Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP210014S
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00:01 Hello, friends, I'm Jill Morikone.
00:02 We're so glad that you've tuned in 00:04 for this quarter of 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 00:06 Hard to believe we're beginning quarter number two. 00:09 It's all about the covenants, the promise, 00:11 God's everlasting covenant of grace. 00:14 I want to encourage you 00:16 to get your own copy of the quarterly. 00:18 You can go to the following website 00:19 ABSG.Adventist.org 00:23 That stands for 00:24 AdultBibleStudyGuide .Adventist.org. 00:28 Make sure you grab your Bibles 00:29 and your pens and your papers, your notebooks 00:32 to take notes 00:33 as we explore lesson number one, 00:35 what happened. 01:09 Hard to believe that we're in a brand new quarter. 01:11 We just finished 01:12 if you journeyed with us last quarter 01:14 through the Book of Isaiah, 01:15 which happens to be one of my favorite books. 01:17 And we finished 01:18 with the rebirth of planet earth 01:20 in Isaiah Chapter 66. 01:22 Now we jump into this brand new quarter, the promise, 01:26 God's everlasting covenant. 01:29 The lesson this quarter is most of it is taken 01:32 from the work of the late Dr. Gerhard Hasel. 01:36 He's an incredible student of the Word of God. 01:40 He served as Professor of Old Testament 01:42 and biblical theology at the SDA Theological Seminary 01:45 at Andrews University. 01:47 That's a mouthful. 01:48 He was dean of the seminary and for 27 years, 01:51 he served as director of their ThD and PhD programs. 01:55 He's a brilliant man. 01:56 And this lesson is amazing. 01:58 So I'm excited that you have tuned in. 02:00 I want to introduce our panelists, 02:02 our family to you at this time. 02:04 We're going to be journeying together 02:05 through the covenants. 02:07 To my left Pastor John Lomacang, 02:08 always a joy to have you here. 02:10 Good to be here, Jill. 02:11 Looking forward to a wonderful study 02:12 on the covenants. 02:14 Amen. Me too. 02:15 To your left Pastor Ryan Day, 02:17 so glad to have you here, brother. 02:18 Amen. Always a blessing to be on Sabbath School panel. 02:20 Amen, to your left Pastor John Dinzey. 02:23 Always glad to have you here, Brother Johnny. 02:25 It's a blessing to be here. 02:26 And I encourage our viewers and listeners to tune in 02:29 because great blessings are in store in this study. 02:31 Amen. 02:32 And to your left Sister Shelley Quinn, 02:34 who I call the queen of the covenants. 02:37 And I know you're excited about this study. 02:39 My favorite quarterly ever. 02:41 It's wonderful. Amen. 02:43 Before we go any further, 02:44 we want to go to the Lord in prayer. 02:46 Pastor John, would you pray for us? 02:47 Sure. 02:48 Loving Father in heaven, 02:50 we thank You for the privilege and opportunity 02:51 for opening Your Word 02:53 and disseminating the words of life, 02:55 but we cannot do it without Your Holy Spirit. 02:58 Connect us with our viewers and listeners 03:00 and may everything we do here today, Father, 03:03 communicate the beauty, 03:05 the necessity and the benefit 03:07 of the covenant You made to save us. 03:10 In Jesus' name we pray, amen. 03:12 Amen. 03:13 Thank you so much. 03:15 God created us to live in relationship 03:17 with God and with each other. 03:20 We're relational beings created for that connection 03:22 and that harmony with God, 03:24 but sin brought a disconnection from God. 03:28 And God desired to bring His people back 03:31 into relationship with Himself. 03:34 The covenant is all about 03:35 this relationship between us and our maker God 03:38 and this arrangement for saving us. 03:42 And for bringing us back into oneness. 03:45 You could say it's not a contract. 03:47 It's about a committed relationship. 03:50 There's two types of covenants and we will study this further 03:53 as we get into our study. 03:56 One is the relationship between parties 03:58 and modern day covenants, 03:59 you see this a lot where both parties are equal, 04:03 and both parties would set terms. 04:05 Then there's another type of covenant, 04:07 this biblical covenant 04:09 that we are studying that is unilateral, 04:11 where God sets the terms and He makes the promises. 04:16 In this biblical covenant, 04:17 He sets the terms and makes the promises to me 04:20 as His child. 04:22 Why is that? 04:23 Because He loves me, 04:24 and He created you and I to be in relationship with Him 04:28 and He wants to save us. 04:31 The covenant is built on love. 04:34 God initiates the covenant relationship. 04:37 By the promises, His promises and His actions 04:41 that follow those promises, 04:42 He seeks to woo us 04:44 into covenant relationship with Him, 04:47 and we surrender to Him, our fears, our sin, 04:51 our twisted notion of right and wrong. 04:54 We give him our hearts in faith and in obedience. 04:59 Although, the Bible speaks of covenants in the plural, 05:02 I believe there's only one basic covenant of salvation 05:06 found throughout history. 05:08 The blessings and salvation of God 05:11 are given by God. 05:12 It's not earned by us. 05:14 We respond in that faith and obedience. 05:17 And the heart of all is God's steadfast love. 05:22 The plural covenants, as you could call them plural, 05:25 simply means that God advances His saving purpose 05:29 by restating His covenant 05:32 in various ways to meet the needs of the people 05:35 in different times and in different settings. 05:39 So we are going to study this entire quarter, 05:42 the different covenants, 05:43 we're going to start with the Adamic covenant, 05:45 and we see that established in Eden with Adam, 05:48 and of course, Christ, 05:49 the seed who would conquer the evil one, 05:52 we see the Noahic covenant established with Noah 05:55 and we see, of course, the promise of the rainbow. 05:58 We see the Abrahamic covenant established with Abraham. 06:02 And through his seed, we could say, in particular, 06:05 one seed that's the Lord Jesus Christ, 06:08 the entire world would be blessed. 06:10 We see the sign of that covenant 06:12 being circumcision, 06:14 the sign of circumcision showing showcasing the fact 06:18 that God had already brought His people 06:21 into right relationship with Him. 06:24 We see the Sinaitic covenant established at Mount Sinai, 06:28 the law and specifically the Sabbath 06:31 given in the context 06:32 of redemption bond from that bondage in Egypt. 06:36 And we see the sacrificial system 06:38 and the promises for atonement and forgiveness of sins. 06:42 And we see, of course, the new covenant, 06:44 which is first introduced in Jeremiah 31. 06:48 As the children of Israel's 06:49 breaking of the Sinaitic covenant, 06:52 brought them into exile. 06:53 So the renewal of the covenant would preserve them 06:57 and be their hope for the future. 07:00 Lesson number one, we look at what happened, 07:03 the perfect world that God created, 07:07 and how sin entered that world. 07:09 And God's designed 07:11 to bring that world back to Himself 07:14 through the plan of redemption. 07:16 Our memory text is Genesis 1:26-27. 07:21 "Then God said, 07:22 'Let Us make humankind in our image, 07:26 according to our likeness. 07:28 So God created them in His image, 07:30 in the image of God He created them, 07:32 male and female He created them." 07:36 Sunday's lesson is called 07:38 "Turtles All The Way Down, " 07:39 which is kind of a funny title. 07:41 And it comes, Pastor John, 07:42 from interesting story that the lesson began with. 07:46 There was a scientist 07:48 who was lecturing on the orbit of the planets around the sun, 07:51 and the orbit of the sun 07:52 around the center of the galaxy. 07:55 And an old lady stood up in tennis shoes, 07:57 and she said, 07:58 "The earth is nothing but a flat disk 08:00 sitting on the back of a turtle. 08:02 And the scientists said, 08:03 "Well, what does that turtle sit on?" 08:05 And the lady said, 08:07 "Another turtle." 08:08 And the scientist said, 08:10 "Well, what does that turtle sit on?" 08:11 And the lady said, "Another turtle." 08:13 And the scientist got ready to say, 08:15 "Wait a minute, 08:16 now what is that turtle sitting on?" 08:17 And the old lady stood up 08:19 and she wagged her finger in the scientists face, 08:20 and she said, 08:22 "Save your breath, son, it's turtles all the way down." 08:25 So as we look at the origin of the universe, 08:30 I have three questions. 08:32 Question number one, how did we get here? 08:34 Question number two, why are we here? 08:39 And number three, where are we going? 08:41 These are the three pivotal questions in life. 08:44 How did we get here? 08:46 What's my purpose or why am I here 08:49 and where am I going? 08:51 For how did we get here, 08:52 the first question we go to Genesis 1:1, 08:55 "In the beginning, 08:56 God created the heavens and the earth." 09:00 The existence of God is simply assumed, 09:04 no explanation for His existence is given, 09:06 no reason is given for His origin. 09:09 God is, you could say, a given. 09:11 In the beginning, God created, 09:14 that word created in Hebrew bara. 09:17 The verb is used only when God is the subject, 09:20 and it's always linked to divine creative activity. 09:25 Here it's used of God's ability 09:27 to create something out of nothing. 09:31 In the beginning, God, in contrast to atheism, 09:35 created alone in contrast to polytheism, 09:39 rules over creation, in contrast to pantheism, 09:44 matter had a beginning, in contrast to materialism, 09:48 and the ultimate reality is God and not humanity. 09:52 That's how did we get here, God created this world, 09:56 and us and everything that's in it. 10:00 But why are we here? 10:01 Can life have a purpose besides just survival 10:05 or besides just procreation? 10:08 Or besides just the search the endless search for wealth 10:13 or for happiness, 10:14 maybe self-development, influence, wisdom? 10:17 What is the purpose of life? 10:19 In my remaining time, 10:20 I want to give you seven purposes of life 10:22 that I find from the Word of God. 10:25 Purpose number one. 10:27 We are here because 10:28 God wants to live in relationship with us. 10:32 He wants to live in relationship with us. 10:34 Psalm 100:3, 10:36 "Know that the Lord He is God." 10:40 God is known as opposed to being hidden. 10:44 It is He who has made us and not we ourselves. 10:47 God is our Creator as opposed to synthetic life, 10:51 or scientists attempting to create life. 10:56 We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. 11:00 God calls you and I to live 11:03 in covenant relationship with Him. 11:05 We are His people. 11:07 So the first purpose in life is we are here 11:10 because God wants to live in relationship with us. 11:13 The second person, purpose, 11:15 we are here to bring glory to God. 11:18 1 Corinthians 10:31, 11:20 "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, 11:22 do all to the glory of God." 11:25 We are not here to get rich. 11:27 We are not here to please ourselves. 11:30 We are not here to do our own thing. 11:32 We are here to bring glory to God. 11:35 Purpose number three, 11:36 we are here to love one another. 11:40 John 13:34-35. 11:43 "A new commandment I give to you, 11:45 that you love one another as I have loved you, 11:48 that you also love one another. 11:51 By this all will know that you are My disciples, 11:53 if you have love one for another." 11:58 We are here to love one another. 12:01 Purpose number four, 12:02 we are here to be His witness. 12:05 1 Peter 2:9-10. 12:07 I love this scripture. 12:09 "But you are a chosen generation, 12:12 a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 12:14 God's own special people." 12:16 And why are we called? Why are we chosen? 12:19 Why are we set apart? 12:21 That we would proclaim the praises of Him 12:23 who called us out of darkness into His marvelous life. 12:26 Have you been in darkness? 12:28 Have you walked away from Jesus? 12:30 Have you experienced what that is like? 12:32 Your purpose is to show forth His praises to be His witness. 12:38 Purpose number five, 12:39 we are here to live and walk in unity, 12:43 the same unity as exemplified by the Father, Son 12:46 and Holy Spirit. 12:47 John 17:21, 12:50 "That they Jesus is praying that they all may be one, 12:53 as You Father are in Me and I in You, 12:56 that they may be one in Us 12:57 that the world may believe and know that You sent Me." 13:02 Purpose number six, 13:03 we are here to bear fruit for His glory. 13:07 Colossians 1:10, 13:08 "That you would walk worthy of the Lord, 13:11 fully pleasing Him 13:12 being fruitful in every good work, 13:14 and increasing in the knowledge of God." 13:17 And finally, purpose number seven, 13:19 we are here to make disciples for Him. 13:21 Matthew 28, 13:23 "All authority has been given Me 13:25 in heaven and earth, 13:26 go therefore and make disciples." 13:28 So how did we get here? 13:30 We got here because in the beginning, 13:31 God created us. 13:33 Why are we here? 13:35 We are here because 13:36 He wants to live in relationship with us. 13:38 And we are here to bring glory to Him 13:40 and to love one another and to be His witnesses 13:43 to walk and live in unity, 13:45 to bear fruit for His glory, and to make disciples for Him. 13:49 And finally, where are we going? 13:52 For that we go to the Book of Revelation 21, 13:54 "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, 13:57 for the first heaven 13:58 and the first earth passed away." 14:00 There was no more sea and God dwells with us. 14:03 We are going to an eternal home. 14:05 And I definitely want to be there. 14:07 Amen. 14:09 Thank you, Jill. 14:11 Tell you, when you get started, 14:13 you keep it going, praise God for that. 14:15 Thank you, Jill, 14:16 for that introduction to a new quarter. 14:19 And what just happened 14:20 I think is a good way I could ask the question. 14:23 Praise the Lord for what just happened. 14:25 God can use each one of us to reflect His glory. 14:29 And that is a covenant that He wants to keep, 14:32 we want to reflect His glory. 14:33 Mine is Monday in the image of the maker. 14:37 Now we live in a world that loves to make images. 14:40 Hollywood actors are become images 14:43 to those who are striving to be like them. 14:45 Musicians become images 14:47 to those who can or cannot sing. 14:50 You find on social media many people 14:52 that are wanting to sing that song 14:54 like their famous singer 14:56 or perform like their famous performer 14:59 or to be in some way 15:00 we buy the jersey 15:02 of our favorite basketball player, 15:03 or we wear the shoes of our favorite designer. 15:07 Everyone wants to perform in some way to communicate that 15:10 I am in some way 15:12 just like the person that I admire, 15:13 I want to be that person's image. 15:15 But the beautiful story is, in Genesis 1:27. 15:19 And Jill brought this out, but I want to go back. 15:22 It says in the Bible, 15:24 that God intended from the very beginning 15:26 for every one of us 15:27 to be a reflection of His image. 15:30 And the world has since that time, 15:32 tried to lower the bar, 15:34 and cause finite and mortal men 15:37 to replace the infinite and the immortal God. 15:39 The Lord said, 15:40 "So God created man in his own image, 15:43 in the image of God He created him, 15:46 male and female He created them." 15:49 And then the writer, 15:51 Dr. Gerhard Hasel poses the question, 15:53 what does it mean that 15:55 God created us in His own image. 15:57 And I liked the way that he put this, 15:59 I want to just go ahead and communicate what he said. 16:00 He said, Adam was created in the image of God. 16:04 He had a perfectly developed... 16:06 He was a perfectly developed organism. 16:09 And that word organism 16:10 doesn't mean an amoeba or paramecium. 16:12 But when Adam was made 16:13 to communicate what that meant was, 16:15 when Adam was questioned about the animals, 16:18 no one told Adam what the animals were, 16:21 he instantly knew what every animal was. 16:24 What is that? That's an elephant. 16:25 What's that? That's a giraffe. 16:27 What's that? That's a lion. 16:28 What's that? That's a cat. 16:29 God created Adam with perfect, a perfect database 16:33 of everything that surrounded him. 16:35 All his faculties were harmonious, 16:38 harmonious with whom? 16:40 With God. 16:42 In all his emotions, words and actions, 16:45 there was a perfect conformity to the will of His maker. 16:51 However, there was an asterisk. 16:53 There were some conditions 16:54 to this continued covenant to reflect the image of God, 16:57 because many of us 16:59 don't understand about Romans 6:23. 17:01 The Apostle Paul mentions this thousands of years after 17:06 the Garden of Eden incident, 17:08 but this was true in the Garden of Eden. 17:11 Notice what the Bible says, 17:13 "For the wages of sin is death, 17:15 but the gift of God is eternal life 17:17 in Christ Jesus, our Lord." 17:19 Adam was not created immortal. 17:23 Immortality was to be imparted to him 17:26 on condition of obedience. 17:28 You see the covenant of God is never a covenant 17:31 without a requirement of obedience. 17:34 God's covenant, although kept by Him, 17:37 requires something on our part, as is the case, 17:40 you know, when you buy a car or buy a home, 17:42 you signed the contract 17:43 and I'm sure many of us never read 17:45 the fine print. 17:47 But whenever we violate the contract, 17:49 we are reminded in the fine print 17:51 of our obligation. 17:52 In the very same way, 17:54 God gave Adam conditions 17:57 that this reflection of his image would continue, 18:00 but it was based on the foundation of obedience. 18:03 Genesis 2:16-17. 18:06 "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, 18:08 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, 18:12 but of the tree of the knowledge 18:14 of good and evil 18:15 you shall not eat, 18:17 for in the day that you eat of it 18:19 you shall surely die." 18:23 So God put man in the garden, 18:25 and then God gave Adam a helpmeet. 18:29 Now, I want to say to the men not to help meet bills, 18:32 or help meet expenses, 18:34 but for both of them in a harmonious unity 18:37 to reflect the character of God. 18:39 And as one writer said, God gave His maleness to Adam, 18:43 and His femaleness to Eve. 18:45 So when Adam and Eve came together, 18:47 they completed the image of God on the human race. 18:50 That's why the Lord said, 18:51 "It's not good that man should be alone." 18:53 Adam, was created in the image of God, 18:56 but God wanted to enhance that image, 18:59 not that there's anything wrong with His image, 19:01 but He knew that in creation, 19:03 if there was not a counterpart to Adam, 19:05 then his image would not be complete. 19:07 Now, follow that carefully. 19:08 That is why today, 19:10 and I'm going to say this in complete respect, 19:12 when man unites with man, 19:14 and woman unites with woman, 19:15 it does not complete the image of God 19:17 on the human race. 19:18 The image of God was to be completed 19:20 only on the foundation that 19:22 Adam was to be united with his counterpart, 19:25 one opposite to him, yet equal in the eyes of God. 19:28 That's why the Lord took Eve from His rib to be by aside, 19:31 not a bone from his head nor a bone from his foot 19:34 to be trampled on 19:35 or to dominate Adam's leadership. 19:37 But notice what the Bible says in Genesis 3:22-24. 19:41 "Then God said," 19:43 after Adam sinned, 19:44 "'Behold, the man has become like one of Us, 19:47 to know good and evil. 19:49 And now, lest he put out his hand 19:51 and take also of the tree of life, and eat, 19:53 and live forever, 19:54 therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden 19:57 to till the ground from which he was taken. 20:00 So He drove out the man; 20:01 and He placed cherubim 20:03 at the east of the Garden of Eden, 20:06 and a flaming sword which turned every way, 20:09 to guard the way of the tree of life." 20:12 Why would he do that? 20:14 Because if Adam or his wife Eve partook of the tree, 20:17 the only way that they were preserved 20:20 on a continuous basis 20:21 was from the tree of life, 20:22 once again, showing that 20:24 they were not naturally immortal. 20:26 If they were naturally immortal, 20:28 then sin could not even bring them to an end. 20:31 So God gave them mortality, 20:34 only to give them the gift of God's eternal life 20:37 in Christ Jesus our Lord, 20:38 only to give this to them, 20:40 if they were continually obedient. 20:43 1 Timothy 6:15-16 emphasizes where immortality exists. 20:49 Speaking about Christ, 20:51 which He will manifest in His own time, 20:53 He who is the blessed and only Potentate, 20:56 the King of kings and Lord of lords, 20:58 who alone has immortality, 21:01 dwelling in unapproachable light, 21:03 whom no man has seen or can see, 21:05 to whom be honor and everlasting power. 21:08 Amen." 21:10 And as the writer points out in the lesson, 21:12 although we speak of God on human terms, 21:14 we must never forget that God is spiritual. 21:18 God is a spirit, 21:19 and those who worship God as John 4:24 says, 21:22 must worship Him in spirit and in truth. 21:25 Another component of the covenant 21:26 is worship. 21:28 Worship cannot be excluded from the covenant. 21:31 God has not called us to occupy space. 21:33 That's why worship was the aim 21:35 and still is the aim today that Satan wants to usurp, 21:38 because worship is a part of the covenant. 21:40 The covenant can only go on, as worship continues, 21:44 and when I say only go on in our lives, 21:46 and affect us only on the basis 21:48 that we continue worshiping God in spirit and in truth. 21:53 God is spiritual, 21:54 but because of sin, 21:56 we have to develop also spirituality. 21:58 It is not a natural thing. 22:00 Look at 1 Corinthians 2:14, look what the Bible says. 22:04 "But the natural man 22:05 does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, 22:08 for they are foolishness to him, 22:10 nor can he know them, 22:12 because they are spiritually discerned." 22:15 Now, according to the Genesis account, 22:17 did the Lord make anything else in His own image 22:21 other than humankind? 22:23 And the answer is no, 22:24 everything else was called into creation, 22:26 which says to me, 22:28 that God had a plan for man far above that of the amoeba, 22:34 the paramecium, the alligator, 22:36 and away with this ideology 22:38 that we are some kind of 22:39 metamorphosized descendants of an ape 22:42 or some kind of alligator that crawled out of a cesspool, 22:45 somewhere and developed legs. 22:47 No, God called us 22:49 to reflect His image continually. 22:51 That's why I like 1 John 3:1-2. 22:54 Notice what the Bible says. 22:55 And this is not anything that an animal can proclaim. 22:58 The image of God can only be reflected 23:01 in those who are made after the similar to the God. 23:05 And when that image was broken, 23:07 the covenant of God promised that 23:10 if we are obedient, 23:12 the image of God 23:13 would be replicated in us again. 23:15 Here it is. 23:17 "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, 23:19 that we should be called children of God! 23:22 Therefore the world does not know us," 23:24 why? 23:25 "Because it did not know Him." 23:27 This is beautiful, 23:28 "Beloved, now we are children of God," 23:32 back to the original standing, 23:35 "and it has not yet been revealed 23:37 what we shall be, " 23:38 but here's where the covenant 23:40 "that God made will be fulfilled in eternity, 23:43 but we know that when He is revealed, 23:46 we shall be like Him, 23:48 for we shall see Him as He is." 23:52 The image that Adam marred because of sin 23:54 will one day be completely restored, 23:57 and we shall be like the God of the covenant, 24:00 for one day we will be able to see Him 24:02 as He is in all of His glory. 24:05 Because finally, as human beings, 24:07 we will also reflect that immortal glory. 24:10 Amen. Amen. 24:12 Thank you so much, Pastor John. 24:14 Incredible, that restoration of that image of God. 24:16 Amen. 24:18 We're going to take a short break, 24:19 we'll be right back. 24:25 Ever wish you could watch 24:26 a 3ABN Sabbath School Panel again, 24:28 or share it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? 24:31 Well, you can by visiting 3abnsabbathschoolpanel.com. 24:36 A clean design makes it easy 24:39 to find the program you're looking for. 24:41 There are also links to the Adult Bible Study Guide 24:44 so you can follow along. 24:46 Sharing is easy. 24:47 Just click share and choose your favorite social media. 24:51 Share a link, save a life for eternity. 24:55 Welcome back to our study what happened, 24:57 that is the title of our lesson here, 25:00 lesson number one on God's covenant. 25:02 We're going to pick it up with Tuesday's lesson 25:04 and Pastor Ryan Day. 25:05 Amen. Praise the Lord. 25:07 I do have Tuesday's lesson, 25:08 and it's entitled 25:10 "God and Humankind Together." 25:13 And there's so much here to cover, 25:15 I hope I have time to do it. 25:18 But I want to go directly to the scripture here, 25:20 Pastor done a wonderful job 25:23 on expounding 25:24 on how we were made in the image of God 25:26 from Genesis 1:27. 25:29 Today's lesson, Tuesday's lesson, 25:31 of course, has, has us going into Genesis 1:28-29. 25:37 So let's go ahead and go there and read that. 25:39 And this is those texts that you usually have, 25:41 that you've kind of just read through, 25:43 you just kind of skim through it, 25:45 because it seems like it's not much information 25:47 or much substance there. 25:49 But I'm going to argue 25:50 for the sake of the conversation 25:51 of the covenant 25:53 that there is lots of information here 25:54 that is very helpful and understanding further 25:57 the depth of the covenant, 25:59 this covenant relationship that we have with the Lord. 26:01 And so I'm going to read here, Genesis 1:28-29. 26:05 Notice what the Bible says. 26:06 It says, 26:07 "Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 26:10 'Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, 26:14 have dominion over the fish of the sea, 26:17 over the birds of the air, and over every living thing 26:20 that moves on the earth.'" 26:23 Verse 29 says, 26:24 "And God said, 26:26 'See, I have given you every herb that yields seed 26:28 which is on the face of all the earth, 26:31 and every tree whose fruit yields seed, 26:34 to you it shall be for food." 26:38 Now there's several lessons 26:40 within just these couple of verses here, 26:42 of much of which we're not going to be able 26:44 to get into for the sake of time, 26:45 but we're talking about the covenant. 26:47 How does these two verses 26:49 and the information that we find here 26:51 relate to the covenant? 26:53 Well, I kind of break it down into sections 26:55 to help us to kind of dissect it 26:57 and compare it and connect it to this covenant relationship 27:01 that God wants to establish with man. 27:02 So He's just created man in His image. 27:06 He says it was very good, right? 27:08 And now they're created, He has breathed into Adam, 27:12 the breath of life, He's now created Eve. 27:15 And notice what it first says here, it says, 27:17 "And God blessed them." 27:19 The very first thing that God did to His creation, 27:23 in this case, mankind is that He blessed them. 27:26 And that's awesome. 27:27 The fact that, you know, He just breathes, you know, 27:29 He breathes into Adam, Adam wakes up, 27:31 of course, there's some time later, 27:33 of course, we know that 27:34 He makes Adam fall back asleep, 27:36 He pulls the rib, He creates Adam and Eve. 27:38 But then the very first thing He does to them together, 27:41 once they're together, He blesses them. 27:44 And I love that because it draws my attention 27:47 back to the fact that God wants to bless us. 27:49 He doesn't want to withhold a blessing from us, 27:51 He wants us to be blessed. 27:53 And my mind went to Numbers Chapter 6, 27:55 that, of course, we're skipping forward 27:57 just a little bit here for the sake of illustration, 28:00 in the sense that, 28:01 you know, we see a record all the way through scripture 28:03 where God is always blessing His people. 28:05 He wants to bestow 28:06 a blessing upon His chosen people. 28:08 And we see this even with Israel as a nation, 28:11 when He called His people 28:12 into covenant relationship with them. 28:14 One of the first things He did is 28:16 He drawn Moses, Aaron together, 28:17 He said, Moses, tell Aaron, 28:19 that these are the words 28:20 that He ought to have to bestow upon the people 28:22 as a blessing upon them. 28:24 And so we see this in Numbers 6:22-27. 28:27 Of course, we've read this many times, 28:28 we've heard this many times 28:30 in sermons or at the end of a sermon. 28:32 It says this very clearly, Numbers 6:22-27. 28:36 It says, 28:37 "And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, 28:39 'Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, that 28:40 'This is the way 28:42 which you shall bless the children of Israel. 28:43 Saying to them: 28:45 'The Lord bless you and keep you, 28:47 the Lord make His face shine upon you, 28:50 and be gracious to you, 28:52 the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, 28:55 and give you peace. 28:57 So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, 29:00 and I will bless them." 29:02 And this is the perpetual message 29:05 all throughout the Bible, 29:06 a God desiring to draw close to His people 29:09 to bless them, 29:10 because He indeed wants us to be happy. 29:12 He wants us to have good things, 29:13 He wants us indeed to be blessed. 29:16 In fact, it reminds me of that beautiful scripture 29:18 in 1 John 4:19, 29:20 that, you know, we love Him because He first loved us. 29:24 In this case, we bless God because He first blessed us. 29:28 So I just wanted to highlight that 29:30 because it starts off with God bless them, 29:31 but then notice 29:33 what the next part of verse 28 says. 29:35 It says that he told them, 29:37 "Be fruitful and multiply, 29:39 fill the earth and subdue it." 29:41 Now there's, 29:42 I'm going to spend the bulk of my time on this one 29:43 because it's just has something beautiful here. 29:46 Many people are going to read that text and go, 29:48 oh, you know, God told him to just go 29:49 make a bunch of little babies, 29:51 you know, just go out there and be fruitful and multiply 29:53 and make a bunch of little babies. 29:54 But I believe that there are two main reasons 29:55 why God gave this command. 29:57 In fact, this is the very first command 29:58 God gave them 30:00 and it's interesting, 30:01 I'm going to give you the first one 30:03 that I think is an awesome point to make. 30:04 And then the second one, 30:05 we're going to expound a little bit deeper in. 30:07 And so I found this quote 30:08 from the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, 30:10 volume one, page 1082. 30:12 And this kind of explains one of the reasons 30:14 why God immediately told them, 30:16 "Hey, go be fruitful and multiply." 30:18 In other words, go make others, 30:19 go and make others like yourself. 30:22 Notice what it says here. 30:23 God, again this comes 30:24 from Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, 30:26 volume one, page 1082. 30:28 God created man for His own glory, 30:31 that after test and trial, 30:34 the human family might become 30:35 one with the heavenly family, okay. 30:39 It was God's purpose to repopulate heaven 30:43 with the human family. 30:44 So I love that the fact that God created mankind 30:47 because again, the fall in heaven, 30:48 Lucifer, the angels, the war in heaven, 30:50 God had to basically banish Lucifer 30:52 and those fallen angels, 30:54 where He wanted to repopulate heaven. 30:55 And so, of course, mankind fit into that plan. 30:58 So that's one reason why God said, 31:00 "Look, go out there and make some others, right? 31:01 Be fruitful and multiply." 31:03 His plan is to repopulate heaven 31:05 with good people. 31:07 But then I'm going to submit something 31:08 for the purpose of covenant conversation, 31:10 that God also told them 31:12 to be fruitful and multiply for another reason. 31:15 Consider the fact that Adam and Eve was created 31:18 in the image of God. 31:19 Okay. 31:21 And, Pastor, you did a beautiful job 31:22 expounding on that. 31:23 I want to take it just a little step further here. 31:25 The Bible says that God is love. 31:29 Not that He's just mere loving, 31:31 describing an action or something that He expresses 31:34 which we know God is that. 31:35 But He's much more than that. 31:36 The very principle of His character 31:38 is that God is love. 31:40 And we have a beautiful description 31:42 of what love is in principle and in character. 31:44 If you go over to 1 Corinthians 13 31:47 and we read that beautiful passages there 31:49 where it describes love, 31:50 you know, love suffers long and is kind. 31:51 Love does not envy, love does not parade itself, 31:54 is not puffed up, it does not behave rudely, 31:57 but right in the midst of that beautiful message there 31:59 in 1 Corinthians 13, 32:01 something catches my eye here. 32:03 Love does not seek its own. 32:07 Love does not seek its own. 32:09 God does not seek His own. 32:11 In other words, God is giving. 32:15 He's not self-centered. 32:17 The very nature, the very character of God 32:19 is that He prefers others, He puts others before Himself. 32:22 For God so loved the world that He gave, right? 32:26 And I love this, we see that in true biblical godly love, 32:30 we see an others centeredness. 32:32 Amen. 32:34 Okay, so we're getting the point here, 32:35 be fruitful and multiply. 32:36 Okay, there's a reason, 32:38 I believe another reason why God gave that command. 32:40 You see, Paul often uses the phrase in his writings 32:42 that Jesus gave Himself, right? 32:46 Husbands love your wives 32:47 just as Christ also loved the church 32:48 and He gave Himself for her. 32:50 Again, this others centeredness. 32:53 So definitionally, if you are going to have love, 32:57 then you need more than one. 33:00 And I'm going to submit to you 33:01 and I love this quote, I'm about to read here, 33:03 not just more than one, more than two. 33:04 Okay, notice this. 33:06 Ty Gibson, I brought this quote from Ty Gibson, 33:08 I think it's beautifully described here. 33:10 And I think it's based on fundamental biblical principle. 33:13 This is this from a God named desire. 33:14 He said, three is the essential numeric value of love. 33:18 Whether there is only one person love 33:19 cannot occur. 33:22 Where there are two, 33:23 each is of the sole recipient of the other's attention, 33:26 giving place for self-absorption. 33:28 But the moment there are three, each recipient, 33:32 each recipient of one's love 33:33 much must also humbly defer attention to the third party, 33:36 and each one is the third party to the other two. 33:40 Pure selflessness 33:41 can now occur by virtue of the fact 33:43 that each one must love and be loved 33:45 with both an exclusive and a divided interest. 33:49 So what we see that our God is triune, right? 33:51 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that's a family. 33:54 So when God created Adam and Eve, 33:55 what did He do? 33:57 What was His first command? 33:58 Go make another, 34:00 go make another just like yourself. 34:01 I love that 34:02 because it shows 34:04 that when God did indeed create Him in His image, 34:05 He created a family, 34:07 it was His purpose that they have a family. 34:10 We go on to see that God said, 34:11 have dominion over the fish of the sea, 34:13 over the birds of the air, 34:14 and over every living thing that moves up on the earth, 34:17 okay? 34:18 And God even went on to say, 34:19 "See that I've given you every herb that you'll see them 34:21 which is on all the face upon the earth, 34:23 and every tree whose fruit's yield see to you 34:26 It shall be for food." 34:28 What we're seeing here is God 34:30 is basically showing His love by gifting the earth 34:34 and its creatures and everything on it, 34:36 the food He gives, 34:37 He gifts the perfect garden diet to them 34:40 all for the purpose of establishing 34:42 covenant relationship with them. 34:44 This is basically stewardship one on one. 34:47 God creates it and He says, 34:49 "Look, I created it. 34:50 It's mine, but I'm giving it to you. 34:51 It's all yours. 34:53 I loved you. I've blessed you. 34:54 I've created you in my image. 34:56 All of this is for you." 34:59 God puts Himself out there, 35:00 He makes, He puts Himself out there for man 35:03 to show them that He indeed loves them. 35:05 And now we're going to find out that that covenant, 35:06 we need to reciprocate that. 35:08 And that's what we're going to learn 35:09 throughout these lessons. 35:11 Amen. Thank you, Ryan. 35:12 Amen. 35:13 Amen and amen. 35:15 So we have here 35:16 the continuation into Wednesday, 35:19 which is, the title for this part is 35:21 "At the Tree." 35:24 You know, as Pastor Ryan was talking, 35:26 I was reminded of a quote from, 35:29 I believe it's the book Education by Ellen G. White, 35:31 where it says that it was God's ideal 35:35 that as the longer a man lived, 35:38 the more fully 35:39 will he reflect the Creator's glory, 35:41 the character of God. 35:43 And so this relationship was essential 35:46 to maintain this relationship with God. 35:48 And so as we move into Wednesday's lesson, 35:52 we go into two specific scriptures 35:55 that are Genesis 2:16-17. 35:59 But this will be our focus. 36:01 But I want to start in Genesis 2:7-9, 36:04 because I want to set up a foundation here. 36:06 And it says, 36:08 "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, 36:11 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, 36:14 and man became a living soul." 36:17 So we have here from the beginning, 36:18 that not only is man created in the image of God, 36:21 but he has the very breath of God in him. 36:24 "And the Lord God planted a garden 36:26 eastward in Eden, 36:27 and there He put the man whom He had formed. 36:29 And out of the ground made the Lord God 36:32 to grow every tree 36:34 that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, 36:38 the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, 36:40 and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." 36:44 So we have here this, 36:46 this foundation for Adam and Eve 36:48 to follow that, 36:49 God bless them with hundreds, 36:51 I don't know, thousands of trees. 36:53 And remember, 36:55 there's a scripture that reveals that 36:57 everything that God made was very good. 36:59 Genesis 1:31, 37:00 "And God saw everything that He had made, 37:03 and behold, it was very good. 37:07 And the evening and the morning, 37:09 were the sixth day." 37:10 So everything was very good, 37:11 including the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 37:15 It was not a bad tree, it was a good tree. 37:19 It was just the God said, 37:21 "Don't eat of that particular tree." 37:23 So when we look at Genesis 2:15, 37:28 notice what it says here, 37:30 then we already had a little repeating of this 37:32 in Genesis 2:7-9, 37:34 "Then the Lord God took the man 37:36 and put him in the Garden of Eden, 37:38 to tend and to keep it." 37:40 So this garden 37:41 God made a special home for Adam and Eve. 37:44 And this, this shows the relationship they had 37:48 showed him all the trees of the garden. 37:50 And now let's move to verse 16. 37:52 "And the Lord God commanded the man saying, 37:55 'Of every tree of the garden, you may freely eat, 38:01 but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, 38:04 you shall not eat, 38:05 for in the day that you eat of it, 38:07 you shall surely die." 38:09 So we have here, 38:11 the scriptures that revealed to Adam and Eve 38:13 that there was just one thing they could not do, 38:16 one tree that they could not eat. 38:18 And I can imagine having Adam and Eve talking, 38:21 can you believe it, we can eat all these trees, 38:24 so many trees, 38:26 they could live for a long time 38:28 without having to repeat their meal. 38:32 You know, I remember we had a dog 38:33 and this dog made me laugh, 38:35 because I will give the dog food, 38:38 we buy a bag of food, 38:40 and I will bring the food to the dog 38:41 and I will just after, 38:43 after a while of eating this for five, six days. 38:46 He just, I felt bad for the dog 38:48 because he will look at the food 38:50 and look at me like I had this yesterday, 38:54 the day before. 38:56 Don't you have anything else, you know it's like... 38:58 But Adam and Eve had a variety 38:59 just like we have a variety today. 39:01 But their variety was greater 39:02 because sin has affected the earth. 39:04 Now, remember that God commanded them saying, 39:08 "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat." 39:10 God gave Adam and Eve 39:11 the blessing of freedom of choice. 39:15 They were not robots to do, 39:17 "Yes, Lord I'll do this, yes." 39:19 No, they were given the privilege to choose. 39:23 This is why they say you may freely eat. 39:27 They had a choice. 39:28 And I would like to bring us some scripture 39:30 that is very similar to this 39:31 in the Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 30. 39:34 I'm going to read verses 11-15 39:38 because it reveals something 39:40 concerning the people of Israel 39:41 it's very similar to 39:43 or you can say that what God said to Adam and Eve. 39:45 Notice, beginning Deuteronomy 30, 39:48 beginning in verse 11, 39:49 "For this commandment 39:51 which I command you today 39:52 is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 39:57 It is not in heaven, that you should say, 39:59 'Who will ascend into heaven for us 40:01 and bring it to us, 40:02 that we may hear it and do it?' 40:05 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 40:07 'Who will go over the sea for us 40:09 and bring it to us, 40:10 that we may hear it and do it?' 40:12 But the word is very near you, 40:14 in your mouth and in your heart, 40:16 that you may do it. 40:18 See, I have set before thee 40:21 this day life and good, death and evil." 40:24 It was not something out of this world 40:26 that Adam and Eve were asked to do. 40:28 They were asked, 40:30 "Don't eat of this particular tree." 40:32 In this you see God's great love for them. 40:35 Because He is saying to them, 40:37 "If you love Me, keep My commandments." 40:40 And it was not difficult. 40:42 It was not hard. 40:43 It was not something 40:45 that was crushing them their life out. 40:48 You know, oh no, we can't eat of that tree. 40:50 There is that tree again. 40:51 Oh, no, again, no, they had so many choices to, 40:55 so many things to choose from. 40:56 And I would say that their love for their Creator, 41:01 made them obey. 41:03 They were moved to obey the Creator. 41:06 When you know God, 41:08 and you see all that He has done for you, 41:11 your love for Him grows. 41:12 This is why it's very important for us to read the scriptures, 41:15 become acquainted with God. 41:17 Because as we spend time with God, 41:18 we will love Him more. 41:20 And Adam and Eve had the privilege 41:21 of spending time with God. 41:23 Now, let's go back 41:25 to the consequences of disobedience 41:27 which is death. 41:30 Genesis 2:17, I'll read that again. 41:32 But the tree of knowledge of good and evil 41:34 you shall not eat, 41:36 for in the day that you eat of it, 41:39 you shall surely die." 41:42 And this, this scripture, 41:45 this message from the Lord 41:48 led them to understand that their freedom will be gone, 41:53 their joy will be gone, 41:54 their happiness would be gone. 41:58 And, of course, 42:00 the Bible declares in the Book of Romans, 42:03 that one, by one man's disobedience 42:05 death came upon all. 42:08 Not only is it talking here about the first death, 42:11 but there's also the death that the Bible says 42:14 that was in Romans 6:23, for the wages of sin is death. 42:19 Eventually, 42:21 the gift that God gave to Adam and Eve 42:24 would be taken from them, and that is life. 42:27 And instead of life, they would have death. 42:31 Now this tree of knowledge of good and evil, 42:35 is not that it was a tree that was evil, 42:41 it's that the tree, 42:43 by taking off the tree, 42:45 you will have a knowledge of sin 42:47 and a knowledge of sin 42:49 will bring them unnecessary suffering. 42:53 The knowledge that God did not want 42:55 our first parents to have is the knowledge of guilt. 42:59 And we all know 43:02 that guilt is something that is not good to have. 43:06 Nobody likes to, nobody likes it. 43:08 But sin created the problem 43:11 that brought this world in the condition that is in. 43:14 You're going to hear more about this in a moment. 43:16 So Adam and Eve were given the choice, 43:20 the choice to have life 43:22 by continuing in obedience to God, 43:24 if you love Me, keep My commandments. 43:26 In essence, God was saying this to them, 43:28 I want to share with you 43:31 what, what we have here in the choices 43:37 that they have, they were given. 43:40 Moses when he was talking to the people of Israel, 43:43 he said this to them in Genesis Chapter, 43:47 in Deuteronomy Chapter 30. 43:48 Notice what he says in verse 19 and 20, 43:51 "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, 43:56 that I have set before you life and death, 43:59 blessing and cursing: 44:02 therefore choose life, 44:03 that both thou and thy seed may live, 44:06 that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, 44:10 and that thou mayest obey his voice, 44:13 and that thou mayest cleave unto him: 44:15 for he is thy life, 44:18 and the length of thy days: 44:19 that thou mayest dwell in the land 44:21 which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, 44:24 to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." 44:27 So before Adam and Eve was life, 44:32 and before Adam and Eve was also death. 44:36 They were to choose life if they chose life, it says, 44:40 that thou mayest love thy God, 44:43 and that you may obey His voice, 44:45 and that you may cleave to God 44:46 and in cleaving to that 44:48 in maintaining that relationship with God, 44:50 that would be their life. 44:52 So for you and for I, we also have a choice. 44:56 We have a choice to choose life through Jesus Christ. 45:00 And it is wonderful 45:01 that God gave His only begotten Son, 45:04 that whoever believes in Him will not perish, 45:07 but have everlasting life. 45:08 Before you is life and death, 45:11 choose life, choose Jesus Christ. 45:13 Amen. 45:15 Thank you, Johnny. 45:16 That was, whoops, I've got a two part mask here. 45:20 I have Thursday's lesson, 45:22 "Breaking the Relationship." 45:26 This is rather sad. 45:28 Let's begin with Genesis Chapter 3. 45:32 Genesis 3:1. 45:34 "Now the serpent was more cunning 45:36 than any beast of the field 45:38 which the Lord God had made. 45:40 And he said to the woman, 45:42 "Has God indeed said, 45:46 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?' " 45:49 So here, in my mind, I see, 45:53 Eve is walking through the garden, 45:55 just taken her little walk, 45:57 and she stops and she's gazing in curiosity, 46:00 on the only tree that is prohibited. 46:05 And she sees this fascinating creature 46:08 at the serpent. 46:10 And you know, 46:11 he wasn't slithering on his belly 46:13 before the curves. 46:14 Actually, in Ezekiel 28, 46:17 it talks of Satan having a dazzling beauty 46:21 when he was in heaven. 46:23 So now this serpent is Satan. 46:26 And let me prove that to you, 46:28 because both Paul and John describe him as Satan. 46:32 And we know that Satan can disguise himself 46:36 as an angel of light. 46:38 In Revelation 12:9 46:42 and Revelation 20:2, 46:45 John writes, 46:46 "The dragon, that serpent of old, " 46:52 he's going back to Genesis here, 46:54 "who is the devil and Satan." 46:57 Actually, dragon is based on the Greek word dracone, 47:03 which can also mean serpent. 47:06 And the devil comes from the verb to slander 47:09 or falsely accused. 47:10 So the Satan is our adversary and our enemy. 47:15 Naturally, Eve has been walking with Adam, 47:20 she's been walking with God in the garden, 47:22 you would think instinctively, 47:24 she would mistrust the stranger. 47:27 But you know what's interesting? 47:30 The cunningness, the deceitfulness of Satan, 47:35 is that he bypassed her natural defenses. 47:39 And what does he do? 47:41 He engages her in a conversation, 47:44 he baits her with a conversation about God. 47:49 But he twist God's word, he knows it's got truth in it, 47:52 but he twist to sow confusion. 47:55 Verse 2, 47:56 "The woman answers the serpent. 47:59 And she says, 48:00 'Oh, no, we may eat the fruit 48:03 of the trees of the garden, 48:05 but of the tree, the fruit of the tree 48:08 which is in the midst of the garden," 48:10 that's the tree of the knowledge 48:11 of good and evil, 48:13 God has said, 48:14 "'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, 48:16 lest you die.'" 48:18 Well, first thing I noticed, 48:20 this is beyond God's recorded message to them. 48:24 Of course, Eve, 48:25 when the recorded message was given to Adam, 48:28 it was right before Eve was created. 48:30 So perhaps Adam had told her when he told her, 48:34 don't touch it, honey, 48:36 don't even touch it, you'll die. 48:38 But what this shows me is that 48:42 adding anything to the Word of God 48:44 can sow confusion. 48:47 We've got to be so careful. 48:49 It needs to be Sola scriptura, 48:52 we cannot, 48:55 if we start adding to God's Word, 48:57 it's gonna cause trouble. 48:58 If it's something that's I mean, 49:00 there's writers we know this, who are explaining it, 49:02 but we got to be careful, 49:04 we don't add any new concepts to it. 49:06 So the serpent recognizes her confusion. 49:10 And you know what? 49:11 Adam's not there to protect her. 49:12 So the serpent strikes. 49:14 Verse 4, 49:15 "The serpent said to the woman, 49:17 'No, you will not surely die. 49:21 For God knows that in the day you eat of it, 49:24 your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, 49:26 knowing good and evil.'" 49:29 As Pastor John already has shown, 49:33 humanity was created mortal. 49:37 The only thing that gave Adam and Eve continued life 49:40 was access to the tree of life. 49:43 And we saw in 1 Timothy 6:16, Paul says, 49:48 God alone has immortality at this time, 49:52 you know, that's that lie of the devil 49:56 you shall surely not die is being passed around 49:58 because there's a lot of people 50:00 that act like we are immortal. 50:03 But one of Satan's mission is to get us to doubt God, 50:07 to distrust His message. 50:10 So he contradicts her report 50:14 of God's command. 50:17 And he distorts God's characters and said, 50:20 "Hey, God knows if you eat this, 50:22 you're going to be like Him." 50:24 He challenges God's authority. 50:26 But this is what's interesting. 50:29 Eve, the Bible says, was deceived, 50:33 so perhaps, she thought, 50:36 "Well, maybe this guy knows what, 50:38 this serpent knows what he's talking about. 50:40 Maybe I misunderstood, 50:42 or maybe the interpretation of the command 50:45 was wrong. 50:47 So now she's entertaining his word, 50:49 she's fully deceived. 50:52 And guess what? 50:53 If she's deceived, 50:55 it means she decided that Satan was telling the truth. 50:58 How many people are doing that today? 51:00 How many people 51:03 are misunderstanding God's intent 51:05 because Satan has twisted it and they're being deceived. 51:10 So verse 6, 51:11 "So the woman saw that tree was good for food 51:14 that it was pleasant to the eyes, 51:15 and a tree desirable to make one wise, 51:17 she took off its fruit and ate. 51:20 And she also gave to her husband with her." 51:26 I don't believe he was there at the moment. 51:28 This is a little later, 51:29 and he ate and I'll tell you what? 51:32 The fruit appealed to her taste, her eye 51:35 and her desire to know more. 51:37 So seduction and deception convinced her 51:43 what she was doing was okay. 51:46 So it's not like she went to her husband, 51:49 to seduce or deceive him because Adam was not deceived. 51:53 Let me show you that, will go on. 51:55 Genesis 3. 51:57 They do both eat. 51:59 And Genesis 3:7 says, 52:00 "Then the eyes of both of them were opened." 52:04 They're thinking they're going to have greater knowledge. 52:07 They knew that they were naked, 52:09 they sewed fig leaves together, 52:10 they made themselves covering 52:12 so instead of receiving godlike power, 52:16 it produced a sense of human inadequacy, 52:20 and fear and shame. 52:21 And 1 Timothy 2:14, says, 52:24 Adam was not deceived, Paul writes. 52:28 But the woman being deceived fell into transgression. 52:31 Adam was not beguiled by Satan. 52:34 He had full knowledge of what he was doing. 52:37 He voluntarily misused his act of free will. 52:43 I guess I don't know. 52:45 But maybe he decided, 52:46 well, if she's going to get the punishment, 52:48 I want to do it too, because I want her. 52:50 I don't know why he did. 52:52 But he deliberately turned away from God. 52:55 He rejected the truth. 52:56 And guess what? 52:57 The cosmic conflict over love, 53:02 the cosmic conflict over God's government of love 53:07 was introduced to the world, 53:08 right then and there. 53:10 Now listen to this. 53:12 Oh, by the way, let me answer this, 53:14 God gave dominion. 53:16 But as soon as Adam quit obeying God, 53:20 he handed over dominion temporarily 53:24 to Satan of this earth. 53:26 And God's allowing that 53:28 to play out for a set period of time. 53:30 Let me read from the lesson. 53:33 And it's from the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary 53:36 Volume one, page 231. 53:38 Deplorable as was Eve's transgression 53:41 and fraud as it was with the potential vow 53:43 for the human family. 53:45 Her choice did not necessarily involve the race 53:47 and the penalty for her transgression. 53:51 It was the deliberate choice of Adam, 53:54 in the full understanding of an express command of God, 53:58 rather than hers 53:59 that made sin and death inevitable 54:02 before the lot of mankind. 54:05 Eve was deceived, Adam was not. 54:07 Let me explain is... 54:09 There's never enough time. 54:13 Luke 3:38 54:15 talks about Adam being the son of God. 54:20 He was the first covenant Son of God. 54:26 Adam was the representative of all humanity, 54:29 all humanity. 54:31 So when Adam rejected God's truth, 54:33 and went against the commandment, 54:35 he sinned, 54:37 and all humanity now has a fallen nature. 54:41 We know the everlasting gospel, 54:46 the everlasting covenant, 54:47 let me tell you, you know, 54:49 Revelation 14:6 talks about it, the everlasting gospel. 54:54 This is it, Revelation 13:8, 54:57 the Lamb who was slain 54:59 from the foundation of the earth. 55:00 And as bad as this was in Genesis 3:15, 55:04 God comes and says to the serpent, 55:07 "I'll put enmity between you and the woman, 55:09 between your seed and her seed. 55:12 He shall bruise your head, you will bruise his heel." 55:16 God introduces His everlasting covenant on the earth 55:22 as soon as man sinned. 55:24 Amen. 55:25 Thank you so much Shelley and Pastor Johnny, 55:27 Pastor Ryan, Pastor John. 55:28 What an amazing kickoff 55:30 to our entire quarter on the covenants. 55:33 I want to give each one of you a moment 55:34 to share something about the lesson. 55:36 Sure, we can never find outside of God's covenant, 55:40 that which God only placed within His covenant. 55:44 And David the Psalmist says in Psalms 89:34, 55:47 "My covenant I will not break, 55:49 nor alter the word that has gone out of my lips." 55:53 Amen. 55:55 We love Him because He first loved us. 55:57 That's really what the covenant is all about. 55:59 God puts Himself out there. 56:00 And He wants us 56:01 to be in covenant relationship with Him. 56:03 So I encourage you to seek the Lord 56:05 and allow Him to work through you 56:06 to reciprocate that love. 56:08 Amen. Amen. 56:10 When we look at Genesis Chapter 2, 56:12 and we see the one prohibition that God gave to Adam and Eve, 56:16 we see a God that is willing to show us 56:19 that there is life and death. 56:22 We have the choice of life and death. 56:24 And in doing what God requires of us, 56:27 what God is asking us to do, 56:29 we live in peace, 56:30 and we live in harmony with God. 56:33 And if we don't, 56:34 then we're going to have to suffer the consequences. 56:36 Choose life. Amen. 56:38 The seed that was spoken of in Genesis 3:15, 56:42 is the last act of Jesus Christ. 56:45 Let me read real quick. 56:46 1 Corinthians 15:22, 21 and 22, 56:49 "For since by man came death," 56:53 is speaking of Adam, 56:54 "by man, " with a capital M, speaking of God, 56:57 in the person of Jesus Christ, 56:58 "came the resurrection of the dead, 57:00 for as in Adam all die, 57:03 even so in Christ, all shall be made alive." 57:08 One point, in Genesis, 57:11 after they sinned, what happens? 57:13 God comes down, He's walking around, says, 57:16 "Where are you?" 57:17 He knew where they were. 57:18 This is God's first call to humanity. 57:22 And He's encouraged them 57:24 to return to Him face their sin. 57:26 That's what the rest of Scripture 57:27 is all about. 57:29 Amen. Thank you so much. 57:30 We're so glad that you have joined us 57:32 for this edition of 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 57:35 God created us to be in relationship with Him. 57:39 Sin severed that relationship, and then we see the entrance. 57:43 This one of my favorite scriptures, 57:45 the entrance of Jesus, the promise of the coming seed. 57:49 We see this in Romans 5:8, 57:50 God demonstrated His love for us 57:53 in that while we were yet sinners, 57:56 He died for us 57:58 to reconcile us back to the Father 58:00 and to restore that covenant relationship. 58:03 Join us next week for Covenant Primer. |
Revised 2021-04-02