You're Broken But Not Abandoned

Welcome to the Illuminate Church podcast.

We hope today's message is encouraging to you.

How you feeling? Well, I'm glad you feel that way

because I want to welcome you to Debbie Downer Sunday.

Everybody clap your hands. Yeah, Debbie Downer, if you're

not familiar with this wonderful human being, everyone's having a

great time. And then Debbie Downer shows up

and brings everybody right down into cringe, like, you know what

I'm talking about. Like, you're at a gender reveal

party, which is all the rage. I guess we just had kids.

But what? Not kidding.

So the pink, pink confetti flies out of the balloon.

And Debbie Downer, you can hear off to the side.

You're like, well, it's a girl. One day she'll experience the

pain of childbirth and stretch marks.

I'm trying to do the Debbie down her face, but I'm smiling too

much or you're at a wedding. We were at a wedding yesterday.

A bunch of us here. We went over to north of

Brooksville, saw Camille Turner get married to Ryan Hughes, now

Mr. and Missus Hughes. That was fun, beautiful,

wonderful. Praise God and Debbie Downer

would stand up and like, well, here we are at the toast time

and I'd like to tell you that 43% of marriages end in divorce.

So good luck with that everybody.

Let's raise a glass, right? Well, just at the height of

something good, Debbie Downer brings it all down.

Genesis chapter 3 is the Debbie Downer chapter of Scripture.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

It's just the truth where we ended last week in understanding

the book of Genesis where faith begins.

There are first facts and faith found in Genesis.

If you want an answer to any question in life, you can find

it in Genesis. And where we ended last week is

saying that all of created life, especially humanity, all of the

creation of the earth, fits together with God in this one

sentence. This is the plan from the

beginning. If you missed last week's

message, go watch it. But this is the plan.

God's intent is to dwell, to rest with humanity here on the

earth. It's his created temple.

He spent seven days creating this inglorious place that he's

then put us in the center of. And he also put Eden, which is

like his throne room. And he said, hey, we're going to

hang out here forever. This is where our story begins.

He set up the perfect place. Then he gives us the keys and

the instructions and says, hey, don't wreck it.

And it was beautiful, it was peaceful, it was good.

We ended last week Genesis chapter 2, verse 25, where Adam

Genesis 2:25

and Eve are naked and unashamed in front of God.

And it's not about physical nudity as much as it's just

about being present without any cares with the Lord, with each

other, no sin, no shame, no condemnation.

It was perfect. The entire meta narrative, which

is this overarching story, the thread of the entire Bible, is

this plan fulfilled. God wants to see this plan.

His intent to dwell with us here on the earth fulfilled.

God with us, us with God in perfect union, in a perfect

place. This is the plan, right?

Yeah. But Houston, we have a problem.

Debbie Downer's about to arrive. 3 chapters into the Bible, the

devil appears. But note this for later and for

a Hallelujah later. 3 chapters from the end of the Bible, the

devil disappears forever. Amen.

Three from the beginning, three from the end.

Genesis chapter 3 is where we're going to be today.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

If it's not apparent to you, if you need a Bible, raise your

hand. If you got a Bible, flip quickly

to Genesis 3. It's the second book in the

Bible. First you have table of

contents, then Genesis. Just making sure you're paying

attention. Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Anyone else need a Bible? We'll get those to you right

now. We're going to read the first 13

verses aloud here. And faith comes by hearing in

that of God's words. So soak it in, John, you got it.

Here we go. Verse one.

Now the serpent, which to be clear is the devil was more

crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.

The devil said to the woman, Did God really say, that's how I

picture him speaking, You must not eat from any tree in the

garden. The woman said to the serpent,

Well, we may eat from the fruit trees in the garden, But God did

say, you must not eat from this one tree that is in the middle

of the garden, and you must not even touch it, or when you eat

from it, your eyes will be opened.

And oh, I skipped a line, didn't I?

Must not touch it or you will die.

Verse four Look at what the devil says.

God makes a promise. If you eat of it, you will die.

And the devil says 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. Verse 6 The turning point of all

of humanity. 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 it some to her

husband who was with her, and he also ate it.

Then the eyes of both of them were open and they realized they

were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and make

coverings for themselves. The man and his wife heard the

sound of the Lord as he was walking in the garden in the

cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God, which you

can't do among the trees of the garden.

But the Lord God called to the man.

Where are you? And as you probably heard in the

message that Pastor Preston preached here months ago, he

said this isn't a location question.

Where is your location, but where is your heart?

God knows where they are. He's omnipotent and omniscient

and omnipresent. He knows everything.

Verse 10 Adam 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, that you now know the knowledge of good

and evil? Have you eaten from the tree

that I commanded you not to eat from?

The man said the woman, You put me here, she made me do it.

She gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.

And the Lord God said to the woman, what is this you've done?

And the woman said, he, the serpent made me do it and I ate.

Specifically, the serpent deceived me and I ate it.

That's why to this day we know of the serpent Satan as the

great deceiver in Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

We've moved from creation to corruption.

We've moved from ruling, caring for the earth to rebelling

against God, and everything that flows from this moment is a

disruption to the plan. The plan was God, his intent to

dwell and to rest with humanity here on earth.

Now the image of God has been distorted and sin and all of its

outflow, death has entered the picture.

Don't raise your hand, but is anybody here hurting today?

You feel broken. It all goes back to this moment.

But here's the good news. And the title of today's message

is we. We're broken.

But as you see in Genesis chapter 3, we're not abandoned.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

And this is the good news of the gospel.

We are broken, but we are not abandoned.

Somebody say Amen. So how did Adam and Eve get

there? And to put it into proper

perspective, how are we still getting there today?

They got to a certain decision that brought in corruption and

death. And we are still making

decisions today that bring in corruption and death.

How'd they do it? How do we do it?

Let us add to our learning today.

Let us seek God for wisdom. For in Genesis 3, we will see

what people call the sin cycle. We see it in Genesis.

If you read to the Old Testament, you'll see it

repeatedly in the people of God who are supposed to be following

after the Lord. This repeated sin cycle, we see

it still in our hearts today, if we're being honest. 5 steps in

the sun cycle. That all begins with doubt.

Everyone say doubt. Yeah.

The opposite of faith is not fear.

The opposite of faith is doubt, disbelief.

And here is the most cunning and crafty of all the animals, who

is a schemer and a deceiver, and he's come to plant seeds of

doubt in our mind about three things.

First of all, he gets us, wants us, like you did with Eve, to

doubt the word he says. Did God say basically saying to

Eve? Did he say it right or did you

hear it right? And did you notice that the

devil made God's command more restrictive than God made it?

God said don't eat from one tree.

The devil said don't eat from any of the trees.

Trying to make God sound worse than he is, and he isn't bad at

all. Do not eat from any tree in the

garden. What he is getting us to doubt

here by doubting the word is to doubt the authority of God.

This is where the devil begins. Is God really the ruler?

Is God really the king? Did God really say, does his

word stand up in the garden and in Central Florida?

Then he gets us to doubt the wisdom.

To doubt the wisdom is to doubt the why behind the word.

There is a reason that God has said to not eat from the tree,

the from the fruit of this one tree.

I shared it last week. I'll share it briefly here.

God says don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and

evil, for when you do that, you will think that you're God

because you have all the information, the knowledge of

good and evil. The problem is your knowledge

comes with limited power, limited ability, meaning humans

make great humans but make terrible gods.

And when you think that you can take the place of God, it's when

things begin to unravel. God essentially saying don't eat

this from this tree. Let me be God and you be you.

It's a perfect relationship. All of His commands have

reasons. All of the rules of God,

including the one here in the garden, were to keep the plan,

The plan I want to be with you. Perfect union in a perfect

place. God's intent to dwell with us is

kept by keeping the rules. And by the way, they're not

rules. They're standards by which to

care for the earth and care for one another and to care for the

Lord. Doubt the word, doubt the

wisdom. And the third thing he gets us

to doubt is God's way. He says you certainly will not

die. Note this from the beginning.

What got what the devil is trying to teach us is that God

doesn't keep his promises. God doesn't stick to his word.

God doesn't stick to his way. It's the devil's message from

the start. The devil wants you to believe

that God is not holding you up, but he's holding you back.

I'm just going to kind of convince you that what God's up

to is not right, and what he even said is not going to

happen. Don't believe it.

I don't know if you ever consider the consequences of

what you're about to do. And it's the devil always

sitting there saying, well, it won't be as bad.

They won't hurt that much or even blind you to the outcomes

of what might happen based on a decision.

This is all the work of the enemy that's happened since the

beginning. God's not really going to do

that. They'll be real.

No consequences. Doubt leads us to the second

part of the sin cycle, Deception.

Everyone say deception. Yep.

They're all going to be DS because that's what preachers

do. Alliteration.

It's one of the classes at seminary.

Everything must. Yeah, whatever.

Deceived because of our appetites, because of the things

that we lust for. Philippians chapter 3 says that

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

this way, their destiny is destruction, Their God is their

stomach, and their glory is in their shame.

Their mind is set on earthly things.

We see 3 appetites with Eve, which means we see 3 appetites

with all humanity. The appetite for the flesh, our

physical desire. The serpent convinces Eve that

the fruit is good for food, appealing to her physical

hunger, seeking to satisfy her with something other than God.

This will take care of your flesh.

That's what you need. Appetite of the eyes.

This is visual allure. This is beauty.

We saw that the fruit was a delight to the eyes.

Fanciful. It draws her in because of its

appealing appearance and the worldly pleasure that it

promises. Like, whoa, look at that.

Looks good. Mm.

Hmm. Anybody you ever feel this way?

Last night, I'm staring at all the desserts on the wedding

reception table. They were all appealing.

Yeah, appetite of the flesh, appetite of the eyes, and

finally appetite of pride. The serpent promised Eve that

eating the fruit would make her like God, knowing good and evil,

appealing to her pride, appealing to all of our pride.

The desire for self governing, wisdom and independence from

God. Believe this.

The devil wants us to act independent from God.

That's his deception. You don't need him.

You can become like him. You are able just eat of the

fruit. This is the devil's folly from

the beginning. In heaven, before the earth was

created, Satan tried to become like God, and God cast him down

like lightning. There's only one God.

Pastor Kim said it earlier. There might be a lot of Lords

and kings, but there's only one Lord of Lords and one king of

kings. Amen.

I just stole what you said, Pastor Kim.

Yeah, they only clap like 5%. So I want you to know that Satan

used these same 3 avenues of temptation against Eve, later

against Jesus. Matthew chapter 4, Luke chapter

Matthew 4 · chapter mention Luke 4 · chapter mention

4 look a lot like Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Satan, after Jesus has gone to the wilderness, led by the

Spirit, by the way, the Holy Spirit putting Jesus through a

season of testing. And if the Holy Spirit will lead

Jesus to a season of testing, what might that mean for us?

Yeah, we're going to talk about Abraham a little bit later in

the series. He also was led to a season of

testing. So here goes, Jesus into the

wilderness. And the wilderness there is like

desert, no food, no water for 40 days.

And then along comes the devil. Here comes the serpent again,

and the first thing he does is temps hungry Jesus in the

wilderness saying, if you are the Son of God, tell these

stones to become bread. Just eat the fruit.

Go ahead. Next, Satan, show Jesus all the

kingdoms. This is Matthew chapter 4.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

All the kingdoms of the world and their glory in this dazzling

vision right before Jesus's eyes.

Look at all of that. And he offered them all of this

dazzling vision right before Jesus's eyes.

He says you can have all of it, Just bow down and worship me.

Appetite of the flesh, appetite of the eyes.

And finally, Satan tempts Jesus with the misuse of his divine

identity, saying if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down

off the pinnacle of this temple. He's twisting the scripture

Jesus of the Bible when he does it.

But he also is trying to suggest to Jesus, why don't you do this

spectacular self exulting display?

Throw yourself off here and live.

It's pride, flesh eyes, pride, the same old devil, the same old

tricks. Look with me at first, John

John 2:16

chapter 2, verse 16, because to this day is still the same.

Go ahead for everything in the world.

Look at these three. The lust of the flesh, the lust

of the eyes, and the pride of life comes not from the Father,

but from the world. We see it in the Old Testament,

in Genesis from the beginning. We see it in the temptation of

Jesus in the New Testament, and we see it in Illuminate Church

in 2026. Lust of the flesh, the lust of

the eyes, the pride of life. Eve with Adam, they yielded to

the devil's deception, bringing both sin and death to bear.

We following suit in our carnal thinking, we earn the same

reward. But Jesus fully resisted

securing victory and righteousness for His people.

Somebody say glory to God. Deception born of doubt leads to

Part 3. Disobedience.

Everyone say disobedience, deception will drive us forward

from desire to decision. When the devil has deceived us

or we've deceived ourselves, a desire rises on us that causes

us to decide to go against the plan.

James chapter one verse 14. But each person is tempted when

they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.

Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin

when it is full grown, gives birth to death.

Starts is just a thought, just a seed planted by the deceiver,

just enough doubt, just enough deception, just a little Ting.

This is why we are encouraged by Scripture to take every thought

captive. For a tempting thought is like a

wildfire set a blaze and a wandering heart.

And before you know it, and against your better judgement

and even against what you really want to do, like Paul states in

the Bible, I have done the thing I do not want to do and based in

doubt and deception. Now I am disobeying, which means

I'm not following God's best plan.

Which often leads to our next stop on the sin cycle, disgust.

In this moment, our eyes are opened, as God points out.

We realize that we're naked. We're exposed.

They're shame, disgust over having disobeyed.

It's in this part of the cycle that the enemy moves from

seducing us to shaming us. How dare you do the thing I

seduced you to do. Now God really is mad at you.

God really, really thinks poorly over what you just done.

You low down dirty shame. No good.

How dare you and step into a church.

My, my, my. And then in verse 7 we see the

first act of religion. I don't mean religion as in

adhering to a dogma or doctrine of a faith.

I mean religion in man's attempt to appease the wrath of God by

their own methods, Man's attempt to manage the sin, man's attempt

to cover the sin. Fig leaves and hiding.

This is man's attempt to fix the problem.

It's not going to work. It doesn't work.

God still sees their sin though they're covered in fig leaves

and hiding. He sees it all.

And disgust finally leads us to the last part of the sin cycle,

destruction. This is where shame turns into

sabotage and leads us, drives us back to did it?

Was it up there, there? Doubt.

That's why it's a cycle and not a linear with a stop.

After we doubt and we're deceived, we disobey.

We feel terrible. And then in our terrible feeling

the shame, the whole process starts again.

God, why can't I beat this? I doubt that you exist.

I doubt that I'll ever get well. I doubt that something's ever

going to change and I'm hurting and I need to fix.

So I stopped hurting, deceived. And the next thing you know,

right back to Step 3 over and over and over.

If you've ever dealt with this sin cycle in your life, I'm

going to count to 3 and I want you to stand on your chair.

OK, We won't do that, But I'm just saying we look at this and

we see ourselves. Let me I look at this and I see

myself and the results of the sin cycle are quick and

devastating. In Genesis 3, we read of the

curse and I'm not going to read the entire section of the curse.

I'm just going to summarize it here.

But God says to them, where are you?

The truth is Adam and Eve are lost.

That's where they are. They're lost.

The plan has been disrupted. They are off course of what has

been intended for the snake. God says you're going to eat the

dust, you're going to crawl on the ground for all of your

existence, which is incredible because the devil was trying to

exalt himself high and God put him low for the woman.

He said that you will have pain in childbirth.

Any ladies ever had a baby. Have you experienced this part

of the curse. It's still a blessing to have

children and he also says and your desire will be for your

husband. A lot of husbands are like

sounds like a blessing. What God is saying is here is

your desire will be for your husband's position and the

husband's position if you read in Ephesians is to be the leader

in the home that serves the home the same way that Jesus Christ

served the church, not driving it and domineering, but giving

his life and servant and service of his family.

Jesus for the church husbands, dads for their families.

And what we see in the American church, or maybe the church

worldwide, is men abdicating this position and women leading

the home because the men won't or don't.

It's not an order. It's part of the curse.

And to the men, he says, you will have thorns and thistles

and work the ground. In other words, you will toil

and it will be painful. All of the thorns and thistles,

reminders of the costs of sin. In fact, the pain that we feel

on the earth, any pain that we feel on the earth, it's

represented here in the curse, but it's also truly experienced

by Adam and Eve and us to this day.

All of it are meant to be helpful reminders that outside

the plan there is brokenness. This is why Jesus weeps at

Lazarus's tomb, for no human was supposed to die and now one of

his closest friends is dead and in the tomb and he even knows

I'm about to raise him from the dead.

So why would he be crying about a dead man he's about to raise?

He'd be like, hey, I'll watch this.

Instead he's weeping because it's never meant to be that any

human we ended up in a hole in the ground.

Pain is always a reminder that our current situation was not

supposed to be how it is, but thankfully there is a cure.

We are broken but not abandoned. We are hurting, but we are not

without hope. Somebody say Amen, here's the

cure. Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 we

Genesis 3:15

read of the first messianic prophecy in all of scripture.

Messianic meaning savior deliver prophecy meaning forth telling

one day a Messiah is coming. Messiah.

Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, God is speaking to the snake and he

Genesis 3:15

says I will put enmity, warring, fighting between you and the

woman, between your offspring, devil and her offspring, which

will be of course Jesus. He Jesus will crush your head

and you will strike his heel. Don't know if you've seen the

movie The Untouchables. It's an old movie now.

I guess it used to be old movies were John Wayne movies.

Now, old movies are Sean Connery movies.

And Sean Connery is sitting in a church speaking to a government

official about how to attack Al Capone and the fight that's

happening with the gangs and and the prohibition, all this stuff.

And he says this famous line, he says they bring a knife, you

bring a gun, meaning they're going to wound you, but you're

going to end them. And Jesus said it first before

Sean Connery and his beautiful Irish accent, so yummy.

God said it first. He said, hey, the devil's going

to bring a knife. But Jesus, he's going to end the

devil. Amen.

Go ahead. All of this is played out in

Revelation chapter 12 and following.

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

But the war begins and earnest between the dragon and the

woman. Go read it, Meditate on it.

The prophecy fulfilled. You can know that this story,

this prophecy, is true based on the history that we have

available to us. Actual factual history.

What nationality has been warned against?

Has genocide been spoken over more than any other nationality

on the earth? Now obviously we think of the

Holocaust, we think of recent wars, seven day war.

But I'm talking even before Jesus was on the earth, a spirit

went out from the enemy that says, whoa, I've heard the plan

from the Godhead himself that one day the seed of a woman, the

heir, the child, the offspring of a woman will destroy me.

So now my plan is I'm going to destroy the people so that that

possibility is cut off, snuffed out.

Read also the Old Testament where there are attempts to

eradicate the Israelites, the Jewish people from the earth

before Jesus was born. It's why David and Goliath

happens. Maybe heard the story.

What's going on? The Philistines are standing on

one side of the valley, the Israelites on the other, and the

Philistines are massive people and the Israelites are standing

there. The scripture says they're

shaking because they know they're about to get wiped out.

That's the plan. The spirit from the enemy goes

out, says destroy them. Of course David beats Goliath

and yay. Same thing with Esther.

Haman had plotted to have all the Jews killed on one day, all

of them and Esther and Mordecai will the Lord God intervened.

Herod, he wanted them all dead. Pharaoh in Egypt, he wanted them

all dead. Over and over the spirit goes

out seeking to destroy the race that would bring Messiah.

The spirit has a name by the way, I did a message on this

back in the high school. That spirits name is Hamas.

That'll get your attention. This spirit has gone out from

the devil seeking to destroy the Jews so that the offspring, the

Messiah, would not have opportunity to come.

It's proof of the plan. The evidence is before us.

It's so obvious that something is trying to destroy the Jews.

Someone why first John chapter 3 verse 8.

1 John 3:8

The one who does what is sinful is of the devil because the

devil has been sinning from the beginning.

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the

devil's work. The devil ain't dumb, not as

dumb as we think. He knows this is the plan.

Jesus is coming to stop his work so he is attempting to stuff out

the line of the Messiah. And the last thing that we get

in Genesis chapter 3 is a foreshadowing of how the

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

offspring of the woman will destroy the offspring of the

snake. Look at Genesis chapter 3, verse

Genesis 3:21

21. The Lord God made garments of

skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

Remember, they were wearing fig leaves, Scott said.

I'm making something else. Verse 22.

And the Lord God said, the man has now become like one of us,

knowing 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 of God banished him

from the garden 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 with a

flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the

tree of life. First of all, let's look at the

coverings. Humans try to cover themselves

in an act of religion. This is how we are going to

manage the sin. Cover the sin, and God said it's

not covered. I see it.

You're naked and ashamed. God knew it wasn't enough.

So what do you do? First look at Hebrews Chapter 9

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

to understand what he's doing here.

Hebrews Chapter 9 verse 22 says, In fact, the law requires that

Hebrews 9:22

nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the

shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

God said in the garden when you eat from the tree of the

knowledge of good and evil, you will certainly die.

And when God says you will, it's a promise, and God keeps his

promises. And so the sentence over Adam

and Eve immediately when they took of the fruit and ate it is

death. And so God stands in front of

them, knowing his promises. Well, you, you have to die.

But he also knows his plan is to dwell with humanity on the

earth. So he's not going to wipe out

humanity. And instead, in mercy and grace

he brings a substitute that will shed its blood in place of the

humans. And these two animals are

sacrificed. Adam and Eve are covered in

their skins and atonement. The blood is shed for Adam and

Eve. Do you see the foreshadowing?

Do you see the picture? It also foreshadows A

sacrificial system that we see all throughout the Old Testament

in the era of the temple, because the breaking of the law,

blood must be shed, a price must be paid, and God was also

merciful to the people of the Old Testament, allowing them to

sacrifice animals in their place.

That's sacrificial ram. This the sacrificial bull, the

sacrificial goat birds even, which culminates one day in the

once and for all sacrifice for the Lamb of God.

John the Baptist when he first sees Jesus on the sea and he

says behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the

world. The shedding of blood.

Religion gets replaced by sacrifice.

Fig leaves get replaced by skins, sin gets replaced by the

shed blood of the Savior. That's why I can say we're

broken but we are not abandoned in Jesus name.

Somebody say Hallelujah. I want to finish with this last

part. It may be surprising to you.

It was to me and my study. Banished from the garden is not

part of the curse. We think this is bad news.

I think God thinks of it as good news or better news.

The best news is for us to be in the garden with Him forever,

with no sin, no shame, perfect union.

That's the plan. Now that the plan is distorted,

God makes a change so that it's still good for us because He

loves us. Being banished from the garden

is a blessing, not a curse. By casting us out of the garden,

away from the tree of life, we do not live forever in our

brokenness. It's as if God is saying dying

is not the worst thing that can happen to Adam and Eve.

Living perpetually under the serpent's dominion, separated

from God as his enemy, is far worse than physical death.

We don't want to live forever broken.

By removing us temporarily from the tree of life, God is

limiting the potential that the suffering brings, the length of

the suffering, by removing us from the Garden.

And he does so by placing cherubim with flaming sword

between them on the east side. You cannot come back in exiled

from the garden, not allowed fully in the presence of God.

He's cherubim, flaming sword. I don't know if you're aware,

you probably are, but when they built the temple where God would

come and rest his presence, there was a holy place where the

priests were allowed. And then there was the Most Holy

Place, where the Ark of God was in the Bema seat, the throne of

God, where he would come down and meet with the high priest

once a year. This beautiful encounter between

them, between the holy place and the Most Holy Place was a

gigantic curtain called the veil.

And the veil separated humanity from the presence of God, almost

as if we're on this side. And in the Holy Place is back in

the garden, the Eden separation by the veil.

You following anyone? Say yes, Teresa, you got it.

Second Chronicles 314. Look what's on the veil.

He made the curtain of blue, purple and Crimson yarn and fine

linen with cherubim worked into it from the garden to the

temple. The cherubim standing his guards

saying You don't want to come in here in a broken state, you

don't want to live forever. Is your spirit dying?

Matthew chapter 27, verse 51. The moment Jesus makes his

Matthew 27:51

sacrifice, the good stuff happens.

The veil is torn from top to bottom.

Access to the presence of God is restored.

Access to Jesus, who is the tree of life is restored.

We were broken, but we are not abandoned because God made a

way, and that way is Jesus. Amen.

So hold the sin cycle in your mind and hold the reality of

Jesus in your mind. How do we go from this to this?

How do we move from this infuriating falling over

ourselves constantly to back connected to the tree of life?

Doubt begins the disruption. It's faith that ends it.

You want to move from this cycle of sin.

How can I in the Israelites we talk about we keep circling

Sinai and God says I'm moving you to Mount Zion and this move

from this cycle of death to the tree of life happens by faith

belief, believe this God created the first Eden to dwell with us

forever. Sin disrupted that plan, but God

promises us a new Eden in the Book of Revelation.

We read it last week and in the middle between 1 Eden and the

next. The bridge absolutely is Jesus

Christ himself. The exit from the first Eden is

sin and the entrance to the second Eden is Savior.

Glory to God in the highest one last scripture for you this

morning, Colossians chapter 3 verse 3.

Colossians 3:3

For you died and you're not. Life is now hidden with Christ

in God. I hope you can feel this.

As an actual reality for yourself.

But at some point we were Adam and Eve, hiding in the trees

from God, worried, shameful, fearful, and we can stay in this

hidden place or by faith and the sweet offering of the Lord Jesus

Christ be found hidden in him. I guess the only question is

when God comes walking to the garden tonight, you be hiding

there or you be hiding here. It's a personal question.

No one else can answer it for you, and no one else can take

your place except Jesus. Will you be found in Him?

That's the offer this morning. Would you pray with me?

Lord God, we started this message just praying that your

word would counsel us, just believing that you had something

to say to us. And God, I believe that what you

have in your heart for us is to move from a place of hiding to a

place of freedom, from a place of defeat to a place of victory,

from doubt to faith. And you made that way through

your Son, Jesus Christ. We thank you for the sacrifice,

the resurrection, and the glorious ascension to His place

next to your throne. We thank you for Jesus.

Maybe you're here today and you're still hiding in the trees

church, just as have your heads bowed, heads bowed, eyes closed.

I just want you to consider where am I?

Am I hiding in the trees or am I hidden in Christ?

Want to give you an offer? It's not an offer for me, it's

an offer from the Lord. If you confess with your mouth

and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, you will be

saved. You'll move from the hidden

trees of fear to hiding in the tree of life just by confessing

and believing that he's Lord. So church, pray this with me,

would you? And give it some oomph in your

voice saying, Father, in the name of Jesus.

I recognize that I've been hiding in the sin and the shame

in the garden of my trees of fear.

Yeah, a lot of words, sorry, but I confess and I believe that I

can be hidden in Christ, that he is Lord, that he is Savior.

And I receive him into my heart into my life today here and now.

Hallelujah. Yeah, Church, I'm just going to

ask you if you've made this prayer today, you saying I'm

moving from the trees of sin and fear and shame into the life

giving tree of Jesus Christ. I'm going to it's going to ask

you to boldly on the when I count the three raise your hand

up really high. Maybe one person here, maybe 50.

I have no idea. The Lord knows he called you

here today to save your life and to move you from doubt and

destruction and disobedience and disgust to a life of faith.

If that's you in the count of three, raise your hand. 123

Anyone believing on Jesus today, come on, it's OK.

Be bold. We see we're coming to you.

They're making their way to you. Our ushers have something they

want to give you as you are receiving right here and now the

salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ caught up with him

forever and ever. And church, I'm going to count

to 3 now and you're going to stand and we are going to

rejoice. 123 Amen and Hallelujah.

Thanks for joining us today. We hope God is speaking to your

heart through this message. If you'd like to connect with

us, you can text connect to 407-588-0115 or visit Illuminate

dot church. Have a great week.