WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:22.000 Well, good morning, awakening. 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:23.440 How are we doing this morning? 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:24.879 Woo! Yeah. 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:29.280 And the overclappers, that was wonderful as well. 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:30.079 Love you. 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:36.560 And I just want to say, Second service, um, you beat out first service on just the responsiveness right there. 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:37.679 So well done. 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:40.000 You're winning already today. 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:43.119 Hey, we're beginning a brand new series called Broken God. 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:46.880 Why don't you just turn to your neighbor and say Broken God or somebody close to you? 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:52.560 My wife and I, we uh dated long distance. 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:58.960 Uh and so I was in Chicago in college, and she was in San Luis Obispo in college at Cal Poly. 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:02.159 Uh, she being a couple years older than me. 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:18.959 Um after college, she decided to do a year-long missions trip with uh Campus Crusade for Christ uh and go helping start a new uh crew movement in Sweden. 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:22.239 And so both of us are very Swedish uh looking, at least. 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:31.040 Uh and so she goes and uh going on this trip, and as she goes, I mean, we're gonna spend a year dating internationally. 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:39.280 Now, this is before you had um Facebook, or you we didn't even have cell phones at that time, they existed, but we just didn't have them. 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:49.120 Uh, and one of the things that was problematic for me was on her team, it was a team built up of like three or four guys, three or four girls, and a leader or something like that. 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:51.840 On her team was this guy named Sven. 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:54.000 Yes, Sven. 00:01:54.400 --> 00:02:01.760 I don't know what comes into your mind when you hear the name Sven, but whatever it was, it's probably right. 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:11.360 Sven was like a six foot one, blonde, like extremely built, good-looking guy. 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:15.039 And I, you know, I'm like scrawny college guy. 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:19.199 I'm like, oh my gosh, you're going for a year with Sven. 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:25.439 Every insecurity in me just rose to the top, right? 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:30.240 And so they get over to Sweden and they struggled finding housing. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:33.039 And so for a while, their team they're staying in hostels. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:37.280 Eventually, they were able to get one house for the entire team. 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:51.199 And so then now the entire team, guys and gals, are in one house, and you just can imagine, as you know, a 19, 20-year-old guy, what is going through my head thinking about Sven and Jenny in the same house. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:52.719 And I'm going like, no. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:59.199 Like, literally, this is I'm ashamed to say this, but this is what I had this picture in my head. 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:10.479 Um, I imagine that like Jenny wakes up to go use the bathroom in the morning or something like that, but Sven was already there brushing his teeth, shirtless, with a towel wrapped around his waist. 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:13.759 I mean, that was the picture in my mind. 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:24.159 And because that was the picture in my mind and the thoughts I was having, I began to act and respond as if they were true. 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:31.840 And so my deep insecurities began to come out in my conversations, in my emails of like, what about this? 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:32.800 What about this? 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:44.080 Uh, and all of a sudden, I almost ruined the best relationship of my life, this side of eternity and my real earthly relationship. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:50.000 Like, I was so insecure, and she's like, wait a second, you know my character. 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:51.840 Are you questioning you know who I am? 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:52.960 Are you kidding me? 00:03:53.120 --> 00:04:18.160 And eventually I was like, yeah, no, I I you're right, but Sven, you know, you know, as we look at the world around us today, it's it's easy to conclude that if there is a God, maybe he's broken because we're seeing so much brokenness in our world. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:27.120 And we just see all the devastation and all the pain and all the heartache around us and then just in our daily lives. 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:38.800 And yet, I just wonder, could it be that the problem actually isn't that God is broken, but that our view of God is broken. 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:53.680 That how we fundamentally understand him and how we see him and believe him to be, and because of that, we begin to act on those things, and then it causes devastation, it causes disconnect, it causes heartache and pain. 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:54.639 In fact, A. 00:04:54.800 --> 00:04:54.879 W. 00:04:55.040 --> 00:05:00.639 Tozer would say this in his like just Christian classic little book, I have it right here. 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:06.319 What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:17.600 Like, like right now, what comes into your mind when you hear the word God is the very most important thing about you. 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:30.000 In fact, he'll go on to later say the reason why is we tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:36.720 So, what comes into your mind when you think about God? 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:47.040 Could it be the most important thing about you? 00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:53.199 And what if the brokenness we're experiencing and living and walking through? 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:58.319 What if it's not because God is broken? 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:04.959 But because we have a broken view, understanding a mental image of God. 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:21.199 We're gonna spend the next several weeks actually looking and understanding the attributes and the character of God, reframing and understanding who it is that we just sang to, to know Him more fully and clearly together. 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:24.560 Uh, next week, we're gonna talk about the holiness of God. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:27.360 Week three, we're gonna talk about the goodness of God. 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:30.160 Week four, we're gonna talk about the wisdom of God. 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:32.959 Today, I want to talk about how we got here. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:36.800 How did we end up in this broken place to begin? 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:43.600 I want I want to actually begin just by answering kind of at its most fundamental essence core, who is God? 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:50.319 And then talk about who we are, and then why are we where we're at? 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:52.319 Where did it all go wrong? 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:55.040 Okay, so if you got your notes, would you open up with me? 00:06:55.199 --> 00:07:01.439 Let's talk about who is God, who we are, and then where it all went wrong. 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:07.279 Uh open up your Bibles, if you would, to Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:10.639 This is how the scriptures begin. 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:16.959 The very first sentence gives us this window and this picture to who God is. 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:21.600 It begins this way: In the beginning, God. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:25.920 God created the heavens and the earth. 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:31.920 In the beginning, so there was a point in time when all that we see around us was not. 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:36.639 But God pre-existed all of that. 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:46.079 He was before the beginning, he had no beginning, and he is the creative one who designed all that we see and know. 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:49.759 And so when we answer the question, who is God? 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:56.639 And we begin to see and look and ask that, really, fundamentally, God is not like you. 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:00.000 God is not like me. 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:07.759 Now, our tendency, when we think about God, isn't it true to think about that he's just a better version than us? 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:14.879 He's just a bigger version than us, or maybe not even of us, but uh the best version of ourselves? 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:18.160 Or the best person you can think of? 00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:22.639 And here's uh I think part of the reason why A.W. 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:27.759 Tozer, and you'll note that I'm actually going to quote significantly from him for multiple reasons. 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:35.120 One, I want to expose you to one of the Christian classics that has been transformational and formational in my life. 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:45.039 Two, when we're talking about these deep areas, sometimes any book that you want to approach feels really big, doesn't it? 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:49.200 And this is a little. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:33.360 And first, when we have to start with that question, our mental picture, what comes to our mind, we have to first assert God is not like us. 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:37.120 He's completely other, and we'll talk more about that next week. 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:39.840 But what does that mean he's not like us? 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:46.720 Uh, and where we get uh from the text here first is that God is self-existent. 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:51.600 I just want to go through some of these attributes and qualities of who God is. 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:54.559 God's self-existence, meaning he has no origin. 00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:59.360 God owes no one or nothing to his existence. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:03.600 He's the uncaused cause of the universe. 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:07.440 He's the uncreated creator of all that we see. 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:10.960 God exists in himself and of himself. 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:14.559 He's self-existent and he's self-sufficient. 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:16.960 God is the one who contains, this is Tozer. 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:31.679 God is the one who contains all, who gives all that is given, but all but who in himself, but who himself can receive nothing that he has not first given. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:37.759 He's self-sufficient, he needs nothing, he's complete in himself. 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:44.720 One of the most difficult things for us to really understand is God does not need us. 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:47.600 God does not need you. 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:49.840 God does not need me. 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:57.600 And yet in his grace and his kindness, he voluntarily stoops low to come near to us. 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:02.960 But he is self-existent, he is self-sufficient, and he is eternal. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:10.720 Tozer would say this that time marks the beginning of created existence. 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:17.519 And because God never began to exist, it can it can have no application to him. 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:23.120 God dwells in eternity, but time dwells in him. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:50.000 And we are created, we have a point in time, and yet because we are created in the image of God, we're gonna get there in a second, he has placed eternity in our hearts, and so one of the deep challenges of our own souls is there's this eternal desire and understanding that we're longing for, and yet we're put within the constraints of time. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:12:02.480 We're put within the constraints of change and meaninglessness, death, longing for life and permanence. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:07.919 God is self-existent, self-sufficient, eternal, he is infinite. 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:10.240 God knows no bounds. 00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:15.519 Whatever God is and all that God is, he is without limit. 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:17.600 He is measureless. 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:23.840 And this applies to all of his attributes. 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:27.679 His love is infinite. 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:29.759 It has no bounds. 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:32.080 It's measureless. 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:37.519 His grace is infinite, his mercy, his goodness. 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:50.320 You know, we sing this song, um, you are good, you're good to me, and then then the chorus or the bridge says you keep on getting better. 00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:55.440 And I think some of you at least are wrestling with that, and rightfully so in some ways. 00:12:55.679 --> 00:13:01.919 Because you're like, no, if God being infinite, self-existent, he can never get better. 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:08.080 And that's not what we, you know, many of you know what the intended author is meaning. 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:27.679 It's not that God is getting better, it's that we as finite human beings with limited capacity and understanding, as we in our finiteness begin to know the infinite love, begin to know the infinite goodness, begin to know the infinite God in all who He is, and we're just beginning to scratch not even the surface of it. 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:30.720 We can't barely ever even scratch it. 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:34.399 Our experience of Molen gets better. 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:39.840 Our moment of like, oh my God, you are God and you are great and you are good. 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:43.039 It only grows as we get to know him. 00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:47.759 Not that he's changed in any way, but our perspective and understanding does. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:53.919 He's self-existent, self-sufficient, eternal, infinite, and he's incomprehensible. 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:56.159 Go ahead and just say that to your neighbor. 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:05.039 Incomprehens we cannot fully grasp or understand God. 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:09.679 Because he's infinite and we're finite. 00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:18.720 Because he's eternal, self-sufficient, self-existent, and we are dependent on human beings. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:29.279 And so even when we begin this conversation about the attributes and the character and nature of God, friends, this is not easy for us in what in Western culture. 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:34.080 We have to have the courage to utter mystery. 00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:39.919 Because to an extent and to a point in this conversation when we ask, who is God? 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:50.879 There is a bounds upon which we can know him, and we're going to talk about that in a second, but there is so much that he is incomprehensible God, and if we could comprehend him, he would not be God. 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:58.080 And so we just have to have the moment where we go, he is mysterious beyond us. 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:02.080 Well, if he's incomprehensible, how can we know him? 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:08.960 God, in his kindness, has chosen to reveal himself and what's true. 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:11.360 We're going to talk more about attributes next week. 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:18.159 The attributes of God is what God has revealed to be true about himself in three primary or fundamental ways. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:24.080 The first area is in the area of creation, how we can begin to know what's true of God. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:30.559 The psalmist would say it this way: the heavens declare the glory of God. 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:45.600 Paul would say it, he says, For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:16:12.240 That when you look at creation, when you step into the majesty of the expanse of the ocean or the night sky without the city lights, and you see the heavenly host above, or when you hold a brand new baby and the wonder of life itself, you begin to understand in part the character and the nature of God. 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:14.720 How do we understand him? 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:19.919 Well, he's revealed himself in creation, then he's revealed himself in his word. 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:26.000 That he's chosen to make himself known and explain who he is. 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:30.000 I love how the Apostle Paul says it to Timothy. 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:38.639 He says, All scriptures God breathe, useful for teaching, training, rebuking, uh, all the things, so that the person of God might be fully equipped. 00:16:39.200 --> 00:16:44.080 Like all of this, God has said, I am going to give you my words. 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:47.840 I'm going to reveal myself to you in ways that you can understand me. 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:52.960 And as you get into his word, you'll see and know more of who he is. 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:56.639 And finally, in creation in his word and in Jesus Christ. 00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:04.640 And we talked about this last week at Easter, if you were here, that in Jesus we see God. 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:12.400 The way John would say it, that we see the fullness of grace and truth. 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:20.000 In Colossians, the way the Apostle Paul would say it is that he is the image of the invisible God. 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:29.200 That when you look at Jesus, you get to see exactly how God responds and acts. 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:32.799 God has revealed himself in creation, his word in Christ. 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:36.559 So when we wrestle with who is God, well, God is not like you. 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:38.079 Well, then who are we? 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:41.119 Well, you have been made in God's likeness. 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:45.039 So God's not like us, he's completely other. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:58.160 And yet at the same time, this beautiful reality is then we have been made in his likeness through the creation account in Genesis 1.27, it says, so God created mankind in his own image, in his own reflection. 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:03.039 In the image of God, he created them, male and female, he created them. 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:13.839 That who we are, down to the physical realities of our maleness or femeness, speak of his image-bearer making in us. 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:21.200 See, humans, we are made to be a reflection of God's character into this world. 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:31.119 In fact, God would tell them to be fruitful and multiply, subdue the earth. 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:53.839 And then he places Adam and Eve in the center of the garden and he begins to say, I want you to cultivate this, that you're to be co-creators with me, you're to be co-rulers with me, and come alongside and begin to form and fashion that my creative energy and how I spoke, and from nothing to something, you're to take something and begin to bring order and life to it. 00:18:55.599 --> 00:18:58.799 That's how who we were created to be. 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:00.880 I like how A.W. 00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:01.920 Tozer said it. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:09.119 He said, We can never know who or what we are until we know at least something of what God is. 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:14.799 You have been made in the likeness of God, in the image of God. 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:25.839 And this is one of the profound truths that anchors, that has anchored, especially our modern understanding of equality. 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:33.680 Our understanding that every person has value and dignity is rooted right here in this scripture. 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:42.640 That you have a creator, you have a designer, you have a maker who has put his imprints on you. 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:46.079 So you've never met just an ordinary person. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:53.599 They are all image bearers of the God most high with infinite dignity and value and worth. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:57.279 Because they've been made in God's image. 00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:07.039 And if we actually want to get to know who you are, like if you want to get to know you, get to know God. 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:12.160 See, we we we mess up the order, don't we? 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:16.240 Because we're like, I just need to find myself. 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:21.279 I'm just gonna spend time discovering myself, and I'm gonna find I you know what? 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:25.839 I'm just and so I just look within yourself to find yourself, right? 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:28.079 No, no, no, no. 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:30.480 You're an image bearer, you're designed, you're created. 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:44.079 If you want to figure out who you really are, go back to the designer, go back to the creator, and because you have been made in his image, when you get to know him, you're gonna see yourself reflected back who you truly are to be. 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:46.000 So, who is God? 00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:48.559 Well, God is not like you. 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:49.920 Who are we? 00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:52.400 Well, you've been made in God's likeness. 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:54.160 You're like, Ryan, this is sounding really good. 00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:56.240 Well, where did it all go wrong? 00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:58.480 What happened? 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:01.519 What why all the brokenness in our world? 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:06.319 What in the world really is going on? 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:12.000 Genesis chapter three is what theologians call the fall. 00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:15.519 If you got your Bibles, we're gonna dive into this text. 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:18.480 Genesis 3 verse 1. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:20.160 It begins this way. 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:33.519 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animals the Lord God had made, and he said to the woman, Did God really say you must not eat from the tree in the garden, or any tree in the garden? 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:36.400 All right, let me back it up for those who don't know the story. 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:42.400 Chapter 2 of Genesis is God zooming in on humanity. 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:43.759 He makes Adam and Eve. 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:46.160 Adam means human, Eve means life. 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:56.559 He makes this beautiful, incredible uh couple that then is created to be co heirs with him, places them in the garden to cultivate and work and develop. 00:21:56.640 --> 00:22:06.319 And uh because they're made in his image, one of Things that's incredible and that God has given us is moral uh volition and choice. 00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:08.799 That and so he places them in the garden. 00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:11.039 He says, Eat of any tree in the garden. 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:16.240 In fact, at the very center is the tree of life, the source of God's very essence of life itself. 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:19.119 And then there's the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:23.599 He says, You can have of everything but that one tree. 00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:27.359 Think about the expansiveness, the generosity, the desire of God. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:28.319 Right? 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:30.799 Everything. 00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:35.759 Everything is for your enjoyment. 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:40.960 Why that tree though? 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:47.599 Well, love requires a choice. 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:52.559 If I'm going to love and be in a relationship with you, I have to have a choice. 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:56.559 And if I don't have a choice, it's called force, and that's not good. 00:22:56.960 --> 00:22:59.839 And it's a robotic, automatic response. 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:06.160 And God gave humanity moral agency for us to be able to choose or not to choose Him. 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:10.799 And He gave us freedom and said, We you can have whatever you want right here. 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:14.160 But here's just one thing, one area. 00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:15.200 That's it. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:22.160 Well, the enemy comes along and begins to question, saying, What did God say? 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:28.400 And then immediately the idea is look at how limiting God is. 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:29.680 Did he really say? 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:30.480 Come on. 00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:33.759 Did he really say you must not eat of any tree? 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:34.559 No. 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:36.720 He didn't say that. 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:38.960 Now think about this. 00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:42.880 The woman said to the serpent, just pause right there. 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:46.559 Because I think we do this all the time. 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:51.440 She stopped to entertain the conversation. 00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:55.519 We'll find out later that Adam was there just passively standing by quietly. 00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:59.440 That's a sermon for a whole nother day about us men. 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:05.200 But how often we entertain these thoughts? 00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:06.559 How often we entertain these things? 00:24:06.640 --> 00:24:11.839 How often we we hear and we go, no, that's not really true, but I'm gonna sit with it and talk with you. 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:23.440 I'm gonna begin to play with that idea, I'm gonna play with that thought, and then we head down paths we never ever dreamed of heading down because we just entertained the thought and the conversation. 00:24:23.680 --> 00:24:36.720 The woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit from the tree in the garden, but God did say, You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it. 00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:39.359 Well, he didn't say that, or you'll die. 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:46.799 The serpent said, You will not certainly die to the woman. 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:52.160 For God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you'll be like God. 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:57.519 Lie, how were Adam and Eve made? 00:24:57.839 --> 00:25:00.960 In the likeness of God. 00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:02.640 They already were. 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:06.799 God had already created them, and now he's telling them he's attacking their identity. 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:07.920 You'll be like God. 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:11.599 No, already had it, thank you very much. 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:15.359 But knowing good and evil. 00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:25.519 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. 00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:30.400 She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:32.240 Good job, Adam. 00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:35.680 Stood by, said nothing. 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:41.440 Passivity, like I said, that's a sermon for another day. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:47.599 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked. 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.160 So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:56.559 Where did it all go wrong? 00:25:57.839 --> 00:25:58.720 Right there. 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:04.640 It's where we've been going wrong ever since. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:11.440 See, a broken view of God is at the root of humanity's problems. 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:16.799 What is the broken view of God? 00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:26.960 Well, you have a spiritual enemy, we find out from Genesis 3, verses 1 through 5, who hates you, wants death and destruction for you. 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:32.240 The first thing he wants to break is cause doubt on God's word. 00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:34.000 Did God really say? 00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:35.920 Did he? 00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:38.160 No, he didn't. 00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:45.440 And see, when we don't know God's word, it's easy for the enemy to manipulate and twist it. 00:26:46.160 --> 00:27:01.039 When we don't actually know his word and how he's revealed who he is and his character, then we begin to believe whatever chirping and whatever, you know, Instagram post or whatever Twitter feed casts doubt on God's word. 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:06.640 And then fundamentally calls into question God's goodness. 00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:19.119 See, at the root of every sin is a lie that we believe that God is not good and he doesn't want my very best. 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:26.400 At the root of it is we actually believe that God is holding out on us. 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:28.559 And I'm missing now. 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:36.319 And God is here to take good away from me, and I have to get good for myself. 00:27:40.799 --> 00:27:46.400 And by the way, you know what the enemy is fundamentally? 00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:48.400 A liar. 00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:51.759 The father of lies, Jesus would say. 00:27:53.440 --> 00:28:01.200 All throughout, woven through it, he is just taking little bits of truths and twisting it, little bits of things, and say, you won't certainly die. 00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:03.839 Well, you will, and we'll get to that in a second. 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:05.039 And they did. 00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:08.640 You'll be like God. 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:09.759 You already were. 00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:12.079 It's a lie, attack on your identity. 00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:23.119 See, a broken view of God, and fundamentally his goodness is at the root of humanity's problems, is at the root of my problems, is at the root of your problems. 00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:30.319 The reason we want to go our own way, run and do our own things is we fundamentally think we can do better than God. 00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:32.000 Who? 00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:37.039 Yeah, the self-existent, self-sufficient, eternal, infinite, incomprehensible one. 00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:40.720 Do you hear how asinine that is? 00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:42.480 Seriously, come on. 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:43.519 But we do that. 00:28:43.599 --> 00:28:46.079 That is how we live functionally. 00:28:47.119 --> 00:28:47.359 St. 00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:58.240 Ignatius of Loyola would say it this way: Sin is the unwillingness to trust that what God wants from me is my is only my deepest happiness. 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:08.559 And so ultimately, then what we do is we try to get it on our own, outside of God's wills and ways. 00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:19.279 In fact, the enemy will use three primary areas to draw, to lure our hearts away from Him, to try to get good outside of God. 00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:23.759 Now, as I say these areas, they're fundamentally not bad and of themselves. 00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:28.640 They're designed, God actually created them for us with Him. 00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:35.359 The first source of temptation, this luring, this drawing away is the area of physical pleasure. 00:29:35.599 --> 00:29:41.119 It's the desire to do something that is contrary to God's will or desires. 00:29:41.359 --> 00:29:48.000 The desire to do something that's outside of God's will for your life, which by the way, his will is your ultimate good. 00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:55.680 The way the Apostle Paul would say it in Romans chapter 12, then you would know his good, pleasing, perfect will. 00:29:56.480 --> 00:30:24.559 Like when you begin to not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, when you begin to realize that you've been sold a bill of goods by the enemy that only wants your destruction and that the devastation in your life is resulted because you don't actually believe God is good, and you begin to renew your mind on that, you'll discover his good, pleasing, perfect will for your life. 00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:29.200 And see, the enemy says to us and uses, hey, there is something for you out there. 00:30:29.279 --> 00:30:32.480 There's pleasure, there's experiences, a desire to do. 00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:42.319 Second area is well, and under that, this is all fallen from, remember the uh Eve, she saw that the food, it was good for food. 00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:45.839 It's that what John would say, the lust of the flesh. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:50.319 Jesus would experience all three of these temptations in the wilderness. 00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:54.319 Physical pleasure, number two, material possession. 00:30:54.559 --> 00:31:01.039 If pleasure is the desire to do good, possession is the desire to have something apart from God's will. 00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:03.920 It was pleasing to the eye. 00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:05.599 It's the lust of the eyes. 00:31:05.839 --> 00:31:09.440 It was when Satan is putting in front of Jesus all the kingdoms. 00:31:09.599 --> 00:31:13.359 He says, if you just worship me, you get all of this to have something. 00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:22.799 We run after that hard in the Silicon Valley, thinking all of these somehow are going to make us a somebody and gonna give us life. 00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:24.400 It's the lure. 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:28.079 It's somehow getting good outside of God. 00:31:28.240 --> 00:31:30.400 Finally, power and prestige. 00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:39.599 If the first one is desire to do, second is desire to have, this is the desire to be something apart from God. 00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:42.559 She noticed that it was desirable for wisdom. 00:31:43.440 --> 00:31:46.400 This is a position, status symbol. 00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:49.519 It's the letters after your name. 00:31:53.119 --> 00:31:55.119 It's the influence you have. 00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:04.000 These are the sources that then begin to lure and pull us away. 00:32:04.079 --> 00:32:09.119 A broken view of God is at the root of your problem and my problem. 00:32:09.599 --> 00:32:12.000 Okay, so what happened after that, Ryan? 00:32:12.319 --> 00:32:13.839 Well, we're living in it. 00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:16.400 We're living in it. 00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:25.119 You know, in the first chapter, God created, and after every creative act is said, and God saw it and it was. 00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:25.759 Help me out. 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:26.640 Anybody know it? 00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:27.920 Good. 00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:30.720 It's good. 00:32:33.680 --> 00:32:42.480 And after that, when we chose our own good instead of his good, brokenness entered the world. 00:32:42.799 --> 00:32:48.799 The aftermath of the fall, in fact, just in one word, you just write it down, death. 00:32:50.319 --> 00:32:52.480 See, the Satan lied, the serpent lied. 00:32:52.559 --> 00:32:53.599 You'll not surely die. 00:32:53.759 --> 00:32:54.160 Death. 00:32:54.480 --> 00:32:58.240 See, death biblically means separation. 00:32:58.799 --> 00:33:02.160 It doesn't mean annihilation, it means separation. 00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:07.680 It brought death relationally, separation, Adam and Eve. 00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:12.799 It brought death spiritually between them and God. 00:33:13.519 --> 00:33:17.039 And it ultimately brought death physically. 00:33:19.359 --> 00:33:23.519 And ultimately for humanity, it brought death eternally. 00:33:25.279 --> 00:33:31.119 See, the aftermath of the fall first meant a loss of vulnerability and intimacy. 00:33:31.519 --> 00:33:35.680 Do you notice what the Adam and Eve did the minute they partook? 00:33:37.759 --> 00:33:39.680 They realized they were naked. 00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:43.599 And so they covered themselves. 00:33:43.839 --> 00:33:50.400 In chapter two, it says something so wonderful, so amazing, it's hard to even imagine this kind of reality of relationships. 00:33:50.799 --> 00:33:57.359 Like, I mean, it's just mind-blowing because we live post-fall, we live broken, covered up lives. 00:33:57.680 --> 00:34:02.960 It said of Adam and Eve that they were naked and not ashamed. 00:34:05.279 --> 00:34:12.960 Like, think about never having to fear what someone would think of you. 00:34:14.480 --> 00:34:21.679 Think about the reality that you could be fully you in full view and fully loved. 00:34:24.239 --> 00:34:29.119 That there would be no relationship that would harm you or take advantage of you. 00:34:29.199 --> 00:34:35.360 And so you don't have to cover up and hide and protect and make sure you get yours and you're afraid of what they're gonna do. 00:34:35.519 --> 00:34:48.880 See, we live covered up lives, and we do it in the most intimate of relationships, and the loss of innocence here has been the loss of vulnerability and intimacy that brought death to relationships. 00:34:49.199 --> 00:34:56.719 And then what happened, and this is so beautiful, is God did not wait for Adam and Eve to come to them, to him. 00:34:57.360 --> 00:35:05.920 Says that God came to them in the cool of the evening, as he always does, and as he always did, it was his pattern to be with them, and he's coming. 00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:08.320 He notices they're not where they usually are. 00:35:08.559 --> 00:35:14.400 They had moved, they heard him, and so they hid from him. 00:35:16.079 --> 00:35:17.679 And that's what we do. 00:35:18.159 --> 00:35:22.400 We cover up with others and we hide from our creator. 00:35:23.519 --> 00:35:30.400 In the very trees that God created for them to enjoy, they began to hide from their creator. 00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:35.280 And we begin to hide from God and brought separation in our lives. 00:35:35.440 --> 00:35:36.559 Here's what's amazing, though. 00:35:36.639 --> 00:35:39.440 Think about how God responded to Adam and Eve. 00:35:40.159 --> 00:35:46.000 He came to them knowing full well all that they did, all that that was going on, and you know what he asked them? 00:35:48.800 --> 00:35:50.400 What were you thinking? 00:35:50.960 --> 00:35:52.639 No, he didn't ask them that. 00:35:54.559 --> 00:35:56.320 That's what I would have said. 00:35:57.920 --> 00:35:58.719 How amazing. 00:35:58.800 --> 00:35:59.440 Think about this. 00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:00.239 This is amazing. 00:36:00.400 --> 00:36:01.199 Don't miss this. 00:36:01.360 --> 00:36:03.039 He said, Where are you? 00:36:05.599 --> 00:36:12.159 The self-existent, self-sufficient, infinite, eternal one who needs you not. 00:36:17.760 --> 00:36:19.519 It says, Where are you? 00:36:19.840 --> 00:36:21.679 I desire you, though. 00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:24.079 I miss you. 00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:26.559 You moved. 00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:30.079 You moved, and I want you close to me. 00:36:32.239 --> 00:36:34.320 And then he doesn't shame them. 00:36:34.480 --> 00:36:42.800 And shame is what we lived in ever since the fall, that we live under the shame, and so then as a result, then we blame the world and others around us. 00:36:42.880 --> 00:36:45.039 And that's exactly what Adam and Eve did. 00:36:45.119 --> 00:36:48.000 And God's going, like, who like, where are you? 00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:51.039 And Adam and Eve say, We hid because we're naked. 00:36:51.280 --> 00:36:53.039 He's like, Who told you? 00:36:53.920 --> 00:36:55.679 Did you eat of the tree? 00:36:55.920 --> 00:36:58.320 And Adam, oh boy. 00:36:59.360 --> 00:37:01.360 Sorry, men, but this is us. 00:37:02.639 --> 00:37:04.480 He blames God and the woman. 00:37:04.639 --> 00:37:06.559 He gets two for one on this one. 00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:08.079 He does, he does. 00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:11.440 He blames God, the woman you gave me. 00:37:14.079 --> 00:37:16.400 He blames God and his wife. 00:37:16.719 --> 00:37:18.960 Very wife, by the way, that he was singing. 00:37:19.039 --> 00:37:20.559 There's a song at the end of chapter two. 00:37:20.800 --> 00:37:24.480 It's Adam's song of blessing over this, like, whoa, man. 00:37:24.639 --> 00:37:29.440 I mean, he's like in all with this woman, and now he's blaming her and blaming God. 00:37:29.920 --> 00:37:32.239 And that's what we've been doing ever since. 00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:37.280 And then Eve blames the serpent. 00:37:38.400 --> 00:37:48.000 And here's what's amazing is we we worship a God who moved close to us when we moved away from him. 00:37:49.199 --> 00:37:52.480 And when we broke his good creation. 00:37:53.360 --> 00:37:56.000 See what happened, what happened here, listen. 00:37:56.320 --> 00:38:00.239 Is every facet of creation was affected. 00:38:02.639 --> 00:38:19.760 The reason this is such a broken world is this one moment acts like a cancer throughout all of humanity and the world itself, to the point that the Apostle Paul would say that even creation groans and is in labor pains, longing for the restoration of God. 00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:28.000 That every single facet, down to our fabric of who we are and our response as people to creation itself. 00:38:36.159 --> 00:38:39.599 God says, I'll come and provide restoration. 00:38:39.760 --> 00:38:41.920 I'll come and fix it. 00:38:42.159 --> 00:38:58.719 In fact, as He's ex, as God is telling the judgment, explaining to Adam and Eve, here's the consequences for rebelling and running from my goodness. 00:39:00.159 --> 00:39:09.119 By the way, anytime we reject God or his goodness, the creator, it is always a movement towards death. 00:39:09.199 --> 00:39:12.559 It cannot be any other way, for he's the creator of life. 00:39:12.800 --> 00:39:18.639 So when he's saying this, he's like, I'm just allowing you to go the path that you went down. 00:39:19.119 --> 00:39:24.800 And when he gets to the serpent, in this judgment, he gives a promise. 00:39:25.199 --> 00:39:30.880 And he says to the serpent, I'll put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers. 00:39:31.039 --> 00:39:39.840 And speaking forth of one who would come, he will crush your head and you will strike his heel. 00:39:40.079 --> 00:39:44.239 This one who will come, you will actually kill. 00:39:45.280 --> 00:39:49.039 But he will crush sin. 00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:52.400 He will crush death. 00:40:14.239 --> 00:40:18.480 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. 00:40:18.719 --> 00:40:25.599 The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we're healed. 00:40:25.760 --> 00:40:29.039 And here's the reality: here's our state, here's our broken world. 00:40:29.199 --> 00:40:34.960 We all, like sheep, have gone astray because we don't believe fundamentally God is good. 00:40:35.199 --> 00:40:39.280 Each of us is turned to our own way, our own version of good. 00:40:39.840 --> 00:40:45.119 And even there, the Lord has laid on him, Jesus, the iniquity of us all. 00:40:45.920 --> 00:40:59.440 That anyone who would call upon his name, he would come in and take the brokenness in your life, the death that is actively working in your life, and he would supernaturally raise you spiritually to new life in him. 00:41:01.119 --> 00:41:04.559 The old is gone, the new has come. 00:41:06.960 --> 00:41:15.679 What comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us. 00:41:16.320 --> 00:41:16.960 Why? 00:41:18.159 --> 00:41:26.400 Well, because a broken view of God is at the root of humanity's problems, of your problems, of my problems. 00:41:28.400 --> 00:41:39.280 A broken view of my wife all those years ago, girlfriend, almost destroyed the most amazing relationship of my life. 00:41:42.079 --> 00:42:03.440 I just wonder, would you lean in in this next few weeks to begin to understand the God of the universe who created all that there is and who needs you not but loves you dearly, that we might experience his wholeness and peace and life. 00:42:03.760 --> 00:42:05.920 Jesus, thank you so much for this time. 00:42:06.079 --> 00:42:07.440 Thank you for your word. 00:42:09.599 --> 00:42:21.760 That you have revealed yourself and spoken to us to show us who you are, that we might become more like your Son Jesus. 00:42:22.480 --> 00:42:26.400 Right now, in this moment, God, would you draw our hearts to you? 00:42:26.559 --> 00:42:34.880 Would you lift our vision to you that we'd see you more as you are, not as we think you are to be, but as your word has revealed you to be. 00:42:36.480 --> 00:42:43.440 And may we worship you in all and wonder of your great grace and love in our life. 00:42:43.679 --> 00:42:45.199 In Jesus' name. 00:42:45.519 --> 00:42:46.159 Amen. 00:42:48.159 --> 00:42:50.400 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:42:50.639 --> 00:42:55.039 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:42:55.199 --> 00:42:57.280 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:42:57.440 --> 00:43:03.360 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.