> 00:04:02.400 There was no blemishes physically, there was no disturbance inwardly, relationally. 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:04.479 Everything was good. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:07.360 Just the way God created them. 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:10.639 And then something happens. 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:12.240 Theologians talk about it. 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:18.480 If you've never been in church before for Christmas, and I know for many of you that's the case every year. 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:22.800 I don't assume that everybody here grew up in church, so we don't assume that. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:28.959 Let me tell you the story, the big story, the big broad picture, as theologians describe it. 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:31.040 In four words, really. 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:53.759 Creation, there's the history of creation in the Bible, and then there's the fall of man, we just read about, and then there's redemption, we're gonna talk about, and then there's consummation, how this world is gonna end, how it's all gonna come out in the end, and it's gonna be good for Christians. 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:55.839 That's the backdrop. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:05:02.639 Here we see the Bible recording this fall, and yet we find the promise of redemption right here as well. 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:08.800 God had put Adam and Eve in paradise, but paradise is now lost. 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:11.279 When they sin, they rebel. 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:17.519 The serpent, that is Satan, approached Eve with a question. 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:24.160 Did God actually say, are you sure that you heard it right? 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:27.600 The prohibition that God gave you in the garden. 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:32.560 And she fell for it, and Adam fell for it. 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:38.959 The first point this morning is simply how peace was lost by succumbing to temptation. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:43.279 How peace was lost by succumbing to temptation. 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:45.839 The serpent approached Eve with a question. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:48.959 It was really a suggestion more than an argument. 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:55.360 Because, notice that word, the serpent was crafty. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:57.519 He's sneaky. 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:01.680 Oftentimes he doesn't make frontal assaults toward us. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:07.839 He likes to come in through the side door or maybe the back door where our guard is down. 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:10.000 He's good at that. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:11.759 He's good like that. 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:15.040 What was the suggestion? 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:20.000 Oswald Chambers put it like this, and this is really a good summary. 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:23.519 The suspicion that God really is not that good. 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:26.240 That's really the essence of sin. 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:31.519 That God is not good as he claims to be. 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:35.199 And you really can't trust him because he's holding back. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:40.160 He's just holding something back that you deserve. 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:43.600 That's exactly what he did with Eve. 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:46.399 That's exactly what he does with every one of us. 00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:47.600 We know that. 00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:52.959 As it's been said, sin looks good when God looks bad. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:56.959 Sin looks bad when God looks good. 00:06:57.279 --> 00:06:58.480 Think about that. 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:00.240 It's true. 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:02.240 It's how he works. 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:08.160 Satan loves to plant seeds of doubt in the minds and the hearts of God's people. 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:13.519 And so immediately, as Satan approaches Eve, she starts to backpedal. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:16.560 Wait a minute, I thought I knew what God said. 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:19.759 I thought I got that right. 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:24.800 But now the tempter is trying to throw her off her balance. 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:26.800 Did God really say that? 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:38.240 And now we see, because she's on her heels, now she's going to extravagate uh exaggerate what God actually said. 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:41.920 Did God say you don't even touch it? 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:42.800 No. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:45.360 Now she's adding to. 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:48.160 God said you should not eat of it. 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:50.000 It's like a child. 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:57.040 And the parent says, you know, hey, look, Johnny, you're not going to go outside to play until you do your homework, okay? 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:00.000 And what does Johnny say? 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:02.800 Man, I can't do anything around here. 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:05.519 Well, that's not true. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:08.399 Do your homework. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:10.399 And then you can go out. 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:16.959 The Hebrew scholar Derek Kidner puts it like this. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:22.800 She over-corrects the error, magnifying God's strictness. 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:25.439 And we've all done that. 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:28.160 Magnifying the error. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:31.839 Magnifying God's strictness. 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:37.039 And so it feels like God is overly restrictive. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:40.879 It feels like God is just asking too much of us. 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:44.399 He's asking the impossible. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:46.480 Who could do that? 00:08:47.519 --> 00:09:01.279 And so, as we read in the text, in verse 8, we read and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden after they were deceived and ate of the fruit. 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:06.639 And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:10.559 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, What? 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:12.879 Where are you? 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:15.360 Where are you? 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:19.919 And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid. 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:23.519 And that's the title of the sermon. 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:25.600 And I was afraid. 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:28.399 Fear overcame me. 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:30.639 Fear overwhelmed me. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:32.559 Because I was naked. 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:38.320 So I did the reasonable thing that naked people who are aware of their nakedness do. 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:40.480 I went into hiding. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:43.440 And we've been in hiding ever since. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:49.039 God was not asking Adam for information. 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:55.200 God did not need a locating device like I've got on my phone. 00:09:56.240 --> 00:10:02.000 If I want to know where my family's up to, all I've got to do is click on that, and at least I know where they are. 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:04.720 No, no, God was not clueless. 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:07.840 He knew exactly where Adam was. 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:11.440 He's not asking for information. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:15.600 No, he's asking for a different reason. 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:18.879 Adam, I know where you are, do you? 00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:27.440 Isn't it interesting how often in life we really don't know where we are? 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:31.919 Emotionally, spiritually. 00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:37.120 Of course we know where we are physically, geographically. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:39.440 But where's my heart? 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:49.120 You know you can go through Advent, you can go through the whole season of Advent and not know where your heart really is. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:53.440 Adam, I know where you are. 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:54.399 Do you? 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:57.919 Are you aware of what is controlling you right now? 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:02.240 Adam says, he confesses, I was afraid. 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:06.559 Fear is his core emotion. 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:15.440 And ever since he fell, fear has been the core emotion of all of us at some times. 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:19.600 At some times, aren't we painfully aware of our fears? 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:22.559 And sometimes we're not. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:25.519 Sometimes we can mask our fear. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:28.240 A comfortable life can do that. 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:43.600 If God so happened to bless you by living in Washington, D.C., in a city with many resources, many opportunities, education. 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:46.080 We know. 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:52.159 We know that we are what, in the top 1% of the world, in terms of these comforts? 00:11:53.039 --> 00:11:59.519 The minds, the blessings, the education that God's given us, the resources, the opportunities that He's given us. 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:01.519 He's given us so much. 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:06.320 Sometimes we can mask fear. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:10.000 Because we look at our bank account, maybe. 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:15.200 We look at our career, and we think, okay, I think I'm on a good path. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:20.639 And yet we all know what fear is, if we're honest. 00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:24.320 Fear cannot coexist with peace. 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:27.759 We're talking about peace today. 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:31.360 Fear cannot coexist with peace. 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:35.519 Sometimes it's much easier to find our bodies than it is our souls. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:43.039 Fear is a familiar emotion ever since the day in the garden that the innocence was lost. 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:47.039 This is why the Word of God has so much to say about fear. 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:55.279 I didn't do my study in the concordance all the times that fear appears, but a lot. 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:56.960 But I do know this. 00:12:57.600 --> 00:13:02.240 What was the number one command that Jesus spoke in his day? 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:04.240 Fear not. 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:07.519 Why was that the number one command? 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:10.000 I mean, he could have said all kinds of things. 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:15.919 Stop committing adultery, stop stealing, honor your parents. 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:28.000 I mean, there's so many commands that are applicable, but the one command that he comes back to more than any other is stop fearing. 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:30.559 I see your fear. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:36.960 And you don't need to live in fear because I've done something about it. 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:42.720 What we fear, we often try to control. 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:47.039 We talk about that a lot at APC. 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:51.519 It seems as though we want to not believe that. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:55.440 What we fear, we often try to control. 00:13:55.840 --> 00:14:07.360 In fear, Adam goes into hiding, trying his best to control what he could, including, by the way, maybe our number one favorite sport, blame shifting. 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:11.440 That's what fearful people do. 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:18.399 Shift the blame, shift the focus off of us, and put it elsewhere. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:20.240 That's exactly what he did. 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:22.639 He throws Eve under the bus. 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:30.000 Well, the woman, the woman you gave me, who's he blaming? 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:31.679 He's blaming God. 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:42.000 God, if you hadn't put me in this situation, if you had given me a better wife, who was wiser and smarter, and didn't fall into the temptation. 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:49.759 By the way, the Hebrew seems to suggest that Adam was present when the serpent came to Eve. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:53.840 What does that suggest? 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:55.679 Well, that's a whole other sermon. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:57.919 How passive men can be. 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:00.879 Why didn't Adam do something? 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:02.720 Why didn't Adam say something? 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:05.440 Why didn't Adam protect his wife? 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:14.399 And most men, most men have struggled with this ever since. 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:29.519 Being passive when God calls us to be courageous, when God calls us to stand in front to protect our family, when God calls us to shield, to protect our wife. 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:32.720 But that's another sermon. 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:38.240 Blame shifting, blaming Eve, blaming God. 00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:40.639 Fear makes us do crazy things. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:53.679 After the fall, perfect in paradise, they were naked and they felt no shame. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:59.759 And that really is the goal of life. 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:05.840 But since Adam and Eve fell in an original sin, we all fell with them. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:13.519 I think as Jim Boyce put it one time, we're all connected to the same root, excuse me, rope. 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:16.159 You know, like a like a rock climber. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:22.480 We were all attached, and when Adam fell, we all fell with them into sin. 00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:27.360 We're not sinners because we sin. 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:31.679 We sin because we're sinners by nature. 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:44.240 With all this going on, all this going on, there's two things that ever since the fall that we're we're good at, relatively good at. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:55.200 We're good at covering ourselves so that people don't see the blemishes of our life. 00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:58.320 And then we we don't feel shame. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:07.200 Or when we're exposed, when people see through us, and then living with shame. 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:11.599 Only God can restore that. 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:14.160 We're gonna talk about that in the coming weeks. 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:20.559 We're gonna talk about how it is possible to be naked before God and not ashamed. 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:23.440 We're gonna talk about that. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:30.400 We either try to cover up so we are not exposed, or we struggle with shame because we are exposed. 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:34.640 Fig leaves don't make for good covering, do they? 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:41.599 It just so happens that our fig leaves are much more expensive than our first parents. 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:46.799 Our fig leaves are much more devious in some ways. 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:50.799 We fear exposure. 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:59.599 We fear rejection, as theologian Cornelius Plantinga says, sin has to spend a lot on makeup. 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:02.079 You get that? 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:12.000 Takes a lot of makeup to hide the things that we believe if were known. 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:29.759 If the things that were true about me were known, my darkest thoughts, my worst fears, if those things were known, I don't know what I would do. 00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:32.480 Except probably fall apart. 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:35.200 Yes, it's true. 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:41.359 Sin has to spend a lot of money on makeup financially, emotionally. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:48.079 We fear exposure, we fear rejection, whether it's rejection by a parent. 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:53.839 Some of us are still really struggling years later. 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:59.440 We're struggling because we felt rejection by parents. 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:09.839 Some of us know the rejection of a spouse, which just feels like impossible to deal with sometimes. 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:14.400 Rejection by a friend, rejection by an employer. 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:16.319 The list goes on. 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:21.519 It's been said that fears are like cancer cells. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:24.559 They intensify and multiply. 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:34.160 The garden, before a place of peace and joy, now became a place of fear and hiding, hiding from God and hiding from others. 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:37.200 To protect ourselves. 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:43.920 I've long believed that the 11th commandment is the sin of self-protection. 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:48.079 The sin of self-protection. 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:55.920 I don't know how many times over the last 30 years I've had this conversation, and Christians have told me, are you sure that's in the Bible? 00:19:57.440 --> 00:19:59.599 Are you sure that's in the Bible? 00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:01.359 Oh, I'm sure. 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:04.079 You could call it idolatry. 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:12.319 I will arrange my life to protect myself so that nobody gets too close. 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:20.319 Because I'm not sure they could handle if they knew what's really inside of me at times. 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:27.920 I'm gonna live to protect myself, and that means I'm going to learn how to put up walls around me so people can't get too close. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:29.440 And I know I know you understand this. 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:31.519 Some of you really understand this, I know. 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:45.039 I'm gonna do everything I can to keep my world intact, at least how I see my world, so nobody gets too close, including God. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:57.039 And as a pastor, I know that for many of us, it becomes a heartache of your spouse. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:02.720 It becomes a heartache of your children and your grandchildren. 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:07.279 Because they really want to get close to you and they don't know how to do that. 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:10.160 They just, they, they, they can't they can't. 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:13.119 You'll only let them get so far. 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:16.640 And then the walls go up. 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:20.240 And that's not for you. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:23.680 God has something better for us. 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:29.119 The governing emotional energy of the flesh is fear. 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:33.200 Yet we cannot control what matters most in life. 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:36.240 And when we try, it exhausts us. 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:39.680 We can exhaust ourselves trying. 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:43.200 The sins of self protection. 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:45.119 We talk about this a lot in this church. 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:48.079 We talk about this in the leadership class every year. 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:51.839 We talk about this in many other contacts and forums. 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:58.640 The fig leaves come in many varieties and shapes. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:04.160 Sometimes it's a very controlling dominant personality. 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:08.079 You know, somebody that really won't let you get a word in. 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:11.200 Control the conversation. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:17.200 Just kind of be in control of the conversation. 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:19.839 That's one way you can protect yourself. 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:24.400 Another way that you can protect yourself is never speak up. 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:26.960 It's very different, right? 00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:30.000 Just don't put yourself out there. 00:22:30.240 --> 00:22:32.640 Because what if you say something that's wrong? 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:35.039 What if you give the wrong answer? 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:37.359 Just stay quiet. 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:41.279 Just stay in the background of your life. 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:44.799 But that's not what God wants for you. 00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:48.319 God wants you to be known. 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:57.759 Satan has so many ways to tempt us to stay in hiding and not be fully alive. 00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:00.000 Isn't that what Irenea said? 00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:04.559 The glory of God in man is to be fully alive. 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:07.359 Don't you want that? 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:09.440 This Advent season? 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:13.440 Don't you want to feel like you're fully alive? 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:16.640 You are your truest person. 00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:19.759 You're the best version of how God created you? 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:22.799 I think so. 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:25.680 So I have a question for you. 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:27.359 This Advent season. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:29.440 Where are you? 00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:34.640 That's a question not only for you, but for me. 00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:42.319 As many of you know, Sharon and I have been living that life for the last 35 years, literally. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:45.359 Asking God to give us the courage. 00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:50.720 Give us the courage to actually ask the question: where are we? 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:53.680 Do we really know who we are? 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:57.359 How could we change if we don't address where we are? 00:23:57.519 --> 00:23:59.359 You're not going to move on. 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:02.480 You're not going to move on. 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:07.359 Personally, spiritually, if you don't figure out where you are now. 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:13.119 Most people choose that option, and that's a bad option. 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:17.920 You'll never be fully alive if you settle for that. 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:24.480 You'll just be less of who you are because you're trying to play it safe. 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:32.799 And I'm telling you, as your pastor, your spouse and your kids and your friends don't want you to play it safe. 00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:37.599 They want the real you. 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:43.359 Secondly, why the peace was lost. 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:48.640 How the peace was lost was through the temptation, succumbing to the temptation. 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:52.640 Why the peace was lost, that you were challenging God's authority. 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:56.319 Satan comes to Eve and says, has God actually said? 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:06.480 Satan is doing everything he can to, again, rise arise suspicion that God is holding back, God is not good. 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:09.680 Who says that God gets to decide what's true? 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:13.039 Boy, is that the world that we live in today? 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:18.240 Who says God gets to say what is truth? 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:21.039 Who says God gets to define truth? 00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:27.599 We live in a world, we live in a city that contests that every day. 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:32.000 We will decide what is true. 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:36.160 The majority of us will decide what is right. 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:42.079 It's the serpent's word versus God's word. 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:47.200 Eve listened to a creature's word rather than the creator's word. 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:49.119 Is that not weird? 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:56.640 She listened to a creature's word and said, I think I believe the creature more than the creator. 00:25:57.519 --> 00:25:58.880 Very illogical. 00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:04.480 And it's the root of all of our disobedience ever since. 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:07.599 The serpent has many different voices. 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:11.119 Many different voices. 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:15.119 His lies come from many different philosophies of life voices. 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:18.559 Anything that questions God's authority over us. 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:23.759 His voice comes from many pulpits in this city. 00:26:24.079 --> 00:26:24.720 I know. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:28.880 As I've talked to a lot of pastors in this city. 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:37.119 His voice, the tempter's voice, comes from pulpits where the word proclaimed is we're all God's family. 00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:39.200 God's already loved us and saved us. 00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:40.480 We're all together. 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:42.000 We're just one people. 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:46.400 Let's learn to get along and let's make that the focus of the rest of our life on this earth. 00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:47.359 Let's just all get along. 00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:48.319 That's a lie. 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:50.319 That's a lie from the pit of hell. 00:26:50.559 --> 00:26:52.960 The Bible doesn't teach that anywhere. 00:26:53.200 --> 00:26:56.240 And yet I know as your pastor, many of you grew up in churches like that. 00:26:56.400 --> 00:26:57.519 You've told me. 00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:01.839 You grew up in churches where what's the big deal? 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:03.279 I mean, aren't we all Christians? 00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:11.279 Don't we just worship God from a different perspective, a different religion, a different way, a different route? 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:12.240 No. 00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:17.680 Jesus said, there's one way. 00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:19.839 There's one way. 00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:22.799 And no one comes with the Father but by the Son. 00:27:23.039 --> 00:27:24.880 And the Son is Jesus Christ. 00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:26.480 That's the only way. 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:33.200 Many ways where the serpent's voice is heard. 00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:39.920 Yes, from pulpits, soft peddling sin, but also from majority opinions. 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:46.400 It seems in our culture the majority determines truth. 00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:52.160 We put ourselves in the position of judging our Creator, which is cosmic treason. 00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:55.279 To shake our fist at God. 00:27:56.799 --> 00:28:00.240 And to say, God, I deserve better. 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:08.079 And so I've learned that I can't really trust you to take care of me. 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:10.799 So I'll take care of myself, thank you. 00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:13.599 Some people do that by going to church. 00:28:13.759 --> 00:28:15.759 Some people do that by being religious. 00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:20.400 Other people do it by being irreligious and saying, I don't want any of this. 00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:21.759 I'm out. 00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:24.400 It's all the same. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:30.160 This disobedience, this defiance against God's word. 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:34.160 God, do you really have the right to tell me how to live my life? 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:37.519 He says, actually, I do. 00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:40.240 Because I created you. 00:28:41.359 --> 00:28:43.200 I made you in my image. 00:28:43.680 --> 00:28:48.720 I know exactly how to give you your best life. 00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:50.799 If you'll listen to me. 00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:56.000 What's going on in the garden after the fall with Adam and Eve is autonomy. 00:28:56.160 --> 00:28:57.599 Do you know what that word means? 00:28:57.920 --> 00:28:58.880 Autonomy. 00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:01.279 Auto self. 00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:02.640 Nomas. 00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:04.319 Law. 00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:06.319 Self-law. 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:08.640 That's what autonomy means. 00:29:09.359 --> 00:29:16.079 Autonomy means I'll figure out what's best for my life and the rules that I'll live by. 00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:19.119 We claim to know good from evil. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:27.440 The prophet Isaiah told us in chapter 5, verse 20: woe to those who call evil good and good evil. 00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:31.519 We come to the last point. 00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:36.799 How true peace is restored through the promise? 00:29:37.359 --> 00:29:43.599 The promise had been made here, right here in this garden, right after the fall. 00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:46.640 I have a question for you this morning. 00:29:46.960 --> 00:29:57.200 After Adam and Eve totally blew it, rebelling against the word of God, why did God not just walk away from them? 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:00.319 Can anybody answer that? 00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:07.200 I can't, except by his mercy. 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:10.079 Why didn't he just walk out? 00:30:10.640 --> 00:30:12.480 Look, I gave you everything. 00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:15.759 I put you in paradise, literally. 00:30:16.400 --> 00:30:20.640 And you defied my word, you rebelled against my authority. 00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:22.640 Fine. 00:30:23.119 --> 00:30:24.319 Have it your way. 00:30:26.319 --> 00:30:27.920 He didn't do that, did he? 00:30:29.519 --> 00:30:31.039 He didn't do that. 00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:35.200 He covered them, and again, we're going to talk about this in the next couple of weeks. 00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:39.279 He covered them with skins, garments of animal skins. 00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:41.119 He clothed them. 00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:42.640 He fed them. 00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:44.720 He provided for them. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:48.720 And then he spoke to the serpent, verse 14. 00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:52.000 This is the word the Lord had to say to Satan. 00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:57.200 Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all the beasts of the field. 00:30:57.440 --> 00:31:02.319 On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:09.039 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. 00:31:09.359 --> 00:31:15.519 He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. 00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:20.160