Real Misery East of Eden

We hope that you enjoy this teaching from Christchurch.

This material is copyrighted and no unauthorized duplication, redistribution, or any other use of any part is permitted without prior consent from Christchurch.

Please consider donating to this work in the San Francisco Bay Area online at ChristChurchEastBay.org.

Good morning, I'm Constance St. Clair and I'm a member of the Christ Church Youth Group.

Today's reading is from the book of Genesis, chapter 2, verses 15 through 17, and chapter 3, verse 1 through 24.

Genesis 2:15–17

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

And the Lord God commanded the man,

You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for if you eat from it, you will certainly die.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman,

Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?

The woman said to the serpent,

We may eat fruit from the trees 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, or you will die.

You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman.

For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

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 of it and ate it.

She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

But the Lord God called to the man, Where are you?

He answered, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid.

And he said, Who told you that you were naked?

Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?

The man said, The woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.

Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done?

The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

So the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you among all livestock and all wild animals.

You will crawl on your belly, and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers.

He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

To the woman he said, I will make your pains and childbearing very severe.

With painful labor you will give birth to children.

Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.

To Adam he said, Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you,

you must not eat from it.

Cursed is the ground because of you.

Through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.

It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground,

since from it you were taken.

For dust you are, and to dust you will return.

Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

And the Lord God said, The man has now become like one of us, knowing the good and evil.

He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever.

So the Lord God banished him from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

The grass withers and the flowers fade.

The Lord for God is forever.

Good morning, Christ Church.

We asked the question last week, where did everything come from?

And we considered our massive universe that we live in.

We considered the magnificent bodies that we inhabit.

And I wanted to follow up on that with two quotes this morning.

The first is from Jeffrey Marcy.

He was a professor of astronomy here at UC Berkeley.

And this is, he's describing the planets in our solar system.

He says this,

They're all in the same plane.

They're all going around in the same direction.

It's perfect, you know.

It's gorgeous.

It's almost uncanny.

The second quote is from Freeman Dyson.

He was a theoretical physicist and mathematician who taught at Cornell and Princeton.

And he said this, he said,

And this fits really well with what we're talking about in Genesis 1 to 2 that reveals this absolute yet personal creator God who made everything out of nothing.

Many of the pioneers of modern science, multiple winners of Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry and physiology and medicine have found Christianity to be a fruitful context in which to carry out their research.

Cambridge University has a physics laboratory, the Cavendish Laboratory.

And over the entrance to that laboratory are written the words of Psalm 111 that says,

The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all of them that have pleasure therein.

And at Harvard University, at Emerson Hall, the philosophy department meets in Emerson Hall.

It has the words of Psalm 8 engraved in stone above the entrance.

It says,

What is man that thou art mindful of him?

And that's what we've been talking about.

What an honor it is to be made in the image of God.

What an honor it is to be the creation of God.

What an honor it is to have been given this task to rule over creation and to turn creation into a temple where everything and everyone is serving the Lord and praising Him.

And yet, despite this incredibly high calling and the dignity that's been bestowed upon us,

most people agree that something's off.

Something is not right.

It's not the way that it's supposed to be.

We feel it in ourselves.

We feel it in our culture.

We can describe many of the symptoms of our misery with relative ease,

but we find it harder to agree on a diagnosis of the underlying cause.

You know, what the disease, what the disorder actually is.

Many social commentators that you can read about pretty much on a daily basis are going to talk to you about restlessness.

You know, the sense of stress and overwhelm that people feel.

They'll talk about psychological ill health and the rise of anxiety and depression.

They'll talk about the culture of fear that is increasing year over year.

They'll talk about being polarized and our uncivil public discourse.

Identity politics, racism, the growth of the extreme right and the extreme left,

the breakdown of community, the erosion of ethical standards and basic morality,

increasing self-oriented materialism,

and the widening inequalities in our economy that result from that.

And I'm sure you could add on many, many more that you've read about.

But the question we want to ask today is,

does our problem boil down to a political problem?

Or to an economic problem?

Or to a social problem?

Or is there something deeper?

Is there something more basic, more personal, more spiritual and relational?

And that's what I want to explore here in Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

I want to talk about living between commands and schemes.

Secondly, I want to talk about living as fallen creatures.

And thirdly, about living in the hope of paradise regained.

So living between commands and schemes, living as fallen creatures,

and living in the hope of paradise regained.

First of all, we are living between commands and schemes.

And you can see that in verse 15 of chapter 2.

It says,

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

And the Lord God commanded the man,

You're free to eat from any tree in the garden,

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

for when you eat of it, you will certainly die.

We have a slide.

And this slide is meant to depict for us the distinction between,

I think it's the other slide, actually.

Is there another slide?

There we go.

The distinction between the creator,

who is sovereign and has sovereign authority and control over his creation and his creatures,

and therefore he's independent,

and his creatures which are derivative,

which depend on God's authority for our existence and our sustenance.

And what this suggests to us,

what Genesis 2 tells us,

is that our creator God built into his universe certain laws.

Right?

So if you go out today,

you'll find physical laws out in the world.

And if you break those laws,

if you jump from a high place and you break the law of gravity,

what's going to happen?

You will be broken.

Okay?

If you break that law,

you're going to be broken.

And there are certain moral and spiritual laws

that God has also built into the world to protect us and to keep us safe.

Right?

God is like a good parent who says to their child,

hey, you are totally free.

Right?

You're absolutely free to go out and enjoy the whole house.

You can enjoy the entire yard.

But just don't touch the stove.

And don't go play in the busy street.

Because then you're going to be miserable.

The creator God says,

look, if you want freedom for enjoying paradise,

then you should not seek freedom from my moral and spiritual laws.

And this is interesting because our culture seeks freedom from all the time.

Right?

Freedom from constraints that limit our individualism, our self-expression.

We especially seek freedom from even the things that will cause us to be burned

and cause us to get run over.

And that's strange because also in our culture,

we know that to have freedom for the things that we value,

to have freedom to become a master at a sport

or to gain mastery over an instrument,

to master a field of knowledge or an area of expertise,

then you have to submit yourself to the right kind of liberating constraints

if you want to ultimately be free to excel in those things

and to be excellent in those things.

And what Genesis 2 is telling us is that God gave us this bountiful

and these lavish provisions in the Garden of Eden.

And he did that so that his image-bearing human beings could carry out their privilege,

they could carry out their responsibility as image bearers,

as garden keepers, as culture makers, as temple builders,

all the things we talked about last week,

so that we could, he gave us all these blessings

so we could obediently serve God and worship God

and we could enjoy life and enjoy his goodness.

Basically what this is telling us is that God gave us one million yeses

and he gave us one no.

A million yeses and one no.

And parents, when you tell your kid no, what do they say?

Why not?

And then what do you say?

Because I said so.

You don't sit there and go, well, let's have a conversation,

let's do a little cost-benefit analysis on what I just,

no, because I said so.

Well, something's here in addition to these divine commands,

and we read about it in verse 1.

It says,

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made,

and he said to the woman,

Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?

Now we're not told how,

but we just know that there's this dark power here.

It's mysterious.

He's taken over one of God's good creatures.

Jesus calls this power the devil or Satan.

He says that he's a liar and he's the father of lies.

Jesus says that he came to steal and kill and destroy.

He told us to pray that God would deliver us from this evil one.

And this is the very same one who came to Jesus when he was in the wilderness for 40 days,

and he tempted Jesus.

And then he continued to tempt Jesus throughout his ministry all the way to the very end.

And we need to remember that this is not like Star Wars,

where there's this unending conflict between the true force and the dark side, right?

God, the creator, and this created angel that's fallen, the devil,

are not these two equal and opposite powers that depend on being balanced with each other.

Right?

For various reasons, it's another sermon,

but the devil is an angel who sought to usurp God's throne and subvert God's kingdom,

and therefore he's fallen to a very low place.

And here he is posing a question,

did God really say?

And what this tells us is that all the books and the movies that we consume

that depict evil as something stark and something ugly and something in your face

and something obvious,

all those movies are wrong.

All those books are wrong.

Because evil is subtle.

It's low key.

It comes to us as something quite attractive and something quite sophisticated.

The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2,

he says,

we are not unaware of Satan's schemes lest he outwit us.

And what he's saying there is that the devil has subtle and shrewd schemes

that can outsmart us and outmaneuver us and outwit us,

and we need to know what they are.

So what are they?

Well, it's not so much to win us over to a particular argument

as it is to cultivate an atmosphere and an attitude.

Right?

An atmosphere and an attitude about the word of God and the commands of God.

Did God really say?

Did God really say?

In that is, are you kidding me?

This is ridiculous, isn't it?

This is laughable.

See, he's trying to curate an atmosphere and an attitude,

and if you'll pay very close attention,

he uses the word God rather than the word Lord

to try to make the Creator seem impersonal and distant and uncaring.

And then he used the word say,

did God really say,

as opposed to did God really command,

because he wants to kind of soften the command into a suggestion.

And then he uses the word any of the trees,

not one of the trees,

because he wants God to seem like he's not a provider,

but rather that God is a prohibitor,

that he doesn't want you to enjoy any of the trees.

You see, what we saw in Genesis 1-2

is that the Lord's authoritative word

created everything out of nothing.

His powerful commands brought into existence

things that were not.

But now there's a question about the precise wording,

the precise meaning,

the precise motive of the Lord's commandment.

Does God have integrity?

Is God good?

Are his laws good for people?

Is this even a command?

Or is it a suggestion?

And what is it that these image-bearing human beings

should have done right here at this moment

when they're posed with this question?

What should they have done?

Adam and Eve are right there together.

Eve's not alone.

Adam's right there.

What should they have done?

They should have called out to their creator God

and said, help.

And then they should have driven this dark power

out of the garden.

But Adam's silence is deafening.

And his inactivity is glaring.

And Eve proceeds to engage with the question

in such a way that she allows herself

to be pulled into,

and allows herself and Adam

to be pulled into this atmosphere

and into this attitude.

And here's what she says in verse 2.

The woman said to the serpent,

we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,

but God did say,

you must not eat fruit from the tree

that is in the middle of the garden.

You must not touch it or you will die.

And again, if you pay very close attention,

careful attention,

Eve makes several telling changes to God's word.

First of all,

the Lord said,

you may freely eat,

but Eve said simply,

we may eat.

And she left out the key word,

free.

She's minimizing the provision of the Lord.

She's disparaging the privileges

that she's been given.

She's downplaying the one million yeses.

Secondly,

the Lord said,

nothing about touching the tree.

But Eve replies,

God said we must not even touch it.

Not only is she adding

to the Lord's one no,

his one prohibition

to make it seem more restrictive

than it actually is.

But she's begun to use the language

that the devil's using.

She's talking not about the Lord.

She's talking about God.

Maybe he is distant.

Maybe he is impersonal.

Maybe he doesn't really care.

And the third thing is,

the Lord declared,

you shall certainly die,

but Eve said,

you will die.

And she left out the word certainly,

which means she's minimizing

the penalty for disobedience.

And weakening the just consequences

for sin.

And what this means

is that Satan has her

right where he wants her.

He's primed her

with this atmosphere

and this attitude

to,

he's smoothly and subtly

outwitted her

and outsmarted her

and outmaneuvered her

into this distorted

and doubting perspective

and gotten her to focus

on the one no

rather than the one million yeses

so that God seems like

a cosmic killjoy

and the ultimate party pooper.

And verse four says,

you will not certainly die,

the serpent said to the woman,

for God knows

that when you eat of it,

your eyes will be open

and you will be like God,

knowing good and evil.

It's interesting that the first

biblical doctrine to be denied

is divine judgment.

But along with that,

the attributes of God

are questioned.

Satan is saying,

you know,

God's not really good.

He's,

God's holding out on you.

He's not sharing all

of the goodness

that he has with you

and therefore

he can't be trusted in you.

You should take matters

into your own hand

and you should put yourself

in the place of God.

Now how does this practically

apply to our lives

this week?

Well, number one,

first application,

is that the devil

quotes scripture.

The devil quotes scripture

and he does the very same thing

when he tempts Jesus.

He quotes the scripture

and that means

that if you're a Christian

and if you've allowed yourself

to become more literate

about our culture

than you are literate

about God's word,

if you're giving more time

and energy

to bestsellers

and blockbusters

to the latest

and greatest trends

to breaking headlines

and, you know,

insightful op-ed pieces

than you are

to our sacred scriptures.

You're a sitting duck

and you need to change

that habit immediately,

starting tomorrow.

You need a plan

for reading God's word.

You need a plan

for memorizing God's word

because this is how Jesus

was able to distinguish

between good and evil

and how he was able

to resist temptation.

If he had to do it that way,

there's no way

that you're going to do it

a different way.

Application number one.

Application number two

is that we can be naive

about nuances.

We can be naive

about nuances

and the way

that the devil

disguises his malevolent intent

in benevolent words.

One of the things

I've seen over the past

ten years of ministry

is that there are

many different forms

and forces

of deconstruction,

deconstruction of faith,

both in the real world

and in the online world

that have led

a lot of people

that I know and love

away from God

and away from the people of God.

And that means

that we need to not be naive.

That you need to guard yourself

not just against

obvious arguments

that are vying

for your attention

and for your allegiance,

but you need to guard yourself

for more subtle

atmospheres

and attitudes

that you might

immerse yourself in.

My friend group,

my media environment,

the books I read,

the artists I pay attention to,

the stuff I consume,

lest you allow yourself

to be slowly

and subtly outwitted

by these predictable schemes.

And parents,

it's your job,

and I know it's a hard job,

but it's your job

to curate

and to channel these things

for your kids.

Do not leave them out there

to fend for themselves.

The third application

is this,

that details matter.

Details matter.

Three times here,

the Word of God

is quoted,

but it's never quoted

appropriately.

It's, first of all,

questioned in a misleading way.

Secondly,

it's paraphrased

with major changes.

And third,

it's just flatly denied.

And if you study

church history,

you can see that

over the past 200 years,

the church

in the Western world,

whenever she's loosened

her grip

on those primary

biblical doctrines

and those primary

biblical ethics

that we are not

to lose our grip on,

chaos

and death

just unsurprisingly

come rushing in

to ruin

both the message

of the church

and the mission

of the church.

And this is why

at least your pastors

and your elders

of the church

think that the details

really matter.

And,

so sorry about that

if we offend you,

but

it's right here

on page

two or three

of our Bible.

So,

this is the thing

I want you to see

is that you're living

between commands

and schemes.

You're living between

divine commands

and devilish schemes.

There's no getting

out of that.

That's just where you are.

That's where you're living.

Second thing I want you

to see is

living as fallen creatures.

Living as fallen creatures.

Verse six is really

the center point

of this narrative

and it says this,

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.

She also gave some

to her husband

who was with her

and he ate it.

And what's interesting

to me is that

the devil is nowhere

to be found

at this point.

His job is done.

Right?

Once he's

doubted the goodness

of God

and once he's

questioned the

truthfulness of God

and once he's

removed the fear

of God,

he's out of there.

Once he's

deconstructed

the command of God

and deconstructed

the judgment

judgment of God

on disobedience,

Eve and Adam

right there together,

they believe

that they can

put themselves

in the place

of God

without any

consequences.

And with this

attitude

that's crept

into their heart

and with this lie

that's gotten

into their head,

they say

to themselves

these words

from the prophet

Isaiah.

Isaiah chapter 14

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention

says this,

I will ascend

to the heavens.

I will sit

enthroned

on the heights.

I will make

myself like

the most

high God.

And from there

the dominoes

began to fall.

We see that

she saw

the physical

value of the

food.

She saw

the emotional

pleasure

of its

aesthetic

beauty

that it was

pleasing.

And she saw

the spiritual

potential

of advancing

her interests.

And she,

and again,

Adam's right

there,

but she

trusts her

impressions

more than

she trusts

God's

instructions.

And she

substitutes

her values

for God's

norms.

And what

she does

in this

moment,

she becomes

autonomous.

That word

autonomy just

means auto

means self

and nomos

means law.

She became

a law

unto

herself.

She

became

the interpreter

of reality.

She became

the one

who would

say,

this is

good

and this

is evil.

And her

heart and

her head

led her

finally to

this illicit

reach of

autonomy with

her hands.

Now,

again,

how does

this apply

to us?

Well,

I think many

of us,

if we're

honest with

ourselves

and our

own hearts,

we say

this,

we say,

you know,

if I

obey God,

he's going

to keep

me down.

If I

obey God,

I'm going

to miss

out and

I'm not

going to

be happy.

And if I

obey God,

I'm going

to cut

myself off

from better

options and

I won't

be all

that I

want to

be.

I'm not

going to

thrive,

I'm not

going to

flourish.

And so,

I'm not

sure that

God is

enough for

me.

I'm not

sure God's

goodness is

enough for

me.

I'm not

sure I

can trust

the good

will of

God for

me.

I need

to broaden

my horizons.

I need

to take

matters into

my own

hands.

And here's

three particular

ways that we

do that with

respect to

power and

money and

sex.

First of all,

with power,

we say,

you know,

I know the

Bible says

not to hold

a grudge

against this

person and

not to seek

revenge and

that I should

humbly forgive

this person and

go serve this

person, but

oh, I don't

want to.

And I'm

not really

sure I can

trust God

in that.

Or with

money, we

say, I know

the Bible says

that I

shouldn't spend

all of this

on myself.

I know that

I'm supposed

to give at

minimum at

least 10% of

this away to

other people and

other causes,

but I'm not

really sure I

can trust God

with that.

Or with

sex.

You know,

even our

secular friends

know what the

Bible says.

about sex.

That sex is

not a product

to be consumed

outside of

marriage for

our personal

fulfillment, but

rather it's a

gift to be

stewarded inside

the safety of

an exclusive,

permanent,

whole life

covenant

commitment between

a man and

a woman.

And we say,

I know, but

I'm not sure I

can trust God

in that.

And with

every single

one of these,

money, sex, and

power, we

say, yes, you

know, but my

way seems

good.

And my way

seems pleasing.

And my way

seems desirable.

And if I trust

God, if I obey

God, then I just

won't be happy.

And meanwhile,

God is saying to

us, oh, my

children, I am

your Lord.

Your life is a

gift.

The world is a

gift.

gift.

And I want you

to live as if

your life in

this world were

not your

possession to do

with whatever you

want with it.

But rather, I want

you to live as if

I'm God.

And I want you to

live as if your

life is dependent

upon my power.

So please don't

eat the tree.

Please don't walk

through the door.

Please do not put

yourself in the

place where only I

deserve to be.

please respect my

no so that you

can enjoy the one

million yeses that

I've given you.

Verse 7 says that

then the eyes of

both of them were

open and they

realized they were

naked so they

sewed fig leaves

together and made

coverings for

themselves.

And then the man

and his wife heard

the sound of the

Lord God as he was

walking in the

garden in the cool

of the day.

And they hid from

the Lord God among

the trees of the

garden.

But the Lord God

called to the man

where are you?

He answered I heard

you in the garden

and I was afraid

because I was

naked so I hid.

There's 20 more

sermons in here and

so I'm going to be

brief.

But this reminds me

of the book of

Proverbs.

It's our book of

wisdom in the

Bible.

One of our books

of wisdom.

And Proverbs 14

12 says there's a

way that seems right

to a man but

in the end it

leads to death.

And what happened

here is that the

evil one promised

life but he

delivered death.

And he always does

that.

He promises life

delivers death.

Death entered into

our souls.

Death entered into

our friendships,

our marriages,

our families,

our work,

our leisure.

And worst of all

death entered into

our relationship

with our creator

God.

God, we're told he

comes by for his

customary afternoon

chat with his

beloved creatures,

his partners.

But now the very

thought of God's

presence leads them

to duck and cover,

right?

To hide over behind

the trees from God.

And if you read on,

you know, they'll

ultimately confess

their crimes but

only after running

from God and evading

God's questions,

changing the subject

multiple times,

shifting blame,

accusing their

neighbors,

minimizing

responsibility,

justifying themselves.

And these fig leaves,

these fig leaves are a

desperate act of

self-protection.

Where once there was

innocence and they

were unashamed and

they were open,

now in their sense of

guilt and shame and

fear, they feel that

they have to hide not

only from God and

from each other, even

they have to hide from

themselves behind

protective barriers.

Our alienation from God

and from each other

and from the created

world and from our

very selves is

absolutely tragic.

It's absolutely

heartbreaking.

And again, there are

more applications of

this for our work and

our dating and our

marriages and our

parenting than we

have time to chase

down.

But what I want us to

focus on as we close

are God's questions.

Because God asks

some questions and

he says this, he

says,

Adam, where are you?

It's a poignant and

profound thing.

The first thing God

does is he asks a

question.

And he says, where

are you?

And who told you that

you were naked?

And have you eaten from

the tree that I

commanded you not to

eat from?

And what is this you

have done?

Four questions.

He asks him not because

he's ignorant or because

he needs more information

or because he doesn't

know the answers.

He asks him because he's

a loving father and he's a

gentle counselor and he

refuses to abandon his

image-bearing creatures.

He doesn't vaporize them.

He doesn't vaporize them.

He doesn't give them a

verbal lashing.

He doesn't give them a

physical beating.

He doesn't do any of

that.

He just asks these

questions, inviting them

to open up, inviting them

to reveal themselves,

inviting them to confess

their wrong, inviting them

to take responsibility.

And in this moment of

rebellion, in this moment

of defiance and of

treason, this moment of

an attempted overthrow of

the government of the

universe, the attempted

de-godding of God, God

is so gracious.

God is so merciful.

God is so merciful.

It's absolutely

breathtaking and that's

where I want us to close

with, we've talked about

living between commands

and schemes and living as

fallen creatures, but I

want to talk finally about

living in the hope of

paradise regained.

Living in the hope of

paradise regained.

Many people around us are

living in cynicism.

They're living in despair.

They're living with a sense

of nihilism.

And Christians reject

that.

Christians absolutely

resist that because of

this slide that I think

you had a preview of

earlier, but we'll pull

back up.

We believe that the good

creation of God was here

before the fall of

humanity.

We believe that the

common grace of God in

his good creation continues

despite all the effects

of our fallenness.

We believe that the

redemption of God reveals

the power of his

special grace to save us

from our fallen condition.

And we believe that all

the tears and the thorns

of our fallen reality will

be no part of the new

creation of God.

Now where do I get all

that?

Well if you pay attention

to verses 14 to 24 and

what the Lord says and

does even in the midst of

his just judgment of these

sinners, you'll see that

he sovereignly and

majestically does at least

five incredibly gracious

acts.

And I'll just list them for

you.

First of all, he goes

straight to the source of

evil and he curses it.

He curses the serpent, he

curses the devil, he

curses the ground that

human beings work.

But notice that he does not

directly curse his image

bearing creatures.

That's the first act of

grace.

The second act of grace is

that though this man and

this woman have broken

God's image in themselves,

God provides for them.

He provides protective

clothing for them.

And in order to do that,

an animal's blood had to

be shed, an animal's life

had to be taken in their

place and a satisfactory

substitute was provided in

order for God to cover over

their guilt and their shame.

God's third act of grace is

that he removes them from the

garden completely.

And by removing them from

the garden, he prevented

them from eating from the

tree of life and remaining

in that state of disobedience

and sin permanently.

But rather he puts these

angels, he puts these

cherubim to guard the way to

the tree of life and to the

living God himself until

something can be done to

permanently deal with their

sin.

And that's why, by the way,

cherubim, these great angels,

are woven into the curtain

of the temple to separate

sinful human beings from the

holy presence of God.

The fourth thing that God

does is that he restrains and

counteracts all the devastating

effects of sin and says that

evil will not destroy the

enduring goodness of my

creation.

Eve will become a mom.

Adam will become a dad.

Babies will be born.

Life will continue.

Weddings will happen.

Marriages will mature.

Families will grow.

Work will be done.

Culture will develop.

And the fifth gracious thing

that God does is he gives this

mother promise in verse 15

about future relief and an

ultimate victory.

victory.

And in that verse he says,

verse 15,

I will put enmity between you

and the woman and between your

offspring and hers.

He will crush your head and you

will strike his heel.

An offspring of the woman is

going to come and be terribly

wounded,

but he'll crush the head of the

serpent.

A great representative of the

human race, a great person who

bears the image of God is going

to come and he's going to

suffer horribly, but he's going

to bear the curse and the

just judgment that we

deserved and he'll do it in

our place.

And in that way he will win a

victory over evil and he'll

release us from all the effects

of the curse and he will win a

victory in triumph and glory.

So friends, what do these five

actions of God's grace tell us

about God?

They tell us that we are the

hiders and God is the seeker.

They tell us that we are hiding

but God is seeking us.

And we see that in the end of the

gospel because we find Jesus there

at the end of the gospel and he's

in a garden.

And in that garden he's talking to

God about a tree.

He's talking about his cross.

And though we said not your will

but my will be done, Jesus says the

opposite.

He says not my will but your will

be done.

And though we put ourselves in the

place where only God deserves to be,

God and Jesus Christ came and put

himself where we deserve to be.

And in that moment he decided I'm

going to take all their thorns

upon my brow.

And I'm going to put all their sins

on my shoulders.

And I'm going to go to that tree.

And I'm going to experience hell.

And I'm going to battle with the

devil.

And I know I'm going to be laid in

the dust.

And in that moment what happened,

the veil of the temple with those

cherubim was torn in two and the

way to God was opened up.

And through the resurrection of

Jesus, death changed into life.

And he was able then to clothe us

with his righteousness and with his

life.

And one day we're going to share in

his glory.

So I'll close with these words about

the hope that we have for paradise

regained.

The Apostle Paul says this in Romans 5.

He's talking about the second Adam.

He says,

For if by the trespass of the one man

death reigned through that one man,

how much more will those who receive

God's abundant provision of grace and

of the gift of righteousness reign in

life through the one man, Jesus Christ?

And consequently, just as one

trespass resulted in condemnation for

all people, so also one righteous act

resulted in justification in life for

all people.

For just as through the disobedience of

the one man, the many were made

sinners, so also through the obedience

of the one man, the many will be made

righteous.

And just as sin reigned in death, so

also grace might reign through

righteousness to bring eternal life

through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Friends, have you received God's abundant

provision of grace in the ultimate

Adam?

And do you have this gift of His

obedience and of His righteousness and

of His justification?

And are you reigning in eternal life

with Him?

Let's think about that as we come to

this table in the name of the Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.