WEBVTT 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:06.620 You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone 00:00:06.620 --> 00:00:09.419 podcast, a ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone 00:00:09.419 --> 00:00:12.140 Church in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan 00:00:12.140 --> 00:00:14.220 Manrick, and it's our prayer that this message 00:00:14.220 --> 00:00:16.579 strengthens your faith and draws you closer to 00:00:16.579 --> 00:00:20.500 Christ. Let's dive in. All right. First week 00:00:20.500 --> 00:00:24.160 of Advent. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Hope 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:26.320 you guys had a good Thanksgiving. Those of you 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:29.059 guys are here and glad that you're here. I'm 00:00:29.059 --> 00:00:31.980 ready to rock and roll. We're going to. I have 00:00:31.980 --> 00:00:36.079 a lot to unpack. And I'm calling this sermon. 00:00:37.500 --> 00:00:40.560 So as you guys know, if you didn't know, we're 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:44.700 doing a starting Advent today. And The Soul Felt 00:00:44.700 --> 00:00:47.619 Its Worth is the title of this Advent series 00:00:47.619 --> 00:00:50.820 that I started writing. And so this first week, 00:00:51.219 --> 00:00:54.299 we're doing Restoring Worth, A Journey Back to 00:00:54.299 --> 00:00:56.520 God. And we're going to unpack Genesis chapter 00:00:56.520 --> 00:01:00.259 three. specifically verses 8 through 13, but 00:01:00.259 --> 00:01:03.560 I want us to look back at a verse before that 00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:08.099 as I kind of set it up. Now, what I really want 00:01:08.099 --> 00:01:11.439 to look at here is how shame affects us, how 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:15.400 sin has affected us, but specifically God's grace 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:18.900 in it all. And so we're going to look at a lot 00:01:18.900 --> 00:01:21.299 of that and specifically worth, but when we get 00:01:21.299 --> 00:01:23.280 to the end, I'm going to go ahead and forewarn 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:30.379 you, I did my best I did my best to kind of tie 00:01:30.379 --> 00:01:34.400 this up as best I could, but I want you to feel, 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:36.980 and I will say this again at the end, I want 00:01:36.980 --> 00:01:40.359 you to feel like you're on a cliffhanger and 00:01:40.359 --> 00:01:43.540 you know those, whether it's a movie you've seen 00:01:43.540 --> 00:01:46.120 or a television show where they get all the way 00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:48.900 up and it's this climactic thing and you want 00:01:48.900 --> 00:01:52.680 the ending to come to a resolve, but then you're 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:55.319 stuck and it says come back next week for the... 00:01:55.370 --> 00:01:57.390 That's what we're gonna do today. I'm just gonna 00:01:57.390 --> 00:02:02.969 forewarn you and there's a purpose to that so 00:02:02.969 --> 00:02:07.189 But my big idea is our worth is not determined 00:02:07.189 --> 00:02:09.930 by our failures but by the fact that we are sought 00:02:09.930 --> 00:02:14.789 after and Loved by God even in our deepest shame 00:02:14.789 --> 00:02:23.659 What is shame by the way, what is it? I don't 00:02:23.659 --> 00:02:25.400 even have this in my notes. I didn't define it, 00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:28.060 but I just, we all know what it is, right? Like, 00:02:28.120 --> 00:02:31.400 I don't have to have the Webster's Dictionary 00:02:31.400 --> 00:02:37.020 out, right? We know what shame feels like. I 00:02:37.020 --> 00:02:40.039 didn't have to even teach shame to my children 00:02:40.039 --> 00:02:42.900 when they did something wrong from the time they 00:02:42.900 --> 00:02:45.139 were little. They would, you know, you'd come 00:02:45.139 --> 00:02:47.219 to them and say, you know, why'd you do that? 00:02:47.340 --> 00:02:51.069 Or, why did you hit your sister? Or, Mostly to 00:02:51.069 --> 00:02:53.949 their sister, why did you hit your brother? Right? 00:02:54.789 --> 00:02:59.729 And they do this, right? We know what shame is 00:02:59.729 --> 00:03:01.889 because it's innately in us and we're gonna look 00:03:01.889 --> 00:03:04.830 at that time, but there's a verse that I specifically 00:03:04.830 --> 00:03:09.389 want you guys to notice. So are you guys already 00:03:09.389 --> 00:03:12.830 in Genesis, right at the beginning? I want you 00:03:12.830 --> 00:03:25.020 to look at chapter 2, starting in verse 25. If 00:03:25.020 --> 00:03:27.080 you don't have a Bible, it'll be up here for 00:03:27.080 --> 00:03:32.639 you. But both the man and his wife were naked, 00:03:33.860 --> 00:03:41.599 yet felt no, what's it say? Shame. Why do you 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:45.599 think it's important that the writer of Genesis 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:48.819 would point out that they were naked and felt 00:03:48.819 --> 00:04:05.159 no shame? What are you guys saying? So yes, yes 00:04:05.159 --> 00:04:10.680 and no. So I thought the same thing till I was 00:04:10.680 --> 00:04:14.080 preparing for this sermon. I'm going to open 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:16.199 these up because I feel like it's kind of dark 00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:23.540 up here, at least this one. Shame actually is 00:04:23.540 --> 00:04:28.180 not a sin effect. It is and isn't. You can feel 00:04:28.180 --> 00:04:32.439 shame even without committing a sin. And here's 00:04:32.439 --> 00:04:36.860 why I say that. And I didn't think about that 00:04:36.860 --> 00:04:40.600 until I was, I've been reading a book about shame 00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:46.680 in particular. I'm trying to get certified in 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:49.839 biblical counseling for our church. And so there's 00:04:49.839 --> 00:04:51.740 different books I'm having to read, and one of 00:04:51.740 --> 00:04:53.399 them is specifically on shame. And one of the 00:04:53.399 --> 00:04:57.519 things that they point out is this, when someone 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:01.639 has been abused, whether sexually or physically, 00:05:02.899 --> 00:05:05.399 they can feel shame even though they aren't the 00:05:05.399 --> 00:05:10.519 ones who committed the act, right? And so shame 00:05:10.519 --> 00:05:14.240 is a sin effect, but not necessarily when you 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:18.040 are the one committing the act. You can have 00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:22.649 it done against you, right? And so, but why does 00:05:22.649 --> 00:05:29.230 nakedness matter? Why does nakedness matter? 00:05:32.269 --> 00:05:36.110 It's all out there, right? This is my true self 00:05:36.110 --> 00:05:40.810 of who I am, right? I mean, we had Thanksgiving 00:05:40.810 --> 00:05:45.790 dinner. I've let myself go a little bit. My wife 00:05:45.790 --> 00:05:50.220 looks at my nakedness, right? I feel a little 00:05:50.220 --> 00:05:53.959 shame, and she'll say you've eaten too much pie. 00:05:55.560 --> 00:05:58.420 But that nakedness is important not because it's 00:05:58.420 --> 00:06:01.379 just they're naked, but yes, that nakedness points 00:06:01.379 --> 00:06:05.019 out they felt no shame because it was perfect. 00:06:06.259 --> 00:06:10.899 They were relationally at peace. I mean, that 00:06:10.899 --> 00:06:14.660 in and of itself is something that is an incredible 00:06:14.660 --> 00:06:16.680 thought for those of us who have been married 00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:20.069 for even two weeks. And I don't even, I'm not 00:06:20.069 --> 00:06:22.990 saying that jokingly, right? Like it's a difficult 00:06:22.990 --> 00:06:28.310 thing. Marriage is one of those things that God 00:06:28.310 --> 00:06:32.490 built in that helps us with our sanctification. 00:06:34.509 --> 00:06:39.389 And so when we look at the fact that they were 00:06:39.389 --> 00:06:43.329 together, they were not only in connection with 00:06:43.329 --> 00:06:45.550 one another, but also in connection with God, 00:06:46.209 --> 00:06:50.079 everything was at peace. And that's a wonderful 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:53.680 thing. And so now we keep going into the story 00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:56.560 that is so famous, but we're gonna dig into it, 00:06:56.560 --> 00:06:59.420 so let's go. Let's start at chapter three, starting 00:06:59.420 --> 00:07:01.860 at verse one. I don't know if I have it back 00:07:01.860 --> 00:07:04.819 there like that, Morgan, do I? I do? Okay, cool. 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:08.939 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the 00:07:08.939 --> 00:07:12.540 wild animals that the Lord God had made. And 00:07:12.540 --> 00:07:15.480 he said to the woman, did God really say you 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:18.759 can't eat from any tree in the garden? Question, 00:07:18.939 --> 00:07:22.300 is that how God said it? No, that's not how God 00:07:22.300 --> 00:07:26.319 said it. If you go back and read it, he says, 00:07:26.860 --> 00:07:30.819 and in chapter one, coming into verse two, or 00:07:30.819 --> 00:07:34.100 chapter two, he says, eat of anything, be fruitful 00:07:34.100 --> 00:07:39.060 and multiply, eat of anything but that over there, 00:07:39.699 --> 00:07:44.060 right? So he says, but how does the serpent word 00:07:44.060 --> 00:07:47.470 it? Did God really say you can't eat from any 00:07:47.470 --> 00:07:50.689 tree in the garden? Well, no, that's not what 00:07:50.689 --> 00:07:54.050 he said. And so then the woman said to the serpent, 00:07:54.689 --> 00:07:58.209 we may eat from the trees. So she points out 00:07:58.209 --> 00:08:01.470 correctly. We may eat from the trees in the garden, 00:08:01.970 --> 00:08:04.449 but about the fruit of the tree in the middle 00:08:04.449 --> 00:08:09.629 of the garden, God said, you must not eat it. 00:08:09.670 --> 00:08:13.810 Or what does she say? Touch it. Did God say that? 00:08:14.540 --> 00:08:20.160 No, or you will die So Eve becomes the first 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:22.379 you probably have heard this becomes the first 00:08:22.379 --> 00:08:27.079 legalist She becomes it's about the outward thing 00:08:27.079 --> 00:08:31.079 of obedience because God didn't say that either 00:08:31.079 --> 00:08:35.360 No, you will not die said the serpent to the 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:40.000 woman in fact God knows that when you eat Your 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:43.320 eyes will be opened and you will be like God 00:08:43.320 --> 00:08:46.539 knowing good and evil and the woman saw that 00:08:46.539 --> 00:08:51.200 the tree was good for food and delightful to 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:57.620 look at and that it was desirable for obtaining 00:08:57.620 --> 00:09:02.600 wisdom. That's an important one. So she took 00:09:02.600 --> 00:09:06.259 some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some 00:09:06.259 --> 00:09:10.340 to her husband who was with her now and he ate 00:09:10.340 --> 00:09:14.059 it. I want you to note this In the Hebrew, the 00:09:14.059 --> 00:09:17.080 actual words that are used, the literal definition 00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:21.419 is they were elbow to elbow. So it wasn't like 00:09:21.419 --> 00:09:24.539 Adam was like tending the garden and then she 00:09:24.539 --> 00:09:27.379 called him over. He was literally standing there 00:09:27.379 --> 00:09:32.039 the entire time that Eve was discussing with 00:09:32.039 --> 00:09:35.139 the serpent. Now, I want to pause for a moment 00:09:35.139 --> 00:09:39.240 for there to be anyone in the room who is a skeptic 00:09:39.240 --> 00:09:43.720 about this entire thing. Or you've maybe walked 00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:46.840 with God for a long time, maybe you've never 00:09:46.840 --> 00:09:50.539 asked the question, why is Eve not freaked out 00:09:50.539 --> 00:09:54.919 by a talking serpent? Because it does not say 00:09:54.919 --> 00:09:58.440 that any other animal was talking. So what should 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:05.059 that tell us? That he's unique. Is he a literal 00:10:05.059 --> 00:10:09.779 snake? No. Then you're like, what do you mean? 00:10:09.779 --> 00:10:13.399 It says he's a snake. Sure. When we really start 00:10:13.399 --> 00:10:17.299 diving into, and I don't, this sermon is not 00:10:17.299 --> 00:10:20.419 about supernatural things, but when you really 00:10:20.419 --> 00:10:25.059 start diving into things, the serpent himself, 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:29.519 that is what he is, he is a supernatural creature, 00:10:29.860 --> 00:10:32.799 he was made, he is an angelic type being, but 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:35.679 he's not a physical angel, he's actually a defender, 00:10:36.519 --> 00:10:39.100 and he's supposed to defend that tree. When you 00:10:39.100 --> 00:10:41.320 really start to do the historical makeup and 00:10:41.320 --> 00:10:43.100 what we know and all the things and what the 00:10:43.100 --> 00:10:46.320 early church believed, he was a divine being. 00:10:46.440 --> 00:10:52.019 He wasn't a physical animal, okay? And so that's 00:10:52.019 --> 00:10:55.519 why she's not freaked out by it. She's not freaked 00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:58.899 out by it because he's always been there. And 00:10:58.899 --> 00:11:02.519 so they talked with God and they talked with... 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:05.000 Another divine being they're used to divine beings 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:07.159 being in the garden Why is the garden important 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:09.620 too because that is the temple of God is the 00:11:09.620 --> 00:11:12.559 first temple. That's where God's presence was 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:15.919 Does that make sense? Any questions about that 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:17.480 because I know that like when you hear that you're 00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:23.399 like, I've never heard that before That's okay 00:11:23.399 --> 00:11:30.100 Yeah, so that's a good question so the whole 00:11:30.100 --> 00:11:34.100 thing is just to show the curse of him, but that's 00:11:34.100 --> 00:11:36.360 why it also goes into the seed of, which we're 00:11:36.360 --> 00:11:39.299 gonna talk about next week, but we see a part 00:11:39.299 --> 00:11:44.019 of this is the way God is cursing him, but also 00:11:44.019 --> 00:11:49.200 he has a seed. And why would Adam and Eve's seed 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:52.820 be against a literal snake? That doesn't make 00:11:52.820 --> 00:11:57.529 any sense, right? And so, yeah. So, but there's 00:11:57.529 --> 00:12:00.690 also, you could say, well, he formed into a snake, 00:12:00.809 --> 00:12:02.730 sure, but that doesn't make, that doesn't go 00:12:02.730 --> 00:12:05.669 very far when Eve would be freaked out if he 00:12:05.669 --> 00:12:07.870 had formed into a snake. So she recognized him 00:12:07.870 --> 00:12:11.190 in some way, you know. But I'm getting off course, 00:12:11.210 --> 00:12:13.250 but I just want to kind of point that out, that 00:12:13.250 --> 00:12:16.509 that doesn't, if you're a skeptic in the room, 00:12:17.649 --> 00:12:21.389 we're not afraid of the supernatural things that's 00:12:21.389 --> 00:12:24.070 going on in the scriptures. They make a lot of 00:12:24.070 --> 00:12:30.279 sense historically. So let's keep going. So Adam 00:12:30.279 --> 00:12:32.500 was with her, verse seven, then the eyes of both 00:12:32.500 --> 00:12:35.580 of them were opened and they knew they were naked. 00:12:36.820 --> 00:12:40.379 So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings 00:12:40.379 --> 00:12:43.039 for themselves. And here's where we're really 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:46.240 gonna dig in. Then the man and his wife heard 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:49.139 the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden 00:12:49.139 --> 00:12:51.799 at that time of the evening breeze. And they 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:54.139 hid from the Lord God among the trees of the 00:12:54.139 --> 00:12:58.399 garden. I want you to highlight this. So the 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:00.940 Lord God called out to the man and said to him, 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:04.779 where are you? And he said, I heard you in the 00:13:04.779 --> 00:13:09.820 garden and was afraid because I was naked, so 00:13:09.820 --> 00:13:15.379 I hid. And then verse 11, then God asked, who 00:13:15.379 --> 00:13:18.460 told you that you were naked? Did you eat from 00:13:18.460 --> 00:13:20.399 the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? 00:13:21.059 --> 00:13:24.220 And the man replied, the woman you gave me. To 00:13:24.220 --> 00:13:27.279 be with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:30.519 and I ate. So the Lord God asked the woman, what 00:13:30.519 --> 00:13:34.799 is this that you have done? And the woman said, 00:13:34.860 --> 00:13:37.220 the serpent deceived me and I ate. And we're 00:13:37.220 --> 00:13:42.059 gonna stop there. So there's so much here. So 00:13:42.059 --> 00:13:43.779 let's just go ahead and start diving in, shall 00:13:43.779 --> 00:13:48.220 we? You guys ready? All right, point number one. 00:13:49.139 --> 00:13:53.159 When we look at verse eight. Then the man and 00:13:53.159 --> 00:13:56.000 his wife heard the sound of the Lord walking 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:58.480 in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:00.679 and they hid from the Lord God among the trees 00:14:00.679 --> 00:14:04.519 of the garden. So point number one is this. Pursued 00:14:04.519 --> 00:14:08.460 in the shadows, when Adam and Eve sinned, their 00:14:08.460 --> 00:14:13.080 first instinct wasn't repentance. What was it? 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:18.809 It was to hide. In Genesis, It says, they hid 00:14:18.809 --> 00:14:20.750 themselves from the presence of the Lord God 00:14:20.750 --> 00:14:25.029 and among the trees of the garden. So shame drove 00:14:25.029 --> 00:14:28.649 them into the shadows. And if we're honest, we 00:14:28.649 --> 00:14:33.769 know that feeling. When we fail, when we fall, 00:14:34.070 --> 00:14:36.570 when we believe the lie of the enemy, our reflex 00:14:36.570 --> 00:14:43.289 is the same. Retreat, cover and hide. Sin doesn't 00:14:43.289 --> 00:14:46.190 just break God's command. It breaks our vision. 00:14:46.269 --> 00:14:50.190 It distorts how we see him. And Adam and Eve 00:14:50.190 --> 00:14:54.049 had walked with God in the cool of the day. But 00:14:54.049 --> 00:14:56.169 now, after believing the serpent's lie, they 00:14:56.169 --> 00:14:58.610 hear his voice and assume danger instead of mercy. 00:14:59.210 --> 00:15:02.850 Shame always lies about God's character. Think 00:15:02.850 --> 00:15:06.730 about this for just a moment. Let's just back 00:15:06.730 --> 00:15:11.690 up. They knew God, they walked with God. What 00:15:11.690 --> 00:15:14.129 we kind of get distorted is we're like, here's 00:15:14.129 --> 00:15:17.009 this day, God did this, and then here's the second 00:15:17.009 --> 00:15:18.629 day, and God did this, and the third day, God 00:15:18.629 --> 00:15:20.730 did this. And we start thinking that these are 00:15:20.730 --> 00:15:23.309 24 -hour days, and they very well could be, but 00:15:23.309 --> 00:15:26.769 then we get caught up in thinking that man was 00:15:26.769 --> 00:15:31.090 made, woman was made, the next day they ate the 00:15:31.090 --> 00:15:35.210 fruit, and then it was over. Instead of, hey, 00:15:35.350 --> 00:15:39.370 time is going, right? They know each other. God's 00:15:39.370 --> 00:15:43.509 walking in the garden with them. And so, you 00:15:43.509 --> 00:15:45.389 could say, Pastor Logan, how much time has passed? 00:15:45.389 --> 00:15:47.669 I don't know. Could have been a week, could have 00:15:47.669 --> 00:15:50.009 been two weeks, could have been two years, five 00:15:50.009 --> 00:15:51.629 years, I don't know. It doesn't say, but that's 00:15:51.629 --> 00:15:54.370 not the point. The point is, is they have, at 00:15:54.370 --> 00:15:56.789 this point, known each other, as husband and 00:15:56.789 --> 00:15:59.169 wife, been together, they're tilling the land 00:15:59.169 --> 00:16:02.070 together, they're naming the animals, they're 00:16:02.070 --> 00:16:03.909 doing the things that God has told them to do 00:16:03.909 --> 00:16:06.970 as far as cultivating the land and knowing each 00:16:06.970 --> 00:16:11.440 other. Okay? They have been walking with God 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:14.500 in the cool of the day. He's coming down and 00:16:14.500 --> 00:16:21.000 he knows them They know him And so now when they 00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:27.279 believe the lie and they eat the fruit What happens 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:33.759 What happens Yeah, the relationship is messed 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:36.019 up right the relationship becomes messed up between 00:16:36.019 --> 00:16:38.950 the two of them and with God But what does the 00:16:38.950 --> 00:16:41.990 lie, by believing the lie of what the enemy gave 00:16:41.990 --> 00:16:46.950 them, what does it do not only to create sin 00:16:46.950 --> 00:16:49.190 in the world, but how does it affect the way 00:16:49.190 --> 00:16:59.169 they see God? What do they know? They're afraid 00:16:59.169 --> 00:17:02.350 of Him, right? Had they been afraid of Him before? 00:17:03.370 --> 00:17:09.789 No. What has changed? The lie. And so, you can 00:17:09.789 --> 00:17:11.789 be like, all right, Pastor Logan, I don't understand 00:17:11.789 --> 00:17:14.650 what you're trying to drive home. Okay, let's 00:17:14.650 --> 00:17:18.470 think about this for a moment. We actually see 00:17:18.470 --> 00:17:21.289 the same exact thing in a parable that Jesus 00:17:21.289 --> 00:17:24.769 tells, all right? Here's the same distortion 00:17:24.769 --> 00:17:27.730 in the parable of the talents. Follow me. The 00:17:27.730 --> 00:17:30.410 first two servants, they describe the master 00:17:30.410 --> 00:17:35.390 as generous, trustworthy, and rewarding. Am I 00:17:35.390 --> 00:17:38.720 wrong? They go out they get the talents they 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:41.440 go out and they're like, hey sweet and they double 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:46.559 it But there's a third man, right? What does 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:51.099 he do? How does he describe the master? He does 00:17:51.099 --> 00:17:58.180 remember I Knew you to be a harsh hard man That 00:17:58.180 --> 00:18:02.980 wasn't what the other two said right, but that 00:18:02.980 --> 00:18:06.920 wasn't true of the master That was the servant's 00:18:06.920 --> 00:18:11.359 perception of the master He was terrified of 00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:14.519 him and so he was shaped by fear he was shaped 00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:19.000 by unbelief and he was shaped by lies Sin does 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:23.440 this to all of us It whispers a story about God 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:27.099 that simply isn't real Some of us hide because 00:18:27.099 --> 00:18:30.000 of our sin some of us hide because of someone 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:35.859 else's sin against us So shame talks loudly It 00:18:35.859 --> 00:18:38.500 says things like, God must be disappointed in 00:18:38.500 --> 00:18:45.180 me, God must be distant, or God must not care. 00:18:48.119 --> 00:18:51.000 If he loved me, he wouldn't have let that happen. 00:18:52.339 --> 00:18:55.299 These are the lies that push people deep into 00:18:55.299 --> 00:18:58.460 the trees, into the shadows, into silence, into 00:18:58.460 --> 00:19:02.980 isolation, and into self -protection. But I want 00:19:02.980 --> 00:19:06.130 you to listen carefully. This should be up here, 00:19:06.130 --> 00:19:11.250 Morgan. God comes into the garden anyway. That's 00:19:11.250 --> 00:19:15.789 the good news. When you retreat into the shadows, 00:19:15.950 --> 00:19:19.430 into the trees, God steps into the garden to 00:19:19.430 --> 00:19:23.130 pursue you. He doesn't abandon Adam and Eve to 00:19:23.130 --> 00:19:25.329 the shadows. He enters into their brokenness 00:19:25.329 --> 00:19:29.549 and he calls out, where are you? Not because 00:19:29.549 --> 00:19:32.309 he can't find them, but because he refuses to 00:19:32.309 --> 00:19:35.089 leave them hidden. Do you hear me? Do you hear 00:19:35.089 --> 00:19:38.970 what I just said? He doesn't call out, where 00:19:38.970 --> 00:19:40.589 are you? Because he doesn't know where they are. 00:19:40.609 --> 00:19:44.369 He knows exactly where they are. He calls out, 00:19:44.410 --> 00:19:46.049 where are you? Because he's trying to beckon 00:19:46.049 --> 00:19:49.329 them out from their shame, trying to beckon them 00:19:49.329 --> 00:19:52.509 out from the shadows, trying to call them out 00:19:52.509 --> 00:19:58.589 from a lie. This should be up here too. His question 00:19:58.589 --> 00:20:01.089 isn't about location. It's about invitation. 00:20:03.500 --> 00:20:07.160 This is who God is so if you're believing a lie 00:20:07.160 --> 00:20:09.900 About who God is or your perception has been 00:20:09.900 --> 00:20:12.279 shaped because your earthly father has either 00:20:12.279 --> 00:20:14.940 Abandoned you or your earthly father was abusive 00:20:14.940 --> 00:20:17.619 to you or your earthly father just was completely 00:20:17.619 --> 00:20:20.059 distant He may have been there physically, but 00:20:20.059 --> 00:20:22.619 he was completely emotionally distant. I want 00:20:22.619 --> 00:20:26.619 you to hear me Your earthly father is a bad example 00:20:26.619 --> 00:20:32.240 of your heavenly father Because and your earthly 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:35.019 father can shape what you see about God because 00:20:35.019 --> 00:20:40.079 who our God actually is is the God who is near, 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:43.380 the one who pursues us when we feel unworthy, 00:20:43.660 --> 00:20:46.819 the one who steps into the places we hide, the 00:20:46.819 --> 00:20:50.660 one who calls us out not to shame us but to restore 00:20:50.660 --> 00:20:55.240 us. Your worth is not restored by perfection. 00:20:56.059 --> 00:20:58.180 You could never achieve it. You guys hear me 00:20:58.180 --> 00:21:01.059 say that all the time. Your worth is restored 00:21:01.059 --> 00:21:04.759 by the God who refuses to stop pursuing you. 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:09.880 As we dive into Advent this week, this is what 00:21:09.880 --> 00:21:16.119 we're looking at, the God who pursues. Maybe 00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:18.279 today, some of you are hiding in the shadows, 00:21:19.079 --> 00:21:21.119 whether it's behind failure, whether it's behind 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:23.920 fear, behind the wounds that others have left 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:29.119 on your soul. Hear the Gospel in Genesis 3. I 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:31.099 want you to hear this. This should be up here. 00:21:31.700 --> 00:21:36.440 God walks toward you, not away from you. God 00:21:36.440 --> 00:21:40.299 walks toward you, not away from you. His love 00:21:40.299 --> 00:21:43.099 is stronger than your shame. His pursuit is greater 00:21:43.099 --> 00:21:48.200 than your hiding. In biblical times, lepers were 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:50.839 shunned and forced to live outside the community 00:21:50.839 --> 00:21:53.660 marked by their illness. If you, right now I'm 00:21:53.660 --> 00:21:55.859 personally walking through the book of Numbers 00:21:55.859 --> 00:22:03.900 and Miriam is judged by the Lord because she 00:22:03.900 --> 00:22:07.319 doesn't like the fact that Moses marries a Cushite 00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:10.519 woman. And there's, by the way, nothing wrong 00:22:10.519 --> 00:22:14.200 with marrying a Cushite woman. It was just a 00:22:14.200 --> 00:22:18.700 race -related thing. And so if you know the story, 00:22:19.900 --> 00:22:26.460 God marks Miriam with leprosy. And Aaron... Her 00:22:26.460 --> 00:22:29.720 brother, who was also being judgmental about 00:22:29.720 --> 00:22:32.680 it, cries out and says, Lord, forgive us for 00:22:32.680 --> 00:22:34.980 doing this. And the Lord says, I want you to 00:22:34.980 --> 00:22:38.720 put Miriam out of the camp for seven days into 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:43.619 the wilderness. So she shunned and she has to 00:22:43.619 --> 00:22:47.000 sit outside the camp with a leprosy. If you don't 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:49.740 know leprosy, it literally causes your appendages 00:22:49.740 --> 00:22:54.940 to rot and fall off. And so here is Miriam with 00:22:54.940 --> 00:22:59.839 leprosy for seven days. And I know it was a terrible 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:02.480 thing and a terrifying thing, but I kind of laugh 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:06.140 at the thought of like Miriam sitting out of 00:23:06.140 --> 00:23:09.380 the camp and everyone's just kind of like staring 00:23:09.380 --> 00:23:12.079 at her and she's like 20 yards off. We're all 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:16.099 like, her nose is still there. How many want 00:23:16.099 --> 00:23:17.680 to bet that her pinky's gonna fall off in the 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:24.779 next two days? That's just my ADHD brain. But 00:23:24.779 --> 00:23:27.019 lepers were shunned and they were forced to live 00:23:27.019 --> 00:23:29.039 outside the community marked by their illness. 00:23:29.099 --> 00:23:32.839 Yet Jesus approached lepers. Jesus actually kissed 00:23:32.839 --> 00:23:36.839 lepers. That's the beauty of who he was. He didn't 00:23:36.839 --> 00:23:39.519 turn them away, but he offered healing and acceptance. 00:23:39.799 --> 00:23:42.339 This act of reaching out illustrates that God 00:23:42.339 --> 00:23:44.940 doesn't abandon us in our shame. Instead, he 00:23:44.940 --> 00:23:47.859 walks towards us, offering grace and restoration, 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:50.660 reminding us that his love overcomes all barriers 00:23:50.660 --> 00:23:54.150 we build around ourselves. Want to tell you guys 00:23:54.150 --> 00:23:57.109 a story of how God pursues, but I want to tell 00:23:57.109 --> 00:24:01.109 you it in a story in with Aria So you guys have 00:24:01.109 --> 00:24:05.009 been around my kids enough now Noah was the type 00:24:05.009 --> 00:24:10.130 of baby that You could set him in a room full 00:24:10.130 --> 00:24:13.349 of sharp objects and you could say Noah Stay 00:24:13.349 --> 00:24:16.630 right here. Don't move. I'll be right back and 00:24:16.630 --> 00:24:20.450 he'd be like, okay dad Aria was the type of baby 00:24:20.450 --> 00:24:23.039 that you would set her in a room with no sharp 00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:26.420 objects, but she would find them. And so she 00:24:26.420 --> 00:24:30.740 was, whew. She was a difficult one in the beginning. 00:24:31.259 --> 00:24:37.319 She's feisty. Still is. So one day, we're sitting 00:24:37.319 --> 00:24:40.940 in the living room. Tracy is pregnant with Eli. 00:24:41.880 --> 00:24:46.000 And Aria is like, she's talking a little bit, 00:24:46.019 --> 00:24:50.700 and she's walking. Getting into things but for 00:24:50.700 --> 00:24:52.259 the most part, you know She's just kind of hanging 00:24:52.259 --> 00:24:54.660 out in the house and Noah's being Noah just chilling 00:24:54.660 --> 00:24:58.799 and I'm in the living room watching TV I think 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:02.160 or on the computer. I can't remember but I'm 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:04.220 sitting there and then all of a sudden Tracy's 00:25:04.220 --> 00:25:07.079 in the back room and she yells to me and she 00:25:07.079 --> 00:25:10.859 says Logan where's Aria and I said She's right 00:25:10.859 --> 00:25:14.160 here. She's like you can see her and I'm like 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:21.190 I looked around and I'm like No. And she says, 00:25:21.609 --> 00:25:24.049 well, where is she? And I said, I don't know. 00:25:24.049 --> 00:25:26.849 She's in the house somewhere. And she's like, 00:25:27.109 --> 00:25:30.849 find her. I'm like, oh my gosh. So I get up. 00:25:31.470 --> 00:25:33.730 Well then, I'm looking around. She's not in the 00:25:33.730 --> 00:25:35.509 kitchen. She's not in the bathroom. She's not 00:25:35.509 --> 00:25:37.369 in the other bedrooms. And I'm looking and I'm 00:25:37.369 --> 00:25:40.450 like, the front door's closed. Now we lived in 00:25:40.450 --> 00:25:42.390 Florida at this time. We lived on a very busy 00:25:42.390 --> 00:25:47.160 street. And I'm like, I have no idea where she 00:25:47.160 --> 00:25:48.960 is. So at this point, I'm panicking because I'm 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:53.480 like, oh, snap. She is not in this house. And 00:25:53.480 --> 00:25:55.539 Tracy says, check outside. I said, the door's 00:25:55.539 --> 00:25:59.200 closed. She said, check outside! So I open the 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:03.240 door, and here is Aria in a little t -shirt and 00:26:03.240 --> 00:26:05.480 a diaper and her baby butt. And she's in the 00:26:05.480 --> 00:26:10.259 middle of the street. I take off running. I literally 00:26:10.259 --> 00:26:13.710 snatch her up. As I snatch her up and get back 00:26:13.710 --> 00:26:16.769 in our driveway this car comes speeding down 00:26:16.769 --> 00:26:19.549 He's doing like 80 in our neighborhood, and I'm 00:26:19.549 --> 00:26:22.369 not and I'm not even like like that was legit 00:26:22.369 --> 00:26:27.230 to the point where I Get like you feel this instantaneous 00:26:27.230 --> 00:26:31.990 relief right and my wife just begins to ball 00:26:31.990 --> 00:26:37.269 crying and She's like I cannot imagine if you 00:26:37.269 --> 00:26:40.980 had waited any longer And if my mom instincts 00:26:40.980 --> 00:26:43.900 didn't kick in, because that car was flying. 00:26:45.319 --> 00:26:48.420 And she said, but I'm just thankful that this 00:26:48.420 --> 00:26:52.559 was Tracy's words, that you ran to her. That's 00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:55.559 Jesus towards us. We're standing in the middle 00:26:55.559 --> 00:26:59.619 of the street unknowingly when sin is ready to 00:26:59.619 --> 00:27:04.240 put us to death. And God pursues us. He takes 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:06.660 off towards us. There's somebody else that ran. 00:27:06.920 --> 00:27:09.279 towards someone. We see that story in Scripture 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:14.059 too, right? Who's that? The prodigal son and 00:27:14.059 --> 00:27:18.539 his father. So step out from behind the trees. 00:27:19.740 --> 00:27:21.960 God has not changed his mind about you. I just 00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:25.880 want you to know that. Point number two is called 00:27:25.880 --> 00:27:30.059 out of the shadows and into connection. Now these 00:27:30.059 --> 00:27:31.839 two points are going to kind of feel similar, 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:33.779 but I want you to follow me. I'm going to point 00:27:33.779 --> 00:27:37.250 out how they're a little bit different. After 00:27:37.250 --> 00:27:40.069 Adam and Eve hid, God does something remarkable. 00:27:40.869 --> 00:27:43.109 He doesn't storm into the garden with judgment 00:27:43.109 --> 00:27:46.789 or anger. He simply asks, where are you? This 00:27:46.789 --> 00:27:50.130 is not a question of angry judge, but the invitation 00:27:50.130 --> 00:27:53.490 of a loving father who longs to reconnect with 00:27:53.490 --> 00:27:56.970 his children. You could put this up here for 00:27:56.970 --> 00:27:59.890 me, Morgan. God already knows Adam's location. 00:28:00.049 --> 00:28:02.109 He's not seeking information, but he's seeking 00:28:02.109 --> 00:28:07.569 intimacy. His question creates space for Adam 00:28:07.569 --> 00:28:11.109 to step into honesty because healing always begins 00:28:11.109 --> 00:28:16.009 with truth When Adam finally responds I heard 00:28:16.009 --> 00:28:20.170 you I was afraid and I hid He names the fear 00:28:20.170 --> 00:28:22.549 and the shame that had taken root in his heart 00:28:22.549 --> 00:28:25.769 and God uses this moment to draw out what Adam 00:28:25.769 --> 00:28:29.869 could not admit on its on his own if God had 00:28:29.869 --> 00:28:34.619 not pursued Adam and asked him to come out from 00:28:34.619 --> 00:28:36.700 the trees, what would Adam and Eve still be doing? 00:28:38.259 --> 00:28:43.819 Hiding. And if God was a god of say, the Muslim 00:28:43.819 --> 00:28:48.160 religion or even a cult religion like Mormonism, 00:28:49.140 --> 00:28:52.859 he would have been still distant and left them 00:28:52.859 --> 00:28:59.859 where they are. So this is the heart of my second 00:28:59.859 --> 00:29:04.119 point. I want you to hear this. calls us not 00:29:04.119 --> 00:29:09.460 to explain ourself, but he says, come towards 00:29:09.460 --> 00:29:14.799 me. Not, why are you like this, but let me meet 00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:17.799 you where you really are. So speaking of the 00:29:17.799 --> 00:29:19.920 prodigal son, the father doesn't question his 00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:22.960 son upon his return, nor does he chastise him 00:29:22.960 --> 00:29:25.400 for leaving. Instead he runs to him with open 00:29:25.400 --> 00:29:29.440 arms, embodying God's call to us. God doesn't 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:32.940 want explanations. He wants our presence. He 00:29:32.940 --> 00:29:36.700 longs for us to come home Just the way we are 00:29:36.700 --> 00:29:44.400 and he will fix us Many people hear God's voice 00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:47.299 through the filter of guilt Assuming his where 00:29:47.299 --> 00:29:49.859 are you means things like what's wrong with you? 00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:52.220 Let me ask you this when you read when you read 00:29:52.220 --> 00:29:55.900 this account and you hear that that question 00:29:56.059 --> 00:29:58.140 Where are you? And then the second question, 00:29:58.160 --> 00:30:01.220 what have you done? How do you hear the tone? 00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:06.900 How do you hear the tone of God's voice in that 00:30:06.900 --> 00:30:10.819 moment? When you're reading it, just you by yourself. 00:30:13.740 --> 00:30:17.259 You hear it as gentle. Feel like he's calm about 00:30:17.259 --> 00:30:20.599 it. Anybody else? Is there anybody like me that 00:30:20.599 --> 00:30:22.799 I hear it as, where are you and what have you 00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:29.019 done? That's exactly how My dad's voice is. And 00:30:29.019 --> 00:30:33.539 that's the way I've always read it. Until I had 00:30:33.539 --> 00:30:36.480 someone take me aside and say, no, I want you 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:40.720 to see what's happening. I want you to hear the 00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:46.920 heart of the father. It's not one of chastisement. 00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:49.180 It's one of grace and just saying, just come. 00:30:49.339 --> 00:30:53.460 Just come. It's OK. What you did wasn't OK, and 00:30:53.460 --> 00:30:58.000 I'm going to have to fix it. I don't know how 00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:05.339 many things when I was a kid, I would break and 00:31:05.339 --> 00:31:08.359 I was so terrified of the way my dad would react. 00:31:08.440 --> 00:31:11.359 So I would try to fix it and I just made it worse. 00:31:12.140 --> 00:31:14.400 You know what I mean? And my dad would be like, 00:31:14.420 --> 00:31:16.160 if you just would have came to me the first time 00:31:16.160 --> 00:31:18.119 before you tried to fix it, I could have fixed 00:31:18.119 --> 00:31:24.599 it. Now I got to go buy a new one. And so when 00:31:24.599 --> 00:31:27.460 he says, where are you, he's not saying, what's 00:31:27.460 --> 00:31:30.019 wrong with you, or you should be better by now. 00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:34.880 He's not saying, you've disappointed me yet again. 00:31:36.140 --> 00:31:39.160 But through Christ, every where are you becomes 00:31:39.160 --> 00:31:41.740 an invitation, an invitation to confess without 00:31:41.740 --> 00:31:46.359 fear, to be known without shame, and to step 00:31:46.359 --> 00:31:50.480 back into connection with the God who knows our 00:31:50.480 --> 00:31:53.130 worth, even when we don't. So I want you to think 00:31:53.130 --> 00:31:55.970 about it this way. Point number one says, God 00:31:55.970 --> 00:31:59.170 pursues us when we retreat. But point number 00:31:59.170 --> 00:32:02.150 two says, God invites us out so he can restore 00:32:02.150 --> 00:32:04.670 us. So that's how I want you to think about the 00:32:04.670 --> 00:32:10.809 two points. Shame wants us to keep silent. Guilt 00:32:10.809 --> 00:32:14.529 wants us to keep distant. And sin wants us to 00:32:14.529 --> 00:32:18.990 be defensive. But God's question cuts through 00:32:18.990 --> 00:32:21.880 all of it. This should be up here. Where are 00:32:21.880 --> 00:32:25.700 you is not condemnation, it's connection. It 00:32:25.700 --> 00:32:28.980 is the Father opening the door so we can walk 00:32:28.980 --> 00:32:33.000 out of hiding and back into our identity as His 00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:36.220 beloved image bearers. Through Jesus, we no longer 00:32:36.220 --> 00:32:39.279 have to fear the voice of God. His question is 00:32:39.279 --> 00:32:42.140 always a call to come closer. Point number three. 00:32:43.799 --> 00:32:47.269 Let's look at verses 10 and 11. And he said, 00:32:47.390 --> 00:32:49.390 I heard you in the garden and was afraid because 00:32:49.390 --> 00:32:52.490 I was naked and so I hid. Then he asked, who 00:32:52.490 --> 00:32:55.430 told you you were naked? Did you eat from the 00:32:55.430 --> 00:32:59.250 tree that I commanded you not to eat from? And 00:32:59.250 --> 00:33:01.609 so for point number three, it's from fear to 00:33:01.609 --> 00:33:05.589 freedom. When God asked Adam, who told you you 00:33:05.589 --> 00:33:07.849 were naked? Now, this was something I've never 00:33:07.849 --> 00:33:09.730 thought about till I was a chaplain in the military 00:33:09.730 --> 00:33:12.230 and another chaplain pointed this out to me. 00:33:15.279 --> 00:33:17.839 Who told you you were naked is actually a question 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:21.980 of God's heartbreaking. And I've never thought 00:33:21.980 --> 00:33:25.200 about it before. It is one of the most tender 00:33:25.200 --> 00:33:28.759 fatherly moments in all of scripture. It is the 00:33:28.759 --> 00:33:31.240 voice of a grieving father hearing his children 00:33:31.240 --> 00:33:38.019 repeat a lie about themselves. Every parent knows 00:33:38.019 --> 00:33:42.170 that moment. This is what I mean. This is how 00:33:42.170 --> 00:33:44.589 you can identify with the Lord, because you've 00:33:44.589 --> 00:33:47.250 heard something like this, I'm sure. When your 00:33:47.250 --> 00:33:50.069 child has said something like, I'm stupid, I'm 00:33:50.069 --> 00:33:55.430 ugly, I'm worthless, or anything that kind of 00:33:55.430 --> 00:33:57.309 diminishes their worth of what you know them 00:33:57.309 --> 00:34:02.490 to be, something in us breaks as parents. Am 00:34:02.490 --> 00:34:10.429 I wrong? When a kid bullies my kid or another 00:34:10.429 --> 00:34:15.019 adult, Talks down to them in a way. That's just 00:34:15.019 --> 00:34:20.519 belittling It makes me want to do two things 00:34:20.519 --> 00:34:23.579 it makes me want to get down on my kids physical 00:34:23.579 --> 00:34:28.000 level and Embrace them and hold them and tell 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:31.780 them don't believe that lie and then makes me 00:34:31.780 --> 00:34:33.980 want to do the other thing of drop kick that 00:34:33.980 --> 00:34:38.820 little turd or throat punch that adult I shouldn't 00:34:38.820 --> 00:34:40.980 say that from the pulpit. I apologize, but it's 00:34:40.980 --> 00:34:46.719 true. It does make me angry. But that's exactly 00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:48.880 what God is doing here in the garden. His children 00:34:48.880 --> 00:34:51.860 have embraced a lie that did not come from Him. 00:34:53.260 --> 00:34:55.719 That's what God is doing in Genesis 3. He is 00:34:55.719 --> 00:34:57.980 grieving the fact that His children are carrying 00:34:57.980 --> 00:35:02.880 shame that did not come from Him. God's question 00:35:02.880 --> 00:35:06.940 exposes the tragedy of sin. This should be right 00:35:06.940 --> 00:35:11.329 up here. Adam and Eve are listening to voices 00:35:11.329 --> 00:35:19.030 that do not love them. Do you hear that? The 00:35:19.030 --> 00:35:22.849 enemy does not love them. He hates them. Why 00:35:22.849 --> 00:35:25.409 does he hate them? Because they are made in his 00:35:25.409 --> 00:35:27.670 image and made to be in relationship with him 00:35:27.670 --> 00:35:32.289 and he is not. He knows there is something different 00:35:32.289 --> 00:35:34.389 about them because he was there at the creation 00:35:34.389 --> 00:35:37.539 of them. And so he hates them, he despises them. 00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:41.460 And when he has the opportunity, he speaks into 00:35:41.460 --> 00:35:43.860 it to try to be the voice that gets them off 00:35:43.860 --> 00:35:46.300 point so that they can begin to believe a lie. 00:35:47.059 --> 00:35:49.519 And so the serpent gave them a false story about 00:35:49.519 --> 00:35:52.360 God and now shame is giving them a false story 00:35:52.360 --> 00:35:55.940 about themselves. Do you hear me? Shame will 00:35:55.940 --> 00:35:58.360 allow you to believe a lie about yourself that 00:35:58.360 --> 00:36:02.159 is not true. It will also make you go inward 00:36:02.159 --> 00:36:03.960 to where you believe things about God that is 00:36:03.960 --> 00:36:06.019 not true. And here's the danger. This will be 00:36:06.019 --> 00:36:09.760 up here. When we believe lies about who we are, 00:36:09.780 --> 00:36:13.539 those lies begin to shape our lives. And I'm 00:36:13.539 --> 00:36:16.139 about to dig a little deeper, and this might 00:36:16.139 --> 00:36:22.099 be a little political, but I want you to hear 00:36:22.099 --> 00:36:27.880 it. This is why the lie of Adam believed was 00:36:27.880 --> 00:36:31.219 so destructive. And it's why the lies that culture 00:36:31.219 --> 00:36:35.260 sell us today are equally destructive. Who told 00:36:35.260 --> 00:36:38.260 you is God's way of saying, who gave you this 00:36:38.260 --> 00:36:43.539 identity? Who made this accusation against you? 00:36:44.239 --> 00:36:48.079 Where did this shame come from? This is not what 00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:51.239 I spoke over you. This is not who you are. And 00:36:51.239 --> 00:36:55.260 the lie of death always tries to rename us. Can 00:36:55.260 --> 00:37:00.159 you guys hear where I'm going with this? Can 00:37:00.159 --> 00:37:03.679 you pick it up what there is a group of people 00:37:03.679 --> 00:37:07.960 that have been lied to All of us have been lied 00:37:07.960 --> 00:37:09.760 to but there's a group of people right now that 00:37:09.760 --> 00:37:12.119 are believing at one Massive lie and they want 00:37:12.119 --> 00:37:17.760 all of us to buy into that lie, too Some people 00:37:17.760 --> 00:37:19.800 though believe the lie that they are unworthy 00:37:19.800 --> 00:37:21.780 that they're dirty that they're broken that they're 00:37:21.780 --> 00:37:27.949 forgotten or they've gone too far It tells us 00:37:27.949 --> 00:37:30.250 that we are defined by our worst moment, our 00:37:30.250 --> 00:37:33.449 deepest wound, or the sin committed against us. 00:37:34.750 --> 00:37:36.949 One of the most heartbreaking examples in our 00:37:36.949 --> 00:37:39.429 time is the lie that says, you're in the wrong 00:37:39.429 --> 00:37:44.789 body. This secular narrative of transgenderism 00:37:44.789 --> 00:37:48.409 and all the confusion surrounding identity flows 00:37:48.409 --> 00:37:51.010 from the same ancient deception that began in 00:37:51.010 --> 00:37:54.300 Eden. It tells image bearers of God that the 00:37:54.300 --> 00:37:57.079 body he knit together with purpose, beauty, and 00:37:57.079 --> 00:38:02.199 intentionality is somehow a mistake. It attacks 00:38:02.199 --> 00:38:05.579 the very foundation of creation, male and female 00:38:05.579 --> 00:38:10.559 he created them. This lie breeds confusion, not 00:38:10.559 --> 00:38:14.599 clarity. Brokenness, not peace. Anger and bitterness 00:38:14.599 --> 00:38:20.550 not only towards God, but towards oneself. We 00:38:20.550 --> 00:38:25.250 can believe in when someone sins against us and 00:38:25.250 --> 00:38:28.750 I specifically am talking about when when someone 00:38:28.750 --> 00:38:34.230 is This this book that I'm reading like I told 00:38:34.230 --> 00:38:37.989 you guys about shame It has a lot of testimonies 00:38:37.989 --> 00:38:39.969 from women who have been sexually abused when 00:38:39.969 --> 00:38:42.769 they were children and and some of the things 00:38:42.769 --> 00:38:46.170 that they believe About themselves and about 00:38:46.170 --> 00:38:51.730 the way God viewed them was heartbreaking They 00:38:51.730 --> 00:38:56.510 legitimately believed, all of them, that they 00:38:56.510 --> 00:38:58.590 were the ones who were broken, that they were 00:38:58.590 --> 00:39:00.789 the ones who had the shame, that they were harboring 00:39:00.789 --> 00:39:04.929 all of this, that they were unworthy of God because 00:39:04.929 --> 00:39:06.750 they were dirty because of someone else's sin 00:39:06.750 --> 00:39:10.809 against them. That is a destructive lie from 00:39:10.809 --> 00:39:16.710 the enemy. And so if that's you, if someone has 00:39:16.710 --> 00:39:20.420 sinned against you, or you feel like you're unwanted, 00:39:20.639 --> 00:39:24.119 maybe you were raised in foster care or whatever 00:39:24.119 --> 00:39:27.659 it may be, you can feel this sense of unwantedness 00:39:27.659 --> 00:39:29.619 or unworthiness and I'm telling you that God 00:39:29.619 --> 00:39:32.239 is pursuing you with all his fiber of his being, 00:39:32.579 --> 00:39:35.480 that he sent his son to show you that you are 00:39:35.480 --> 00:39:43.900 so worthwhile. You are not whom the liars have 00:39:43.900 --> 00:39:48.860 claimed you to be. And when voices, whether cultural, 00:39:48.920 --> 00:39:51.340 political, or even well -meaning, friends say, 00:39:51.639 --> 00:39:54.280 I'm going back to the, I never finished my transgenderism 00:39:54.280 --> 00:39:57.579 thought, this is who you really are, while contradicting 00:39:57.579 --> 00:40:00.360 what God has spoken, they are echoing the serpent's 00:40:00.360 --> 00:40:04.280 whisper in the garden. That doesn't make the 00:40:04.280 --> 00:40:06.559 people evil snakes, but it does mean that they 00:40:06.559 --> 00:40:08.820 are unknowingly repeating the same deceptive 00:40:08.820 --> 00:40:12.619 script the serpent used. The true enemy is the 00:40:12.619 --> 00:40:15.239 lie and the father of lies who stands behind 00:40:15.239 --> 00:40:20.719 it. God's heart breaks when his children believe 00:40:20.719 --> 00:40:23.400 they are something other than what they lovingly 00:40:23.400 --> 00:40:27.360 he created them to be. And just as he asked Adam, 00:40:27.639 --> 00:40:31.639 he still asks us today, who told you that? Who 00:40:31.639 --> 00:40:35.199 told you this about yourself? Who convinced you 00:40:35.199 --> 00:40:42.780 that my craftsmanship was a mistake? The lie 00:40:42.780 --> 00:40:45.789 that death tells us We are defined by shame, 00:40:45.969 --> 00:40:49.929 our fears, our confusion, or our wounds. But 00:40:49.929 --> 00:40:52.010 Christ tells us something entirely different, 00:40:52.769 --> 00:40:54.849 that we are made in the image of the creator, 00:40:55.610 --> 00:40:58.409 that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, that 00:40:58.409 --> 00:41:01.090 we are bought with a price, and that our identity 00:41:01.090 --> 00:41:07.809 is a gift, not a guess. That is the wonderful 00:41:07.809 --> 00:41:10.989 counselor, not the deceiver who defines who we 00:41:10.989 --> 00:41:14.550 are. Am I moving too fast? Are you guys picking 00:41:14.550 --> 00:41:17.230 up what I'm throwing down? My family's not here 00:41:17.230 --> 00:41:22.309 so I can say that one. When Adam confessed, I 00:41:22.309 --> 00:41:25.489 was afraid so I hid. That's what lies do. They 00:41:25.489 --> 00:41:28.989 drive us into hiding. But notice God's response. 00:41:29.030 --> 00:41:32.869 He doesn't crush Adam. He converses with him. 00:41:33.329 --> 00:41:36.949 He invites reflection. He patiently pulls Adam 00:41:36.949 --> 00:41:39.929 out of fear and back towards truth. Here's something 00:41:39.929 --> 00:41:47.300 that just hit me as I'm sitting here. When The 00:41:47.300 --> 00:41:49.679 serpent actually knows God better than Adam and 00:41:49.679 --> 00:41:55.380 Eve Here's why I say that Adam and Eve said if 00:41:55.380 --> 00:41:57.539 we eat it will surely die Eve says that right 00:41:57.539 --> 00:42:02.039 or if we touch it we will surely die What does 00:42:02.039 --> 00:42:07.179 the serpent say You will not die, but you will 00:42:07.179 --> 00:42:11.739 be like him It's the you will not die part that 00:42:11.739 --> 00:42:17.969 just hit me What did he know about God? He's 00:42:17.969 --> 00:42:24.710 merciful. He's gracious Like all right, sorry 00:42:24.710 --> 00:42:27.130 that just like I have those moments where it's 00:42:27.130 --> 00:42:32.210 just like boom And they happen even while I'm 00:42:32.210 --> 00:42:35.070 preaching man, thank you Lord for your grace 00:42:35.070 --> 00:42:39.230 and your mercy Through Christ God does the same 00:42:39.230 --> 00:42:41.909 thing for us guiding us from fear to freedom 00:42:42.170 --> 00:42:45.210 from confusion to clarity, from lies to truth, 00:42:45.369 --> 00:42:48.409 from shame to restored identity. Our failures, 00:42:48.909 --> 00:42:52.889 our wounds, and even our confusion do not define 00:42:52.889 --> 00:42:57.489 our identity. Only His voice does. This will 00:42:57.489 --> 00:42:59.250 be right up here. I want you to write this down 00:42:59.250 --> 00:43:03.210 because you need to come back to this. Every 00:43:03.210 --> 00:43:06.860 time God asked who told you that, He is tearing 00:43:06.860 --> 00:43:10.239 down lies that keep his children bound and calling 00:43:10.239 --> 00:43:12.599 them back to the glorious truth of who they are 00:43:12.599 --> 00:43:16.579 in him Every time God asked you who told you 00:43:16.579 --> 00:43:19.860 that or why do you feel that way? What makes 00:43:19.860 --> 00:43:22.679 you think that you are this way? And that's all 00:43:22.679 --> 00:43:25.119 of us by the way all of us can feel that we are 00:43:25.119 --> 00:43:28.380 failures that we are unworthy all of these things 00:43:28.380 --> 00:43:31.960 and God is saying who told you that and When 00:43:31.960 --> 00:43:39.059 he every he does he's tearing down lies Point 00:43:39.059 --> 00:43:44.179 number four, let's go to verses 12 and 13. The 00:43:44.179 --> 00:43:48.360 man replied, the woman you gave to me, she gave 00:43:48.360 --> 00:43:51.159 some fruit from the tree and I ate. So the Lord 00:43:51.159 --> 00:43:55.519 God asked the woman, what is this that you have 00:43:55.519 --> 00:43:58.159 done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived 00:43:58.159 --> 00:44:02.119 me and I ate. So point number four is embracing 00:44:02.119 --> 00:44:06.840 graceful honesty. Embracing graceful honesty. 00:44:08.619 --> 00:44:11.820 When God asked Adam and Eve what happened, something 00:44:11.820 --> 00:44:15.659 emerges in humanity for the first time. Blame 00:44:15.659 --> 00:44:21.000 shifting. These two, once united, once partners 00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:24.019 in purpose, once aligned in perfect harmony with 00:44:24.019 --> 00:44:28.260 God, now turn on each other. The man who once 00:44:28.260 --> 00:44:31.340 received his wife as a gift now presents her 00:44:31.340 --> 00:44:36.369 as a liability. The woman designed to be Adam's 00:44:36.369 --> 00:44:38.730 companion in mission now becomes in his eyes 00:44:38.730 --> 00:44:42.210 the reason for his failure. This is the tragic 00:44:42.210 --> 00:44:46.989 fracture of sin. Men, I'm gonna talk to you for 00:44:46.989 --> 00:44:50.769 a moment, but first I'm gonna share how this 00:44:50.769 --> 00:44:53.730 plays itself out. I read this point to my wife 00:44:53.730 --> 00:44:55.550 this week as I was getting ready, and I said, 00:44:55.769 --> 00:44:59.929 hey, give me an example of how I've done this 00:44:59.929 --> 00:45:04.199 to you, and she said, where do I start? But she 00:45:04.199 --> 00:45:06.400 says, I think the best one is whenever right 00:45:06.400 --> 00:45:09.260 after we got married, we were literally newlyweds. 00:45:09.500 --> 00:45:13.019 I'd just gotten back from our honeymoon and I 00:45:13.019 --> 00:45:16.719 get a call. For the first time ever, I get a 00:45:16.719 --> 00:45:20.639 call that says, hey, we need a drummer to go 00:45:20.639 --> 00:45:24.380 on this tour with us. Would you come and be the 00:45:24.380 --> 00:45:27.179 drummer? And this had been my dream for a long 00:45:27.179 --> 00:45:31.119 time. And mind you, I've only been married like 00:45:31.119 --> 00:45:35.210 two weeks. We had just moved into a little apartment 00:45:35.210 --> 00:45:37.949 and I said sure how much does it pay and they 00:45:37.949 --> 00:45:43.309 said nothing and I said great awesome I'm in 00:45:43.309 --> 00:45:47.230 and I will never forget My wife said you didn't 00:45:47.230 --> 00:45:48.909 tell them. Yes, right and I said, of course I 00:45:48.909 --> 00:45:51.230 told them Yes, like this is like a big opportunity 00:45:51.230 --> 00:45:54.269 for me and she said so let me get this straight 00:45:54.269 --> 00:45:57.010 We've been married two weeks. You'll make no 00:45:57.010 --> 00:46:01.110 money. I'm supposed to stay here work full -time 00:46:01.260 --> 00:46:05.000 be by myself and I'll see you in three months?" 00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:08.900 And I was like, that's the plan. And she said, 00:46:09.659 --> 00:46:14.019 you're an idiot. And she's like, this is not 00:46:14.019 --> 00:46:16.739 like, you're married now. Like you made the decision 00:46:16.739 --> 00:46:21.440 not three weeks ago to protect me, to care for 00:46:21.440 --> 00:46:24.519 me, to honor me. And I'm like, yeah, you can 00:46:24.519 --> 00:46:26.139 go live with my parents. And she said, that sounds 00:46:26.139 --> 00:46:30.000 terrible. And I said, what do you want from me? 00:46:30.019 --> 00:46:31.739 And she's like, I want you to be a husband, to 00:46:31.739 --> 00:46:35.260 be a man, to grow up, to be an adult. That's 00:46:35.260 --> 00:46:39.820 what I want. And I said, you're standing. This 00:46:39.820 --> 00:46:42.900 is exactly what I said. I was 20 years old at 00:46:42.900 --> 00:46:46.920 the time. Allow some grace, people. I said, you're 00:46:46.920 --> 00:46:50.500 standing in the way of my dreams. And she said, 00:46:51.059 --> 00:46:56.780 well, it sucks not being your dream. Great husbanding. 00:46:56.860 --> 00:47:03.500 husbandry, husbanding, spousing, whatever. A 00:47:03.500 --> 00:47:09.059 plus, not really. A plus in failure. But here's 00:47:09.059 --> 00:47:14.539 the deal. I felt that Tracy was now standing 00:47:14.539 --> 00:47:17.300 in the way of who I felt like I was supposed 00:47:17.300 --> 00:47:22.179 to be. God was speaking through my wife in this 00:47:22.179 --> 00:47:25.320 moment that says, hey, I'm drawing you out from 00:47:25.320 --> 00:47:28.780 being a little boy to being a man. This is an 00:47:28.780 --> 00:47:33.380 opportunity for self -sacrifice, not stepping 00:47:33.380 --> 00:47:38.800 on her in order to get where you're going. And 00:47:38.800 --> 00:47:43.099 so then begins a long stream of a lot of Logan's 00:47:43.099 --> 00:47:46.489 failures, a lot of being poor and broke. and 00:47:46.489 --> 00:47:49.230 us arguing over money and us arguing over dreams 00:47:49.230 --> 00:47:52.510 and us arguing over a lot of things and the entire 00:47:52.510 --> 00:47:57.730 time we are at odds with one another. Because 00:47:57.730 --> 00:48:01.130 it's about blame shifting. It's about it's your 00:48:01.130 --> 00:48:06.250 fault that you're not living up to this. So up 00:48:06.250 --> 00:48:09.690 until this moment Adam and Eve were a team. I 00:48:09.690 --> 00:48:13.090 told you before they stood elbow to elbow. That's 00:48:13.090 --> 00:48:15.900 the sense of the Hebrew. They were together in 00:48:15.900 --> 00:48:17.639 God's mission, they were together in love, and 00:48:17.639 --> 00:48:20.480 they were together in trust. But in the garden, 00:48:20.820 --> 00:48:25.380 Adam fails in his first God -given role. He does 00:48:25.380 --> 00:48:28.840 not guard, protect, or silent the serpent's lie. 00:48:29.500 --> 00:48:33.039 He does not confront deception. Instead, he stands 00:48:33.039 --> 00:48:38.559 by, watching, silent, passive, then turns around 00:48:38.559 --> 00:48:43.219 and has the gall to blame his wife. Think about 00:48:43.219 --> 00:48:50.110 that. How many of you men have allowed your spouse 00:48:50.110 --> 00:48:53.250 to either believe a lie about themselves or believe 00:48:53.250 --> 00:48:55.750 a lie that someone has told them, tearing them 00:48:55.750 --> 00:48:59.010 down, and you have stood by passively allowing 00:48:59.010 --> 00:49:04.730 it to happen? How many of you men have allowed 00:49:04.730 --> 00:49:08.449 your own mother to say things about your wife 00:49:08.449 --> 00:49:11.650 that is ungodly, untruthful, and a complete lie, 00:49:11.650 --> 00:49:13.250 and you stood there passively and said, well, 00:49:13.250 --> 00:49:23.750 it's my mom. It happens every day. How many of 00:49:23.750 --> 00:49:26.090 you feel like your wife is the reason why you're 00:49:26.090 --> 00:49:29.409 not? Where you should be, all of this, is you 00:49:29.409 --> 00:49:31.409 going to God and saying, it's the woman you gave 00:49:31.409 --> 00:49:34.289 me. It's why I'm not better. It's why I'm not 00:49:34.289 --> 00:49:37.710 happier. It's why I'm not farther along in finances. 00:49:39.829 --> 00:49:42.829 Adam blames her, he blames God, and he doesn't 00:49:42.829 --> 00:49:52.010 take responsibility for anything. Men, there's 00:49:52.010 --> 00:49:54.650 a great book. It is not a Christian book. It 00:49:54.650 --> 00:49:59.269 is written by a former Navy SEAL, and it's called 00:49:59.269 --> 00:50:01.909 Extreme Ownership. In the very first, the entire 00:50:01.909 --> 00:50:05.889 book is about one point. As the leader, I accept 00:50:05.889 --> 00:50:11.869 all ownership and failure. All of it. If my men 00:50:11.869 --> 00:50:15.769 die in battle, I didn't do my job well enough. 00:50:16.170 --> 00:50:18.210 Are they gonna die? Yes, some will die. This 00:50:18.210 --> 00:50:21.329 is his point. But I should have been better planned 00:50:21.329 --> 00:50:24.789 more ahead more thinking and the whole thing 00:50:24.789 --> 00:50:27.630 is just extreme ownership And as a man, it's 00:50:27.630 --> 00:50:30.849 all about extreme ownership It took me 20 years 00:50:30.849 --> 00:50:33.230 to figure it out But I'm finally figuring it 00:50:33.230 --> 00:50:37.070 out that it's on me as a man to love my wife 00:50:37.070 --> 00:50:40.989 Well, and if she sins, where did I fail now? 00:50:40.989 --> 00:50:44.050 She is responsible for her own sin. Yes, but 00:50:44.050 --> 00:50:48.170 also too. I have to go Where did I not meet? 00:50:48.800 --> 00:50:51.659 her where she needed to be. And here you can 00:50:51.659 --> 00:50:53.400 be like, what are you talking about Pastor Logan? 00:50:53.440 --> 00:50:56.440 That makes no sense that the man should be responsible 00:50:56.440 --> 00:51:00.900 for the woman or his children's sin. Listen to 00:51:00.900 --> 00:51:03.500 this quote from Doug Wilson. One of the most 00:51:03.500 --> 00:51:06.420 difficult things for modern men to understand 00:51:06.420 --> 00:51:09.239 is how they are responsible for all the problems. 00:51:09.679 --> 00:51:12.539 The husband is responsible for all the problems. 00:51:12.940 --> 00:51:16.199 He remains the head, and just as Christ as the 00:51:16.199 --> 00:51:19.340 head assumed all responsibility for all the sins 00:51:19.340 --> 00:51:22.340 of all his people, so the husband is to assume 00:51:22.340 --> 00:51:24.780 the covenant responsibility for the state of 00:51:24.780 --> 00:51:28.659 his marriage." You're like, man, that's heavy. 00:51:28.840 --> 00:51:33.119 Yeah, that's what it is to be a man. And so what 00:51:33.119 --> 00:51:37.920 does this reveal? That the enemy's strategy wasn't 00:51:37.920 --> 00:51:41.340 just to break a rule, it was to break relationships. 00:51:42.420 --> 00:51:44.619 Relationship between man and woman, relationship 00:51:44.619 --> 00:51:47.139 between humanity and God, and relationship between 00:51:47.139 --> 00:51:51.039 identity and truth. This will be up here. Sin 00:51:51.039 --> 00:51:53.400 corrupts how we see God, how we see ourselves, 00:51:53.500 --> 00:51:59.659 and how we see one another. And we see the same 00:51:59.659 --> 00:52:06.039 lie playing out in our world today. The enemy 00:52:06.039 --> 00:52:11.519 still whispers, this gift is a burden. This child 00:52:11.519 --> 00:52:18.059 is not a child. This life is not valuable. The 00:52:18.059 --> 00:52:20.860 lie of abortion follows the same ancient pattern. 00:52:20.940 --> 00:52:23.739 It tells women this baby will not or will only 00:52:23.739 --> 00:52:27.679 be a liability. It tells men you have no responsibility 00:52:27.679 --> 00:52:31.230 here. This is her problem. It tells both life 00:52:31.230 --> 00:52:34.590 is expendable and you don't need to protect this 00:52:34.590 --> 00:52:40.409 gift. I actually saw last night, if you watch 00:52:40.409 --> 00:52:44.230 Stranger Things, which I am sure there's a big 00:52:44.230 --> 00:52:45.710 group of people in here that are big Stranger 00:52:45.710 --> 00:52:50.730 Things fans, but one of the main characters, 00:52:52.110 --> 00:52:55.489 the female actress, she was on some late television 00:52:55.489 --> 00:52:58.780 show, I don't know. But she said I just want 00:52:58.780 --> 00:53:01.440 to honor my mother for because she's the reason 00:53:01.440 --> 00:53:04.099 why I'm here and because I just found out just 00:53:04.099 --> 00:53:08.659 recently not too long ago that My mom actually 00:53:08.659 --> 00:53:13.340 had an abortion before me and she said that If 00:53:13.340 --> 00:53:15.860 it wasn't for that abortion, I wouldn't be here 00:53:15.860 --> 00:53:18.940 like as a person and I wouldn't she would then 00:53:18.940 --> 00:53:21.400 had the ability to get me to where I'm at here 00:53:21.400 --> 00:53:26.219 in and Movie stardom and all this stuff And people 00:53:26.219 --> 00:53:34.440 applauded that. I had this long comment that 00:53:34.440 --> 00:53:35.780 I wanted to comment, but I'm like, she's not 00:53:35.780 --> 00:53:39.039 gonna see this, so delete this. But I wanted 00:53:39.039 --> 00:53:41.460 to be like, you literally are believing a lie 00:53:41.460 --> 00:53:44.559 that your mother is believing that her life was 00:53:44.559 --> 00:53:48.619 better. Whatever you have to do to justify the 00:53:48.619 --> 00:53:55.909 fact that you took the life of a person. It all 00:53:55.909 --> 00:53:58.250 goes back to an ancient lie that has been bought, 00:53:58.730 --> 00:54:00.250 that was bought from the very beginning and it's 00:54:00.250 --> 00:54:04.889 still being bought today. Just as Adam stepped 00:54:04.889 --> 00:54:07.869 back when he should have stepped forward, our 00:54:07.869 --> 00:54:10.650 culture tells men that fatherhood is optional 00:54:10.650 --> 00:54:13.690 and tells women that motherhood is disposable. 00:54:14.889 --> 00:54:17.969 This echo of Eden continues wherever responsibility 00:54:17.969 --> 00:54:21.909 is abandoned and life is devalued. The enemy 00:54:21.909 --> 00:54:24.650 did a number on humanity the day Adam shrank 00:54:24.650 --> 00:54:28.909 back in fear. It fed Eve a lie, disrupted their 00:54:28.909 --> 00:54:32.289 unity, distorted their view of God, and unleashed 00:54:32.289 --> 00:54:36.789 selfishness into the world. Eve too shifts the 00:54:36.789 --> 00:54:40.750 blame. The serpent deceived me. No one was willing 00:54:40.750 --> 00:54:44.110 to tell the truth. Everyone was hiding behind 00:54:44.110 --> 00:54:51.340 excuses, and this is what. Sin always does. It 00:54:51.340 --> 00:54:54.380 convinces us that honesty is dangerous and that 00:54:54.380 --> 00:54:57.099 responsibility is too costly. This will be up 00:54:57.099 --> 00:55:00.940 here for you to write down. But God's response 00:55:00.940 --> 00:55:04.519 is not merely to expose sin, it is to redirect 00:55:04.519 --> 00:55:09.280 humanity towards redemption. Even in judgment, 00:55:09.320 --> 00:55:11.860 God is drawing his children back to himself. 00:55:13.059 --> 00:55:16.559 And so you may be like, man, Pastor Logan, this 00:55:16.559 --> 00:55:22.000 has been like a super heavy, like sermon for 00:55:22.000 --> 00:55:27.099 Advent, but it's supposed to be. It's supposed 00:55:27.099 --> 00:55:29.739 to feel heavy. You're supposed to feel this kind 00:55:29.739 --> 00:55:34.400 of drain because it's supposed to draw us to 00:55:34.400 --> 00:55:40.300 the coming of Christ. You should feel the Genesis 00:55:40.300 --> 00:55:45.119 drudgery and bleakness so that when we get to 00:55:45.119 --> 00:55:49.239 Matthew, it feels the weight has been relieved. 00:55:51.820 --> 00:55:53.880 And so this is where Christ enters our story. 00:55:53.940 --> 00:55:56.820 He teaches us to stop deflecting, stop hiding, 00:55:57.260 --> 00:55:59.820 stop blaming others for our choices. He calls 00:55:59.820 --> 00:56:03.199 us into grace -filled honesty and the kind of 00:56:03.199 --> 00:56:06.179 honesty that brings freedom. Because repentance 00:56:06.179 --> 00:56:09.440 is not about humiliation, it's about restoration. 00:56:10.550 --> 00:56:13.769 When we finally say Lord, this is what I've done. 00:56:13.769 --> 00:56:16.969 We discover that grace was waiting for us all 00:56:16.969 --> 00:56:21.690 along Do you hear that? To me, this is the one 00:56:21.690 --> 00:56:25.570 thing I Shouldn't say that this is one of the 00:56:25.570 --> 00:56:29.309 things I think that Catholics do well not in 00:56:29.309 --> 00:56:34.730 the fact of like Being able to go and confess 00:56:34.730 --> 00:56:37.409 to a priest because we have the great high priest 00:56:37.409 --> 00:56:40.159 you don't have to come to me to confess But what 00:56:40.159 --> 00:56:43.639 I do think is good is confessing to a brother 00:56:43.639 --> 00:56:46.260 or sister in trust when you have committed a 00:56:46.260 --> 00:56:48.980 sin. Because when you do that, you bring sin 00:56:48.980 --> 00:56:54.099 out of hiding and into light. And that is where 00:56:54.099 --> 00:56:59.340 sin begins to lose its hold. So I want you to 00:56:59.340 --> 00:57:03.559 encourage one another. You don't have to hide 00:57:03.559 --> 00:57:05.900 behind excuses. You don't have to defend your 00:57:05.900 --> 00:57:07.860 shame. And you don't have to point fingers to 00:57:07.860 --> 00:57:12.110 feel safe. God isn't looking to crush you. He's 00:57:12.110 --> 00:57:16.269 looking to cleanse you. Our worth is not found 00:57:16.269 --> 00:57:18.769 in our ability to be flawless, but is in our 00:57:18.769 --> 00:57:22.409 willingness to be honest before a God who already 00:57:22.409 --> 00:57:28.269 knows. I'll have this up here. In Christ, honesty 00:57:28.269 --> 00:57:31.909 becomes the doorway to healing, integrity becomes 00:57:31.909 --> 00:57:34.630 the path to freedom, and grace becomes the ground 00:57:34.630 --> 00:57:38.570 on which we stand restored. And so as I told 00:57:38.570 --> 00:57:40.889 you guys before, we're stopping before verse 00:57:40.889 --> 00:57:45.369 14. And the reason is this, because that's where 00:57:45.369 --> 00:57:52.090 the promise enters. The verse 14 is where the 00:57:52.090 --> 00:57:56.469 first promise is made. It's where God says, I'm 00:57:56.469 --> 00:58:01.349 gonna take care of this. It's also the beginning 00:58:01.349 --> 00:58:06.670 of God taking responsibility and He makes the 00:58:06.670 --> 00:58:12.250 first. sacrifice to cover Adam and Eve. And so 00:58:12.250 --> 00:58:14.909 as I said, it's intentional that we stop short 00:58:14.909 --> 00:58:17.449 because I want you to feel the weight. I don't 00:58:17.449 --> 00:58:20.570 want to rush ahead because the children of Israel 00:58:20.570 --> 00:58:22.789 didn't get the chance to skip ahead in the story. 00:58:25.989 --> 00:58:31.969 And so as Adam and Eve sat in shock of their 00:58:31.969 --> 00:58:35.449 sin, They had to feel the fracture between themselves 00:58:35.449 --> 00:58:37.590 and God, between one another, and even within 00:58:37.590 --> 00:58:40.409 their own hearts. They have to live for a moment 00:58:40.409 --> 00:58:42.989 with an uneasy silence before God spoke hope. 00:58:44.489 --> 00:58:46.730 I want you to hear this, and today so do we. 00:58:47.809 --> 00:58:50.030 Because if we rush too quickly to the promise, 00:58:50.690 --> 00:58:52.909 we forget why the promise was needed at all. 00:58:53.789 --> 00:58:56.210 We forget the weight of what sin destroys, the 00:58:56.210 --> 00:58:58.690 relationships it distorts, and the blame it shifts. 00:58:59.849 --> 00:59:02.389 And so we have to really sit in the fact that 00:59:02.389 --> 00:59:08.030 sin is real. But I also want you guys to think 00:59:08.030 --> 00:59:15.590 about this. We still feel the weight of sin today, 00:59:15.690 --> 00:59:21.409 do we not? We still feel the effects of sin today, 00:59:21.510 --> 00:59:31.619 do we not? And we sit on this side of the cross. 00:59:33.179 --> 00:59:35.780 And so in much of the same way that we wait, 00:59:36.739 --> 00:59:39.300 we cling to the hope that Jesus is coming again 00:59:39.300 --> 00:59:42.039 to make all things new and all things right. 00:59:43.099 --> 00:59:47.719 Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for this 00:59:47.719 --> 00:59:48.780 word. Thank you for.