WEBVTT 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:01.270 I'm going to invite you to Genesis. 00:00:01.940 --> 00:00:03.730 Chapter two is where we're at together today. 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:05.260 Genesis Chapter two. 00:00:05.260 --> 00:00:06.650 We've been studying the book of Genesis. 00:00:06.840 --> 00:00:14.180 I want you to know we are going a little slow here in the beginning through these first three chapters, and then we're going to pick up some rapid speed through the rest of Genesis 00:00:14.180 --> 00:00:18.150 simply because I don't want to spend the rest of my life studying the Book of Genesis. 00:00:18.700 --> 00:00:25.780 But the first three chapters are so paramount to understanding not only the book of Genesis, but really all of the Bible, the themes of 00:00:25.780 --> 00:00:28.740 theology that's articulated throughout all of Scripture. 00:00:28.740 --> 00:00:32.060 I find the foundation for them is laid in the first three chapters of Genesis. 00:00:32.119 --> 00:00:38.480 So if you understand these chapters, you get some understanding really about what the rest of Scripture tells us. 00:00:38.940 --> 00:00:43.450 In fact, I would say that the beginning of Genesis is way the way that the Bible ends. 00:00:43.480 --> 00:00:49.080 The Bible starts with a tree and a river and perfect relationship connected to God. 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:54.580 And the book of Revelation ends with a tree and a river and perfect relationship with God. 00:00:54.580 --> 00:00:59.980 And so the story of the Bible interweaves all of that together and how God brings redemption for us. 00:01:00.180 --> 00:01:05.600 And so understanding this first three chapters of Genesis, very important, I would argue the most important chapters. 00:01:05.660 --> 00:01:12.660 I think in the Old Testament, when you read these passages and you begin to understand what God is communicating to us, we find 00:01:12.660 --> 00:01:16.320 out not only who God is, but we find out who we are in light of him. 00:01:16.880 --> 00:01:19.710 And that's what God surrenders or calls us to surrender to. 00:01:20.180 --> 00:01:21.260 You weren't made for you. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:27.840 The best way to discover your purpose in life is to surrender to the Lord and walk in light of how He has designed you. 00:01:27.860 --> 00:01:30.960 That's where we find our worth and value and meaning. 00:01:30.960 --> 00:01:32.390 And we've discovered that together. 00:01:32.720 --> 00:01:35.730 Some people come to the Book of Genesis and they want to treat it like a science book. 00:01:36.160 --> 00:01:36.770 The Book of Genesis. 00:01:37.100 --> 00:01:38.990 The first few chapters are written in poetry. 00:01:39.080 --> 00:01:40.840 It's not a it's not a science book. 00:01:41.240 --> 00:01:47.060 You've got to understand, any time a text of the Bible is written, you've got to ask the question, What did it mean to the people there? 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:54.640 And then before it means anything to us in the here and now, to understand the context in which it was written lets us make proper application 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:55.820 to us today. 00:01:55.980 --> 00:02:00.510 And the Book of Genesis was written by a fugitive who went back to the land of which he was a fugitive from. 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:03.940 In order to declare to Pharaoh, let God's people go. 00:02:04.140 --> 00:02:09.280 And God's people had lived as slaves for generations, and now they're being set free. 00:02:09.320 --> 00:02:16.340 And you could imagine going through that kind of circumstances in life how degrading it would be, being treated like a tool rather than 00:02:16.340 --> 00:02:17.420 a human being. 00:02:17.500 --> 00:02:21.160 And God in Genesis starts to help them understand everyone's made in the image of God. 00:02:21.180 --> 00:02:22.950 We all have intrinsic worth and value. 00:02:23.220 --> 00:02:27.820 Your worth is not based on what you do, but it's based on who you are made in God's image. 00:02:27.880 --> 00:02:32.800 And one of the best ways you can honor God in this world is seen in how you care and honor others. 00:02:33.020 --> 00:02:40.100 And so God is helping these individuals that have been set free as slaves as they go into this promised land to establish 00:02:40.100 --> 00:02:47.280 themselves, starting to shape their culture and an understanding of who they are and letting that become an outflow in this world, 00:02:47.580 --> 00:02:53.460 that God, when he created us in his image and as we were surrendered to that purpose, we live through that. 00:02:53.460 --> 00:02:56.940 That God's blessing not only happens in us, but it goes through us. 00:02:57.060 --> 00:03:01.330 And really we become an artistic expression of the glory of God made known in our lives. 00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:04.060 And so Genesis chapter one starts with creation. 00:03:04.440 --> 00:03:11.570 It comes to the crown of creation, humanity on day six and verse 25 to 31, God makes us in his image. 00:03:11.820 --> 00:03:17.510 And then in chapter two, it starts over again, similar to the way chapter one did in verse four. 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:24.640 It starts by telling us that everything was in chaos, but God created humanity and He breathed into us the breath of life different 00:03:24.640 --> 00:03:26.060 than any creature God designed. 00:03:26.120 --> 00:03:31.300 God makes us in his image, breathes into us the breath of life, which says to us that we have this. 00:03:31.420 --> 00:03:36.560 This desire to connect to creator and creator has a desire to make himself known to us. 00:03:36.640 --> 00:03:38.880 He didn't make this world because he needed anything. 00:03:39.100 --> 00:03:41.690 He made this world as an expression of his glory. 00:03:41.980 --> 00:03:48.490 And for us to have the opportunity to look at his glory made known and respond in worship, God made you for worship. 00:03:48.940 --> 00:03:55.980 And if you don't align your worship to the Lord, you will align your worship to something because all of us seek to find our value somewhere. 00:03:56.600 --> 00:04:00.930 And if it isn't in God, you'll find it in some idol that will ultimately sell you short. 00:04:01.640 --> 00:04:05.430 And so God is going through the beauty of our creation in Genesis chapter two. 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:12.050 And not only does he talk about us as human beings, he then specifically starts to talk about woman or women. 00:04:12.380 --> 00:04:19.959 And I think the reason he does that is throughout history between two genders, male and female, it is women that have faced a 00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:27.300 harder, a stronger hardship, I would say, and being treated more as the sum of your parts than as 00:04:27.300 --> 00:04:31.600 simply a human being designed in the beauty of the Lord. 00:04:31.740 --> 00:04:38.980 And in Genesis chapter two, this is where we left off last week and we're going to look at the end of God's design of humanity, and 00:04:38.980 --> 00:04:41.940 we're going to begin to answer the question, and where did things go wrong? 00:04:41.940 --> 00:04:43.320 How did we get to where we are? 00:04:43.340 --> 00:04:50.580 Because when I look at God's wonderful design in creation and I look at where things are today, those two things don't correlate. 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:54.420 God had a beautiful design in all of this, and yet we go through hardship in life. 00:04:54.460 --> 00:04:55.360 And how did that happen? 00:04:55.820 --> 00:04:59.360 When things fall apart, what's what's the reason for that? 00:04:59.440 --> 00:04:59.930 And so in. 00:05:00.080 --> 00:05:05.920 And Genesis chapter chapter two and verse 20, It starts like this second half of verse 20. 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:08.480 We're going to talk about understanding God's design. 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:09.640 That's the first blank in your notes. 00:05:09.660 --> 00:05:16.010 We're further discussing understanding of God's design from creation to humanity to woman, and this is what it says. 00:05:16.640 --> 00:05:19.320 But for Adam, there was not found a helper fit for him. 00:05:19.320 --> 00:05:21.280 This is just before a woman is made. 00:05:21.660 --> 00:05:24.540 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man. 00:05:24.740 --> 00:05:31.860 And while he slept, he took one of his ribs and closed out its place with flesh and the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man 00:05:31.860 --> 00:05:34.130 he made into a woman. 00:05:34.340 --> 00:05:37.090 So it kind of goes like this, that God has created all the animals. 00:05:37.520 --> 00:05:44.020 And then there's Adam and Adam's kind of walking around the garden and he's naming all of the animals, deer, duckbilled, Platypus. 00:05:44.020 --> 00:05:44.720 What raccoon? 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:45.160 Whatever. 00:05:45.200 --> 00:05:48.880 He's naming these animals, and he sees all these animals hanging out together in their little animal groups. 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:53.680 And Adam starting to realize, like, I have this desire to want to have companionship, but. 00:05:53.880 --> 00:05:55.580 But these animals don't completely cut it. 00:05:55.620 --> 00:05:56.040 Right. 00:05:56.120 --> 00:06:01.180 And I was walking around was an interesting moment as he's walking through the garden seeing all these animals. 00:06:01.200 --> 00:06:06.480 But Adam, Adam, he's not connecting fully the way that God had designed him to. 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:11.820 And then it tells us, for Adam, this is a big day in creation day six Adam's made. 00:06:11.820 --> 00:06:14.230 I mean, he meets God for the first time. 00:06:14.460 --> 00:06:16.540 He gets a job from the Lord in the garden. 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:21.040 And now he's about to meet his future bride, of which he'll spend the rest of his life with. 00:06:21.400 --> 00:06:22.380 And then what does it tell us? 00:06:22.380 --> 00:06:23.520 Adam does in the story? 00:06:23.960 --> 00:06:25.540 Adam takes a nap. 00:06:25.540 --> 00:06:27.260 Adam Biggest day of Adam's life. 00:06:27.300 --> 00:06:28.170 And what does Adam do? 00:06:28.500 --> 00:06:29.920 Adam falls asleep. 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:30.960 Can you believe that, ladies? 00:06:30.960 --> 00:06:35.580 He's about to meet his bride, and the only thing that he can think to do is it's time to take a nap. 00:06:35.580 --> 00:06:36.520 I mean, but. 00:06:36.580 --> 00:06:43.460 But I will say, guys, just to defend you here, that it was God ordained that you take a nap. 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:43.820 All right. 00:06:43.820 --> 00:06:50.740 So Sunday afternoons, if you just feel the weight of the day on you think about your week coming up for you to take a nap. 00:06:50.840 --> 00:06:54.520 It is godly and biblical to nap and you should be able to nap. 00:06:54.520 --> 00:06:57.460 That's what Genesis chapter two Solving marriage problems here. 00:06:57.460 --> 00:06:59.600 It's okay for your husband to take a nap. 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:00.100 All right. 00:07:00.320 --> 00:07:04.520 And to be honest, the reason he's napping is because he's waiting on his wife. 00:07:04.520 --> 00:07:04.960 All right? 00:07:04.960 --> 00:07:09.180 He's she is late to the party and he has nothing better to do. 00:07:09.200 --> 00:07:10.720 So he takes a nap. 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:17.900 And let me just encourage you, ladies, according to Genesis chapter two, from the very beginning of creation, it has been ordained that you are allowed to be late 00:07:17.900 --> 00:07:18.940 to any party. 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:21.030 That's what that's what it's saying here in this passage. 00:07:21.900 --> 00:07:26.980 So helping both of you out here, you can take a nap, guys, If she's going to be late, you're allowed to take a nap. 00:07:26.980 --> 00:07:29.260 That's how that's how it works in this story. 00:07:29.520 --> 00:07:37.140 But you see that Adam here taking taking this nap and then it describes the uniqueness of woman in this passage. 00:07:38.320 --> 00:07:45.680 It says in the very beginning of verse 20, we look at it here that she is a helper fit for him and that she's taken from the rib. 00:07:46.280 --> 00:07:53.420 And we talked a little bit about this last week that the idea of rib isn't some translations don't even use the word rib because the word rib is kind 00:07:53.420 --> 00:07:55.190 of it's really misleading. 00:07:55.520 --> 00:07:57.790 Any other time this word rib is used in scripture. 00:07:58.300 --> 00:08:01.780 It talks about design or architecture direction or architecture. 00:08:02.760 --> 00:08:02.900 Yeah. 00:08:02.900 --> 00:08:08.820 And so what it's saying about the woman is not that she literally comes from the rib, but rather she comes from the side of man and it's showing equality. 00:08:09.940 --> 00:08:14.750 It's not saying, look, men are in front of women or women are to be in front of men. 00:08:14.940 --> 00:08:19.650 And it's saying we're made of the same substance and we're equal to one another. 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:25.880 And so he's given dignity and worth in both God's divine design in male and female. 00:08:27.080 --> 00:08:33.360 And then he goes on and describes when he's taken from the woman, he's taken from the rib, and he describes her as being a helper. 00:08:33.559 --> 00:08:37.299 And we talked about this last week that helper is not a degrading term. 00:08:37.299 --> 00:08:42.299 I know sometimes in English we may read that and some someone might say, Oh, is that all I am to you? 00:08:42.299 --> 00:08:42.400 Right? 00:08:42.400 --> 00:08:44.020 I'm just I'm just nothing but a helper. 00:08:44.039 --> 00:08:46.730 But that's not the intention to this passage. 00:08:47.480 --> 00:08:54.940 In fact, we looked at John 1416 last week where Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as a helper and he says actually another 00:08:54.940 --> 00:09:02.180 helper in John 1416 and the Holy Spirit, we know in Scripture the Triunity of God, the Father's God, the Son is God, 00:09:02.180 --> 00:09:03.520 the Holy Spirit is God. 00:09:03.540 --> 00:09:10.880 And when Jesus says another helper, it actually translates in Greek as a another of the same substance, meaning the Holy Spirit isn't less than Jesus. 00:09:10.940 --> 00:09:11.660 They're both God. 00:09:12.920 --> 00:09:17.360 But rather what it's talking about is they fulfill different purposes. 00:09:17.920 --> 00:09:18.960 Jesus died for our sins. 00:09:18.980 --> 00:09:22.210 The Holy Spirit empowers God's people to accomplish the will of God in this world. 00:09:23.040 --> 00:09:30.240 And so when it talks about male and female, God is saying, Look, it's not an accident the way that God designed things, that in fact this word helper 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:37.760 means it complements from the opposite meaning when God created us, he made us both strong, 00:09:37.780 --> 00:09:44.860 but he also he made us equal and he made us unique to the point where in our weaknesses there females complement 00:09:44.860 --> 00:09:49.660 the weaknesses of males, and male can complement some of the weaknesses of females. 00:09:49.660 --> 00:09:54.010 Together we honor the beauty of God and what it means to be created in his image. 00:09:55.620 --> 00:09:59.800 And so in this passage, God is helping the people as they move forward out of slavery to. 00:09:59.900 --> 00:10:06.970 Understand not only their personal identity, but the worth of one another as they live this out for the purpose in which God has created them in this world. 00:10:08.560 --> 00:10:10.980 We're equal and unique. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:13.580 We're not exactly the same. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:17.670 In fact, if we're exactly the same, one of us would become unnecessary. 00:10:19.140 --> 00:10:26.180 And God gifted us with abilities within one another to be a blessing to each other, to serve one another 00:10:26.180 --> 00:10:28.100 and to compliment each other. 00:10:28.980 --> 00:10:31.760 I mean, God created you to know Him. 00:10:31.760 --> 00:10:34.980 And in knowing him, to use your life to glorify him. 00:10:35.040 --> 00:10:42.220 And in so doing, you'll bless what matters to God and what matters ultimately to God are people who are made in his image. 00:10:42.640 --> 00:10:45.910 And the entire purpose of ministry in this world is people. 00:10:46.400 --> 00:10:48.320 It's not about accomplishing tasks. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:50.200 I know in a religious mentality. 00:10:50.200 --> 00:10:55.500 That's how religious people tend to think that you go in and you get a job and you do a job in order to make God happy. 00:10:55.580 --> 00:10:59.960 And you hope you do your job enough and you just feel all this guilt all the time that you're never performing, you're never doing enough. 00:11:00.020 --> 00:11:01.880 And that's not what Scripture says at all. 00:11:03.400 --> 00:11:04.280 The purpose of ministry. 00:11:04.300 --> 00:11:08.300 You may end up doing something, but the goal isn't about simply doing something. 00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:11.280 God doesn't simply just need you to do something. 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:13.500 God is capable of doing all things himself. 00:11:13.560 --> 00:11:15.820 He's got plenty of power in this world. 00:11:15.820 --> 00:11:17.140 He doesn't need us. 00:11:19.140 --> 00:11:22.760 But he wants you and he wants to make himself known to you. 00:11:23.500 --> 00:11:30.560 And in the joy of knowing him, the outflow of that should be expressed in how you care for the things around you, starting 00:11:30.560 --> 00:11:32.020 with the people in your life. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:41.260 And in that then God talks about his design for not just male and female, but he gets to the value of relationship 00:11:41.260 --> 00:11:45.980 by dealing with the most intimate of relationships, the marital relationship. 00:11:47.340 --> 00:11:48.640 And so God's design for marriage. 00:11:48.700 --> 00:11:52.260 He begins to talk about in these last couple of verses in Genesis chapter two. 00:11:52.280 --> 00:11:57.130 And he he's not saying to us, look to have a meaningful life, you have to be married. 00:11:57.540 --> 00:12:04.580 But he's helping us shape not only an identity in ourselves but how that self plays out into relationship with others by talking about the most 00:12:04.580 --> 00:12:07.480 intimate of relationships which is marriage. 00:12:08.560 --> 00:12:15.980 And he goes on and says at the end of verse 22, it says, After he formed a woman from the man, he brought her to the man. 00:12:16.920 --> 00:12:24.120 If you want to know where we get the tradition of father leading his bride or his excuse me, his daughter down the aisle as a bride 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:25.700 to be married to the man. 00:12:25.960 --> 00:12:33.500 It comes starting from Genesis chapter two, where God, the father introduces Adam to his future bride by really, 00:12:33.740 --> 00:12:35.860 in a sense, escorting her down the aisle. 00:12:37.420 --> 00:12:44.740 And it's demonstrating to us in this passage of Scripture, the picture of covenant, love, 00:12:44.760 --> 00:12:50.080 covenant, marriage, and what God's desire is in the marital relationship. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:58.400 The idea of covenant is a stronger picture than that we typically are used to today in terms of contract 00:12:58.400 --> 00:13:00.530 in our culture we deal a lot with contract. 00:13:01.280 --> 00:13:07.680 Contract is all about I sign up to be obligated in some sense and you sign up to be obligated and we meet each other 5050. 00:13:07.760 --> 00:13:10.890 But if you don't fulfill your obligation, I don't have to fulfill my obligation. 00:13:11.180 --> 00:13:12.000 That's contract. 00:13:13.540 --> 00:13:20.560 But the idea of covenant carries carries with it the thought of giving all of yourself away, 100% of you for 00:13:20.560 --> 00:13:24.040 the benefit of someone else, to help them become all that God has called them to be. 00:13:25.320 --> 00:13:29.720 And likewise, as the husband sees his bride in this passage, giving himself to her. 00:13:29.740 --> 00:13:29.840 So. 00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:37.240 So her call in this world is she covenants with him is to give all of herself for the glory of God 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:42.440 to the benefit of him using her life to bless him so he can become all that God has called him to be. 00:13:42.540 --> 00:13:50.240 This is complementary of one another and understanding how God has designed us in the marital relationship. 00:13:51.180 --> 00:13:58.360 Now it's important to remember in order for that to succeed, it takes two people to walk in humility for the benefit of others. 00:13:58.740 --> 00:14:04.000 Two people to participate in the surrender of that for one another. 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:11.340 And in the book of Ephesians, I think chapter five is that beautiful description of God talking about relationship in the New Testament. 00:14:11.340 --> 00:14:15.170 He talks about marital relationship and he goes beyond the marital relationship in this passage. 00:14:15.260 --> 00:14:18.730 But he says this submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 00:14:19.340 --> 00:14:27.440 I think this thought is an overarching thought for all the relationships he describes after after verse 21 that 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:31.540 we submit to one another as we're we find our identity in God. 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:37.180 We're not looking for people to validate us because we're secure in who we are and therefore being secure in our identity. 00:14:37.180 --> 00:14:39.560 We can give ourselves away to one another. 00:14:39.580 --> 00:14:44.680 And then he begins to describe what that looks like in the marital relationship, submitting to one another. 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:47.280 It's humility. 00:14:47.940 --> 00:14:51.580 And I say to you often that humble people don't fight proud people. 00:14:51.580 --> 00:14:52.360 Proud people fight. 00:14:52.940 --> 00:14:53.240 Humble. 00:14:53.280 --> 00:14:54.220 People don't fight. 00:14:54.220 --> 00:14:57.420 They serve one another for the benefit of each other. 00:14:57.480 --> 00:15:01.920 And it says, Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:07.540 I've seen a lot of guys quote this passage and then they kind of stop after this verse. 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:09.060 Submit to me. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:10.700 That's a good one. 00:15:11.140 --> 00:15:16.760 But they fail to look just a few verses later, guys, it doesn't just tell you to submit for your wife. 00:15:16.780 --> 00:15:18.840 It actually says, Now go die for her. 00:15:18.940 --> 00:15:26.750 So I think I think it talks about the idea of serving in submission, but then it goes to the extent of just giving yourself completely away. 00:15:26.820 --> 00:15:33.860 Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the 00:15:33.860 --> 00:15:35.140 washing of water with the word. 00:15:36.820 --> 00:15:43.890 I love that he compares the relationship of the church to Christ here, and then he relates that back to us. 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:50.620 Because what he's saying in this passage, men, is Christ doesn't wait for you to be lovable before he loves you. 00:15:52.020 --> 00:15:59.080 Religious people think that I need to make God love me or avail myself to God by doing enough good 00:15:59.080 --> 00:16:02.200 so that God would care about me or love me. 00:16:02.520 --> 00:16:03.960 That's not biblical at all. 00:16:04.020 --> 00:16:05.540 That's not the gospel at all. 00:16:06.860 --> 00:16:10.640 Jesus doesn't love you because you make yourself worthy to be loved. 00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:14.020 Jesus loves you in your sin. 00:16:14.560 --> 00:16:17.440 He doesn't want you to stay there, certainly, but. 00:16:17.560 --> 00:16:21.300 But he loves you and your worst of places because God understands. 00:16:21.300 --> 00:16:22.780 It's his love for you that transforms you. 00:16:23.660 --> 00:16:25.570 And in verse 26, that's exactly what it says. 00:16:26.400 --> 00:16:30.100 He sanctifies you by the having cleansed her, by the washing of his word. 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:32.240 It's his love that makes her more lovable. 00:16:33.260 --> 00:16:35.500 It's his love that transforms her life. 00:16:36.140 --> 00:16:41.830 It's his love graciously given, not merited based on what she does, but on who he is. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:47.040 God's love for you isn't contingent upon you. 00:16:48.420 --> 00:16:51.080 God's love for you is based on his character, his nature. 00:16:52.020 --> 00:16:53.880 And since first John tells us God is love. 00:16:53.880 --> 00:16:55.200 The very nature of God is love. 00:16:55.800 --> 00:16:57.840 That God himself is giving himself away. 00:16:57.900 --> 00:16:59.250 That's what we see from the beginning of creation. 00:17:00.540 --> 00:17:02.820 God didn't need us, but He still created us. 00:17:02.820 --> 00:17:09.140 And He and God desires to reveal himself to us that we would have a relationship with him to enjoy for all of eternity. 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:10.890 And the reason God does this, God is love. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:12.760 And love is about giving itself away. 00:17:12.760 --> 00:17:17.640 Not only does God create you in his image, but then God pursues you in a sin and He gives his life for you. 00:17:18.920 --> 00:17:20.819 That you can be cleansed and renewed in him. 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:24.119 And this is the picture of covenantal love. 00:17:24.180 --> 00:17:31.260 In fact, in both the Old Testament and New Testament, there are a few passages that remind you of how important it is in the way that you treat one 00:17:31.260 --> 00:17:31.660 another. 00:17:31.960 --> 00:17:35.840 I often read this passage at weddings, but in Malachi chapter two. 00:17:35.840 --> 00:17:36.200 Listen to this. 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:38.960 He's talking to the man and this is what God says. 00:17:39.700 --> 00:17:46.790 You cover the Lord's altar with tears and weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 00:17:46.980 --> 00:17:53.500 So he's saying, Here's someone that's broken and they're sad and they're coming to the altar and they're making a sacrifice and they're just weeping in their brokenness. 00:17:53.540 --> 00:17:54.390 And look at the response. 00:17:55.520 --> 00:17:57.900 But you say, why does he not? 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:05.820 Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion 00:18:05.820 --> 00:18:07.320 and your wife by covenant. 00:18:08.580 --> 00:18:15.700 What he's saying is you come to God weeping and broken, but God doesn't want to listen to what you have to say because God has seen how you've 00:18:15.700 --> 00:18:16.540 treated your spouse. 00:18:18.340 --> 00:18:25.720 And first, Peter, it says the same thing, that God will not hear your prayers if you do not honor her and the dignity and 00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:32.740 worth that she is worthy of being made in the image of God, not because of what she does, but because of who 00:18:32.740 --> 00:18:34.360 she is. 00:18:36.260 --> 00:18:37.560 How you treat people. 00:18:39.460 --> 00:18:40.980 Matters to the Lord. 00:18:42.340 --> 00:18:49.680 In fact, one of the most beautiful expressions of worship to God is to honor the intrinsic worth in another human being. 00:18:50.360 --> 00:18:51.570 Beginning in your own home. 00:18:53.520 --> 00:19:00.620 So God describes in this passage the beauty of covenant, where God creates man and woman 00:19:00.620 --> 00:19:03.500 and he brings woman to the man. 00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:05.910 And then in verse 23, it goes on and says this. 00:19:05.940 --> 00:19:09.600 Then the man said, This is the first recorded words in scripture. 00:19:09.620 --> 00:19:10.720 That man speaks, right? 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:11.860 Genesis Chapter two. 00:19:11.900 --> 00:19:14.540 The first recorded words that man says in Scripture. 00:19:14.540 --> 00:19:15.820 And what does man say? 00:19:16.140 --> 00:19:17.060 Or what does man do? 00:19:17.060 --> 00:19:19.680 I should ask in verse 23, It's. 00:19:19.740 --> 00:19:23.940 Man sees his wife for the first time and he says, Whoa, man, like that. 00:19:23.940 --> 00:19:24.460 But then. 00:19:24.520 --> 00:19:25.910 But then he sings a song. 00:19:26.360 --> 00:19:33.620 The first recorded words that stated that man says in all of the Bible and it's a song to his bride. 00:19:33.900 --> 00:19:37.560 Let me just tell you guys it is biblical for you to sing to your wife. 00:19:37.560 --> 00:19:38.100 All right? 00:19:38.220 --> 00:19:40.680 And everyone knows it's the musician that gets the girl. 00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:41.080 So. 00:19:41.160 --> 00:19:43.300 So you having trouble learning guitar? 00:19:43.300 --> 00:19:44.600 It's not just but. 00:19:44.660 --> 00:19:45.880 But he sings to her. 00:19:45.880 --> 00:19:47.450 And when he sings to her, he says what he says. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:50.460 Man said, this is this is not a very good song, I don't think. 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:54.840 But this at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. 00:19:54.960 --> 00:19:57.980 She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. 00:19:58.020 --> 00:19:58.840 He needs some help. 00:19:58.940 --> 00:20:00.240 This is the first song written all right. 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:00.680 He just. 00:20:00.680 --> 00:20:01.850 We only go up from here. 00:20:02.380 --> 00:20:03.540 This is so. 00:20:03.540 --> 00:20:08.850 But he's acknowledging the beauty of who he she is by singing this song. 00:20:09.560 --> 00:20:12.020 And Adam sings this song of appreciation. 00:20:12.020 --> 00:20:12.800 I love this. 00:20:14.060 --> 00:20:16.860 Adam doesn't know anything about Eve. 00:20:17.540 --> 00:20:19.250 He doesn't know what she's capable of. 00:20:19.740 --> 00:20:21.950 He doesn't know what her gift sets are. 00:20:22.120 --> 00:20:22.500 He knows. 00:20:22.580 --> 00:20:22.920 Are we? 00:20:22.980 --> 00:20:23.900 He doesn't know. 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:24.780 He doesn't know. 00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:31.100 But the one thing he does know is, regardless, she is God's gift to me. 00:20:33.760 --> 00:20:37.240 And as God's gift to him, Adam honors the Lord. 00:20:38.420 --> 00:20:39.600 And he blesses his wife. 00:20:41.720 --> 00:20:42.960 And he sings to her. 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:50.620 Just like Ephesians chapter five, where Christ, even in our unlovable state, willing to love us. 00:20:50.620 --> 00:20:55.620 And it's his love that transforms us as he gives his life for us and forgives us. 00:20:57.000 --> 00:21:04.180 And not only that, Adam, in this song, he appreciates the divine design of each other of one another, as he says, bone 00:21:04.180 --> 00:21:05.910 of my bone and flesh of my flesh. 00:21:06.760 --> 00:21:09.910 Traditionally in Scripture, the idea of flesh is an idea of weakness. 00:21:11.160 --> 00:21:12.410 And bone is one of strength. 00:21:13.720 --> 00:21:19.980 And so he's acknowledging we have both strengths and weaknesses in order to care for one another. 00:21:20.420 --> 00:21:24.240 We lead out of our strengths for each other and we serve one another in our weaknesses. 00:21:25.280 --> 00:21:29.680 Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. 00:21:30.180 --> 00:21:37.380 And not only is Adam acknowledging the way that God has designed them and strengths and weaknesses, he's also acknowledging he's discovering himself 00:21:37.380 --> 00:21:39.160 through that relationship with her. 00:21:39.980 --> 00:21:47.260 I think all Adam's had to look at this point as animals and all of a sudden he meets his bride and he discovers 00:21:47.260 --> 00:21:50.320 in looking at her, I doubt mirrors exist at this point. 00:21:50.360 --> 00:21:50.840 Right? 00:21:50.840 --> 00:21:56.300 And looking looking at her, he sees and learns about himself through that relationship. 00:21:56.300 --> 00:22:03.640 He sees the beauty of God's design by being able to see someone else and also how relationships are intended to work. 00:22:03.640 --> 00:22:09.910 Can I can I just tell you, one of the greatest refiners of you as an individual is found in the depth of your relationships. 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:14.350 Especially, I should say, in a marital relationship. 00:22:16.100 --> 00:22:23.120 I mean, you think anyone when you're single, you sometimes in life you tend to think I, I've got this 00:22:23.120 --> 00:22:23.680 figured out. 00:22:23.740 --> 00:22:30.880 I remember when I first had kids and someone came to her house with didn't have children yet, and they're giving us parenting advice 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:34.220 and no one's all right. 00:22:34.220 --> 00:22:40.070 I mean, they came back a couple of years later and repented of their statements. 00:22:40.980 --> 00:22:47.740 And, you tend to think you might have it all figured out until until you live with someone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 00:22:49.120 --> 00:22:50.430 And then you start to learn. 00:22:50.740 --> 00:22:52.900 I may not be as patient as I thought I was. 00:22:53.040 --> 00:22:56.920 You know, I may not always be as loving as I think I am. 00:22:56.920 --> 00:23:01.320 You know, anyone can be patient when there's no one else around. 00:23:01.980 --> 00:23:09.260 You can be loving when everyone is easy to love, It's difficult to express those kind of characteristics and 00:23:09.260 --> 00:23:11.860 the tension of relationship day in and day out. 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:20.210 But what you discover in those relationships as people, sometimes we have the tendency that when things don't go the way we want, rather than take responsibility, 00:23:20.740 --> 00:23:21.200 we blame. 00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:23.740 It's your fault that I acted this way. 00:23:23.760 --> 00:23:26.720 But the reality is you're in control of you. 00:23:28.980 --> 00:23:31.190 And marriage becomes this great refiner. 00:23:32.460 --> 00:23:33.760 Of who you are as a person. 00:23:35.120 --> 00:23:36.620 You can't control what someone else does. 00:23:36.680 --> 00:23:44.090 In fact, I would encourage you in your relationship today rather than elbow if you're here with someone else, rather than elbow them to try to fix them. 00:23:44.540 --> 00:23:47.300 That's the nagging doesn't help. 00:23:47.860 --> 00:23:50.040 The better question is, God, who did you make me to be? 00:23:51.040 --> 00:23:54.560 And how can I live that out and in my relationships where I'm struggling? 00:23:54.680 --> 00:23:55.980 What is it I'm learning about myself? 00:23:57.260 --> 00:23:59.820 In order to better live for your glory to the benefit of others. 00:24:00.800 --> 00:24:02.780 Why is it I get to anger so quickly? 00:24:03.840 --> 00:24:05.980 Why is it I don't always have patience? 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:06.900 What about me? 00:24:06.900 --> 00:24:10.000 Do I feel is more important than that relationship? 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:17.380 Or where in that relationship do we need to work on something to better experience the purpose which God has created us rather than 00:24:17.380 --> 00:24:17.900 blame? 00:24:17.900 --> 00:24:23.200 It's good to be introspective, to start there, to take responsibility and ownership. 00:24:24.140 --> 00:24:28.520 I think this is what Adam's song and get all this from his bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. 00:24:28.840 --> 00:24:30.460 I've tried to make sense of this over the years. 00:24:30.460 --> 00:24:35.660 The only thing I can think of is this must be a rap song because it doesn't go very well on any other type, of course. 00:24:35.660 --> 00:24:36.600 But bone of my bone. 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:37.240 Flesh of my flesh. 00:24:37.240 --> 00:24:39.110 You should be called woman because you come from the man. 00:24:39.120 --> 00:24:39.260 Right? 00:24:39.300 --> 00:24:39.810 This is Adam. 00:24:40.280 --> 00:24:43.980 He's singing this to his wife as an expression of You are a gift to me. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:46.320 And in our weaknesses and strengths here we are to serve one another. 00:24:46.340 --> 00:24:49.280 But not only that, I'm learning about who I am in this. 00:24:49.280 --> 00:24:54.520 And God has created this beautiful world for us to express the joy of knowing Him. 00:24:54.580 --> 00:25:01.420 And he says and remember in verse 15 of chapter two that we are to keep it and work the garden that God put Adam and Eve in this garden. 00:25:01.480 --> 00:25:08.520 He wanted them to maintain it, but also expand the beauty of the garden to be fruitful and multiply that wherever they go in this world, it would be a blessing 00:25:08.520 --> 00:25:16.330 to others that is, God's design, that experience, the joy of all of that in the intimacy of that relationship. 00:25:17.080 --> 00:25:22.020 And then he goes on in verse 24 and he talks about that consummation of their marriage. 00:25:22.120 --> 00:25:27.010 It says, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh. 00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:29.460 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. 00:25:30.600 --> 00:25:35.760 I don't want to get too much into this, but I do want to say I think man probably planned the first wedding. 00:25:35.760 --> 00:25:37.320 That's probably what happened here. 00:25:37.520 --> 00:25:39.930 They come to the moment and they're like, okay, we got this garden. 00:25:40.440 --> 00:25:41.000 I got an idea. 00:25:41.300 --> 00:25:41.530 This is crazy. 00:25:41.980 --> 00:25:43.920 We don't have to worry about anyone else sneaking up on us here. 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:45.560 Let's save money on the wedding dress. 00:25:46.060 --> 00:25:46.440 Right? 00:25:46.600 --> 00:25:51.280 And let's just let's just go how we are like, to this wedding. 00:25:51.280 --> 00:25:53.180 This is the first and last wedding that got planned. 00:25:53.560 --> 00:26:01.260 And verse, verse 24, though it describes to us how this wedding takes place or the desire 00:26:01.260 --> 00:26:05.180 of God in this marriage for what he wants to have happen. 00:26:05.240 --> 00:26:09.410 He says leave his father and his mother. 00:26:10.200 --> 00:26:17.460 This idea of leaving the father and mother, interesting phrase they're saying here for Adam and Eve, because to this point in history, as far as we know, 00:26:17.780 --> 00:26:24.920 nobody has a belly button yet, which means there are no fathers or mothers, at least the way it's described in 00:26:24.920 --> 00:26:25.570 Genesis. 00:26:25.980 --> 00:26:26.200 Right. 00:26:26.200 --> 00:26:29.220 So then all of a sudden start talking about fathers and mothers. 00:26:29.220 --> 00:26:32.420 When Adam and Eve are turned around, like, where are these people? 00:26:32.420 --> 00:26:33.100 Right. 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:38.500 Is to help us understand that God is not just saying something for Adam and Eve. 00:26:38.500 --> 00:26:45.680 He's teaching all of us about the intense of this marital relationship that they would leave mother and father. 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:50.840 Meaning the way the story goes, guys, is, God, right? 00:26:50.840 --> 00:26:55.240 And then Adam gets a job, and then after he gets a job, he gets a wife. 00:26:55.300 --> 00:26:58.260 And then once he gets a wife, God's got a plan for their lives. 00:26:58.340 --> 00:27:02.440 And that is to cut the umbilical cord and go create something new. 00:27:03.460 --> 00:27:09.320 God's desire for marriage is that the couple and coming together would create something new. 00:27:09.320 --> 00:27:10.790 That's why he's talking about a mother and father. 00:27:10.820 --> 00:27:14.740 So they're beginning to teach what the next generation should be about mother and father. 00:27:14.740 --> 00:27:17.810 They nurture their children in the home and then they send them out. 00:27:17.940 --> 00:27:18.180 Right? 00:27:18.180 --> 00:27:19.390 Kick them out, go do something. 00:27:19.540 --> 00:27:20.440 Create something new. 00:27:20.440 --> 00:27:23.780 Let the beauty of God be expressed in your life as you've seen this modeled in the home. 00:27:23.780 --> 00:27:27.500 Now go live it out and where you go for the Lord from here. 00:27:27.500 --> 00:27:34.120 And so he's saying they shall leave mother and father and the two shall become one and they shall become one flesh. 00:27:34.740 --> 00:27:42.160 He's joined to his husband and wife joined together when they're joined together this idea of one flesh. 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:44.120 It's certainly consummation in the marriage. 00:27:44.800 --> 00:27:52.200 But more than that, it's this intimacy in which God has intended for the marital relationship to experience, 00:27:53.380 --> 00:27:55.700 that they would become one flesh building something new. 00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:02.800 And the Hebrew literally says that you can't tell where one person begins and the other one ends there. 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:04.120 They are glued together. 00:28:05.220 --> 00:28:10.360 Their pursuit in life is singular, that they understand in this one family God wants them to. 00:28:10.460 --> 00:28:12.860 To build a singular pursuit in that foundation. 00:28:15.040 --> 00:28:20.140 And I would encourage you in seeing a passage like this, if you think about who does God want me to marry or do. 00:28:20.380 --> 00:28:24.920 Does God have someone in my future when it when it comes to finding someone in your life? 00:28:25.360 --> 00:28:27.990 You know, you certainly want to marry someone you're attracted to. 00:28:29.140 --> 00:28:34.060 But sometimes I think people get very obsessed with trying to find people you're compatible with. 00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:39.020 And let me just tell you, no one really is compatible with anyone else because we're all sinful. 00:28:39.460 --> 00:28:42.730 We will all rub each other all at one point or another. 00:28:43.220 --> 00:28:46.740 What's important in scripture is not compatibility as much as it is. 00:28:46.780 --> 00:28:48.100 Is your life surrendered to Christ? 00:28:50.360 --> 00:28:52.420 Is your life committed to Jesus? 00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:57.500 In fact, I would say for believers in the New Testament, when you look for the spouse, a spouse, that is our calling. 00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:05.300 First Corinthians 739, if you marry, marry in the Lord, because if the foundation of your home is built on 00:29:05.300 --> 00:29:09.000 that rock, then you're able to walk in unity together. 00:29:09.900 --> 00:29:12.240 You're one flesh towards a singular goal. 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:14.980 You understand what God has called us to in him. 00:29:14.980 --> 00:29:22.130 And I'm not saying, Look, go find someone that just simply calls themselves a Christian and someone calls themselves a Christian, does not make them a Christian. 00:29:22.720 --> 00:29:30.060 I think I'd like to encourage young ladies sometimes when you try to find a future husband and maybe you're interested 00:29:30.060 --> 00:29:37.260 in a young man, like when it comes to that relationship, just because he calls himself a Christian doesn't make himself a 00:29:37.260 --> 00:29:37.600 Christian. 00:29:37.620 --> 00:29:43.740 If you really want to know what he's about, look how he treats people that he stands to gain nothing from. 00:29:45.340 --> 00:29:45.500 All right. 00:29:45.500 --> 00:29:52.760 How he treats the waitress or someone in the grocery store, people within his social circle that he may not be receiving benefit 00:29:52.760 --> 00:29:57.060 and relationship from in some capacity or even how he treats his mom. 00:29:59.580 --> 00:30:01.140 Because that's how it's going to be treating you. 00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:05.880 In the beginning, it's easy to honor, right? 00:30:06.300 --> 00:30:07.860 You have something I want. 00:30:07.880 --> 00:30:11.800 You're fulfilling something in me two, three years later. 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:14.360 What drives that relationship? 00:30:18.180 --> 00:30:20.640 I would say the most important foundation. 00:30:21.820 --> 00:30:23.580 Is the surrendering of yourself to the Lord. 00:30:24.600 --> 00:30:29.700 Because you know in relationship that even when your life is surrendered to the Lord. 00:30:30.680 --> 00:30:32.330 You don't always play those things out perfectly. 00:30:33.900 --> 00:30:40.740 And so learning how to how to find someone that's dedicated to Christ and walking in the beauty of that. 00:30:40.740 --> 00:30:46.680 And he says the two become one flesh and they're naked and they're not ashamed, which talks about the idea of vulnerability. 00:30:47.600 --> 00:30:53.580 Yet they're satisfied because there's this mutual trust in one another using their lives to bless one another for what God has called them to. 00:30:53.640 --> 00:30:54.920 Now the question is what in the world happened? 00:30:56.440 --> 00:30:58.360 And the first six verses of the next chapter. 00:30:58.380 --> 00:31:00.060 And I'll end with these verses. 00:31:00.500 --> 00:31:04.200 I'll give a little illustration here at the end, but this is where we get the story where everything goes off the rails. 00:31:04.380 --> 00:31:08.510 You think of the with the Hebrew people, they're being brought out of slavery. 00:31:08.580 --> 00:31:12.360 They're hearing this story of all the beautiful blessing of God's creation, this world. 00:31:12.360 --> 00:31:16.140 And they're thinking, man, if that's the way God designed it, how did we get to where we are? 00:31:16.140 --> 00:31:20.920 Like what happened in the first six verses of Genesis, This is where it starts to go off the rails. 00:31:21.620 --> 00:31:25.180 Now, the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. 00:31:25.220 --> 00:31:29.220 And he said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? 00:31:29.940 --> 00:31:36.200 And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the tree in the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden. 00:31:36.660 --> 00:31:38.920 Neither shall you touch it lest you die. 00:31:39.640 --> 00:31:42.660 But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. 00:31:43.460 --> 00:31:49.560 For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God knowing good and evil. 00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:57.160 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 00:31:57.160 --> 00:32:02.080 wise she took of the fruit ate, and she gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate. 00:32:03.540 --> 00:32:05.650 Let me just give a couple of comments on this very quickly. 00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:08.380 And we're going to come back to this next week. 00:32:10.200 --> 00:32:17.240 first of all, when you come to this Garden of Eden, I know traditionally people like to think that Adam and Eve ate 00:32:17.240 --> 00:32:19.980 an apple and an Eve talked to a snake. 00:32:20.020 --> 00:32:20.300 All right. 00:32:21.260 --> 00:32:23.100 But the Bible never tells you it's an apple. 00:32:23.100 --> 00:32:24.440 And I looked at this again this morning. 00:32:24.440 --> 00:32:27.100 I couldn't find a single translation that translated this as a snake. 00:32:27.980 --> 00:32:35.220 I know in kids storybooks, we get that beautiful picture of a snake, But in the Garden of Eden, I just want you to know, this is this is my personal 00:32:35.220 --> 00:32:37.250 perspective from studying this passage. 00:32:37.760 --> 00:32:40.040 If you disagree with me, that's okay. 00:32:40.040 --> 00:32:40.940 We can still get along. 00:32:41.280 --> 00:32:42.890 You're wrong, but we can still get along okay. 00:32:44.060 --> 00:32:44.340 And when. 00:32:44.500 --> 00:32:46.060 When Eve goes in the Garden of Eden, she. 00:32:46.240 --> 00:32:47.180 She doesn't talk to a snake. 00:32:48.740 --> 00:32:52.020 I'm sorry if that dismantles your worldview, but she didn't talk to a snake. 00:32:52.020 --> 00:32:52.980 And let me just give you a practical reason. 00:32:53.180 --> 00:32:53.930 I'll give you a theological reason. 00:32:54.700 --> 00:33:00.930 Practical reason is there is not a girl that's existed in history who thought to herself, today I really want to go to my garden and see a snake. 00:33:01.080 --> 00:33:01.560 Right? 00:33:01.740 --> 00:33:08.820 And not only that, did a girl walk into the garden and see the snake and then all of a sudden the snake starts talking to her and she's like, oh, let's 00:33:08.820 --> 00:33:10.180 have a conversation, right? 00:33:10.180 --> 00:33:14.400 Like if you walk into a garden and you see a snake that you're not going to stick around. 00:33:14.660 --> 00:33:17.650 And if your snake starts talking, that may be the end of your life. 00:33:17.720 --> 00:33:24.840 I don't I don't know how that but I don't think this is an actual literal snake in the Garden of Eden, but rather, you'll note, no matter what translation 00:33:24.840 --> 00:33:26.860 you look at it, talks about it as being a serpent. 00:33:27.520 --> 00:33:34.600 And I think for us in the first three chapters of Genesis, this is poetic, but this is describing the downfall of humanity, which, 00:33:34.680 --> 00:33:37.430 by the way, in your notes is identify the enemy to God's design. 00:33:37.980 --> 00:33:42.300 And the enemy we typically think about in this passage is, I know it's the serpent, it's not the serpent. 00:33:43.760 --> 00:33:50.880 The serpent is certain, certainly an adversary and the serpent is certainly a tempter, but the enemy is a little more personal than 00:33:50.880 --> 00:33:51.880 that. 00:33:52.600 --> 00:33:57.030 The word serpent here is nahash, the Hebrew word nahash. 00:33:57.760 --> 00:34:01.120 It comes from it literally means chaos, creature. 00:34:01.300 --> 00:34:06.210 And throughout the Old Testament and in the New Testament, there is there are plenty of chaos creatures. 00:34:06.320 --> 00:34:12.440 In fact, just to give you a picture of one in Isaiah, chapter six, where Isaiah sees the Throne Room of God. 00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:16.380 That's a famous story where Isaiah, God says, Whom will I send and who will go for us? 00:34:16.380 --> 00:34:18.659 And Isaiah says, Here, my Lord, send me. 00:34:19.020 --> 00:34:25.360 Before that happens, Isaiah sees hears the God in heaven and the angels singing Holy, holy, Holy. 00:34:26.600 --> 00:34:27.820 And he sees the throne room of God filled with smoke. 00:34:27.900 --> 00:34:32.840 And those angels are referred to as Seraphim, which literally translates as fiery serpents. 00:34:33.400 --> 00:34:36.940 They're chaos creatures and the Old Testament, New Testament. 00:34:36.940 --> 00:34:38.679 There's all sorts of chaos creatures. 00:34:38.679 --> 00:34:41.900 The Leviathan is a chaos creature from the Book of Job. 00:34:41.900 --> 00:34:44.199 There's animals referred to as chaos creatures. 00:34:44.219 --> 00:34:51.659 And here in the garden, we don't really have a theology of Satan shaped yet, but rather what he's saying is in the garden there is a chaos creature and there could be good chaos. 00:34:51.659 --> 00:34:57.880 Creatures like Isaiah chapter six or Bad chaos, creatures like Genesis chapter three and this word Nahash. 00:34:57.880 --> 00:35:00.940 It comes from the same Hebrew word of the root word of an enchanter. 00:35:02.360 --> 00:35:05.950 It's actually another word that derives off of Enchanter is the word bronze. 00:35:06.980 --> 00:35:12.520 If you remember the story of Moses and Numbers, chapter 21, verse nine Moses makes a bronze serpent. 00:35:13.160 --> 00:35:16.080 That bronze serpent literally comes from the same. 00:35:16.180 --> 00:35:18.280 The bronze and serpent come from the same Hebrew word. 00:35:18.860 --> 00:35:20.640 And I think it's giving identity to this snake. 00:35:21.480 --> 00:35:24.280 He's not really a snake, but rather he's a he's a chaos creature. 00:35:25.280 --> 00:35:29.620 He's an enchanting, crafty, bright, light chaos creature. 00:35:29.620 --> 00:35:36.780 And the reason I want to let you understand that is because our picture of Satan typically is, red snake, pitchfork and 00:35:36.780 --> 00:35:38.080 a tail. 00:35:38.140 --> 00:35:44.300 And I'll tell you, if you're ever walking through a garden and you see that, you're probably not going to listen to what he has to say, Right? 00:35:44.300 --> 00:35:45.680 Or if you do, please don't. 00:35:45.880 --> 00:35:46.460 All right. 00:35:46.600 --> 00:35:54.340 But rather, in the Garden of Eden, what happens is she runs into a creature, a chaos creature that is enchanting and 00:35:54.340 --> 00:35:56.920 crafty and attractive and bright light. 00:35:57.420 --> 00:36:00.360 That's the way Satan is described in second Corinthians 11 as an angel of light. 00:36:01.160 --> 00:36:02.060 It's tempting. 00:36:03.140 --> 00:36:03.960 And what does Eve do? 00:36:05.220 --> 00:36:06.240 She gives into it here. 00:36:07.180 --> 00:36:09.120 Now, Satan didn't do a whole lot in this story. 00:36:09.120 --> 00:36:10.060 He only speaks twice. 00:36:10.060 --> 00:36:15.000 The first time he just asks the question and the second time he gives an alternative belief to Eve. 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:15.950 That is not true. 00:36:16.600 --> 00:36:18.220 And the belief is eat of the fruit. 00:36:18.300 --> 00:36:18.980 That's a good thing. 00:36:19.020 --> 00:36:20.840 And if you eat of the fruit, you can become like God. 00:36:20.900 --> 00:36:24.040 Eating the fruit was not a good thing and there's not a person on the plane that's going to become God. 00:36:25.160 --> 00:36:26.580 That is that is not God's design. 00:36:26.580 --> 00:36:27.380 No one can become God. 00:36:27.380 --> 00:36:28.540 We talked about that last week. 00:36:29.080 --> 00:36:31.910 And that's the that's the lie that got Satan kicked out of heaven. 00:36:32.140 --> 00:36:34.480 Isaiah Chapter 14, Ezekiel 28. 00:36:35.260 --> 00:36:38.640 But what happens in the story is Satan questions God's Word. 00:36:38.760 --> 00:36:43.880 Eve exaggerates the word by saying, not only does God say we can't eat it, but we can't touch it, which wasn't entirely true. 00:36:43.880 --> 00:36:44.940 It was half true. 00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:47.330 Then Satan lies and says, I know better. 00:36:47.440 --> 00:36:52.770 And he attacks the character of God by saying, Look, God really knows if you do this, it's going to be better for you. 00:36:53.540 --> 00:37:00.630 And then and then Eve believes it and she partakes of it and then everything falls apart. 00:37:01.160 --> 00:37:02.980 So Satan fabricates the promise, right? 00:37:02.980 --> 00:37:04.180 You're going to become like God. 00:37:05.380 --> 00:37:09.900 And what we find in the story is while the serpent is the tempter. 00:37:11.040 --> 00:37:11.980 The real enemy. 00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:13.580 It's pride. 00:37:15.780 --> 00:37:18.080 Your greatest enemy to your relationship with God. 00:37:19.360 --> 00:37:19.800 It's probably. 00:37:21.520 --> 00:37:24.080 And when you read the story, you see how it unfolds, right? 00:37:24.920 --> 00:37:26.260 It's a half truth. 00:37:26.940 --> 00:37:28.240 It's not really an outright lie. 00:37:28.320 --> 00:37:30.100 What Satan offers is a half truth. 00:37:30.980 --> 00:37:33.010 But a half truth is all you need to destroy your soul. 00:37:34.360 --> 00:37:36.640 And Eve goes from I want this to I need this. 00:37:36.640 --> 00:37:38.710 If I don't have this, I'll never be happy. 00:37:39.720 --> 00:37:41.720 And then following down that path leads to destruction. 00:37:42.920 --> 00:37:43.980 She buys into a lie. 00:37:44.740 --> 00:37:45.920 But then, Adam, on the other side. 00:37:46.260 --> 00:37:47.080 What does Adam do? 00:37:48.640 --> 00:37:49.280 Adam commits. 00:37:49.280 --> 00:37:51.140 I think one of the greatest sins that men struggle with. 00:37:52.160 --> 00:37:53.780 Not to say ladies don't struggle with it either. 00:37:53.800 --> 00:37:55.080 But guys, if I said to you, What's the greatest? 00:37:55.720 --> 00:37:57.200 What's the greatest struggle men face? 00:37:57.240 --> 00:38:00.380 Here's the typical answer Men give lust or anger. 00:38:00.700 --> 00:38:03.020 But can I tell you, your greatest struggle in life is not less than anger. 00:38:04.360 --> 00:38:05.910 Greatest struggle in life is passivity. 00:38:07.420 --> 00:38:11.600 And this garden, that's what it says in verse six Where's Adam when Eve partakes of this fruit? 00:38:12.720 --> 00:38:14.840 Standing right beside her. 00:38:16.120 --> 00:38:17.260 Letting her take the fall. 00:38:18.900 --> 00:38:23.080 The reason men struggle with lust is not because their heart is rooted in lust. 00:38:23.100 --> 00:38:25.350 Rather, I would argue that passivity is a big problem. 00:38:26.280 --> 00:38:31.120 That rather than nurture the relationships for intimacy that God desired within marriage and marriage alone. 00:38:32.240 --> 00:38:36.780 It's easy just to rip it off and treat women like tools rather than human beings made in the image of God. 00:38:36.780 --> 00:38:44.360 Passivity reason you get anger rather than work through the relationship struggle that you're experiencing and learning about yourself in that process. 00:38:45.360 --> 00:38:45.740 Passivity. 00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:47.200 You'd rather just bulldoze and get over it. 00:38:51.580 --> 00:38:54.140 Here in this passage, passivity brings the destruction. 00:38:54.320 --> 00:38:55.800 And also, I would say selfishness. 00:38:56.100 --> 00:39:01.880 Adam is watching Eve eat this and he's like, he's going to say, okay, if she doesn't die, then I'll take of it, right? 00:39:01.880 --> 00:39:03.170 I'll let her take the fall first. 00:39:03.800 --> 00:39:06.000 And if it doesn't happen to her and then I'll jump in, right? 00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:09.360 And so he's got this selfish attitude towards where she's going. 00:39:09.400 --> 00:39:14.590 And this is what makes it really important, man, is when you look at Genesis chapter two, when God said don't eat of the fruit of the tree. 00:39:15.120 --> 00:39:16.520 God actually said that to Adam. 00:39:16.520 --> 00:39:18.060 It's never recorded that he said it to Eve. 00:39:19.380 --> 00:39:21.120 Now, he may have said it to Eve, but it's not recorded. 00:39:21.360 --> 00:39:25.620 And so it gives the idea that God gave to Adam the responsibility of sharing truth. 00:39:25.680 --> 00:39:28.230 And then from that point on, it should have been shared from generation to generation. 00:39:30.820 --> 00:39:35.640 And so you see within the story we have two two roads to walk in, Adam and Eve. 00:39:35.640 --> 00:39:36.610 But it's the same for us. 00:39:37.880 --> 00:39:39.450 God created you for a purpose. 00:39:41.120 --> 00:39:47.020 And when you live your life for that purpose in him, knowing him and let his glory be made known through you. 00:39:47.160 --> 00:39:51.100 It is a blessing to relationships around you and all of humanity. 00:39:51.100 --> 00:39:51.580 All of life. 00:39:53.400 --> 00:39:58.340 But when you refuse to listen to what God says and you decide to live life for your glory. 00:39:59.600 --> 00:40:00.660 The path is destruction. 00:40:01.980 --> 00:40:05.200 Destruction not only to your soul, but to the relationships around you. 00:40:06.580 --> 00:40:09.080 And it's easy for us sometimes to walk the road of passivity. 00:40:10.520 --> 00:40:13.360 To buy into the lie and to live selfishly. 00:40:14.900 --> 00:40:17.380 But God has created you for so much more than that. 00:40:18.580 --> 00:40:25.640 In fact, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who died in Nazi Germany just before his liberation, he was in a concentration camp just before his 00:40:25.640 --> 00:40:26.140 liberation. 00:40:26.180 --> 00:40:26.620 He died. 00:40:28.040 --> 00:40:30.830 And but Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he took a stand in Nazi Germany. 00:40:31.060 --> 00:40:32.460 And he and he and he gave this comment. 00:40:32.560 --> 00:40:35.060 He said, silence in the face of evil is itself evil. 00:40:35.680 --> 00:40:36.620 God will not hold us. 00:40:36.640 --> 00:40:40.600 Guiltless not to speak is to speak, and not to act is to act. 00:40:41.840 --> 00:40:43.560 God made you for so much more. 00:40:44.900 --> 00:40:47.580 That your presence would be a blessing in this world. 00:40:48.580 --> 00:40:52.400 And all of us have a choice of what you're going to surrender to, where you're going to find your worth and value. 00:40:53.220 --> 00:40:56.660 Would it be in Christ who not only created you but also gave his life for you? 00:40:57.720 --> 00:40:58.860 Or will you live for your glory? 00:41:00.020 --> 00:41:07.240 You know, one of the things I'm thinking thankful about and celebrating 15 years today for us as a church is a history of a church 00:41:07.240 --> 00:41:14.340 made of people who continued to give themselves to God and what he desires to do, not only in their life and through their life. 00:41:15.400 --> 00:41:19.220 And it's because of that we just celebrate the blessing of knowing him. 00:41:19.220 --> 00:41:26.720 I was thinking this morning, this church has given hundreds of thousands away in missions that we've seen people go out from us and lead churches throughout 00:41:26.720 --> 00:41:31.500 really the United States and some some around the world that we are supporting. 00:41:31.840 --> 00:41:38.840 And even here locally, the way that our church serves, we've probably served hundreds of thousands of meals at this point, fed tens of thousands of 00:41:38.840 --> 00:41:43.390 people giving out clothing and just being a part of our community to bless others. 00:41:44.540 --> 00:41:46.830 We understand who we are in light of who God is. 00:41:47.360 --> 00:41:52.030 When you find your confidence in that identity, the beauty of what God has done is incredible.