WEBVTT 00:00:19.050 --> 00:00:21.969 The Advent series that we're doing is called 00:00:21.969 --> 00:00:25.449 Soul Felt Its Worth. And I want to unpack how 00:00:25.449 --> 00:00:29.920 God shows our worth and value. by what he has 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:34.179 done, not by anything that we have done. And 00:00:34.179 --> 00:00:36.759 so where we're driving today is we're gonna look 00:00:36.759 --> 00:00:40.659 at the promise that rewrites our story and shows 00:00:40.659 --> 00:00:45.000 our worth. And so we're gonna look at more of 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:47.600 Genesis 3. We're gonna finish out Genesis 3, 00:00:48.340 --> 00:00:51.700 but we're gonna explore how... our shame was 00:00:51.700 --> 00:00:54.659 exposed, how God foreshadows redemption, because 00:00:54.659 --> 00:00:56.460 you guys hear me talk a lot about how the Old 00:00:56.460 --> 00:00:59.179 Testament foreshadows redemption. We're gonna 00:00:59.179 --> 00:01:02.759 look at the first sacrifice and how exile reveals 00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:06.540 our desperate need for a savior who would come 00:01:06.540 --> 00:01:10.700 to restore our worth. And so let's go ahead and 00:01:10.700 --> 00:01:12.900 let's look at, starting in verse 14, because 00:01:12.900 --> 00:01:20.109 that's where we left off. So the Lord God, said 00:01:20.109 --> 00:01:24.049 to the serpent, because you have done this, you 00:01:24.049 --> 00:01:28.010 are cursed more than any livestock and more than 00:01:28.010 --> 00:01:31.329 any wild animal. You will move on your belly 00:01:31.329 --> 00:01:36.209 and eat dust all the days of your life. This 00:01:36.209 --> 00:01:40.750 is where you should highlight. I will put hostility 00:01:40.750 --> 00:01:44.049 between you and the woman and between your offspring 00:01:44.049 --> 00:01:48.920 and her offspring. Or it could say seed. He will 00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:52.500 strike your head and you will strike his heel. 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:56.280 And he said to the woman, I will intensify your 00:01:56.280 --> 00:02:01.079 labor pains. You will bear children with painful 00:02:01.079 --> 00:02:05.159 effort. Your desire will be for your husband, 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:09.580 yet he will rule over you. And he said to the 00:02:09.580 --> 00:02:11.819 man, because you listened to your wife and ate 00:02:11.819 --> 00:02:15.080 from the tree, which I commanded you, do not 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:18.430 eat from it. The ground is cursed because of 00:02:18.430 --> 00:02:21.830 you. You will eat from it by means of painful 00:02:21.830 --> 00:02:26.650 labor all the days of your life. It will produce 00:02:26.650 --> 00:02:29.050 thorns and thistles for you and you will eat 00:02:29.050 --> 00:02:33.169 the plants of the field. You will eat bread by 00:02:33.169 --> 00:02:36.310 the sweat of your brow until you return to the 00:02:36.310 --> 00:02:41.050 ground. Since you were taken from it, for you 00:02:41.050 --> 00:02:46.300 are dust and you will return to dust. And so 00:02:46.300 --> 00:02:50.439 the man, his wife Eve, because she was the mother, 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:54.240 or so the man named his wife Eve because she 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:57.439 was the mother of all living things. The Lord 00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:00.599 God made clothing from skins for the man and 00:03:00.599 --> 00:03:02.599 his wife and he clothed them. You should highlight 00:03:02.599 --> 00:03:04.860 that because that's really where we're going 00:03:04.860 --> 00:03:09.740 to kind of drill down. And the Lord God said, 00:03:09.780 --> 00:03:12.759 since the man has become like one of us, knowing 00:03:12.759 --> 00:03:42.759 good and evil, And so the first point that we're 00:03:42.759 --> 00:03:46.360 gonna look at is a new term you guys are gonna 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:50.680 learn today. It's called proto -evangelium. And 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:55.240 what that means is this, the first gospel. So 00:03:55.240 --> 00:04:00.479 in verse 14, we look at God passing judgment 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:06.020 to the serpent. And then in verse 15, he gives 00:04:06.020 --> 00:04:12.159 us the first gospel. What does gospel mean? Good 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:15.580 news, right? And as a matter of fact, it means 00:04:15.580 --> 00:04:19.540 life -changing news in the Greek. And so this 00:04:19.540 --> 00:04:25.600 is technically the first good news. And you may 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:30.720 be like, huh? But if you look at it, he says, 00:04:30.899 --> 00:04:34.879 he will strike your head and you will strike 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:38.100 his heel. This is God speaking to the serpent. 00:04:38.980 --> 00:04:42.259 So when we step into Genesis 3, everything looks 00:04:42.259 --> 00:04:46.500 hopeless. If we did not have what we just read, 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:53.920 if we took out verse 15, Genesis 3 would be a 00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:59.240 really bad story or a really bad movie with no 00:04:59.240 --> 00:05:05.699 good ending. It's like if you took where you 00:05:05.699 --> 00:05:09.740 have a city that's under siege, let me actually 00:05:09.740 --> 00:05:12.089 let me put it like this. It's like watching the 00:05:12.089 --> 00:05:17.889 Lord of the Rings and seeing that Sauromon and 00:05:17.889 --> 00:05:20.709 Sauron, am I being a nerd right now? Does everybody 00:05:20.709 --> 00:05:22.250 know what I'm talking about? Lord of the Rings? 00:05:22.449 --> 00:05:25.569 Okay. And the orcs ultimately take over Middle 00:05:25.569 --> 00:05:27.889 Earth and there are no good guys. They're all 00:05:27.889 --> 00:05:31.670 killed. Man, what a terrible story. It's like, 00:05:31.709 --> 00:05:34.170 hey, this was really cool. All these wars, except 00:05:34.170 --> 00:05:36.329 for these demonic beings just absolutely had 00:05:36.329 --> 00:05:37.990 their way and killed everybody and there is no 00:05:37.990 --> 00:05:41.670 light. Nobody really wants to hear about that, 00:05:41.730 --> 00:05:45.470 right? Our souls long for good news. Our souls 00:05:45.470 --> 00:05:50.250 long for the good vanquishing the bad. Verse 00:05:50.250 --> 00:05:54.870 15 is the good vanquishing the bad in a promise. 00:05:56.230 --> 00:05:59.850 And so humanity has fallen, the serpent has deceived 00:05:59.850 --> 00:06:03.550 and shame now sits like a heavy weight on the 00:06:03.550 --> 00:06:07.290 shoulders of God's children. If the story ended 00:06:07.290 --> 00:06:10.649 at verse 13 and 14, We will be left with nothing 00:06:10.649 --> 00:06:14.370 but guilt, fear, and endless separation. I want 00:06:14.370 --> 00:06:16.449 you to think about that. If God had not entered 00:06:16.449 --> 00:06:20.310 the scene, if he had not come and put himself 00:06:20.310 --> 00:06:24.310 in the garden to intercede, where does that leave 00:06:24.310 --> 00:06:28.889 Adam and Eve? What did we talk about last week? 00:06:29.170 --> 00:06:33.170 Where did they go? Into the shadows, into shame. 00:06:33.550 --> 00:06:36.250 And they would stay there because it was God, 00:06:36.269 --> 00:06:40.029 as we talked about, that drew them out. But as 00:06:40.029 --> 00:06:42.889 we see, it doesn't end there. Before God turns 00:06:42.889 --> 00:06:46.970 to Adam or Eve, he speaks to the serpent first, 00:06:47.829 --> 00:06:51.170 as far as judgment, and what is to become the 00:06:51.170 --> 00:06:55.029 first whisper of the gospel. And so here is something 00:06:55.029 --> 00:06:57.730 you should write down and it'll be up here. Genesis 00:06:57.730 --> 00:07:01.730 3, 14 and 15 is the proto -evangelium. It is 00:07:01.730 --> 00:07:04.829 the first gospel, God's earliest announcement 00:07:04.829 --> 00:07:10.240 that evil will not win. Right in the middle of 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:12.800 humanity's failure, God looks at the deceiver 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:17.220 and declares an end to his story. When he says, 00:07:17.540 --> 00:07:19.699 I will put enmity between you and the woman and 00:07:19.699 --> 00:07:22.459 between your seed and her seed, he shall crush 00:07:22.459 --> 00:07:27.560 your head and you shall bruise his heel. In other 00:07:27.560 --> 00:07:33.660 words, you've struck my children, but you will 00:07:33.660 --> 00:07:38.300 not own them. A deliverer is coming and he's 00:07:38.300 --> 00:07:44.319 gonna crush you. Did you hear that? God is saying, 00:07:44.660 --> 00:07:47.000 you may have hurt them for now, but I promise 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:52.920 you it won't be that way forever. So here's something 00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:58.000 that I can't unpack all of this at once today. 00:07:58.759 --> 00:08:02.480 If we in the future unpack the book of Genesis, 00:08:02.500 --> 00:08:04.439 I will go into a lot more of it. But here's something 00:08:04.439 --> 00:08:07.899 that you need to know. There's a reason why God 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:11.620 talks about seed. He talks about their offspring 00:08:11.620 --> 00:08:15.600 of the two. And so there's a deeper kind of conflict 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:18.819 that's going on. And so when scripture speaks 00:08:18.819 --> 00:08:20.939 of the seed of the serpent, it's pointing to 00:08:20.939 --> 00:08:23.360 more than just wicked people or bad influences. 00:08:23.879 --> 00:08:27.040 It's describing an ongoing rebellion of darkness 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:30.100 that stands opposed to God and his purposes. 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:33.759 What am I talking about? If you read in Genesis 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:36.389 six, You will see a little bit of what I'm talking 00:08:36.389 --> 00:08:39.250 about. Throughout the Old Testament, there's 00:08:39.250 --> 00:08:41.990 a rebellion that continuously shows up again 00:08:41.990 --> 00:08:46.710 and again and again. And we see it in Genesis 00:08:46.710 --> 00:08:50.809 six, when it says the sons of God came down, 00:08:51.029 --> 00:08:54.250 okay? And they looked upon the daughters of men 00:08:54.250 --> 00:08:56.429 and they were like, they're beautiful. We're 00:08:56.429 --> 00:09:03.809 gonna take them as our wives. Now, in this moment, 00:09:04.090 --> 00:09:06.789 They know that they're rebelling. They're doing 00:09:06.789 --> 00:09:11.669 it on purpose. Something that you need to understand 00:09:11.669 --> 00:09:14.850 is, is that what the enemy, when they look at 00:09:14.850 --> 00:09:17.090 us, they know that we are made in the image of 00:09:17.090 --> 00:09:20.350 God. They are not. And they want to ultimately 00:09:20.350 --> 00:09:23.389 destroy and mar God's image. So what's one way 00:09:23.389 --> 00:09:28.169 that they can do that? By ultimately with their 00:09:28.169 --> 00:09:32.330 seed intermixing with the seed of woman. And 00:09:32.330 --> 00:09:34.370 so they create these things called Nephilim, 00:09:34.789 --> 00:09:39.309 which are giants. Here's something that you should 00:09:39.309 --> 00:09:43.230 probably know. Every culture for thousands of 00:09:43.230 --> 00:09:45.830 years, even to this day, every culture across 00:09:45.830 --> 00:09:49.929 the globe all has a flood story and giant stories. 00:09:51.529 --> 00:09:54.990 It's very interesting. I will also tell you, 00:09:55.269 --> 00:09:57.629 my wife is probably right now going, please don't 00:09:57.629 --> 00:09:59.509 let him do this. Please don't let him do this. 00:09:59.769 --> 00:10:02.730 This is the kind of stuff I nerd out on and get 00:10:02.730 --> 00:10:06.330 really weird about with giants and stuff like 00:10:06.330 --> 00:10:09.129 that because I think that there's a much deeper 00:10:09.129 --> 00:10:12.190 story, but I'm gonna put my wife's anxiety at 00:10:12.190 --> 00:10:15.509 ease and I'm not gonna get into that. But there's 00:10:15.509 --> 00:10:18.710 a lot of supernatural stuff and there's corruption, 00:10:19.090 --> 00:10:22.009 there's distortion, and it's all pointed to wanting 00:10:22.009 --> 00:10:25.009 to overthrow God's design. That's the whole premise 00:10:25.009 --> 00:10:28.169 of it. And so the point... is I don't want to 00:10:28.169 --> 00:10:30.450 get lost in the whole thing of the seed. I can 00:10:30.450 --> 00:10:32.789 really get off into the weeds. But the point 00:10:32.789 --> 00:10:34.549 is this, and this will be up here for you to 00:10:34.549 --> 00:10:36.730 write down. There has always been a war between 00:10:36.730 --> 00:10:40.190 the forces that want to destroy humanity and 00:10:40.190 --> 00:10:45.710 the God who refuses to give up on us. So here's 00:10:45.710 --> 00:10:50.350 the good news. In Genesis 315, it doesn't leave 00:10:50.350 --> 00:10:53.690 us guessing about the end of that war. Amen. 00:10:54.309 --> 00:10:58.289 We know how it ends. But it says that a seed, 00:10:58.289 --> 00:11:02.970 singular, one will come, one man, one savior, 00:11:03.350 --> 00:11:09.350 one champion, one redeemer. So before Abraham, 00:11:09.529 --> 00:11:12.610 before Moses, before David, before Isaiah ever 00:11:12.610 --> 00:11:16.370 said, a child will be born, God already promised 00:11:16.370 --> 00:11:19.009 a redeemer who would absorb the curse himself. 00:11:20.690 --> 00:11:23.070 And so there's always, if I didn't land the plane 00:11:23.070 --> 00:11:25.850 on the seed part, There's two seeds that are 00:11:25.850 --> 00:11:28.289 always going to be at war. And it starts in Genesis 00:11:28.289 --> 00:11:31.409 six. And we begin to see these two seeds that 00:11:31.409 --> 00:11:34.610 are one is ultimately very, very, very evil. 00:11:35.009 --> 00:11:38.110 And then you have the seed of the woman who ultimately 00:11:38.110 --> 00:11:41.610 Christ would come from. Do you guys follow me? 00:11:41.690 --> 00:11:45.450 Just like two family lineages. This is why, by 00:11:45.450 --> 00:11:49.110 the way, God floods the earth. Because there's 00:11:49.110 --> 00:11:53.659 a wicked seed upon it. And there's a lot of death 00:11:53.659 --> 00:11:56.779 and a lot of disgusting barbarism that God never 00:11:56.779 --> 00:11:59.460 intended. So this is why he floods the earth. 00:12:01.419 --> 00:12:03.799 So God had already promised a redeemer who would 00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:06.519 absorb the curse himself. The serpent would strike 00:12:06.519 --> 00:12:10.240 his heel, wounding him at the cross, but the 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:12.899 seed would crush the serpent's head, defeating 00:12:12.899 --> 00:12:18.279 Satan, sin, death once and for all. And this 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:20.159 is why this moment matters so much. Write this 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:22.350 down if you would. I believe I'll have it up 00:12:22.350 --> 00:12:26.370 here. In the same breath where God pronounces 00:12:26.370 --> 00:12:32.110 judgment, he also pronounces hope. So he calls 00:12:32.110 --> 00:12:36.429 out judgment, does he not? We see it, right? 00:12:36.850 --> 00:12:39.789 Talks to the snake, tells the woman, and all 00:12:39.789 --> 00:12:42.330 the ladies here are like, yeah, thanks a lot, 00:12:42.529 --> 00:12:48.129 Eve. And then he looks at Adam and he says, hey, 00:12:48.190 --> 00:12:49.870 yeah, you're gonna eat, but it's gonna be really 00:12:49.870 --> 00:12:55.139 difficult. but then he also pronounces hope, 00:12:55.460 --> 00:12:59.559 before. So this is what he, this is what, it's 00:12:59.559 --> 00:13:02.279 hope that our story can be rewritten, hope that 00:13:02.279 --> 00:13:05.179 our worth is not lost, and hope that the darkness 00:13:05.179 --> 00:13:10.399 will not have the final word. The first gospel 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:13.120 isn't just a prediction, it's a declaration. 00:13:13.580 --> 00:13:17.169 This is what it is. I want you to hear this because 00:13:17.169 --> 00:13:19.649 this has to be heard. If you're about to fall 00:13:19.649 --> 00:13:21.529 asleep on me right now, I want you to wake up 00:13:21.529 --> 00:13:24.169 for just a moment and hear Pastor Logan. Even 00:13:24.169 --> 00:13:27.009 at your worst moment, God is already working 00:13:27.009 --> 00:13:29.110 to redeem you because that was the whole premise 00:13:29.110 --> 00:13:31.149 of what he's saying to Adam and Eve in this moment. 00:13:32.730 --> 00:13:36.990 Yes, you've brought sin into the world. Yes, 00:13:36.990 --> 00:13:41.250 you have fractured everything. But even at your 00:13:41.250 --> 00:13:45.440 worst, I'm still going to handle it. Do you hear 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:49.679 me? I want you to think about the one thing in 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:52.059 your life that you are most ashamed that if anyone 00:13:52.059 --> 00:13:55.519 here knew about it, you would probably run away. 00:13:57.340 --> 00:14:02.139 Think about that for a moment. Think about how 00:14:02.139 --> 00:14:07.159 much you want to hide, and then know this, God 00:14:07.159 --> 00:14:12.480 was present in that moment, and he had died for 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:15.360 that moment. He was very present in that failure. 00:14:19.580 --> 00:14:24.460 That is hope. That's good news. That even in 00:14:24.460 --> 00:14:29.460 your worst moments, God is ever present and he's 00:14:29.460 --> 00:14:34.940 calling you out of the darkness. So that's the 00:14:34.940 --> 00:14:40.220 first gospel. Verse 15 is the first good news 00:14:40.220 --> 00:14:44.409 that a savior would come and destroy the serpent. 00:14:45.690 --> 00:14:51.090 Point number two, the first foreshadowing something 00:14:51.090 --> 00:14:58.669 had to die. So let's look at verse 21. The Lord 00:14:58.669 --> 00:15:01.330 God made clothing from what? What does he say? 00:15:02.690 --> 00:15:08.350 Skins. What did they previously have? Fig leaves. 00:15:11.350 --> 00:15:14.409 Skins. for the man and his wife and he clothed 00:15:14.409 --> 00:15:23.429 them. So when you read verse 21, what does it 00:15:23.429 --> 00:15:28.090 say? Does it say that Adam and Eve did this work? 00:15:29.590 --> 00:15:33.950 No, it says God made the clothing, right? And 00:15:33.950 --> 00:15:37.409 he clothed them, by the way. That is important 00:15:37.409 --> 00:15:41.940 that you see that. If you rush through because 00:15:41.940 --> 00:15:45.559 you know the story, you can really easily miss 00:15:45.559 --> 00:15:48.299 or easily overlook what is actually happening 00:15:48.299 --> 00:15:56.820 here. This is salvation happening. Now, for skins 00:15:56.820 --> 00:16:03.679 to be put on them, what does that mean? Yeah. 00:16:04.899 --> 00:16:06.779 Something had to die, right? Like that's in my 00:16:06.779 --> 00:16:11.039 point. But think about this for just a moment 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:14.720 Adam and Eve up into this time have not seen 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:21.299 anything die And so I want you to think about 00:16:21.299 --> 00:16:26.740 what it must have been like For them the shock 00:16:26.740 --> 00:16:35.320 to see something else die To cover them What 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:39.250 shock would that be to see blood for the first 00:16:39.250 --> 00:16:42.769 time, to see life and breath leave a living thing 00:16:42.769 --> 00:16:46.149 because of something that they had done and now 00:16:46.149 --> 00:16:51.990 they're being covered because of it. This is 00:16:51.990 --> 00:16:54.750 a really special moment and one that should break 00:16:54.750 --> 00:16:59.590 our hearts because this is the gospel. Just one 00:16:59.590 --> 00:17:02.789 sentence, but we have a thunder clap of grace. 00:17:04.289 --> 00:17:07.480 This is the moment that the gospel begins. So 00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:09.000 I kind of have some little sub points here if 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:13.839 you want to write these down You see the first 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:17.339 attempt at worth With fig leaves this is Adam 00:17:17.339 --> 00:17:19.819 and Eve trying to make sense of themselves now 00:17:19.819 --> 00:17:22.380 now the shame is entered They're trying to cover 00:17:22.380 --> 00:17:24.119 themselves up. They're trying to make things 00:17:24.119 --> 00:17:27.079 work on their own And so they cover themselves 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:29.019 with fig leaves. Why does it why don't fig leaves 00:17:29.019 --> 00:17:37.840 work? Yeah, they're just gonna fall apart Right 00:17:37.840 --> 00:17:45.559 and so God's like hey, hey, hey You tried right 00:17:45.559 --> 00:17:50.279 you tried That's not gonna work Something else 00:17:50.279 --> 00:17:54.480 has to die Something else has to take its place 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:59.259 something else has to cover that And so when 00:17:59.259 --> 00:18:01.660 Adam and Eve sinned the very first thing they 00:18:01.660 --> 00:18:03.960 did was try to cover themselves and here's a 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:06.799 point that you can write down Shame creates an 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:14.740 instinctive self -covering Right What how many 00:18:14.740 --> 00:18:19.660 times have you justified your sin How many times 00:18:19.660 --> 00:18:23.779 have you tried to explain it away You guys understand 00:18:23.779 --> 00:18:25.940 what I'm saying, I don't know how many times 00:18:25.940 --> 00:18:29.220 I've done that I've done I've I've lied about 00:18:29.220 --> 00:18:33.680 things that were just kind of stupid just because 00:18:33.660 --> 00:18:36.339 I was ashamed and I was like, why not just tell 00:18:36.339 --> 00:18:40.279 the truth? But in our sin, in our shame, we do 00:18:40.279 --> 00:18:42.339 really dumb things in order to kind of cover 00:18:42.339 --> 00:18:47.119 up and self justify what we do. And so that's 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:48.759 your fig leaves. You're trying to do the fig 00:18:48.759 --> 00:18:53.660 leaf thing. And so in verse seven, it says that 00:18:53.660 --> 00:18:57.460 they sowed fig leaves together because fig leaves 00:18:57.460 --> 00:19:01.809 is all they had. That's all humanity has been 00:19:01.809 --> 00:19:04.309 doing ever since trying to cover the inward ache 00:19:04.309 --> 00:19:08.910 of unworthiness with outward self -made coverings 00:19:08.910 --> 00:19:14.430 So give me some ideas of some fig leaves like 00:19:14.430 --> 00:19:17.950 modern -day fig leaves for us Don't say fruit 00:19:17.950 --> 00:19:23.369 of the loom. Okay What are some modern -day fig 00:19:23.369 --> 00:19:28.970 leaves Everybody else is doing it that's good 00:19:28.970 --> 00:19:38.359 what else What about achievement for all my overachievers 00:19:38.359 --> 00:19:43.519 in the room? You can try to cover yourself by 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:50.000 being an overachiever. Reputation, self -confidence 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:55.819 or a fake self -confidence, pride, self -righteousness, 00:19:56.700 --> 00:20:00.259 right? The law, the law becomes our fig leaf. 00:20:02.200 --> 00:20:07.150 We were talking this morning on the way in and 00:20:07.150 --> 00:20:11.829 I'm gonna ask my wife to help me with this because 00:20:11.829 --> 00:20:13.910 I can't remember she said this really really 00:20:13.910 --> 00:20:18.130 really well in the home school community kids 00:20:18.130 --> 00:20:21.509 these kids are not allowed to date and so which 00:20:21.509 --> 00:20:25.869 I support but they have these things that they're 00:20:25.869 --> 00:20:29.730 calling their their special friends that's what 00:20:29.730 --> 00:20:31.630 they're saying special friends and I'm like that 00:20:31.630 --> 00:20:39.380 is stupid It's my special friend. And the whole 00:20:39.380 --> 00:20:43.019 thing of special friend is that the parents of 00:20:43.019 --> 00:20:44.900 either the girl or the boy don't necessarily 00:20:44.900 --> 00:20:48.140 want them to date that person. And so they're 00:20:48.140 --> 00:20:50.039 like, why don't we just call them our special 00:20:50.039 --> 00:20:55.000 friend? And my wife is like, why not just say 00:20:55.000 --> 00:21:00.599 no? Like, we don't want them apart. We don't 00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:02.160 think they're a good influence. Whatever it is. 00:21:02.269 --> 00:21:05.069 But my wife said, it's ultimately the letter 00:21:05.069 --> 00:21:06.829 of the law. Can you say it? You say it way better 00:21:06.829 --> 00:21:20.230 than I did. I want my kids to honor and obey 00:21:20.230 --> 00:21:25.009 me actually, not just slap a different title 00:21:25.009 --> 00:21:29.089 on it and call it obedience. Yeah. All right. 00:21:29.089 --> 00:21:33.609 That's your sermon for the day. She's a she's 00:21:33.609 --> 00:21:38.069 she's really good. Yeah But that's a fig leaf, 00:21:38.089 --> 00:21:42.450 right? That's a fig leaf, right? It's it's we're 00:21:42.450 --> 00:21:45.490 gonna rename obedience for it to kind of that's 00:21:45.490 --> 00:21:48.670 a fig leaf But I just thought that was really 00:21:48.670 --> 00:21:51.970 good religious performance And so fig leafs never 00:21:51.970 --> 00:21:55.029 work they wither they tear they're fragile. They're 00:21:55.029 --> 00:21:57.630 temporary and ultimately exposed more than they 00:21:57.630 --> 00:22:02.990 cover And if you're here as a skeptic or a doubter, 00:22:03.130 --> 00:22:06.009 maybe even as an atheist, the fig leaves illustration 00:22:06.009 --> 00:22:08.049 is still true. You don't need to believe in Adam 00:22:08.049 --> 00:22:09.849 and Eve to know the feeling of covering your 00:22:09.849 --> 00:22:13.869 shame. Amen. Changing your performance, hiding 00:22:13.869 --> 00:22:16.950 the real you, managing how you're perceived. 00:22:17.710 --> 00:22:20.430 Every human is born knowing I'm not what I should 00:22:20.430 --> 00:22:23.809 be. Something is missing. Something is broken. 00:22:24.349 --> 00:22:28.690 Something is wrong. So we seek to fill the void. 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:33.640 Right? So Genesis doesn't create the feeling, 00:22:36.059 --> 00:22:38.619 or Genesis doesn't create that feeling in you 00:22:38.619 --> 00:22:43.299 of something's missing, it explains it. And then 00:22:43.299 --> 00:22:45.859 my sub point number two is this, God's response 00:22:45.859 --> 00:22:50.700 is the first death. When it tells us that something 00:22:50.700 --> 00:22:52.680 is happening with the garment and the skins, 00:22:53.019 --> 00:22:55.980 skins don't come from plants, so skins means 00:22:55.980 --> 00:22:59.650 something died. But why, why did something have 00:22:59.650 --> 00:23:10.549 to die? Exactly, why blood? Ever thought about 00:23:10.549 --> 00:23:12.910 that? I have actually never thought about it 00:23:12.910 --> 00:23:16.609 until I was a youth pastor and a mother came 00:23:16.609 --> 00:23:20.890 to me and she said, the biggest question I have, 00:23:20.970 --> 00:23:22.809 she's like, I've been a Christian my entire life. 00:23:23.069 --> 00:23:25.630 And I believe it all, but the thing I do not 00:23:25.630 --> 00:23:31.529 understand is, is why blood? That's exactly right. 00:23:32.829 --> 00:23:37.309 Blood represents life. And so the shedding of 00:23:37.309 --> 00:23:39.769 blood, we see it throughout the entire Old Testament. 00:23:39.809 --> 00:23:43.970 This is the first sacrifice, right? And then 00:23:43.970 --> 00:23:47.269 what do we see in Exodus for the angel of death 00:23:47.269 --> 00:23:50.369 to pass over? They had to do what? Put blood 00:23:50.369 --> 00:23:55.420 on the doorpost, right? But we see that God himself 00:23:55.420 --> 00:23:58.400 made the sacrifice. So this is our literal first 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:02.059 foreshadowing that Christ would come, that God 00:24:02.059 --> 00:24:05.960 would handle it. And so Adam didn't offer the 00:24:05.960 --> 00:24:08.799 sacrifice. Eve didn't offer it. There was no 00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:10.980 priest. There was no religious ritual. There 00:24:10.980 --> 00:24:16.059 was no altar. It was just God. God performs the 00:24:16.059 --> 00:24:19.460 first sacrifice. God sheds the first blood and 00:24:19.460 --> 00:24:23.319 God provides the first covering. This is where 00:24:23.319 --> 00:24:26.700 substitution begins, brothers and sisters. Adam 00:24:26.700 --> 00:24:30.240 and Eve don't die that day, they will. Something 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:34.740 else dies in their place. Grace begins that day. 00:24:36.119 --> 00:24:38.799 But I want you to remember, this is important, 00:24:39.619 --> 00:24:42.559 Adam and Eve aren't the ones who took the steps. 00:24:43.980 --> 00:24:47.380 God did it. He pursued from the very beginning 00:24:47.380 --> 00:24:49.559 when they were in the shadows hiding and he was 00:24:49.559 --> 00:24:53.259 the one that did all the work. This is the gospel. 00:24:57.339 --> 00:25:02.720 God's heart is you broke it, I'll fix it. You 00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:08.819 sinned, I'll cover it. You ran, I pursue. And 00:25:08.819 --> 00:25:11.819 so Genesis 321 is the first whisper of the lamb 00:25:11.819 --> 00:25:15.980 who would come. Adam and Eve received a promise, 00:25:15.980 --> 00:25:19.960 but not the person. Hebrews 11 talks about that. 00:25:22.140 --> 00:25:25.039 Hebrews 11 points out all those who would come 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:29.960 before us, that they would know of the promise, 00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:33.220 they would seek the promise, they would hear 00:25:33.220 --> 00:25:36.859 the promise, but never see the person. And from 00:25:36.859 --> 00:25:39.000 this point forward, the whole Bible starts whispering, 00:25:39.480 --> 00:25:48.279 he's coming, he's coming, he's coming. And so 00:25:48.279 --> 00:25:51.019 foreshadowing of the coming savior, the story, 00:25:51.579 --> 00:25:54.900 of the Bible keeps telling over and over in the 00:25:54.900 --> 00:25:57.740 Old Testament. And so here's what I want. My 00:25:57.740 --> 00:25:59.500 wife was like, you've got a lot of notes today, 00:25:59.500 --> 00:26:02.980 but really it's, I want to point out, I went 00:26:02.980 --> 00:26:05.900 through the Old Testament and went through all 00:26:05.900 --> 00:26:09.200 of the foreshadowings that we see. And if I miss 00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:12.559 any, call it out. But I want you to write this 00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:14.400 down because this is where scripture becomes 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:19.299 a chorus. This is where many voices, but one 00:26:19.299 --> 00:26:23.009 story. So let's, Sacrificial foreshadowings. 00:26:23.890 --> 00:26:26.170 We just saw the first one, right? The next one, 00:26:26.430 --> 00:26:29.029 Abel's offering in Genesis four. The innocent 00:26:29.029 --> 00:26:32.230 dies, blood covers, God accepts, atonement is 00:26:32.230 --> 00:26:36.390 costly. Genesis six through nine, Noah, one righteous 00:26:36.390 --> 00:26:39.589 man brings salvation and a new creation, and 00:26:39.589 --> 00:26:44.619 his first act after the flood is sacrifice. Abraham 00:26:44.619 --> 00:26:47.920 and Isaac, Genesis 22. The father raises the 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:50.460 knife, but God stops him and provides the ram. 00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:55.619 Substitution becomes explicit. Exodus 12, the 00:26:55.619 --> 00:26:57.200 Passover lamb. We've already talked about that. 00:26:57.220 --> 00:26:59.920 A spotless lamb dies, so judgment passes over 00:26:59.920 --> 00:27:03.799 God's people. Leviticus 16, the day of atonement. 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:07.720 One goat dies, one carries sin away, and Christ 00:27:07.720 --> 00:27:13.920 is both. Do you see that? Numbers 21, the bronze 00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:18.119 serpent, the curse lifted up so the people can 00:27:18.119 --> 00:27:23.039 look and live. And Jesus says, this is me. Now 00:27:23.039 --> 00:27:25.019 let's look at some head crushing foreshadowings 00:27:25.019 --> 00:27:27.599 because we, I talked about that a couple of weeks 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:34.500 ago, but then I really found more Genesis three 00:27:34.500 --> 00:27:36.940 15 echoes this everywhere that there is going 00:27:36.940 --> 00:27:39.920 to be a crushing. And so these stories aren't 00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:43.670 random, they're patterns. So here we go, Jiel 00:27:43.670 --> 00:27:45.869 and Sisera, judges four through five, a woman 00:27:45.869 --> 00:27:49.130 crushes the head of the enemy of God's people. 00:27:51.970 --> 00:27:56.029 David and Goliath, 1 Samuel 17, David slings 00:27:56.029 --> 00:27:58.329 the stone, then cuts off the head of Goliath. 00:27:58.630 --> 00:28:04.569 By the way, did you know that Goliath, so all 00:28:04.569 --> 00:28:08.109 the giants, all the Nephilim, they were called 00:28:08.109 --> 00:28:11.509 people of the serpent. This is pretty interesting. 00:28:13.279 --> 00:28:15.200 They were called people of the serpent. And when 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:18.000 they would wear armor, when they would go to 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:22.019 war, do you know what that armor was? Scales. 00:28:23.259 --> 00:28:28.500 And so when Goliath comes before David, he's 00:28:28.500 --> 00:28:31.799 literally wearing scales as armor. And so when 00:28:31.799 --> 00:28:34.079 David strikes him in the head, by the way, that's 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:36.859 not just like, oh, he got lucky. That was on 00:28:36.859 --> 00:28:39.319 purpose because again, we're foreshadowing what 00:28:39.319 --> 00:28:44.059 would happen. The one who was the representative 00:28:44.059 --> 00:28:48.799 of the serpent, the lineage of the serpent, the 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:51.519 seed of the serpent was struck in the head and 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:53.940 then his head cut off. And then David raises 00:28:53.940 --> 00:29:02.059 it, a foreshadowing of Christ. I think that's 00:29:02.059 --> 00:29:05.119 awesome. Everybody else, you guys are all looking 00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:07.339 at me like, oh, it's kind of weird. No, it's 00:29:07.339 --> 00:29:12.140 awesome. Here's one that I'd never thought about 00:29:12.140 --> 00:29:14.740 so I was going through judges the woman at the 00:29:14.740 --> 00:29:19.839 tower You guys know this one judges chapter 9 00:29:19.839 --> 00:29:23.220 Abimelech is destroying the children of Israel 00:29:23.220 --> 00:29:27.960 and they're running and they all run into Into 00:29:27.960 --> 00:29:31.799 the walls and they go up in this tower and Abimelech 00:29:31.799 --> 00:29:35.599 is chasing them with all of his army and he knows 00:29:35.599 --> 00:29:38.400 that they're terrified And so then he looks up 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:41.859 and he's going to start scaling this wall to 00:29:41.859 --> 00:29:44.440 get up and over it to destroy women, children, 00:29:44.519 --> 00:29:49.859 and men. And it is a woman who picks up a millstone 00:29:49.859 --> 00:29:54.079 and throws it over and it just smokes them in 00:29:54.079 --> 00:30:02.099 the head. Why a woman? It echoes Eve. A seed 00:30:02.099 --> 00:30:06.069 will come. So a millstone dropped on the head 00:30:06.069 --> 00:30:11.910 of a tyrant. Psalm 74, 13 and 14, you crushed 00:30:11.910 --> 00:30:15.809 the heads of Leviathan, God striking the chaos 00:30:15.809 --> 00:30:19.410 serpent. This is what God says over and over 00:30:19.410 --> 00:30:21.849 and over. I have not forgotten my promise. The 00:30:21.849 --> 00:30:25.049 serpent crusher is coming all throughout the 00:30:25.049 --> 00:30:29.849 Old Testament. I got chills. Prophetic foreshadowings, 00:30:29.910 --> 00:30:32.329 the Davidic covenant in second Samuel seven. 00:30:32.680 --> 00:30:37.039 a coming king, an eternal throne, and the serpent 00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:41.119 crusher is a son of David. Psalm 22, hands and 00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:44.880 feet pierced, enemies encircled, garments divided, 00:30:45.420 --> 00:30:48.160 written a thousand years before Christ. Isaiah 00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:50.480 seven and nine, which we're gonna unpack Isaiah 00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:54.039 nine next week, a child, a son, God with us, 00:30:54.319 --> 00:30:57.809 the one who shatters the oppressor. Isaiah 53, 00:30:58.049 --> 00:31:00.690 the lamb, our substitute, our covering, our worth 00:31:00.690 --> 00:31:04.549 restored through his wounds. Daniel 7, the son 00:31:04.549 --> 00:31:07.410 of man who destroys the beast, the serpent's 00:31:07.410 --> 00:31:13.069 kingdom, in reign forever. And then the one that 00:31:13.069 --> 00:31:17.630 has all of our hearts, Revelation, the entire 00:31:17.630 --> 00:31:23.190 book. The child defeats the dragon, the lamb 00:31:23.190 --> 00:31:27.069 triumphs, the serpent, is finally crushed once 00:31:27.069 --> 00:31:34.509 and for all. Amen. So here's how this all should 00:31:34.509 --> 00:31:38.869 land on our hearts. All of this, every sacrifice, 00:31:39.890 --> 00:31:43.690 every head crushed, every whispered prophecy 00:31:43.690 --> 00:31:50.230 in scripture is this. The world is broken. The 00:31:50.230 --> 00:31:55.049 lie still echoes. Shame still clings. Fig leaves 00:31:55.049 --> 00:32:06.609 still fail, but someone is coming. At Advent, 00:32:06.609 --> 00:32:10.069 we don't just remember his first coming. We anticipate 00:32:10.069 --> 00:32:13.470 his return. And when the serpent will be crushed 00:32:13.470 --> 00:32:19.049 forever. At the cross, the soul truly felt its 00:32:19.049 --> 00:32:23.549 worth. At his return, the soul will feel it fully. 00:32:27.180 --> 00:32:35.599 So I hope that you guys can feel, do you feel 00:32:35.599 --> 00:32:41.039 the ache of the Old Testament? Do you feel it? 00:32:41.619 --> 00:32:47.140 As we quickly run through all of it and God continuously 00:32:47.140 --> 00:32:50.970 as the people cry out. to be redeemed as the 00:32:50.970 --> 00:32:53.630 people cry out to be made whole, as the worth 00:32:53.630 --> 00:32:57.529 of the soul is aching so much and God continuously 00:32:57.529 --> 00:33:02.349 says, one is coming, one is coming, one is coming. 00:33:04.390 --> 00:33:10.309 And so when we get to Matthew, the exhale. Point 00:33:10.309 --> 00:33:16.230 number three, the first exile. A worth we could 00:33:16.230 --> 00:33:27.279 not restore on our own. Exile is the great revealer. 00:33:27.420 --> 00:33:29.980 When Adam and Eve are driven out of Eden, it's 00:33:29.980 --> 00:33:34.119 more than a relocation, it's revelation. Eden 00:33:34.119 --> 00:33:36.559 was not merely a place, it was the environment 00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:39.740 of perfect identity. As you guys heard me, I've 00:33:39.740 --> 00:33:42.319 said this before, I'm gonna say it again. Eden 00:33:42.319 --> 00:33:45.359 is the first temple. It's where the presence 00:33:45.359 --> 00:33:51.660 of God dwelled. And so it was where humanity 00:33:51.660 --> 00:33:56.460 lived in unbroken fellowship, or it was where 00:33:56.460 --> 00:33:59.140 humanity in exile lived in unbroken fellowship, 00:33:59.380 --> 00:34:02.400 unfractured, I'm sorry, in Eden, unfractured 00:34:02.400 --> 00:34:05.819 dignity and unshadowed worth beneath the smile 00:34:05.819 --> 00:34:10.019 of God. But when they are sent out east of Eden, 00:34:10.340 --> 00:34:14.059 something immeasurable happens. It's all lost. 00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:18.820 The fall fractures identity. Exile exposes that 00:34:18.820 --> 00:34:22.960 fracture. It shows us that life apart from God 00:34:22.960 --> 00:34:25.420 is not just hard, it is impossible to repair 00:34:25.420 --> 00:34:34.199 on our own. Have you ever been lost, like physically 00:34:34.199 --> 00:34:39.019 lost? Not like the way Phil Robertson, if they 00:34:39.019 --> 00:34:40.559 ask him, have you ever been lost, you say, yeah, 00:34:40.559 --> 00:34:42.420 I've been lost, Will. And he starts going, have 00:34:42.420 --> 00:34:44.400 you guys ever heard that? It's really funny, 00:34:44.460 --> 00:34:46.909 anyway. But have you ever been out somewhere 00:34:46.909 --> 00:34:48.829 and you're just like looking around you're like 00:34:48.829 --> 00:34:54.090 I? Have no idea where I'm at right now My wife 00:34:54.090 --> 00:34:55.889 shaking her head because she gets lost all the 00:34:55.889 --> 00:34:58.829 time we lived in Lincoln 10 10 years and she's 00:34:58.829 --> 00:35:15.079 still like I Don't ever get lost There's a little 00:35:15.079 --> 00:35:20.500 bit of a terrifying feeling when you're lost 00:35:20.500 --> 00:35:23.420 in a way that's like, you don't know anyone, 00:35:23.500 --> 00:35:26.400 you have no idea where you're at. When I was 00:35:26.400 --> 00:35:31.219 touring, our bus broke down and we were trying 00:35:31.219 --> 00:35:34.420 to call a tow truck. And the tow truck's going, 00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:38.000 where are you? And we're like, I have no idea. 00:35:38.039 --> 00:35:40.699 Well, what's a cross street? There is no cross 00:35:40.699 --> 00:35:44.650 street. Well, what's near you? A farm. and a 00:35:44.650 --> 00:35:48.570 cow and he's like I need a little bit more than 00:35:48.570 --> 00:35:50.429 that and we're like buddy we don't know what 00:35:50.429 --> 00:35:54.030 to tell you and there was just a sinking feeling 00:35:54.030 --> 00:35:58.869 of like what are we gonna do can't call mom and 00:35:58.869 --> 00:36:03.110 dad and the one person who can help us can't 00:36:03.110 --> 00:36:05.289 actually help us because we don't know any have 00:36:05.289 --> 00:36:09.929 any idea where we're at it's a little bit terrifying 00:36:09.929 --> 00:36:16.239 to feel like you're on your own right Now think 00:36:16.239 --> 00:36:19.079 about Adam and Eve have always been provided 00:36:19.079 --> 00:36:24.039 for. They've always been with their dad. And 00:36:24.039 --> 00:36:26.960 now they're being sent out of a garden and he 00:36:26.960 --> 00:36:32.199 says, hey, I love you, but you can't stay here 00:36:32.199 --> 00:36:36.219 anymore. And oh, by the way, when you go to eat, 00:36:36.800 --> 00:36:39.880 it's gonna be really hard. When you go to have 00:36:39.880 --> 00:36:44.119 children, it's gonna be very hard. but you can't 00:36:44.119 --> 00:36:47.659 come back here, but I promise you I will fix 00:36:47.659 --> 00:36:52.300 it. Imagine how terrifying that is because they 00:36:52.300 --> 00:36:54.679 couldn't just sit outside the walls of Eden. 00:36:55.719 --> 00:37:00.420 They had to go because they still had something 00:37:00.420 --> 00:37:02.440 that God told them to do. Do you guys remember? 00:37:04.579 --> 00:37:06.900 Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, 00:37:06.920 --> 00:37:10.300 which means go out. Go see all the things I've 00:37:10.300 --> 00:37:15.800 created. But that's a terrifying feeling. And 00:37:15.800 --> 00:37:21.619 so exile exposes that fear, that need for, I 00:37:21.619 --> 00:37:24.840 need protection, I need stability, I need to 00:37:24.840 --> 00:37:32.480 be made whole. And so I wanna put up here, so 00:37:32.480 --> 00:37:35.159 the fall fractures identity, exile exposes that 00:37:35.159 --> 00:37:37.539 fracture. It shows us that life apart from God 00:37:37.539 --> 00:37:39.539 is not just hard, it is impossible to repair 00:37:39.539 --> 00:37:41.699 on our own. They couldn't go back in, right? 00:37:42.519 --> 00:37:46.300 So right here. Exile was both judgment and mercy. 00:37:48.119 --> 00:37:50.639 You can be like, how? How can that be mercy by 00:37:50.639 --> 00:37:57.619 God just sending them out? Because we got to 00:37:57.619 --> 00:38:00.179 say it's both. The flaming sword is judgment 00:38:00.179 --> 00:38:02.539 because sin has consequences, but the flaming 00:38:02.539 --> 00:38:07.280 sword is also mercy. This is something I had 00:38:07.280 --> 00:38:12.780 never thought about till now. What happens if 00:38:12.780 --> 00:38:19.820 they were to stay in Eden? God had not intervened 00:38:19.820 --> 00:38:26.079 and they stayed in Eden. What would happen? That's 00:38:26.079 --> 00:38:30.880 exactly right. They would be trapped eternally 00:38:30.880 --> 00:38:35.739 in brokenness. And so to be sent out, they are 00:38:35.739 --> 00:38:40.599 then shown mercy because they would You may be 00:38:40.599 --> 00:38:43.000 like, how, how so? What are they going to eat 00:38:43.000 --> 00:38:44.639 from? What did God say they could no longer eat 00:38:44.639 --> 00:38:47.440 from? That's why they had to leave. The tree 00:38:47.440 --> 00:38:50.840 of life. So they're forever trapped in their 00:38:50.840 --> 00:38:54.480 own brokenness. So if they had eaten of the tree 00:38:54.480 --> 00:38:56.659 of life in their fallen state, they would have 00:38:56.659 --> 00:39:01.019 been forever fixed in corruption. This was, that 00:39:01.019 --> 00:39:04.960 was something that I had read in a book this 00:39:04.960 --> 00:39:08.460 week, preparing. was unpacking that idea and 00:39:08.460 --> 00:39:10.679 I'm like, dude, I've never thought about that 00:39:10.679 --> 00:39:13.639 if God had allowed them to stay. I'm thankful 00:39:13.639 --> 00:39:17.320 for people that are smarter than me. So exile 00:39:17.320 --> 00:39:19.920 is not God slamming the door in anger. It is 00:39:19.920 --> 00:39:22.980 God ensuring that redemption will still be possible. 00:39:24.599 --> 00:39:28.000 He removes them so that they may one day be restored. 00:39:28.880 --> 00:39:32.260 Charles Spurgeon says this, God's mercy is so 00:39:32.260 --> 00:39:34.380 great that you may sooner drain the sea of its 00:39:34.380 --> 00:39:37.380 water and deprive the sun of its light. or make 00:39:37.380 --> 00:39:39.639 space too narrow than diminish the great mercy 00:39:39.639 --> 00:39:45.960 of God. Wrapping up. Even in exile, God is moving 00:39:45.960 --> 00:39:49.940 towards them, not away from them. Exile shows 00:39:49.940 --> 00:39:53.800 our inability to get to Him, but Him come to 00:39:53.800 --> 00:39:57.059 us. Genesis ends the chapter with the heartbreaking 00:39:57.059 --> 00:39:59.699 image of humanity on the outside looking in. 00:39:59.940 --> 00:40:02.820 There's no ladder, there's no negotiation, there's 00:40:02.820 --> 00:40:07.039 no returning. And this is the moment that scripture 00:40:07.039 --> 00:40:10.260 makes unmistakably clear this moment. Put this 00:40:10.260 --> 00:40:12.699 up here, bub, if you would. We cannot restore 00:40:12.699 --> 00:40:15.179 ourselves. We cannot pay the debt. We cannot 00:40:15.179 --> 00:40:18.340 cover our shame and we cannot create our own 00:40:18.340 --> 00:40:24.300 Eden. So hear me, stop trying. Stop trying to 00:40:24.300 --> 00:40:29.889 create your own Eden. It doesn't exist. This 00:40:29.889 --> 00:40:32.570 is what makes the Advent story so stunning. The 00:40:32.570 --> 00:40:35.710 door we could not open, the presence we could 00:40:35.710 --> 00:40:39.230 not enter, the worth we could not reclaim, God 00:40:39.230 --> 00:40:44.949 Himself would cross the distance. Exile creates 00:40:44.949 --> 00:40:49.250 a holy longing. Every human being, atheist, nominal 00:40:49.250 --> 00:40:52.869 believer, skeptic, feels the same ache that we 00:40:52.869 --> 00:40:56.309 all feel, the sense that we are east of Eden. 00:40:57.550 --> 00:41:00.369 The sense that something is off, that the world 00:41:00.369 --> 00:41:03.349 should not be as it is, that we should not be 00:41:03.349 --> 00:41:06.250 as we are. Exile becomes the base note humming 00:41:06.250 --> 00:41:09.449 under the entire biblical story. The prophets 00:41:09.449 --> 00:41:12.550 carry it, Israel's wilderness wanderings echo 00:41:12.550 --> 00:41:16.929 it, the Psalms groan under it, and the Advent 00:41:16.929 --> 00:41:22.110 answers it. Because Advent is the announcement 00:41:22.110 --> 00:41:29.460 of your exile is ending and God is coming. So 00:41:29.460 --> 00:41:32.760 Advent begins in exile. Before we talk about 00:41:32.760 --> 00:41:36.579 mangers and shepherds and stars, we must remember 00:41:36.579 --> 00:41:40.139 Christ came because the way back was closed. 00:41:41.340 --> 00:41:44.139 He came because humanity stood outside the garden 00:41:44.139 --> 00:41:47.119 with no ability to re -enter. He came because 00:41:47.119 --> 00:41:50.519 our worth had been shattered and only He could 00:41:50.519 --> 00:41:55.179 restore it. Advent begins with an ache. Advent 00:41:55.179 --> 00:41:58.460 begins with distance. and Advent begins with 00:41:58.460 --> 00:42:01.500 exile and that makes the arrival of Christ infinitely 00:42:01.500 --> 00:42:07.420 more beautiful. I'm gonna close with this story. 00:42:09.659 --> 00:42:13.500 In 2005, a small auction house in Louisiana put 00:42:13.500 --> 00:42:17.219 an old, dirty, beat up painting on the block. 00:42:17.820 --> 00:42:24.539 Have any of you guys ever been to a, to a, goodness 00:42:24.539 --> 00:42:27.409 gracious. What are the things that we go to? 00:42:28.489 --> 00:42:31.969 Not auctions. They're like garage sales when 00:42:31.969 --> 00:42:34.650 people die. Estate sale, chimney, Christmas. 00:42:37.969 --> 00:42:41.190 Yeah, my wife and my daughter are suckers for 00:42:41.190 --> 00:42:43.449 estate sales, man. They will plan out their Saturday. 00:42:45.869 --> 00:42:50.550 But my wife, for the last couple of months, has 00:42:50.550 --> 00:42:52.130 been going to all these estate sales, and she's 00:42:52.130 --> 00:42:54.820 been finding all of these paintings. and different 00:42:54.820 --> 00:42:57.139 like pictures that are just one of a kind to 00:42:57.139 --> 00:42:58.739 just kind of fill our house with. Because she's 00:42:58.739 --> 00:43:01.340 like, I don't like going to Hobby Lobby and getting 00:43:01.340 --> 00:43:03.059 stuff that everybody else has in their house. 00:43:03.139 --> 00:43:04.780 Like I want unique stuff. And so we've got some 00:43:04.780 --> 00:43:08.460 pretty unique things. And my wife actually got 00:43:08.460 --> 00:43:11.300 for cheap this little bitty painting that ended 00:43:11.300 --> 00:43:13.559 up like, when we looked it up, it's like one 00:43:13.559 --> 00:43:16.719 of a kind. And it was given to a pastor. It was 00:43:16.719 --> 00:43:19.389 painted, hand painted. in like Germany or France 00:43:19.389 --> 00:43:21.230 or something, and it was given to him as a gift. 00:43:21.570 --> 00:43:23.710 And so it's really cool to have something so 00:43:23.710 --> 00:43:26.869 one of a kind. And so when I read this story, 00:43:26.869 --> 00:43:28.389 I was like, oh man, maybe this will happen to 00:43:28.389 --> 00:43:32.730 us one day. But the painting, no one was looking 00:43:32.730 --> 00:43:36.630 at it. No one wanted it. The wood was cracked, 00:43:36.789 --> 00:43:39.510 the paint was flaking, and the image was barely 00:43:39.510 --> 00:43:45.889 visible. And so it was at this estate sale, and 00:43:45.889 --> 00:43:49.309 two art hunters bought it for less than $1 ,000, 00:43:49.489 --> 00:43:52.449 assuming it was just a nice old copy of a Renaissance 00:43:52.449 --> 00:43:56.010 work. But then something happened. They brought 00:43:56.010 --> 00:43:59.730 it to an art restorer, someone who knew the difference 00:43:59.730 --> 00:44:03.489 between trash and treasure. And as she cleaned 00:44:03.489 --> 00:44:07.369 it, layer by layer, something shocking began 00:44:07.369 --> 00:44:15.769 to emerge. Brush strokes, light details, And 00:44:15.769 --> 00:44:20.289 then a face appears. So then they call in experts, 00:44:20.329 --> 00:44:23.369 and after months of study, testing, and comparison, 00:44:23.429 --> 00:44:25.849 they realized that what they were looking at 00:44:25.849 --> 00:44:31.489 was a lost Leonardo da Vinci, Salvador Mundi, 00:44:31.690 --> 00:44:34.250 the savior of the world. It was a famous painting 00:44:34.250 --> 00:44:38.829 of Jesus. It was a lost painting. A painting 00:44:38.829 --> 00:44:42.429 that had spent decades in obscurity, dismissed, 00:44:43.090 --> 00:44:48.139 ignored, and devalued. and it ultimately revealed 00:44:48.139 --> 00:44:52.280 the work of a great master. Its worth had not 00:44:52.280 --> 00:44:56.679 changed, its condition had, its location had, 00:44:56.739 --> 00:45:00.840 and its story had. You want to guess what this 00:45:00.840 --> 00:45:07.380 ultimately went for in 2005? Remember, it was 00:45:07.380 --> 00:45:13.099 bought for less than $1 ,000. It was bought for 00:45:13.099 --> 00:45:18.920 $450 million. It's the highest price ever paid 00:45:18.920 --> 00:45:23.780 for a piece of art. But its worth had been there 00:45:23.780 --> 00:45:28.039 all along. Not because the painting suddenly 00:45:28.039 --> 00:45:30.619 became valuable, but because someone finally 00:45:30.619 --> 00:45:34.659 recognized its worth and restored it. And so 00:45:34.659 --> 00:45:39.000 that's Genesis 3. That is Advent, and that is 00:45:39.000 --> 00:45:42.079 the gospel. Humanity was exiled. It was damaged. 00:45:42.280 --> 00:45:45.380 It was dirty. It was cracked by sin, but not 00:45:45.380 --> 00:45:50.150 worthless. but unable to restore itself. The 00:45:50.150 --> 00:45:53.369 world looked at us and saw not much, but God, 00:45:53.809 --> 00:45:56.909 the true artist, the one who knows the original 00:45:56.909 --> 00:46:01.949 design, looked at us with a different gaze. Through 00:46:01.949 --> 00:46:04.469 the sacrifice in the garden, through foreshadows 00:46:04.469 --> 00:46:07.469 of redemption, through the ache of exile, through 00:46:07.469 --> 00:46:10.789 the promise of a coming savior, he set in motion 00:46:10.789 --> 00:46:13.250 the restoration of a worth we ourselves could 00:46:13.250 --> 00:46:17.409 not recover. And at Advent, the master stepped 00:46:17.409 --> 00:46:21.090 into the story himself, the savior of the world, 00:46:23.510 --> 00:46:25.650 coming to restore what had always belonged to 00:46:25.650 --> 00:46:26.349 him. Let's pray.