The Soul Felt Its Worth (Advent) Genesis 3

You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone

podcast, a ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone

Church in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan

Manrick, and it's our prayer that this message

strengthens your faith and draws you closer to

Christ. Let's dive in. All right. First week

of Advent. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Hope

you guys had a good Thanksgiving. Those of you

guys are here and glad that you're here. I'm

ready to rock and roll. We're going to. I have

a lot to unpack. And I'm calling this sermon.

So as you guys know, if you didn't know, we're

doing a starting Advent today. And The Soul Felt

Its Worth is the title of this Advent series

that I started writing. And so this first week,

we're doing Restoring Worth, A Journey Back to

God. And we're going to unpack Genesis chapter

three. specifically verses 8 through 13, but

I want us to look back at a verse before that

as I kind of set it up. Now, what I really want

to look at here is how shame affects us, how

sin has affected us, but specifically God's grace

in it all. And so we're going to look at a lot

of that and specifically worth, but when we get

to the end, I'm going to go ahead and forewarn

you, I did my best I did my best to kind of tie

this up as best I could, but I want you to feel,

and I will say this again at the end, I want

you to feel like you're on a cliffhanger and

you know those, whether it's a movie you've seen

or a television show where they get all the way

up and it's this climactic thing and you want

the ending to come to a resolve, but then you're

stuck and it says come back next week for the...

That's what we're gonna do today. I'm just gonna

forewarn you and there's a purpose to that so

But my big idea is our worth is not determined

by our failures but by the fact that we are sought

after and Loved by God even in our deepest shame

What is shame by the way, what is it? I don't

even have this in my notes. I didn't define it,

but I just, we all know what it is, right? Like,

I don't have to have the Webster's Dictionary

out, right? We know what shame feels like. I

didn't have to even teach shame to my children

when they did something wrong from the time they

were little. They would, you know, you'd come

to them and say, you know, why'd you do that?

Or, why did you hit your sister? Or, Mostly to

their sister, why did you hit your brother? Right?

And they do this, right? We know what shame is

because it's innately in us and we're gonna look

at that time, but there's a verse that I specifically

want you guys to notice. So are you guys already

in Genesis, right at the beginning? I want you

to look at chapter 2, starting in verse 25. If

you don't have a Bible, it'll be up here for

you. But both the man and his wife were naked,

yet felt no, what's it say? Shame. Why do you

think it's important that the writer of Genesis

would point out that they were naked and felt

no shame? What are you guys saying? So yes, yes

and no. So I thought the same thing till I was

preparing for this sermon. I'm going to open

these up because I feel like it's kind of dark

up here, at least this one. Shame actually is

not a sin effect. It is and isn't. You can feel

shame even without committing a sin. And here's

why I say that. And I didn't think about that

until I was, I've been reading a book about shame

in particular. I'm trying to get certified in

biblical counseling for our church. And so there's

different books I'm having to read, and one of

them is specifically on shame. And one of the

things that they point out is this, when someone

has been abused, whether sexually or physically,

they can feel shame even though they aren't the

ones who committed the act, right? And so shame

is a sin effect, but not necessarily when you

are the one committing the act. You can have

it done against you, right? And so, but why does

nakedness matter? Why does nakedness matter?

It's all out there, right? This is my true self

of who I am, right? I mean, we had Thanksgiving

dinner. I've let myself go a little bit. My wife

looks at my nakedness, right? I feel a little

shame, and she'll say you've eaten too much pie.

But that nakedness is important not because it's

just they're naked, but yes, that nakedness points

out they felt no shame because it was perfect.

They were relationally at peace. I mean, that

in and of itself is something that is an incredible

thought for those of us who have been married

for even two weeks. And I don't even, I'm not

saying that jokingly, right? Like it's a difficult

thing. Marriage is one of those things that God

built in that helps us with our sanctification.

And so when we look at the fact that they were

together, they were not only in connection with

one another, but also in connection with God,

everything was at peace. And that's a wonderful

thing. And so now we keep going into the story

that is so famous, but we're gonna dig into it,

so let's go. Let's start at chapter three, starting

at verse one. I don't know if I have it back

there like that, Morgan, do I? I do? Okay, cool.

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the

wild animals that the Lord God had made. And

he said to the woman, did God really say you

can't eat from any tree in the garden? Question,

is that how God said it? No, that's not how God

said it. If you go back and read it, he says,

and in chapter one, coming into verse two, or

chapter two, he says, eat of anything, be fruitful

and multiply, eat of anything but that over there,

right? So he says, but how does the serpent word

it? Did God really say you can't eat from any

tree in the garden? Well, no, that's not what

he said. And so then the woman said to the serpent,

we may eat from the trees. So she points out

correctly. We may eat from the trees in the garden,

but about the fruit of the tree in the middle

of the garden, God said, you must not eat it.

Or what does she say? Touch it. Did God say that?

No, or you will die So Eve becomes the first

you probably have heard this becomes the first

legalist She becomes it's about the outward thing

of obedience because God didn't say that either

No, you will not die said the serpent to the

woman in fact God knows that when you eat Your

eyes will be opened and you will be like God

knowing good and evil and the woman saw that

the tree was good for food and delightful to

look at and that it was desirable for obtaining

wisdom. That's an important one. So she took

some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some

to her husband who was with her now and he ate

it. I want you to note this In the Hebrew, the

actual words that are used, the literal definition

is they were elbow to elbow. So it wasn't like

Adam was like tending the garden and then she

called him over. He was literally standing there

the entire time that Eve was discussing with

the serpent. Now, I want to pause for a moment

for there to be anyone in the room who is a skeptic

about this entire thing. Or you've maybe walked

with God for a long time, maybe you've never

asked the question, why is Eve not freaked out

by a talking serpent? Because it does not say

that any other animal was talking. So what should

that tell us? That he's unique. Is he a literal

snake? No. Then you're like, what do you mean?

It says he's a snake. Sure. When we really start

diving into, and I don't, this sermon is not

about supernatural things, but when you really

start diving into things, the serpent himself,

that is what he is, he is a supernatural creature,

he was made, he is an angelic type being, but

he's not a physical angel, he's actually a defender,

and he's supposed to defend that tree. When you

really start to do the historical makeup and

what we know and all the things and what the

early church believed, he was a divine being.

He wasn't a physical animal, okay? And so that's

why she's not freaked out by it. She's not freaked

out by it because he's always been there. And

so they talked with God and they talked with...

Another divine being they're used to divine beings

being in the garden Why is the garden important

too because that is the temple of God is the

first temple. That's where God's presence was

Does that make sense? Any questions about that

because I know that like when you hear that you're

like, I've never heard that before That's okay

Yeah, so that's a good question so the whole

thing is just to show the curse of him, but that's

why it also goes into the seed of, which we're

gonna talk about next week, but we see a part

of this is the way God is cursing him, but also

he has a seed. And why would Adam and Eve's seed

be against a literal snake? That doesn't make

any sense, right? And so, yeah. So, but there's

also, you could say, well, he formed into a snake,

sure, but that doesn't make, that doesn't go

very far when Eve would be freaked out if he

had formed into a snake. So she recognized him

in some way, you know. But I'm getting off course,

but I just want to kind of point that out, that

that doesn't, if you're a skeptic in the room,

we're not afraid of the supernatural things that's

going on in the scriptures. They make a lot of

sense historically. So let's keep going. So Adam

was with her, verse seven, then the eyes of both

of them were opened and they knew they were naked.

So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings

for themselves. And here's where we're really

gonna dig in. Then the man and his wife heard

the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden

at that time of the evening breeze. And they

hid from the Lord God among the trees of the

garden. I want you to highlight this. So the

Lord God called out to the man and said to him,

where are you? And he said, I heard you in the

garden and was afraid because I was naked, so

I hid. And then verse 11, then God asked, who

told you that you were naked? Did you eat from

the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?

And the man replied, the woman you gave me. To

be with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree

and I ate. So the Lord God asked the woman, what

is this that you have done? And the woman said,

the serpent deceived me and I ate. And we're

gonna stop there. So there's so much here. So

let's just go ahead and start diving in, shall

we? You guys ready? All right, point number one.

When we look at verse eight. Then the man and

his wife heard the sound of the Lord walking

in the garden at the time of the evening breeze,

and they hid from the Lord God among the trees

of the garden. So point number one is this. Pursued

in the shadows, when Adam and Eve sinned, their

first instinct wasn't repentance. What was it?

It was to hide. In Genesis, It says, they hid

themselves from the presence of the Lord God

and among the trees of the garden. So shame drove

them into the shadows. And if we're honest, we

know that feeling. When we fail, when we fall,

when we believe the lie of the enemy, our reflex

is the same. Retreat, cover and hide. Sin doesn't

just break God's command. It breaks our vision.

It distorts how we see him. And Adam and Eve

had walked with God in the cool of the day. But

now, after believing the serpent's lie, they

hear his voice and assume danger instead of mercy.

Shame always lies about God's character. Think

about this for just a moment. Let's just back

up. They knew God, they walked with God. What

we kind of get distorted is we're like, here's

this day, God did this, and then here's the second

day, and God did this, and the third day, God

did this. And we start thinking that these are

24 -hour days, and they very well could be, but

then we get caught up in thinking that man was

made, woman was made, the next day they ate the

fruit, and then it was over. Instead of, hey,

time is going, right? They know each other. God's

walking in the garden with them. And so, you

could say, Pastor Logan, how much time has passed?

I don't know. Could have been a week, could have

been two weeks, could have been two years, five

years, I don't know. It doesn't say, but that's

not the point. The point is, is they have, at

this point, known each other, as husband and

wife, been together, they're tilling the land

together, they're naming the animals, they're

doing the things that God has told them to do

as far as cultivating the land and knowing each

other. Okay? They have been walking with God

in the cool of the day. He's coming down and

he knows them They know him And so now when they

believe the lie and they eat the fruit What happens

What happens Yeah, the relationship is messed

up right the relationship becomes messed up between

the two of them and with God But what does the

lie, by believing the lie of what the enemy gave

them, what does it do not only to create sin

in the world, but how does it affect the way

they see God? What do they know? They're afraid

of Him, right? Had they been afraid of Him before?

No. What has changed? The lie. And so, you can

be like, all right, Pastor Logan, I don't understand

what you're trying to drive home. Okay, let's

think about this for a moment. We actually see

the same exact thing in a parable that Jesus

tells, all right? Here's the same distortion

in the parable of the talents. Follow me. The

first two servants, they describe the master

as generous, trustworthy, and rewarding. Am I

wrong? They go out they get the talents they

go out and they're like, hey sweet and they double

it But there's a third man, right? What does

he do? How does he describe the master? He does

remember I Knew you to be a harsh hard man That

wasn't what the other two said right, but that

wasn't true of the master That was the servant's

perception of the master He was terrified of

him and so he was shaped by fear he was shaped

by unbelief and he was shaped by lies Sin does

this to all of us It whispers a story about God

that simply isn't real Some of us hide because

of our sin some of us hide because of someone

else's sin against us So shame talks loudly It

says things like, God must be disappointed in

me, God must be distant, or God must not care.

If he loved me, he wouldn't have let that happen.

These are the lies that push people deep into

the trees, into the shadows, into silence, into

isolation, and into self -protection. But I want

you to listen carefully. This should be up here,

Morgan. God comes into the garden anyway. That's

the good news. When you retreat into the shadows,

into the trees, God steps into the garden to

pursue you. He doesn't abandon Adam and Eve to

the shadows. He enters into their brokenness

and he calls out, where are you? Not because

he can't find them, but because he refuses to

leave them hidden. Do you hear me? Do you hear

what I just said? He doesn't call out, where

are you? Because he doesn't know where they are.

He knows exactly where they are. He calls out,

where are you? Because he's trying to beckon

them out from their shame, trying to beckon them

out from the shadows, trying to call them out

from a lie. This should be up here too. His question

isn't about location. It's about invitation.

This is who God is so if you're believing a lie

About who God is or your perception has been

shaped because your earthly father has either

Abandoned you or your earthly father was abusive

to you or your earthly father just was completely

distant He may have been there physically, but

he was completely emotionally distant. I want

you to hear me Your earthly father is a bad example

of your heavenly father Because and your earthly

father can shape what you see about God because

who our God actually is is the God who is near,

the one who pursues us when we feel unworthy,

the one who steps into the places we hide, the

one who calls us out not to shame us but to restore

us. Your worth is not restored by perfection.

You could never achieve it. You guys hear me

say that all the time. Your worth is restored

by the God who refuses to stop pursuing you.

As we dive into Advent this week, this is what

we're looking at, the God who pursues. Maybe

today, some of you are hiding in the shadows,

whether it's behind failure, whether it's behind

fear, behind the wounds that others have left

on your soul. Hear the Gospel in Genesis 3. I

want you to hear this. This should be up here.

God walks toward you, not away from you. God

walks toward you, not away from you. His love

is stronger than your shame. His pursuit is greater

than your hiding. In biblical times, lepers were

shunned and forced to live outside the community

marked by their illness. If you, right now I'm

personally walking through the book of Numbers

and Miriam is judged by the Lord because she

doesn't like the fact that Moses marries a Cushite

woman. And there's, by the way, nothing wrong

with marrying a Cushite woman. It was just a

race -related thing. And so if you know the story,

God marks Miriam with leprosy. And Aaron... Her

brother, who was also being judgmental about

it, cries out and says, Lord, forgive us for

doing this. And the Lord says, I want you to

put Miriam out of the camp for seven days into

the wilderness. So she shunned and she has to

sit outside the camp with a leprosy. If you don't

know leprosy, it literally causes your appendages

to rot and fall off. And so here is Miriam with

leprosy for seven days. And I know it was a terrible

thing and a terrifying thing, but I kind of laugh

at the thought of like Miriam sitting out of

the camp and everyone's just kind of like staring

at her and she's like 20 yards off. We're all

like, her nose is still there. How many want

to bet that her pinky's gonna fall off in the

next two days? That's just my ADHD brain. But

lepers were shunned and they were forced to live

outside the community marked by their illness.

Yet Jesus approached lepers. Jesus actually kissed

lepers. That's the beauty of who he was. He didn't

turn them away, but he offered healing and acceptance.

This act of reaching out illustrates that God

doesn't abandon us in our shame. Instead, he

walks towards us, offering grace and restoration,

reminding us that his love overcomes all barriers

we build around ourselves. Want to tell you guys

a story of how God pursues, but I want to tell

you it in a story in with Aria So you guys have

been around my kids enough now Noah was the type

of baby that You could set him in a room full

of sharp objects and you could say Noah Stay

right here. Don't move. I'll be right back and

he'd be like, okay dad Aria was the type of baby

that you would set her in a room with no sharp

objects, but she would find them. And so she

was, whew. She was a difficult one in the beginning.

She's feisty. Still is. So one day, we're sitting

in the living room. Tracy is pregnant with Eli.

And Aria is like, she's talking a little bit,

and she's walking. Getting into things but for

the most part, you know She's just kind of hanging

out in the house and Noah's being Noah just chilling

and I'm in the living room watching TV I think

or on the computer. I can't remember but I'm

sitting there and then all of a sudden Tracy's

in the back room and she yells to me and she

says Logan where's Aria and I said She's right

here. She's like you can see her and I'm like

I looked around and I'm like No. And she says,

well, where is she? And I said, I don't know.

She's in the house somewhere. And she's like,

find her. I'm like, oh my gosh. So I get up.

Well then, I'm looking around. She's not in the

kitchen. She's not in the bathroom. She's not

in the other bedrooms. And I'm looking and I'm

like, the front door's closed. Now we lived in

Florida at this time. We lived on a very busy

street. And I'm like, I have no idea where she

is. So at this point, I'm panicking because I'm

like, oh, snap. She is not in this house. And

Tracy says, check outside. I said, the door's

closed. She said, check outside! So I open the

door, and here is Aria in a little t -shirt and

a diaper and her baby butt. And she's in the

middle of the street. I take off running. I literally

snatch her up. As I snatch her up and get back

in our driveway this car comes speeding down

He's doing like 80 in our neighborhood, and I'm

not and I'm not even like like that was legit

to the point where I Get like you feel this instantaneous

relief right and my wife just begins to ball

crying and She's like I cannot imagine if you

had waited any longer And if my mom instincts

didn't kick in, because that car was flying.

And she said, but I'm just thankful that this

was Tracy's words, that you ran to her. That's

Jesus towards us. We're standing in the middle

of the street unknowingly when sin is ready to

put us to death. And God pursues us. He takes

off towards us. There's somebody else that ran.

towards someone. We see that story in Scripture

too, right? Who's that? The prodigal son and

his father. So step out from behind the trees.

God has not changed his mind about you. I just

want you to know that. Point number two is called

out of the shadows and into connection. Now these

two points are going to kind of feel similar,

but I want you to follow me. I'm going to point

out how they're a little bit different. After

Adam and Eve hid, God does something remarkable.

He doesn't storm into the garden with judgment

or anger. He simply asks, where are you? This

is not a question of angry judge, but the invitation

of a loving father who longs to reconnect with

his children. You could put this up here for

me, Morgan. God already knows Adam's location.

He's not seeking information, but he's seeking

intimacy. His question creates space for Adam

to step into honesty because healing always begins

with truth When Adam finally responds I heard

you I was afraid and I hid He names the fear

and the shame that had taken root in his heart

and God uses this moment to draw out what Adam

could not admit on its on his own if God had

not pursued Adam and asked him to come out from

the trees, what would Adam and Eve still be doing?

Hiding. And if God was a god of say, the Muslim

religion or even a cult religion like Mormonism,

he would have been still distant and left them

where they are. So this is the heart of my second

point. I want you to hear this. calls us not

to explain ourself, but he says, come towards

me. Not, why are you like this, but let me meet

you where you really are. So speaking of the

prodigal son, the father doesn't question his

son upon his return, nor does he chastise him

for leaving. Instead he runs to him with open

arms, embodying God's call to us. God doesn't

want explanations. He wants our presence. He

longs for us to come home Just the way we are

and he will fix us Many people hear God's voice

through the filter of guilt Assuming his where

are you means things like what's wrong with you?

Let me ask you this when you read when you read

this account and you hear that that question

Where are you? And then the second question,

what have you done? How do you hear the tone?

How do you hear the tone of God's voice in that

moment? When you're reading it, just you by yourself.

You hear it as gentle. Feel like he's calm about

it. Anybody else? Is there anybody like me that

I hear it as, where are you and what have you

done? That's exactly how My dad's voice is. And

that's the way I've always read it. Until I had

someone take me aside and say, no, I want you

to see what's happening. I want you to hear the

heart of the father. It's not one of chastisement.

It's one of grace and just saying, just come.

Just come. It's OK. What you did wasn't OK, and

I'm going to have to fix it. I don't know how

many things when I was a kid, I would break and

I was so terrified of the way my dad would react.

So I would try to fix it and I just made it worse.

You know what I mean? And my dad would be like,

if you just would have came to me the first time

before you tried to fix it, I could have fixed

it. Now I got to go buy a new one. And so when

he says, where are you, he's not saying, what's

wrong with you, or you should be better by now.

He's not saying, you've disappointed me yet again.

But through Christ, every where are you becomes

an invitation, an invitation to confess without

fear, to be known without shame, and to step

back into connection with the God who knows our

worth, even when we don't. So I want you to think

about it this way. Point number one says, God

pursues us when we retreat. But point number

two says, God invites us out so he can restore

us. So that's how I want you to think about the

two points. Shame wants us to keep silent. Guilt

wants us to keep distant. And sin wants us to

be defensive. But God's question cuts through

all of it. This should be up here. Where are

you is not condemnation, it's connection. It

is the Father opening the door so we can walk

out of hiding and back into our identity as His

beloved image bearers. Through Jesus, we no longer

have to fear the voice of God. His question is

always a call to come closer. Point number three.

Let's look at verses 10 and 11. And he said,

I heard you in the garden and was afraid because

I was naked and so I hid. Then he asked, who

told you you were naked? Did you eat from the

tree that I commanded you not to eat from? And

so for point number three, it's from fear to

freedom. When God asked Adam, who told you you

were naked? Now, this was something I've never

thought about till I was a chaplain in the military

and another chaplain pointed this out to me.

Who told you you were naked is actually a question

of God's heartbreaking. And I've never thought

about it before. It is one of the most tender

fatherly moments in all of scripture. It is the

voice of a grieving father hearing his children

repeat a lie about themselves. Every parent knows

that moment. This is what I mean. This is how

you can identify with the Lord, because you've

heard something like this, I'm sure. When your

child has said something like, I'm stupid, I'm

ugly, I'm worthless, or anything that kind of

diminishes their worth of what you know them

to be, something in us breaks as parents. Am

I wrong? When a kid bullies my kid or another

adult, Talks down to them in a way. That's just

belittling It makes me want to do two things

it makes me want to get down on my kids physical

level and Embrace them and hold them and tell

them don't believe that lie and then makes me

want to do the other thing of drop kick that

little turd or throat punch that adult I shouldn't

say that from the pulpit. I apologize, but it's

true. It does make me angry. But that's exactly

what God is doing here in the garden. His children

have embraced a lie that did not come from Him.

That's what God is doing in Genesis 3. He is

grieving the fact that His children are carrying

shame that did not come from Him. God's question

exposes the tragedy of sin. This should be right

up here. Adam and Eve are listening to voices

that do not love them. Do you hear that? The

enemy does not love them. He hates them. Why

does he hate them? Because they are made in his

image and made to be in relationship with him

and he is not. He knows there is something different

about them because he was there at the creation

of them. And so he hates them, he despises them.

And when he has the opportunity, he speaks into

it to try to be the voice that gets them off

point so that they can begin to believe a lie.

And so the serpent gave them a false story about

God and now shame is giving them a false story

about themselves. Do you hear me? Shame will

allow you to believe a lie about yourself that

is not true. It will also make you go inward

to where you believe things about God that is

not true. And here's the danger. This will be

up here. When we believe lies about who we are,

those lies begin to shape our lives. And I'm

about to dig a little deeper, and this might

be a little political, but I want you to hear

it. This is why the lie of Adam believed was

so destructive. And it's why the lies that culture

sell us today are equally destructive. Who told

you is God's way of saying, who gave you this

identity? Who made this accusation against you?

Where did this shame come from? This is not what

I spoke over you. This is not who you are. And

the lie of death always tries to rename us. Can

you guys hear where I'm going with this? Can

you pick it up what there is a group of people

that have been lied to All of us have been lied

to but there's a group of people right now that

are believing at one Massive lie and they want

all of us to buy into that lie, too Some people

though believe the lie that they are unworthy

that they're dirty that they're broken that they're

forgotten or they've gone too far It tells us

that we are defined by our worst moment, our

deepest wound, or the sin committed against us.

One of the most heartbreaking examples in our

time is the lie that says, you're in the wrong

body. This secular narrative of transgenderism

and all the confusion surrounding identity flows

from the same ancient deception that began in

Eden. It tells image bearers of God that the

body he knit together with purpose, beauty, and

intentionality is somehow a mistake. It attacks

the very foundation of creation, male and female

he created them. This lie breeds confusion, not

clarity. Brokenness, not peace. Anger and bitterness

not only towards God, but towards oneself. We

can believe in when someone sins against us and

I specifically am talking about when when someone

is This this book that I'm reading like I told

you guys about shame It has a lot of testimonies

from women who have been sexually abused when

they were children and and some of the things

that they believe About themselves and about

the way God viewed them was heartbreaking They

legitimately believed, all of them, that they

were the ones who were broken, that they were

the ones who had the shame, that they were harboring

all of this, that they were unworthy of God because

they were dirty because of someone else's sin

against them. That is a destructive lie from

the enemy. And so if that's you, if someone has

sinned against you, or you feel like you're unwanted,

maybe you were raised in foster care or whatever

it may be, you can feel this sense of unwantedness

or unworthiness and I'm telling you that God

is pursuing you with all his fiber of his being,

that he sent his son to show you that you are

so worthwhile. You are not whom the liars have

claimed you to be. And when voices, whether cultural,

political, or even well -meaning, friends say,

I'm going back to the, I never finished my transgenderism

thought, this is who you really are, while contradicting

what God has spoken, they are echoing the serpent's

whisper in the garden. That doesn't make the

people evil snakes, but it does mean that they

are unknowingly repeating the same deceptive

script the serpent used. The true enemy is the

lie and the father of lies who stands behind

it. God's heart breaks when his children believe

they are something other than what they lovingly

he created them to be. And just as he asked Adam,

he still asks us today, who told you that? Who

told you this about yourself? Who convinced you

that my craftsmanship was a mistake? The lie

that death tells us We are defined by shame,

our fears, our confusion, or our wounds. But

Christ tells us something entirely different,

that we are made in the image of the creator,

that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, that

we are bought with a price, and that our identity

is a gift, not a guess. That is the wonderful

counselor, not the deceiver who defines who we

are. Am I moving too fast? Are you guys picking

up what I'm throwing down? My family's not here

so I can say that one. When Adam confessed, I

was afraid so I hid. That's what lies do. They

drive us into hiding. But notice God's response.

He doesn't crush Adam. He converses with him.

He invites reflection. He patiently pulls Adam

out of fear and back towards truth. Here's something

that just hit me as I'm sitting here. When The

serpent actually knows God better than Adam and

Eve Here's why I say that Adam and Eve said if

we eat it will surely die Eve says that right

or if we touch it we will surely die What does

the serpent say You will not die, but you will

be like him It's the you will not die part that

just hit me What did he know about God? He's

merciful. He's gracious Like all right, sorry

that just like I have those moments where it's

just like boom And they happen even while I'm

preaching man, thank you Lord for your grace

and your mercy Through Christ God does the same

thing for us guiding us from fear to freedom

from confusion to clarity, from lies to truth,

from shame to restored identity. Our failures,

our wounds, and even our confusion do not define

our identity. Only His voice does. This will

be right up here. I want you to write this down

because you need to come back to this. Every

time God asked who told you that, He is tearing

down lies that keep his children bound and calling

them back to the glorious truth of who they are

in him Every time God asked you who told you

that or why do you feel that way? What makes

you think that you are this way? And that's all

of us by the way all of us can feel that we are

failures that we are unworthy all of these things

and God is saying who told you that and When

he every he does he's tearing down lies Point

number four, let's go to verses 12 and 13. The

man replied, the woman you gave to me, she gave

some fruit from the tree and I ate. So the Lord

God asked the woman, what is this that you have

done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived

me and I ate. So point number four is embracing

graceful honesty. Embracing graceful honesty.

When God asked Adam and Eve what happened, something

emerges in humanity for the first time. Blame

shifting. These two, once united, once partners

in purpose, once aligned in perfect harmony with

God, now turn on each other. The man who once

received his wife as a gift now presents her

as a liability. The woman designed to be Adam's

companion in mission now becomes in his eyes

the reason for his failure. This is the tragic

fracture of sin. Men, I'm gonna talk to you for

a moment, but first I'm gonna share how this

plays itself out. I read this point to my wife

this week as I was getting ready, and I said,

hey, give me an example of how I've done this

to you, and she said, where do I start? But she

says, I think the best one is whenever right

after we got married, we were literally newlyweds.

I'd just gotten back from our honeymoon and I

get a call. For the first time ever, I get a

call that says, hey, we need a drummer to go

on this tour with us. Would you come and be the

drummer? And this had been my dream for a long

time. And mind you, I've only been married like

two weeks. We had just moved into a little apartment

and I said sure how much does it pay and they

said nothing and I said great awesome I'm in

and I will never forget My wife said you didn't

tell them. Yes, right and I said, of course I

told them Yes, like this is like a big opportunity

for me and she said so let me get this straight

We've been married two weeks. You'll make no

money. I'm supposed to stay here work full -time

be by myself and I'll see you in three months?"

And I was like, that's the plan. And she said,

you're an idiot. And she's like, this is not

like, you're married now. Like you made the decision

not three weeks ago to protect me, to care for

me, to honor me. And I'm like, yeah, you can

go live with my parents. And she said, that sounds

terrible. And I said, what do you want from me?

And she's like, I want you to be a husband, to

be a man, to grow up, to be an adult. That's

what I want. And I said, you're standing. This

is exactly what I said. I was 20 years old at

the time. Allow some grace, people. I said, you're

standing in the way of my dreams. And she said,

well, it sucks not being your dream. Great husbanding.

husbandry, husbanding, spousing, whatever. A

plus, not really. A plus in failure. But here's

the deal. I felt that Tracy was now standing

in the way of who I felt like I was supposed

to be. God was speaking through my wife in this

moment that says, hey, I'm drawing you out from

being a little boy to being a man. This is an

opportunity for self -sacrifice, not stepping

on her in order to get where you're going. And

so then begins a long stream of a lot of Logan's

failures, a lot of being poor and broke. and

us arguing over money and us arguing over dreams

and us arguing over a lot of things and the entire

time we are at odds with one another. Because

it's about blame shifting. It's about it's your

fault that you're not living up to this. So up

until this moment Adam and Eve were a team. I

told you before they stood elbow to elbow. That's

the sense of the Hebrew. They were together in

God's mission, they were together in love, and

they were together in trust. But in the garden,

Adam fails in his first God -given role. He does

not guard, protect, or silent the serpent's lie.

He does not confront deception. Instead, he stands

by, watching, silent, passive, then turns around

and has the gall to blame his wife. Think about

that. How many of you men have allowed your spouse

to either believe a lie about themselves or believe

a lie that someone has told them, tearing them

down, and you have stood by passively allowing

it to happen? How many of you men have allowed

your own mother to say things about your wife

that is ungodly, untruthful, and a complete lie,

and you stood there passively and said, well,

it's my mom. It happens every day. How many of

you feel like your wife is the reason why you're

not? Where you should be, all of this, is you

going to God and saying, it's the woman you gave

me. It's why I'm not better. It's why I'm not

happier. It's why I'm not farther along in finances.

Adam blames her, he blames God, and he doesn't

take responsibility for anything. Men, there's

a great book. It is not a Christian book. It

is written by a former Navy SEAL, and it's called

Extreme Ownership. In the very first, the entire

book is about one point. As the leader, I accept

all ownership and failure. All of it. If my men

die in battle, I didn't do my job well enough.

Are they gonna die? Yes, some will die. This

is his point. But I should have been better planned

more ahead more thinking and the whole thing

is just extreme ownership And as a man, it's

all about extreme ownership It took me 20 years

to figure it out But I'm finally figuring it

out that it's on me as a man to love my wife

Well, and if she sins, where did I fail now?

She is responsible for her own sin. Yes, but

also too. I have to go Where did I not meet?

her where she needed to be. And here you can

be like, what are you talking about Pastor Logan?

That makes no sense that the man should be responsible

for the woman or his children's sin. Listen to

this quote from Doug Wilson. One of the most

difficult things for modern men to understand

is how they are responsible for all the problems.

The husband is responsible for all the problems.

He remains the head, and just as Christ as the

head assumed all responsibility for all the sins

of all his people, so the husband is to assume

the covenant responsibility for the state of

his marriage." You're like, man, that's heavy.

Yeah, that's what it is to be a man. And so what

does this reveal? That the enemy's strategy wasn't

just to break a rule, it was to break relationships.

Relationship between man and woman, relationship

between humanity and God, and relationship between

identity and truth. This will be up here. Sin

corrupts how we see God, how we see ourselves,

and how we see one another. And we see the same

lie playing out in our world today. The enemy

still whispers, this gift is a burden. This child

is not a child. This life is not valuable. The

lie of abortion follows the same ancient pattern.

It tells women this baby will not or will only

be a liability. It tells men you have no responsibility

here. This is her problem. It tells both life

is expendable and you don't need to protect this

gift. I actually saw last night, if you watch

Stranger Things, which I am sure there's a big

group of people in here that are big Stranger

Things fans, but one of the main characters,

the female actress, she was on some late television

show, I don't know. But she said I just want

to honor my mother for because she's the reason

why I'm here and because I just found out just

recently not too long ago that My mom actually

had an abortion before me and she said that If

it wasn't for that abortion, I wouldn't be here

like as a person and I wouldn't she would then

had the ability to get me to where I'm at here

in and Movie stardom and all this stuff And people

applauded that. I had this long comment that

I wanted to comment, but I'm like, she's not

gonna see this, so delete this. But I wanted

to be like, you literally are believing a lie

that your mother is believing that her life was

better. Whatever you have to do to justify the

fact that you took the life of a person. It all

goes back to an ancient lie that has been bought,

that was bought from the very beginning and it's

still being bought today. Just as Adam stepped

back when he should have stepped forward, our

culture tells men that fatherhood is optional

and tells women that motherhood is disposable.

This echo of Eden continues wherever responsibility

is abandoned and life is devalued. The enemy

did a number on humanity the day Adam shrank

back in fear. It fed Eve a lie, disrupted their

unity, distorted their view of God, and unleashed

selfishness into the world. Eve too shifts the

blame. The serpent deceived me. No one was willing

to tell the truth. Everyone was hiding behind

excuses, and this is what. Sin always does. It

convinces us that honesty is dangerous and that

responsibility is too costly. This will be up

here for you to write down. But God's response

is not merely to expose sin, it is to redirect

humanity towards redemption. Even in judgment,

God is drawing his children back to himself.

And so you may be like, man, Pastor Logan, this

has been like a super heavy, like sermon for

Advent, but it's supposed to be. It's supposed

to feel heavy. You're supposed to feel this kind

of drain because it's supposed to draw us to

the coming of Christ. You should feel the Genesis

drudgery and bleakness so that when we get to

Matthew, it feels the weight has been relieved.

And so this is where Christ enters our story.

He teaches us to stop deflecting, stop hiding,

stop blaming others for our choices. He calls

us into grace -filled honesty and the kind of

honesty that brings freedom. Because repentance

is not about humiliation, it's about restoration.

When we finally say Lord, this is what I've done.

We discover that grace was waiting for us all

along Do you hear that? To me, this is the one

thing I Shouldn't say that this is one of the

things I think that Catholics do well not in

the fact of like Being able to go and confess

to a priest because we have the great high priest

you don't have to come to me to confess But what

I do think is good is confessing to a brother

or sister in trust when you have committed a

sin. Because when you do that, you bring sin

out of hiding and into light. And that is where

sin begins to lose its hold. So I want you to

encourage one another. You don't have to hide

behind excuses. You don't have to defend your

shame. And you don't have to point fingers to

feel safe. God isn't looking to crush you. He's

looking to cleanse you. Our worth is not found

in our ability to be flawless, but is in our

willingness to be honest before a God who already

knows. I'll have this up here. In Christ, honesty

becomes the doorway to healing, integrity becomes

the path to freedom, and grace becomes the ground

on which we stand restored. And so as I told

you guys before, we're stopping before verse

14. And the reason is this, because that's where

the promise enters. The verse 14 is where the

first promise is made. It's where God says, I'm

gonna take care of this. It's also the beginning

of God taking responsibility and He makes the

first. sacrifice to cover Adam and Eve. And so

as I said, it's intentional that we stop short

because I want you to feel the weight. I don't

want to rush ahead because the children of Israel

didn't get the chance to skip ahead in the story.

And so as Adam and Eve sat in shock of their

sin, They had to feel the fracture between themselves

and God, between one another, and even within

their own hearts. They have to live for a moment

with an uneasy silence before God spoke hope.

I want you to hear this, and today so do we.

Because if we rush too quickly to the promise,

we forget why the promise was needed at all.

We forget the weight of what sin destroys, the

relationships it distorts, and the blame it shifts.

And so we have to really sit in the fact that

sin is real. But I also want you guys to think

about this. We still feel the weight of sin today,

do we not? We still feel the effects of sin today,

do we not? And we sit on this side of the cross.

And so in much of the same way that we wait,

we cling to the hope that Jesus is coming again

to make all things new and all things right.

Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for this

word. Thank you for.