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Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org
Out of Eden
Good morning. Somebody's listening.
This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. We are very blessed to have
Josiah Queen here. I did not know of Josiah's music until it was Rachel who started playing it in our car one day, and this was only going back a couple months.
He wrote a song that's called I Am Barabbas. You may remember
Barabbas from when we were studying through the book of John, and this murderer was about to go to death row.
His name was Barabbas, and all of a sudden along comes this preacher man named
Jesus, and Barabbas didn't know who he was, but in the providence of God what happened was the people chose to release
Barabbas and send Jesus to the cross, and Barabbas is becoming aware that Jesus had taken his place.
So it is an amazing story in the Bible, and Josiah wrote a song that really captures that idea of substitutionary atonement, that an atoner, a redeemer, has stepped in to take our place.
So guys, here's what we're gonna do this morning. What are we used to as far as songs?
Like three songs and then you sit down? You need to stretch your calf muscles.
You need to get loose, bend down, touch your toes, because we're gonna stand for six songs.
We got this? Let's go. All right, so we're gonna worship the
Lord a little bit longer this morning because we're blessed to have Josiah with us. Here's what I'd like us to do though. That song,
I am Barabbas, Josiah, could you come and just open the service by singing that? And here's what
I'd like you to do. Picture yourself as Barabbas. Think about what Barabbas experienced way back in the day, and realize that I, Jeff Kleewer, deserve to go to the cross and die for my own sin, but who is this
Jesus who has stepped in to take our penalty? So think about what Jesus has done for you to get yourself in a spirit of worship, and then right when that's done, worship team, right when this song is over, you guys come up here.
Everybody stand up and we'll begin to worship together. Let's pray. Father God, thank you so much for this
Sunday morning. We want to ask Lord that your Holy Spirit would come fill this sanctuary in a profound way, a special way.
Lord, that all of us who are gathered here today would worship you from the depth of our heart in spirit and in truth.
Lord, I pray that anybody who's here today that has not yet put their faith in Jesus Christ would do that today, that they would be born again.
Only you can do it, Lord. Give them eyes to see and ears to hear. I pray,
Lord, that you would move among us in this service and pour out a spirit of praise on your people.
In Jesus name, amen. I said,
I am Barabbas. You took up all my cross. I was a prisoner till you bought my blood.
And I can't run away. But what do my accusers say?
I am Barabbas. I am Barabbas, your friend.
They made me sit right there as I watched them beat that preacher man.
Thirty -nine of all them lashes should have been on my own skin.
How can it be? How can it be?
Oh, I am Barabbas. You took up all my cross.
I was a prisoner till you bought my blood. And I can't run away.
But what do my accusers say? I am
Barabbas. I am Barabbas, your friend.
I'll never understand the repercussions of my every sin.
Is this love or is this hatred flowing out from bitterness? How can it be?
He looked at me and I said, I am
Barabbas. You took up all my cross. I was a prisoner till you bought my blood.
I am Barabbas. I am Barabbas.
And I am Barabbas, your friend. When a sorrow's lamb of God Bides on a betrayed
The sin of man and wrath of God Has been on Jesus' slain
Silent as He stood accused
Beat Him on His own
And bowing to the Father's will
He took a crown of gold
And oh, the rugged cross My salvation
Will now pour out over me
Now my soul cries out Hallelujah Praise and honor unto
You Sin of heaven
God's own Son Who purchased everything
Reconciled the weary one Who nailed them on that day
Oh, the rugged cross My salvation
You Now my debt is paid
It is paid in full By the precious blood
That my Jesus spilled Now the curse of sin
Has no hold on me Whom the Son sets free
Oh, He's free in me Now my debt is paid
Oh, He's free in me Oh, the rugged cross
My salvation Will now pour out over me
You Let's sing that again Oh, the rugged cross
You See the stone is rolled away
Behold the empty tomb
Hallelujah He's risen from the grave
Now my soul cries out
Praise and honor unto You Oh, the rugged cross
You Oh, my words fall short
I've got nothing new How could
I express Oh, my gratitude
I could sing these songs
As I often do Every song would stand
But You'll never do So I throw my hands
And praise You again and again Cause all that I have is a
Hallelujah Hallelujah And I know it's not much
But nothing else can forgive Except for our singing
Hallelujah Hallelujah Response I've got just one move
With my own strange wife
I will worship You So I pull my hands
Hallelujah Hallelujah Oh, love me
Come on my soul Oh, don't you get shy
We love Your song You've got a light Inside of us
Get up and praise the Lord Come on my soul
Oh, don't you get shy We love Your song You've got a light
Inside of us Get up and praise the
Lord Come on my soul
Lord So I pull my hands
Hallelujah Hallelujah I throw up my hands
Hallelujah Hallelujah And though the earth
Will shout Your praise Our hearts will cry These golds will sing
Praise Our Lord Though the earth
Will shout Your praise Our hearts will cry These golds will sing Our Lord Sing that again
Though the earth Will shout Your praise Our hearts will cry
These golds will sing Sing Our Lord It's Your bless
And our love So we pour out our praise
So we pour out our praise It's Your bless And our love
So we pour out our praise To You only
Great are You Lord Great are
You Lord It was my cross
You bore So I could live In the freedom
You died for And now my life is
Yours So I will sing Your goodness forevermore
Worthy is Your name Jesus You deserve the praise
Worthy is Your name Just sing that out Worthy is
Your name Jesus You deserve the praise
Worthy is Your name My shame is gone
I stand amazed In Your love undeniable
Your life's told on and on And I will sing
Your goodness forevermore Worthy is
Worthy is Your name Worthy is
Worthy is Your name Heavens, as Your glory fills this place
You alone deserve our praise You're the name above all names
Be exalted now in the heavens Heavens, as Your glory fills this place
Worthy is Your name I've swum mine through Calvary Where Jesus bled and died for me
I see His wounds, His hands,
His feet My Savior on that cursed sea
His body found entrenched in tears
They laid Him down in Joseph's tomb
The entrance sealed by heavy stone
Messiah still and all alone
Oh, praise the name of the Lord our
God Oh, praise His name forevermore
For endless days we will sing Your praise
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God On the third and break of dawn
The Son of Heaven rose again
Oh, trampled death, where is your sin?
The angels call for Christ again
Oh, praise the name of the
Lord our God Oh, praise His name forevermore
For endless days we will sing
Your praise Oh Lord, oh Lord our
God You shall return in robes of white
The blazing sun shall pierce the night
And I will rise among the saints
My gaze transmits on Jesus' face
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God Oh, praise the name of the
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God Oh Lord, oh
Lord our God Oh Lord, oh
Lord our God Praise the water
As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason
Praise the Lord, oh my soul
Praise the Lord, oh my soul I praise when
I feel it, I praise when I know I praise because I know
You're still in control My praise is a weapon, it's more than a sound
My praise is the sound that brings Jericho down As long as I'm breathing,
I've got a reason Praise the
Lord, oh my soul Praise the
Lord, oh my soul I won't be quiet, my
God is alive How could I keep it inside me?
I praise Your Son, I praise because You reign
I praise because You rose and defeated the grave I praise because You're faithful,
I praise because You're true I praise because there's nobody fainting in You I praise because You're solid,
I praise because You reign I praise because You rose and defeated the grave
I praise because You're faithful, I praise because You're true I praise because there's nobody fainting in You Praise the
Lord, O my soul Praise the
Lord, O my soul I won't be quiet, my
God is alive How could I keep it inside? Oh, I won't be quiet, my
God is alive How could I keep it inside? Praise the
Lord, O my soul Oh, I won't be quiet, my
God is alive Praise the Lord, O my soul
Praise the Lord, O my soul
I won't be quiet, my God is alive How could
I keep it inside? Praise the
Lord, O my soul I just want to speak the name of Jesus Over every heart and every mind
Because I know there is peace within your presence, Lord So I speak
Jesus I just want to speak the name of Jesus Till every dark addiction starts to break
Declaring there is hope and there is freedom I speak
Jesus Your name is power
Your name is healing Your name is life
Making me strong, oh Shine through the shadows
And light the fire I just want to speak the name of Jesus Over fear and gloom and anxiety
Till every sort of calcified depression
I speak Jesus Your name is power
And light the fire Shout Jesus from the mountains
Jesus in the streets Jesus in the darkness
Over every enemy Jesus for my family
I speak the holy name Jesus Shout Jesus from the mountains
I speak the holy name Jesus Your name is power
And light the fire Your name is power
Your name is healing
Your name is life Making me strong, oh
Shine through the shadows And light the fire
Your name is power Your name is healing
Amen. You may be seated. How blessed are we to be able to worship together with the presence of the
Lord in this place. But that God has given us the name of Jesus. The name that is above every name.
Salvation through Christ. Let's turn to Him in prayer and then we'll open His word together. Oh, gracious Heavenly Father, we thank
You so much for giving us Your Son and with Him all things. Father, thank
You that You sent Jesus to crush the head of the serpent, to set us free from the curse of sin, to redeem us.
We pray now, Lord, as we open Your word, You would speak to our hearts that any here who are listening that have not yet been born again would believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, repent of sin, and have faith in the
Son of God. I pray for help, Lord, that You would help me to preach this word as I ought, with clarity and boldness.
And I pray for those listening to receive the word like the pure milk that it is, like the solid food for the mature.
Help us now, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Even atheists are able to see glimpses of the glory of God in creation.
Sharing the gospel at college campuses, we will often speak to atheists and they will have to acknowledge at times that this world is so beautiful in many of its waterfalls and the glories of the ocean and the mountains.
There's a song by John Denver about West Virginia and the country roads. If you're ever driving through West Virginia, you have to put that song on.
That's just a must. But the lyric says, almost heaven. And then he goes on to talk about Blue Ridge Mountains and the
Shenandoah River and the age of the trees. The glory of creation is evident to him and he closes that line by saying, take me home to the place where I belong.
I think John Denver was longing for home, longing for Eden. And those who hear that song and think about the glory of creation are remembering that this world was once made perfect and there are still evidences that this world was designed by a perfect God.
We also see the glories of creation from Genesis chapter two with the making of male and female.
I heard a song recently that was called Perfect and the author of the song says, well,
I found a woman. Sounds like Genesis two when a woman was made for man. He says, stronger than anyone
I know, she shares my dreams. I hope that someday I'll share her home. I found a lover to carry more than just my secrets, to carry love, to carry children of our own.
And this author says, I have faith in what I see. I don't know if he's a believer or not, but he is longing for Genesis chapter two for the male female love of marriage.
As we talked about last week, there are marks of God's perfection in the creation.
And there are echoes of Eden, even in the songs that we sing. Our hearts are stirred and we know that this world is not all that there is.
There is a God who made everything, but even an atheist knows that, however much they suppress it.
Even a preacher knows that this world has fallen and there are evidences of the fall.
There is pain in this world. There is destruction and horror in this world.
Things that are unspeakable happen in this world. I recall being on a teen retreat out in Quaker town with a number of the teenagers we had when we used to do inner city ministry.
And we were having a great time until we got a phone call that broke our hearts.
One of the teens that we all love so much, I actually had the chance of leading this young man to Christ and baptizing him, but the dreaded phone call came that he had passed away.
And worse, he had fallen at the hand of his own brother.
They had gotten into a sibling dispute and that turned into fighting and then eventually the older brother grabbed a knife and just in a moment of rage ended his life.
How could this happen in a world that God made? If there is a God, why is there such pain?
And my heart broke when I heard the news and the teens all came together and prayed and wept together.
Where is God in a moment like that? There are many religions in the world and all of them try to give some answer to some of these questions, but only the
Bible gives an answer to where this came from. You see, before Genesis chapter 3, there was no sin in the world, there was no death, there was no pain or sorrow or suffering of any kind.
It was a perfect world. Even the mountains that we now see and the rivers that we get to enjoy are only a defaced and degraded version of what the
Garden of Eden once was. But between Genesis 1 and 2 with this perfect world and Genesis 4 where brother kills brother,
Cain kills Abel, there is Genesis chapter 3. Turn with me now.
This is about the fall of man into sin and even the fall of the world with the fall of man.
This explains the world as it is and the suffering that we endure. But more than that, it speaks here at the fall of man about the coming redemption of God's creation.
Amazingly, the two great themes of the Bible are law and gospel.
And you have gospel in the Old Testament just as you have law in the New Testament.
So it's not two halves of our Bible, old and new, but these two themes of law and gospel are the prominent themes of the entire
Bible. The most important thing that you will ever hear is that God has given
His law, what the nature of that law is, and the gospel of Jesus Christ because the law makes us aware that we are sinners and the gospel heals our wound.
Martin Luther said, law is like the surgeon's knife cutting the sin that corrupts our lives and brings death.
The gospel is healing. So you picture a wound maybe gangrene on the arm and it will take the life of the person who has it.
The surgeon's knife must cut out the corrupted flesh so that healing can begin.
The law is the surgeon's knife that cuts out the corrupted flesh. The gospel is the healing that we need.
So let's look at law and gospel in Genesis 3. First, as we go in the first 14 verses, we will feel the weight, the heaviness of the law.
And then that weight will be lifted by the promise of the gospel. Now, the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field.
Now, mind you, this is no ordinary snake. The snakes were made to lack intelligence.
They were not made in the image of God. They were just beasts of the earth. But clearly this is a possessed snake.
We learn in Revelation 20 to 22 about who this snake is. Of course, it is the serpent of old, none other than Satan, the fallen angel, the guardian cherub who fell from grace, rebelled against God.
And is now in the world. He has possessed a snake and begins to speak through the serpent.
He said to the woman, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?
Right away, we notice that is not what God said. But Satan is already twisting the word of God.
Satan always twists what God has said. Verse two, the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden.
Neither shall you touch it lest you die. The first principle of the law that we need to understand is that sin is lawlessness.
How often have you heard it said, you know, I've fallen short of my best self.
You know, I might've told some lies or I might've fallen into some sexual sin or done this, that or the other.
And I really haven't lived up to my authentic self. Many people in the culture realize that they're not perfect.
They know that they're not everything that they should be, but they are not comparing themselves with the law of God.
Rather, they're comparing themselves with what they would hope they could be. Listen, the world does not believe in such a thing as sin.
Sin is not just falling short of your authentic self. Sin is falling short of the glory of God, meaning that God has created a standard and man has transgressed that standard.
In the garden of Eden, what was the one command, the one thing they were not to do? Eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And this is the point. Sin is lawlessness. Now, we will have many commands because the commands of God match the holiness of his character.
Adam was not to kill Eve any more than he was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
That law was written on his conscience. He was innocent in the garden, but the moral law of God was already there.
Sin is when any person violates the commandments of God. Sin is lawlessness.
That's the first principle. But here's something even more difficult and weighty to feel, and that is that the penalty of sin is death.
The wages of sin is death. If I go work in somebody's field and I labor all day long,
I come in from my work and the owner of the field will give me my pay for the work that I've done.
Every person in this room has been working in this life, but the wage that we have earned for our sins is death.
That is because the God who made the stars, the distant galaxy, the
God who is so powerful that he spoke the world into existence is just as holy as he is powerful.
His moral goodness, his moral perfection, the light of who he is in his character is so pure, so perfect, that to turn against that holiness and disobey a command must result in death.
The second principle of the law is that sin must be punished by death.
Remember what God said to Adam and Eve? If you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will die, which brings us to the third principle.
Verse four, the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die.
A direct contradiction of God's law. Who are you to believe? Most people in the world think that, well,
God, if he's a judge, will surely be merciful. He will be a lenient judge.
And Satan proposes such a thing. You will not surely die. God will surely not give you the death penalty for telling a lie.
We're only human, after all. Surely God would not be so strict and so harsh.
And most people in the world convince themselves because they do not understand the law that God will be lenient.
Imagine a human judge. You have a stack of speeding tickets this tall, and you go into the courtroom, and you're very upset about that, and you know that the penalty is hanging over your head, but the judge, he looks at the stack of speeding tickets, and he says, you know what?
I actually have a golf appointment at the country club 10 minutes from here, and I don't really have time to hear this case.
I'll tell you what. You're forgiven. You can go. The judge is just lenient and just arbitrarily forgives the speeding tickets, and the guy's going to keep going on and doing it.
Would you say that this judge is just or corrupt? He's corrupt.
But the God of the universe is not like that judge. He upholds justice to the nth degree.
He is perfect in holiness. He never compromises truth. He never violates his own standard of justice because he's
God. So there's no leniency. There's no corruption.
The soul that sins must die, and the soul will die for every transgression.
So don't listen to the serpent. The liar says there's leniency. God will surely wink at sin and carry on.
The fourth principle. The enticement of sin is very strong.
In verses 5 and 6, God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
Notice how powerful Satan's temptation is. At this point, there's no sin nature in man.
We're all sons and daughters of Adam. We've descended from the fall. Here they had no nature towards sin.
It was just the deception, the powerful words of the serpent.
And notice how Eve is swept up, and then Adam with her. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.
She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. So he follows her lead into sin, and so sin enters the world as they transgress the law of God, and they eat the forbidden fruit.
The enticement to sin is strong. Anyone here who thinks that you will live a righteous life without sin, you're fooling yourself.
If anyone says he has no sin, he deceives himself. The enticement of sin is strong.
So what do you do when you fall into sin? I'll tell you what the world does. Every religion, whether it's
Buddhism or Islam or any other religious system, it will prescribe things that you can do to be so good to balance out the bad thing that you did.
You need to start working to be good, but notice in verse 7 what that means for Adam and Eve, because they're prototypical for us.
They're teaching us about God and His law. In verse 7 it says, Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Church, fig leaves sewn together to hide the shameful nakedness is woefully insufficient.
You go to the beach in New Jersey and you realize that the bathing suits are woefully insufficient.
How much worse a fig leaf to cover your sin and your shame.
The fig leaves are the efforts to sew together some covering for sin, but here's the point.
The law regards those works, those efforts, that religion, whatever you try to do.
See, this is bad news. You can't sew together a fig leaf covering for your sin.
However righteous you think you are, you're still falling short. However good of a job you think you've done, it's not working.
Works cannot atone for sin, and so the law is piling on.
The commandment is heavy, and everybody transgresses. The penalty is death.
There's no leniency from the judge. He's a just judge. The pull of this sin is strong, and there's no covering your sin by works.
The law is heavy. But let's read on. Verse 8.
They heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden, and in this moment, we see the first glimmer of hope.
Because if the penalty of sin is death, why are they hearing him walking? As soon as they ate that fruit, they should have dropped dead.
I remember one time going with an evangelistic group to Washington, D .C. It was the year 2000.
I was a youth pastor, and we climbed the steps to the Lincoln Memorial. Our group of people, we were looking for someone to share the gospel with, and in that moment, as we got to the top step, we heard a resounding thud.
A body just hit the ground, and it rang out through that what they call a temple, although it's not.
And this man had climbed the steps and evidently had a heart attack and dropped dead in that spot in that moment.
It was difficult to watch. There was a doctor there that tried to revive the man but could not.
We gathered together and prayed, but I'll tell you what it reminded us of. The wages of sin is death.
The very fact that you and I are here listening and hearing the word of the
Lord, to hear that he still walks in the garden, it means this, that God has delayed judgment.
He has delayed judgment to give you time to repent. He's still pursuing.
He is a God that seeks and saves that which is lost. Adam and Eve, when they ate the fruit in the garden, should have dropped dead like that man at the top of the steps.
But God is merciful. The first glimmer of hope. Notice next that he questions them, which means he's trying to rebuild the relationship.
In verse nine, the Lord called to the man and said, where are you? And they have this conversation.
He hid because he was naked. Who told you you were naked? He's questioning them. They then go back and forth.
The man kind of blames it on the woman. Look at verse 12. The man said, the woman whom you gave me to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree and I ate.
Then the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you have done? Do you notice that he's questioning them? Now look at verse 14 with regard to the serpent.
The Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this.
There's no questioning, which means the fate of the serpent is now sealed.
There's no desire for a restored relationship. There will be no redemption offered. There is no questioning.
There is no getting to the bottom of things. Now, the last principle of the law is this, that even though judgment is delayed, there will still come a judgment day.
When Adam gave his excuse, the woman, she made me do it. What did God do?
He turned over to the woman and questioned her. And then the woman said, well, it was the snake.
And so what did God do? He turned his attention to the snake. Many people, when they realize that God did not bring judgment right away, assume that all must be well.
God must have accepted the excuse. What you pled with him must be fine.
And I'm sure God is not storing up judgment against that day.
Most of the world does not believe in a coming judgment day. But the point of this passage here is that even though God goes silent and he doesn't answer and render his judgment, he has not accepted their remedy or their excuse.
There is but one remedy. You ready for it? Let's look now. We've heard that he pursues, that's a gospel principle.
He desires relationship. That's a gospel principle. But here we'll see it in verses 14 and 15. The gospel promise.
First to the serpent God says, because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field.
On your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring.
Stop right there. God is talking to a snake. But wait a minute.
I thought the snake was just a six day creature not made in the image of God, doesn't have intelligence.
And why would God hold this snake responsible if Satan possessed the snake and was the one speaking through the snake?
What's happening here? John MacArthur, I think, rightly unpacks what's unfolding.
The snake is meant from this point on to serve as an illustration of what
God does to Satan. Now remember, the snake himself doesn't think or feel.
He doesn't know that now he's a different kind of beast that crawls on the ground and eats dust.
The serpent just slithers along and does its thing. It doesn't know any different. But here's what
God has said in this moment. He has said that that guardian cherub, the worship leader of heaven, whose name was
Lucifer, has now fallen and is debased and is degraded and he is under us.
He is to be regarded as wicked and is to be hated. There's now enmity between us and him, offspring of the woman and offspring of Satan.
This means, church, that there is a such thing as offspring of Satan. When Jesus was dealing with the
Pharisees, he said, your father is the devil. There are in this world two groups of people.
In the end, there will be sheep and goats. There'll be wheat and tares separated like light from darkness, the offspring of the woman and the offspring of Satan.
There is an enmity between humanity and Satan who is now a fallen angel under our feet.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan underneath our feet. Now listen, I promised you that I'd give you some gospel hope, right?
Look at the end of verse 15. We see the end of Satan and the victory of the offspring of the woman where it says, he shall bruise your head.
Who is he? He, the offspring of the woman.
Now normally, a person is born into the world through the seed of a man.
But here, that offspring, the word in Hebrew is seed. From a woman, a virgin, will come one who will crush the head of the serpent.
All this evil in the world, all this temptation that's constantly pulling at you. There is coming a champion who will crush the head of the serpent.
The victory will belong to an offspring of the woman. A virgin born child will grow up among us.
And whereas Adam, when that serpent told the lie, remember in the garden? You will not surely die.
Adam was right there according to our text with Eve. He should have stepped in as the head, as the leader in the home, and as the representative of God.
He should have used his heel. Adam should have crushed the head of the serpent in the garden as soon as he contradicted
God. Instead, he was passive and he submitted himself to the serpent. But there's coming another
Adam, a true Adam, a second man. Adam, as the head of the race, brought us into sin.
This new Adam will come and break the curse and crush the serpent.
This victory of Satan is only temporary. There's coming an offspring of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent.
That's gospel principle number three. Number four, look at the second part of that verse. It says, and you shall bruise his heel.
The offspring of the woman must himself be bruised in the heel. When Jesus laid down on the cross, the
Roman soldiers took a giant spike and drove it physically through Jesus' heel, bruising his heel.
But that was necessary to pay the death penalty that we deserved. Remember the law principle?
Sin is lawlessness. The wages of sin is death. Unless the sin bearer come and take our penalty and bear that death wound in his body on the tree, we remain guilty sinners before a holy
God. So here in verse 15, you have the first promise of Jesus Christ.
He'll be the victor who crushes the enemy. He will also be the sin bearer who redeems us from the curse of sin.
Our penalty was death, but he will come and take that wound into his own flesh, physically dying in our place.
Now in verses 16 to 20, we have another principle, and that is that in this world there will be trouble, but this is the discipline of our
Father. We read that women will endure pain in childbirth and men in working the ground.
The ground will bring up thorns and thistles. There will be great pain, but listen,
God is using this suffering, the hardest thing you've ever been through.
As a believer in Christ, that pain has a purpose. This curse on the world is also redemptive for us.
Because we have a sin nature, we would often go on sinning, using grace as a license, but God has made this world in such a way that as we walk through this world, the curse that we endure, the pain, the suffering, will make us more like Christ because we will turn to him in our suffering in ways that we never would have.
So we see suffering yet to remain. Josiah's lyric that says, going back to Eden isn't going to be easy.
It's going to be a difficult road that we walk as Christians. There will be struggle.
The ground will bring up thorns and thistles and we will be pricked. But ultimately, it is the fatherly discipline of God bringing us home, making us more like Christ until finally, we do leave this sin -cursed world and we go to the new heavens and the new earth and God brings that down to earth and we dwell with him forever where there is no pain.
There are no tears. There are no more thorns and thistles. No more suffering.
No more brother killing brother. This world is coming. But it's not here yet.
Amen. In verse 21, we have one of the most profound verses in all the
Bible and it happens so early here. Do you recall how Adam and Eve sought to establish their own righteousness and get back with God?
What did they do? They sowed fig leaves to make a covering for their shame.
And here we see in verse 21 that God did not accept their works righteousness. What did he do?
And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin and clothed them.
Now, it's easy to just connect those dots and move on. The fig leaves were insufficient so God made garments of skin.
But pause for a moment and think about what this means. How do you get a garment of skin?
By killing an animal. And here you have the first sacrifice in the
Bible. It happens right here, right after the fall. A garment of skin to cover sin required the shedding of an animal's blood.
Adam and Eve had to see it in order to understand the weight of the law, that the wage is death.
They had to see an animal die. And we don't know what happened there. It's possible and probably likely that Adam and Eve had to put their hands on the lamb, on the head of the lamb.
And God killed the lamb right there in their presence. The shedding of blood. You see, what's happening in Genesis 3 is just the first glimpse of gospel light.
It's gonna get fleshed out in more and more detail until finally fleshed out in the person of Christ, incarnate, dwelling among us, the light of the world, crucified on a cross.
His blood shed for sinners like us. Here in the garden,
God kills an animal and makes a covering for their sin. Later in Genesis, Abraham will take
Isaac up the mountain to offer a sacrifice. But is Isaac the son, the new
Adam? He's not yet the promised seed of the woman. It's not Isaac.
And so God substitutes an animal on the altar.
And the bull, the ram, who was caught by his horns in the thicket, is laid on the altar and bleeds.
And then when Israel is in captivity in Egypt, they're bound by Pharaoh.
A picture of sin and evil and the devil, the world, the flesh, and the devil. Israel cannot escape by any of those plagues.
No frogs or toads or gnats or darkness. Nothing will soften and change the heart of Pharaoh. There is one thing that can set the people free.
It's the blood of a lamb. And God sacrifices the Passover lamb and marks the doorposts of the homes.
The blood had to be shed, an animal sacrifice. In Leviticus, we learn why.
In all of these offerings, the Israelite who was guilty of sin must put the hand on the head of the animal.
The priests would slay the animal and the blood sprinkled on the altar. Hand on head, blood on altar.
To say that this guilty sinner offering this animal will see him die in my place, imputing my guilt to this animal.
And then the blood of that animal must be put on the altar. This happened every single day in Israel.
Every sinner guilty would come to the temple and the priests would offer the animal. Hand on head, blood on altar.
It's to show that the shedding of blood is required for the forgiveness of sin. Life is in the blood and the blood must be shed to atone for sin.
And so Jesus is the final offering such that no more animals would ever need to be offered again.
Jesus is the lamb of God whose blood takes away the sin of those who believe in him.
You want to be covered from your sin? You want your shame taken away? Believe in Jesus Christ and his blood washes you clean.
You are whiter than snow through faith in what Jesus Christ has done. This is the principle of verse 21.
Lastly, did you ever notice that God kicks them out of the Garden of Eden? And he puts, it says in verse 24, he drove them out of Eden and at the east of the
Garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
Why would he kick them out and hold them out with a sword? Well, the tree of life is indicated in verse 22 that if he would take that tree of life and eat, he would live forever.
Why didn't God want that? Because redemption had not yet been made.
The seed of the woman had not come to crush the serpent's head. He hadn't died for us yet. So if they eat of that tree without the blood of the lamb, without Jesus having died, they would be fixed and sealed in their sinful state forever.
Forever out of Eden. They take of that, they're sinners forever. They die and they go to a
Christless eternity in hell. But because of God's great love, he guarded that way with an angel.
A cherub is an angel with a flaming sword that none would go back to Eden and eat from the tree of life until Christ comes to die for our sins.
In church, Christ has come. He has come for us. Jesus came and died the death that we deserve, struck in the heel to pay for our sin, dying for us, but crushing the head of the serpent when he did.
His blood washing our sin. Sin was only covered until that time with these animal sacrifices.
It was a temporary covering until the lamb of God, Jesus Christ, could fully take sin away from those who believe in him.
So this morning, maybe you've never realized it before, but the law of God weighs heavy over your head.
He's given commands, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not murder, but you've had hatred in your heart.
Sexual sin and all manner of sin. Like Adam and Eve, who ate of the forbidden fruit, each of us has sinned and the wages is death.
There's no leniency with this judge. He's not corrupt. There's no hiding.
There's nowhere to hide from the creator of all the universe. There's no work that you can do to sew fig leaves together to try to cover your own sin.
You have one hope and one hope only. It is in the offering of Jesus Christ on the cross.
His sin offering. The lamb of God. I'm gonna call on you now to put your faith in him.
Maybe you've never done that before. Josiah, could you come up and I'm gonna ask you, if you will, to play the song,
The Prodigal. And what we're gonna do is if you've never put your faith in Christ, listen to these words and realize you're the prodigal.
You've gone out of the garden. And the way home, the only way back to Eden, is through the blood of the lamb.
Pray while you listen to this song. If you've never accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, talk to him. Confess your sin.
Repent. Believe in Jesus Christ. Let's enjoy this song and think about what
Christ has done to make this way for our return. I've been sick and tired
Of being sick and tired Searching far and wide
For something that feels real I need something that feels real
I don't wanna lose my soul Chasing after things that don't lead me
Straight to you But I'm lost in a feeling
That I ain't from this world That going back to Eden Ain't gonna be easy
But it leads me straight to you Now I'm running low
Like the prodigal I don't need the money
I don't want the fame I don't want what
I can't take With me in the grave I don't wanna lose my soul
Chasing after things that don't lead me Straight to you
And I'm lost in a feeling That I ain't from this world
That going back to Eden Ain't gonna be easy But it leads me straight to you
Now I'm running low Like the prodigal
Straight to you And I don't wanna lose my gaze When I meet you face to face
With the unwelcome Now I'm running low Like the prodigal
Oh, I'm lost in a feeling That I ain't from this world
I'm lost in a feeling That I ain't from this world
Amen. Well, Josiah, thank you for coming all this way.
I want you to know that there's a church in New Jersey that's gonna be praying for you. You're going out on tour in April, and we're gonna be praying for you on that tour.
But then for the rest of your ministry, know that there's gonna be a church out here in New Jersey that's got your back, lifting you up in prayer.
Hey, guys, if anybody put your faith in Christ or you have questions, this is Pastor Tim right here. He'll be staying around to answer any questions you might have about this new life.
I'm gonna rush Josiah out because his flight is actually not... We don't have time to hang around.
We gotta get going or else he's gonna miss it. So we're gonna rush out quick. That's the reason for that.
But let me say a prayer and close the service, and we're gonna pray for Josiah and continue doing that as well.
And just to give thanks for what the Lord has done here today. So, Father God, thank you so much for what you've done.
We don't know if you've changed the heart of someone to believe your gospel, but we pray that you would do that even now.
And for those who have believed, Lord, help them to grow in a church, a Bible church where the word of God is taught.
God, and we thank you for what you've done in all of our hearts, Lord, stirring up a spirit of praise and worship.
Thank you, Lord. We pray for our brother Josiah as he ministers all over the world. We pray that you would fill him with your
Holy Spirit. Keep him, Lord. We pray that you would keep him and just be strong in his life,
Lord. We know, Jesus, that you are the serpent crusher and that the God of peace will soon crush
Satan underneath our feet. And we claim that promise in Jesus' name. Amen. Go in peace.