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Welcome to the Love in Context podcast, an unscripted conversation with Ben and Spence.

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We're so glad that you could join us today, whether that's from your car, office, home,

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church, or wherever you're at.

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We did have a few sound quality issues with our first few episodes.

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Those have been resolved.

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So if you do notice that the sound is funny in the first couple episodes, we do apologize

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for that.

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If you want to contact us, you can email us at loveincontext.gmail.com.

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Also follow us on Instagram at loveincontext.

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Welcome to Love in Context with Ben and Spence.

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It's an unscripted conversation.

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Sorry, I had to.

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Had to.

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Okay.

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Let's try this again.

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Hey, welcome to Love in Context, episode three, an unscripted conversation with Ben and Spence.

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Hey, we're going to be in Genesis three and four.

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So if you have your Bible with you, open up to that.

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If you do not have your Bible with you, you can pause it, go get your Bible, that new

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thing called technology, man.

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You can pause it and then come back to this episode.

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I know.

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Right.

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I know.

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By the way, just like neither here nor there, this morning, Pastor Nick and our church,

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we're hanging out in the sound booth while Pastor Clint is preaching, and I will reach

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over and I found the oldest iPhone in the world sitting on that thing.

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I was like, what is this?

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He's like, it belongs to the church.

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I was like, we need to get rid of this because I'm pretty sure it doesn't work anymore.

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Right?

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It was pretty funny.

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I don't think carriers will support a first gen iPhone.

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Yeah, I don't think so.

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Well, then he pulls out the iPod, the iPod, the old big brick, right?

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Which is a phenomenal thing in its day.

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But I was like, no.

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No.

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I was like, why do you even have that?

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It's not compatible with anything.

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I'm going to buy you an iPod and load it with garbage music.

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You would.

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All right.

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So here we are.

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Genesis chapter three.

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Last week, we kept trying to get here.

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Right?

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So now we're here.

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And we're probably going to reference back to this a lot, but more than that, we're probably

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going to reference back to Genesis one and two because they're more important.

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Yeah.

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You're going to be like, what do you mean it's more important?

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It's more important that you understand the original intention from God than what we made

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a mess of.

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Yeah.

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Nice.

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So Genesis chapter three.

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So I have some interesting thoughts.

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So I'll get crack in here.

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Sound good?

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Yeah.

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Sounds good.

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You're giggling to yourself because you're like, man, Ben's going to talk all the time.

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No, no.

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That's not what I'm giggling to myself because I'm giggling to myself because I'm like, we

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did a whole episode last week.

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And then like, there's still the part that's fighting me is like, oh yeah, we're starting

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the story.

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I'm like, no, we're not.

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Like, yeah, no, we're not starting.

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We're not starting our story.

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We already started in chapter one with God's original design.

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Right?

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So we read this story and I think it's interesting.

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Even in your Bibles, the subtitles is going to say the fall.

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Right?

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Because and I don't necessarily think that's bad, but here's the thing.

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If I'm going back, once again, this is Moses and Sinai explaining this to the Israelites.

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Who is this God?

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Yeah.

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And so he talks about this idea of creation and we're created for a purpose and we're

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created to live in rest and male and female together, we make the image of God and we're

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called to fill the earth, subdue it and really further God's reign in the world.

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And then you stop.

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My next question as a Israelite is why isn't life that way then?

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Right?

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That's the natural question.

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Yeah.

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Well, and we asked that question today about things in life, right?

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Right.

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And I think that it's helpful for us to look at this story as an answer to that question.

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Right?

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That we're going to understand and this story doesn't necessarily, yes, it talks about original

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sin, but it also talks about what sin is and we're going to get to that.

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But first off, I want to point out a bone that I have to pick with many, many people

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who interpret this passage.

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Is that fair?

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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So Genesis chapter three, how does that start?

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Can you read like the first verse for me?

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Yeah.

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And I read out a new Living Translation.

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So if you want to write to me about that, go ahead.

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He's NLT, I'm NIV.

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Yeah.

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But you know, we both read ASAP.

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Right?

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Exactly.

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So it says, the serpent was the shrewdest, hold on a second.

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It says what?

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The serpent.

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The serpent.

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Are you sure that doesn't say the devil?

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It does not say the devil.

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It says the serpent.

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It says the serpent.

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Okay.

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Well, all right, keep reading.

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So it says the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals.

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Hold on a second.

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Did it just say that the serpent is a wild animal?

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Yeah.

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The Bible was specific that it's the serpent and that it's a wild animal.

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Not only that, that it was the shrewdest of the wild animals that the Lord God had made.

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Interesting.

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Interesting.

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So who is the serpent?

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Now there is, I'm talking about this kind of tongue and cheek and if you grew up in

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the church, you're going to understand what I'm talking about.

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But we immediately go and we talk about that this is Satan in the garden.

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Now I don't think that that's necessarily a bad application long term.

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But where are you getting that in the text that's been written so far?

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Yeah.

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I think what you're going to see and we're going to talk about a lot of remas and a lot

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of callback and a lot of allusion to the scripture and frequently in scripture, you're going

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to have people refer to Satan like a serpent.

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Okay.

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But when you do that, what you're actually doing is you're saying, hey, do you remember

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the serpent in the garden?

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What she did, who he was?

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Yeah.

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What Satan is doing like that now.

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Yeah.

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And where we get this reference of the serpent is actually comes from Revelation where they

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make that tie in together.

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But the people who would have been reading this back in the day when this was originally

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written would not have had Revelation.

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Right.

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Right.

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So if you were a Jew coming out of Israel and you heard the story or read that the serpent

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was the shrewdest of all the wild animals that the Lord had made, you actually don't

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have the connection that that's Satan.

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Yeah.

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Now you might have a question when he says the serpent said to the woman and you're like,

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hold on a second, snakes don't talk.

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Right.

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Which on a very broad level and once again, we're going to recommend multiple times, especially

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through Torah, check out the Baywatch podcast, check out the Bible project, check out Rabbi

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David Forman's material.

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He's got some great stuff here.

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Right?

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This snake, this serpent is very crafty.

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It's the craftiest on the planet.

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Yeah.

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It talks.

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It reasons.

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Says, to God really say reasons, makes reasonable arguments.

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And apparently it walks or flies, one of the two.

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Yeah.

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Now, some of you are wondering why I say walks or flies.

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You can't be cursed to do something you already do.

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Yeah.

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Right.

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The curses show up later and we're actually going to talk about that.

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So this snake for whatever purpose is an animal, but it can walk and talk and reason.

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And apparently Adam and Eve aren't surprised when it talks to them.

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So then what you should be asking in the story, what is the difference between this snake

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and man?

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Yeah.

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That's a great question to ask.

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One thing I would just add real quick is if you're like, okay, well, did it walk or did

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it fly?

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What did it do?

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It doesn't matter.

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Right.

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Like it doesn't matter.

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That's not the point.

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The point is that the text is not trying to tell us the details of whether it had four

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legs, six legs, eight legs or wings or whatnot.

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Right.

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It is telling us that it is the beast of the field.

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And there's a clear illusion that for all intents and purposes, the things that we would

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say make humans human is also characteristic in the snake.

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Yeah.

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Right.

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So what is the difference?

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Which I believe is actually going to be really important when we talk about the nature of

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set.

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Yeah.

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And when you're talking about what is the difference, like how many people listening

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to this podcast have ever asked the question like, hey, God, if you're real or hey, was

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that really God's voice that said that?

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Or hey, was that really God speaking to that other person?

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God, I need some confirmation on that.

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Right.

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That's actually has striking similarities to how the serpent talks.

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So she says, I'm not supposed to eat from the fruit and I'm not supposed to touch it

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because otherwise we're going to die.

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Because God did say, if you did this fruit on that day, you will surely die.

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Okay.

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He can say this.

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Now, serpent is says, you will not certainly die for God knows that when you eat it, your

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eyes will be open and you will be like God knowing good and evil.

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Okay.

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Here's the problem.

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What do they, what are they already made in the image of?

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God.

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Okay.

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So have they been given a commandment of what to do?

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Yeah.

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Have they been given a commandment of what not to do?

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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So they're going to be like God knowing both good and evil.

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So they already have that, right?

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They're already made in the image of God.

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They already know what they're supposed to do.

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Be fruitful and multiply.

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Subdue the earth and fill it and rule it.

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Right.

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According to the image of God.

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Yeah.

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And they're not supposed to eat of this tree.

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Like they know what to do and what not to do.

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So they're already like God knowing both good and evil.

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So the serpent is saying, you're going to get something you already have, which by the

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way, can we just comment?

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That's most sin.

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Yeah.

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Right.

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So you're trying to get something you already have.

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Yeah.

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And you're going to make a big mess on the way to get it.

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Okay.

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All right.

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So you're going to be like God knowing both good and evil.

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Now here's the thing that I find very interesting.

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When the woman saw the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, both

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things that were described earlier in Genesis, but also desirable for gaining wisdom.

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She took it and she ate it.

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We skip over that, right?

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Desirable for gaining wisdom.

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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What wisdom is she actually getting that God hasn't given her?

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Nothing.

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But she says, God, you are holding out on me and I'm going to take and I'm going to

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receive because I know better than you.

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You have a four year old.

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You ever, you ever, she ever think I want another cupcake and you're like, no, you've

262
00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:21,920
had three.

263
00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:26,640
Yeah, that's a pretty regular occurrence of like, I mean, cupcakes are a great analogy.

264
00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:30,040
We don't really have cupcakes in our house that often, but like it's a pretty regular

265
00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:36,160
occurrence of like, no, of like the other day I made her fried rice for lunch.

266
00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:38,040
And she was like, I don't want fried rice.

267
00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:39,040
I was like, well, what do you want?

268
00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:40,040
She's like, I want the sugary cereal.

269
00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:43,400
And I was like, well, no, we're going to do fried rice.

270
00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:45,720
My four year old's a little stubborn.

271
00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:48,320
And so she was like, no, I'm going to wait you out.

272
00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:52,160
So we waited out till dinner and then she's like in tears, hungry because I was like,

273
00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:53,160
well, you still have your fried rice.

274
00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:55,120
And she's like, no, I just want more sugar.

275
00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:56,120
Right.

276
00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:57,120
Right.

277
00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:02,520
So when I read this, I don't view this actually as an issue of them needing more.

278
00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:03,840
Like they had every scene.

279
00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:04,840
Right.

280
00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:08,280
But they thought God was holding out on them and you just don't want me to have sugary

281
00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:09,280
cereal.

282
00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:11,040
But here's the thing you know about sugary cereal.

283
00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:14,800
You know that diabetes is a problem in America.

284
00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:15,800
Yeah.

285
00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:17,280
Obesity is a problem in America.

286
00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:18,280
Yeah.

287
00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:24,760
And like also let's just, you know, since we talked about it in episode one, like things

288
00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:30,400
like COVID, influenza, colds, all those different things you're more susceptible to when you

289
00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:32,240
have a poor diet.

290
00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:36,120
And you're like, I want you to be raised to be healthy and not get sick.

291
00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:37,120
Yeah.

292
00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:38,120
You know this.

293
00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:39,120
You're not holding out.

294
00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:40,120
No.

295
00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:42,720
And, and you know, I'm obviously every analogy falls apart.

296
00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:45,040
Like you're not never going to give her sugary cereal.

297
00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:46,040
No.

298
00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:47,960
But you know when she needs it and when she doesn't.

299
00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:50,720
I mean, almost like you're a good father.

300
00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:51,720
Yeah.

301
00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:52,720
We have sugary cereal.

302
00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:55,720
We have ice cream in our house, stuff like that, but we don't just eat that.

303
00:11:55,720 --> 00:12:00,240
So what happens when she's able to get that sugary cereal and she eats a whole box?

304
00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:02,660
Oh, she doesn't feel good.

305
00:12:02,660 --> 00:12:03,660
She doesn't feel good.

306
00:12:03,660 --> 00:12:05,680
And sometimes you end up with some extra stuff on the floor.

307
00:12:05,680 --> 00:12:08,600
Well the other day she actually, she's to the point where she can get her own cereal

308
00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:10,760
and write and like do all that stuff.

309
00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:14,240
So the other day I was doing some work on my computer and she snuck like three bowls

310
00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:15,240
of sugary cereal.

311
00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:18,160
And then she comes up to me, she's like, my stomach hurts.

312
00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:21,480
And then when I found out what happened, I was like, yeah, no wonder your stomach hurts.

313
00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:22,480
Right?

314
00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:23,480
Right.

315
00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,680
But you, so like coming back to Genesis, you have this happening here where you had man

316
00:12:27,680 --> 00:12:29,800
and woman in the garden with God.

317
00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:31,520
They had everything they needed.

318
00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:32,520
Made in the image of God.

319
00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:33,720
Made in the image of God.

320
00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:35,240
They're in fellowship with God.

321
00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:36,240
Things were perfect.

322
00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:37,240
They know good.

323
00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:38,240
They know evil.

324
00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:39,240
They know what they're supposed to do.

325
00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:40,240
Yeah.

326
00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:41,240
The deceit wasn't okay.

327
00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:42,240
This food looks good.

328
00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:43,240
Yeah.

329
00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:44,240
They already knew the food looked good.

330
00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:45,480
Yeah, they knew it looked good.

331
00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:49,000
The deceit was, hey, God's holding out on you.

332
00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:50,000
Right.

333
00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:55,240
Which by the way, can we just take a step back and say, the tragedy isn't that Adam

334
00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:56,240
and Eve happened.

335
00:12:56,240 --> 00:12:59,160
It's that it happens every day in our lives.

336
00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:00,240
I know.

337
00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:03,120
Every day we get up and we say, God, you're holding out on me.

338
00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:04,480
So I'm going to take for myself.

339
00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:05,480
Yep.

340
00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:09,800
How many marriages do you know that are ruined because a guy, a gal, whatever it is, they

341
00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:12,680
say, I don't believe that this is enough.

342
00:13:12,680 --> 00:13:14,960
I need to go and get for myself.

343
00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:16,360
Right.

344
00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:20,420
Men thinking with parts of their body, women lacking the fellowship that they desperately

345
00:13:20,420 --> 00:13:21,680
need in a mate.

346
00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:22,680
Right.

347
00:13:22,680 --> 00:13:23,680
This isn't enough.

348
00:13:23,680 --> 00:13:24,680
I'm going to go get for myself.

349
00:13:24,680 --> 00:13:25,680
Yeah.

350
00:13:25,680 --> 00:13:26,680
And then everything falls apart.

351
00:13:26,680 --> 00:13:27,680
Yeah.

352
00:13:27,680 --> 00:13:31,800
Because that's the nature of sin is God, you don't know what you're doing.

353
00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:32,800
Yeah.

354
00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:34,840
Now, which brings me to the point.

355
00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:39,200
And like I said, we have a couple of things that I think is really interesting here.

356
00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:43,080
This thing is called the tree of good and evil, right?

357
00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:45,240
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

358
00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:49,440
The problem is the tree can't give you the knowledge of good and evil because they already

359
00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:50,440
have it.

360
00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:51,440
Right?

361
00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:52,440
Yeah.

362
00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:54,240
Now, by the way, this is Ben's thought experiment.

363
00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:56,240
Please don't take this as doctrine.

364
00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:57,460
Okay.

365
00:13:57,460 --> 00:14:01,440
But what is interesting about this thing, the word that is used for knowledge is also

366
00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:09,080
used in the book of Exodus for creative artistic expression, the ability to create, right?

367
00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:10,080
And they are making the tabernacle.

368
00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:15,760
Now, if you take that idea and you take it back to the book of Genesis and you have this

369
00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:21,960
idea of what is knowledge, it's the ability to interpret for yourself what is good and

370
00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:23,320
what is evil.

371
00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:24,500
Yeah.

372
00:14:24,500 --> 00:14:31,000
This tree gives you the ability to interpret for yourself what is good and what is evil.

373
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,960
Now, the problem is the world is meant to work a certain way.

374
00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:38,000
And as soon as you step out of line with that, death happens.

375
00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:39,000
Yeah.

376
00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:40,000
So, that happens.

377
00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:46,200
Brokenness happens because God created an ecosystem that works according to His will.

378
00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:49,120
And when you step outside of that, He's not going to stop you.

379
00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:50,400
So this is the interesting thing.

380
00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:52,000
People are like, well, God brings punishment.

381
00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:57,800
I was like, no, you step out of God's plan and punishment is just the natural consequence.

382
00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:01,320
It's like when you get a virus on your computer.

383
00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:03,440
The manufacturer didn't put a virus on there.

384
00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:06,520
You downloaded it and then it messed everything up.

385
00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:10,240
So what God wants to do through Jesus Christ is He wants to reformat your hard drive and

386
00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:11,240
put in some firewalls.

387
00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:12,240
Amen.

388
00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:13,240
Amen.

389
00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:14,240
Right.

390
00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:17,640
And let's just touch on that idea of punishment for a second.

391
00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:18,640
Right.

392
00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:21,440
So, all right, I'm going to get some emails for this.

393
00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:22,560
This is going to be great.

394
00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:23,560
The punishment-

395
00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:24,560
I shouldn't say that.

396
00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:25,560
We haven't actually gotten any.

397
00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:26,560
Of course, we haven't posted anything yet.

398
00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:31,560
A little out of you guys know, we record in multiple episodes before we actually post.

399
00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:32,800
Yeah.

400
00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:38,040
But this idea of punishment that God is punishing us because of what we did.

401
00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:39,240
Right.

402
00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:42,240
You actually don't find that in chapter three.

403
00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:43,320
Nope.

404
00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:48,040
And so people will be like, well, the wages of sin, I hear it now, the wages of sin are

405
00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:49,040
death.

406
00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:50,040
I was like, okay, yes.

407
00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:51,040
Right.

408
00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:53,120
Wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.

409
00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:56,640
And in chapter three, even though the wages of sin are death, it doesn't say that God

410
00:15:56,640 --> 00:16:00,720
initiated punishment on his children for that.

411
00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:01,720
Right.

412
00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:02,720
Right.

413
00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:07,840
And you actually read through it and you have God who is saying, he's like, okay, where

414
00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:08,840
are you?

415
00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:09,840
They're like, oh, well, we're hiding because we're naked.

416
00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:12,120
And he's like, well, who told you you were naked?

417
00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:13,120
Right.

418
00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:14,120
And then they fess up-

419
00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:16,480
I told you that what I made you was enough.

420
00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:17,480
Yeah.

421
00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:19,480
Then they fess up to this, right?

422
00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:25,520
Then they fess up and Adam throws Eve under the bus and Eve is like, and okay.

423
00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:26,520
But-

424
00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:27,520
Right.

425
00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:29,880
It's a good thing they absorb that knowledge, right?

426
00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:30,880
Right?

427
00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:31,880
Because here you have God.

428
00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:33,680
He's like, wait, wait, wait, wait, who told you this?

429
00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:34,920
Like, who told you this?

430
00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:37,160
Who said that you weren't enough?

431
00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:38,160
Right?

432
00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:40,320
Who said that you needed to be better?

433
00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:41,320
Right.

434
00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:42,320
Right.

435
00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:47,920
And can we pause here because I'm just about sick of men and the way they treat women,

436
00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:50,720
by the way.

437
00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:54,520
Adam is as much or more to blame.

438
00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:55,520
Period.

439
00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:56,520
Okay.

440
00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:57,520
Yeah.

441
00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:02,200
They did not have the fruit, take a bite of it, then wander around the garden for 15 minutes

442
00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:03,200
to find Adam.

443
00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:04,200
Right.

444
00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:07,680
Adam was standing there with her when this went down.

445
00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:08,680
Did I ever point out to you?

446
00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:13,080
I think I pointed out to you at one point, but I want to read this to you and see if

447
00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:14,560
you see what I see.

448
00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:17,760
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good and for food and pleasing to the

449
00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:21,360
eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.

450
00:17:21,360 --> 00:17:25,280
She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it.

451
00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:30,120
Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked and they

452
00:17:30,120 --> 00:17:31,480
sowed fig leaves.

453
00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:32,480
Okay.

454
00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:33,640
When were their eyes opened?

455
00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:34,640
After Eve ate?

456
00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:35,640
After both of them.

457
00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:37,440
After both of them ate.

458
00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:38,440
Interesting.

459
00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:42,040
Because together there's the image of God.

460
00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:43,520
Right.

461
00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:47,560
You know, I'm also reminded of something Jesus said about love covering a multitude of sins.

462
00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:48,560
Yeah.

463
00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:51,520
And just as a thought experiment, I don't want to see any emails on this.

464
00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:55,240
What if Eve had taken a bite of Adam and said, no, that's not what God wants for us.

465
00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:58,000
Put it down.

466
00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:02,360
Right?

467
00:18:02,360 --> 00:18:05,680
We could speculate on what could happen, but it's just not in the text.

468
00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:08,160
I can tell you what happens in marriages today.

469
00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:11,080
When one person is ready to take a bite of an apple and throw everything away and the

470
00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:18,000
other one looks at them and says, no, you put that apple down and you come back.

471
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:19,000
I don't have to speculate.

472
00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:21,160
I know what happens.

473
00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:24,240
Forgiveness, restoration, redemption.

474
00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:28,400
That's what happens when one person has the courage to put the apple down and not eat.

475
00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:29,400
Mm-hmm.

476
00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:30,400
Man.

477
00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:34,840
It's like I got a little bit deeper there than I meant to go.

478
00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:35,840
That's all right, man.

479
00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:36,840
That was good.

480
00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:37,840
Yeah.

481
00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:38,840
All right.

482
00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:39,840
So this idea, right?

483
00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:42,960
So, man, what's going on?

484
00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:48,440
This woman you sent here, she brought me this apple and she was like, go eat.

485
00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:50,440
That's the BLT, Ben's Living Translation.

486
00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:51,440
Right.

487
00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:52,440
Yeah.

488
00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:53,440
It's a tasty translation.

489
00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:57,360
So God says to the woman, he says, what have you done?

490
00:18:57,360 --> 00:18:58,800
She's like, well, the serpent deceived me.

491
00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:03,080
So God said to the serpent, and can I read this because you and I have talked about my

492
00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:07,000
beef here and I want you to tell me what's missing.

493
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,020
So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed her, you above

494
00:19:10,020 --> 00:19:13,040
all livestock and all wild animals, you'll crawl on your belly and you will eat dust

495
00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:14,040
all the days of your life.

496
00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:17,400
And I'll put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers.

497
00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,640
He will crush your head and you will strike a seal.

498
00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:24,280
To the woman, he said, I will make your pains in childbirth birthing very severe with painful

499
00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:25,280
labor.

500
00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:26,280
You will give birth to children.

501
00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:28,440
Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you.

502
00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:31,560
To Adam, he said, because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which

503
00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:33,840
I commanded you, you must not eat from it.

504
00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:35,760
Cursed is the ground because of you through painful toil.

505
00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:37,360
You will eat from it all the days of your life.

506
00:19:37,360 --> 00:19:40,960
It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat the plant of the fields.

507
00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:41,960
Okay.

508
00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:46,280
What's missing in there?

509
00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:52,000
What's missing is the curse that's been placed on man and woman.

510
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:53,000
Right.

511
00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:54,480
There's right now, we're going to get emails.

512
00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:57,040
I can literally hear the typing happening in the future.

513
00:19:57,040 --> 00:19:58,040
Okay.

514
00:19:58,040 --> 00:19:59,360
I said, I want to read this to you.

515
00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:02,720
He says, cursed are you above all livestock.

516
00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:04,720
He's talking to the serpent.

517
00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:05,720
Then he turns to the woman.

518
00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:09,480
He says, I will make your pains in child birthing very severe.

519
00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:12,800
Now I've never given birth.

520
00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:14,520
It looks not great.

521
00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:15,520
Right.

522
00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:18,320
So maybe you look at that as a curse.

523
00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:22,280
I was like, but there is a word that's missing.

524
00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:25,960
Cursed are you with child birthing, pain and child birthing.

525
00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:26,960
Yeah.

526
00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:35,000
Then he says to Adam, he says, cursed is the ground, the ground because of you.

527
00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:40,640
You're going to work through thorn and thistles and eventually you're going to return to it.

528
00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:44,400
The serpent is cursed and the ground is cursed because of Adam.

529
00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:48,760
But for all intents and purposes, they left the word curse off of women's childbirth.

530
00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:53,080
One of the things that my wife has talked to me about and was very true for me being

531
00:20:53,080 --> 00:21:00,800
in the room is I've never felt closer to God than I was during childbirth.

532
00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:04,960
When you're actually giving life, creating life.

533
00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:10,360
I know life in the womb and all that, but your life is actually being realized.

534
00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:16,800
That moment, there was this moment that I identified and I saw the world just for a

535
00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:20,720
second through God's eyes.

536
00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:27,080
It's the feeling that I get when I put my hands in something to work and I work and

537
00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:32,120
I work and I work and I work and I finally see my project accomplished.

538
00:21:32,120 --> 00:21:36,320
I sit there and just for a second, I see it through eternity.

539
00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:37,320
You know what I mean?

540
00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:38,320
Yeah.

541
00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:43,200
It connects me to God, my work, my work for humanity, my work for God, my work for the

542
00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:44,480
community, whatever it is.

543
00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:46,040
It connects me to who God is.

544
00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:50,120
Now it's about what's easy rather than what connects you to the world.

545
00:21:50,120 --> 00:21:55,640
Which, holy cow, let's talk about America.

546
00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:57,360
Right?

547
00:21:57,360 --> 00:21:59,160
Yes.

548
00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:01,480
Yeah.

549
00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:09,080
I'm laughing over here a little bit right now because I'm just laughing because in America,

550
00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:14,520
we're like, okay, how can we, especially right now, we're like, okay, how can we make the

551
00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:19,960
most money while putting in the smallest amount of work?

552
00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:24,200
How can we do all these things and make it so we don't have to worry about anything,

553
00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:26,840
but we also don't have to work because we want it all?

554
00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:30,880
The American dream is no longer to have a nice job, have a nice house, have a nice family.

555
00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:36,520
It's to be able to do nothing and still get paid for it.

556
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:41,160
You look through the design of creation, we're designed to work.

557
00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:42,160
We're designed to have a job.

558
00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:43,160
Right.

559
00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:44,160
There's actually-

560
00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:45,760
It's literally built into our DNA.

561
00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:48,480
It's literally built into our DNA.

562
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:52,000
When we don't work, there's actually been some studies.

563
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:54,520
I don't have them in front of me, but you can Google them and look.

564
00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:57,760
There's actually been some studies that have shown that idleness leads to depression.

565
00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:00,480
Yeah, I believe it.

566
00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:02,800
We're designed to work.

567
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:04,480
We're designed to be moving.

568
00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:06,560
We're designed to be active.

569
00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:10,600
We're not designed to sit still and do nothing.

570
00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:12,440
Couple of things to consider here.

571
00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:14,780
The reason I bring this up is what is the nature of sin?

572
00:23:14,780 --> 00:23:18,720
We believe God's holding out on us and we believe that we can define good and evil better

573
00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:19,720
by ourselves.

574
00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:20,720
Yeah.

575
00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:22,720
Guys, that boils every sin down.

576
00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:26,400
Yeah, that's everything, everything about it.

577
00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:32,200
Everything is fundamentally broken in humanity prior to Jesus coming in that respect, in

578
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,440
that we start to define good and evil on our own terms.

579
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:41,440
Now, there are people who continue to define good and evil by God's terms, but as a whole,

580
00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:43,140
humanity starts to finding good and evil for themselves.

581
00:23:43,140 --> 00:23:45,840
By the way, you should hear that today.

582
00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:48,200
If it feels good, it's good for you.

583
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:49,200
Yeah.

584
00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:54,400
Some of the hardest people to talk to about Jesus are the people who are like, man, I'm

585
00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:56,360
so happy for you.

586
00:23:56,360 --> 00:23:57,640
Like I'm glad you like that.

587
00:23:57,640 --> 00:23:59,000
I'm glad that works for you.

588
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:00,000
Right.

589
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,080
Those are the hardest people to talk to about Jesus because it's like you don't actually

590
00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:08,120
see your own depravity and you don't see that you're in need.

591
00:24:08,120 --> 00:24:11,880
I'm being very careful with this because it's very easy to go down that slope of like, oh,

592
00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:13,600
we're all just wretches.

593
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:18,600
You look at Genesis 3, there wasn't actually a curse placed on man or woman.

594
00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:23,280
You could argue that sharpening pain in pregnancy was a curse.

595
00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:27,440
You could argue that, but it doesn't actually say that.

596
00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:29,400
What is God's response to that?

597
00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:36,960
God's response right after that is, is it said, okay, then the man, Adam, named his

598
00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:39,400
wife Eve because she would be the mother of all who live.

599
00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:41,560
We talked about that last week a little bit.

600
00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:48,000
The Lord made clothes from animal skins for Adam and his wife.

601
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,440
You have God who said, okay, I see what you did.

602
00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:52,740
I know what you did.

603
00:24:52,740 --> 00:24:59,680
I see that you have stepped out, but here, I see that this nakedness is shaming you,

604
00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,800
but here, let's cover that up.

605
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,480
Adam and Eve did not make their own clothes.

606
00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:08,440
And can we just talk about the grace of God in that moment too?

607
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:11,000
Because he did say on this day, you will surely die.

608
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:12,160
And then what doesn't happen?

609
00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:14,440
They don't die.

610
00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:18,080
Now I think that you can make a strong argument for like in some respects, they absolutely

611
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:20,200
did die.

612
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:21,200
Something fundamentally changed.

613
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:22,720
Who they were was no longer there.

614
00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:26,840
They were a broken image of God.

615
00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:31,000
But God has grace in them every single day that they continue to walk the earth.

616
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,520
And that does not make God a liar.

617
00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:35,520
Let's be really clear on that.

618
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:37,800
Just because God said, okay, on this day, you'll surely die.

619
00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:38,800
And then they did it.

620
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:40,640
And they didn't die.

621
00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:41,840
That doesn't make him a liar.

622
00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:44,320
What that makes God is grace-filled.

623
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:45,320
Makes him loving.

624
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:46,320
Makes him compassionate.

625
00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:47,320
Yeah, it makes him loving.

626
00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:48,320
It makes him grace-filled.

627
00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:54,280
And then it makes you wonder why Jesus said phrases like, okay, love the Lord with everything

628
00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:56,280
you have and love your neighbor as yourself.

629
00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:58,480
And this sums up the entirety of the law.

630
00:25:58,480 --> 00:25:59,480
Right.

631
00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:02,760
By the way, we're going to reiterate this like thousands of times.

632
00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:06,880
If you think the Old Testament is about an angry old God and that the New Testament is

633
00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:12,000
all fluffy Jesus, I'm sorely misunderstanding because Jesus says, man, I am here to represent

634
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:14,920
the Father as clearly as possible.

635
00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:17,660
So I want to talk about that really quick here because you're talking about him clothing

636
00:26:17,660 --> 00:26:18,660
them.

637
00:26:18,660 --> 00:26:21,840
He says, then man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil, able to determine

638
00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:24,040
for himself what is good, what is evil.

639
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:25,040
Yeah.

640
00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:26,040
Right.

641
00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:28,640
He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat

642
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:29,640
it and live forever.

643
00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:32,400
Now, we hear that and we're like, well, why not?

644
00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:33,400
Because you're broken.

645
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:35,640
We don't want you to get stuck this way.

646
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:36,640
Yeah.

647
00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:37,640
Right.

648
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:41,540
Now, I thought this was really interesting because we're talking about work and childbirth

649
00:26:41,540 --> 00:26:44,760
about bringing us back to Eden, right?

650
00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:45,760
Listen to this.

651
00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:50,720
So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground.

652
00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:52,160
Yeah.

653
00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:54,960
From which he had been taken.

654
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,040
The Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to what?

655
00:26:58,040 --> 00:26:59,040
Work the ground.

656
00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:00,040
Work the ground.

657
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:01,720
Why?

658
00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:05,960
Something about working the ground brings you back to God.

659
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:06,960
Right?

660
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:10,440
And I'm not talking about literally working the ground.

661
00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:12,520
Like maybe, maybe.

662
00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:16,160
There is actually some interesting scientific things about actually putting your hands on

663
00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:17,160
earth.

664
00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:18,160
Yeah.

665
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:19,160
Right?

666
00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:20,160
There totally is.

667
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:21,160
We're not going to dive too much into that.

668
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:23,680
And if you're like, well, why is that the case?

669
00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:27,760
Why is working the ground something that draws us closer to God?

670
00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:28,760
I don't know.

671
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,280
Like I don't fully know the answer, like specifically working the ground.

672
00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:34,160
But what I can tell you is that we were designed to have a job.

673
00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:35,160
Yeah.

674
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:36,600
And if we don't have a job.

675
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:38,520
And that job actually leads to fulfillment.

676
00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:39,520
Yeah.

677
00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:44,000
It actually connects us to our identity, which is what we're missing.

678
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:48,720
And I also think there's a thing about finding God in the midst of the work.

679
00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:49,720
Right?

680
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:54,360
One of the songs that I really like, you know that song Waymaker?

681
00:27:54,360 --> 00:27:55,360
Yeah.

682
00:27:55,360 --> 00:27:59,000
Even when I can't see it, he's working.

683
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,640
Even when I can't feel it, he's working.

684
00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:04,840
And I think that's the invitation is for us to go and join him in there.

685
00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:08,240
Now, I think the temptation you could say, well, you know, he never stopped, he never

686
00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:10,200
stopped working, that's the next part of the words.

687
00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:11,200
Okay.

688
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:12,200
God also knows how to rest.

689
00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:13,200
He knows how to party.

690
00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:14,200
It's going to be all over Leviticus and Numbers.

691
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:15,640
We're not going to get into that yet.

692
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:16,640
Yeah.

693
00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:20,480
But he also knows when to put his nose to the plow and plow up the fields.

694
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:21,800
You know what I mean?

695
00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:27,200
So I wanted to come back to the tree of life a little bit, because it says that after Adam

696
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,240
and Eve sinned, they were banished from the garden.

697
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,800
And there was a cherubim who was actually placed to protect the tree of life so that we want

698
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:35,480
to eat of that again.

699
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:41,240
The idea of that is we often view that, I've heard this taught as like, man, this is punishment

700
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:45,720
so that you can't return to the way God had things before.

701
00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:51,320
It's like, no, we would actually be stuck eternally in our damaged selves.

702
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:53,660
And when I realized that God right there.

703
00:28:53,660 --> 00:28:57,960
And so it's actually the grace of God to say, hey, I don't want you to be like this forever,

704
00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:01,800
but I am going to give you an allotment of time so you can see how much I love you.

705
00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:02,800
Right.

706
00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:07,480
So if we put this in context of where are they hearing the story at Sinai again, right?

707
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:09,960
What are they about to receive?

708
00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:10,960
Ten commandments, right?

709
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:13,520
Ten commandments, and they're about to receive the law, and they're about to enter covenant

710
00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:15,800
with God and walk forward.

711
00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:18,440
And what is this covenant really designed to do?

712
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:20,040
Bring them closer to God.

713
00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:25,240
He says it in chapter 12 of Genesis, he says it to Abraham, he says, I'm going to bless

714
00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:27,720
you so that all nations will be blessed.

715
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:31,580
The intention of God with the people of Abraham is to bless all nations.

716
00:29:31,580 --> 00:29:33,840
And he's going to take a people and go into covenant with them.

717
00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:37,440
And through them, the entire world is going to find salvation because he's going to put

718
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:41,040
them on display and draw people back to himself.

719
00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:42,760
Spoiler alert, totally happens.

720
00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,080
Yeah, it does totally.

721
00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:47,200
Take some awkward turns, but it totally happens.

722
00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:51,600
Yeah, there's definitely times where we're like, humans really just did that thing in

723
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:54,360
the Bible, but it totally happens.

724
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:55,360
All right.

725
00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:58,240
So that is that's the story of sin, right?

726
00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:02,200
Because if I'm asking why isn't the world this way, it's like because we wanted to define

727
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:03,320
good and evil on our own terms.

728
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:07,400
And if I'm Israel listening to that, I'm like, yeah, I get that.

729
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:08,400
Yeah.

730
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:13,000
And I mean, think of that in the context of Israel in captivity in Egypt, right?

731
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:18,360
They essentially have felt like they've been abandoned from God for about 400 years.

732
00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:23,680
And so there was probably a lot of time where people did define what they thought was good,

733
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:29,480
what they thought was wrong, and you can actually see hints of that in Exodus 1 and 2, especially

734
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:33,440
when Moses kills the other Egyptian guard and runs away.

735
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:38,360
Like there's some of that conversation there actually hints that there was some own self-definition

736
00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:41,120
of right and wrong.

737
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:43,320
And so you have that going on.

738
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:49,280
Right, not to mention the Egyptians find it to be right to enslave the Israelites.

739
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:50,280
Yeah.

740
00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:51,280
Right?

741
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:53,360
They have to fight good and evil on their own terms.

742
00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:54,360
Yeah.

743
00:30:54,360 --> 00:31:01,440
And so you have some of that going on and you have actually Israelites who are actually

744
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:05,720
stepping more in line with what the Egyptians believe, which is only natural because they've

745
00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:07,200
been there for so long.

746
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:08,200
Right.

747
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:09,200
Right.

748
00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:11,560
So you have this idea of like, where does sin come from?

749
00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:13,080
Like why are we this way?

750
00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:15,400
And then we get this interesting story that comes after this.

751
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,180
And I want to point out to this because we're talking about Christian existence.

752
00:31:18,180 --> 00:31:19,180
So we've talked about sin.

753
00:31:19,180 --> 00:31:20,180
What is sin?

754
00:31:20,180 --> 00:31:22,920
It's when we try to find good and evil on our own terms rather than finding the truth

755
00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:23,920
of Christ.

756
00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:24,920
Right?

757
00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:25,920
Yeah.

758
00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:29,200
So then the next question or next statement that happens in with Cain and Abel, the next

759
00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:34,240
section with Cain and Abel deals with this idea of sacrifice and this idea of honoring

760
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:35,640
God and worship.

761
00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:36,640
Right?

762
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:40,480
But there's some interesting bits in here that I find push against our theological ideas

763
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:42,000
really hard.

764
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:46,680
So she gave birth to Cain who's the older and Abel who's the younger.

765
00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:51,040
So Abel kept flocks means he had animals and Cain worked the ground.

766
00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:52,920
Now he worked the soil.

767
00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:55,880
So theoretically, what should that do?

768
00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:56,880
Draw him closer to God.

769
00:31:56,880 --> 00:31:57,960
Grab him closer to God.

770
00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:00,040
And yet who's closest to God?

771
00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:01,040
Abel.

772
00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:02,040
Interesting.

773
00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:03,040
Okay.

774
00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:06,200
In the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruit of the soil as an offering to the

775
00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:09,960
Lord and Abel also brought an offering fat portions from some of the firstborn of his

776
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:11,760
flock.

777
00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:12,920
Text is pretty interesting there.

778
00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:17,160
It doesn't clearly say that Cain kind of phoned it in, but he kind of phoned it in.

779
00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:18,160
Right?

780
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:21,000
I think that's a reasonable assertion from that text.

781
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,200
God looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering, he did not look

782
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:25,380
with favor.

783
00:32:25,380 --> 00:32:28,160
So Cain was very angry and his face was downcast.

784
00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:29,160
Okay.

785
00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:31,640
So people said that God rejected Cain's sacrifice.

786
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:34,320
It actually doesn't say that.

787
00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:37,280
You know, said he didn't look on it with favor.

788
00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:38,280
Yeah.

789
00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:40,680
You know, you hear what I'm saying?

790
00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:42,440
He didn't, it doesn't say God rejected his sacrifice.

791
00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:44,080
It says he didn't look on it with favor.

792
00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:45,080
Yeah.

793
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:46,080
Didn't say that he didn't receive it.

794
00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:49,240
Just didn't look on it with favor.

795
00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:51,200
It doesn't even mean that he didn't appreciate it.

796
00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:53,280
He just didn't look on it with favor.

797
00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:54,280
Yeah.

798
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:57,760
People are like, why are you saying this over and over, Ben?

799
00:32:57,760 --> 00:32:58,960
You need to hear that.

800
00:32:58,960 --> 00:32:59,960
Yeah.

801
00:32:59,960 --> 00:33:03,560
Like there are things that you do when you give a sacrifice to God that he looks on with

802
00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:04,560
favor.

803
00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:05,560
Yeah.

804
00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:07,300
Because it's something extraordinary.

805
00:33:07,300 --> 00:33:10,720
So when your son does something that you're like, okay, that wasn't great.

806
00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:12,560
Do you completely reject your son?

807
00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:14,760
No, I'm like, good job, buddy.

808
00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:15,760
Yeah.

809
00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:16,760
Right?

810
00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:18,400
Even though it wasn't like something that'd be favorable to you.

811
00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:19,400
Yeah.

812
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:20,400
Yeah.

813
00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:23,920
So now here is, here is, here's, so Cain was very angry and his face was downcast.

814
00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:24,920
Totally see my four year old now.

815
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:27,920
Thank you so much for that.

816
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:34,120
You know, then the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry?

817
00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:35,920
Why is your face downcast?

818
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:38,840
If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?

819
00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:41,000
But if you don't do what is right, don't worry.

820
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,560
Cause 3000 years from now, I'm going to send my son into the world to die and you'll find

821
00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:46,200
redemption through him.

822
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:50,640
So where in this passage does that say it's referring to Cain's offering?

823
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:53,680
Good point.

824
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:59,440
So if you, if you heard what I said, I didn't actually quote the Bible there.

825
00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:01,600
And I hope I, you know what I did quote?

826
00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:03,520
A lot of our theology.

827
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:04,520
Yeah.

828
00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:05,520
Okay.

829
00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:07,560
So some of you are already, I can hear you typing.

830
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:10,600
I'm not talking about the original sin isn't a real thing.

831
00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:11,600
Okay.

832
00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:14,320
Please don't hear that.

833
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:15,840
God says this to Cain.

834
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:21,300
This is post fall living in the world, Adam and Eve.

835
00:34:21,300 --> 00:34:23,160
Now sin has entered the world, right?

836
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:25,360
They're defining good and evil in their own terms.

837
00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:27,320
And God says to Cain, why are you angry?

838
00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:28,800
Why is your face downcast?

839
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:32,500
If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?

840
00:34:32,500 --> 00:34:36,160
But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door.

841
00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:42,840
It desires to have you, but you must rule over it.

842
00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:43,840
Yeah.

843
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:48,560
Man, that, that takes a sucker punch to our theology.

844
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:51,480
It does because we are taught that we can't.

845
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:52,480
Correct.

846
00:34:52,480 --> 00:35:00,080
I mean, we're taught that, okay, we can't have a dominion power over sin.

847
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:03,880
And I would argue that the Bible doesn't agree.

848
00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:05,220
Yeah.

849
00:35:05,220 --> 00:35:06,740
The Bible does not agree.

850
00:35:06,740 --> 00:35:08,440
Now I hear all of you typing right away.

851
00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:10,260
Then what about Jesus?

852
00:35:10,260 --> 00:35:12,100
What about Jesus?

853
00:35:12,100 --> 00:35:15,680
We would love to have a conversation about that, but we're not having it today.

854
00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:16,680
We're getting there.

855
00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:22,040
Cause it, cause Jesus sacrifice his death, burial and resurrection is fundamental.

856
00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:23,040
It is necessary.

857
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:30,040
It is the pivotal crucial apex point of the Christian existence with God.

858
00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:31,640
It is very important.

859
00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:35,280
Maybe I'm going to actually argue and I'm going to say that what I, what the Bible teaches

860
00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:39,340
about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is actually more important than what

861
00:35:39,340 --> 00:35:40,340
you think.

862
00:35:40,340 --> 00:35:41,340
Yeah.

863
00:35:41,340 --> 00:35:49,520
It is more important than what you think about why Jesus had to come live, be, be Kurt killed,

864
00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:52,000
buried and raised from the dead.

865
00:35:52,000 --> 00:36:02,280
It is so important, but it doesn't change the fact that God says your sin, you can conquer

866
00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:06,320
it if you want to.

867
00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:09,160
I I've heard this said, man, it's, it's an Isaiah.

868
00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:10,160
People always quote it.

869
00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:13,800
They, they like to throw Romans and Isaiah together.

870
00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:19,080
They say, um, all of our righteousness is as filthy rags for the wages of sin is death

871
00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:21,160
and the gift of God is eternal life.

872
00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:23,240
When you say it together, it sounds like one passage, right?

873
00:36:23,240 --> 00:36:26,640
But it's not, do you know, I only found out like two years ago, it's not one passage because

874
00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:29,240
I've heard it quoted together so many times.

875
00:36:29,240 --> 00:36:31,000
I was like, where does Paul say this together?

876
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:32,000
Sure.

877
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:33,440
That he doesn't know he doesn't.

878
00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:38,200
And in Isaiah, they're dealing with guys that are doing the sacrifices, doing this system

879
00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:41,040
and their life looks nothing like what a priest should look like.

880
00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:42,040
Yeah.

881
00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:47,760
They're doing these activities with the image of spirituality, but they're dead inside.

882
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:48,760
That doesn't apply to them.

883
00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:49,880
Nope, doesn't apply at all.

884
00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:54,400
And God says, man, everything you're doing, it is worthless because you don't actually

885
00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:55,880
want to be different.

886
00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:56,880
Yeah.

887
00:36:56,880 --> 00:36:58,640
You don't actually want to tell my good story.

888
00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:03,200
You just want the blessings without being part of the family.

889
00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:05,380
Yeah.

890
00:37:05,380 --> 00:37:12,160
And God says to us, sin is waiting at your doorway to devour you.

891
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:14,560
You can conquer it.

892
00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:18,760
Now I would argue that our fundamentally changed nature, we choose not to.

893
00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:19,760
Yeah.

894
00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:24,960
We come in flawed and we choose not to over and over again, but we do meet a guy in chapter

895
00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:29,360
12 who through faith, pleases God.

896
00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:31,640
Yeah.

897
00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:39,400
And so jumping back to the sacrifice here from Cain and Abel, so a lot of times we're

898
00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:45,920
like, okay, we interpret this through the lens of the sacrificial system and Leviticus.

899
00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:49,600
Leviticus hasn't been written yet.

900
00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:50,600
Keep that in mind.

901
00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:51,600
Yeah.

902
00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:52,700
This hasn't been written yet.

903
00:37:52,700 --> 00:37:56,440
So what you have is you have people who are being like, okay, I recognize something's

904
00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:59,200
broken and I'm going to offer something to God.

905
00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:00,200
Right.

906
00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:03,280
Because he genuinely is there for God, the other one doing it because he's going through

907
00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:04,280
the motions.

908
00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:05,280
Right.

909
00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:07,720
That's what you have going on right now.

910
00:38:07,720 --> 00:38:13,480
And I tongue in cheek just a minute ago said, oh yeah, that doesn't relate to the church.

911
00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:16,360
I was like, it totally relates to the church today.

912
00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:20,200
Like they're totally related to people who claim to follow Jesus.

913
00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:24,680
How many of us are obeying the moral law?

914
00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:27,760
Because we don't want God to zap us with lightning.

915
00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:28,760
Yeah.

916
00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:32,800
Rather than we do these things because we know it touches God's heart.

917
00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:33,800
Right.

918
00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:34,800
Right.

919
00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:36,420
Because God loves us.

920
00:38:36,420 --> 00:38:37,420
Because God loves us.

921
00:38:37,420 --> 00:38:38,420
And he's loving.

922
00:38:38,420 --> 00:38:40,600
And more specifically, we love God too.

923
00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:41,600
Yeah.

924
00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:43,000
We do things.

925
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:45,600
And by the way, sometimes you're going to have things that God wants you to do that

926
00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:47,160
you don't want to do.

927
00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:51,080
I don't particularly like washing the dishes, but I do it.

928
00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:52,080
Yeah.

929
00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:53,080
Because I love my wife.

930
00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:54,080
Right.

931
00:38:54,080 --> 00:38:56,760
And all of you who don't wash the dishes don't love your wife.

932
00:38:56,760 --> 00:38:58,500
No, that's not what I'm saying.

933
00:38:58,500 --> 00:39:01,760
Like each person has to figure out with their family what they're going to do.

934
00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:02,760
Right?

935
00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:03,760
You're partners.

936
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:06,480
You're not one person over another.

937
00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:10,160
But I do things not because I like them, but because I love the person.

938
00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:14,320
And in the love for the person, a lot of times I find that I like what I'm doing.

939
00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:15,320
Yeah.

940
00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:17,320
A good example, Tara and I.

941
00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:18,320
Okay.

942
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:21,840
Some of you don't know who I am, and that's okay.

943
00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:23,800
I don't like hiking.

944
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:25,280
I really don't.

945
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:28,800
Like I like getting to destinations and sitting down.

946
00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:31,240
Ben's being very nice about this right now.

947
00:39:31,240 --> 00:39:32,480
He does not like hiking.

948
00:39:32,480 --> 00:39:34,080
I do not like hiking.

949
00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:36,000
But you know who does?

950
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:37,000
My wife.

951
00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:39,580
Man, she loves hiking.

952
00:39:39,580 --> 00:39:41,080
And I don't do it as much as I should.

953
00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:44,600
But when we go for a hike, it's because I want her to be able to enjoy something.

954
00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:45,600
Right?

955
00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:46,600
Yeah.

956
00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:47,600
Now, you know what I do like doing?

957
00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:48,600
Playing video games.

958
00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:49,600
Yeah, so much.

959
00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:50,600
I'm such a nerd.

960
00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:51,600
Right?

961
00:39:51,600 --> 00:39:53,960
And you know what Tara does?

962
00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:54,960
She plays games with me.

963
00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:55,960
Yeah.

964
00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:59,280
Not because she particularly has some great love for video games, but because she loves

965
00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:00,280
me.

966
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:01,280
Yeah.

967
00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:02,280
Yeah.

968
00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:03,280
Man, that's what it is.

969
00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:08,720
Sorry, we got off a little bit on there, but man, that's part of the unscripted, man.

970
00:40:08,720 --> 00:40:10,800
Yeah, that's how it goes.

971
00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:15,240
And so when you're reading through these passages and stuff like that, so often I've heard Chapter

972
00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:21,320
4 interpreted as a like, oh, doom and gloom type chapter of like, this is when the first

973
00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:22,800
murder was committed.

974
00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:23,800
Right.

975
00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:26,960
And that bad interpretation is just an incomplete one.

976
00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:27,960
Yeah.

977
00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:31,760
Because oftentimes I hear the story of Cain and Abel and how Cain murdered Abel.

978
00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:32,760
Yeah.

979
00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:35,760
And they start off with that and I'm like, bro, that's the second half of the story.

980
00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:36,760
Yeah.

981
00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:41,320
Like the first half is that I actually were going through the motions to offer something

982
00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:43,020
to God.

983
00:40:43,020 --> 00:40:45,400
One person was doing it with genuine heart, one was not.

984
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:47,920
And then God, here's the interesting thing.

985
00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:51,520
Who did God go talk to after the sacrifices?

986
00:40:51,520 --> 00:40:52,520
Right.

987
00:40:52,520 --> 00:40:53,520
Or the offerings?

988
00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:54,520
Who did God go talk to Cain?

989
00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:57,360
He goes and talks to the one who was doing it half-heartedly.

990
00:40:57,360 --> 00:40:58,360
Right.

991
00:40:58,360 --> 00:40:59,360
Right.

992
00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:03,240
If that doesn't echo Jesus, I don't know what does.

993
00:41:03,240 --> 00:41:04,720
So we've been talking about the field.

994
00:41:04,720 --> 00:41:07,480
And so I just want to point out a couple of things here that I think are interesting.

995
00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:14,160
So now Cain said to his brother Abel, let's go out to the field.

996
00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:17,000
Yeah.

997
00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:19,140
The field is important, guys.

998
00:41:19,140 --> 00:41:24,080
This is the place where they're supposed to work and actually connect with God, right?

999
00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:27,960
While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

1000
00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:28,960
Yeah.

1001
00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:33,040
And so once again, a place where you're supposed to be connecting with God, work that you're

1002
00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:39,440
called to do, actually reconnect you, actually goes the opposite way and you redefine again.

1003
00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:43,080
And I think that we're seeing a perpetual continuation of sin.

1004
00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:47,640
And by the way, if you don't see the connection between this story and Adam and Eve, there

1005
00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:49,680
are connections all over the place.

1006
00:41:49,680 --> 00:41:52,380
Foreman's book, Beasts that Crashed the Door, really good.

1007
00:41:52,380 --> 00:41:53,380
Check it out.

1008
00:41:53,380 --> 00:41:54,380
Right.

1009
00:41:54,380 --> 00:41:55,500
It's all over this place.

1010
00:41:55,500 --> 00:41:57,020
So I think this is interesting though.

1011
00:41:57,020 --> 00:41:59,000
So God then comes to Cain.

1012
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:01,720
He's like, what did you do?

1013
00:42:01,720 --> 00:42:04,600
The blood is literally crying out from the ground.

1014
00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:06,160
Right.

1015
00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:09,360
Crying out from the ground of what?

1016
00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:10,360
The field.

1017
00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:11,360
Interesting.

1018
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:14,600
What's the thing about the ground again?

1019
00:42:14,600 --> 00:42:17,000
Like you work it and it connects you with God?

1020
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:18,000
Yeah.

1021
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:19,000
And blood is crying out from the field?

1022
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:20,000
Yeah.

1023
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:21,000
Interesting.

1024
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:22,760
Just throw that out there.

1025
00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:27,080
He now says to Cain, who is a guy who's been working the field, you will be a restless

1026
00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:28,860
wanderer on the earth.

1027
00:42:28,860 --> 00:42:31,360
You're never going to be able to settle down.

1028
00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:33,000
So interesting thing.

1029
00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:35,080
You ever shepherded?

1030
00:42:35,080 --> 00:42:37,840
Some, not a lot.

1031
00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:43,920
So in shepherding, you tend to take sheep around, you know, crops, not crops, it's

1032
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:44,920
herds.

1033
00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:46,460
You take them around.

1034
00:42:46,460 --> 00:42:48,120
You actually go around places with them.

1035
00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:51,000
You might even say that you're a wild wandering nomad.

1036
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:52,000
Yeah.

1037
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:54,080
Which, what did, remind me, what did Abel do again?

1038
00:42:54,080 --> 00:42:55,080
He's a shepherd.

1039
00:42:55,080 --> 00:42:57,200
He actually tells Cain to go and be a restless wanderer.

1040
00:42:57,200 --> 00:42:58,480
Cain's like, man, I can't do this.

1041
00:42:58,480 --> 00:42:59,480
Somebody's going to find me.

1042
00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:00,480
They're going to kill me.

1043
00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:01,480
He's like, nope, they're not going to kill you.

1044
00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:03,600
If they kill you, they're going to get seven times worse what you get.

1045
00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:04,600
Right.

1046
00:43:04,600 --> 00:43:06,800
So he's supposed to be a wanderer.

1047
00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:10,640
But what does Cain actually do?

1048
00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:13,120
He goes and he founds a city.

1049
00:43:13,120 --> 00:43:14,120
Yeah.

1050
00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:18,880
So I'm not, you know, I'm not like a architect here, but I think cities are kind of permanent

1051
00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:19,880
places.

1052
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:20,880
Right.

1053
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:24,040
So he's not actually being a restless wanderer.

1054
00:43:24,040 --> 00:43:29,000
And then his generation after generation after generation, they don't get better, they get

1055
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:31,560
worse.

1056
00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:33,800
God told Cain to go and be a wanderer.

1057
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:34,800
Yeah.

1058
00:43:34,800 --> 00:43:37,240
And he stays still.

1059
00:43:37,240 --> 00:43:42,360
And seven generations later, we get a guy by the name of Lamech who says that he's 70

1060
00:43:42,360 --> 00:43:48,400
times seven times worse than Cain.

1061
00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:51,320
Maybe God knows what he's doing.

1062
00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:56,000
And maybe we've been interpreting God through an angry lens when Jesus tells us to interpret

1063
00:43:56,000 --> 00:43:58,680
it through love God and love other people.

1064
00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:02,840
God's goal in everything he's doing with people is to redeem them.

1065
00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:05,840
All of them.

1066
00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:07,520
Yeah.

1067
00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:08,520
Period.

1068
00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:09,520
Period.

1069
00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:10,520
Right.

1070
00:44:10,520 --> 00:44:11,520
It's so good.

1071
00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:19,800
So in the ties from this story over to life of Jesus stories like there's actually ties

1072
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:23,720
from this story over to stories of the prodigal son.

1073
00:44:23,720 --> 00:44:25,760
There's ties back to Adam and Eve.

1074
00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:29,320
Like this story is vitally important to understand.

1075
00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:30,320
Right.

1076
00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:33,640
It's not like a lot of times we kind of skip over and we're like, okay, well Cain killed

1077
00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:35,640
Abel moral of the story that.

1078
00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:36,640
Yeah.

1079
00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:37,640
Don't hate people in the head with a rock.

1080
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:38,640
Yeah.

1081
00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:39,640
By the way, it doesn't say that.

1082
00:44:39,640 --> 00:44:40,640
It doesn't say that.

1083
00:44:40,640 --> 00:44:41,640
Anyone don't.

1084
00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:42,640
People don't know because you we don't know God died.

1085
00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:43,640
We don't.

1086
00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:46,760
There's no medical report to very blood that fell into the ground.

1087
00:44:46,760 --> 00:44:47,760
That's what we know.

1088
00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:53,140
But there's so many ties throughout all the scripture on this.

1089
00:44:53,140 --> 00:44:54,160
Yeah.

1090
00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:55,160
Right.

1091
00:44:55,160 --> 00:44:56,160
And so you want.

1092
00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:57,960
You want to be really careful with this story and you're understanding of it.

1093
00:44:57,960 --> 00:45:01,360
You want to understand that Cain even though his offering wasn't pleasing to God.

1094
00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:02,360
He is going to have.

1095
00:45:02,360 --> 00:45:03,360
Hardly God met with him.

1096
00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:04,360
Right.

1097
00:45:04,360 --> 00:45:06,320
God meets a minute and he gives him a solution.

1098
00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:07,320
Yeah.

1099
00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:11,760
You want to understand that God didn't necessarily curse Cain.

1100
00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:13,280
He fell on his step-sons.

1101
00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:14,360
Yeah.

1102
00:45:14,360 --> 00:45:16,360
And then he also gives him an ability

1103
00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:19,360
to actually walk in his brother's shoes.

1104
00:45:19,360 --> 00:45:22,560
And not only that, he says, what if somebody kills me?

1105
00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:24,280
He's like, nope, nobody's going to kill you,

1106
00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:25,160
because I'm going to put a mark on you

1107
00:45:25,160 --> 00:45:26,080
that nobody can touch you.

1108
00:45:26,080 --> 00:45:26,640
Yeah.

1109
00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:31,760
I'm sorry, where was this god of anger and frustration?

1110
00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:32,680
Yeah.

1111
00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:33,640
Right?

1112
00:45:33,640 --> 00:45:34,280
It's fire.

1113
00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:36,600
Side note, jump ahead to Exodus.

1114
00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:40,040
And when there's a spot in there where God's talking to Moses

1115
00:45:40,040 --> 00:45:42,920
and God is angry with Moses because Moses is like,

1116
00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:45,680
I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't do it.

1117
00:45:45,680 --> 00:45:47,800
And what does God do in his anger?

1118
00:45:47,800 --> 00:45:51,240
He sends someone to help.

1119
00:45:51,240 --> 00:45:51,920
Yeah.

1120
00:45:51,920 --> 00:45:54,680
It's almost like there's a theme throughout the Bible

1121
00:45:54,680 --> 00:45:57,520
that God is always trying to help people make

1122
00:45:57,520 --> 00:46:00,920
the right choice and move them along in the right direction.

1123
00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:01,640
Yeah.

1124
00:46:01,640 --> 00:46:02,760
Yeah.

1125
00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:05,040
And now, you don't have to agree with our interpretation

1126
00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:05,540
of that.

1127
00:46:05,540 --> 00:46:06,400
That's OK.

1128
00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:08,720
I've done a lot of reading on these chapters in Genesis,

1129
00:46:08,720 --> 00:46:11,760
and I think there's a lot that we did not talk about.

1130
00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:13,880
I do, like I said, recommend checking out

1131
00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:17,160
some of these other podcasts, some of these other teachings.

1132
00:46:17,160 --> 00:46:19,240
Get some people who get into the contextual Hebrew,

1133
00:46:19,240 --> 00:46:21,920
because it's important.

1134
00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:24,360
But if we're talking about what are our takeaways from this,

1135
00:46:24,360 --> 00:46:26,840
so what would you say our first takeaway from these two

1136
00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:28,920
stories is?

1137
00:46:28,920 --> 00:46:33,160
So the thing I would say on this story is, first off,

1138
00:46:33,160 --> 00:46:37,240
just stop viewing God as a judgmental God in the story.

1139
00:46:37,240 --> 00:46:39,360
That's how I was taught the story as a kid.

1140
00:46:39,360 --> 00:46:39,960
Right.

1141
00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:43,080
Like you did a sin, and boom, you are judged.

1142
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:43,580
Right?

1143
00:46:43,580 --> 00:46:45,040
That is not what's going on here.

1144
00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:49,360
God's actually being so loving and so graceful

1145
00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:50,160
in this moment.

1146
00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:52,160
Do you see the love of God?

1147
00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:57,200
And when you choose to define sin on your own terms,

1148
00:46:57,200 --> 00:46:59,920
do you see the love of God in the middle of that?

1149
00:46:59,920 --> 00:47:03,440
Just beckoning you and creating a way for you to come back.

1150
00:47:03,440 --> 00:47:04,600
Yeah.

1151
00:47:04,600 --> 00:47:06,680
And a God who refuses to let you permanently

1152
00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:08,400
make yourself that way.

1153
00:47:08,400 --> 00:47:09,560
Yeah.

1154
00:47:09,560 --> 00:47:10,920
Right?

1155
00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:15,040
And then the next thing is, when you come before God

1156
00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:18,120
and you're offering sacrifice, worship, whatever

1157
00:47:18,120 --> 00:47:19,760
you want to call it, right?

1158
00:47:19,760 --> 00:47:21,480
Because we're not in Levitical system yet,

1159
00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:25,360
so please stop jumping ahead to Leviticus.

1160
00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:27,720
Right here, God meets.

1161
00:47:27,720 --> 00:47:31,040
He looks with Pharaoh and Abel, and he meets with Cain.

1162
00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:31,720
Yeah.

1163
00:47:31,720 --> 00:47:37,640
And he says, man, you have the ability to be better than this.

1164
00:47:37,640 --> 00:47:40,640
And if I'm reading between the lines what God says,

1165
00:47:40,640 --> 00:47:43,320
and he's looking at Cain, he's like, I believe in you.

1166
00:47:43,320 --> 00:47:45,400
Yeah.

1167
00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:47,720
And I'm just going to ask the question,

1168
00:47:47,720 --> 00:47:49,320
does this foreshadow up toward Jesus?

1169
00:47:49,320 --> 00:47:51,480
He's like, hey, love your enemy.

1170
00:47:51,480 --> 00:47:53,000
Pray for those who persecute you.

1171
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:53,800
Hmm.

1172
00:47:56,800 --> 00:47:58,800
So we're in the Gospel of John right now.

1173
00:47:58,800 --> 00:47:59,280
Yeah.

1174
00:47:59,280 --> 00:48:00,960
And I just had this crazy thought.

1175
00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:02,000
OK?

1176
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:03,920
I want you to think about the beast that's

1177
00:48:03,920 --> 00:48:05,680
crouching at the door.

1178
00:48:05,680 --> 00:48:06,880
Right?

1179
00:48:06,880 --> 00:48:09,160
He looks to Cain and he says, why is your face?

1180
00:48:09,160 --> 00:48:10,120
Why are you angry?

1181
00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:11,080
Why is your face downcast?

1182
00:48:11,080 --> 00:48:12,400
If you do what is good, won't you be accepted?

1183
00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:15,320
But if you don't do what is good, sin is at your door,

1184
00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:18,960
crouching, waiting to devour you, but you must conquer it.

1185
00:48:18,960 --> 00:48:20,440
Right?

1186
00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:23,240
Knowing what Cain is going to go out and do.

1187
00:48:23,240 --> 00:48:24,040
Right?

1188
00:48:24,040 --> 00:48:25,920
And knowing that he's going to create a way for Cain

1189
00:48:25,920 --> 00:48:28,240
to once again find redemption, and knowing that Cain is still

1190
00:48:28,240 --> 00:48:29,200
not going to follow that.

1191
00:48:29,200 --> 00:48:29,680
Yeah.

1192
00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:30,680
OK?

1193
00:48:30,680 --> 00:48:33,000
Now jump ahead to the Gospel of John,

1194
00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:34,400
and Jesus is at the table.

1195
00:48:34,400 --> 00:48:36,960
And he says, all of you are chosen by me,

1196
00:48:36,960 --> 00:48:38,600
but one of you is going to betray me.

1197
00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:40,040
And they're like, who's that?

1198
00:48:40,040 --> 00:48:40,760
You know?

1199
00:48:40,760 --> 00:48:43,520
He says, one that dip in, and I give him the bread.

1200
00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:45,120
And he gives it to Judas Iscariot.

1201
00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:46,560
Right?

1202
00:48:46,560 --> 00:48:48,600
And he looks at him and he says,

1203
00:48:48,600 --> 00:48:51,080
go do what you're going to do.

1204
00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:53,920
Man, I hear echoes of, sin is waiting at your door,

1205
00:48:53,920 --> 00:48:58,720
waiting to devour you, but you must conquer it.

1206
00:48:58,720 --> 00:49:00,360
It's almost like it's the same guy making

1207
00:49:00,360 --> 00:49:01,640
the same kind of statement.

1208
00:49:01,640 --> 00:49:03,920
To another son he knows is going to make a mistake.

1209
00:49:03,920 --> 00:49:05,920
Yeah.

1210
00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:08,400
You know, the craziest thing to me is Jesus never

1211
00:49:08,400 --> 00:49:11,960
chastises Judas.

1212
00:49:11,960 --> 00:49:14,440
No, he doesn't, for he never does.

1213
00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:16,480
Now disciples get really mad out of shape about it.

1214
00:49:16,480 --> 00:49:18,280
You know who never says anything about it?

1215
00:49:18,280 --> 00:49:20,280
Jesus.

1216
00:49:20,280 --> 00:49:22,720
He actually has much more to say about Peter

1217
00:49:22,720 --> 00:49:24,440
than he does about Judas.

1218
00:49:24,440 --> 00:49:25,400
That's another episode.

1219
00:49:25,400 --> 00:49:28,040
That is such another episode.

1220
00:49:28,040 --> 00:49:33,080
Man, so just know that God is looking

1221
00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:34,480
for you to connect with him.

1222
00:49:34,480 --> 00:49:36,360
And he's going to find a way to get you back

1223
00:49:36,360 --> 00:49:38,320
into his household one way or the other.

1224
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:40,480
And that is one of the things you have to understand

1225
00:49:40,480 --> 00:49:41,480
about who God is.

1226
00:49:41,480 --> 00:49:43,080
Like if we're talking about Torah,

1227
00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:45,600
and the things we need to understand about God is that,

1228
00:49:45,600 --> 00:49:48,400
we create sin when we try to define good and evil

1229
00:49:48,400 --> 00:49:49,800
on our own terms.

1230
00:49:49,800 --> 00:49:52,160
And that if you just come back, you can actually

1231
00:49:52,160 --> 00:49:54,600
conquer that and come back to what God is calling you to be.

1232
00:49:54,600 --> 00:49:56,000
Yeah.

1233
00:49:56,000 --> 00:49:59,640
But our fundamental nature change won't let us.

1234
00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:01,320
And so, Jesus.

1235
00:50:01,320 --> 00:50:02,400
Yep.

1236
00:50:02,400 --> 00:50:03,480
Right?

1237
00:50:03,480 --> 00:50:04,560
Yeah.

1238
00:50:04,560 --> 00:50:09,000
And yeah, so with this story, like I see a loving God.

1239
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:09,680
Loving God.

1240
00:50:09,680 --> 00:50:12,080
I see a loving and grace-filled God

1241
00:50:12,080 --> 00:50:15,360
who is meeting with a person who halfheartedly

1242
00:50:15,360 --> 00:50:19,200
wants to be with God, who's just going through the motions.

1243
00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:21,680
And God's like, hey, why do you feel this way?

1244
00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:22,600
Right?

1245
00:50:22,600 --> 00:50:24,240
Right?

1246
00:50:24,240 --> 00:50:25,880
Couple interesting side notes on this.

1247
00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:31,320
It doesn't say how they knew Abel's gift was.

1248
00:50:31,320 --> 00:50:32,720
Doesn't fully say that.

1249
00:50:32,720 --> 00:50:36,240
So there's a little bit of an implication on us being like,

1250
00:50:36,240 --> 00:50:38,920
heart committed to God, heart half committed.

1251
00:50:38,920 --> 00:50:41,400
There's a little bit of an implication there.

1252
00:50:41,400 --> 00:50:43,160
The other thing that's interesting

1253
00:50:43,160 --> 00:50:46,440
that I just wanted to point out was that Cain replied

1254
00:50:46,440 --> 00:50:48,120
to the Lord, this is in verse 13.

1255
00:50:48,120 --> 00:50:52,120
He says, my punishment is too great to bear.

1256
00:50:52,120 --> 00:50:53,520
OK?

1257
00:50:53,520 --> 00:50:55,760
So we look at that.

1258
00:50:55,760 --> 00:50:59,400
And I've always interpreted that through the lens of, OK,

1259
00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:02,200
God put this punishment on him and it was too great for him

1260
00:51:02,200 --> 00:51:03,720
to bear, right?

1261
00:51:03,720 --> 00:51:04,640
But God didn't.

1262
00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:07,320
God, yeah, put the punishment on it.

1263
00:51:07,320 --> 00:51:09,240
But you look at the ramifications

1264
00:51:09,240 --> 00:51:12,080
of what Cain was asked to do.

1265
00:51:12,080 --> 00:51:15,640
He was asked to live life like his brother lived lives.

1266
00:51:15,640 --> 00:51:16,320
Right?

1267
00:51:16,320 --> 00:51:18,320
How does his brother live life?

1268
00:51:18,320 --> 00:51:19,400
Pleasing to God.

1269
00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:21,080
Right.

1270
00:51:21,080 --> 00:51:22,600
In a way that pleased God.

1271
00:51:22,600 --> 00:51:24,240
Feels like there's an invitation there.

1272
00:51:24,240 --> 00:51:25,280
Yeah.

1273
00:51:25,280 --> 00:51:27,000
Wander the earth.

1274
00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:27,720
Come on.

1275
00:51:27,720 --> 00:51:29,880
By the way, I also don't feel like God says

1276
00:51:29,880 --> 00:51:31,920
that anything has changed.

1277
00:51:31,920 --> 00:51:32,920
No.

1278
00:51:32,920 --> 00:51:34,880
If you do what is right, won't you be accepted?

1279
00:51:34,880 --> 00:51:35,920
Mm-hmm.

1280
00:51:35,920 --> 00:51:37,360
That invitation is still there.

1281
00:51:37,360 --> 00:51:38,680
Yeah.

1282
00:51:38,680 --> 00:51:41,040
That invitation is still there.

1283
00:51:41,040 --> 00:51:42,640
And it's all throughout the Old Testament.

1284
00:51:42,640 --> 00:51:45,480
Guys, it's there over and over and over again

1285
00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:50,920
because the father so loved, he gave.

1286
00:51:50,920 --> 00:51:52,960
Mm-hmm.

1287
00:51:52,960 --> 00:51:54,760
Yeah, man, I think we got to close it there.

1288
00:51:54,760 --> 00:51:57,840
That's good.

1289
00:51:57,840 --> 00:51:59,840
Thank you so much for listening today.

1290
00:51:59,840 --> 00:52:02,520
We hope you enjoyed this podcast.

1291
00:52:02,520 --> 00:52:05,840
And we hope that you got something out of it.

1292
00:52:05,840 --> 00:52:09,040
If you have any questions, please contact us

1293
00:52:09,040 --> 00:52:12,320
at loveandcontext at gmail.com.

1294
00:52:12,320 --> 00:52:14,240
You can also follow us on Instagram

1295
00:52:14,240 --> 00:52:16,360
and message us through there.

1296
00:52:16,360 --> 00:52:19,000
Instagram is loveandcontext.

1297
00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:23,160
Again, loveandcontext at gmail.com or Instagram

1298
00:52:23,160 --> 00:52:26,000
are the two ways to get ahold of us if you would like.

1299
00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:27,280
Thank you once again.

1300
00:52:27,280 --> 00:52:29,520
We really appreciate you being here.

1301
00:52:29,520 --> 00:52:39,680
God bless.