August 11, 2024
The Fall of Mankind
When God Created the world, it was perfect, lush and beautiful!
As of then, it hadn't rained. Instead, natural springs rose up from out of the earth to water its surface (it was like God had pre-installed a natural sprinkler system). Lovely rivers were entwined throughout the land, and at the center (where 4 of these rivers joined) there was a special garden called Eden.
Eden was the picture of paradise. God had made everything that mankind could possibly need, and without rain, there wasn't any sleet, or snow, or hail, so Adam and Eve could sleep under the open sky.
There wasn't any light pollution either, so every night Adam and Eve could have seen millions and billions of stars. It must have been a magnificent sight!
They could sleep underneath them without the fear of bug bites or snake bites. Without the fear of anything, really.
There was no concern about sleeping through their alarm clock and missing work. Anxiety didn't exist.
There was no isolating themselves in their dark, dreary bedroom. Depression didn't exist.
There was no concern that a bear might attack them during the night, without a cabin, and kill them. FEAR and Death didn't exist.
Fear didn't exist because fear only comes from the knowledge that (as a result of sin) we carry the punishment of one day having to die.
Without sin, there is no death. So without sin there is no fear of being injured and dying.
Adam and Eve were free to walk in the garden and to talk with God, who is Love.
They knew Love.
They had a relationship with Love.
And so they experienced love in its fullest capacity.
If we (who are alive today) feel afraid, it's because we have not experienced His love in its fullest measure.
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.
1 John 4:18
If we begin to more fully experience God's love, and if we begin to more fully trust that He will receive our soul when we die physically, then it begins to remove our fear of dying as well.
This is how martyrs have the courage to face death.
They possess such a great confidence that they will be with Jesus in paradise, and that they will be basking in His presence the next moment, that their love for Jesus overrides their natural instinct to fear death.
Their love for Jesus, and Jesus's love for them expels the fear of death and gives them the courage that they need in that moment.
When God made Adam, he placed him in Eden with all the animals, and in the midst of so many wonderful fruit trees, which He had created to be enjoyed.
But there were two special trees in the middle of the garden. One was called, THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, and the other was called, THE TREE OF LIFE.
The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:9
And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.
Genesis 2:16-17
It's important to pause here, and to note that Eve wasn't yet created.
If you read again that passage above, you can see that God gave this instruction to the man, Adam.
We don't know if God repeated Himself again to Eve, after making her, or if Adam simply passed along the message.
From what we can read, this was only told directly to Adam.
So it's very possible that Eve was only warned indirectly through her husband. -- It depends a little on how you interpret another passage (which I'll include later).
If Adam was the only one who was told this directly, then he was all the more responsible for making known the importance of God's instruction to his family.
And this might be why it was easier for Satan to go after Eve.
It's possible, that because Eve was told about this by hearsay, rather than by God Himself, that it was easier for Eve to question God's words, and for Satan to place doubt in her mind about what God "really" said.
When God made Adam, He placed him in the garden with the animals, and He let Adam give them all names.
So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
Genesis 2:20
All the animals had a companion, but for Adam, no suitable match existed.
And for the first time, in this perfect world, God saw something that wasn't good.
The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.
Genesis 2:1
Human beings aren't meant to do life alone. We are social beings, and we need a friend with whom we can talk. When people are isolated, or choose to isolate themselves, it's unhealthy.
My little sister isolated herself and was diagnosed with Psychosis. She went mentally insane and took her own life at sixteen years old.
Being with community helps to prevent us from getting too weird in an unhealthy way.
We really help to buff off each other's rough edges and social quirks. I believe that people today have more social anxiety because the internet has allowed them to stay isolated, and as a result, they have less experience in being able to communicate with people, and because of that, less confidence in their ability to communicate in general.
Life is better with others.
Life is better with you.
Your family is better off with you in it.
In Ecclesiastes it says,
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
God wanted there to be two people so that they'd have someone else to help them if they fell down (physically, emotionally, or spiritually). And so that if they fell, they could lift up one another.
God created woman with the intention and purpose of her being a helpmate to Adam.
And God made Eve from one of Adam’s ribs.
It was from one person's body that they came (from one flesh), and God designed for them to be rejoined.
God designed for man and woman to physiologically fit together (sexually) like a 2-piece puzzle.
They were designed to reunite as that ONE flesh.
This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.
Genesis 2:24
We leave our father and mother.
We don't make any vows to be joined with our parents.
The only person from whom we promise not to part, is our spouse.
So each of us leaves our parents, and we cleave to our spouse, becoming joined and unified with our husband.
Our loyalty is first and foremost to our husband.
Sex is something that was designed to bring unity and to physically, emotionally, and spiritually bond (glue) two individuals together.
To deviate from God's design is to pervert God's design.
That is why sexual relationships outside of marriage (between 1 man and 1 woman) are sexual perversion. They are a distortion of God's purpose and original intent for our lives.
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?
Genesis 3:1
Now, I want you to notice how cunning the Devil is.
We're going to take a moment to look at the tactics which he uses, because the methods which he uses today are age-old, and I don't want for any of us to be blindsided by his deception.
The first thing that he does, is that he doesn't go straight to Adam (who received the original command).
Instead, he goes after Eve.
But Adam actually did his job, and correctly warned his wife.
As Eve clearly attests to what she had been told..
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’
Genesis 3:2-3
It sounds like Adam told her, that God said, not only to stay clear of eating it, but also, to not even touch it for good measure!
So if Adam was responsible for teaching God's command to his family, he did his part! And then some!
Or again, you could read that passage as God having given an additional, direct warning to Eve, after she was created. There's a little ambiguity there, so I'll let you figure out what you think for yourself.
But either way, she was warned not to disobey God.
Now, here's the next cunning thing that Satan did..
He doesn't try to persuade Adam, himself, to eat the fruit (after convincing Eve).
Noooo, instead, he uses his wife, in all her charm, and sex-appeal, and lovely, doe-eyes to convince Adam to go along with her decision.
"She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." (see Genesis 3:6)
PAUSE
Did you know that the first man (Adam), the strongest man (Sampson), and the wisest man (Solomon) were all led astray by women?
Let that sink in.
Now, let me ask you..
Do you realize the power of influence that God has given you?
You have the ability to SIGNIFICANTLY impact your family.
I don't know if you've ever heard the cliché phrase that goes something like, "The man is the head, but the woman is the neck, and the neck turns the head."
Well, part of our innate design as a helpmate is that we have influence, and we can use that influence for either evil OR for good!
So if you ever doubt the critical nature of your role, or your ability to win over your husband to believing in the Lord, or to see him change bad habits that are negatively impacting your family, remember this.
Do not underestimate the impact that you can have, especially if God is on your side!
If those men above could be led astray by the evil influence of wicked women, then how much more can you "tug" your husband towards godliness, knowing that the Holy Spirit of the Living God is on your side of the battle!
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31
So if you are unequally yoked, be encouraged to be a praying wife for your husband, a wife who has the faith to believe that God can win the battle for his soul.
...But also, understand that this is the whole metaphor behind the importance of being "equally yoked."
You see, back in the day, when a man plowed his field in preparation for planting crops, he would harness two oxen with a beam of wood that was called a yoke.
The definition of the word YOKE is:
a wooden cross piece that is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or cart that they are to pull.
It was important that the oxen were "equally" yoked because if they weren't, what would happen is that the oxen would expend a significant amount of their energy pulling against each other in opposite directions, rather than working together as a team to accomplish their goal of plowing the field.
The result was tired oxen, a frustrated farmer, and a terribly uneven, crooked plow line where the seeds were supposed to be planted, but if they were planted in the line where the dirt was dug up, then there would be a lot of wasted space in the field, instead of nice, neat little rows of grain, and the harvest would be a lot smaller.
And if you are unequally yoked with your husband, spiritually, I'm sure you've experienced this to some degree.
The feeling of trying to pull him in the right direction, and the frustration, and the expense of emotional energy that it can cause you.
But again, hold out hope! The Bible encourages us by saying,
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9
Don't give up on your husband. Keep being an example so that your behavior can win him over.
Believe in the faith that you will reap the harvest of a God-fearing husband, and after he is won to the Lord, then the two of you can plow together, with a unified mission of tilling the soil of other people's hearts, so that seeds can be planted, and God can grow an abundant crop of righteousness in other people's lives as well.
When we, as wives, behave in a Biblical way, in order to bring about a positive change in our marriage, even if we currently don't see any fruit from our husband, that IS faith.
The definition of Faith is..
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1
In another translation it says,
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1
What is the substance?
The substance is the ACTION of your behavior.
Faith is when you behave in a specific way BECAUSE of how confident you are that there will be results, even before you see any evidence of there being that result for which you are hoping.
So when you serve your husband in gentleness and kindness, because you believe that it will have an impact on your husband in the future (even when you don't see any evidence of his changed behavior in the present), THAT is an act of FAITH.
Your behavior is the substance which proves how adamantly you believe something.
You are serving out of your FAITH in God -- out of your confident belief that God will use your behavior to minister to your husband!
Faith pleases God.
There were so many heroes throughout the Bible that overcame obstacles (and who were considered to be righteous) because of their FAITH.
"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.
By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
Hebrews 11:1-12
What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
Romans 4:3
It was by FAITH that these people accomplished great things!
It was because they believed in God, both that God existed, AND that God would reward them for earnestly seeking Him, that they were propelled to act in ways that were different from the norm.
And it is because they behaved differently from the rest of the world that they were remembered.
It was because of their faith, that they were considered righteous before God.
In the same way, we as wives are called to behave differently from the world, because we believe that God is real, that He exists, and that He will reward us for it.
There IS a reward!
There IS a result yet to be had!
And you will have that result by the grace of God!
You will reap your harvest if you do not give up.
Okay, I went off on a tangent... Let's see, where was I?
Ah, yes.
Okay, let's get back to the story.
The next way that Satan was cunning (or crafty) was that he tempted Eve to want something that appeared to be good.
“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman.
“God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.
Genesis 3:4-6
Now, despite popular belief and classical artistry, this fruit was NOT an apple.
Apples come from apple trees. Bananas come from banana trees. Figs come from fig trees.
This was the fruit from the tree of Knowledge (of Good and Evil). This fruit that she was tempted with was Knowledge.
Which gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Curiosity killed the Cat."
Eve wanted knowledge.
Eve was curious and she wanted to know about something that she did not yet understand.
Knowledge is considered to be a good thing!
She wanted something that is essentially a good desire.
And so often, THAT is exactly how we're all tempted.
We want something that looks good. We want something that feels good. It might even be a physical need of ours!
Like, Jesus was tempted with a physical need (bread/food) after fasting for 40 days in a desert.
But He put obedience to God, and lived by the Word of God, even before His own physical needs.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.
The tempter came to Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4:1-4
Eve was supposed to live by every word that came from the mouth of God.
Eve was supposed to live by God’s command.
If she had lived in obedience to God's command, she would not have died both physically and spiritually.
Temptation has the appearance of good, but when we disobey, it leads to heartache.
We want sex before marriage.
Sex is inherently a good and beautiful tool that is meant to join, and to unite, and to bond spouses to each other, and to express the depths of the love that we feel for the other individual.
It looks good... It feels good...
BUT, when we are tempted to disobey God by having it too soon (before marriage), or by having it in the wrong way (outside of marriage), OR if someone takes and eats of it by force (when it was not given freely to them) and rapes someone, it results in heartache and brokenness.
And instead of being the beautiful thing that God intended it to be, it is perverted into the opposite.
It becomes a tool of Satan to express selfishness and hate, and to break up families with infidelity, which is the opposite of the unity which God intended for it to bring.
It becomes a tool of violence and abuse.
Again, it is a perversion of God's purpose for sex.
Anything that has its original purpose stolen, and is then twisted into producing a different purpose, has become (by definition) perverted.
Sarah (Abraham's wife), in the Bible, also wanted something that was inherently good.
She wanted a baby, and she was struggling with infertility, but she initially decided to take matters into her own hands, instead of trusting in God's faithfulness.
She took control by using her maid-servant, Hagar, as a surrogate.
Back then there wasn't technology, so surrogacy was done by giving the surrogate to your husband, to have sex with her, in order to impregnate her the old-fashioned way.
This decision of hers led to a lot of family dysfunction, tons of conflict, and wars that we are still seeing today in the Middle East.
Our timing is not always God’s timing, but that doesn't give us the right to do something unethical.
When she didn't trust in God's Word, it resulted in a mess!
It wasn't until Sarah finally put her faith in God, that He would fulfill His promise to her, that she conceived and that promise came into fruition.
... Another example of this is addiction.
People want something that is inherently good.
They want to stop being depressed. They want to feel elation and joy! They want to be able to cope with the hardship in their lives.
Drugs look appealing to them.
They look like relief.
They look like the answer to their temporary struggles.
But in the end they have bitter results.
In the end they show themselves for what they really are -- a temptation that brings forth destruction and death.
Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
James 1:14-15
It's easy for us to think that we wouldn't be as foolish as Eve, and get duped into destroying the whole world by a piece of fruit.
But are we really any smarter?
Have we said, "No" to temptation when it wore an appealing mask?
Okay, on to the next thing!
The next way that Satan was cunning is that He tempts Eve in the same way that he was tempted.
He first questions her about what God "really" said (and plants doubt in her mind about God's instruction), and then he twists God's character and makes Him out to be acting unfairly to her.
Satan lies to her saying that God is withholding something good from her.
“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman.
“God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
He makes it seem like God knows something that He doesn't want Eve to know.
He makes it seem like God is keeping secrets from her.
He makes it seem like God is being unfair to her by enjoying something good Himself, but is selfishly withholding it from her.
And the next way that Satan is crafty is that he is deceptive.
He is lying to her, but all of his lies are mixed with truth.
The most persuasive lies are always mixed with some amount of truth, because people see the truth, and immediately embrace it, but they lack the discernment to see the snare.
When he tells her that she won't die, she doesn't instantly die physically. But she does instantly die spiritually, and she begins the slow process of aging and dying physically/cellularly.
She could have eaten that fruit and for that first instant thought, "Wow! I'm still alive. I didn't vanish into thin air or have a heart attack. Maybe the serpent was right after all!"
But God was truthful, and in the most realistic sense, she did die.
Satan also baited her with the false promise that she would be like God.
And here's where she really got the short end of the stick.
She wants to be like God, knowing both good and evil.
But God is good. She already knew Goodness Himself.
She and Adam walked with God in the cool of the day. They lived in paradise. Both of them were very well acquainted with all things perfect and good.
They just didn't know how good, good actually was, until they had evil to compare it to side-by-side.
It took seeing evil, in order for her to realize (and to distinguish), that it was different from good.
So Satan wasn't offering her anything new and wonderful.
She already had good.
All Satan was really offering her was the understanding of evil, which she couldn't understand unless evil existed through her disobedience.
Satan also told her that she would be like God.
But she was already made in God’s likeness.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.
Genesis 1:26
She already had an eternal soul, and could experience the same emotions as God.
But Satan fed her the promise that she would be like God in having the same knowledge as God.
He made it sound like she would become as wise as God Himself.
He made it sound like she would become an equal with God.
That she would be like a goddess if she possessed knowledge.
And Satan made it sound as if God was afraid of her having the knowledge to usurp His authority.
Like God was purposefully keeping her in ignorance, and withholding good from her, because He selfishly wanted to control her and stay at the top of the pyramid.
Like God was trying to prevent her from rising in elevation and glory.
If she would just eat one bite, she could rebel against this authority and shake off His yoke.
Which is really what Satan wanted for himself.
Satan rebelled against God because he wanted to be made god himself. Satan wanted to shake off God's authority. Satan wanted to usurp God. Satan wanted to be worshiped himself instead of God.
Eve was convinced.
She was convinced to doubt God's love for her.
She was convinced to doubt God's goodness.
She didn't trust that God had her well-being in mind when He told her to obey His command.
(Just as God has OUR well-being in mind when He tells US to obey His commands.)
She didn't trust Adam, who warned her not to eat the fruit, or to even touch it!
And this is the WHOLE reason why we, as women, got the punishment of having to submit to our husband's authority.
It's NOT that women are inferior to men. We were created as equals (as man's companion and not as a slave).
But we are told to submit because it was the woman who was deceived first.
And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived, and sin was the result.
1 Timothy 2:14
Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.
At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
Genesis 3:7
Sin brings shame.
Now, remember earlier when we were reading that verse about Adam and Eve becoming ONE FLESH?
Well, right after that verse, this is the next thing that's said:
Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.
Genesis 2:25
Adam and Eve's bodies were designed in perfection. There wasn't anything wrong with them. God saw that what He made was "very good," and this included Adam and Eve's anatomy, their reproductive organs, and their ability to enjoy sex.
That was a beautiful gift that God gave them, and they felt no shame about themselves!
So the reason why we wear clothing isn't because there's anything wrong with our anatomy.
But rather, the reason why we wear clothing is because we realize that we are unrighteous.
Adam and Eve realized that they had sinned and were now vulnerable to the consequences of sin.
They didn't want their sin to be exposed.
They felt exposed in their naked existence.
They inherently, subconsciously, knew that the way they were, as is, was no longer enough.
It wasn't enough to just be their naked selves anymore. They were embarrassed of themselves and scared.
They innately knew that they were in need of something to cover them.
They wanted to hide under something.
So they looked around and spotted a Fig tree growing nearby, and hurried to grab a bunch of leaves, and then spent some time sewing them together to make themselves clothes. So that they could hide themselves under the fig leaves.
When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the LORD God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the LORD God among the trees.
Then the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”
“Who told you that you were naked?” the LORD God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
Then the LORD God asked the woman, “What have you done?”
The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.
Genesis 3:8-13
PAUSE
Okay, do you see what their first instinct is when they're afraid of getting into trouble?
They totally just throw each other under the bus and point fingers.
The man is like, "SHE did it! It's her fault! And it's Your fault because You're the one who made her and gave her to me."
And she's like, "No! It was the serpent! He tricked me!"
Then the LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live.
And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”
And to the man he said,
“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you.
All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.
Genesis 3:14-19
And boy do we ever live that out!
Period cramps, morning sickness, labor pains, afterbirth pains... having to submit to our husbands and yield our desires to their decisions. Which leads to the whole battle between the sexes and worldly women's endless pursuit of female dominance.
Then our husbands have the responsibility and stress of providing for us, having to get up early, day after day, doing things that are exhausting and oftentimes not very enjoyable in order for him to get food to survive.
Instead of just enjoying life, worldly men now often find themselves in this depressing cycle of working to eat, and eating to live, and living to work, until they grow old and die, and are buried in the ground (returning to the dust/dirt from which man was created).
It really is a curse. I mean, it definitely feels like a punishment.
But we can thank the Lord for the other thing that God said, which brought hope to Adam and Eve's terrible situation, and that is:
He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.
God was prophesying about Jesus, who would strike (or crush) the serpent's (Satan's) head.
God then looks on the mess of the situation.
He sees His perfect world wrecked.
But He doesn't feel angry.
Instead, He is filled with compassion and a longing to fix the situation.
He sees their embarrassment. He sees their shame, regret, guilt.. their tears too, I'm sure.
He looks at their pitiful attempt at stitching together fig leaves, and I'm sure it tugs at His heart.
So God does something.
The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
Genesis 3:21
Not only was this an act of compassion, but it was also a vivid picture of what would have to happen in order for God to really fix the situation and cover their shame.
Here, in Eden, an animal died to cover the shame of their nakedness.
But in order for God to really, permanently take away their feelings of inadequacy, God would have to send His Son Jesus to die for them, in order to cover them with His righteousness and restore them to Himself.
We are inadequate on our own, in and of ourselves.
But one day, we will be dressed in white robes, being covered by the righteousness of Jesus.
But there is something more that I want to talk with you about... something very sad.
I want to talk with you about what happens when people live in a state of being unrepentant for their sin, and unashamed of it.
Did any of you see the Naked Blue Guy in the Olympics?
Yup!
How about Drag-Queens? Have any of you seen pictures of them in lingerie, exhibiting lude behavior or pole dancing?
Yeah?
Have you heard about the gay sex acts and the public nudity that goes on at modern Pride parades?
Well, how about the Nudist Colonies that exist in our country that have become a magnet for pedophiles?
Have you heard of these?
Yes?
I thought so..
Well, they all have something in common.
All of these people's consciousness have become seared because they have given up a love for the truth.
They unabashedly strut around and are proud of their sin, and of their unrighteousness, and of their nakedness.
They don't believe that they need the covering of Jesus's righteousness; therefore, they don't believe that they need the covering of clothes.
They don't believe in the Word of God, which gives us the purpose of sex, so they practice and celebrate every perverted way of engaging in it.
... I want to read you one more passage. This is a long one, but stay with me.
"My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and to insight, “You are my relative.”
They will keep you from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words.
At the window of my house I looked down through the lattice. I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who had no sense. He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in.
Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.
(She is unruly and defiant, her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.)
She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said: “Today I fulfilled my vows, and I have food from my fellowship offering at home. So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you! I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love!
My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon.”
With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.
Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths. Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.
Proverbs 7:24-27
Now, I want you to take special notice of a few key words:
- She is crafty/cunning (like Satan).
- She is dressed like a prostitute, and doesn't feel the need to wear proper clothing.
- She is brazen, unruly, defiant, unashamed, and boldly invites others to enjoy themselves in "love" (which is what she's calling her perverted sex/adultery).
- Those who follow her invitation become victims of Death. Their immorality costs them their Life.
Now, how does that compare to those other individuals who I just mentioned above?
Do you see how there is a boldness to their evil?
A pride to it.
An unruly defiance against God?
The whole name of the LGBTQ movement is named PRIDE because they lack any shame for their sin.
If the Holy Spirit was still convicting them, they would feel shame, but the Spirit of God has left them and has given them over to their shameful lusts because they didn't deem it important to retain a love for His Truth.
If we still feel convicted over our sin, it's a sign that our heart isn't yet hardened, and that our spirit isn't yet numb to the Holy Spirit of God who does the convicting.
But when they are given over to their evil desires, their hearts become too calloused to any longer feel the prompting of the Spirit trying to guide them, and so they no longer feel shame over their sin.
...It's a very sad thing, BUT it's what they want, so God lets them wallow in their sin.
This is why it's so important to pray for people whose hearts are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
We have to ask God to buff off their calluses so that they can feel Him again.
We have to pray that God removes Satan's snake scales of deception from their eyes so that they can see the truth.
Paul (who wrote most of the New Testament) used to persecute believers, so Jesus blinded him. But then he was prayed for by a believer (named Ananias) and when he was, his blindness left him and Satan's scales fell off of him.
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.
Acts 9:17-19
Saul was blinded by Satan's deception, but the prayer of a righteous man was heard by God, and Paul's eyes were healed so that he could see.
And we must pray for those of the LGBTQ community, in faith that the scales will fall from their eyes, just as they did from Saul's eyes.
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
James 5:16
Okay, back to the story.
Then God drove them from the garden of Eden, and He placed several angels at the entrance of the garden to guard it. In addition to them, He placed a fiery sword that flashed back and forth to prevent them from being able to renter the garden (where the tree of life was located), so that they could not eat of the fruit of the tree of Life and be allowed to live.
After sending them out, the LORD God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:24
But if we believe all this -- that Jesus died for us, in our stead, and if we have the faith to believe in Jesus doing as He has promised, and if we make Him our Lord, then we will be saved from our punishment of spiritual death. And one day, God will give us the right to eat from the tree of life that is in the new Paradise that He will make.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Revelation 22:1-2
In faith, we must act, knowing that He will reward us for earnestly seeking Him.
If we seek Him, we will find Him, and He will reward us with His presence.
He will also reward our behavior in this life with a treasure in Heaven.
And In addition to all these rewards, He will also offer us a gift that we never could have earned ourselves -- and that is the gift of eating, from the fruit of the Tree of Life, so that we may live with Him forever.
The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant to eat from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.’
Revelation 2:7
Finally, just like at the end of a movie (where there's a song), I want to leave you with a very special song.
This is a song that is sung by God Himself, and just trying to imagine Him singing it -- it was so beautiful to my soul that it almost made me cry!
In that day—
“Sing about a fruitful vineyard:
I, the Lord, watch over it;
I water it continually.
I guard it day and night
so that no one may harm it.
I am not angry.
If only there were briers and thorns confronting me!
I would march against them in battle;
I would set them all on fire.
Or else let them come to me for refuge;
let them make peace with me,
yes, let them make peace with me.
Isaiah 27:2-5
Do you understand the lyrics?
Adam tended to the vineyard of trees in Eden, but his rebellion against God ruined that garden, causing briers of thorns and thistles to come up from the earth.
So the Lord decided that He would make a New Heaven, and a New Earth, and a New Vineyard with Trees of Life growing on either side of the stream of Living Water (this is the water of life which Jesus promised to give us that will take away our thirst forever).
God will make this New Paradise for those of us who love Him.
The Lord Himself will watch over this New Eden.
He will water it with the Waters of Life that flow throughout the New Jerusalem.
And God will guard it from evil, so that this next time around, no one destroys it!
God is not angry at us.
But if sinful men (briers or thorns) should choose to rise up against Him, and attempt to destroy it, God would confront them in battle and send them to the Lake of Fire with Satan (like He does after the battle of Armageddon in Revelation).
God wouldn't do it because He's angry -- He's not actually angry, but He would do it in order to prevent them from wrecking His New Eden. He WILL guard it!
But He would much rather for the briers and thorns (us sinful people) to come into His Eden for refuge and to make peace with Him.
Yes, God's desire is really to make peace with mankind.