WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.200 So our text this morning was Genesis 2, 4 through 14. 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:07.839 Anytime there's difficult rivers or towns or areas, I like to make other people read it. 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:08.720 So thank you, Davis. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:09.839 Appreciate that. 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:17.920 Several weeks ago, we talked about how Genesis was written to an ancient audience, to an ancient people. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:23.359 So at the time there were conversations going on about how the earth got here. 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:28.000 How come there's some sort of order and structure in this world? 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:33.439 Like, how come frogs get to live in water and on land, but fish only get to live in water? 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:40.640 How come my arm hairs know when to stop growing, but the hairs on my head keep growing? 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:43.920 How come there's some sort of structure, some sort of order? 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:45.600 How come spring always comes? 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:47.039 It never just stays winter. 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:48.320 Spring always comes. 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:50.320 How come there's all this structure? 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:52.079 So these are these questions going on. 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:53.280 How come all this structure? 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:54.399 How come all this order? 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:59.520 And where did the material come for all this structure and this order to be created? 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:01.039 Where did I come from? 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:02.240 Where did you come from? 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:08.640 And so these people, the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and the Sumerians, they're asking these questions. 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:11.439 Where did all this come from? 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:26.959 Well, their creation myths were about fallible gods, multiple fallible gods who fought chaos monsters, nasty chaos monsters, and out of the chaos we got earth, and we got people. 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:29.680 We got you, and we got the frogs who were created. 00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:33.760 This was their creation myths, their creation stories. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:39.519 And so Genesis 1 through 3 is written for us, but it is written to them. 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:40.799 We have to understand that, right? 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:48.159 Like it's written for us, it's for us, but it's written to them, to an ancient audience hearing all these creation myths. 00:01:48.239 --> 00:02:01.519 And here comes the story of the people of God from God, one God who created not out of chaos and not out of struggle, but created out of love. 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:11.120 So maybe you remember as we worked our way through Genesis 1, that great poetic explanation of the creation. 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:14.159 And the word creates keeps being used. 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:21.120 In the beginning, God created, God baraad, and then on day three, he created it in day one, day two, day four, day five, day six, he created, he created. 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:23.280 He brad, he brad, he brad. 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:27.919 That's the word brah, then God baraad this, and then God barah that. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:32.400 And fifty times this word barah is used in the Old Testament. 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:34.639 That's interesting, fifty times in the Old Testament. 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:41.199 The more interesting thing is all 50 have to do with God barraying. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:42.479 God creating. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:45.120 This word is just for God. 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:49.599 Because nobody, nobody baras except God. 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:54.400 Now, people create, you create, and I create, but we don't berah. 00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:00.960 We don't create with the ability to hold all things in order. 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:06.479 Have you ever said something like, I feel like things are out of control? 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:10.240 I feel like my life is not in control. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:13.120 I feel like I can't get control. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:16.479 Have you ever said something like that? 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:18.240 You have good reason. 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:20.240 And this is, you know why? 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:26.560 Because you are not in control. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:28.159 That's why you feel that way. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:30.319 You feel that way because it's true. 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:32.479 I feel that way because it's true. 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:36.080 But what we try to do is we try to barra, right? 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:36.960 But we don't brah. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:40.000 All 50 times barra in the Old Testament's always for God. 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:43.120 There's a point that the writers are saying to us. 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:50.719 And see, we try to use our creative powers to control our world so we feel safe and we feel loved. 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:55.840 But in case you haven't noticed, it doesn't work. 00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:08.719 Actually, usually when we move into the realm of bra, of trying to create to the point of holding order in our worlds, we actually make things worse. 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:13.280 It's kind of like uh let's say yesterday you had a planter. 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:17.920 You got a planter for your front porch, and it's a lovely planter, but you don't have a plant for it yet. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:19.600 And so you go, I'm gonna go to Home Depot. 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:21.600 It's a beautiful day out, I'm gonna go to Home Depot. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:25.360 You go to Home Depot and you buy a fern for your planter. 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:36.480 And you're so excited to be productive on a beautiful day and to be kind of earthy and to be around green stuff, and so you buy your fern and you get home, and when you get home, you realize you didn't buy any soil. 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:41.279 And so you have to go back to Home Depot again, separate trip, back to Home Depot to buy the soil. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:45.519 You end up with the same cashier, he sort of knows it, you know it, neither of you say anything. 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:51.040 That's kind of weird, but you move on, you get back home, now you have your planter, you have your soil, you have your fern. 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:52.879 You put your soil in, you put your fern in. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:05:03.360 At this point, you love this project, you love this fern, you are putting forth all your effort for this fern, and so you plant it and you water it every time you pull in your driveway. 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:05.920 This fern looks so good on your porch. 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:06.800 You love it. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:11.120 And so you water it and you care for it, and you water it more and you water it more because you love it so much. 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:12.399 You want it to do so well. 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:16.639 And so you keep watering it, and before long, do you know what happens before long? 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:18.959 It starts to brown a little bit. 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:21.120 But you keep watering it. 00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:23.680 You can water it out of this. 00:05:24.879 --> 00:05:29.600 And then there's no new growth, and then the soil starts to have this greenish look on it. 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:33.600 And you know what happened, you overwatered it. 00:05:34.879 --> 00:05:40.879 And all of your excitement and all of your control, you ruined it. 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:44.079 See, I know these types of stories because this is what this is what I do. 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:47.120 Like I do this very, very well. 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:50.560 I make things worse all the time. 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:54.800 Because I don't like to surrender. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:06:01.519 I don't like to admit that I can be a part of something, but I don't have total, ultimate control or creative power. 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:03.519 And so I just keep going on. 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:08.079 Like I'm the one who barraws peace and barraws order. 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:12.160 And when we do that, we smother. 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:13.600 You've seen it, right? 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:18.319 Like you want your spouse to change, and so you keep giving helpful tips. 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:26.000 Christy's been moving the laundry in our house into the washing machine without it going to the hamper first. 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:28.319 I like it to go to the hamper first. 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:31.439 I've explained this several times. 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:35.600 How has my helpful tips helped? 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:36.879 Has it? 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:37.759 No. 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:39.519 It has not helped at all. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:41.600 If anything, it's made it worse. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:48.000 What she wants to do is not do anything that I ask her to do because I keep giving helpful tips. 00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:48.959 Right? 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:51.600 Maybe you've done it with children. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:57.680 Maybe you're you're older, your children are grown, and you look back and you go, man, I over-controlled. 00:06:57.839 --> 00:06:58.879 I smothered. 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:00.879 Or maybe you're seeing it play it out right now. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:06.800 Or maybe you're the kid and your parents are over-controlling you, and you know what happens every time when you get over-controlled? 00:07:07.120 --> 00:07:08.399 The kid feels suffocated. 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:09.519 What do they do? 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:10.639 They run. 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:12.079 They run. 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:19.920 This is all because you're trying to be the ultimate creator of peace and order by exerting more and more control. 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:24.480 And so at some point we have to face the really good question. 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:39.600 If you want to have everything under control, under your ability to barraw, which is an illusion, under your ability to barraw, if you have under control everything before you have peace, how long will you have to work? 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:43.519 So, point number one is this. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:44.240 A few points. 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:45.199 I have four points this morning. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:52.480 Point number one, peace begins with surrender to the God who barws, not you. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:57.600 I love where this word appears, barod appears in Genesis 1.21. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:03.600 So God created, he baroded, the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves. 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:04.879 Now we read over that, right? 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:10.000 Just read over it and go, oh, he created, oh, he created lots of stuff, and here he created sea creatures. 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:24.959 But the people reading this at the time, these ancient people, would have immediately thought of like ancient creation myths that are all floating around about the gods, multiple fallible gods, who are fighting chaos monsters. 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:26.160 Sea creatures. 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:34.480 And so this is the writer's way of sort of putting a finger on an ancient story that's going around and going, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:37.600 The one God he created. 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:40.399 He created the chaos monsters. 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:47.840 The greatest things you don't understand and cannot control, he is greater than those. 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:54.320 I was talking to my uncle this week about some sad things that have occurred in our family. 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:58.960 And a family member has lost their son to suicide. 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:13.519 And my uncle was saying, I just don't know how people, how they make it through if they don't have an outside source, outside of time and circumstance, who can be with them in it. 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:16.720 He's like, I don't know how they make it through. 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:17.919 Now what was he saying? 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:19.919 What was he saying when he said this? 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:24.559 Well, he was saying there's a lot of chaos monsters in the world. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:27.759 I need an outside source. 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:28.399 Right? 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:41.279 When my parents divorced, when I couldn't find a job, when I watched my grandfather get eaten up by cancer, when my wife miscarried, when I had two friends commit suicide, when I'm so anxious, I just want to run away. 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:45.919 When everything is good and I'm afraid everything's gonna become bad. 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:51.759 When I feel lonely, when I feel pointless, all these chaos monsters that I don't understand. 00:09:53.919 --> 00:10:01.120 And Genesis says to the chaos monsters, that seems so powerful to us, and they they feel that way, they legitimately feel that way. 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:04.799 Says those chaos monsters don't have to rule your life. 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:07.519 You don't have to be afraid. 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:14.480 You were never created out of struggle or for chaos. 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:18.320 You were created out of and for love. 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:23.200 Now we get to Genesis 2.4, and this phrase, Lord God, shows up. 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:25.039 First time in the Bible this shows up. 00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:25.840 Lord God. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:31.120 So not Elohim, the word God throughout Genesis 1, which is a much more kind of general term for God. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:32.480 It's like creator. 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:35.600 One personal, just a term for God. 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:37.519 But Lord God's different. 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:38.639 It's very personal. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:41.919 This is about God's positioning and posturing to the world. 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:43.919 It's the word Yahweh. 00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:48.879 It's as close of a word could get to breath as possible. 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:51.039 And that's just that's the point. 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:56.399 He's as near to you as your breath. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:10:58.960 Yahweh. 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:03.840 So that's point number two. 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:08.720 God, from the very beginning, was personal. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:11.120 And you go, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:12.960 I've read the Old Testament. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:14.639 It's not personal. 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:15.840 It's crazy. 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:19.679 Like there's some crazy stuff going on in the Old Testament. 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:21.759 I understand. 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:23.279 I've read the Old Testament too. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:26.320 There is crazy stuff going on in the Old Testament. 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:32.000 But you have to understand, God is progressively revealing Himself to humanity. 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:33.600 A humanity. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:38.559 A humanity that's heard a whole bunch of creation chaos myths. 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:44.399 A humanity that believes every battle should be given back to the God. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:49.840 To these people, God is progressively revealing himself. 00:11:50.080 --> 00:12:02.639 He is saying, before this progressive revelation plays out through the Old Testament and comes to its climax in Jesus, he's saying in Genesis from the very, very beginning, I'm personal. 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:12.879 Now some details come out in Genesis 2 about Eden, this garden that God creates for the people. 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:17.519 There's a garden, it's beautiful, it's organized, there's a river, it splits into four rivers. 00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:20.799 There's gold, there's bedelium, there's onig stone. 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:26.639 And I've just always sort of read all of this and thought to myself, wow, it was beautiful. 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:28.159 And just moved on. 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:30.399 That's kind of what's the extent of it. 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:37.200 But some people believe that this is alluding to the fact, these materials, very distinct materials, why would you choose these materials? 00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:39.840 Why would the writer choose these materials? 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:45.279 These are the same materials, some of the same materials found in the temple in the Old Testament. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:51.039 And temples are places that these people believed gods reside. 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:53.600 So why would the writer be doing this? 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:58.799 Why would Eden look like this when also the temple looked like this? 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:00.799 So hang on to that. 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:20.159 Last week I was lying in bed with my four-year-old, I was tucking her in, and she, like a wise sage, looks at me like she's been preparing this statement all day, and she says, Daddy, we live in God's heart, and God lives in our heart. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:22.720 And I go, Well, my parenting is done. 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:23.919 I can quit. 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:27.279 I've accomplished all of my goals. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:33.120 And then she asks, Where is God? 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:37.200 Which I thought to myself, well, you already answered it when you told me that sentence. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:38.480 That sentence was really profound. 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:42.559 You covered it already, but I said, Well, God's here. 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:44.960 God's everywhere. 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:48.080 And she just thought that was hilarious. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:49.919 She started laughing. 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:53.600 She said, Daddy, that doesn't make any sense. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:55.600 That makes no sense. 00:13:55.840 --> 00:13:57.279 And of course it didn't make any sense. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:00.879 We've been reading this Jesus storybook Bible, me and her at night. 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:05.120 And the stories we've been reading about Jesus, a man. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:08.000 He's in one place at one time. 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:10.879 And this is God to her. 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:15.679 And it is God, but it's one form of God for us to know, in the three forms of God, right? 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:21.039 From the very beginning, there's Elohim, there was the Christ, which we know in Jesus, and there was the Spirit. 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:22.799 And so she goes, Oh, no, no, no. 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:23.600 Jesus? 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:24.080 Everywhere? 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:24.720 No, no, no. 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:27.679 I know the stories, he's just in one place at one time. 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:30.080 But see, I've worked it out a little bit more than her. 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:31.200 I've had a few years. 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:41.200 And so I said to her, Well, hey, a bicycle can only be in one place at one time, but air can be everywhere. 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:43.600 And I thought that was fantastic. 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:48.159 It didn't seem to do anything. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:54.320 I thought it settled it, that you would never again question the omnipresence of God, like all of us have all that figured out. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:56.320 The bicycle statement would do it. 00:14:57.759 --> 00:14:59.919 Okay, so what was my point with that story? 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:06.799 Because Genesis is saying something to us about that, about that question that even as a four-year-old you're starting to ask. 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:10.399 And as a 40-year-old and an 80-year-old, you're still asking it. 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:22.320 And in Genesis, the writer is talking to a people who believed gods, or for these people, one God lived in the temple. 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:29.200 And the writer is saying, no, from the very beginning, this God is with you. 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:32.799 This God is with you. 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:44.960 When you're working the fields or loading the dishes, or you're walking in the halls, or you're studying, you're working on a spreadsheet, or when you're having sex, when you're exercising, when you're running your finances. 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:47.679 God's with you in that. 00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:52.080 When you're filled with joy, but also when you're filled with anxiety. 00:15:52.879 --> 00:16:00.480 When the chaos monsters inside of you just feel like they're overwhelming you, or chaos monsters out in the world feel like they're overwhelming you. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:04.559 And all of that, He is with you. 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:07.840 He's not just in the temple. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:18.159 And what we get throughout the Old Testament is this progressive revelation for us to understand who God is, that He's not just in the temple, but that He is everywhere. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:20.879 And He can reside in us. 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:26.320 So He is with you and He creates the inside of the core of who you are. 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:28.559 2 Corinthians 5.17, one of my favorite verses. 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:32.080 If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:35.919 So point number three is this kind of a summary point of a whole bunch of that. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:37.200 That was maybe a little convoluted. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:38.080 Summary point. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:41.360 Chaos monsters can never truly crush you. 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:45.759 And separation from God is never a real threat. 00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:53.519 Chaos monsters can never truly crush you, and separation from God is never a real threat. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:55.360 Point number four, last point. 00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:57.440 The God who barod. 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:04.960 The God who barod at the very beginning still baraz. 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:11.119 There's once a king, the Hebrew people, you probably know this story. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:14.160 It's battle time, it's war time. 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:15.200 This king's at home. 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:16.240 Probably shouldn't have been at home. 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:22.240 He probably should have been off at war, but he's at home and he sees this pretty lady on a rooftop. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:25.440 And she is good looking. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:28.799 And so he sins for her. 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:30.319 Shouldn't have done that. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:31.519 Sins for her. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:33.200 Sleeps with her. 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:36.240 Word comes back she's pregnant. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:38.000 This isn't good. 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:39.440 Her husband's away at war. 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:42.720 It's gonna be real clear that the baby's his, not good. 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:46.960 And so this maybe should be the moment he comes clean. 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:49.519 But he digs the hole a little bit further. 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:51.519 Sends for the husband, he gets his plan. 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:53.200 He says, I know how I'll cover this up. 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:57.119 I'll send for the husband, I'll get the husband to come back because when he comes back, he's been away at war. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:17:58.880 Surely he's gonna sleep with his wife. 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:00.000 He's been away at war. 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:03.440 But the husband's this upright good guy, he gets back. 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:08.640 He won't sleep with his wife while his men are off fighting war, and so he doesn't sleep with her. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:14.720 And so now, King David, that's the guy's name, this king, he has a whole nother problem. 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:16.559 Now what do I do? 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:18.720 Well, maybe he should come clean. 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:19.920 But he doesn't. 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:31.039 He digs the hole even further, and so he sends the guy, the husband, back to war with a note saying, put him on the front line so he'll be killed. 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:32.240 That'll settle it. 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:37.039 And then what the king does is then the king marries the lady. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:45.039 So this king carries with him at this point all of this: this shame, the lust, the adultery, perhaps rape. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:46.319 We're not sure. 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:51.519 We're not sure if she willingly slept with him or felt forced or was forced to sleep with him. 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:52.480 We don't know. 00:18:52.799 --> 00:19:00.240 But all of that, the lying, the cover-up, the murder, the forced marriage, this is the chaos he carries. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.319 Not to mention what she might carry. 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:05.759 We just get the story of him, but this is the chaos he carries. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:09.759 And what do you do with the chaos you carry? 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:15.440 When you wonder if you're loved and all of this loss. 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:18.400 The loss we'll learn about come Genesis 3. 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:22.240 Right now, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, it's all love. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:23.359 It's love. 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:25.440 First part of the story, love. 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:27.920 Second part, loss. 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:30.480 Third part, love. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:34.000 And David is in loss. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:40.319 And then in Psalm 51, 10, we get this great verse where he's just at the end of himself. 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:42.400 He is done. 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:44.799 He has nowhere to go. 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:48.640 He can't earn his way out of this, merit his way out of this. 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:50.559 And he says, create. 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:51.680 He says, berrah. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:52.799 The same word. 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:59.759 Berra in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit with me. 00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:03.440 He's saying, God, you're the only one who can bra. 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:07.920 Fifty times in the Old Testament, every time it's for God. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:20.160 See, all of our self-salvation efforts and religion and moralism and achievement, all of it, the comparison games we play to build ourselves up, they have no power to create peace and order in our lives. 00:20:20.319 --> 00:20:29.519 Absolution from our sins, from our shame, rest before the chaos monsters of anxiety and achievement and all of this. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:32.960 We can't barra ourselves out of this. 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:35.440 We never had the power to do that. 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:44.319 But God is spirit, and God is everywhere, and God creates new life in us. 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:59.759 And it's not by our work, but it's by the grace which was there from the very beginning and known concretely for us in the work of Jesus, in his death, and his resurrection. 00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:15.279 So, my brothers and sisters, the one who brouded the stars and the sky, the one who berod all of that, he is personal, and he is with you, and he will never leave you. 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:21.039 This is your God and Savior, Jesus the Christ. 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:22.720 Let's pray together. 00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:29.279 God, thank you for the great promises from the very beginning that they were there. 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:33.039 That you are gracious, you are good. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:43.599 Forgive us for trying to exert ourselves to be gods in our own worlds. 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:47.759 There's only one God, and it's you. 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:53.119 Forgive us for trying to be saviors of our own world. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:22:02.160 To try to use our righteousness to be pleasing to you when it's only your righteousness that we receive in Jesus that makes us pleasing to you. 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:13.920 Forgive us for trying to bolster our value by what we produce in this world when it's only living as your beloved children will we ever have peace. 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:28.400 God, we thank you that you have created us and that you create life in us by the power of the death and the resurrection of Jesus. 00:22:28.559 --> 00:22:42.160 May we find our life not in our abilities to produce more and more life, but in our humbling of our death in Jesus, that we might have life in you. 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:44.000 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:44.960 Amen.