Life Discovery Series

Present World Order And Impending Future

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Jim Reinking

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Series Code: LDS

Program Code: LDS000001


00:34 You know, we've been through some interesting times,
00:37 haven't we?
00:39 Since, we entered into the new millennium.
00:41 Remember Y2K?
00:44 I think most of us that's kind of ancient history now
00:46 but you know all of the worries we have back then,
00:49 we had no idea what was ahead of us in this decade, didn't we.
00:54 We had no idea what was gonna happen.
00:57 And our subject tonight I've entitled the
00:59 "Present World Order and Impending Future."
01:02 I know that's a mouthful.
01:04 But let me tell you we have been through lot
01:07 and we're gonna be through a lot
01:09 and yet we had the promise that we are never alone.
01:13 I want to remember that promise that Jesus gave.
01:15 He said "I'm with you always even to the end."
01:21 He has promised that
01:22 and we need to take Him at His Word, don't we.
01:25 But let me tell you we have all kinds of problems tonight.
01:28 We have economic problems.
01:31 Who would have guessed just two years ago
01:33 that we would be in the mess we are financially today,
01:37 foreclosures all over the banking system
01:40 and Detroit is in the middle of it.
01:43 And even oh, even, even Honda and Toyota
01:47 are having their problems.
01:48 You have been watching the news, haven't you?
01:50 And some of us may be are in financial distress.
01:55 And all of the uncertainty that that breeze is just,
01:59 you know, it's distressing when you take a look at it.
02:02 And then we go back historically and it almost seems like,
02:06 you know, that happens almost so long ago but 9/11.
02:10 And again the mess that we have been in ever since
02:15 and the problems but, you know,
02:17 the present issues that we are faced,
02:19 we are faced with have almost led us to forget
02:22 what we've gone through with 9/11.
02:25 I mean, we're still in a war.
02:27 We are in two wars you know this.
02:29 We're in Iraq still. We're in Afghanistan.
02:33 Where is this all going?
02:35 What's going to happen?
02:37 And that's, that's one of the questions
02:39 we want to find as we open God's Word together.
02:41 We want to know what is ahead,
02:43 what does God have in mind for us.
02:46 And I think as become apparent to all of us
02:48 that there are terrifying forces at working this world of ours
02:53 representing an evil that is undermined
02:55 our sense of security.
02:58 Where, where do we find God in this kind of a world
03:03 with all of the problems and the uncertainties
03:06 that we find ourselves in?
03:08 And what is His plan, does He have a plan
03:11 and is relevant to me.
03:13 Is it relevant to you?
03:16 And that's where God's Word
03:17 is going to give us some real insights.
03:19 For this opening weekend we will discover that
03:23 the scriptures offer us some real answers
03:26 to the dilemma that we find ourselves in.
03:29 This evening we will discover what God's purpose are,
03:33 what they were at the very beginning.
03:35 We are gonna find out what happened,
03:37 what went wrong and we're gonna find out
03:39 what God's gonna do about the problems that we are facing.
03:42 Our study tonight is going to layout the
03:44 fundamental underlying theme of the Bible.
03:48 You might well call it a template.
03:51 And there're gonna be parts of what
03:52 I'm gonna be sharing with you.
03:53 For those of who you have been Bible students that,
03:56 you know, this is going to seem almost fundamental.
03:59 This is gonna seem almost elementary.
04:02 But I want you to put the different parts
04:05 of our study together tonight
04:06 because they are absolutely relevant
04:10 as we will get into the heart of our study tonight.
04:13 We're going to begin in the Book of Genesis, Genesis tonight
04:16 we are going to end up in the Book of Revelation.
04:19 And I'm not promising you
04:20 I'm gonna take through every book in between.
04:22 I'm not gonna be able to do that tonight.
04:25 But we are gonna end up in the Book of Revelation.
04:28 Remember, Alex Haley, do you remember that name.
04:32 Alex Halley and his number one seller Roots.
04:36 I mean this is going back to the 70s.
04:38 I think for some of you the 70s is not even a memory,
04:43 something that's in the history books.
04:45 But Alex, you know, Alex Haley
04:50 traced his ancestry back to Africa.
04:55 Alex Haley is an African American,
04:57 he traced his ancestry back to Africa
05:00 and put together the story of what happened
05:02 when his family in the past was taken into slavery
05:05 came to United States and traced them right on down to his time.
05:09 If you've never read the book,
05:11 if you know nothing about the story
05:13 it is really a fascinating story as you take a look at it.
05:16 In his introduction he makes a fascinating statement.
05:19 He said "In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep,
05:23 to know who we are and where we came from.
05:27 Without this knowledge, there is an emptiness
05:30 and the most disquieting hollowness and yearning."
05:34 And I want to take that, those sentiments
05:37 and I want to apply it to where we're at in life.
05:41 That, that philosophical question,
05:44 where did we come from and where are we going
05:48 is a significant one
05:51 and we could thank to Lord that
05:52 He has given us a Revelation in His Word
05:55 that helps us understand the past where we came from
05:58 and also tells us where we're headed.
06:01 And my friend, you know, we have that insight.
06:05 Take your Bibles and turn with me to Genesis 1,
06:07 it's the Old Testament, page 1.
06:11 Genesis 1:1.
06:13 It seems like a good place to start our study tonight
06:18 in the Book of Genesis and again these are gonna be words
06:21 that in their simplicity are yet so profound.
06:27 Look at it Genesis 1:1 where it says
06:29 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
06:33 My friend, God is the source of all
06:36 is what the Bible tells us and again
06:37 I know that's fundamental, I know that's pretty simplistic.
06:40 But my friend, we didn't come to be by happenstance.
06:44 This earth the life that we live on this earth,
06:48 this universe did not just happened to come into existence.
06:53 There was a master designer behind all of it
06:57 what we call creation
06:59 and that's what the Bible indicates.
07:01 "God created the heavens and earth
07:03 in the very beginning."
07:04 And as you go through chapter one,
07:06 you will discover that the Bible tells us that God did it.
07:10 Let me tell you God is so powerful.
07:12 God did it, it says in the Bible in six days.
07:17 Now I know some of you may be thinking six days?
07:22 I know what some people are saying you know
07:24 they're talking about long periods of time
07:26 here is what they're trying to read into the text
07:28 but let me tell you when you look at the Hebrew word for day
07:31 it means evening-morning that is a exact 24 hour period of time.
07:37 You know, the far of this point that we have discovered
07:39 with our instruments of exploration in universe.
07:42 The last report I heard is 13 billion-light years away.
07:48 I don't know that we can really comprehend these distances.
07:51 You know how fast light travels don't you.
07:53 Remember this, light travels at how many miles per second,
07:57 hundred and eighty six thousand miles per second.
08:00 If you could travel that fast could we ever reach to point
08:03 where we could develop the ability to travel that fast.
08:06 I don't think so.
08:07 But anyway hundred and eighty six thousand miles per second
08:10 and you traveled for a 13 billion-years
08:14 that's just hard to comprehend
08:16 we will reach this point that we discovered
08:19 in the outer reaches of the universe.
08:21 The nearest star in comparison is
08:24 four and half light years away.
08:27 And if you could travel at a 100, 000 miles per hour
08:31 do you know it would take you 29,000 years
08:36 to reach the nearest star to us.
08:40 And then when we talk again about the universe
08:42 there are several 100 billion galaxies alone.
08:46 The Milky Way galaxy, Art galaxy is a 100, 000 light years
08:52 from one end to the other.
08:53 We're talking about something that is immense.
08:57 And you know as you look at it philosophically,
09:00 philosophically as you look at the phenomenon of the universe
09:03 there has to be a first cause powerful enough to account
09:08 for the vastness that first of all we see in the universe
09:12 and secondly, as we look at creation
09:14 and particularly as we experience it here
09:16 upon this earth that God created intelligent life.
09:21 And my friend, that first cause is that, it is God.
09:25 It did not happen by coincidence.
09:28 And there is no answer scientifically when you go back,
09:31 can you go back far enough in time
09:32 where there was nothing?
09:35 Can you go back in time, could you go back in time
09:37 where the universe began?
09:41 Well, what brought that first, you know what,
09:44 what brought that first substance into existence?
09:48 My friend, you can't get something out of nothing.
09:51 Can you? You can't.
09:54 And my friend, I think it's a compelling argument
09:57 for the fact there has to be God,
09:59 there has to be something that has always existed.
10:04 And my friend, the Bible tells us that was God
10:06 and that was God that came to this planet
10:09 and again put this creation in all in six days
10:12 and on the sixth day as we are looking at verse 26
10:15 He said "Let us make man
10:17 in our image, after our likeness."
10:20 And I will tell you that is an interesting text
10:22 as you take a look at it because it's talking--
10:25 God is talking in the plurality of it.
10:28 He said "let us make man
10:31 in our image after our likeness."
10:37 So you know what's going on here?
10:40 Why is, you know, what us are?
10:44 What's going on here?
10:45 I'm going to share with you a principle
10:47 in interpreting the Bible that we will be using
10:50 night after night and this is the principle.
10:54 We interpret the Bible by the Bible
10:58 that is we find the relevant passages of scripture
11:01 that throw light on a given text, text
11:03 that help us to understand and properly to interpret it.
11:07 And I'm gonna give an example of this
11:08 as we are looking here at Genesis 1:26
11:11 where it talks about us.
11:12 By the way, in the Hebrew
11:14 the word that we translate God is the word Elohim
11:17 which is a plural term.
11:20 Further more, the Hebrew word Adonai
11:23 is most often in the plural term.
11:27 So again in what sense does God,
11:30 God say here, "Let us make man in our image."
11:32 Well, go back and look at verse 2.
11:36 Genesis 1:2 where it says,
11:39 "The earth was formless and void,
11:41 and darkness was over the surface of the deep,
11:44 and the Spirit of God was moving
11:46 over the surface of the waters."
11:49 So who else was there at the very beginning of time?
11:52 Who else was there?
11:54 My friend, the Spirit of God.
11:57 Fascinating, but the second verse of the Bible
12:00 introduces us to the Holy Spirit.
12:04 And it is in the context of the creation and my friend,
12:07 it becomes apparent as we study about the Holy Spirit
12:10 that wherever God is in the process
12:13 of establishing life
12:16 whether we are talking about physical life or spiritual
12:18 there we find the mighty power
12:21 and movement of the Holy Spirit, amen.
12:24 The Spirit of God was there at the very beginning.
12:27 So that gives us a partial answer to why it says
12:30 let us make man in our image after our likeness
12:33 but there was somebody else
12:34 that was there in the very beginning.
12:36 And we find, we find the clue to this in John 1:1
12:42 where John begins with the words in the beginning.
12:47 When John begins with this phrase in the beginning
12:50 where it was not coincidental that he was using this phrase
12:54 that we just read in Genesis 1:1.
12:56 He very particularly and very specifically
12:59 was seeking to draw our attention back to that verse
13:04 that opening verse of the Book of Genesis.
13:08 And so he says "In the beginning."
13:09 Let's read it.
13:10 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God."
13:14 That we have the idea plurality, don't we,
13:16 whoever the word is, the Word was with God.
13:19 "And the Word was God.
13:21 He was in the beginning with God."
13:23 And then he says, "All things came into being by Him,
13:26 and apart from Him nothing came into being
13:28 that has come into being."
13:31 So when we talk about the universe
13:33 its saying of the Word all things came into being,
13:39 came into existence by the Word.
13:43 And then as we dropdown to verse 14
13:46 we find the identity of who the Word is.
13:48 In verse 14 it says "And the Word became flesh,
13:51 and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
13:54 glory as of the only begotten from the Father,
13:56 full of grace and truth."
13:59 So who were that be talking about?
14:02 It's talking about Jesus.
14:05 Oh, Jesus was there at the very beginnings of time.
14:08 Jesus was evolved in the creation of this planet
14:10 and of the universe.
14:12 Well, that's what verse 3 says.
14:13 All things came into being by Him
14:15 and without Him nothing came into being.
14:18 Does that what it says?
14:20 Exactly.
14:23 Many of us have not paused to consider
14:25 what the Bible teaches about the preexistence of Jesus.
14:29 And Jesus was there at the very beginnings of time.
14:35 We will discover in the Bible
14:37 and we see it clearly indicated here
14:39 He was the active agency by which
14:41 the universe came into existence.
14:45 And remember as I share with you in the orientation,
14:47 really this all about a relationship with God
14:50 through Jesus Christ.
14:52 That's is-- what this book is really all about.
14:55 And He is the Creator.
14:56 He is the Creator and He is our Savior.
15:01 An interesting connection when you think about it.
15:03 The one who created us is the one who died for us.
15:08 And through His death we're redeemed.
15:13 But there's something more as we're looking here at verse 26.
15:16 We're still there in verse 26, aren't we?
15:18 We want to discover in what sense
15:21 were we made in the likeness of God?
15:24 Now, we can just scratch our heads
15:26 and we give, you know, put our imaginations at work
15:28 and tried, you know, come over some ideas,
15:30 you know, but, you know,
15:32 we want to be scriptural about it.
15:34 And one of the things we ought to do
15:35 when we are studying the Bible
15:36 we always ought to look at the verse
15:38 and we always ought to look at it in its context.
15:42 And so let's look at the context as we go further.
15:44 I'm gonna read the first part of that again
15:46 so we get the flow of it.
15:47 It says "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image,
15:50 according to our likeness
15:52 and let them rule over the fish of the sea
15:54 and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle
15:56 and over all the earth,
15:57 and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
16:02 " It said God said "let them rule."
16:06 The King James Version says, let them have dominion
16:10 or dominion ship over the earth, let them rule.
16:15 And my friend, that is one sense
16:17 in which we were created in the likeness of God.
16:21 It's in this sense in the much in the same way
16:25 that God exercises His sovereignty
16:28 and His dominionship over the universe
16:32 God intended for the human race
16:35 to exercise dominionship over this planet.
16:39 But there is something else
16:40 as we look at the next verse that is verse 27.
16:44 It says "God created man in His own image,
16:46 in the image of God He created him
16:48 male and female He created them."
16:52 There is something about the fact that God created us
16:55 male and female that related to us
16:58 being created in His likeness
17:01 and it is not that there is male and femaleness in the God head
17:05 because there is no indication of that.
17:08 But there is something here
17:11 when He created as male and female
17:13 made-- created us with the capacity
17:17 and with the ability to recreate in our likeness.
17:22 Now remember, when He created the, the human race
17:26 it says "that we were created in His likeness, in His image."
17:30 He gave us that ability
17:32 to recreate after our own likeness
17:34 and it's a wonderful thing isn't it.
17:37 Let me ask you I mean, if your parents.
17:40 You have got children so the word we use
17:43 as procreation for this,
17:45 ability to recreate after our likeness.
17:48 And so I saw quite a few hands going up.
17:50 There's been a lot of procreation going on
17:53 represented by you folk here.
17:55 And then Genesis 1 is all wrapped up in this.
17:58 It says "God saw all that He had made, and behold,
18:01 it was very good and there was evening
18:04 and there was morning, the sixth day."
18:07 So when God finished His handiwork
18:12 and He stood back to look at what He had done.
18:16 What did he say about it?
18:18 It was very good.
18:19 And let me tell you when God said
18:21 it was very good it was perfect.
18:24 What God created in the beginning was a paradise
18:26 and this is so vitally important
18:28 because it also helps us understand
18:30 what God's original purpose was
18:33 for the human race and for this planet.
18:36 And my friend, let me tell you just right up front.
18:38 The mess that we find ourselves in the world that
18:41 we inhabit is not what God purpose in the very beginning.
18:46 What God purpose for you and for me was a paradise,
18:51 a perfect place with a perfect environment
18:55 inhabited by perfect people.
19:00 Obviously, something went wrong, right.
19:05 And we are gonna discover what went wrong
19:07 was a departure for God's original plan.
19:10 You see this is so vitally important
19:12 because it goes to God's original intention for us.
19:15 It goes to God's intention for the kind of life that He
19:18 that, He wanted you to live in for me to live.
19:22 And prophecy is going to tell us about what He is gonna do
19:25 about the mess that we are in but in anyway
19:28 and by the way, when you talk about it was perfect
19:32 you see it even in nature today, the beauty of it.
19:36 As you look at the various life forms
19:38 that God created on the planet they were perfect.
19:41 They were beautiful in the very beginning
19:42 now they are tainted by evil.
19:46 But yet we see much of the original perfection
19:50 that God, that God created at the very beginning.
19:55 As we turn in Genesis 2:16, 17
19:58 God did something fascinating here.
20:01 In verse 16 it says "The Lord God commanded the man."
20:04 I mean that's a pretty strong word.
20:05 Isn't it "The Lord God commanded the man saying,
20:08 'From any tree of the garden you may eat freely,
20:12 but from the tree of the knowledge
20:14 of good and evil you shall not eat,
20:15 for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.'
20:21 " I think probably it's pretty apparent
20:23 at this point in our opening night
20:26 and our opening subject that the approach
20:29 we are taking to the Book of Genesis
20:31 is a literal approach.
20:34 I know that there are those who will represent
20:36 that the first few chapters of the Book of Genesis
20:40 are the things of myths, the things of fairytales.
20:45 But I believe that the Book of Genesis is just as inspired
20:50 and therefore just as accurate
20:52 as any other part of the book of the Bible.
20:54 After all in 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul said
20:58 "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God
21:02 and is profitable for doctrine, teaching" You know it says all.
21:08 Jesus Himself said as, as He was tempted by,
21:13 by the devil in the wilderness
21:15 He said in response to won the temptations
21:17 He said "Man shall not live by bread alone but by."
21:21 How much of the word?
21:23 "Every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
21:27 And I, you know, to be consistent,
21:31 you know, we just can't go through the Bible say,
21:33 I'm gonna skip this, this sounds good,
21:34 I like this, I'm not sure about this.
21:37 And you know when we start down that track
21:40 where do we end up with.
21:42 What really is reliable?
21:43 What is, you know, what is truth,
21:46 and then it becomes very subjective, doesn't it.
21:51 My friend, the Revelation we have in God's word
21:54 is objectively sound.
21:56 Every, every element of truth
21:59 that is revealed there is the truth.
22:01 This is exactly what happened in the very beginning.
22:05 So this tree of the large of good and evil
22:06 let's get back to it I again
22:07 I know this is the stuff of myths for some people
22:10 but let me tell you there is something that was going on here
22:13 that is of more significance than
22:15 may be a casual reading of this verse would indicate.
22:19 God said at the tree He commanded them
22:21 you shall not eat of the tree for in the day that you eat it
22:24 you will surely die.
22:27 You see, when God created us in the beginning
22:30 He gave us the power of choice.
22:34 But when you're living in paradise
22:37 and everything around you is good
22:39 how can you make any other choice
22:41 than the choice that God made in the beginning
22:44 when He created it the way that He did.
22:47 We're gonna discover tomorrow night
22:49 that there was an alternative way
22:53 already broody in the universe
22:57 and we're gonna discover
22:59 that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
23:02 is of great significance
23:04 because it represented a choice for Adam and Eve.
23:08 A choice between God's way and we know what God's way
23:12 what His intention was that we would inhabit a paradise
23:15 a perfect world or the alternative way.
23:18 That's what it represented.
23:20 And trust in God will be revealed by the fact that
23:24 Adam and Eve will not eat--
23:26 I mean they had all of the other trees
23:28 that they could eat up but not this one.
23:30 Not this one.
23:33 And as I said it represented
23:35 a vital choice that they're faced with.
23:38 You know God, when you think about this
23:39 God could have created us in the very beginning.
23:42 Just like we would, you know, create a robot.
23:47 You know, He could, He could have embedded in us,
23:50 He could have programmed us in such a way
23:52 that we would love Him with all of the order
23:55 and with all of the intensity of the human heart.
23:59 God could have created such a way
24:00 that it was impossible for us to make any other decision
24:04 than the one that He programmed us with.
24:07 But, you know, God did not program us that way.
24:10 God gave us a choice.
24:13 He could have but, you know, sooner or later, you know,
24:16 He could have programmed us to love Him
24:19 and I think sooner than later God will say you're only saved.
24:24 You love me because I made you that way.
24:28 No, love must arise spontaneously out of the heart.
24:33 It must be a spontaneous thing.
24:34 It must be a choice
24:37 and that's what it represented a choice between,
24:41 again as I mentioned God's way or the alternative way.
24:45 Yes, and then we move to Genesis 3.
24:47 I'm gonna get you Revelation before we're done.
24:49 But we have got to look at Genesis 3.
24:52 Oh, the serpent.
24:53 Oh, yes, that's in,
24:55 that's in the first part of Genesis isn't it?
24:58 And again I know there are those who are saying fairytales
25:01 this is how you know we explain to children,
25:04 you know, in simplistic terms about good and evil
25:07 and how it all happened.
25:09 Again I want to go on record I believe historically
25:12 this is exactly what happened.
25:14 And as you look at it I think it's gonna make a lot of sense.
25:17 May be little bit more sense than we have seen before
25:19 just with a casual reading of it.
25:21 So as we turn to Genesis 3:1 it says
25:25 "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field
25:28 which the Lord God had made.
25:31 And he said to the woman, indeed, has God said,
25:34 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?'"
25:37 Talking serpents it seems pretty fantastic.
25:42 Again I don't know exactly
25:44 how soon after the creation this happened.
25:49 And I'm not so sure that Eve understood the implications
25:54 what was happening but this was something that was captivating
25:58 when she came across this creature
26:00 and he began to communicate with her.
26:04 I mean that grabbed her attention.
26:08 Now you know, you and I know
26:09 that's snakes aren't' supposed to talk.
26:12 Now remember the snakes that we have, have been cursed.
26:15 That happened in chapter 3, by the way.
26:17 The animal was cursed.
26:19 But what we have really going on here is
26:21 what we call channeling or a media
26:23 and I will share with you what's behind,
26:26 what's going on here in Genesis 3:1.
26:30 But, you know, just imagine
26:31 what it must have been for Adam and Eve
26:34 when they were created the sixth day
26:35 everything was put in order.
26:36 All of the life forms have been created ahead of them,
26:40 this was a beautiful place that they were gonna have.
26:42 Just think of the days of exploration
26:45 that Adam and Eve were enjoying.
26:49 I mean, can you imagine the first time
26:51 that Eve picked up a, a cat
26:54 and when she stroked its fur it began to purr.
26:58 Can you imagine those kinds of experiences
27:01 the first time experiences that they had?
27:05 And I mean, and then we come in Genesis 3
27:07 and on this occasion here it comes to this tree
27:10 he sees this creature that God's created
27:12 and he begins to talk to her.
27:14 I don't know that she understood that, you know,
27:18 and was it supposed to be able to talk to her.
27:22 And there's some implication may be
27:23 because of that fruit of the tree
27:26 that's why that's serpent had that capability of speaking.
27:31 But let me tell you, let me share with you
27:33 as we look it at another text.
27:34 Let me share with you who was actually behind
27:37 what was happening in the tree
27:38 of the knowledge of good and evil.
27:40 Revelation, Revelation Chapter 12
27:42 and we are looking at verse, verse 9.
27:45 Where it says "And the great dragon,"
27:47 the great dragon "was thrown down,
27:49 the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan,
27:54 who deceives the whole world."
27:57 So who was behind the serpent?
28:01 My friend, Satan was behind the serpent.
28:04 And you have-- if you have the question
28:06 where does Satan come from you come tomorrow night
28:09 as we look at "Battle Beyond the Stars"
28:12 and will find exactly what the Bible teaches about
28:14 where the devil came from.
28:16 It's gonna be a real surprise to find out really
28:20 what the Bible teaches about this whole matter.
28:23 And so it was the devil, it was Satan
28:27 who was working through the medium of a serpent
28:31 to bring temptation to Eve.
28:36 So he is asking the question.
28:38 Indeed as God said you shall not eat
28:40 from any tree of the garden.
28:41 Notice verse 2.
28:44 Verse 2 it says "The woman said to the serpent,
28:46 'From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat
28:50 but from the fruit of the tree
28:51 which is in the middle of the garden,'
28:53 "in the middle of the garden " God has said,
28:55 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you will die.'
29:00 " Lest you die.
29:02 So when we talk about Eve being deceived
29:06 there is a sense of which she was deceived
29:07 but she was not deceived in the sense
29:09 that she did not clearly understand
29:12 what God has said about the tree.
29:14 Her response makes that clear.
29:16 She understood that God said if you eat of it or you touch it
29:19 you will surely die.
29:20 That's what Jesus said.
29:23 But I want you to notice
29:25 what the serpent says in response
29:27 as we come to verse 4.
29:30 Verse 4 says "The serpent said to the woman,
29:34 'You surely shall not die!'
29:38 " I don't know that you and I can really appreciate
29:40 what that did to Eve.
29:45 You see, up to this point
29:46 everything that Eve had ever heard,
29:48 everything that Eve had ever seen
29:50 and had experienced in her life
29:53 had been in harmony
29:55 with the God that had created her.
29:57 And now for the very first time in her existence
30:00 she is face with a contradiction.
30:04 Now you and I live in a world of contradictions.
30:07 I mean, this is way its just way it is.
30:10 That's not the way that it was at the very beginning.
30:14 And so for the very first time she heard
30:16 God directly being contradicted.
30:18 And let me tell you it put her immediately into a crisis.
30:23 It did and by the way, again remember,
30:27 the contradictions we are living with
30:29 is because of what comes out of,
30:31 what happened here in Genesis 3.
30:36 That's the contradictions, that's where it pulls out off.
30:40 And again I want to point out
30:41 it was never God's intention for us
30:42 to live in such a world with the contradictions.
30:45 And my friend, it's the contradictions
30:48 that we're away at the life force
30:52 that God created within us.
30:58 It's a powerful evil thing
31:01 the contradictions that we are talking about.
31:05 It puts, it puts everything out of harmony
31:08 again with what God intended in the very beginning.
31:10 You surely will not die, is what the serpent said.
31:13 And then and then he goes on to say he goes on to say.
31:16 "For God knows that in the day that you eat from it
31:19 your eyes will be opened."
31:21 Notice the representation he is making here.
31:23 "And you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
31:29 Now did you know something about good?
31:31 She knew lot about what was good.
31:34 It was all around her, it was the environment,
31:36 it was a place that God created for her,
31:38 it was a life that God intended for she and Adam
31:41 and their descendants.
31:44 That was His intention.
31:45 That she knew much about good
31:47 but here is a representation by the evil one.
31:50 You will come to know evil.
31:51 You will become like God knowing both good and evil
31:55 as if God was holding something back of significance from them.
32:00 And verse 6 says "When the woman saw
32:02 that the tree was good for food,
32:05 and that it was a delight to the eyes,
32:06 and that the tree was desirable to make one wise,
32:09 she took from its fruit and ate
32:11 and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate."
32:15 Now you're following this progression
32:18 up to, up to verse 5 we have a conversation
32:23 that's taking place between the serpent and Eve.
32:27 The indication is that Adam was not in the immediate vicinity.
32:31 At least he was not participating
32:32 in the conversation that was taking place,
32:34 right that's clear.
32:36 Okay, so it was Eve that was confronted
32:39 with the talking serpent
32:40 and with his deceptive temptations
32:44 but who was Adam faced with when it came to the temptation.
32:50 The temptation did not come to him
32:52 directly by means of the serpent.
32:56 The temptation came by means of Eve, you've got it Eve.
33:02 How deadly of a temptation was that.
33:06 I mean he loved her.
33:08 God created the two for each other.
33:11 That was His part of the original
33:14 you know purpose in creating Adam and Eve.
33:18 And Adam just could not imagine living without Eve.
33:21 He loved her deeply.
33:23 And here she comes, this beautiful creature
33:27 and she picks some of the fruit out of the tree
33:30 she has been eating of it
33:32 and she says "Adam, you got to try this."
33:36 She was exhilarated initially, exhilarated.
33:40 You know sin could do that to you.
33:42 He could be the initial exhilaration
33:44 of sin in transgression.
33:46 But let me tell you it always has a bitter aftertaste.
33:50 And that many of us know that by experience, don't we.
33:53 So here's she comes bringing that fruit
33:56 it was almost, almost irresistible for Adam.
34:02 And so he took and ate the fruit as well
34:06 and now they were in this together.
34:08 And now the fate of the human race
34:12 was pretty much set for what was gonna follow
34:15 and what's been playing down historically
34:17 down to our own time.
34:20 Before we leave Genesis here I want you notice immediately
34:25 how when they gave into the tempter
34:28 and they ate the forbidden fruit.
34:30 And listen, I know, I know on one hand some people will say
34:33 you know it's just a piece of fruit.
34:35 I mean, how could all of the tragedy
34:37 and all of the horrible things that have followed down
34:40 through the centuries a millennia time
34:42 down to old day.
34:43 How could that, you know, it's a piece of fruit.
34:47 My friend, it's what the fruit represented that's key.
34:52 It wasn't so much the fruit itself
34:54 it's what the fruit represented.
34:56 And again it represented a choice.
35:00 It represented on one hand the choice for God's way
35:03 as I mentioned earlier on the other hand
35:05 it represented choice for the alternative way.
35:09 And again I want you to notice
35:10 as we come down to verses 8 and 9
35:12 I want you to notice the first thing we notice
35:16 that their view of God went under a fundamental alteration.
35:24 Immediately, it was changed.
35:26 Because we read in verse 8 in verse 8 it says "they heard."
35:32 That's Adam and Eve.
35:33 "They heard the sound of the Lord God
35:35 walking in the garden in the cool of the day,
35:38 and the man and his wife hid themselves
35:40 from the presence of the Lord God
35:41 among the trees of the garden."
35:43 So they hear, they sensed
35:46 the presence of God in the garden.
35:49 What does that indicate?
35:52 I think it indicates that God was in the practice of coming
35:58 and communing with Adam and Eve.
36:02 I don't think this was the first time
36:04 that God had been in that garden.
36:06 Do you?
36:07 I don't think so at all.
36:09 But something fundamentally has changed here.
36:11 Because when they sensed
36:13 the presence of God in the garden
36:14 what are they doing?
36:15 They're not running after to greet Him.
36:18 What are they doing?
36:19 They're running, they're hiding.
36:22 What's the dynamic that's going on?
36:25 Well, they remembered, now see this is
36:27 the initial exhilaration of sin and transgression
36:31 now has changed to fear.
36:35 And for the very first time in the existence
36:37 they're sensing real fear.
36:41 And what is so very disturbing about it,
36:43 they're sensing fear of the one that Lord created them
36:47 and gave them this perfect place to live in.
36:51 Isn't that disturbing when you think about it.
36:53 They're fearful of Him.
36:55 And they're fearful because now
36:57 they begin to realize, you know, we ate that fruit.
36:59 And He said, if you eat it you'll die.
37:01 They have never seen, they have never experienced death
37:04 but they certainly knew that it must,
37:06 they must at least know
37:07 that it meant the end of existence.
37:11 And so now they now see God
37:15 as the great hunter and they're the prey.
37:20 And God is there to do what He said would happen
37:24 if they ate of the tree.
37:25 That's why they're running into the
37:27 inner recesses of that garden.
37:30 They're hiding, their heart are pumping, they're,
37:32 you know, with a bait of breath they're hiding
37:34 as they sense the presence of God.
37:36 The adrenaline is flowing through their system
37:39 because they are so fearful of God.
37:42 And my friend, a lot of that has been transmitted down
37:47 through the ages to our own time,
37:49 a miscomprehension of who God is.
37:54 You know, you know, yes He is God of love
37:57 but, you know, He's got this big ugly stick behind His back
38:01 and if you blow it you discover there is this other side of God.
38:08 And I want to tell you fear is something very real
38:10 for lot of people in relationship with God
38:12 because of sin that's what sin has done.
38:15 It disrupted the relationship and so we often miscomprehend
38:21 or miscomprehend who God really is.
38:25 And that's one of the reasons this book has been given to us
38:28 to share with us the real truth of what's being going on
38:31 and the real truth about who God really is.
38:35 This study will become as we move on into nice ahead
38:40 will become clear how vital this subject really is tonight
38:44 that we began with this subject.
38:46 So there they're, they're hiding in fear,
38:49 they're running in fear and then and then here He comes verse 9.
38:54 Verse 9 "Then the Lord God called to the man,
38:57 and said to him, 'Where are you?'
39:00 " Now do you have that picture, they ran, they ran new garden,
39:03 they're hiding and here comes God
39:07 and He is calling out.
39:09 Adam, Eve, where are you?
39:13 Then He know where they were.
39:16 Can one really hide from God, you tell me?
39:18 Can one really hide from God?
39:20 Jonah tried to, didn't he?
39:22 Ended up in the belly of the whale
39:23 and you know the rest of the story.
39:25 Nobody can really run and hide from God.
39:30 God comprehends it all.
39:32 He knew, He knew exactly what had happened.
39:35 He knew exactly what was going on
39:37 in their hearts and minds.
39:38 That's why He showed up at the point that He'd hid.
39:44 That is they had eaten up the fruit of the tree
39:47 then God stepped into the picture.
39:49 And that tells us something
39:51 pretty important about God, isn't it.
39:53 And some of us has discovered that in our own experience
39:55 when we gone through tragic and difficult and hard times.
40:00 We sense that God steps in
40:04 and we find that you know there's,
40:06 there's someone there for us.
40:08 And there they were just experiencing this.
40:11 So here is God, He calling that where are you.
40:14 Do you know this is the first gospel call
40:17 right here.
40:19 For this, this call has been acquaint,
40:22 this call of God is been acquainting down
40:25 through the centuries and millennia time
40:26 down to our own day.
40:28 God is still looking for His lost children.
40:32 You know, Dick, where are you?
40:33 Jane, where are you?
40:37 Where are we? Where are you?
40:40 Where am I?
40:42 That's the search of God
40:45 for His as I said His lost children.
40:48 And then I'm gonna end up in verses 23 and 24
40:51 we'll wrap it up here in Genesis 3.
40:54 I still got to get you to Revelation,
40:55 just a little bit in Revelation to get the full picture here.
40:59 So as we come to Genesis 3
41:01 and we're looking at verse 23.
41:04 Notice what we find here verse 23
41:06 "Therefore the Lord God sent him"
41:09 that's Adam and his wife Eve "out from the garden of Eden,
41:13 to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
41:15 So He drove" notice the terminology
41:18 "He drove the man out
41:20 and at the east of the garden of Eden
41:21 He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword
41:24 which turned every direction
41:25 to guard the way to the tree of life."
41:29 Notice they were driven out of the Eden home.
41:33 I mean, that's pretty horrible isn't it.
41:37 I mean, think of the millions
41:40 today right now that are going through foreclosure.
41:43 May be there is somebody here going through foreclosure.
41:45 You're been forced out of your home.
41:49 That's traumatic, that is stressful,
41:53 that is depressing.
41:56 The Savior is, isn't it?
41:58 So, you know, we can have some understanding
42:02 you know for our own experience or the experience of others.
42:05 You know what it was
42:07 what was happening Adam and Eve
42:08 when they were driven out of the Garden of Eden.
42:13 Was God being mean?
42:15 Was God being arbitrary?
42:19 Is God really love or what's going on.
42:23 My friend, the point is in paradise
42:29 in the Garden of Eden in paradise
42:31 there is no place for sin, transgression, rebellion
42:37 and the suffering that comes out of it.
42:41 And if you think of it we actually would say
42:44 "Praise the Lord."
42:46 Then in paradise there is no place for sin
42:49 and in the end we're going to discover
42:51 it's not gonna be a place for sin in this planet
42:53 either that's where prophecy comes in
42:56 because He is gonna deal with it.
42:58 So it also has an other implication
43:01 you see this planet that we inhabit,
43:03 this place that we live in Corvallis as wonderful
43:06 as it is the State of Oregon
43:08 and I know you have got the beaches
43:09 just I don't know 50, 60 miles down the road,
43:12 you know I'm 34
43:14 as beautiful as the state is and so advantageous
43:19 is nothing compared to what God originally intended for us
43:24 in the very beginning.
43:28 It means that this is not the place
43:31 that God intended for us into inhabit.
43:33 What God intended for us inhabit was a perfect, perfect world.
43:38 And so they were driven out of he garden of Eden.
43:42 And now God have a choice.
43:44 Yeah, God have a choice
43:46 because He said if you ate of the tree you will surely die.
43:49 They've eaten of the tree.
43:51 And one thing you could be sure of God,
43:52 God is always faithful.
43:54 God is always true.
43:55 When God says something
43:57 He is always faithful to His word, right.
44:01 But there's another aspect of God
44:03 that we need to appreciate too.
44:05 God is a God of love and compassion
44:09 and this is the dilemma that God was placed into
44:13 when the human race take into the tempter
44:16 what was He going to do.
44:18 Now, listen God could have just walked away.
44:21 God could have said "you made your bed
44:23 you're gonna have to sleep in it."
44:24 He could have said that, right.
44:26 He could have washed His hands of it
44:28 and He could have just walked away
44:30 and just unless you're gonna start over
44:33 but you know God didn't do that, right.
44:37 God didn't walk away.
44:39 And the question is why did He not walk away?
44:44 And, my friend, the answer is because He loves us.
44:50 Love could not let us go.
44:55 I want you to think about that,
44:57 love could not let us go.
45:00 And it was gonna be become impair
45:01 as we move in a little bit further into,
45:04 into our study tonight.
45:07 What it cost God to deal with the problem
45:10 that came from that faithful choice?
45:14 And let me tell you it cost God a lot.
45:17 God, no, He didn't walk away from us.
45:19 God has put to work every resource of heaven
45:23 for our salvation.
45:26 He has so troubled himself over us
45:28 simply because He could not let us go.
45:32 And, my friend, it's just not Adam and Eve,
45:35 God still loves His children.
45:39 God still loves you.
45:41 You may have lived a, a really terrible life of sin.
45:44 May be you have done some really horrible things in your life,
45:47 God has a reason why,
45:50 you know, all of this has played out for so long
45:54 and we'll see this as we study further.
45:55 God just simply can't let us go.
46:00 Now there is an end that's gonna come,
46:02 so had this dilemma.
46:04 On one hand He said "if you eat at the tree you're gonna die."
46:08 God must always be true to His word
46:09 God is always righteous
46:11 but again as I mentioned He is God of love.
46:13 So this was the dilemma, how could He be true to His Word
46:17 and yet in love somehow save us
46:21 out of the mess that has followed.
46:24 And He came up with a masterful plan,
46:26 a masterful plan as we find it.
46:29 Yeah, Satan had taken control
46:30 but God was gonna let us stay there.
46:33 God was gonna act to wrench it out of his hands.
46:36 And so His solution was as we find it in here on the screen
46:40 John 3:16 you know this texts it says
46:43 "For God so loved the world."
46:46 And we're not talking of the trees, the mountains,
46:49 the animals, you know God loves creation
46:52 but He is talking about you and me.
46:53 "For God so loved the world
46:54 that He gave His only begotten Son
46:56 that whoever believes in Him should not perish
46:59 but have everlasting life."
47:05 That's pretty powerful.
47:07 Everlasting life, could you handle that?
47:12 I think I could handle that.
47:13 Especially, with what we will discover
47:16 God has in mind for the future,
47:18 this beautiful future that God has in mind.
47:21 Now, God sent His only begotten Son,
47:24 Jesus was the answer to the dilemma.
47:28 And this is how it worked.
47:30 It means that Jesus had to come down to this earth.
47:32 He had to take all humanity upon Himself
47:34 because He became the representative
47:36 of the human race.
47:38 As He hung upon the Cross of Cavalry the sins,
47:41 you know the story, don't you.
47:43 Just, you know, we just glibly talk about
47:46 what Jesus did at the Cross of Cavalry
47:47 but really think about this.
47:50 God laid upon Jesus in the person of Jesus
47:53 the weight of the sin of every one of us
47:57 that is ever inhabited this planet.
48:01 He stepped in, He experienced the consequence,
48:07 a consequences that sin brought.
48:10 That is He experienced the wrath of God
48:13 against sin in His person.
48:14 He experienced on our behalf the abandonment
48:19 that sin has brought into our lives.
48:21 Remember He cried on the cross my God, my God,
48:24 why have you forsaken Me?
48:27 It's because He was bearing our sins.
48:29 So He took our place that's was the genius of the divine plan
48:34 that Jesus would bear our sins,
48:36 He would die in our place that was required
48:39 God said "if you eat at tree you'll surely die."
48:43 And my friend, and the person of Jesus death was satisfied,
48:47 justice was satisfied in the death of God Son.
48:51 So that through faith in Him God in His love could save us.
48:58 That is the divine transaction that takes place
49:02 at the Cross of Cavalry by faith.
49:05 And that is essential.
49:07 And I want you to take note in our
49:10 as I'm talking about this tonight there are two trees,
49:13 there was the tree in the Garden of Eden
49:14 that choice was faithful for the human race.
49:19 But 2000 years ago God erected another tree
49:22 we call it the Cross of Cavalry.
49:25 And it is at that tree
49:27 and what God has done for us in Jesus Christ
49:29 that we must make a decision and eternity is at stake.
49:36 Absolutely yeah, stake.
49:38 In Matthew 24:14 let's get into the prophetic side of this
49:42 as we draw the steward conclusion.
49:43 In Matthew 24:14 it says, "And this gospel of the kingdom
49:47 shall be preached to the whole world."
49:50 What is the gospel?
49:51 The gospel is the good news
49:52 of what God has done about this problem of sin.
49:55 What God is doing about the problem of sin
49:57 in your life and my life.
49:59 It says "When this gospel the kingdom shall be preached
50:02 or proclaimed to the whole world
50:04 for a witness to all the nations"
50:06 then the this is the scariest of the prophecy you know.
50:10 "Then the end shall come."
50:14 My friend, I'm telling you there is an end coming
50:16 and it is not so scary and so horrible
50:21 as you and I might
50:22 again with the sevice consideration of it think
50:24 and then the what,
50:25 and end of all of the suffering and misery,
50:28 pain and death that sin has bought to this place.
50:32 God is going to end it and He is going to do it
50:36 through what Jesus did for us at the Cross of Cavalry.
50:39 That means that Cavalry is the gateway to the future.
50:47 It's going to bring an end to this mess
50:49 but it's gonna be a glorious new beginning
50:52 for those that love Him.
50:55 That's what prophecy really comes in.
50:56 If prophecy has two significant aspects of it.
51:00 It's bringing to an end the rain of sin and death
51:04 rebellion upon this planet.
51:07 And wow, I will read you the second part of it
51:10 as we turn to Revelation 21 the New Testament page 200.
51:17 Revelation 21 and beginning,
51:24 I'm sorry beginning with verse 1.
51:29 Are you there?
51:31 Revelation 21:1 "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth."
51:37 Boy, think of the implications of this.
51:39 John envisions he is a new heaven and new earth.
51:41 He is looking down in the future,
51:43 he is looking down to the end of time
51:46 and this is what he finds.
51:47 "A new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven
51:49 and the first earth has passed away."
51:55 The world is gonna come to an end, my friend.
51:58 But in its place God's gonna create
52:00 a new heaven and new earth.
52:03 There are actually three heavens
52:05 that the Bible talks about you know.
52:07 There is heaven that we usually think about what God dwells.
52:10 There is the heaven's in regards to this all universe.
52:14 The Bible speaks of that.
52:16 And then the heavens
52:17 when it talks about the earth and there's heavens
52:20 it stalking about the earth and its atmosphere.
52:23 And that's what it is talking abut here.
52:24 When it says a new heaven and a new earth
52:26 it's talking about an earth with a restored atmosphere.
52:29 Do we need a restored atmosphere?
52:32 Now we know something about
52:34 what's happening to our atmosphere don't we.
52:36 So "He makes a new heaven and new earth
52:39 and the first earth passed away
52:40 and there is no longer any, any sea."
52:42 Think about that.
52:43 There is not gonna be the great oceans
52:45 that we know today and then verse 2.
52:47 "And I saw the holy city New Jerusalem
52:49 coming down out of heaven from God
52:52 made ready as a bright adorned for her husband."
52:56 The holy city the New Jerusalem
52:58 that is the capital city of the universe.
53:01 It is the city of God.
53:04 And verse 3, says "And I heard a loud voice
53:06 from the throne saying
53:07 behold the tabernacle or dwell in place of God is among men.
53:13 And He will dwell among them and they shall be His people
53:18 and God himself will be among them."
53:22 My friend, this, this is the other
53:25 significant point of prophecy.
53:27 Again the first point is that God is gonna do away
53:29 with all the sin and suffering and death
53:31 that has fallen because of transgression.
53:34 It's all been-- its all possible
53:36 because of what Jesus did at the Cross of Cavalry.
53:38 Remember Jesus cried out on the cross, its finished.
53:43 And, my friend, this placed out overtime,
53:44 it's gonna be done.
53:46 It's gonna be over with.
53:49 And we are living in those days.
53:51 We will be studying this form the prophecies.
53:54 And the other significant thing is God's going to
53:58 make this new heaven and new earth.
53:59 God has this wonderful powerful glorious future
54:05 for those that love Him.
54:06 Paradise is gonna be restored to this planet.
54:10 Sin and all of the contradictions
54:13 that we have been living with
54:14 that just been wearing down our life forces
54:17 is going to be removed.
54:20 Love is going to be principle of every relationship.
54:23 Can you imagine this?
54:24 You're not gonna need, you're not gonna get any locks in there
54:27 up there in the new earth.
54:29 You're not have locks and keys
54:31 and you know all of the stuff that we,
54:33 there is no more arguments,
54:35 no more anger, no more conflict
54:37 can you imagine that kind of existence.
54:40 Because those are gonna inhabit this place
54:42 are those that love God
54:44 who have accepted this wonderful invitation of salvation
54:49 and who will be the inhabitants of this place.
54:52 And not only are we going to be love in God
54:54 we are gonna love each other.
54:57 And there is gonna be beautiful harmony
54:59 and peace and quietness and joy.
55:03 This is what God has prepared for those,
55:06 for those that truly love Him.
55:08 it says,
55:10 "All these" speaking of men and women of faith of the past.
55:13 "All these died in faith, without receiving the promises,
55:18 but having seen them and having welcomed them
55:20 from a distance, and having confessed that
55:22 they were strangers and exiles on the earth."
55:25 Strangers and exiles on the earth,
55:28 the last verse in Revelation 21:4
55:31 just says it as good as any verse.
55:34 You know, we got the new heaven and new earth
55:36 and New Jerusalem coming down.
55:38 God drawing among His people and there's says in verse 4
55:40 "And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
55:45 God is going comfort His people.
55:47 "And there will no longer be any death,
55:49 there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain
55:54 the first things have passed away."
55:56 It's all done.
55:58 Can you imagine no more pain, no more suffering,
56:00 no more moaning.
56:01 A place of everlasting joy
56:04 that's what God has prepared for those that love him.
56:07 And, my friend, we can be a part of it
56:09 but there is only one way, it's the way of the cross.
56:13 It's through what Jesus has done for us.


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Revised 2014-12-17