Genesis 3:1-6

Last night we looked at man as ruler. This morning we're going to look at man as ruined.

! What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving,

! How express and admirable, in action, how like an angel, in apprehension, how like a

God, the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals? And yet, to me, what is this quintessence

of dust? Man delights not me, nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so.

So wrote Shakespeare in his play Hamlet. Did you hear Shakespeare's tension as he looks

at man? In one moment he looks with admiration. Oh, what a piece of work is man! And in the

next moment he looks with aversion. Man delights not me.

We do the same, don't we? In one moment we look on the human being with admiration, like

when we see the intellect of an Albert Einstein coming up with a theory of relativity, or when

we see the athleticism of a Jessica Ennis in the heptathlon in the Olympics. And yet in another

moment we look on the human being with disgust, like when we see the men of ISIS destroy women

and children in Syria and Iraq, or when we hear of Rolf Harris abusing women and children

all of his life. Why in one moment do we look on the human being with amazement, and in the

next moment with aversion? Oh, what a piece of work is man! But man delights not me! Why the tension? Well, the Bible gives a very simple answer.

Well, the Bible gives a very simple answer, and it's a one word answer. Sin. S-I-N. Our origins, as we saw last night, are high and holy, but we have fallen very far short from what God intended us to be.

We have, in a word, sin. And Genesis chapter 3 gives us three aspects of sin. Number one, the definition of sin is transgression. The definition of sin is transgression. Verses 1 to 6 of chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

The perfect creation that God had made in chapter 1 is soon disturbed by one of his own creatures. Verse 1.

Now, the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman,

Did God actually say,

You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

Now, the serpent doesn't directly contradict God's words here. He just twists God's words.

Look back at chapter 2, verse 16.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,

You may surely eat, or freely eat, of every tree of the garden,

but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,

for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

Then look at what Satan says.

Chapter 3, verse 1.

Did God actually say,

You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

Then, God gives an expansive provision.

You're free to eat from any tree except one.

And Satan turns that expansive provision into a restrictive prohibition.

Did God say you can't eat from any tree?

He's trying to make God look like a killjoy.

He's trying to make God look tight.

Now, if we're going to understand Eve's response properly,

we first need to think about what this tree of the knowledge of good and evil actually represented.

And in order to do so, I want you to imagine, or draw on your page, a picture, a diagram.

Imagine a big circle.

Big circle.

And underneath that big circle is a little circle.

So big circle, little circle.

And in between both circles is a horizontal line.

That is Genesis chapter 2 and 3 in a picture.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

The big circle is God.

The small circle is everything that he made, including us.

And the horizontal line is the distinction between God and us.

Between creator and creature.

And the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is like that horizontal line.

It's God's way of saying, I'm the creator, you're the creature.

I'm the one with the authority to decide what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil.

It's God's way of saying to us, I'm God, you are not God.

That was the first law.

It was the first law of all God's laws.

You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall respect the horizontal line.

So, with that understanding of the tree, let's return to this conversation between the serpent and the woman.

Now remember, God's the big circle above the horizontal line.

And he is given a command.

And here is a creature, the serpent, below the horizontal line, questioning the command.

And what does Eve do?

Verse 2.

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.

Eve enters into dialogue here with the serpent.

And in effect, she acts like the authority of God is up for debate.

She starts rubbing out that horizontal line.

That's her first mistake.

It's not that the fall occurs at this point.

But her foot has started to slip.

Why?

Because she has started to deny God his position of absolute authority.

As the one who decides what is right and wrong.

When Satan asked her the question, did God say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

Her response should have been, who are you to talk back to the creator?

He's God.

You are not God.

You do what he says.

It is for our good.

Instead, she adopts a position of neutrality.

As she thinks, let me objectively assess here what God's word has said.

And look what happens when a creature enters discussions over God's word with another creature.

God's word gets minimized.

Did you notice that in her words?

Eve minimizes their privileges.

God said, you are free to eat or you may surely eat.

She says, we may eat.

She understates the potential judgment.

God says, you will surely die.

She says, you will die.

She's taken out the surely.

She maximizes the prohibition.

God said, you must not eat.

She says, you must not eat and you must not touch it.

Eve, you can go and put your hammock in it if you want and have a sleep.

You just can't eat from it.

So do you see what happens when you enter into neutral discussions about God and his word instead of respecting his authority?

His word gets minimized.

Well, the serpent has noticed that Eve no longer respects God's authority completely.

And so he goes for the jugular.

He contradicts God's word directly.

Verse four.

But the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die.

The exact opposite of what God said in chapter two, verse 17.

For God knows that when you eat of this tree, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

What the serpent offers the woman here is the opportunity to be like God, to become God of her own world, to have her own kingdom.

Look at her response.

Verse six.

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.

Now, I want you to think with me about what actually happens here in this process.

Notice how the woman comes to this decision.

She comes to the decision to eat from the forbidden tree independently from God.

The woman depends on her own senses and rationale as she weighs up eating from this tree.

Do you notice that in verse six?

Pleasing to the eye, good to taste, intellectually advantageous.

God said it is not wise to eat.

She assesses it independently from God and says it would be wise to eat from this tree.

She becomes the interpreter of reality.

She rejects God's interpretation of reality and she becomes her own interpreter.

In short, she interprets the tree independent from God.

That is how she comes to this decision.

But notice also what this act means.

Precisely because she interprets the tree from her own perspective and not God's perspective,

what has she done?

She has set herself up as the ultimate authority to interpret the world.

She now decides what is right and what is wrong.

And for her, it's right to take from the tree.

Because she has interpreted the tree independently from God.

She has rubbed out that horizontal line and she's moved the little circle up beside the big circle.

In the beginning, God established a kingdom.

And here are his creatures, Adam and Eve, establishing their own kingdom.

The kingdom of the self.

Where self interprets by itself and self acts by itself.

And the name of the kingdom, autonomy.

Auto nomos.

A law unto themselves.

And that is the heart of sin.

They wanted to be God.

They wanted to have their own kingdom.

Jackie and I last year enjoyed watching a TV series.

Not recommended to anyone under the age of 18.

Called Breaking Bad.

From the giggles I can see that some of you have seen it.

And in this TV series, it's about a man who's a chemistry teacher.

Who's dying with a lung tumor.

He's got six months to live.

And he decides to try and make money for his family before he dies.

And because he's a chemistry teacher, he knows how to make methylene drugs.

He doesn't take it himself.

But he starts making it.

And he starts making lots of money.

Like hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars.

But life just gets so complicated.

He starts getting offside with gangs who he's selling the drugs to.

The cartel in South America start wanting to kill him.

People have been killed in the process.

And his partner, Jesse, at one point says,

We have to get out of this.

It is getting too crazy.

People are getting killed.

People are losing their lives.

Families are being destroyed.

Why won't you give this up?

And Walt looks at him and says,

It's not about the meth.

It's not about the money.

It's about the empire.

It's this poignant moment when you start to see what is in Walter White's heart.

It's about the empire.

And for Adam and Eve, it wasn't about the fruit.

It was about the empire.

They wanted to be God.

They wanted their own kingdom.

And that is what is at the heart of sin.

It is the promotion of ourselves to that place of ultimate authority where we become our own gods.

Adam and Eve transgressed the law that God is God and we are not.

They broke the first commandment.

You shall have no other gods before me.

They worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator.

They transgressed the line between the big circle and the little circle.

When God said, you shall not cross that line.

That is the definition of sin.

It is transgression.

Transgression of what?

Transgression of the law that God is God and we are not God.

That is the first point that Genesis 3 teaches us.

The definition of sin is transgression.

Number two.

The corruption of sin is systemic.

The corruption of sin is systemic.

That's just another way of saying that sin affects the whole person.

Now, in each of the points that I'm going to make this morning,

there's a picture I want you to have in your head or an image.

The first one is the big circle, the little circle, and the horizontal line.

This one is of a river.

A river that's being contaminated with some chemicals at its source.

What happens when you pour chemicals into a river at its source?

Well, the whole river gets contaminated, doesn't it?

And that's like sin.

Sin gets to the source of our being, to the core,

and it contaminates everything.

Our body, our emotions, our will, our heart, our words,

our actions, our mind.

And I want to focus on two of these.

The heart and the mind.

The will and the mind.

Let's take a look at the heart.

Come with me to Genesis 6, verse 5.

Genesis 6:5

Genesis chapter 6, verse 5.

Genesis 6:5

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,

and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Now, the heart in the Bible is the control center of the person.

It's not where you shed your tears from.

It's not your emotions.

The heart in the Bible is the command center of the person.

It's the command center of the will.

And look again at what Genesis 6, verse 5 says.

Genesis 6:5

Note the extreme expressions.

Every, only, continually.

There's no wiggle room here.

Every inclination, not one inclination, evades the accusation.

Every inclination, it gets to the root of our decision making.

Every inclination of the thoughts gets to the thinking behind our actions.

And behind our thinking is an inclination.

It's only evil.

Singularly descriptive.

Nothing else describes every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart

except that adjective, evil.

All the time, continually.

The evil of the heart has no respite, no pauses, no timeouts, no Sabbaths.

All day, every day, every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart

are only evil.

Wow.

Jeremiah 17, verse 9.

Jeremiah 17:9

In the heart is deceitful above all things.

Beyond cure, who can understand it?

Now, this is not how our society views the human nature.

I think there's a number of views that our society expresses about human nature.

Let me give you two.

And let me give you two explanations they give for why we do what we do.

There is the view that we are amoral beings.

That is, that we are neither good nor bad.

We are simply advanced animals.

Products of a long evolutionary process.

We act out of impulse and instinct.

When we do do something bad, in inverted commas,

it's not really badness, it's just immaturity.

We're just exhibiting that part of us which we have in common with the lower animals.

We just need to grow up, or rather grow out,

of those immature, primitive, instinctual behaviors

that we have inherited from our ancestors.

So that's the one view.

We are amoral.

And we act out of just instinct, because we're just animals.

Another view is that we are actually essentially good.

We're not bad.

We're essentially good.

And it's just external factors that make us behave the way we do.

It's things outside of us, like family, environment, culture, circumstances,

that cause us to act or react instinctively, not intentionally.

And the Bible's perspective is so very different to those two views.

We are not amoral creatures.

We are moral creatures.

We are not inherently good.

We are inherently bad.

We are corrupt at the very core of our being.

Every facet of our nature is contaminated by sin.

The Bible doesn't speak of sin on a scale of immaturity to maturity.

The Bible speaks on the axis of moral accountability.

The Bible doesn't say that we act out of instinct or impulse.

It says we act out of intent.

What the Bible says is that we do what we do out of intent, not instinct.

We do what we do, not out of anxious emotional reactivity of the brain,

but out of the intentional thoughts of the heart.

It's not that your brain isn't involved.

It is.

But it is your heart that is driving your mind.

Paul Tripp puts it well.

Circumstances and people do not make us do what we do.

They are simply the occasions for our hearts to reveal themselves.

It's not your circumstances or the people around you,

the external factors that make you do what you do.

They are simply the occasions for your heart to reveal itself.

And Genesis says that our hearts are corrupt at the core.

They're polluted at the source.

Every inclination of the thoughts of our hearts are only evil continually.

And our society doesn't know what to do with this.

A good example is the case of Anders Breivik, the Norwegian mass murderer.

Do you remember that guy in Norway who set off a bomb down in the city as a distraction

and then made his way to an island where there was a socialist political retreat of young people?

And then with a machine gun he mowed down 77 people on that island.

During the court case, Anders Breivik testified that he knew exactly what he was doing,

that he wanted to do it, and that he did it because of his fascist ideology.

What was fascinating in that case was that the prosecution didn't accept his testimony.

They refused to think that this man was compass mentis when he acted in such a way.

They wanted to prosecute him on the grounds that he was insane.

Yet all along he's saying,

I know what I was doing, I wanted to do it,

and I did it because I'm a fascist ideology.

Now why was it the prosecution couldn't fathom that?

Well it's because they didn't have a category for understanding human nature as evil.

But if we accept the Bible's testimony,

then we have to say that Anders Breivik did what he did,

because at the very core of his being,

all common grace restraints had been removed,

and the full evil of his heart was revealed.

I'm sure his family history affected him.

I'm sure his social environment affected him.

I'm sure his cultural context affected him.

I'm sure that day he was reacting emotionally with anxiety

as he went around shooting people.

But Anders Breivik did not act out of instinct or impulse.

He acted out of intent.

And that is what the Bible says,

that at the very core of our being we are corrupt.

And that corruption affects all of our actions.

It affects our heart,

but it also affects our mind.

So we've looked at the heart, the will,

now I want to look at the mind.

Now of course, we know the mind is finite,

we know it's forgetful,

but beyond this,

does sin actually affect our minds?

Most Christians I know have either not thought about this,

or if they have,

they think it hasn't affected our minds very much,

because after all,

don't non-Christians invent things,

make great scientific discoveries,

produce magnificent works of art,

literature and architecture?

And at one level that's true.

If we had time to keep reading in Genesis chapter 4,

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

we would read about rebellious,

murderous Cain,

who builds a city.

Well, you have to have some intellect to build a city.

Or his descendant,

Jubal,

was gifted in music.

And Jubal Cain,

another descendant,

was an engineer

who worked with industrial instruments

like bronze and iron.

So non-Christians can think,

they can create,

they can play,

they can construct.

As Cornelius Van Til put it,

the Israelites did not have to recut

the timbers fashioned by the Phoenicians

to fit them into the temple.

When the Phoenicians measured a piece of wood

for the temple,

the measurement was the same

as if an Israelite had measured it.

Measurements are measurements

or measurements.

Pagans,

Christians and Muslims

can each measure.

So the question is,

does sin actually affect our minds?

Well, I want to suggest that it does

and I want to go through various passages now

to show you that it does.

We get the first hint of it

in chapter 3 actually of Genesis.

Just look at what Adam and Eve's response is

to their sin.

Verse 7.

Then the eyes of both were opened

and they knew that they were naked

and they sewed fig leaves together

and made themselves loincloths.

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.

Now just think about who it is

they're trying to hide from.

The creator of the universe

who made the trees,

who made fig leaves.

I mean, if this isn't the case

of the human mind

not quite thinking straight,

then I don't know what is.

Let's go and hide from God.

Yes, behind those trees.

He won't see us behind those trees.

It's a bit like our son Ben

who loves to play hide and seek

after dinner

while we're still sitting

at the dinner table

and he goes and hides

in the very room that we're sitting

and draws the curtains

and says,

Where's Ben?

Where's Ben?

We don't know Ben.

Where's Ben?

I mean, he is a legend,

you know,

but he's letting down

the family name at that point.

There are strong hints here

in Genesis 3

that the human mind

has been affected by sin.

They're trying to hide

from the God

who sees all things.

But come with me

to Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

And here's a passage

that I think really penetrates

to the heart

of how sin affects our minds.

Ephesians 4 verse 17.

Ephesians 4:17

Now this I say

and testify in the Lord

that you must no longer walk

as the Gentiles do

in the futility of their minds.

They are darkened

in their understanding,

alienated from the life of God

because of the ignorance

that is in them

due to the hardness

of heart.

Do you see how Paul

gives a cause

to the cause

of our darkened understanding?

Verse 18,

our minds are futile,

our understanding

is darkened.

Why?

Because we are separated

from the life of God

because of the ignorance

of God that is in us,

that is the willful defiance

that there is a God,

due to the hardening

of heart.

Do you see the double causation

behind our thinking

that's futile and darkened?

There is the ignorance of God

and behind the ignorance of God

is a hard heart.

That is the cause

of futile and flawed thinking.

Behind the mind

is a heart

that hates God.

The mind is governed

by the heart.

The mind is governed

by the heart.

This is a profound

theological point.

Now some people

would like to dispute that.

They'd say,

no, no, no.

It is possible

for the mind

to govern the heart.

It's possible

for the mind

to control our actions,

our emotions.

Indeed, isn't that

the mature person?

The person who acts,

exhibits, sorry,

mind over will,

mind over heart,

mind over emotions?

In other words,

if only Anders Breivik

had just stopped

to think

for a moment.

And this, of course,

is the boast

of secular humanism,

that the natural person,

by the reasonable use

of reason,

can interpret

the course

and constitution

of their nature,

that the mind

can control the heart.

But that is fundamentally

to misunderstand

how God has made us.

God has made us

in such a way

that we have a mind,

but that behind our mind

is a heart

that drives our mind.

Let me give you

an illustration.

Imagine I gave you

a bowl of cockroaches.

Imagine this afternoon

you had cockroaches

for lunch.

And I said,

please eat the cockroaches.

And you said,

well, I don't want

to eat the cockroaches.

And I say to you,

why don't you want

to eat the cockroaches?

I don't like cockroaches.

Okay, so,

you've proved my point,

that you're driven

by your desires.

You hate cockroaches,

and that's why

you won't eat them.

You're driven

by your heart,

not your mind.

And you say,

well, okay,

I'll eat the cockroaches

to prove to you

that my mind

can overcome

my desires.

I'm going to apply

my mind

in such a way

that I overcome

my dislike

for cockroaches.

So I'm going to eat them.

So you start chomping

on your cockroaches.

And you say,

see,

I've proved it.

I've made a decision

with my mind

that has overcome

my desires.

And you would be right.

Right?

Wrong.

Yes,

you have overcome

your dislike

for cockroaches

by a decision

of your mind,

but you are now

controlled

by a stronger desire.

The desire

to prove me wrong.

Do you see?

Every decision

is driven

by the desires

of your heart.

Whether you don't

eat the cockroaches

because you don't

like them,

or you do eat

the cockroaches

because you want

to prove me wrong,

either way,

you are led

by the desires

of your heart.

It is heart

over mind,

not mind

over heart.

And this means

that our thinking,

first and foremost,

is a heart issue.

It's a moral issue.

And do you see that

in Ephesians 4?

Our mind is futile,

our understanding

is darkened.

Why?

Because at the very

root of it

is a hard heart.

And the first point

I want to make

on this thing

about the mind

is that our thinking

is a moral activity.

It's not neutral

intellectual activity.

Another way

of saying this

is thinking

is a very spiritual

thing to do.

And by thinking,

I don't just mean

thinking about

the things of God,

I mean thinking

about anything.

What Paul says

to us is,

the thinking

we do with our minds

is a very moral thing.

It's the activity

of your heart.

All thinking

is essentially

moral and spiritual.

You can't think

about psychology

and geology

and engineering

over here

and then go over here

and start thinking

about morality.

When you think

about psychology

and geology

and engineering

over here,

you are acting

morally.

That is a spiritual

activity.

And that is the

first connection

we need to see

that our thinking

is moral.

Our thinking

is moral.

Second,

our thinking

is hostile.

Chapter 4,

verse 18.

They are darkened

in their understanding,

alienated from

the life of God

because of the

ignorance that is

in them

due to the

hardness of heart.

Our heart

lies behind

our thinking,

but notice

what kind of

heart

lies behind

our thinking.

It is a hard

one.

Another way

of saying this

is that our hearts

are hostile to God,

set in opposition

to God,

which means

therefore that

our minds

are set in

opposition to God.

because our hearts

control our minds.

Paul says in

Romans 8, 7,

the mind

controlled by

the flesh

is hostile

to God,

does not submit

to God's law

nor can it

do so.

If all our

thinking is moral

and if our hearts

are hard in

rebellion against

God,

then our thinking

is really

immoral.

It is hostile

to God.

All our thought

patterns and

whatever areas

of life

are constantly

expressing

rebellion

against God.

The reason

we do that

is because

that was

what our

first parents

did.

Remember what

we saw

with Adam

and Eve.

They interpreted

the tree

independently

from God

using their

own senses

and rationale.

They thought

in opposition

to God.

They acted

in opposition

to God.

Their thoughts

about the tree

became hostile

thoughts

in comparison

to God's

thoughts.

They stopped

thinking God's

thoughts about

the tree.

Do not eat.

It is not

wise to eat.

And they

started thinking

their own

thoughts about

the tree.

We can become

like God.

And that

position of

independent

interpretation

God's world

is what

skews

all thinking

about the

facts of

God's

world.

Another

picture for

you from

Cornelius

Van Til.

All is

yellow to

the jaundiced

eye.

If your

eye is

jaundiced

and you're

looking out

of it,

you'll see

yellow

everywhere you

go.

And because

our hearts

are hard

when we look

at the world

and try to

think about

something,

our mind

is futile,

our understanding

is hostile

to God.

Which brings

us to the

third point,

our thinking

is moral,

our thinking

is hostile,

and third,

our thinking

is darkened.

Because it's

hostile to

God, our

thinking is

darkened.

Last year

I was in

Oxford.

We were

playing a

hockey game

and I was

travelling home

that night

from Oxford

and I

borrowed a

friend's

GPS,

a friend

who lives

in Cambridge

and when

I got

into the

car I

switched on

the GPS

and I

saw the

home setting

and I

just clicked

home.

And I

looked on

the map

and it

looked like

it was

heading to

Cambridge

so I

just said

done and

off we

went.

And I

was just

on my

own and

I'm

driving

back and

I'm

moving from

Oxford

towards

Cambridge

and as

I'm

coming

30 miles

towards

Cambridge

the

GPS

starts

taking me

slightly

away from

Cambridge

and I'm

thinking

maybe it's

just a

different

route to

get me

back to

Cambridge

so I

just keep

going and

the closer

and closer

I get to

Cambridge the

more I

realize I'm

being taken

slightly away

from Cambridge

and I'm

sort of

tapping this

thing

what's wrong

with this

GPS

and then I

realized that

the home

setting wasn't

actually Cambridge

it was something

like 10

miles outside

of Cambridge

I didn't

know whether

this friend

played a joke

on me or

not but

he basically

visited a

friend and

for some

reason he

put his

home setting

down as

this friend

10 miles

out of

Cambridge

and here

I am

following this

GPS going

slightly away

from Cambridge

now what

was wrong

was it the

GPS

no

there's

absolutely

nothing wrong

with the

GPS it

was functioning

normally

what was

wrong was

the home

setting

the default

setting was

wrong the

coordinates

were wrong

and it's

the same

with the

human mind

as a

reasoning

faculty

it works

just fine

like the

GPS but

it's home

setting

for discovering

truth has the

wrong coordinates

they're set

in opposition

to God

therefore no

matter how

much you

trust the

normal functioning

of the mind

it will always

end up at the

wrong destination

when trying to

discover something

that is true

a human mind

whose home

setting is

opposition to

God

independence

from God

is never

going to

arrive at a

true

understanding

of any

subject

why

because God

is no longer

in the picture

now I want

you to think

with me about

this

why does

rejection of

God lead

to darkened

understanding

why is it

that when I

reject God

when I

study geology

and rocks

I can never

properly

understand them

I'm always

just slightly

off

a proper

understanding

well let me

take you back

up the road

to Oxford

to the

Bodolian

library

and it's

one of the

oldest libraries

in the world

it has 9

million books

in it

and inside

one of the

rooms in the

Bodolian

library

on one of

the roofs

this old

panel

paneling

wooden

paneling

of a roof

there are

little

Latin

phrases

written on

this roof

it's the

same

Latin

phrase

dominus

illuminatio

mea

God

is

my

light

it's the

motto of

Oxford

University

now why

did the

founders of

that great

university

put that

on the

roof

of the

library

because

they knew

that when

any student

studied

any subject

in order

for them

to understand

that subject

correctly

they needed

the light

of God

Psalm 36

Psalms 36:9

verse 9

in your

light

I see

light

think about

where they

put it

they put

it on

the roof

so that

the students

would know

if you want

to understand

English

if you want

to understand

German

if you want

to understand

psychology

God

is

your

light

and when

you

ask

God

to leave

the

building

you

flick

the

lights

off

that

is

what's

wrong

with

all

non-Christian

thinking

they've

asked

the

God

who

is

light

to

leave

the

building

and so

they are

studying

in the

dark

God

you see

is the

source

of all

true

knowledge

and

every

fact

has

its

interpretation

in

God

all

true

knowledge

exists

in

God

because

he

created

all

things

and

he

therefore

interprets

all

things

every

fact

in the

universe

is an

interpreted

fact

there's

no such

things

as

brute

facts

mere

facts

facts

that

are

facts

simply

by

being

facts

all

by

themselves

no

fact

is

a

fact

outside

of

its

relationship

to

its

creator

a

fact

is

only

a

fact

because

God

created

it

determined

it

to

be

that

fact

and

has

given

his

interpretation

of

that

fact

and

if

you

want

to

understand

the

facts

of

the

world

then

you

need

to

live

in

the

light

of

the

God

who

created

those

facts

and

gave

those

facts

their

interpretation

you

need

the

God

who

is

light

to

give

you

light

so

that

is

the

three

ways

that

our

mind

is

affected

by

sin

it

is

moral

it

is

hostile

and

it

is

darkened

now

that was

a bit

of

serious

brain

thing

going on

there

wasn't

it

the

facts

the

facts

the

facts

you

may be

saying

if you've

kept

with me

you may

be

saying

but

can

an

unbeliever

know

anything

then

perhaps

perhaps

I don't

know if

we're

having a

Q&A

but

I think

we will

be having

a Q&A

after those

last

10 minutes

let me

give you

my quick

thing

can a

non-believer

know anything

about chickens

cows

and calculus

absolutely

not

they don't

have a

clue about

chickens

cows

and calculus

in their

world view

they have

lived

independently

from the

God

who is

light

they switch

the lights

off

and they

don't

have a

clue

about

cows

chickens

and

calculus

unbelievers

all the

time

speak

truth

about

cows

chickens

and

calculus

how is

that

well

God's

common

grace

at that

very point

when an

unbeliever

speaks

something

that is

true

about

cows

chickens

or

calculus

they are

acting

like a

Christian

they are

exhibiting

that they

are

image

bearers

of the

God

who made

them

they are

at that

very point

when they

understand

that 2

plus 2

equals 4

they are

at that

very point

showing

themselves

to be

image

bearers

that they

need the

God

who is

light

to give

them

light

but you

can maybe

ask me

more about

that in

a Q&A

let me

just

pause

and reflect

where we've

come from

the definition

of sin

is transgression

God is

God

we are

not

the corruption

of sin

is systemic

!

it's affected

our whole

lives

our heart

and we saw

that our

society

has two

views of

the heart

this one

that it's

amoral

it's neither

good nor

bad

and that we

only act

out of

instinct

then there

is the

idea that

our heart

is good

essentially

and it's

external

factors that

make us

do what

we do

and then

we've seen

that sin

affects our

minds

our minds

are driven

by our

hearts

since our

hearts

are hostile

to God

therefore

our minds

are darkened

in short

we are fallen

in every

area of our

lives

what a piece

of work

is man

said Shakespeare

but man

delights

not me

so what

then is

the solution

to our

sin

where do

we find

the solution

well I

hope if you

followed me

you can see

that we

don't find

it in

ourselves

if our

hearts are

only evil

continually

then we

don't have

the desires

within ourselves

to change

ourselves

if our

minds are

hostile to

God and

therefore

darkened

in their

understanding

then we

don't have

the mind

to work

out how

to get

out of

the

darkness

we're a

bit like

people who

are hiking

out in

the mountains

and we've

lost our

compass

well the

solution to

sin is not

found in

ourselves

Cornelius

Van Til

has this

great picture

he said

there's more

chance of a

man made

of water

this is a

totally bizarre

illustration but

come with me

for a moment

a man

made out of

water

at the bottom

of an ocean

climbing out

of the water

on a ladder

made of water

picture it

a man made

of water

at the bottom

of the ocean

climbing out

of the ocean

on a ladder

made of water

what was Van Til

trying to say

he was trying

to say

it is utterly

futile

to think

that you can

save yourself

you are

encased

in the very

problem you're

trying to get

yourself out

of

we cannot

save

ourselves

doesn't

the phrase

you need

to be

saved

take on

a whole

new meaning

now

when you

understand

the doctrine

of sin

we've seen

the definition

of sin

is transgression

the corruption

of sin

is systemic

and this

brings us

to our

final point

back in

Genesis 3

15

the solution

to sin

is Christ

the solution

to sin

is Christ

verse 15

I will put

enmity

between you

and the

women

God is

speaking

to the

serpent

I will

put enmity

between you

and the

woman

and between

your

offspring

and her

offspring

and he

shall

bruise

your head

and you

shall

bruise

his

heel

in dealing

with the

problem

of sin

God

goes right

to the

source

the serpent

the serpent

was the one

who brought

sin into

the world

and so

God

promises

to destroy

him

and thus

by implication

to rid

the world

of sin

but I want

you to

notice

in chapter

3

there are

two men

who have

an encounter

with the

serpent

there is

Adam

the first

man

who stands

by his

wife

silent

do you

notice that

in verse 6

he

her husband

who was

with her

he just

stood there

silent

he stood

before the

serpent

and fell

down

before him

but there

is this

other man

who is

going to

have an

encounter

with the

serpent

this

descendant

of Eve

a son

a representative

son who

will do

what

who will

fight

against

the

serpent

two men

in chapter

3

fight the

serpent

Adam

stands

before him

as a

coward

says nothing

and falls

down

before him

this

second

son

this

second

Adam

will

stand

before him

and fight

him

the

solution

to sin

is in

this

promised

son

the

hope of

the

world

is in

a

son

now

I've

given

you

a number

of

pictures

this

morning

a

big

circle

small

circle

horizontal

line

the

picture

of

the

distinction

between

the

creature

and

the

creature

the

river

contaminated

at its

source

a

picture

of

the

systemic

corruption

of

sin

cockroaches

picture

of your

heart

over your

mind

the

GPS

home

setting

leading

us

away

from

Cambridge

picture

of our

thinking

being

skewed

because

we've

asked

the

God

who

is

light

to leave

the

building

the

Bodleian

library

with that

motto

on the

roof

God

is my

light

with our

darkened

understanding

let me

give you

one more

picture

I want you to

picture two

giants

and by

giants

I mean

giants

the shoe