Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / January 18, 2021 | Chronological Bible Study with Patty Diliberto - Session 1: Creation & the Fall

Transcript

January 18, 2021 | Chronological Bible Study with Patty Diliberto - Session 1: Creation & the Fall · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining me again this week.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to look at the creation and the fall.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: And these first days, six days, we're going to see God's revelation of Himself.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis has been called the book of beginnings, and that's because it records the beginnings of so many things.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: God reveals, He reveals some very important key things about Himself in creation, and these key characteristics will carry through the entire Word of God.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: The word reveals is such a key word for us this year.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: The only reason we know anything about God is because He wanted us to know it.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted us to know who He was.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: We would not be able to know Him and know things about Him if He hadn't first revealed Himself to us.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Revelation of Himself is the first act that He did with mankind, and He did it through creation.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: A.W.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Tozer says, we cannot think rightly about God until we begin to think of Him as always being there and there first.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Let's look at day one.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis 1, 1 through 5.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: God called the light day, and the darkness he called night.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: And there was evening and there was morning the first day.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit was hovering, hovering or vibrating over the earth.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: And from this omnipotent vibration, energy begins to flow out in waves.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Waves of heat, of sound, of magnetism.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: The universe was created and energized by God's power.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: At this point, three force fields came into effect.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: The first one is the gravitational pull between two objects, the electromagnetic force between the electron and the nucleus of an atom, and the nuclear force between the proton and the neutron within the atom.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now I understand nothing of that, but I believe and know that those things happened.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And more happened than we can even imagine and even know.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: From this, we learn that God is powerful.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: He is powerful enough to bring something from nothing.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: We also see that God is creative.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: The earth was formless and empty.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was unorganized and unproductive and uninhabited before God prepared it for human habitation.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: We see that God speaks.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: God not only creates things, but he names them as well.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: It was God's sovereign right to name what He created.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And we learned that God sees and evaluates what He created.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: His evaluation of the light was that it was good.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis 2, I mean day two, Genesis chapter 1, 6 through 10.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And God said, Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it was so.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: God called the expanse sky, and there was evening and there was morning the second day.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: And God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place and let dry ground appear.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it was so.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: God called the dry ground land, and the gathered waters he called seas, and God saw that it was good.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: This water has two forms.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: One, the first one was the regular based water in shallow, shallow oceans and rivers and lake beds, and the second one was atmospheric water in the form of invisible, invisible, translucent vapors.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: From day two, we see that God is powerful.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: He speaks and it just happens.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: What unbelievable power to just speak and this incredible world that we live in takes shape.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Then we see that God is intelligent.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: He is the intelligent designer behind everything that we see and experience and everything we can't see.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then God is orderly.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Sonic Light says, God separated the waters, so some of them remained on the earth in a liquid state, and some were above the earth as atmosphere and in as moisture in the atmosphere.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Before he made this division, there may have been a dense fog over the whole surface of the earth.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: We don't know for sure, but that sounds reasonable.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we see again that God evaluates.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: His evaluation of it is that it was good.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Day three.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Then God said, Let the land produce vegetation, seed bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it was so.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: The land produced vegetation, plants bearing seed according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And God saw that it was good.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: And there was evening and there was morning the third day.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: So lush green vegetation, exotic, beautiful flowers are all over this newly emerged land that God is creating.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: It must have been unbelievably pristine and astonishingly beautiful.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: From day three, we see that God is productive.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Since God created plants with seeds in them, the original creation evidently had the appearance of age.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then we see that God is gracious.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't need to make millions of varieties of plants and vegetation, but when he creates, he includes variety.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: And aren't you glad he does?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: How boring would it be if you just ate one specific vegetable or fruit for your whole entire life?
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: He creates, he's gracious in his creation.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then God evaluates.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: And good indicates beauty as well as form and function.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: When the land was ready for man, God called it good.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: This shows us that God's it shows us God's loving concern for human beings.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: It was good for people, and a good God provided a good land for the people.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: When God evaluates throughout his creation, he labels it as good.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because God is good and he only does good.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: On the first three days he gave form to what was formless, but on the last three days he filled what was void.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Day four.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: And let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it was so.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: From day four, we learn that God is systematic.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: He creates systems and seasons and days and years.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: On the first day, God created the physical light, but now He creates special lights, the sun and the moon and the stars.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: These heavenly bodies had four purposes.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: They distinguished day from night.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: They provided signs, and as signs, they teach and remind mankind of God's creative powers and his works.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Anytime you look up into heaven and you see a meteor shower or an eclipse of the sun or the moon, it makes you be in awe of God.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: It reminds you of his handiwork.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: They are signs of his care and his creativity for us.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: They distinguish from the seasons.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: As seasons, they functioned as a calendar, dividing seasons, days, months, years.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the fourth thing, they illuminated the earth.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: As lights, they replaced the temporary light source of the early days of creation.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: And we see that God is purposeful when he speaks.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: To give light upon the earth, this is so cool.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: To give light upon the earth, God sets things into motion that have been working that way ever since he set them into motion.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: They've been functioning exactly as he spoke them into being.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: And as created as he created humans and plants and animals fully formed, so he created the light from distant stars billions of years, light years away, but visible on the earth.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: How cool is that?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Only our God could do that.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Almost without exception, every ancient culture and civilization has worshiped the sun.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: But God wanted his people to worship the Creator Himself.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: We see from this creation narrative that life and light existed before the sun.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it reminds us of what God said in James 117.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Day five.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: And God said, Let the water teem with living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of sky.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: And God saw that it was good.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: God blessed them and said, Be fruitful in increase in number and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: And there was evening and there was morning the fifth day.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: From day five, we learn that God creates in abundance.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: The waters teemed with living creatures.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: There are approximately 27,000 species of fish described by science, and many species have yet to even be discovered or entirely known.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: The smallest sea animal is a zooplankton, and that little little micro whatever is essential to life in the sea.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: The biggest animal in the sea is the blue sperm whale, and it's longer and heavier than a Boeing 737.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: God creates in abundance, and God's creation is unique.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: God could have made only one variety of fish and bird, but each of his creatures is unique and different even within the species.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: There are approximately 10,000 bird species in the world.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: God spoke and brought all of the sea creatures and the birds on the same day.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now evolution claims that birds evolved from reptiles and that that process took millions of years.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: But what does Scripture tell us?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Then we see again that God evaluates, and how does he evaluate it?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: What does God say?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: It was good.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: God is good and he only does good.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: G.K.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Chesterton says, God has boundless delight in what he creates.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And God wants us to have boundless delight in his creation.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want us to worship the things he created, but he wants those things to lead us to worship him, the creator.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a huge difference.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Day six.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: And God said, Let the lamb produce living creatures according to their kinds, the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind, and it was so.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: And God saw that it was good.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Then God said, Let us make in our man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: God blessed them and said, Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Then God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit in it, it with seed in it, they will be yours for food.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: And to all the beasts of the earth, and all the birds of the sky, and all the creatures that move along the ground, everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it was so.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: And there was evening and there was morning the sixth day.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Man immediately becomes the highlight of this day and of the whole entire creation week.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: When verse 27 he said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is the first strong evidence of the Trinity in the Old Testament.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Our image.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Man was made in the image of God and possesses the highest kind of life.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: From day six, we learn that God is deliberate.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: God wanted image bearers.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: He created man and woman different than all the other creatures.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: And the dominant scientific worldview today says that we are simply highly evolved apes without tails.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: We are just the next step in the evolutionary chain of events, but Genesis tells us that though we were made of the dust of the ground, we are still the apex of God's creation.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Men and women made in the image of God.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: We share a likeness with God that isn't shared with any of the animals.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Why did he create us in his image?
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because God desired fellowship.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: The evidence?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: He created us humans with the ability to have aspects of personality, which is intelligence, will, and emotion.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Some writers have called the image of God our mankind's spiritual personality.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: One of the deepest needs that human beings have is the need to belong.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Where does that need come from?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: It comes from God.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: God put in our hearts the need and the desire to belong to Him and to belong to each other.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: That is community, and it is evidence of the community within the Godhead between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: In the book Epic by John Eldridge, it says, Meister Eckhart had it right when he said, We are born of the laughter of the Trinity.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: From the heart of the universe come our beating hearts.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: From this fellowship spring all our longings for a friend, a family, a fellowship, for someplace to belong.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: From the beginning of our lives to the end of our lives, we hunger and we long for relationship, for fellowship, for community, and we long for it because God put it within us to desire it.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're not made to be alone.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're just not.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: We were made for loving, life-giving relationships with our God and with others.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: God exists in eternal community as the Father, as the Son, and as the Holy Spirit.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: And He invites us into the beauty and the wonder of that fellowship.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's really amazing.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: He also makes it possible for us to connect heart to heart with each other.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's one of the reasons this past year has been so difficult for so many of us.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: We miss the fellowship.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: We long for community.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's a natural desire that we have.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: When we don't have people sharing with us.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: You probably thought it was because you just wanted to get out and do things, but it really is deeper than that.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: In the book Teaching the Heart of the Old Testament, it says, out of this community, this Trinitarian joy and delight, God creates.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: He does not do this because he is bored or because he's lonely.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: God does not create us so that he will have little servants to do the chores he does not want to do.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Rather, out of the magnificent richness of the eternal community experienced by the Trinity, God decides to broaden the circle.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: He longs to invite us to live in his love.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: This invitation is not for us to become little gods, but it is for us to bask in the glory, in the fellowship with the Trinity.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that a great statement?
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need us, and yet he opened the gate.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to me.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: We are valuable because of who made us.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: And we are significant because of how we were created in his image.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yet we can't ever forget that he is the creator and we are his creation.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: We also see that God gave man dominion.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: And the dominion that man enjoys is a direct consequence of being made in the image of God.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Mankind only has authority because God gave it to them.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis 1, 28 and 31, God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: He is basically saying, See, I have given you everything.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now enjoy it.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: We see here that benevolent heart of God.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Again, he is a giving God, and he gives good gifts out of that benevolence.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of day six, what was God's estimation of what he had done?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just good, it was very good.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: It is clear, is it not, that God is revealing himself, telling us who he is, what he does, what he's capable of doing.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we see here in the creation account.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: We tend to take this revelation for granted because we may have heard it so many times or read it often, but let this really sink in.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: Almighty God wants to be known by you.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to be known.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: These things that we are seeing today are attributes or characteristics of our God.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: How do we really know who God is?
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: We know it from his word.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: His word reveals his character, it reveals what he does, what he values, and his estimation of what he does.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: I wish we could talk about our planet within the universe.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to talk about it just a second.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: But years ago, I watched a documentary called The Privileged Planet.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it was fascinating.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: It showed scientifically how our planet is situated in the exact perfect position for observation.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: If we had been anywhere else in our solar system, we would not be able to observe the outer parts of space.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so it becomes very apparent when you watch this that God put us in the exact perfect location for observation so that we could see and know God because He wants to be known.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: As you read through the Bible this year, one of the most critical questions you can ask is what does this tell me about God?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: What does this passage tell me?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: He has urged you to do this study and through the Bible this year because he wants to reveal himself to you in a deeply personal way.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to be known by us.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: How amazing is that! Everything that we see and experience was made by a personal, relational God.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: He designed us as intelligent beings with a soul and personality so we could relate to him.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: It has always, always been his intention that we have relationship with him.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: But he also gave mankind a will to choose.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: And when we choose him and when we choose to do life with him, he is delighted.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: Day seven.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: So on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is the only place that we in in Scripture where we see God described as resting.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: God finishes what he starts.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Aren't you glad he does?
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: Aren't you glad he finishes what he starts?
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Philippians 1 6 says, being confident of this, that he who began a good work will carry it out unto completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: God finished creation and he is going to finish or complete you and me.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Praise his name.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I feel very unfinished, but he's going to get there with me.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then we see that God values rest.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: He rested not because he was tired, but he rested to show us that it's okay to rest.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay to rest in him.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so he shows us by example and by establishing a day of rest.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then we see that God blesses what he creates.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: We have an amazing God.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: We have an amazing God.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: And we learn all these things from just the first couple of chapters, actually, just the first chapter of the Bible.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: But there are so many more things that we we could have seen but didn't didn't have time for.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: And the more you dig in and the more you learn, the more you realize that.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: It should be clear to us that God's intention was revelation of Himself, and that these character traits of God that we see in this chapter is what will be built upon through the rest of the Bible.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: So now let's move to Genesis chapter 2 and see the fall.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to take care of it.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the Lord God commanded the man, You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord God the Lord God said, It is not good for a man to be alone.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: I will make a helper suitable for him.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air, and all the beasts of the field, but for Adam no suitable helper was found.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord God said, made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: The man said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: She shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and will be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: Whom did God tell not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: Adam.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: Adam.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Was Eve created yet at that point?
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't appear, doesn't appear so.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: She may or may not have been, but he gave the instruction to Adam with the expectation and responsibility that Adam would pass it along.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: And clearly Adam did pass it along.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Did you notice what God said was not good?
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: It was not good for the man to be alone.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that interesting?
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: God not only evaluated Adam's condition, but he also rectified it.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it's also the only thing that God deemed not good.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: God in his goodness provided for Adam's need by creating Eve, and Adam recognized her as the good gift that she was from the hand of a good God.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: What do we learn about God from these verses?
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: Again, we see that God gave man dominion.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: They had dominion over the animals and named them and took care of the garden.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: How long Adam was in the Garden of Eden tending it, we don't really know.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: He could have been in there for a very long time.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: Adam lived to be 930 years, but was that time, did that timing start after the fall?
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Again, we don't know.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Then we see that God desired obedience from Adam and Eve.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: He gave them the opportunity to demonstrate that obedience by abstaining from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: God wanted them to have an obedience born out of trust and out of love.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: And Adam and Eve did obey probably for a time.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Again, we don't know how long that time might have been.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: It might have been a significant amount of time before the temptation came over them to take that fruit.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then we see that God wanted companionship, not only between God and man, but man and woman.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: God's intention is in marriage is companionship, it's fellowship, and it's a good intention.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now listen to me because this is important.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Before the fall, Adam and Eve were unaware of themselves.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: They were only aware of God.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: They were only aware of good.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: Their total orientation was that God was good and only did good.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: I can't emphasize this enough.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: All they knew about God was that He was good and loving and kind and relatable.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Before the fall, Adam and Eve were not selfish, sinful, self-absorbed individuals.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: They were not.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: They were at peace and harmony with God, with each other, and with all of creation.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's important to understand this copacitic place that they experienced.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: There was no turmoil, there was no strife, only peace and harmony with their God and with each other.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: All of that was shattered when the serpent enticed Eve.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: The woman said to the serpent, We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: You will not surely die, the serpent said to the woman, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: When the woman saw that the fruit was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: So they sowed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: But the Lord God called to the man, Where are you?
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: He answered, I heard you in the garden and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Who told you you were naked?
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: The man said, The woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord said to the woman, What is this you have done?
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: The woman said, The serpent deceived me and I ate it.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: Look at these questions that God asks.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: Where are you?
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: Who told you that you were naked?
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: Have you eaten from the tree?
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: What is this you have done?
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: Why is God asking these questions?
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: He knows exactly what they have done.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: He's asking these questions because he wants to surface in the hearts of Adam and Eve a confession.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: He wants them to realize that something has drastically changed and recognize their guilt and their need in position to relationship with Him.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: He comes seeking the lost, because Adam and Eve are now lost.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Again, we see here the benevolent heart of God because he desires reconciliation and restoration, not condemnation.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: The sin of disobedience led to guilt, and guilt leads to isolation and to shame and to alienation.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: And how anticlimactic was this?
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: The thing that she had been looking at and thinking about and desiring may have brought momentary pleasure and knowledge.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: But the sense of shame that sweeps through them overshadows any pleasure or any knowledge that they may have gained.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it brings just a world of remorse for them.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you've ever done something terrible like I have and experienced, you've you've probably experienced that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: And when you when you just say, What have I done?
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know how that feels, and it's an awful feeling.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it would have been so much more magnified for Adam and Eve.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's what they were experiencing.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then it quickly turns to the blame game, beginning with Adam as he blames God by blaming Eve.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: The woman you put here with me led me to do this.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then Eve shifts the blame to the serpent.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: Blame is a very human response to guilt.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: You see this as soon as children can talk.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-uh, I didn't do it.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: Johnny did it.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's always someone else's fault.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have to be taught how to blame, it just comes naturally.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: The serpent's claim completely contradicted the main point of what they and we have seen in Genesis chapter 1 and 2.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: That God is good and that he only does good.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now listen, it's important for us to understand this because we are prone to fall into the same trap that Eve fell into.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: We learn from these verses that Eve entertains a suggestion from the serpent that God is not good.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: The serpent implies that God is withholding something good from her, and she falls for it.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: All Eve has ever, ever known was that God is good.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: Her total orientation is that God is good, but now there's this little seed of doubt in her mind planted there by the enemy.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: We struggle in the same way today.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: Satan distorted Eve's view of God, and he has worked tirelessly, tirelessly ever since, to distort mankind's view of God, and he's done a really great job.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: When we don't believe that God is good and only has good in mind for us, we too have been deceived.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: Satan puts doubt about God's goodness in Eve's mind, and as a result, she acts on that doubt and she disobeys God.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: Adam joins her in it, and suddenly they are self-conscious.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: When they sinned, their conscience was activated.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: They knew they had sinned, they knew they were naked, and if for the very first time it seemed shameful to them.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: They try to cover their guilt by hiding behind fig leaves that they weave together.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: They had always been naked and unafraid in God's presence.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: But now they are filled with shame.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: The problem wasn't their nakedness, but the sin they had committed.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: And what do we see God doing in response to their need?
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: God comes and he kills something that he had created on the sixth day that he had evaluated as good.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: He takes the good, innocent animal that had done nothing wrong, and he slays it and uses the skin to cover Adam and Eve's guilt and nakedness and sin and rebellion.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: Their sin had to be judged.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: It cost God something good to judge, to cover man's sin.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: That was true in the Garden of Eden, and that is true in the Garden of Gethsemane.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: It cost God something good to cover mankind's sin.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: If Eve had understood that as a result, the consequences of her eating the fruit would have been that one of her sons would have killed another son, and then that that son would have been cursed, and that that would have led to the corruption of the world, and that would have led to the flood, would she have eaten the fruit?
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: We don't know.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: But sin has consequences.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: When God gives instructions or directions, he doesn't always tell us why or what the consequences might be.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: But the backdrop of God's instructions and directions is always that God is good.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: Always that God is good.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sonic Light says, God created man innocent, placed him in a perfect environment, subjected him to a simple test, and warned him of the consequences of disobedience.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: Adam did not have to sin but chose to do so.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: The serpent deceived Eve, but Adam sinned deliberately.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: We learned some incredible things about God through the fall.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: First, we learn God is gracious in his judgment.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: Sin costs.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: This sin of disobedience cost God, it cost the world, it cost mankind, it cost the serpent.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: We don't often think about what Adam and Eve's sin cost God, but what was it like for the God who had created them for fellowship to no longer have that fellowship and companionship, to no longer walk in the cool of the day with his creation in unhindered fellowship?
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: He was grieved by their sin because it separated them from him.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: The same is true in our lives.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: What does the sin that you and I hold on to cost God?
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: What did all of mankind's sin cost God?
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: It cost him not only his good, but his perfect Son, Jesus Christ.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then we see that God is systematic.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: He is a God of order and planning.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: And in this chapter, we see the beginning of his ultimate plan of redemption at Calvary.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis 3, 15.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: God's going to provide a savior for the sin that each of us have joined Adam and Eve in.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then, when the time is right, that that Savior is going to come, he's going to be born as a child in Bethlehem.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to grow, he's going to sacrifice his life for the sin of the entire world.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then when things get really, really, really bad, he's going to come a second time.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: And when he comes, he's going to deal with the serpent and with sin and with death, and he was going to put everything to right.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: And that is the narrative of the Bible.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it starts right here at Genesis 3 15 with this promise.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: God's going to work it all out.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because God is redemptive.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because God is redemptive.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: We see this through the shedding of the blood of the innocent on behalf of the guilty.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: God kills an animal to cover man's nakedness and sin.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: Remember what God wanted back in Genesis 1.28.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted image bearers.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted people who correctly presented God to the world.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: But when sin entered the world, they no longer reflected who God truly was.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: They began to reflect a wrong image of and representation of God.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: But even though they no longer had a pure and holy image of God, he still wants relationship with them.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_00: And in order to accomplish that, innocent blood had to be sacrificed on behalf of the guilty.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: We have seen a lot today.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: And there are still so many things that we didn't have time to talk about and to see.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: But here's one more important truth I want you to hear.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: Our view of God will determine everything, everything else in life.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: When we have the correct view of God, we have a more accurate view of everything else, including ourselves.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: Let's determine to use this year to gain a better, more accurate view of God so that we can be the image bearers that He wants and needs us to be.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: Pray with me.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you that you have so clearly shown us today that you wanted relationship, that you wanted to reveal yourself, and you do it out of that immense heart of love that you have for your creation, for us.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's so obvious.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: And God, even when we sin, and sometimes when we have felt like there's just no recourse, you show us that there is.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you that ultimately you shed the blood of your own son in order to cover mankind's sin.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we bless you and we thank you and praise you for that.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: God, I pray for all the people watching that you just continue to show them more and more and more about who you are so that they might love you more deeply and profoundly.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I pray these things, Lord Jesus, in your name.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you next time.