Sin (Part I)

Grace Fellowship Church

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Okay. Well, um, I lament that we can't do this in person. Um, it's a blessing to be able to still do this though.

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You know, praise God that we have the, um, the opportunity and the, um, the means by which God provides that we can still meet, um, as a church plant.

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Um, so I kind of want to start it today. And, um, we had talked about not talk, not starting with jokes or anything.

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And, uh, so I'm not starting with any jokes, but if you find any of these funny, that's, that's on you guys. So, um, so I don't know if you guys are on Facebook or anything, um, you know, with the social medias, if, if you guys have ever spent, um, a certain amount of time or any really for a couple, you know, a certain amount of time for a couple of years, even you, you probably were privy to a certain trend, um, that emerged, you know, maybe earlier on more than even today.

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Right. Uh, what you would see is, um, there was a time when maybe not so much right now when people would post, um, a lot of inspirational and kind of pop culture quotes, and they would kind of look like flowery and really some, some nice pictures.

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And you would see, um, maybe this is a time when social media was a lot more, um, positive than it is now.

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Uh, but you would see, I mean, you would see the trend of these pictures that existed, right. You would see, it was like pop culture, um, inspiration.

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So you'd get, uh, you get this phenomenon as people woke up in the morning, um, and then he would post and then, you know, and all in, in, in, in good spirit,

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I imagine, but you would see people post these, um, these pictures and these inspirational quotes and they would, um, and they do it to inspire the people on their wall or, you know, the people that they could, um, communicate with online.

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Um, and they would sometimes go to the effect of, you know, um, you are enough, you know, you got this, you know, or something like, uh, um,

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I have another one here. Um, everybody makes mistakes, go and conquer the world. And, uh, and if you've been around long enough,

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I'm, I'm no longer on it, but, uh, if you've been around long enough to see it, you've actually seen somewhat of like a, like a change or a permutation of what these quotes and is inspirational kind of these pop culture things would eventually become.

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So, whereas initially, I think, you know, in the earlier days, you would see people be a lot more positive and, um, uh, just really, again, with all, with the best intentions,

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I imagine, um, you would, what you see now, maybe even more so now in the, in the, in the midst of these kinds of these weird times that we're in, you see somewhat of a nihilistic motivation, you know, um, most of them,

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I don't think that I could even say, right. They're probably too vulgar at their core, but you would, um, there's something to the extent of, you know, the world is somewhat of a bad place.

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So you can kind of fill in the blanks here. Uh, you got to get yours, you know, it's some kind of like, you know, you got to, the world isn't going to give you what you deserve.

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So you got to go out and get it, or you're good enough to kind of trample over, you know, the adversity, but, you know, fill in the kind of, kind of vulgarities, you know, like I said, it's not most of these things that kind of show up these days.

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Um, I don't know, maybe just my feed, if, if I even care to look at it isn't so popular anymore, isn't so positive.

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It kind of gave away from this positive perspective. Again, this is only turning back the page of the internet a couple of years to now where it seems a lot more nihilistic.

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Um, again, all of it still stems from the same problem. And that problem lies within us, right?

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Because it made us the image of, uh, or it made us the centrality of the argument. And it said, okay, well, we're going to inspire you to get what you want because you can do it.

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There is, there's, you know, the pop culture will say a bunch of different things, but if you've ever stopped to think about what the

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Bible has said, and it says a lot about this, the message is very different. So what does the

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Bible say? Well, looking at Jeremiah 17, nine, for example, it says this, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick who can understand it.

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So that's a little different. Or you look at Romans three, uh, chapter three, verses 10 to 12.

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It says this as it is written, none is righteous. No, not one. No one understands.

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No one seeks for God. All have turned aside together. They have become worthless. No one does good.

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Not even one. That's a little different than what you might get on your

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Facebook feed. Now, granted it's we're in the midst of a pandemic, but the reality is even, you know, a year back when none of this was a reality, um, to post something of that nature would have been, you would be considered a downer, right?

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You know, don't bring me down. You can't bring me down with that. That's I'm trying to, I'm trying to do what, what

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I can. I'm trying to get ahead. And, you know, I'm, I'm human like anyone else. I, to air is human. You, you know, there's a lot of pop culture phrases that exist, but that isn't what the

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Bible says. It isn't biblical to what God has said about who we are and what we are without him.

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Those are, those things don't, they don't, they don't mix with what the Bible says. So, so if we're going to find out what the

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Bible says about humanity and sin, um, we have to go straight back to the Bible. So, um, but before we do that, let's, uh, let's pray.

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And, uh, yeah, let's, let's ask the Lord for guidance. Um, father, um,

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Lord, we need your help tonight, Lord, um, daily, Lord, we are inundated with the lies of the enemy about, um,

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Lord, what we are, Lord, and, um, who we are father that, uh, that father, that we are made in a certain way.

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And, but, but that the world would distort, Lord, that we, we see, uh, we see ourselves through a distorted lens,

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Lord, often higher than we ought to Lord. Um, and we fulfill these self gratification with idols.

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Lord, um, we make ourselves to be higher and you lower Lord, every single day in the world, um, does this day in and day out, or to inundate us with messages and lies

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Lord from the enemy. Um, father, I pray Lord that this night that, uh, you would be with us,

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Lord, that you would open up our hearts or to rightfully understand Lord, who we are as image bearers or the image bearers of the

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God who created us father, that we would learn truth in this Lord, and that we would be changed by this truth.

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Lord, knowing that these have eternal and lasting consequences, how we view, um, our humanity and most importantly, our sin,

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Lord, um, in, in light of a whole righteous and Holy God. So father,

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I asked that you would help us help those listening. And, uh, I just asked her that you would bless this teaching tonight. So I pray all these things in the sufficient, all, all sufficient powerful name of Jesus Christ.

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Okay. So, um, so if you haven't already, um, gathered, we're in humanity and sin.

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So, um, self -admittedly, I probably could have pushed this to like four weeks with all the research and all the kind of the riches that I'd mind.

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So, um, I, we're sticking to three weeks. So you just have to buckle in with me and, uh, which has gone this ride together, but there, so we're doing this for about three weeks.

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Um, and I have the pleasure of introducing, um, humanity and sin. So as you guys, might've gathered, it isn't, um, it's pretty clear that the biblical worldview doesn't really mince words with the, um, pop culture, the contemporary secularist view of what, uh, what, of what the world says that we are, right.

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We live in a fallen world. We know as Christians, um, and the Bible speaks specifically about that.

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And it is very controversial compared to what the world might say that we are, what the world says that we are sufficient in.

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So we need to, we need to get a rightful understanding, but to do that, we need to understand. Um, well, for, for one thing, we need to understand that because the world stands diametrically opposed to what the

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Bible says, that, um, we need to understand that even without a Savior, without Christ, before we even realize anything that in a fallen world, anything and everything we do can be totally sinful.

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Ephesians, um, Ephesians two, chapter two, verses one to three says, and you weren't dead and you're in, sorry.

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And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the Prince and the power of the air, the spirit that is now work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once live in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desire, or sorry, carrying out the desires of our body in the mind.

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And we're by nature, children of wrath and like the rest of mankind. So you see

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Paul talking to the church in Ephesus about a before and after picture before we were follow following the

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Prince and the power of the air, the spirit is now working the sons of disobedience. We are following this, this, this power and this, and we were sons of disobedience.

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And so the skeptic might say, so you immediately upon reading this. And, uh, and if, if I were to post this on, you know, if I would shout it out, people would say, the skeptic would say, well, there's good things that we can do.

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What about giving to the homeless? What about all these things that we can do? We can help those in need. Aren't those good things. And from our perspective, we would say, you know, yeah, probably good.

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I mean, there's blessings in helping those in need. You know, we help, um, the Lord has not, um, has not walked away from us and helping those in need.

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He blesses in return. But the reality is we as humans see only the act.

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We see only what, what our own two eyes allow us to witness, but never, we, we never truly understand the motive or the understanding of the person who does the giving, right?

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That's what God sees. His perspective is on a much higher understanding than ours. So even something as good as giving, or, um, you know, especially in this time of, uh, of Christmas, that has typically been one of the highest times where fundraisers and things will occur, um, because people are generous and they feel the need to give, regardless outside of the will of God, even those things can be sinful.

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Like for example, like the, uh, like the Pharisees in Matthew six, Jesus said of this, of them, be worth practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.

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For then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven. That's when you give to the needy sound, no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues in the streets, that they may be praised by others.

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Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. That's Matthew six verses one to two.

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So even, even things that the world says is good and it is good to give to the needy and to give, to provide for those.

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And this has nothing to say of anyone who is in need and receiving of those things, but specifically of the act itself, even those things can be sinful outside the will of God.

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And how can that be? Well, the, the way that it works out and the way that it, that it is sinful is that we deny the one who is worthy of all glory and honor his due.

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And we make the act of giving the, uh, the chief end of why we do it, or we give the, or we, or we try to honor the individual above all else and not honor the

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God to whom we are accountable to. So again, outside of the will of God, even, even good things can be bad things can be sinful.

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Right. And that's ultimately our natural disposition, right? Like Ephesians one, uh, chapter two, one to three says we were all walked in that manner.

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We were all sinful until something happened. So again, so, but I want to take us back right to the very beginning because we need to have a rightful understanding of what it means to be human or what, and what the

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Lord says about what our humanity is. So, um, if you can go, if you guys can keep a finger, we're going to be here quite a bit in Genesis chapters, uh, one, two, and three.

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So while you guys are turning there, um, Genesis chapters one, two, and three are just amazing pieces of scripture.

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Um, time and time again, I find myself in these chapters of the Bible because of just how important they are.

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And just these three, uh, three chapters alone, we are introduced to so many topics, many biblical doctrines, like the doctrines of the family, um, our relationship with God and fellowship.

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We learned of the Trinity, the covenant of marriage stewardship, uh, and many more I could go on.

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The list is much larger than this, but I always find myself amazed of how much is revealed in just the first three chapters of the

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Bible. Um, it's important that as Christians we're well acquainted with these chapters because the

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Bible makes it very clear that we ought to be well acquainted with these chapters. So if you guys, um, in preparation for the next couple of weeks of teaching,

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I would highly suggest and recommend that you go over these chapters again, as, um, as you study and, and you relisten and you relearn again, that, uh, that these are very important.

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Um, actually on a side note, um, there was, I spent, I think the good part of about half a year, uh, in somewhat of a, an evangelistic

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Bible study, uh, in, in, in a Genesis one, two, and three. And I think that we got just at the beginning of chapter or a chapter three before we couldn't,

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I think that happened right at the beginning of COVID. And we kind of had to stop everything, but, but it, but we spent six months roughly in just these three chapters.

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And I, and even then I felt like I was rushing. There are so many, so many treasures to mine in, um, in these three chapters alone.

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So I really do encourage everyone to, to study and become well acquainted with it. But first, um, so again, so turning to those chapters,

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I really want us to take a look at these chapters so that we understand our rightful view of humanity and what it means to be human.

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So, um, if I can point you to Genesis chapter one, verse 26, um, it's in summary of, of, of the verses that precede this, uh, at this point in creation,

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God has brought order to the cosmos and created the heavens and the earth. Um, he's brought forth plants, vegetation, animals, and, uh, the fish of the sea.

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So, so the creation, the creatures that walk upon the earth are completed. And in verse 25, um,

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God says this. So in verse 25, it says, and God saw that it was good. And this is concerning all the creatures.

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So the birds, the fish, the, uh, the creatures in the land and the earth, all these things, God saw that it was good.

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And I want us to keep in mind here as well, that, that God's definition is good of good is on a much higher plane.

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And as a much higher definition of our version of good, what we might use as good today falls totally and utterly short of what

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God says is good. So keeping in mind what, uh, what God declares is good in his creation, that really does mean that it was good.

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So we need to keep that in mind, that it doesn't just mean just a, like a blasé form of, you know, acceptance.

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It is, it is ultimately good. So, so we need to know that God, when God says is good, it is good. So picking up in verse 26, um, it says this.

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So verse, uh, chapter one, 26 of Genesis, it says, then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

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It's interesting because when we pertaining to the, um, to the first point, it's again, if you're keeping notes, um, humanity was created by God in his image and likeness.

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And I think what's, what's really interesting about just this first part of verse 26 is the, the words, both image and likeness.

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I think both are very similar, um, and have very similar uses, uh, usages. Often we somewhat tend to play around with it.

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We can use them somewhat interchangeably, but it's actually the not the similarities that are really interesting, but the actual differences in what the terms mean that we'll find that they're very nuanced actually.

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Um, and the Lord makes it very clear that they are two separate things. So, um, again, just, uh, just to give you some definition of what they mean in Hebrew, both words mean just slightly different things.

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So for example, image, uh, as it's delineated here, uh, in, in Hebrew, the word is, and I'm going to butcher this.

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So you guys will just have to forgive me. Uh, Selim. I think that's how it is. It's Selim. It's, um, it's,

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I think it's probably more throaty than how you're pronouncing it, but that means a representative figure. So to be made in his image, it means that, uh, we are a representative or we, or we are a representative figure of the one who created us.

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While the word likeness, uh, in Hebrew is d'muth, which means in the likeness of.

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So the nuance between those two actually starts to come out as you start to explore why the differences exist.

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So thinking about this here, I just want you guys to think about for one second, what does it mean or what could it mean that God created us in his image?

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And so maybe the, for the little ones listening, um, for those, um, kind of trying to understand the difference between image and likeness.

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Well, first of image, what does it mean that we are made, um, that we are made in his image?

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There's, there's, there's differences there. What it, what ultimately boils down to is that God gave mankind a very special role on earth.

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Again, looking back at the definition, it says a representative figure. We find a little bit of our answer in the remainder of verse 26, when it says, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heaven and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

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So when you hear dominion over all of creation, when one sense, um, you, it's not, it's not a, uh, a dominion, as we might understand right now, it's a diminutive term that is somewhat, there's a negative connotation.

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There was biblical stewardship that was involved here. And this is where we get actually the biblical, this is where the biblical doctrine of stewardship is introduced.

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That as an image bearer of God, as a representative figure, we are, we were commanded to steward over the land.

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I will get into this a little bit more in the, uh, coming in the coming, um, topic here, um, in chapter two, uh, verse 19, we'll get there in a little bit.

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So I won't, I won't highlight it too much right now, but, but chapter two of Genesis paints this, this amazing, this beautiful portrait of Adam and God laboring alongside one another in, in sweet labor.

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It's, it is an amazing portrait. Again, we'll get into the specifics, but we get an understanding that to have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the, over the beasts of the earth, over every creeping thing, everything on earth, that we were meant to do it in a way that was

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Godly and Holy and with joy. Um, we have a friend, uh,

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Shane and I, we, the church we go to right now, we have a friend, um, Luke, who actually, he, um, he has a really great thing.

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I'm probably going to butcher it to some degree, but, um, but he was preaching on this topic, um, a couple of months back.

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And he said, uh, we get from this verse. We, so again, I'll have to clarify with him later, but he said of this passage, um, that God's intention for man was that we would be gardeners, but unfortunately sin made us laborers.

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And I think that we can all understand that it work isn't, isn't inherently bad, right? I mean, we get this beautiful image of God and Adam working alongside one another.

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You see Adam laboring in the garden of Eden, um, and planting and anyone who knows gardening,

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I know we have a couple of gardeners here that really do enjoy it. Uh, the joy that it takes to plant seed, to, um, to take care of your garden, to tend to it, to, to see the growth of what, uh, what the labors of your hands are doing for the joy of the, of our

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God is actually great, great work. And it's, it's not, and it doesn't feel like labor, right?

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Those who particularly enjoyed gardening know this joy. And that's where we kind of stumble into being made in his likeness.

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So if we are made in his image, again, a representative figure to be made in his likeness is to be like our

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God in, in affectation and emotion and meditation, um, that we are, we are image bearers of him and we have similar, um, we have similar emotions, different affectations.

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We're not, uh, you see, again, you get, you see the picture painted in chapter two of Genesis, um, that Adam is not just some automaton, right?

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He's not just walking back and forth in the garden, you know, following the, the algorithm as he, you know, sweeps the floors or plants.

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And according to this pattern, you know, he has emotion. He's not like a Roomba, right? You know, this Adam enjoys his labor.

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He enjoys what he's doing. So in doing so in, in enjoying the labor, we, we, we come to understand that being made in his likeness, we are made to enjoy

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God in his glory. Again, because, um, because of the creation and, and God's, God's innate glory, creation cannot help but point towards the glory of the one and the artisan and master of, of, of creation itself.

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Romans, um, Romans chapter one, verse 19 to 20 says this, for what can be known about God is made plain to them because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power, divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world.

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And the things that have been made. In other words, all creation around for, from the tiniest of cells.

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So all creation for you're looking at these, the smallest cell that can be studied to the largest mountain, the largest, the planets in the cosmos.

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You look at the, the Hubble, the Hubble space telescope that, that projects these beautiful images that we can now render into a, into a movie into a 3d rendering from the largest than the farthest cosmic being in the, in the cosmos to the tiniest cell on earth.

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All of it cannot help, but proclaim the glories of the artisan of the creator himself of our

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God. Paul makes that point really clear here that it's not that anyone again in, in, in foolish and prideful, um, if prideful inclinations, we'll, we'll do this, that we will, uh, we will explain away the glories of God, but every man is without excuse that the glories that are revealed in the creation around us from this, again, the smallest cell to the largest body in the solar system all exist to proclaim the glories of our

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God and to make his glories known again, in similar fashion.

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Um, if you, if you can turn with me to Psalm 92, again, this is a

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Psalm written, um, is a, is of glory and praise, right? It, we get, we get an image again of, uh, of, of, again, not just an automaton.

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We don't get someone who like a, like a dutiful Stoic soldier that stands, uh, stands firm, ready for action.

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That does things solely out of duty that he has no emotion and that he feels not for what he does, but instead he does it because he is bound by, by duty.

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You don't get that sense here. So reading, um, the first five verses of Psalm 92, it says this, it is good to give thanks to the

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God, to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, almost high to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre for you,

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Oh Lord, have made me glad by your work at the works of your hands. I sing for joy.

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Verse five, how great are your works? Oh Lord, your thoughts are very deep.

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Again, that isn't written in a blase mute fashion.

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That isn't to say that, um, that duty doesn't play a role in this, but, but to be made in the likeness of God is to sing the praises and the glory of a creator alongside his creation, because by God's very nature, the creation that exists outside of man all sings to glorify

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God. It all does as it is, as it is supposed to. It is only in sinful man that we see, um, creation take a side or, or remove the glory of God or make, make himself his own idol.

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The rocks and the seas and the birds of the birds and the waters, or sorry, the fish and a lot of the birds of the air, all these proclaim the beauties and the praises of our, of our, of our maker.

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However, it's, it's only in sinful man that we see this, this deviation that we see, um, there's that we see that we make ourselves, our own idol.

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Another example that I want to point to quickly is in, um, second Chronicles chapter 26. And this is the story of King Uzziah.

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So if you don't know about King Uzziah, King Uzziah was one of the better Kings in the land of Judah. Uh, and it's, and it's this story that actually captures the idea of being made in his likeness.

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Um, you know, the, the, the heart of, of the Lord, I was captured quite well in this, in this story.

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So in the earlier part in the, in his, in his reign as King of Judah, King Uzziah sought the glory of the

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Lord. Um, and the Lord was pleased to bless him. Turning, uh, sorry,

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I'm just going to turn to there quickly. You see that the Lord is pleased to bless Uzziah in what he does.

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Again, the Lord again is, is honored in, in our, in our zeal and our affectations, in our working of him.

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If we do things all to the glory and honor of his praise, he's, he's, he's happy to bless us.

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There's, there's no, no, there's no denying that. Again, it says this, sorry,

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I'm just trying to find my place here now. Looking at verse five, it says, he set himself to seek

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God in the days of Zachariah who instructed him in the fear of the Lord. And as long as he sought the

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Lord, God made him prosper. Again, as we come to know later in, um, in second

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Chronicles chapter 26, King Uzziah was a man blessed with great ingenuity. Actually. He's one, like I said, one of the better Kings, at least he starts off his reign very well.

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Um, again, he's blessed with ingenuity, blessed with creativity. And in the beginning, he does these things to truly and, uh, and, uh, and well and truly honor the

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Lord. Um, we see later on in the verse, you see verses nine and 10, um, specifically it says, moreover,

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Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate and at the valley gate and at the angle, um, and fortified them.

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And he built towers in the wilderness and he cut out many cisterns for he had large herds, both in, in Shepala and in the, in the plain.

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He had farmers and vine dressers in the Hills and the fertile lands for he loved the soil.

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Again, you get an image, uh, of Uzziah in this, in these couple of verses that he truly well and truly does love this, the creation that the

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Lord has given him this, the stewardship of being King and he does it with a heart to honor the Lord and the Lord blesses that.

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Right. So we, we, we do, we really do get a sense of that here in these verses. Um, again, reading further down just a little bit lower.

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We get again in verse 15, um, again, a man of great ingenuity, really.

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Cause what it says here is in Jerusalem, he made machines invented by skillful men to be, uh, to be on top of the towers in the corners and to shoot arrows and great stones.

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So again, this is the time of war, but he's, he's honoring God in his defense of, of, of the kingdom of Judah.

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And the Lord is blessing him in, in, in that, by allowing him to build these, these kind of, he was, by the sounds of it, he was very well advanced in the, in the art of war in this time.

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And he was doing it to the proclamation, to the glory of his God. And it says here at the end of verse 15 and his fame and his fame spread far for he was a marvelous, for he was marvelously helped till he was strong.

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It ends a little bit on a, on a little bit of a sour note. Um, because truly the

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Lord did bless him as he sought the Lord. But, uh, unfortunately for King Uzziah, as we later come to see in the chapter, um, it does not end well for, uh, for our, our, our man here,

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King Uzziah. Growing arrogant in his pride, um, as is our natural disposition.

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Um, you see Uzziah becoming prideful in what he had done. He took pride in the works and did not honor the

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Lord in the latter, latter reign of his, um, in, as King. And the Lord punished him as a result of that.

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So again, I think there's some application to be had there, but again, the point in being made in his likeness is this, that God was pleased to glorify

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Uzziah insofar as he sought the Lord in all that he did. And the

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Lord was happy to bless people who work hard for his kingdom. Um, it's actually pretty fitting that we, that we talked about music and that, uh, we saw those videos by Shane and his kids and how they play music.

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I, maybe I just want to show by a show of hands here, uh, maybe to the homeschoolers and maybe not

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Millie, but who here, have you guys started studying musical history with, uh, with the little ones, by any chance?

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Oh, good. Okay. Perfect. So you guys are kind of familiar with different eras in music and different, uh, different stages in time that, uh, the different somewhat, right?

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I mean, it's, trust me, my, my, my knowledge isn't all good. It's better today than it was a week ago when

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I started studying some of this, but, but you do get the sense though, that there are, um, in these different stages of music, you learn quite a bit actually.

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Um, and Lord willing, if you don't know more about the music, like maybe musical history, um, that you should take time to learn some musical history.

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Um, and actually specifically some of the, um, some of the early composers that actually existed in during the, during even the

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Baroque era, for example, um, these men, some of these musical pieces will transcend that our days.

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So for years and years, and years to come, uh, some of our contemporary music doesn't stand the test of time even for the next few weeks, but the music in these times, in the, in, in, of these composers where they really put their hand to write music really does stand the test of time.

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And that's not by accident. Many of these composers, um, actually, and this was super fascinating to learn about.

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Um, if you ever took a picture, or you were ever to get like an original copy of, um, the manuscripts that they would write or compose different pieces or different scores of music.

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Um, so you would look at perhaps, perhaps, uh, uh, Johannes Bach or, uh, or George Frederick, um, you, when you were to take some of their original manuscripts, what you would find is that in the, in the margins kind of on the sides and, um, on the top and bottom kind of, you know, in, in, in kind of in places where you could write a little bit more, what you would see is, uh, an indentation or abbreviation of SDG.

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And you would see that kind of written in, on all the pieces of writing. So SDG, what does that mean? Does anyone know

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Latin? Yeah. I see a couple of hands here. So in Latin, the term

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SDG is an abbreviation for the term, Soli Deo Gloria, Glory to God alone.

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That's the literal translation of Soli Deo Gloria. So when you think about of music that these beautiful pieces of music that existed, these, many of these composers that would write, um, scores and scores and scores of music, they wrote with a mind to honor and glorify

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God. So even in their writings, they would say that these are, these are beautiful pieces and we attribute, um, we attribute that to these composers, but in their minds and by the workmanship and the handyman of their work, they attributed every single, every single note, every single bar to the glory of God alone.

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Like I said, the two biggest composers that, uh, people will credit for this is, uh, Johann Bach and George Frederick in the 1600s would write, um, would write a ton of music and they would write

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SDG in it. And it's, um, and maybe there's some application there for us too, that, uh, I don't know if, you know, if, if you're a student or if you're working on an assignment, you know, to glory, to God, be the glory alone.

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You know, that's probably some good practical advice. So for some of our students in university now, or anyone who's working on anything that ultimately the labors of our hand being made in the likeness of our

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God is to glorify God. He's happy to bless those who work diligently for his kingdom, but ultimately all the glory goes to God alone.

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And that was something that many of these composers understood. So, um, so this is before moving on to,

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I guess my second point, I do want to just make clear that, um, that being made in his image and likeness is something that applies in this day.

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It applies today. And it's not something that's, um, has changed or permutated, um, with the introduction of sin in our world.

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We are still made in his image and likeness, um, unbelievers and believers alike. Um, Luke chapter nine, verse 62 says, and no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

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Again, we, I think maybe this is self -admitted. Um, I forget how serious of a verse that is, how serious of a warning that is that, um, that being made in his image and likeness that we, whenever we put our hand, our hand to the plow to do the glories and the works and the labors of our

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God, we are still held accountable to the same standard that Adam was, that that has not changed.

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We are still made in his image and likeness and we are to do it with zeal and with thanksgiving. Again, like I said, self -admittedly,

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I might not, I might not always do it. I might do it more out of duty than as a real heart to honor

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God. But again, that verse, verse 62 in Luke, uh, chapter nine, it's a very clear warning that we are to work diligently.

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Again, we're still made in his image and likeness and that hasn't changed. However, Jesus Christ is the reason by which we work.

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But again, we'll get into that a little bit more because, um, Adam, um, Adam, Adam's circumstances were a little bit different than ours.

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So, so if you're taking notes, um, we're going to come to the second point here. So you can kind of maybe strike a line here or, um, put a second point here.

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And it's this, at creation, the first man was righteous and without sin.

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God's intention in the creation of man was that humanity should glorify God and enjoy God's fellowship and carry out

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God's will in the world. So that's our second point. Um, so again, if you're taking notes, you can go ahead and put that up there.

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But, um, where, so where I want to start here, um, is that, uh, it's a Westminster Catechism. I think that we've quoted it a couple of times, but it does an amazing job of summarizing the, um, the chief end of man.

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And the chief end of man is this. Um, so the question is, it's answered, a question and answer format.

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What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

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So as we've talked about the creation of Adam, the first man, um, we've talked about his sinless nature already.

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So I won't go into heavy, heavy detail here, but I do want to focus on the glorification of God, our fellowship with him and how his will is carried out in the world in these days and in the post, in a sin filled world.

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So, um, to say that man was righteous and without sin, um, means that man could stand in the presence of God without fear and shame, um, and in fear of complete destruction, um, turning.

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So if you've kept your finger in Genesis two, sorry, I feel like I've, uh, we're going to spend a lot of time in Genesis two.

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So just keep your finger there. Don't, uh, don't go, don't go too far. Um, again, we get to this picture, right? That is being painted in chapter two, um, a fellowship, uh, with God and Adam, right?

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You see, um, you see that God speaks to Adam and they co -labor and specifically they speak face to face.

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And I think that we forget just how significant that is. That is a very significant point.

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And actually just to contrast this point, if you keep your finger in, um, in chapter two, and turn with me to Exodus 33 in this chapter of Exodus, this is the chapter famously known for, um, for the story in which at or Moses, um, asked, asked our

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God if he could see his glory. Again, Moses is speaking to, um, to God.

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And in this, and in this story, Moses asks our God, if he can see his glory. And just to point out in verse 17, it says this, and the

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Lord said to Moses, this very thing you have spoken, I will do for you have found favor in my sight. And I know you by name.

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So the one, what I want to focus on is Moses found favor with God. They spoke as friends and they communed as friends.

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And he spoke face to face. It says in verse, um, verse 11, but, but look at what he says when he says, when, when, when

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Moses asks of him, uh, just to behold his glory, he says this in verse 20, you cannot see my face for man shall not see me.

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And live again, Moses had found favor with the Lord. He knew him by name.

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And, and you, again, in, in looking at Moses's story in comparison to Adam, you see the Moses communing with God in, in, in a similar fashion and how the

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Lord blesses, uh, Moses in that relationship that it is the, that is one of love, but sin has entered the world and Moses cannot behold the face of our

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God for in doing so, he would not live. So instead, uh, the

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Lord opts instead to pass by Moses as he sits in the cleft of the rock so that Moses may see his back and live again, even though he's found glory or found, uh, found favor in the

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Lord. It's not that the Lord did not want to show his face to Moses is that out of Moses's safety and safety alone, he dare not do it because Moses would not live to, would not exist if he held the full glory of the

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Lord. So we need to keep that in mind that, um, as Adam communed with Moses or sorry, with God in the, in the garden of Eden, how significant, how really, how important that is that God and Moses really did speak face to face.

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There was no fear. And actually that's kind of what I want to hone in on a little bit. Um, because we've talked about having the attitude of Thanksgiving.

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Um, Adam in his expressed Thanksgiving and in his image and likeness. And you see that again in verse 19 of Genesis.

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So if we're going to turn back there for a second, it says this, now out of the ground, not out of the ground, the

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Lord had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them.

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And whatever the man called every living creature, this was its name. So you're getting, you're getting, you get a picture of, of a fellowship.

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They were co -laboring. They have Adam entered into the labor of God and there was no, no, no dispute, no argumentation.

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There's full unity. Whatever the animal was called was its name. And God was happy and, and, and he was pleased to name the beast of the field and the birds of the air, whatever

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Adam named them, because Adam glorified God in every extent in this moment, again, in, in, in their, in their co -labor and their, um, in the, in the, in the labors of their, of, of, of Adam's hands, you get to see the blessing that, that Adam was to God.

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And God, God was pleased to take part in that co -labor with Adam. But notice that in verse 19, it says, um, sorry,

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I'm just trying to find it. And whatever the man called, it's living called every living creature. That was its name.

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There was no hesitation. There is no, um, there's no indication of hesitation in any of this, that whatever

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Adam called each animal, that was its name. They did it until they finished the completion.

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Uh, like it says in verse 20, the man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.

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So again, you see this beautiful image of God. And I would assume, I would, I would, I would assume it has been an orderly fashion.

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He is sending creatures to Adam and Adam is laboring, naming them, spending time with God until the, all the work was completed.

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Every creature, uh, in, in, uh, that, that the Lord brought before him was named and that was its name.

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No hesitation. There was no hesitation in Adam. There was no second guessing. There was none of that. There's, there's total unity.

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So you would get this, this beautiful portrait, this picture that exists, um, in the garden of Eden and in these first two chapters.

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So, so for a second, I just want us to pay attention here for a second.

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So I was really paying attention. We might, we might get to the sense, right? So where did it go wrong though?

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Right. Or this isn't the world that I live in today. What happened, right? If those of us really paying attention, uh, being studious of the

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Bible or those who are just tuning in might, might come to understand Genesis one and two are right at the beginning of, um, of the

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Bible. Genesis three, uh, introduces sin into the world. This is where sin has entered the world and the fall takes place.

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And that is the third chapter of the Bible. It happens very soon. And unfortunately, uh, if you're paying attention, it doesn't, it's not long before man makes, makes error and falls out of grace with God by disobeying him.

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So it's, it happens very quickly. So unfortunately, it doesn't take man very long to, to fall into sin.

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But maybe this is something that I think the, um, I might speak to the parents in the room a little bit here. Um, a little bit more, you guys might have a really good understanding of this.

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Um, if you guys, I know that, uh, your kids probably love Lego and puzzle pieces, but have you guys ever, um,

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I know this is the case in my family, but you guys ever purchased a Lego, like a Lego set, something that you were really pleased to do to work.

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And it's, it's a tough one. You know, it's one that you're going to labor with for hours. You know, you have this, you can picture in your mind, maybe, um, just this

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Lego set or this puzzle P or this puzzle set or whatever. Uh, and you, and in your, the back of your mind, you're thinking the days are numbered for this thing.

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Like it's not going to last forever. Right. Yeah. You know, maybe in my life, this is more, I've done it only a handful of times cause

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I don't know how much I can take it, but you know, you're sitting, you sit there and you're, and you're laboring, right.

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Cause it's, it's labor. You're enjoying it, but it's, you know, you're putting together, you're looking at the instructions and you're studying, um, studying what you have in front of you.

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You have, you're opening, you know, 30 different bags and then you're putting together this, this Lego piece, you know, this

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Lego, this Lego set. And it's, as you, as it starts to come together, you start to see it take shape and form and you're putting stickers on and, you know, whatever, you know, it's, it's, it's looking really good.

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And, but always, you know, you have it in the back of your mind, this thing isn't going to last forever. Right.

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You know, for how long it takes you to put together, how long does it take to tear down or destroy?

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Right. You know, in my own experience, right. I, I, I would have made something with my niece, my nephew, only to walk away knowing that if by the end of day, if maybe, if that, this thing is going to be pieces, like this thing's going to be,

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I'm going to be stepping, I'm going to be sweeping up Lego pieces for the next two weeks. Right. Like, how long does it take to build something only for that thing to be destroyed?

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It's, and that's, and that's the, the point I want to strike here is that in much in the same way with God, that for seven days, for six days, he labored in creation.

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On the seventh day he rested, but it took one moment before everything came crashing down before.

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And how long does it take? Again, as a parent, you guys have an understanding of this. How long does it take to clean up?

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Right. If a Lego set hits the ground because someone gets upset, that isn't something that you fix in about 20 minutes.

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That's something that you're going to have to sit down and you're going to have to start right, right from the beginning. You're not, you're not given a second chance there.

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You'd have to start right back from the beginning. You can't rewind that. And that is much what took place as well with our, with our

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God in the, in Adam, in the garden, in the garden of Eden, how quickly it took for sin to enter the world and to, and to tar and to taint what the

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Lord had labored over in the first six days of creation. So again, keeping that in mind,

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I want us to quickly pivot over to the third point. And that's, and that's this.

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And if you, again, if you're, if you're reading right out of the statement of faith, it's this. Through the temptation of Satan, the first man transgressed, the command of God and fell from his original holiness and righteousness.

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So again, I, I lament that I'm not able to give more time, or more time as is due to Genesis one, two, and three.

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It's my, probably my guess that we would be back here a couple of times in the next couple of weeks. But I really do think that it would be diligent of us to study these and to understand, understand them well.

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Our faith is so, it's so fundamental in this and we need to, we need to have an understanding of what, what occurred in, especially in chapter three, because unlike chapters one and two, where Adam and Eve lived in without sin and they co -labored with God and they enjoyed the blessing.

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And it was a blessed time. And I don't want to undermine that. It was a short lived time. And what categorizes and what probably speaks most to our life is the, is the result of chapter three of our fall into sin and Adam's fall from grace and subsequently us.

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So again, I really do want to stress, if you guys have at some point sometime this week to really read chapters one, two, and three, and to meditate on it, it really is.

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There are, there are treasures and troves of mine in every single verse. So I really do suggest that.

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Again, so looking back at sin, right? So understanding the, the originality of sin again, in chapter two of Genesis, verse 16 to 17, the

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Lord says this, and the Lord commanded and the Lord God commanded the man saying, you may surely eat every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it.

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For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Again, those are some pretty, pretty direct instructions.

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They were pretty, pretty clear. And it really could not be clearer than this.

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This has been, this has been the command. This has been one of the few commands that God had issued to Adam.

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However, it was the command that Adam was first to, to disobey. So picking up in chapter chapter three, verse one, that says this we're not introduced by the way, to the certain, or to Satan.

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We just, Satan and kind of like sin enters into the, into the picture very quickly.

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It says this now, the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. I'll read a couple,

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I'll read a little bit more. He said to the woman, did God actually say you shall not eat of the tree of the garden or of any tree in the garden?

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And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden.

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Neither shall you touch it lest you die. So stopping just really briefly here in verse four.

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If we, again, if you want to, if we want to drive some application right from the text itself we come to understand reading verse four and verse six, sorry, verse four of chapter three and verse 17 and 16 and 17 of chapter two, we find that that wasn't what

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God said. It was close. It was, it was a partial truth, but it wasn't exactly what the

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Lord had said. Eve said that, um, neither shall you touch it lest you die.

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Whereas God had said, uh, in the chapter previous, you may surely eat of every tree of the, may eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat.

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For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. God made no mention of touching it and dying, but Eve in her, perhaps not understanding and in her, in her misunderstanding, she made the mistake of, of introducing more than what the

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Lord had said. But what, but in reality, what she had get, what she had given the enemy, there's a foothold in, in military speaking, footholds are very valuable positions that, uh, the enemies exploit in, in, in, in attackers.

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So attackers will exploit in the enemy's defenses. Footholds are very important because they give you, they allow you to pivot and they allow you to flank.

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And this is exactly what Eve had allowed Satan to do by, by miss misunderstanding, misrepresenting what the

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Lord had commanded in Genesis chapter two. What she had done is get had given the enemy, uh, given

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Satan a foothold for which he could use to leverage and to, uh, tempt and to, um, and to undermine

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God's command, but also to tempt and to, and to bring in an usher in sin. Again, it says in verse one that he was more crafty than any other, uh, any other beast.

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So he took full advantage of Eve's air. Again, uh, if, if, if we can drive some application right here from the text, we can come to understand that, um, that we need to understand our

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Bibles and we need to know it. We cannot just have a partial understanding because the enemy loves a good partial understanding.

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Nothing. There's nothing more convincing than a half truth. So we need to have clear understanding of what the text says.

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Reading verses five to seven real quickly. It says, for God knows, sorry, picking up from verse four, but, uh, but the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die.

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

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And this is where we have, um, where we come to understand that the Lord in undermining what the

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Lord has said, it actually proves what the Lord was saying. And that in his holy command, he truly well and truly meant that the moment you eat of it, your eyes will be opened.

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And in that day, you eat of it. You should, uh, you should, you eat of it. You shall surely die. All right. That command is very clear.

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And in, in, in undermining what God has said in that verse, it actually proves that God's holiness and his truth and his faithfulness are, are ever more true that the enemy attempts to exploit this, uh, this, this, this foothold in Eve and actually comes to reveal the character of God, that in it, what he says is true.

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And that his, in his holiness, the moment you eat of the fruit, you shall surely die because your eyes have been opened to good and evil.

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Notice, notice how, um, just how quickly things change. So, um, we've spent again, the majority of our time in verse in chapter two today, um, looking at the, the demeanor of Adam, you know, the, um, the confidence that, that characterized

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Adam in just a chapter before, um, it's completely gone looking at, uh, chapter three, all, all the confidence that Adam had and all the, in his demeanor and his, all of this is completely evaporates.

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The moment sin enters the world. No longer is he, is he, um, is he unashamed? Is he proud?

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Is he confident to stand before the Lord, but actually standing, he can, it can no longer even bear the thought of standing in the presence of a holy and righteous

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God. In his nakedness, he covers himself up with loincloth made of leaves.

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Adam and Eve are tainted and they can no longer even bear the thought of standing in the thought or in, in the presence of our holy and righteous

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God. Again, all the zeal and confidence that what's characterized

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Adam is gone. And when Adam fully recognizes the action or the consequences of his actions, um,

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Romans five, 12 actually summarizes really clearly. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, that man is

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Adam and death through, through sin. So death spread to all men because all men sinned because of Adam's singular sin, because of Adam, because of the temptation and the deception of the enemy in Adam and Eve, we see the fall of man.

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And you see that as his lineage passes down through the genealogies, that his sin becomes our sin.

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We are, we are children of wrath. Like it says Ephesians chapters, um, two verses one to three. That sin is applied to us, that a holy and righteous

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God would be in total, complete justification undoing us and starting all over. Again, it's not, if it, if it, it, it should not come as a surprise that it, although Adam stood in shame before the

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Lord and hid from the Lord, it is not the shame that caused him to hide. It is the fear that standing before a holy and righteous

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God, he would cease to exist altogether because he's, he fully understood that in, in him lied sin that the

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Lord would now be complete and totally utterly justified and undoing in Adam and completely getting rid of him.

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So it is that fear that does characterize sin. It is now no longer standing righteous and without sin before God, there is now fear, there's shame.

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There's the burden of guilt that weighs upon the soul of man that is characterized by every single man on this earth.

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We are not, we are not exempt from this. And again, in seeing and seeing the, just the, the vastness of the scriptures, it would be sufficient enough for Genesis one, two, and three, to be the beginning, middle and end of the

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Bible. God would be totally justified in doing that. However, such is not the case with our, with our loving and faithful God who has not left us without a way.

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Again, I wish I really could spend more time on this in this chapter, because I really do want to give it more, um, um, more time, more credit.

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Uh, but however I can't, uh, for the sake of time, I won't do that. Um, but what instead actually is, um,

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I'll pivot a little bit here for some possibly some encouragement and some application because, um, to end on on the fall and to leave you without hope and understanding would be to give you, um, to let you know that there is poison that runs in our veins and to withhold the, uh, the antidote for which that, uh, that poison could be cured.

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Ultimately sin does course through our veins. It is part of our being now, however, that it isn't, um, that isn't where we have to remain.

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The Lord has given us a way and in his loving grace has provided. And it, uh, a way for us to be righteous and Holy before him.

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Again, that plan is prophesized in chapter three, uh, verse 15, um, of Genesis, where it says,

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I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.

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Interesting enough. Like I said, it's, um, our Lord being gracious and loving and kindness has given us a way.

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So I really want to, um, emphasize that for the last little bit. I do want to, again, give you the eternal hope that is in Christ.

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And I want to pivot into some encouragement. So I've been memorizing Ephesians quite a bit with a, with a brother of mine.

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And Ephesians chapter one, verse eight to nine says this, um, that in Christ, that prophecy that was prophesied in verse, uh, verse, or chapter three, verse 15 of Genesis is fulfilled in Christ.

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Uh, Ephesians chapter one, verse eight to nine says that he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ for the fullness of time, that all things should be united in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

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So in Christ, we have our fulfillment. We have our salvation. We have all these things. And I want to talk about that. So let's talk about some, um, maybe a little more encouragement and some application, um, for the

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Lord has not left us without, without hope, without, without blessing, without a salvation in Christ. So let's talk about that for a second.

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So if you're, if you're keeping notes, this is kind of the official ending of the, um, of the teaching, but let's, so we're onto some application.

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So the first point of application I want to, I want to make known is, um, is what we kind of understood in the first part is that, uh, we are still made in the image and likeness of God.

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Uh, first Peter, chapter one, verse, um, 13 to 17 says, therefore preparing your minds for action and being sober minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.

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But as he who called you as holy, you also be holy in your conduct. Since it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy.

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This is Peter quoting actually Leviticus 1144, which was addressed to the priesthood of the

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Levites. In other words, in other words, our conduct should reflect the nature of the one who ransomed us from sin.

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So what that might look like again, in application is, um, regardless of where the Lord has placed you, you ought to honor the

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Lord and glorify him wherever you are. Again, being made in his image and likeness, the command is still that we would steward our, um, our blessings and what has been given to us appropriately.

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So for example, if you're a student, um, glorify God in your studies, like we, like, for example, like the composers that we learned about a little while ago, um, knowing that your study is not for your glory, but for the, for the one to whom all glory is due.

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You know, obviously there's blessings to those who study hard and to, and to labor with diligence. There are, the Lord has blessed those who study hard and their work is rewarded.

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But ultimately those, those blessings are secondary for we labor first for the kingdom of God.

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Jesus said in Matthew 6, 33, seek first the kingdom and right or seek first his kingdom and righteousness.

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And all else will be added to you. All those things come secondary. It is God's blessing and God's righteousness that we seek first and foremost first kingdom sake.

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So that's, if you're a student, what if you're, um, what if you're a mother? What if you're, um, what if you have children running around?

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Well, as a mother you pour your labors into your children, you pour your labors. You again, like it says in Matthew 28, making disciples of them and teaching them to observe all that I, Jesus Christ has commanded of you.

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That's Matthew 28, uh, verse 19 to 20. That's the great commission, but it applies again in our work at home.

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Many of us at home right now, but you know, many of us have children or we have little ones and we, um, and we are to make disciples of them.

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We are to teach them to observe all that Jesus Christ has commanded. Again, that's, um, it doesn't matter that, you know, sometimes the work of a motherhood can seem somewhat lowly, you know, there's a lot there and it's not, not always the most glamorous work, uh, taking care of children and doing what needs doing.

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But the truth is the Lord has given you these, these amazing little blessings for such a short time.

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And we ought to honor him in, in those little blessings as a, as parents, as mothers, as fathers and as homekeepers work, um, not as bond servants on demand, but as faithful bonds on to the

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Lord. Paul writes in Colossians chapter three, verse 22, 24 bond servants obey in everything.

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Those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye service, but as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the

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Lord, whatever you do work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that the

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Lord or from the Lord, you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving Lord Christ. Again, those of us who are blessed to be able to have vocations and work and to still be able to go out and especially in this present and evil age, um, labor for the kingdom, labor for the kingdom.

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We are image bearers. And in his likeness, we are to enjoy our fellowship with, with people.

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We are to bring glory and we are to demonstrate our likeness as ambassadors to Christ. Like it says in second

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Corinthians, we are to be ambassadors for Christ. So if we labor at home or out in our vocations and our job, we ought to glorify

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God there as image bearers and made in his likeness. So that's the first application.

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So second application is this study the scriptures. So we've been blessed tonight to be able to look at two examples, but there's many more in the

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Bible, um, of understanding the importance of knowing scripture and knowing God's commandments.

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Uh, primarily we see the serpent and Eve or Adam and Eve, as they are deceived by, um, by the serpent.

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We see, we, we come to understand that having just a partial understanding or just a partial truth of what the

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Bible says or what scripture says is not enough. We need to know it. We need to study it. We need to be familiar with it.

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As is the case with Uzziah, like we looked at in second Chronicles, um, chapter 26,

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Uzziah was blessed, uh, in what he did. Um, whenever he put, he sought to seek out the

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Lord and to glorify him in his labors, the Lord was pleased and happy to bless him. But it is also the understanding that as, as, as he grew prideful and his, uh, in his, in his fame and glory, as, as his, as his name grew, uh, far across the land and people knew who

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King Uzziah was, so did his pride. And in that pride, if he had known the scriptures, if he had studied the scriptures, he would have come to understand that actually the, the consequences that befell him as he grew, uh, grew in pride, as he, uh, as he walked all over the, um, the temple, as he, as he desecrated the commandments of God, God was full and well in his, in his 100 % justified to cut down, um,

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Uzziah right where he stood rather giving, instead though, giving him the opportunity to live his life as a, as a leper, showing grace, even there, even in his disease and leprosy that he might show repentance, but God was fully justified in ending

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Uzziah the moment he stepped into the temple for he was not a Levitical priest, but having not known that, or perhaps being prideful in, in, in discarding the scriptures,

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Uzziah's pride, let him get the hand, get, let him get the better of him. And he fell into his natural disposition of pride and sin.

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So if we're going to study, if we're going to study scripture and we're going to apply this, that should be your application is study the scriptures, love them, have a, have a full understanding, have a, have an understanding of the scriptures of what they say, and not just a partial understanding for, again, the enemy loves nothing more than half truth.

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Actually, there's a, it, that reminds me of a forgery. Many, many, many people who will pass off bills and currency as forgery will often replicate very similar to what a real bill looks like.

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Any, any forgery on earth follows the pattern of the real thing. So study the real thing.

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Don't study the forgery. Don't study, don't study the half truth and don't be content with a forgery. No one would, would be content with a $100 bill if they knew it was fake.

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The truth is that we ought to study the scriptures and to know them and to love them. So that, that is a second application. Again, if, if I can just labor the point a little more, in much the same way in Jesus Christ was tempted by Satan, much like Adam in, in the garden of Eden, Jesus Christ was tempted in Matthew four,

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Jesus Christ being physically hungry after 40 days of fasting and 40 nights of fasting, the devil thought to tempt

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Jesus Christ at our lowest or at his lowest, when he was hungry and tired. But unlike Adam, who in his, in his unsainted or untainted sin at that point, or untainted nature, still befell the temptations and the, and the trickery of the enemy, our

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Lord Jesus Christ did not. Having no similar foothold as the one

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Satan had with Adam and Eve, Jesus Christ with scripture being, being tempted with scripture, being with the scriptures that the

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Lord had given his people, that the enemy had attempted to use those against our savior. But our, but our savior stood still and he defended the faith and in him, he fully knew and understood of whom the scripture spoke of.

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And having that rightful understanding, he defeats the enemy. And actually I like Luke chapter four, verse 13, because it describes it perfectly.

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After the temptation, after the, after the enemy tries to tempt Jesus Christ, it says this in verse 13.

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And when the enemy or sorry, when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

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So in other words, he had no more lies for the King of truth and was forced, forced to retreat in shame. So let's, again, let us study the scriptures.

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So love them. Our last point of, of encouragement and really where, where our faith hinges on.

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Is, is this Jesus Christ is the way repent and believe. Again, if you've noticed that the

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Bible does not end in Genesis chapter three under holy and righteous God, it totally could have. And God would be totally justified and ending creation right there.

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And then for, for we have transgressed the holy and his holiness and righteousness. That is not something that we, we look down, look down upon lightly, but we stand knowing that our

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Lord has given us grace. Again, fully justified in, in, in doing away with disobedient man.

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Habakkuk chapter one, verse 12 to 13 says, are you not from everlasting? Oh Lord, my

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God, my holy one, we shall not die. Oh Lord, you have ordained them as judgment.

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And you and you, oh rock have established them for reproof. You who are of pure eyes, then to see evil and cannot look at wrong.

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Why do you idly look at trailer or traders and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he.

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God is so holy. He cannot even look at evil. It is such an affront to him.

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And yet in his grace and love, he has not done away with us as his creation.

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It was not an Adam that we find our saving faith. It is not an

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Adam. Adam has fallen short of the glory of God. Like Romans 3 .21 says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

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All of us through Adam has sinned into the world that became our sin. And we are now children of wrath. However, it is not in, in Adam that we find our salvation is in Christ.

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Charles Spurgeon said this, faith never makes herself her own plea. She rests all her argument on the blood of Christ.

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It is in the completed work and the sufficient work of the lamb on the cross in which we find our salvation and all, and all unity and all glory.

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Again, it is not in the idols of this world. It is not in these ideologies. It is not in, um, in false works.

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It is not in any one singular thing, other than the completed work of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, who humbly came in the form of a man and died on the cross for our sins that died the sinner's death.

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So in that we ought to take our assurance and we should, we ought to put our faith in him and in him alone.

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Outside of the completed work of Christ on the cross. There is, there is nothing else. Unlike Adam, Hebrews 4 .15

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says of this of Christ, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin.

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The perfect lamb of God who in perfect obedience to the father has died the death that we deserve. Again, it's not

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Adam falling short, infinitely short. Jesus Christ rises to every standard that the father has set and he's fulfilled them beautifully.

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And in that we should put all our faith. Again, sin, the effects of sin are evident in this world.

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We don't, um, we don't take that for granted. We do not look at sin and, uh, and love it.

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We come to hate it as we come to understand just the grievous nature of what it does for our Lord and how it grieves him.

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So we ought to hate sin. However, we are not without hope, brothers and sisters, that in Jesus Christ, we have our eternal salvation.

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That the Lord would make known to us the mystery of his will, uniting all things in Jesus Christ, things on heaven and things on earth.

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That's Ephesians chapter one. And in that we find our assurance and we find our hope. So if I can end with just one more thing and then this will be the end of it.

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I'll end with a hymn. And actually I've been doing, I had a lot of fun with, uh, with studying and preparing for this. Um, and I did a lot of reading on a lot of hymns and different things.

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And actually I've been singing the same. It's kind of been in the back of my mind all week and all last week. Um, it's, if you guys don't know, uh, this is my father's world.

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It is an amazing hymn. Um, and sadly, I think I deservedly, it gets put into, it gets shuffled into the, the kid's section of, of him, or in the hymnals you'll find it in the kid's section.

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And I'm praying and I, I, I, maybe it's the misunder, my understanding, but this must mean as children of God, because there's no way that we can just put this hymn in the children's section and leave it there.

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This hymn is beautiful and it is amazing. It is truly amazing.

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Again, I've been singing this all week and really it's the truths of this hymn. Um, they resonate with my soul.

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So, and I, so I just want to read this as encouragement. Um, knowing full well that we are made in the image and likeness of God, that, uh, that we find our hope and our blessed hope in Jesus Christ with, which the father was pleased to crush for our transgression.

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So I'll read just the last verse of this is my father's world. And it goes like this. This is my father's world.

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Oh, let me ne 'er forget that though the wrong oft seems so strong, God is the ruler yet.

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This is my father's world. Why should my heart be sad? The Lord is

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King. Let the heavens ring. God reigns. Let earth be glad. Let's pray brothers and sisters.

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Father, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, that you have not left us without hope.

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Lord, that you have not left us without peace. Father, that in your holiness and righteousness, Father, you would be totally and completely justified,

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Lord, to do it in doing away with disobedient men. Lord, in your holiness, you cannot even look upon sin,

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Father. It is such a disgust, such, such an affront to your very nature, Lord. Lord, fully knowing or being fully understanding of this,

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Father, what a testament of your love and grace, Lord, that you have given us a way in Jesus Christ.

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Lord, that in Christ, the completed work of his death on the cross, Lord, the man born to die for our sins.

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Lord, that without him, there is no joy, hope, peace, only fear, guilt, and shame, rightful indignation against you,

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Father. That truly, Father, you would be justified in acting against us.

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And yet, Father, in your gracious and loving mercy, Jesus Christ is made known to us,

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Father, and yet you saved us and ransomed us. We thank you, Lord. We thank you for this time. We thank you for this teaching,

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Lord. We thank you that you have given us your word, Lord, that Genesis chapter three is not the finality of the book,

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Lord, that you do not cease, that the Bible does not cease to proclaim your glories, Lord. But rather,

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Lord, it is a progressive revelation of the one worthy and the worthy true lamb of God, the spotless lamb, the perfect sacrifice, propitiation for our sins, all these beautiful truths fully realized in our

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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you, Father. I do pray, Lord, that anyone who would hear this,

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Lord, would understand, Lord, that their image bears made an image and likeness of our immeasurable holy

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God. And that, Father, that that comes with eternal consequences, not just benefits or blessings,

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Father, but there are eternal consequences for such a truth. And, Father, I would pray that the sin that grieves them,

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Father, that they would turn from it and they would turn to you, Lord, that they would turn to our

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Savior, Jesus Christ, who, again, Lord, died the sinner's death that we might live in him. We thank you,

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Lord. Truly, we do thank you. We pray all these things in his righteous and sufficient holy name.

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Amen. This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

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